Drama

• Title: Lions for Lams
• IMDb: link

“These events are going to define our lives.”
“The problem is not with the people who started this.  The problem is with us, who do nothing.”

Robert Redford‘s latest flick is what we would call a message film.  The characters themselves aren’t that important; they are only there to promote the message the director and writer want to convey.  The odd thing about the film is, for a message film, it’s all over the place.

The film moves through three different storylines.  The first involves a professor (Redford) trying to motivate on of his brightest but most apathetic students (Andrew Garfield).  The second involves the preemptive Republican nominee for President (Tom Cruise) giving an interview to a reporter (Meryl Streep) about a new military strategy.  The third story involves a group of Army Rangers (including Michael Pena and Peter Berg) making an attack inside Afghanistan.

It doesn’t really matter how the different threads connect, but if you care go see the film or simply check out the trailer.  What is important is the message of the film and what it sets out to say about America, our government, and our responsibilities and duties both at home and overseas.

Although the performances are all quite good I had more than a few issues.  I never bought Cruise as a Presidential nominee, though I could buy him as a Senator promoting his own agenda.  Nor did I buy Streep as the ace reporter who becomes too easily flustered by the circumstances and events in which she finds herself.

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Lions for LambsRead More »

• Title: We Own the Night
• IMDb: link

Studio execs love to take a film and change it in some way to make a different film which can play to the same audiences.  Die Hard is a classic example as studios rushed to make Die Hard on a boat (Under Siege), Die-Hard on a plane (Passenger 57, Con Air, Executive Decision), Die-Hard on a train (Under Siege 2: Dark Territory) and many others.  The only other thing execs love more (than easy sequel or adaptations) is to combine two different films.  Now I don’t know for sure that this is how this film came about but I think it went something like this…
“Hey, I got a great idea for a movie.  It came to me as I was watching The Departed”
“I don’t know, I mean Scorsese just did that.”
“No man listen to this.  When I finished the movie and popped out the DVD I turned the cable on and there was that Studio 54 flick with Austin Powers.”
“Yeah?”
“We combine the two films!”
“That’s a great idea!”
“Yeah, we can even cast some of the stars of The Departed.”
“Not Nicholson, he’s way too expensive.  Hmm, what about Marky-Mark?”

The film’s story centers around nightclub manager Bobby Green (Joaquin Phoenix) whose lifestyle is at odds with his father (Robert Duvall) and brother (Mark Wahlberg) who are hard-nosed NY cops.  When his brother is put in charge of a taskforce to clean up the drugs in the city Bobby is forced to examine his life and choose between his family and his friends and business partners.

What you expect is what you get.  Phoenix acts moody, crazy, and looks like he needs a good night sleep.  Wahlberg is a tough and stand-up guy (sadly without the humor of his Departed character), Duvall is the hardboiled but loving father, and Eva Mendes is the girlfriend (or more accurate – the whining eye-candy).

The story is good though not great and the incident that forces Bobby to help his father and brother is well executed (although I would have liked to have seen more time spent on the fallout).  The film also includes several sequences which are both engaging and compelling including a most memorable car chase and a tour and an escape from a drug house.

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We Own the NightRead More »