Seven Psychopaths

Seven Psychopaths - Dir. Martin McDonagh (2012)

Irish playwright Martin McDonagh garnered critical acclaim for his feature film debut, In Bruges, which was one of my favorite films of 2008. It also marked a career best performance from Colin Farrell. In Bruges was a dark comedy about two hitmen hiding out in Belgium that could best be described as Tarantino crossed with Fellini. McDonagh’s sophomore is more like Tarantino meets Charlie Kaufman, a violent comedy titled Seven Psychopaths.

Farrell plays Marty, a struggling alcoholic screenwriter, as if there is any other kind. He’s working on a screenplay for a movie called Seven Psychopaths. All he has is the title and stories about two psychopaths. One is a Quaker exacting his own unique brand of justice against his daughter’s murderer and one about a former Viet Cong on a mission of revenge for the My Lai Massacre. Marty’s best friend is Billy Bickle (Sam Rockwell), an aspiring actor. When he’s not punching out directors at auditions, Billy runs a dognapping operation with Hans (Christopher Walken), an elderly eccentric, who dutifully visits his wife at the cancer ward.

One day, Billy kidnaps a little Shih Tzu named Bonny, who belongs to a volatile gangster named Charlie Costello. He’ll do everything necessary to get his beloved dog back including shooting Precious (Gabourey Sidibe) in the face.

Seven Psychopaths unfolds through a twisting meta-textual narrative. It’s no coincidence that a movie starring an Irish screenwriter was written and directed by one too. Throughout the film, McDonagh comments on his own work while also lampooning Hollywood conventions. The unsophisticated Billy thinks Marty’s script would be improved by an over-the-top climatic shootout, which leads to a wild fantasy with double fisted gunplay and heads literally exploding upon the impact of a single bullet. But, Marty wants to make something deeper without all the mindless violence. Yet, the movie does end with a final shootout though it doesn’t go as Billy imagined. For the most part, McDonagh successfully has his cake and eats it too though it doesn’t work when it comes to the women in Seven Psychopaths. Hans chastises Marty for his poorly written female characters, a critique levied on McDonagh, one that is certainly valid here.  Though Olga Kurylenko and Abbie Cornish are featured prominently, they get barely a handful of lines. The latter randomly shows up in wet t-shirt. While that scene is meant to represent Billy’s adolescent indulgences, does calling attention to his underrepresentation of women really excuse it? The one actress who does get any sort of meaty role is Linda Bright Clay as Hans’s wife, Myra, though she’s mainly there to be put into peril in order to spur on her husband.

This is clearly a guy’s movie and the men of Seven Psychopaths are wildly entertaining. Farrell mostly plays the straight man to the zany characters around him. Rockwell is hilarious as the off-kilter ringleader while Christopher Walken gets one of his most Christopher Walken-y roles to date. Yes, he’s weird and menacing, but Walken is the heart of the movie with a tenderness that you don’t expect from the King of New York. Woody Harrelson is terrific as the unhinged Charlie Costello, plus he has noted character actors Kevin Corrigan and Zeljko Ivanec as his henchmen.

The real star of Seven Psychopaths is McDonagh’s dialogue that sparkles off the page and energizes the interactions between his characters. McDonagh tackles his words with a stylish flair in the vein of Tarantino and Mamet. The picture sets it all up in the opening sequence with a pair of loquacious hitmen (Michael Pitt and Michael Stuhlbarg) discussing their jobs and John Dillinger before a sudden and deadly exclamation point. The dialogue helps to take your mind off the fact that McDonagh is stuffed his film to the gills with a myriad of sub-plots such as a masked vigilante known as the Jack of Diamonds. One of the most intriguing asides belongs to Tom Waits as a mysterious rabbit owner, who tells Marty his past as a serial killer who targeted other serial killers.

Seven Psychopaths could also be called Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Adaptations. It’s a messy comedy that manages to come together thanks to a talented ensemble and well-written dialogue.

Rating: *** (*****)

The Next Three Days

In Conviction, Hilary Swank plays a mother of two who puts herself through college and law school in order to free her brother after he is wrongly convicted of first degree murder. Russell Crowe, however, is no Hilary Swank. He's Russell Crowe after all and he doesn't have time for any of that fancy book learning. When his wife is sentenced to life in prison, he decides to bust her ass out in The Next Three Days.

Crowe is John Brennan, an English teacher who spends his days lecturing to community college students about Don Quixote. Brennan finds himself in his own Quixotic quest when his wife, Lara (Elizabeth Banks, is arrested during family breakfast time for the murder of her boss. The circumstantial evidence is pretty damning. Lara had an argument with her boss earlier in the day. Her fingerprints are on the murder weapon and blood from the victim was found on her coat. John is thoroughly convinced of Lara's innocence, but their options dwindle as years pass and the appeals process goes nowhere.

