Movie Review: Rumor Has It... (2005)

Genre: Dramedy  

Director: Rob Reiner  

Starring: Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Costner, Mark Ruffalo, Shirley MacLaine, Richard Jenkins, Mena Suvari  

Running Time: 96 minutes  

Synopsis: Sarah (Jennifer Aniston) is having second thoughts about her engagement to Jeff (Mark Ruffalo). They travel to Pasadena to attend the wedding of her sister Annie (Mena Suvari), and the family gathering reminds Sarah she is a misfit and has nothing in common with her father Earl (Richard Jenkins). Then Sarah starts piecing together clues suggesting her grandmother Katherine (Shirley MacLaine) was the inspiration for Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate, and she tracks down Beau Burroughs (Kevin Costner), the potential real-life Benjamin Braddock.

What Works Well: This is an engaging-enough hybrid comedy-drama-romance about family secrets, fitting-in, flexible definitions of love, the enduring across-the-years bond between mother and daughter, and grey zones between fact and fiction. Jennifer Aniston capably carries the load as Sarah is caught in an emotional storm of internal doubt, and she is surrounded by a quality cast with Shirley MacLaine a particular delight. Director Rob Reiner delivers a polished look and brisk pacing.

What Does Not Work As Well: The chemistry-free romance that develops between Sarah and Beau, after she suspects he may be her father, can only be described as icky and made worse by her betrayal of fiancé Jeff. The script frequently lacks zing, exemplified by reaching for an undeserved happy ending while ignoring the bittersweet "now what" uncertainty of The Graduate's resolution.

Key Quote:

Sarah: Maybe every girl in my family has to sleep with you.

Beau: I don't know if they have to, but they certainly have.

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Movie Review: Dragonfly (2002)

Genre: Drama  

Director: Tom Shadyac  

Starring: Kevin Costner, Kathy Bates, Linda Hunt, Susanna Thompson  

Running Time: 104 minutes  

Synopsis: Chicago-area surgeon Dr. Joe Darrow (Kevin Costner) is still grieving the death of his wife Emily (Susanna Thompson). She was a doctor dedicated to field service, and died while pregnant in a South American conflict zone. Emily had a dragonfly birthmark, and Joe starts experiencing supernatural episodes involving dragonflies. He visits the hospital's oncology ward, where two children report encounters with Emily during near-death experiences. Joe's colleague Dr. Dickinson (Ron Rifkin) and neighbour Miriam (Kathy Bates) worry about his mental health as he becomes increasingly certain Emily is sending him an important message.

What Works Well: The sense of mystery wrapped in fantasy, grief, and secrets of the afterlife is compelling. Joe's journey from non-believer in heaven to a forced reckoning with spirituality is careful and deliberate, propelled by deep love and sudden loss. Director Tom Shadyac creates a path filled with quiet and small but telling supernatural moments, none of them obvious but all of them contributing to a mounting sense of intrigue. 

What Does Not Work As Well: The mood is overwhelming morose, and Kevin Costner wallows in Joe's caustic bereavement. The supporting cast is talented but given relatively little to do, to the extent that Joe's pet parrot emerges as the most memorable co-star. The final act changes gears and locations abruptly, swapping subtlety for adventure and abandoning the earned surroundings of Joe's life in favour of a whole different environment.  

Key Quote:

Miriam (to Joe): Take down the vacancy that says "Emily's ghost is welcome here". You got to do the hard stuff. Got to clean out closets and get on with your life without her.



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Movie Review: Criminal (2016)

Genre: Action Thriller  

Director: Ariel Vromen  

Starring: Kevin Costner, Gal Gadot, Gary Oldman, Ryan Reynolds, Tommy Lee Jones  

Running Time: 109 minutes  

Synopsis: In London, CIA Agent Bill Pope (Ryan Reynolds) is the only person who knows the location of a hacker who has seized control of military secrets. When Pope is killed, the CIA's London chief Quaker Wells (Gary Oldman) authorizes Dr. Franks (Tommy Lee Jones) to transplant Pope's memories into the brain of hardened criminal Jerico (Kevin Costner). Jerico has to grapple with Pope's recollections intruding on his consciousness as he meets Pope's wife Jill (Gal Gadot) and tangles with evil anarchist Xavier Heimdahl, who is also eager to find the hacker. 

What Works Well: This B-movie enjoys an A-list cast, and although the contributions of Tommy Lee Jones (wasted) and Ryan Reynolds (dispatched early) are limited, Kevin Costner is given a complex role to navigate. Jerico starts out as an empathy-free convict (the result of childhood abuse), but the insertion of another man's thoughts awakens him to a new world of emotions, and his quiet interactions with Gal Gadot yield the best moments. Elsewhere director Ariel Vromen keeps the pacing brisk and the action scenes coherent.

What Does Not Work As Well: The premise is built on not one but two far-fetched ideas: memory transplants and a hacker gaining full control of a superpower's military capabilities through a dark web "wormhole". From there the action layers on enough improbabilities and logic gaps to sink a fleet. Gary Oldman fares worst among the many stars on display, flailing his arms and foaming at the mouth as his character makes one bad decision after another.

Conclusion: The polished veneer activates brainless enjoyment.

