Directed by: Mike McCoy, Scott Waugh
Starring: Alex Veadov, Roselyn Sanchez, Jason Cottle
In the opening introductory statement of Act of Valor, directors Mike McCoy and Scott Waugh make note to the audience how they were embedded with an actual Navy SEALs unit while doing research for the film. Their experience with the SEALs influenced them in their decision not to have professional actors portraying the key roles in the film. In fact if you read the credits, there are none listed for the characters of the SEALs. Their identities are kept confidential.
Although the film is fictitious, it is "based on real acts of valor." The film starts with a CIA operative (Roselyn Sanchez) who is kidnapped and the SEAL team is dispatched to rescue her from a jungle compound. The plot thickens when the SEALs discover that the kidnapping is tied into a wealthy drug smuggler named Christo (Alex Veadov.) Christo teams up with a terrorist (Jason Cottle) to smuggle Jihadists into the United States through Drug Cartels in Mexico with the intent of "making 9/11 look like a walk in the park."
This film is pure non-stop action, with countless special effects. What makes the film stand out from other military-action based films is the acting...or I should say lack there of on the part of the SEAL team. Since the parts were played by active-duty SEALs, it is obvious that they lacked any sort of acting training, but that doesn't really matter because they didn't have to do any kind of dramatic stretch to make their characters believable. The dialogue of the SEALs is deeply engrossed in military jargon that the layperson may not understand, but it's not necessary to in order to understand what is going on in the narrative of the film. It should also be noted that the original intent of the film was to be used as a military recruitment/training film...and that's just how it plays out, even up to the ending scene of the full-dress military funeral.
While this blog is mainly dedicated to new theatrical and DVD releases, I am also a huge classic film buff. So, from time to time I am going to dedicate a post to some of my favorite classics. The 1970s were a great time for American Cinema. Restrictions faced by film makers of earlier decades had loosened up. Hollywood was now re-born with a new wave of independent film makers who were now free of the "studio system." Some of the greatest genre of film came about in the 1970s. The late 60s and early 70s brought about "The Muscle Car," and with that "The Road Movie" was essentially born. Three movies come to mind when I think of the classic 1970s Road Movie: Two Lane Blacktop (1971), Dirty Mary Crazy Larry (1974), andVanishing Point (1971.)
Dennis Wilson and James Taylor were two icons of the 1970s. They epitomized everything about that era...sex, drugs and rock-and roll. As musicians, both Wilson and Taylor were natural actors, and it's a shame
that neither one starred in a single movie following this cult classic. Traveling across the country in a rebuilt '55 Chevy, "The Driver" (Taylor) and "The Mechanic" (Wilson) pick up a young female hitchhiker, known only as "The Girl" (Laurie Bird.) Actually, the girl just jumps into the car without even asking, and the the three of them make their journey across the southern part of the United States. They make money by racing other muscle cars in small towns along the way. The trio runs into "GTO" (Warren Oates) aptly named after the car he drives, and they challenge him to a race to Washington DC. The first car to reach the destination wins the pink-slip of the loser's car.
Two Lane Blacktop is mostly about the race between the '55 Chevy and GTO. What's odd though, is that no one seems to want to win. They keep stopping to help each other out along the road, almost as if the road would be a lonelier place without the other. A sub-plot of the film is the relationship the three men have with the girl. The Mechanic, who seems the most care-free of the group, could really care less if he has any sort of relationship with the girl; however, The Driver and GTO both seem to be vying for the girl's attention. The title song to the soundtrack, "Me and Bobby McGee" fits in superbly with the plight of the girl, especially towards the end of the film when it becomes apparent that the girl has moved on emotionally (and then physically) from Driver and GTO. If you listen to the lyrics of the song, you'll find that the story about "Me and Bobby McGee" takes place out on the open road of America, just like the plot of this film. Side-note: "Me and Bobby McGee" was written (and performed in this film) by Kris Kristofferson. He stated in a 2007 interview with Two Lane Blacktop Director Monte Hellman that the song is associated with his former lover, Janis Joplin- especially the line "somewhere near Salinas, Lord I let her slip away."
