Category: Film Review

The critically acclaimed 1987 powerhouse period piece Irownweed pulls no punches. This is spectacular dramatic cinema with blistering performances from Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep, both of whom seemed utterly smashed all throughout the production. I was not prepared for how grim this movie would be, and I credit the director, Héctor Babenco (Kiss of the Spider Woman, At Play in the Fields of the Lord), for never allowing the material to escape his firm grasp, as this story could easily have gone the cheap and easy route towards the end. It doesn’t. And because it doesn’t, it resonates. Nicholson has rarely been better than he was in Ironweed; for some reason his quiet and soulful work in The Border came to mind while watching him in this film. Set during the Great Depression and taking place in and around Albany, NY (where it was shot on location), this is one of those slow-burn pieces of cinema that sticks to the ribs. Playing a deeply depressed former baseball player who could be responsible for the accidental death of his infant son years ago, Nicholson nailed the wobbly and boozy character with tremendous gusto, yet never went too far over the top into overwrought histrionics. Has Streep ever been bad in a film? I doubt it. In Ironweed, she plays a woman beyond the reach of help, and her tired eyes and sickly visage helped to create a portrait of a woman who is literally falling apart on both the inside and the outside.

The two lost souls search for some sort of meaning in their broken lives, while probably knowing deep down inside that they are three sheets to the wind and unlikely to find solace. And even if the worldview is bleak and limiting, the strength of the performances and the forceful nature of Barbenco’s directorial style keeps the film extremely watchable, despite the obviously tough subject matter. William Kennedy adapted his own Pulitzer Prize winning novel for the big screen, so as a result, one gets the impression that this is precisely what the original author would have wanted to see. The deep supporting cast includes   Carroll Baker, Michael O’Keefe, Diane Venora, Fred Gwynne, Nathan Lane and Tom Waits. The filmmakers also wonderfully evoked a very specific time and place, with Lauro Escorel handling the un-showy, measured cinematography, which made great use of the authentic, lived-in production design by the great Jeannine Oppewall (L.A. Confidential, Pleasantville). The costumes also played a big part, with designer Joseph G. Aulisi (Nobody’s Fool, The Pope of Greenwich Village) stressing tattered garments and dirty, disheveled garment pairings to amplify the sorrowful mood. The flashbacks and frequent introspective beats allow for a dream like vibe, and when the unrelenting ending comes around the corner, there’ll be no escaping it. Because that’s how it had to go. Both Nicholson and Streep were rightfully nominated for Oscars. Ironweed is available as a free HD streaming option on YouTube via the Paramount Vault channel.

The director’s cut of Barry Levinson’s brooding and stylish gangster epic Bugsy is sensational entertainment, made huge by a massive lead performance from Warren Beatty, fabulous production values, an all-star supporting cast, and a pungent and gritty screenplay by James Toback that peppered the proceedings with humor, heart, and an appropriate amount of violent confrontation. Released in theaters in 1991, the theatrical version excised 13 additional minutes which can be seen on the DVD, and sadly, the movie didn’t do as well as expected at the box office despite generally excellent reviews, but over time, this has solidified itself as one of the better offerings in this very crowded genre. Spanning the turbulent and erratic life of mobster Bugsy Siegel, Beatty’s larger than life performance as the titular hoodlum brought him a much deserved Oscar nomination, while future wife Annette Bening dropped a sensitive and stellar early star turn as Siegel’s love interest, Virginia Hill. Featured in the background were Harvey Keitel, Ben Kingsley, Elliot Gould, Joe Mantegna, Bill Graham, and Bebe Neuwirth, all knocking it out of the park, while master cinematographer Allen Daviau evoked old-school Hollywood with his burnished and elegantly composed photography. Ennio Morricone’s rich and full-bodied score only sweetens the deal. This is easily one of Levinson’s strongest overall films, and fully reminds that when he was firing on all cylinders, he was capable of smart and well-appointed films that knew how to balance commercial demands with artsier instincts.

With War Dogs, it’s clear that cinematic funnyman Todd Phillips (The Hangover, Due Date, Old School) wanted to make a film that would raise his dramatic credibility as a storyteller. Sort of akin to the transition that Adam McKay made with his blistering financial meltdown drama The Big Short, this new and extremely entertaining film takes a real-life story and runs with all of its most absurd aspects, and as a result, the audience is left with a larger than life tale that feeds off of everyone’s collective desire for quick and sensational success. This is exactly the sort of movie that I want to see on the big screen. It’s smart, it’s got bite, it’s got some pointed social commentary, and it further showcases the notion of the Misguided American Dream, a concept that has informed other recent efforts like Michael Bay’s terrific Pain & Gain and Martin Scorsese’s juggernaut The Wolf of Wall Street.

At this point, with very few exceptions, I am all set with CGI dominated movies. I am TOTALLY done with swirling vortexes in the sky that have to be defeated in the final act. I want to see real films based on real stories that are tangible and topical and that feature characters that are morally questionable and interesting on various levels. Phillips and his extremely talented cinematographer Lawrence Sher tip their aesthetic hats in the direction of Scorsese, employing freeze frames in some choice spots, and using on-screen title cards that then become lines of dialogue in the next passage. This is an energetic and visually vibrant and distinctive movie, much like the rest of Phillips’ output, and even if War Dogs is satisfied to harness a traditional arc rather than anything groundbreaking, when a story is told this confidently by the chief creative parties, you just sit back and go for the ride and watch the wheels eventually fall off the operation.

Inspired by the Rolling Stone article and subsequent novel by Guy Lawson and previously known as Arms and the Dudes (a title which I personally prefer), War Dogs was written by Phillips, Jason Smilovic, and Stephen Chin, and charts the improbable but true story of two 20-something arms dealers, Efraim Diveroli (the absolutely amazing Jonah Hill) and David Packouz (a solid Miles Teller), who were able to procure government contracts to supply various types of weapons and ammo to U.S. troops stationed in Afghanistan during the high points of the War on Terror. Riffing on some beats that the more cynical Lord of War explored, the filmmakers offer up some potent questions about military and governmental decision making, the ease in which people are able to get their hands on vast quantities of weapons, and how those who are smart enough will always find a way to exploit the system.

While the film is no doubt dramatized for poetic license and dramatic effect, the root of the story remains intact, and what the audience is presented with takes the shape of an edgy, sometimes dangerous “process narrative,” where we see and learn what it takes to accomplish what Diveroli and Packouz did. Co-starring a shady Bradley Cooper as the team’s potentially devious mentor and the alarmingly photogenic Ana de Armas as Packouz’s disapproving girlfriend, War Dogs wisely chooses to center much of the action on the dynamic between Hill and Teller, with some major laugh out loud moments coming courtesy of Hill’s blustery and obnoxious creation of a toxic soul run amok. That obnoxious and creepy laugh seals the deal. He’s really cornered the market on aggressive, potentially hostile, and totally unpredictable loose cannon-characters; he could be the next Joe Pesci as he has that brilliant actor’s impeccable sense of comedic timing. War Dogs is easily one of the better movies that I’ve seen this summer.