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Movie Review: No Way Out (1987)

Genre: Thriller  

Director: Roger Donaldson  

Starring: Kevin Costner, Gene Hackman, Sean Young, Will Patton  

Running Time: 114 minutes  

Synopsis: In Washington DC, the US Navy's Lieutenant Commander Tom Farrell (Kevin Costner) is selected for an intelligence assignment by Secretary of Defense David Brice (Gene Hackman). Tom also starts an affair with socialite Susan Atwell (Sean Young), who happens to be Brice's mistress. In a fit of jealousy, Brice accidently kills Susan. His chief assistant Scott Pritchard (Will Patton) concocts a cover-up plan to blame Susan's death on non-existent Soviet spy Yuri. But Tom knows what really happened, and has to prove the truth before he himself gets implicated.

What Works Well: This is a slick thriller combining Cold War intrigue, inter-governmental political machinations, lust, romance, and scandal. Robert Garland's screenplay updates the 1946 novel The Big Clock (by Kenneth Fearing), and director Roger Donaldson keeps the pacing brisk and the tension at elevated levels, mixing cocktail parties for the Washington DC elites with backroom plotting and the occasional chase scene. In a star-making role, Kevin Costner oozes confident charisma as the Navy lieutenant sliding into unexpected convolutions at the Pentagon and in his personal life, while Sean Young adds allure. The final controversial twist demonstrates brain-scratching courage. 

What Does Not Work As Well: Starting with the hastily conceived distraction story to chase invisible spy Yuri, the second half plot holes start to consume all logic, culminating in ridiculous actions including defence officials planting evidence in computer systems and allowing a couple of unscreened civilians full access to every room in the Pentagon (the largest building in the world). The notable dip in quality coincides with Gene Hackman being sidelined into a bystander.

Conclusion: Sparkling with talent and enthusiasm, but perforated by sloppy conveniences.



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Movie Review: The Bodyguard (1992)

A woman-in-danger thriller and romance, The Bodyguard enjoys megawatt star power but suffers from sloppy plotting.

Ex-Secret Service agent and now private bodyguard Frank Farmer (Kevin Costner) is considered the best in the business. He reluctantly agrees to provide protection to superstar chanteuse and movie actress Rachel Marron (Whitney Houston), who is receiving death threats. Frank finds Rachel's life chaotic and security lax, and proceeds to add cameras and fencing at her estate. He also meets Rachel's young son Fletcher and sister Nicki, publicist Sy (Gary Kemp), long-term manager Devaney (Bill Cobbs), burly bodyguard Tony (Mike Starr), and chauffeur Henry.

Rachel and Frank are initially hostile to each other, but she initiates a seduction and they sleep together, disrupting his job focus. As the death threats continue and turn to acts of violence, Rachel is nominated for an Oscar, and Frank has to sort out friend from foe with the lavish Academy Awards ceremony approaching.

The teaming of hot Hollywood star Kevin Costner with music charts diva Whitney Houston ensures bedazzlement. Costner effectively delivers his stoic quiet-man-with-a-past persona (Frank blames himself a bit for failing to prevent the Reagan shooting). In her film debut Houston is a hesitant actress, but deploys her extraordinary voice to belt out hits like I Have Nothing (used as a slogan by Rachel's predator), thumping dance tune Queen of the Night, I'm Every Woman, Run to You, and the eternal I Will Always Love You. To director Mick Jackson's credit, the songs are used judiciously and don't interfere with the flow.

Lawrence Kasdan's script has just enough fragments of interest to build momentum, but Jackson does struggle to justify the 129 minutes of running time. The chemistry between Costner and Houston is tepid at best, not helped by an emotionally psychotic romance scripted to switch between mushiness and hostility every 15 minutes. An interlude in the country at the cottage of Frank's father manages to be obtrusive, incongruous, and incoherent, backfiring in all sorts of nonsensical directions.

Kasdan does capture the chaos of a music star's life and surrounds Rachel with a long list of jealous or conceited suspects, encouraging a guess-the-villain game. The reveals take too long to arrive within a bad combination of blurted confession and faceless depravity, although a suitably chaotic final act at the Academy Awards ceremony injects frazzled energy. The Bodyguard brings out the big guns, but demonstrates wayward aim.



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Movie Review: Thirteen Days (2000)

A Cold War political drama, Thirteen Days recreates events at the White House during the Cuban Missiles Crisis. 

In October 1962, US aerial spy photographs reveal new Soviet nuclear missile bases under construction in Cuba. Special Assistant to the President Kenneth O'Donnell (Kevin Costner) is a witness as President John F. Kennedy (Bruce Greenwood) and his brother Attorney General Robert Kennedy (Steven Culp) assess the situation with military and political advisors. They determine the missiles are an existential threat and have to be removed within days, before they become operational.

With the Soviets denying the existence of the bases, American military commanders argue for aerial bombing followed by an invasion of Cuba. The Kennedys recognize forceful action could lead to a global nuclear war. Other administration officials, including Defense Secretary Robert McNamara (Dylan Baker) and Ambassador to the United Nations Adlai Stevenson (Michael Fairman) propose more considered options, including a blockade of Cuba and trading the removal of US missiles in Turkey. With the world marching towards devastation, President Kennedy has to make the toughest decisions of his life.

The Americans and the Soviets pulled back from the brink of a nuclear war in October of 1962, and so the ending of Thirteen Days is a matter of well-known historical fact. Which makes the film quite remarkable: director Roger Donaldson and writer David Self create a tense, almost terrifying drama, capturing the shadow of war creeping over the world, uncertainty, misinformation, clashing agendas, and miscommunication adding to the immense weight of minute-by-minute decision-making at the highest levels of government.