If I had to guess who the protagonist of this film was, I would have to say that it was the road. Shot in sequence and on location, the back-road gas stations, motels, and burger joints paint the backdrop of the settings and the narrative of this film.
Directed by John Hough and starring Peter Fonda, Susan George, and Adam Roarke, Dirty Mary Crazy Larry was more than just a road movie. Larry (Fonda) and Deke (Roarke) are small time car racing duo who rob a grocery store and plan on using the money to break into the NASCAR Circuit. Just like in Two Lane Blacktop, the plot essentially has the two same characters: a driver, and his mechanic...except in this film, said driver and mechanic are also criminals. They were good at only two things: racing and stealing. Their plan to escape after the robbery goes awry when Larry's one-night stand, Mary decides to tag along for the ride. Pursued by the local Sheriff, Everett Franklin (Vic Morrow) and his redneck band of deputies, the plot takes you on a wild ride through back country roads.
What I love about this movie is that the action is real. The stunts for this film were performed by actual stuntmen, including Fonda. When a car crashed, it actually crashed- there was no CGI enhancement simulating the crash or explosion. People actually risked their lives filming a movie like this...something you don't see in today's movies. It's no surprise that this film was an inspiration for Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof (2007.) The narrative of this movie is all about fast cars, fast women, and being held down by "the man." If you're looking for an adrenaline-filled muscle car flick with non-stop action, then Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry is the film for you.
Another inspiration to Quentin Tarantino is Vanishing Point.
Kowalski (Barry Newman) is a Vietnam Vet. He is also a dishonored ex-cop and a failed race car driver. He is hired by a drive-away service to deliver a 1970 Dodge Challenger from Denver to San Francisco. There is one catch: he takes a bet to get the car delivered in fifteen hours. Kowalski is chased time and again by police, but outruns them. Throughout his journey, Kowalski is guided by a blind radio disc jockey- Supersoul (Cleavon Little.) Kowalski's mission gains a cult-like following from people as the word spreads across the radio waves by Supersoul.
Zipping across the country, Kowalski becomes the Anti-Hero. You get the feeling that Kowalski is (or at least once was) a good man who has been slighted by "the man" or "the system." His encounters with the police, tambourine-rattling faith healers, gay hitchhikers,
and naked hippie chicks support this in the narrative. What captures the viewer in this film is that Kowalski's journey becomes transcendental, and the
rendezvous with the junction at the film's climax becomes his "Vanishing Point."
Vanishing Point is another film that isn't about dialogue. This film is basic. It's about thrills and chills...and pills. If you strip this film down, it's basically a bad B-Movie; but the action will keep you bolted to your seat to see what happens at the "Vanishing Point."
Directed by: Gabe Torres
Starring: Stephen Dorff, Chyler Leigh, Tom Berenger
What appears to be a random kidnapping, turns into so much more in Gabe Torres' latest crime thriller, Brake. Jeremy Reins (Dorff) wakes up in a large plexiglass box, and locked inside the trunk of a car. The box has a neon clock-timer at the top of it that keeps counting down time. The questions start from the onset: Who is Jeremy? Moreover, why is he being kidnapped? Without giving away too much of the plot, it turns out that Jeremy is a Special Agent in the US Secret Service. Agent Reins has been kidnapped by terrorists who want an answer to a question that only he knows the answer to. He is then driven from location to location and the stress of his situation increases as his captors keep torturing and pressing him to give up the answer to their question. Other than the ending, the majority of the film (and I mean just about all of it) is a lone performance by Stephen Dorff. The rest of the characters in the plot are introduced through their voices on a cell phone and CB radio that are in the trunk.