John consults with an ex-con (Liam Neeson in a one scene cameo) who literally wrote the book on prison breaks. This formerly unassuming teacher sets in motion an intricate plan to free his wife and escape the country before authorities lock down the city. The ticking clock that gives the film its title kicks when John learns that Lara will be transferred from county jail to a maximum security penitentiary upstate.

The Next Three Days has good moments and weak moments. If you saw Crash, you know that Paul Haggis is not a subtle filmmaker. He's downright blunt and wants to spell everything out for the audience. That trait is evident with the running time of his latest picture. Next Three Days was based on a 2007 French film entitled Pour Elle, which was 96 minutes long. Haggis's version clocks in at over two hours. The movie chugs along at a lethargic pace as we watch the emotional toll that Lara's imprisonment has taken on her husband and young son.

While the dour emotional scenes drag on, the portions that focus on the actual jailbreak are riveting. Yes, they are a bit preposterous and Haggis tends to rely too much on convenient coincidences, but they are riveting. As a law-abiding Joe Average, John must find ways to gather enough cash to live on the run as well as acquire fake IDs. His nocturnal trips to the wrong part of town are tense as is a sequence where John tries out a homemade skeleton key during a visit to his wife. How he learned to make one seems simple enough. He saw it on YouTube. John also learns how to break into a car using only a tennis ball. There's more to the internet than just porn.

Crowe doesn't quite pull off the role of the unassuming school teacher, but he does excel at being gruff and brooding. There's not a lot of chemistry between he and Elizabeth Banks who still looks beautiful while trying to be haggard.

The Next Three Days could have used some judicious editing to tighten the pace and cut the fat. After the mediocrity of the first two acts, the film concludes with a thrilling climax as the prison escape finally happens. That itself might make the movie worthy of a rental.

Rating: ** (*****)

Unstoppable

Unstoppable - Dir. Tony Scott (2010)

"This is Will Coulson, your conductor, we're gonna run this bitch down."

Unstoppable marks the fifth collaboration between Tony Scott and Denzel Washington as well as the second time in a row the pair get to play with trains. Their working relationship has yielded some good (Man on Fire) and some bad (Déjà Vu). You can count Unstoppable as one of the good. It's a slick flick powered with enough blue-collar testosterone to keep an entire fleet of Amtrak locomotives running.

Loosely based on actual events, Unstoppable features Washington as veteran rail man, Frank Barnes, who is in charge of training new conductor, Will Coulson (Chris Pine). Barnes isn't thrilled because this snot-nosed kid is taking a job away from another old timer like himself. Coulson doesn't endear himself after making a series of mistakes on his first day behind the wheel. Meanwhile, someone else has made a mistake far worse. In a hurry to go to lunch, a slack-jawed goof by the name of Dewey (Ethan Suplee) steps out of the cab to switch tracks and accidentally leaves his train under power. Hey, that's what you get for putting Willem from Mallrats in charge. I mean, the guy couldn't even see the sailboat in that picture.

The runaway train begins picking up speed sending the railroad company into a tizzy to regain control. The train not only carries a large amount of diesel fuel, but several cars of toxic chemicals. It's also heading into heavily populated areas. Not to mention there's a dead man's curve ahead that's directly above a fuel depot. Oh, and a train full of elementary school students on a field trip is traveling on a collision course. Barnes and Coulson take it upon themselves to gun their locomotive in reverse in the hopes of catching up to the train and slowing it down.

Is it a little ludicrous? No, it's plenty ludicrous. Unstoppable is everything it's advertised to be, unapologetic schlock. This is a fast-paced action movie full of energy and white-knuckle tension. Yes, we know the heroes will eventually succeed, but the film keeps you on the edge of your seat and gripping your armrests. Credit should go to a surprisingly restrained Tony Scott. He and older brother Ridley Scott could mount a big-budget blockbuster in their sleep. While Ridley has dipped his feet in various genres like sci-fi (Alien, Blade Runner) and even romantic comedy (A Good Year), Tony has stuck with high-octane popcorn pictures. Over the years, he has relied heavily on saturated images, flashy camera tricks, and frenzied editing over solid storytelling. Here, Tony Scott takes a step back and allows the audience to focus solely on the story.

Any other credit goes to the lead actors who carry the movie on their hefty shoulders. Chris Pine brings some of that Captain Kirk bravado with him and he needs all of it to prevent being swallowed whole by Mr. Denzel Washington. Seriously, Denzel is simply Denzel. He has such a tremendous on-screen presence that he transcends whatever character he is playing. Barnes and Coulson have your standard buddy relationship. The former is the hard-nosed lifer and the latter is the brash rookie. There's not much more to it than that, but Washington and Pine absolutely make it work. Screenwriter Mark Bomback gives each man a perfunctory backstory. Coulson struggles with marital troubles while Barnes is a widower raising two young daughters who work at Hooters. Of course, we get shots of them in their orange shorts and tight tank tops to keep the film from turning into a complete sausage fest. They are definitely a welcome sight from all the shots of pulsating trains thrusting about and decimating anything within their path.