The movie is based on the 1997 book The Kennedy Tapes by Ernest R. May, and Philip D. Zelikow. Donaldson avoids stage confines by jumping frequently to the seas and skies around Cuba, inserting plenty of b-roll showing military hardware flexing, and taking side-trips to the United Nations. But Thirteen Days finds a home at the White House, and by focussing on the inner sanctum of American power, the film deepens the focus on the Kennedys: what they knew, when they knew it, and their ever shifting calculus. 

The scenes of O'Donnell's home life and his interactions with military men conducting surveillance of Cuba are clumsy and an overall bad fit. But the White House events are presented through his eyes, and while his role may have been exaggerated, he does provide an accessible entry point. Through the long 145 minutes of running time, the President and his brother encounter doubt and second-guessing, moments of uncertainty haunting them as they grapple with the enormity of the crisis. But they are also portrayed as beacons of good, Donaldson and Self parking their loyalties firmly with the President and portraying him as walking the finest of thin lines through the maze of bad options.

The revelations of internal differences of opinion elevate the drama. The military leaders are hawkish and itching to start a war; they are also borderline dismissive of the President and seek to circumnavigate his orders. Diplomats like Stevenson are dovish and looking for points of negotiation, but also potentially dangerously meek. A range of well-expressed viewpoints is exactly what a President needs, and Thirteen Days elegantly places the Kennedys in the eye of the storm, as the unpredictable winds of war swirl.



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Movie Review: Let Him Go (2020)

A rural drama with tense moments of violence, Let Him Go is a story of long-lasting love accommodating obstinacy.

It's the early 1960s in rural Montana. Margaret and George Blackledge (Diane Lane and Kevin Costner) have been married for a long time, and run a ranch together. She is an expert at breaking horses, and George is a retired lawman. Their son James and his wife Lorna (Kayli Carter) have a young son Jimmy. The strong-willed Margaret is overbearing towards Lorna but dotes over her grandson.

An accident claims the life of James, and Lorna quickly remarries Donnie Weboy (Will Brittain). Margaret witnesses Donnie mistreating his new wife and step-son, and is then heartbroken when Donnie, Lorna and Jimmy suddenly leave town without a goodbye. She senses Jimmy is in danger and convinces a reluctant George to join her on a road trip to North Dakota, where Donnie's family comes from, to rescue the child. As they get closer to Gladstone, Margaret and George learn the Weboy family has a fearsome reputation, and reclaiming Jimmy will not be easy.

Written and directed by Thomas Bezucha, Let Him Go has plenty to enjoy, starting with the cast. Kevin Costner and Diane Lane settle into a spiritual level of marital comfort with professional ease, the two veterans forging the genuine dynamic of a couple together for a long time and keenly aware of the union's strengths and weaknesses. They are complemented by gorgeous cinematography courtesy of Guy Godfree, measured and character-defined pacing, and a sense of impending doom as Margaret and George get closer to the isolated Weboy homestead.

The narrative is propelled by the spectre of death and loss as a normalized part of Margaret's uncompromising determination to do what she believes is right, and in the way she believes is right. And so the same grandma-bear attitude that alienated Lorna comes to the fore in an increasingly dangerous mission into the soul of darkness to rescue her grandson. Margaret's true inner strength is mostly revealed through George's mirror as a husband filled with admiration for his wife's feistiness but also keenly aware of the trouble she can bring upon them.

Let Him Go starts to run into trouble once the extended Weboy family is introduced. Here Bezucha veers towards gargoylian representations of an evil redneck clan more befitting a slasher horror flick. With Lesley Manville holding court as the queen hornet, brutality is unleashed, rubbing awkwardly against the pre-established mood of dramatic lyricism.

Better intentions reside within the character of Peter Dragswolf (Booboo Stewart), an Indigenous man the Blackledges meet and befriend on the road to North Dakota. Peter has a personal story of loss, solitude, and a self-defined fresh start, reflecting some of what Margaret is experiencing. He deserved a larger share of the 114 minutes of running time.

Despite some unbalanced ambitions, Let Him Go reveals the deep roots of courage, conviction, and compromise nurturing a sturdy human bond.



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Movie Review: The Highwaymen (2019)

A chase drama and thriller, The Highwaymen follows two enforcement officers recruited to stop the carnage caused by Bonnie and Clyde. The film is patient, rich with details, and infused with grizzled humanity.

It's 1934 in Texas, and violent criminals Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker are folk heroes. After the pair embarrass Governor Miriam "Ma" Ferguson (Kathy Bates) by orchestrating a prison break, she reluctantly agrees to call upon retired Texas Ranger Frank Hamer (Kevin Costner) to hunt down the couple. He teams up with his ex-partner Maney Gault (Woody Harrelson) and despite advancing years and limited physical abilities they hit the road to try and intercept the elusive outlaw couple.

Working on the theory that criminals always go home, Hamer and Maney focus on the Dallas area, but the locals are protective of the famous couple and close ranks. Bonnie and Clyde's killing spree continues, with several police officers murdered and the FBI helpless. Hamer and Maney maintain a dogged pursuit and cross into neighbouring Oklahoma then Louisiana, and gradually gather enough clues to close-in on their targets.

An essential antidote to the romanticism of Bonnie And Clyde (1967), The Highwaymen is the other side of the story. Here the criminals are infrequently spotted bloodthirsty killers, ambushing and murdering police officers for fun, including Bonnie applying the final shotgun blast to the head of already fallen men. The John Fusco script demonstrates no sympathy towards any societal or economic justifications. Clyde's father (William Sadler) gets one long scene to try and explain his son's actions, and is summarily deflated by Hamer.