The narrative and the character has striking similarities to Ryan Reynolds and his role in Buried (2010.) As a matter of fact, the lone-actor trapped in some sort of claustrophobic predicament has almost become a whole new genre of film....case in point: James Franco in 127 hours (2010) and Adrien Brody in Wrecked (2010.) Although, unlike those films Franco and Brody weren't being held hostage, but the narrative of the aforementioned films all centered on a solo character. However, in this film Dorff manages to pull off the "one-man play" rather well by keeping the audience engaged in what is happening to him; not an easy task since he is the only character in the dialogue of the film. The climactic twist in the plot at the end will dispel any preconceived notion that the viewer has on how the film was going to end.
Directed by: Shawn Ku
Starring: Maria Bello, Michael Sheen, Kyle Gallner
Imagine your worst nightmare. Now, Imagine your worst nightmare come true, and then imagine that that the reality of your worst nightmare is worse than you could ever possibly imagine. Independent film maker Shawn Ku examines those very feelings in Beautiful Boy. The film is about a college student named Sammy (Gallner) who goes on a shooting rampage at his school, killing seventeen people before committing suicide. To the viewer, it becomes pretty apparent that things were not right to
begin with in this family. Sammy's parents, Bill and Kate (Bello and Sheen) are emotionally distant from
each other, appearing to be on the brink of divorce even before the
tragedy. Warning signs from Sammy are pretty obvious with his odd behavior from the get-go. The violent act happens at the very beginning of the film, then shifts the narrative to how Bill and Kate cope with the aftermath of not only losing their child, but also having to deal with the fact that he was the culprit in a epically tragic event.
Most of us can remember the events at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado on April 20th, 1999. In the aftermath of that horrible event, we learned about the disturbed mind-set of the two killers, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris. We learned about how the massacre affected the victims, their victim's survivors, and the community. In Beautiful Boy, we learn how a massacre similar to the one at Columbine affects the survivors of the one who did the actual killing. Think about it; how do you think the parents of Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris felt knowing that their son(s) were responsible for taking human lives, and reigning terror upon their community? Think about how the parents of Seung-Hui Cho felt after he killed 32 people on the campus of Virginia Tech in 2007.
How this film ever slipped through the cracks is beyond me. This beautifully acted film is filled with raw, and real emotions. The actual event of the killings is a very small part of the film. The main focus of the plot is how Bill and Kate grapple with feeling that they created a monster, which only further drives the couple apart. Finger-pointing, guilt, shame, and anger are just a few ways to describe the actions, and what the two protagonists are feeling while coping with the tragedy. The question is: will the tragedy tear them further apart, or bring them back together?
While the main theme of the plot of this film is grief, it's actually a story of hope. Taking a look into how an tragic event like a mass murder/suicide affects the survivors of the assailant makes us understand that people like Bill and Kate are real; they are normal people who have found themselves torn between anger for what their loved one (in this case, their son) has done, and grief for their loss.
Directed by: Brad Bird
Starring: Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Paula Patton, Michael Nyqvist
The latest installment of the M:I series find Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and his band of IMF agents trying to stop a nuclear war between Russia and The United States. After the IMF breaks agent Hunt out of a Russian prison, they accept a mission of breaking into The Kremlin to find secret documents. The team is then falsely implicated for bombing The Kremlin. The IMF initiates "Ghost Protocol", disbanding the organization. Hunt, et al. "go rogue" to clear their names, and to stop a madman, Kurt Hendricks (Michael Nyqvist) from getting the nuclear weapon launch codes.
The narrative of this film is all over the place, and the film has enough continuity issues to choke a horse; but, the action is out of this world! This is one of those movies where you don't really care about how realistic the plot may or may not be. The action sequences, however far-fetched they might be (in real life) are entertaining, to say the least. The suspense of this film will keep you on the edge of your seat till the very end.
Of course, the ending of the movie leaves the viewer with a few clues about what's to come for Agent Hunt and his team. I would no doubt look for M:I 5 to be coming to a theater near you in the future.