Speaking of which, the only female role of note is Rosario Dawson as Connie Hooper, the company's yardmaster. Much like Washington in The Taking of Pelham 123, she's in charge of coordinating the trains and directing traffic. I doubt there are many yardmasters who look like Rosario Dawson, but who's going to complain? Dawson does her best with an underwritten part that mostly calls for her to spout explanatory dialogue like, "…we're talking about a missile the size of the Chrysler Building."

Unstoppable serves as something of a love letter to the working class man. Scott and Bomback touch upon the current economic state and how it has affected those who have served as the backbone of the nation. It's not surprising that the film is set in Pennsylvania, home of the founding fathers along with the steel industry and Pennsylvania Railroad, once one of the largest companies in the world. How apropos that the main antagonist is Kevin Dunn as a railroad executive who is worried more about stockholders and the bottom line than with people's lives.

However, don't mistake Unstoppable for anything resembling a thinking man's film. It's a cinematic adrenaline rush for the action junkie.

Rating: *** (*****)

Please Give

Please Give - Dir. Nicole Holofcener (2010)

Independent filmmaker Nicole Holofcener crafts interesting, three-dimensional roles for women and has a strong ear for believable dialogue. This has been evident in her three previous films - Walking and Talking, Lovely & Amazing, and Friends with Money. If you were to find flaw in her work, it would be that Holofcener tends to focus on women of privilege who some may find hard to sympathize with. That's certainly the case with her newest film, Please Give, a story about bourgeois New Yorkers and the liberal guilt that comes with their lifestyle.

Please Give starts with an unconventional opening montage featuring a series of breasts being laid out for their mammograms. These aren't the firm, silicone enhanced type you'd find in Playboy. These breasts come in all shapes and sizes, big or small and young or saggy. Catherine Keener, a frequent star of Holofcener's, plays Cathy who runs a vintage furniture store with her husband, Alex (Oliver Platt). They purchase their inventory from the children of the recently deceased who are generally too distraught or ambivalent to care where their parents' things go. Cathy's teenage daughter, Abby (Sarah Steele), struggles with insecurities about her body image and the onset of acne.

Cathy and Alex live next door to the 91-year old Andra (Ann Morgan Guilbert), a crotchety grandmother who finds fault in everyone and everything. Cathy and Alex have already purchased her apartment and will annex it upon her death. Andra is cared for by granddaughter, Rebecca (Rebecca Hall), the mammogram technician handling the breasts seen earlier. She's dutiful in performing chores for her grandma. Rebecca fetches her medication, buys her groceries, and does all the laundry, even if Andra isn't very grateful. Rebecca's sister, Mary (Amanda Peet), is a well-tanned and irresponsible spa worker. She doesn't share the same tolerance for granny as Rebecca and is quite tactless about her forthcoming death.

Cathy feels guilty for profiting off the death of others. She attempts to assuage those feelings through volunteer work and giving money and leftovers to the homeless. Abby is appalled that her mom won't buy her those $200 designer jeans she wants while having on problem handing a twenty to the bum they always pass on the streets.

As a character study of upper-middle class New Yorkers, Please Give has a distinct Woody Allen feel to it. There's no driving plot to the film instead, Holofcener gives us a slice of life affair, dropping us right into their everyday routine. She also imbues her film with a restrained sense of humor. The acting is strong, especially from Keener and Guilbert. What holds back the movie is your level of empathy for its characters. It's hard to identify with whiny, insecure people when they are well off and their main problems involve how to decorate their big-ass apartment.

Rating: ** ½

Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist - Dir. Peter Sollett (2008)

Michael Cera and Kat Dennings bum around NYC looking for love and music.

Cera continues to milk his awkward teen in a hoodie gimmick in yet another teen comedy. Not as witty as Juno or outrageous as Superbad, Infinite Playlist is a saccharinely sweet love story that rambles along until a less than satisfying conclusion. The script juggles two major plot lines between Nick, Norah, and their respective exes along with a more entertaining subplot involving Norah’s drunken best friend lost in the city. And it’s all set to a soundtrack that came right out of your standard hipster’s iPod Nano.

Kat Dennings is going to give Ellen Page a run for her money as the young, sardonic it girl while Jay Baruchel makes a 180 turn from his usual gangly dweeb roles for a role as a sleazy dweeb.

Infinite Playlist is Before Sunset for the Juno generation. It tries hard to capture the spirit of the 80’s classics of John Hughes, but I doubt it will be remembered as fondly in twenty years time.

Rating: **