As for the folk hero status of the two murderers, The Highwaymen adopts an exasperated shake-of-the-head stance. For deep-seated reasons, this is a society that venerates anti-authoritarianism. Men like Frank Hamer and Maney Gault can do little other than bypass the nausea and get on with the job. 

And so director John Lee Hancock settles down to tell the story of two former Texas Rangers, themselves no strangers to bloodletting. They carry deep emotional scars, and at the start of the movie are hiding behind domesticity (Hamer is more successful) to bury the pain. Through Department of Corrections Chief Lee Simmons (John Carroll Lynch), the state calls upon them to unretire and sanctions two more killings.

Hamer and Maney are old, unable to run after suspects, and well past their sharp shooting days. What they do have is guile and experience, and gradually they recreate their partnership dynamic and make progress. Their quest is long, mistakes are made, and more people die. Through a draggy middle act, Hancock struggles to justify 132 minutes of running time, although the stark vistas of Texas and a landscape dotted with ramshackle depression-era migrant camps offer good visuals.

The two veteran actors help ride out the slow patches, the pauses for reflection well-paced to add texture without interrupting flow. Harrelson and Costner both co-produced and equally invest in their roles, Harrelson as Maney in particular showcasing a maturity to now discern the thin margins between right and wrong. 

The Highwaymen are destined to arrive at a well-known and culturally iconic climax. The joy is in the journey, and two seasoned experts ensure a worthwhile drive.



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Movie Review: Tin Cup (1996)

A sports romance and comedy, Tin Cup does not lack charm but struggles to justify itself.

In West Texas, Roy "Tin Cup" McAvoy (Kevin Costner) runs a ramshackle golf driving range with his friend Romeo (Cheech Marin). In his college years, Roy and his friend and rival David Simms (Don Johnson) both showed great promise on the golf course. Simms is now a star on the PGA tour, while Roy never tamed his aggressive play with the necessary discipline to compete.

Simms and his girlfriend Dr. Molly Griswold (Rene Russo), a psychologist, show up at the driving range and old rivalries are rekindled. Simms convinces Roy to be his caddie for a charity tournament, an experience that ends badly, while a mutual attraction develops between Roy and Molly. To prove himself worthy of her love, he decides to enter the U.S. Open.

A bloated exercise in celebrating a maverick character, Tin Cup attempts to recreate the vibe of Bull Durham. Director and co-writer Ron Shelton re-teams with star Kevin Costner, and the setting switches from baseball backwaters to golf hinterlands. This is a retread with less interesting characters who really don't deserve the attention, the seams showing in a patched-up attempt to remix an old formula at an inexcusable length of 134 minutes.

For a movie about golf, there is too much golf. The final chapter is an endless recreation of Roy's US Open run, passing through all the regional qualification tournaments, and the pacing starts to resemble a long night of tedium watching the Golf Channel with no off button on the remote. An unknown's Quixotic quest to win a major tournament carries traditional underdog appeal, but it's still a relief when the William Ross music soars to predictable levels of nauseous melodrama to celebrate a heroic inability to compromise principles.

Nuggets of enjoyment do rescue a basic level of watchability. Kevin Costner admirably invests in a man content with his chosen lot in life, a living example that raw talent alone is far from a sufficient condition for success. The west Texas desert milieu provides a beautifully desolate backdrop to a proud life happily wasted, and Don Johnson is quite good as the suitably smarmy but still quite clever counterpoint.

Rene Russo struggles with the underwritten and frequently unconvincing role of Molly - for a doctor she is none too clever and quickly falls for the charms of a flawed man - but nevertheless provides some comic relief and the occasional spark. Cheech Marin is a classic sidekick, equally entranced and frustrated by his hero.

Despite a wild swing aiming for old glories, Tin Cup settles for a middling round.



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Movie Review: Waterworld (1995)

A post-apocalyptic epic survival adventure, Waterworld is ambitious but also derivative and bloated.

In the future, the ice caps have melted and all the continents are submerged. Survivors drift in ramshackle sailboats or congregate in rudimentary floating atolls, distrustfully trading for scarce resources and searching for the legendary Dryland. The Mariner (Kevin Costner) traverses the oceans in his customized sailboat, and with webbed feet and gills developing behind his ears, he is evolving into a human/fish hybrid. He sails into an atoll to trade, but is treated with hostility due to his mutations. 

When the atoll is attacked by Smokers led by the Deacon (Dennis Hopper), the Mariner escapes and rescues Helen (Jeanne Tripplehorn) and the child Enola, who has a tattoo on her back that may denote Dryland's coordinates. The Mariner is not used to having company and resents the presence of strangers on his boat. The Deacon and his band of goons are in hot pursuit, intent on seizing Enola. The Mariner eventually grows fond of his guests, then has to protect them against the Deacon's attacks as he becomes a reluctant participant in the quest for Dryland.

Essentially a wet version of Mad Max 2, Waterworld was a troubled and over-budget production, with director Kevin Reynolds navigating the adversity (including hurricanes) of filming on open water off the coast of Hawaii. Notwithstanding the familiarity of the material, the outcome is passable. Character definitions and evolutions vary between limited and non-existent and the dialogue is more often than not simply cringey. But the scope is impressive, the representation of civilization's remnants struggling to stay afloat is imaginative, and the action scenes are engaging enough.

The highlights include the Smokers' attack on the atoll, a float plane versus sailboat duel, and a deep underwater dive to demonstrate water's dominance. Despite regular injections of energy, at 135 minutes the pacing is uneven. Reynolds struggles to find the line where enough is enough, slapping on unnecessary prolongations for yet another stunt shot.