Written and Directed by: James Franco
Starring: James Franco, Dave Franco, Michael Shannon
The Broken Tower is a black and white biopic about early 20th Century American Poet, Hart Crane (1899-1932.) Written and directed by James Franco, (who plays Crane) this film takes a look at a self-destructive, but brilliantly talented man who committed suicide at the age of 32 by jumping off a boat into the Gulf of Mexico. The narrative of the story follows the life and travels of Crane from age 17, when he changed his name from Harold to "Hart" and moved from Cleveland to New York, Paris, Cuba and back to New York. The story details how Crane struggled to make a living through temporary jobs, even moving back to Cleveland at one point to work for his father, who happened to be a successful candy manufacturer (a side note: Crane's father, Clarence invented the candy "Life Savers", but sold the patent before it became popular.) Throughout the 1920's, the openly-gay Crane had some of his poems such as "White Buildings", "Voyages", and "The Bridge" published by well respected literary magazines. We learn through the film that Crane's poems were (and still are) difficult to understand, but at the same time, he was way ahead of his time and people in the literary world took notice of his work. One of Crane's last published poems "The Broken Tower" emerged in 1931 after his only known hetero-sexual affair with a woman named Peggy Cowley. Hart Crane is now viewed as a literary genius some forty years after his death.
I have to say that no other actor has the courage or the talent to play the character of an openly gay poet like James Franco. Just like he did with the character of Alan Ginsberg in Howl (2010), Franco opens the door to the world of an eccentric and gifted, yet incredibly self destructive person. James' younger brother, Dave Franco, who plays the teen-aged "Harold" has proven that he is just as eccentric and talented as his older brother. Michael Shanon, who plays the part of Hart's lover, Emile is well cast, and a natural fit for his role. The sex scenes in the movie are in fact explicit; however, the passion that is shown is felt by the viewer, making them non-offensive. The black-and-white cinematography of the film really captures the time period for which the film takes place. It is pretty well known that Franco is a hard-working actor who is willing to take risks. Just like the characters which he likes to portray, it's no mystery that that Franco is an eccentric person himself; but, that is what makes him stand out from the rest of the Hollywood crowd.
Directed by: Marc Forster
Starring: Gerard Butler, Michelle Monaghan, Michael Shannon
Machine Gun Preacher is a biopic about a man named Sam Childers (Gerard Butler.) Once a drug-dealing outlaw biker who spent years in prison, Sam finds God and turns his life around. Actually, saying that he turned his life around would be an understatement. Using his carpentry skills, Sam forms a construction company. He uses his construction company to build a church in his community for people like him who want to better their lives; Sam unintentionally becomes the Pastor of the church. On a church mission to Africa, Sam learns of the horrors brought on the people of Northern Uganda and Southern Sudan by Joseph Kony and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA.) Vowing to make a difference, Sam uses his construction resources and his own money to finance and build an orphanage in a remote area of Southern Sudan. The moniker of "Machine Gun Preacher" is given to Sam as he also grabs an AK-47 and joins the Sudanese People's Liberation Army to fight the enemy and help free child slaves from the grips of Joseph Kony.
Director Mark Forster, known for powerful films like Monster's Ball (2001) and The Kite Runner (2007), tells a compelling story about one man's impact on a nation. The narrative of the film does not over indulge in the (real-life) violence of the matter, but keeps the viewer interested in the plot by revealing a real-life issue that is drastically affecting the world we live in. Instead of over-emphasizing on the "preaching" of Sam's religious sermons, Gerard Butler instead focuses his character on a man who wants to make the world he lives in a better place because he believes it is his purpose in life and God's will.
With the exception of a few character's such as Sam's mother, Daisy (Kathy Baker), his wife, Lynn (stoically played by Michelle Monaghan), and his drugged-out best friend, Donnie (Michael Shannon), this film features a relatively unknown cast; however, the acting of all parties involved is spectacular. After starring in romantic-comedy flops like The Ugly Truth (2009) and The Bounty Hunter (2010), Gerard Butler has redeemed himself as the rough-and-tumble action star that he was born to play.