As lead protagonist, Kevin Costner's Mariner says few words and is mostly just angry whenever he needs to interact with humans. His brooding presence is suitably larger than life, but his lack of empathy persists deep into the story and creates an emotional void. Dennis Hopper as the Deacon overcompensates, his over-the-top villainous performance dangerously close to dredging up bad vibes from Dune. Jeanne Tripplehorn stays close to a single stance of frustrated determination.

The script (by Peter Rader and David Twohy) does not explain why the polar ice caps melted, but a raucous near-finale on board none other than the floating Exxon Valdez is a non-too-subtle hint. It may be soggy, but Waterworld does see the horizon.



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Movie Review: Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014)

A spy action thriller, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit is competently predictable. A good cast and surface gloss only partially obscure the inherent lack of creativity.

College student Jack Ryan (Chris Pine) is working towards an economics degree when terrorists attack the US on September 11, 2001. He enlists and serves in Afghanistan, where he is severely wounded in a helicopter crash. Back in the US, medical student Cathy Muller (Keira Knightley) helps in his rehabilitation, and they fall in love. The CIA's Thomas Harper (Kevin Costner) recruits Jack as an undercover financial analyst to trace terrorist funding sources.

Ten years later, Jack is living with Cathy but his secretive activities strain their relationship. After Russia loses a key United Nations vote, Jack uncovers shady financial transactions linked to the conglomerate headed by oligarch Viktor Cherevin (Kenneth Branagh). He travels to Moscow and concludes Cherevin is plotting a terrorist attack followed by a massive dollar sell-off to cripple the US economy. With Cathy unexpectedly showing up in Moscow and assassins already on his trail, Jack has his hands full.

An attempted re-boot of the Tom Clancy-created Jack Ryan franchise with Pine stepping into the role previously occupied by Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, and Ben Affleck, Shadow Recruit is merely serviceable. Kenneth Branagh directs (in addition to playing Cherevin) and provides a polished, often glistening aesthetic, but with the Bond, Bourne, and Hunt franchises redefining genre depth and artistry, Shadow Recruit suffers from a nothing-new-here feel and struggles for relevance.

Pine is fine in the role, mixing charisma with determination and flashes of anxiety to capture the psyche of a cerebral analyst thrown into the operational spy theatre's deep end. But he is not helped by a barely-there plot, in which nothing is known about the planned terrorist attack until the final act. The threat to sell dollars on the financial markets is always going to fail the challenge of creating tension from techno-talk and computer screens filled with so much gibberish. Girlfriend Cathy being drafted into a CIA operation at short notice provides further evidence of flaky scripting.

The film's centrepiece is better. Jack, Cathy and Cherevin attend a fancy dinner and engage in a battle of wits, subterfuge and seduction, with Harper orchestrating support from the wings. Here writers Adam Cozad and David Koepp assemble a worthwhile evening, leveraging the tension between Jack and Cathy, east/west cultural rub points, and Cherevin's deep-rooted character traits.

The rest of the action speeds downhill, the usual hostage-taking and frantic car chases leaving no impression. On a plane ride back to the US, Jack, Cathy and Harper plus a small team of analysts fill in the conspiracy gaps on-the-fly (literally), in a scene intended to demonstrate connect-the-dots analytical work but in fact demeaning the process with cinematic shortcuts.

In a movie world where other spies get more elaborate resources, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit has a lot to learn, and not a lot of time to do it.



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Movie Review: Revenge (1990)

A revenge drama and smouldering romance, Revenge never overcomes a bland script and aloof performances.

U.S. Navy pilot Jay Cochran (Kevin Costner) retires after 12 years of service and heads down to Mexico to visit his old friend Tibey Mendez (Anthony Quinn), who lives on a sprawling estate defended by armed guards. Tibey's much younger wife Miryea (Madeleine Stowe) is unhappy in their marriage and immediate sets her eyes on Jay. But Tibey is a ruthless political power-broker and will not tolerate anyone stealing his wife's heart. Nevertheless Jay and Miryea embark on a passionate affair, leading to violence. 

Author Jim Harrison adapted his own novella into a screenplay, and Tony Scott directs with his usual eye for visual flair, but the ponderously-paced Revenge never clicks. The film gets bogged down in endless plastic dialogue between Jay and Miryea, Costner and Stowe trading passive line delivery and blank looks set to sappy music. 

Once Jay and Miryea cross the line from talking to lovemaking, Tibey makes his move to forcibly separate the lovers, triggering a gore-fest. The revenge-most-violent aspects apply equally to Jay and Tibey, as both men are intent on redressing wrongs from their perspective, but all the blood-spilling unfolds with mechanical soullessness. 

The second half grows increasingly disjointed and throws a bewildering array of new characters onto the screen. A caring Mexican and his mother, a traveling Texan, a couple of guys with their own revenge agenda, and Sally Kirkland as the lead singer of a touring heavy metal band (?!) all get a few disconnected scenes, quantity trumping quality as none of them are defined well enough to progress beyond the prop stage.

In contrast to the emotion-challenged Costner and Stowe, Anthony Quinn plays Anthony Quinn, domineering, larger than life, gregarious, sneaking in a dance, and with an eye for the kill when necessary. It's an overly familiar performance but at least full of conviction, and when Quinn disappears for a long stretch, the movie loses charm.

The Mexican setting provides Scott with opportunities to capture vivid colours, gorgeous beaches, romantic sunsets, dusty small towns, dank cantinas and local flavour, and Revenge is never less than pretty to look at. The movie also opens with an irrelevant high-speed interlude as Cochran takes his final flight in a Navy jet fighter against a flaming red-orange sky. The director has an inert revenge drama on his hands, and not surprisingly would rather be somewhere else.



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Movie Review: 3 Days To Kill (2014)

An action thriller combined with a light-hearted family drama, 3 Days To Kill suffers from a significant identity crisis.

Ethan Renner (Kevin Costner) is a CIA operative combating fatigue and a persistent cough, and his mission in Belgrade to terminate the international arms dealers known as Albino and Wolf does not go well. Ethan is then diagnosed with terminal cancer, given months to live and released from duty. He decides to reconnect with his Paris-based estranged family, and reaches out to ex-wife Christine (Connie Nielsen) and teenaged daughter Zooey (Hailee Steinfeld).

But Ethan's attempted return to domestic life is interrupted by the CIA's Vivi (Amber Heard), who entices him back to action by promising an experimental drug that may cure his disease. Vivi is determined to track down Albino and Wolf, and needs Ethan's efficient assassination skills by her side. Ethan juggles his renewed commitment to family life with bouts of surveillance and violence, and tangles with terrorist associate Mitat, a family man who could lead him to the mobsters.

Co-funded by European production money, 3 Days To Kill features the usual collection of vacationing American actors enjoying travelogue-like locales to boost tourism in the old continent. The talent surrounding the project does hold promise, with none other than Luc Besson conceiving the story and co-writing the script, and one-time action movie darling McG accepting directorial duties.

However, the premise is too similar to Besson's Léon: The Professional (1994), except that the budding fatherly relationship between the killer Ethan and his daughter Zooey never comes close to the requisite levels of tenderness. Instead 3 Days To Kill inserts decent action scenes within long stretches of boredom as Ethan plays hapless dad and makes very slow progress towards connecting with Zooey's life.

Elsewhere, flashes of comedy search for their appropriate place between the family drama and the action mayhem, while the quest to liquidate Albino and Wolf takes the far back seat in the family van, lurching forward in awkward bursts as the villains are reduced to props trotted out whenever some shooting is needed.

Kevin Costner and Hailee Steinfeld occupy the centre of the film and ensure a basic level of competence. Connie Nielsen disappears for long stretches, while Amber Heard wanders in as a superhero movie character demonstrating chill abilities to outdrive anyone and arrive at any scene at just the right moment, her icy quips deadlier than any weapon. In her element within all the Euroglitz, Vivi can just about kill with her attitude and shouldn't really need help to eradicate any targets.

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Movie Review: Draft Day (2014)

A sports business drama, Draft Day goes behind the scenes on the day NFL teams choose the next wave of talent.

It's the morning of the 2014 National Football League draft. Sonny Weaver Jr. (Kevin Costner) is the General Manager of the Cleveland Browns, and has recently lost his father, a legendary and beloved former head coach. Sonny is also grappling with the news his girlfriend Ali Parker (Jennifer Garner), the team's salary cap expert, is unexpectedly pregnant.

With the Browns picking seventh and expected to select either linebacker Vontae Mack (Chadwick Boseman) or running back Ray Jennings (Arian Foster), Sonny accepts a trade to move up to the number one pick, giving up many future prospects in return. The Browns are now in a position to draft star college quarterback Bo Callahan (Josh Pence), which pleases team owner Anthony Molina (Frank Langella). But Sonny has misgivings, and asks his scouts to delve deep into Callahan's background. With his every move questioned by prima donna coach Vince Penn (Denis Leary), Sonny's day will feature many more twists and turns as he strives to reshape the team.

Directed by Ivan Reitman, Draft Day is a slick and glitzy look at the management side of professional sports. Undoubtedly constructed to portray NFL corporate life as a dynamic thrill ride, Sonny's day is probably an over-exaggeration of any sort of reality. But the film packs enough content to maintain strong interest for fans of sports business while completely sidestepping the NFL's hot button issues related to on-field concussions and off-field player perpetrated violence.

The plot piles on the hot potatoes on Sonny's plate. Not only did his father just die, but Sonny is also reviled for having had the temerity to fire his own dad a few years earlier. Mom Barb (Ellen Burstyn) shows up at the worst possible moment on draft day, with an urn full of ashes to dispose of. Owner Molina is threatening to fire Sonny unless he delivers a good headline, while coach Penn is strutting around undermining his own General Manager. Even Sonny's assistant is a first-day-on-the-job kid caught in the maelstrom.

And of course Ali is inconveniently pregnant, Sonny is preoccupied instead of thrilled, and their entire affair is the office's most open secret. At least no one brings up the 17 year age difference between Costner and Garner, nor Sonny's quite advanced age to tackle the rigours of first time fatherhood.

Through it all he has to engineer high stakes trades as the clock ticks on. For a drama mostly built on over-the-phone negotiations with other GMs, Reitman does a fine job maintaining plenty of tense energy, deploying fluid split screens to present both sides of every conversation as Sonny weaves a path towards his objectives.

Costner's performance is self contained and stoic, and Garner also adopts a rather cold stance in a male-dominated milieu. The rest of the characters populating the desks, offices and working the phones are barely defined beyond pithy summaries. The young college players at the centre of attention are also stock representations, Callahan the cocky quarterback, Mack the family man, and Jennings full of promise but with a shadow of scandal dimming his potential. 

Draft Day is all about wheeling and dealing under pressure, and picks about as many winners as losers. 

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Movie Review: A Perfect World (1993)

An escaped prisoner chase drama, A Perfect World is an engrossing study of an unlikely surrogate father-son relationship blossoming under the most unlikely circumstances.

The setting is rural Texas on Halloween, 1962. Convicted killers Butch Haynes (Kevin Costner) and Terry Pugh (Keith Szarabajka) break out of prison, seize eight year old boy Philip Perry (T.J. Lowther) hostage, and escape in a stolen car into the sparsely populated countryside. Butch is smooth and cerebral, Pugh is gruff and uncontrollable, and soon they have a showdown. Butch emerges victorious and continues his escape with Philip for company.

Grizzled Texas Ranger Red Garnett (Clint Eastwood) is tasked with tracking down the escapees, and he is unhappy to be joined by criminologist Sally Gerber (Laura Dern) and an FBI sniper (Bradley Whitford). Red commandeers the Governor's high-tech trailer as his command-post-on-wheels for the chase. On the road, Butch and Philip warm up to each other. Both grew up without stable father figures, and Butch revels in playing a protective and fatherly role. Philip starts to enjoy the freedom of being away from his strict Jehovah's Witness mother, but Red will not give up his dogged pursuit.

Directed by Eastwood and written by John Lee Hancock, A Perfect World is a lyrical masterpiece. Featuring some of Costner's best acting work, a robust quest-for-freedom story, and the subtle forging of a man-child bond under duress, the film is a deep breath drawn from the air of making things right under all the wrong conditions. At two hours and twenty minutes, the pace is relaxed, the scenes extended to allow the emotion to seep through the narrative fabric and leave a rich impression.

Eastwood invests deliberate time to bring Butch Haynes to life as a memorably complex cinematic anti-hero. Butch was handed a bum deal early in life, and he made the worst of it, but given an unlikely opportunity to make some amends, he will take his shot to deliver what he never received. He effortlessly slips into the role of father and mentor, teaching, guiding and empowering Philip. Against the wide open Texas backdrops, the intimate scenes between Costner and youngster T. J. Lowther are some of the most affecting and honest screen portrayals of interaction between man and child.

And yet despite revealing the potential for rounded edges, Butch never loses the essence of who he is as a ruthless criminal, and the film wickedly drives to its conclusion about what, exactly, makes for a perfect combination of attributes in the world of men and boys.

The team in pursuit led by Eastwood's Red Garnett offers kinetic energy, internal tension, and no small amount of comic relief, as Philip's would-be rescuers struggle to catch up with Butch's cross-Texas excapade. Garnett is a mature and relatively settled-down version of Dirty Harry transported to rural Texas, while Laura Dern's Sally Gerber is the early-version psychological profiler trying to get into the criminal mind. Sally is obviously the polar opposite of all that Red stands for, and the evolution of their relationship adds an extra dimension to the film.

Expansive in ambition and scope yet affectionate and personal in scale, A Perfect World combines the best of both worlds.

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Movie Review: Molly's Game (2017)

A biography set in the glitzy world of private high stakes poker games, Molly's Game is a remarkable story of a woman navigating her way through money-drenched terrain where celebrities and less savory characters intermingle.

Two years after hosting her last poker game and soon after publishing a book about her unlikely experiences, Molly Brown (Jessica Chastain) is arrested by the FBI for operating illegal gambling tables. She seeks the services of lawyer Charlie Jaffey (Idris Elba), and as she tangles with the legal system her story unfolds in flashback. Born in Colorado and driven hard by her psychologist father Larry (Kevin Costner), Molly was striving for the US Olympic skiing team when a severe crash ended her hopes.

She moved to Los Angeles and through her new employer Dean (Jeremy Strong), a real estate developer, she gets involved in hosting poker games for Hollywood's elites, including a famous actor referred to only as Player X (Michael Cera). Molly learns all she can and gradually establishes a name for herself, keeping the games clean and legal. Eventually she breaks away from Dean and creates her own brand. But a squabble with Player X ends badly, forcing Molly to relocate to New York and start over, this time with higher stakes both at the table and in her private life.

Written and directed by Aaron Sorkin, Molly's Game is a fast-paced trip fuelled on ambition. The film is immersed in the decadent and ultimately barely consequential milieu of wealthy people trading fortunes at the poker table. But Sorkin latches onto the theme of a desire to achieve ignited by broken dreams, and weaves an intriguing narrative around a woman carving her place in a secretive male-dominated world.

Despite the preponderance of players, lawyers, agents and mobsters, Molly Bloom is the one well-rounded character worth caring about in the film. Sorkin draws out plenty of background from her childhood, particularly a difficult relationship with her father who is also a coach, booster and expert on mind games. And within her family Molly struggled to meet expectations, developing a sense of bratty insecurity among high achieving siblings. Molly's accident on the ski hill frames the film, and becomes the catalyst for a woman determined to climb to the top step of whatever podium is available.

At 140 minutes, the film is a good 30 minutes longer than it needed to be for a relatively small story. In his big screen directorial debut Sorkin allows plenty of flab to creep in. Scenes routinely go on longer than they need to, some details about individual poker hands intrude on the narrative, and the editing is lazy. But the dialogue is often crisp, and Molly finds a worthwhile sparring partner in lawyer Charlie Jaffey. His role grows as the film progresses, the lawyer finally figuring out what makes his client tick and placing it into context.

Jessica Chastain dominates the film and brings Molly to life with plenty of energy and occasional hints of vulnerability and loneliness. Idris Elba and Kevin Costner provide steady support. The men around the table, including Player X (allegedly modeled on Tobey Maguire) remain relatively featureless examples of card players succumbing to base masculine competitive instincts and wasting away money, talent, time or all three.

And where men with too much money and power are addicted to foolish pursuits, a smart woman can find her place to shine.

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Movie Review: Hidden Figures (2016)

A feel-good drama recognizing the scientific contributions of three black women, Hidden Figures has an inspirational story to tell but is also packed with over-amplified melodrama.

It's 1961, and three black women work as "computers" on the nascent NASA space program in Virginia. Katherine Goble (Taraji P. Henson) is a mathematical genius whose potential has not yet been recognized; Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) is being held back from a supervisory position she richly deserves, and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe) has ambitions to be an engineer but faces obstacles due to segregation laws. With the Soviet Union comprehensively winning the space race, director of the Space Task Group (STG) Al Harrison (Kevin Costner) and his head engineer Paul Stafford (Jim Parsons) are under increasing pressure to place a man into space.

Katherine is recruited into the STG and starts to prove her worth despite entrenched racist attitudes. Dorothy spots the emergence of computers as a key new technology and takes the initiative to teach herself and her team computer programming. Mary refuses to take no for an answer, and pushes to get accepted into the courses she needs for an engineering degree. As the countdown continues to John Glen's maiden flight, the three women play an increasingly prominent role.

An adaptation of the Margot Lee Shetterly book directed by Theodore Melfi, Hidden Figures shines a light on the previously unheralded contributions of three remarkable women who toiled against both gender and racial discrimination. Their story is irresistibly uplifting, and the film is a celebration of quiet dignity, persistence and strength of character against seemingly impossible odds.

The film does several things well. The challenge of developing the science of safely launching objects and people into orbit is tackled at regular intervals. The language may be simplified, but the hard work of inventing the math of space exploration is captured. And Melfi recreates the cerebral workplaces of the era to good effect. White men in white shirts dominate the hallowed halls of science, a pale background of uniformity against which Katherine, Dorothy and Mary literally stand out as coloured invaders.

But this being Hollywood, Hidden Figures also takes every opportunity to push a quiet story to over-saturated levels. While there is no expectation of documentary-levels of realism, the film ironically cheapens the women's achievements by adding large doses of mediocre mythology. Black women earning respect in a white male dominated world should generate sufficient drama; here the real accomplishments are obscured by superficial incidents of racial discrimination that are either fully made up or over exaggerated.

Melfi, who also co-wrote the film, invests too much time on Katherine running back and forth to the coloured ladies room, a case of first inventing a crisis and then not knowing when to let go. Dorothy's leadership of her team is elevated to a military style, invade-the-computer room heroics. Mary's courtroom highlight scene is another long stretch of the truth. The climax is most egregious, offending the space program with contrived last-minute panics.

The three lead actresses rise above the material and are uniformly excellent, with Taraji P. Henson shining brightest. Kevin Costner is his steady self, while the supporting cast includes telling contributions from Mahershala Ali as Katherine's romantic interest and Kirsten Dunst as a prim supervisor hiding behind passive racist attitudes.

Hidden Figures is stirring story partially compromised by suspect storytelling.

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Movie Review: McFarland (2015)

A feel-good sports drama, McFarland (also known as McFarland, USA) delivers exactly what it promises, and does so with a glossy professionalism.

Jim White (Kevin Costner) is a high school football coach with a chequered history of ill-conceived temper tantrums. He accepts a last-chance job as the physical education teacher in the nowheresville town of McFarland, California. His wife Cheryl (Maria Bello) and two daughters are none too pleased to be relocated into what appears to be an unwelcoming foreign culture. The McFarland school's population largely consists of Hispanic kids whose main priority is helping their parents harvest the surrounding agriculture fields. School is very much an afterthought.

White is quickly jettisoned from the football team's coaching staff, but notices that some of the kids are phenomenal long distance runners, as they regularly traverse the large distances between the school and the harvest fields. He assembles a rag tag team of seven students, including Thomas Valles (Carlos Pratts) and the three Diaz brothers, into a long distance running squad and they start entering local meets. Under White's guidance the boys train hard, get better and start to achieve good results. Meanwhile, Jim and Cheryl are gradually drawn into the local fabric of the community.

A Disney Pictures production based on true events and directed by Niki Caro, McFarland is a simple story of one man finding his purpose in life in the unlikeliest of communities. Although filled with a healthy dose of the White Savior narrative, McFarland is an irresistible tale of a group of underdogs lifting themselves up to previously unthinkable heights.

The film is largely predictable and devoid of standout moments. Caro keeps the tone even and the pace consistent as White travels along his arc from reluctant outsider to local hero. The scenes of cross country running are delivered effectively despite their simplicity, Caro focusing on White's nervous anxiety at the finish lines as his boys push themselves towards over-achievement and work their way past rivals.

The local colour and warmth comes through in the many scenes of White gradually getting accepted into the community. He experiences the back-breaking agony of what it means to be a field worker, and the hospitality of local families at meal time. The home life of the Diaz brothers and especially Thomas Valles is the lens through which Caro presents inter-familial social tensions and the struggle to make a living that stands in the way of commitment to school and sports.

Kevin Costner delivers a mature performance as Jim White, maintaining level-headed pragmatism and avoiding most cinematic sports coach cliches.

McFarland is a worthwhile if not groundbreaking story of human achievement told with heart, a linear run through the real field of dreams.

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