Movie Review: Kiss The Girls (1997)

Genre: Crime Thriller  

Director: Gary Fleder  

Starring: Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd  

Running Time: 117 minutes  

Synopsis: Washington DC detective and forensics specialist Dr. Alex Cross (Morgan Freeman) travels to Durham, North Carolina upon learning that his niece Naomi has been abducted. He finds local detectives and the FBI on the trail of a serial kidnapper and murderer known as Casanova, who targets high-performing women. The next victim is medical intern and amateur kick-boxer Dr. Kate McTiernan (Ashley Judd), but she fights back and teams-up with Cross to track down the assailant.

What Works Well: The adaptation of James Patterson's book introduces a complex case of missing and murdered women in forested terrain, and carries some good echoes from The Collector. A smooth Morgan Freeman performance adds a sheen of quality, and Dr. Cross' personal emotional involvement to try and rescue his niece elevates the stakes. Director Gary Fleder maintains brisk pacing with regular doses of suspense-filled action.

What Does Not Work As Well: The police work is often rogue and always leaves a lot to be desired. The second half descends into a murky muddle with a poorly defined antagonist, divided narrative attention, and ridiculous decisions that expose victims to further threat. Beyond Freeman and Judd, the supporting cast members (including potential suspects) are interchangeably stranded without prominence.

Conclusion: A promising case is undermined by sloppy inattention to detail.



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Movie Review: Amistad (1997)

Genre: Historical Drama

Director: Steven Spielberg

Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Matthew McConaughey, Djimon Hounsou, Morgan Freeman

Running Time: 154 minutes

Synopsis: In 1839, slaves being transported on the Spanish vessel La Amistad stage a mutiny, killing most of the crew members. The ship is eventually intercepted by the US navy and the slaves are held in New Haven. A legal case to determine their fate - murderers or freedom fighters - ensues, with political ramifications resonating all the way to the White House. Slave leader Cinqué (Djimon Hounsou), defence lawyer Baldwin (Matthew McConaughey), abolition activist Joadson (Morgan Freeman), ex-President John Quincy Adams (Anthony Hopkins), current President Van Buren (Nigel Hawthorne), Secretary of State Forsyth (David Paymer) and the young Queen of Spain (Anna Paquin) are all interested in shaping the outcome of the trial.

What Works Well: Director Spielberg and writer David Franzoni treat the historical events with reverential respect, connecting the lines between one mutiny, a broader national dilemma, international relationships, and a looming war. The flashback scenes of slave mistreatment prior to the mutiny are brutal, heartbreaking, and necessary. The complex trial machinations, arguments, and counter-arguments are patiently explained, and an impressive cast ensures prominence in every role. The rich production design brings the 1800s to life, from squalid marine conditions to White House grandeur.

What Does Not Work As Well: Excess defeats subtlety as every opportunity to over-dramatize is eagerly embraced, and John Williams' incessantly sappy music triple-underlines the Key Moments. Although an important narrative device, the language barrier is overplayed and frustrates the cinematic experience. The running time is drawn out by an over-elaborate John Quincy Adams climactic speech.

Conclusion: An impressively invested history lesson.



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Movie Review: A Good Person (2023)

Genre: Drama

Director: Zach Braff

Starring: Florence Pugh, Morgan Freeman, Molly Shannon

Running Time: 129 minutes

Synopsis: Allison and Nathan (Florence Pugh and Chinaza Uche) enjoy an engagement party, but then Allison's life is shattered: she is driving the car when an accident claims the life of Nathan's sister and brother-in-law. A year later Allison is single, depressed, living with her exasperated mom Diane (Molly Shannon), and addicted to painkillers. Meanwhile Nathan's orphaned niece Ryan (Celeste O'Connor) is being raised by her grandfather Daniel (Morgan Freeman), a model train hobbyist and recovering alcoholic. When Allison and Daniel unexpectedly meet again, they both have to face the past.

What Works Well: The tender melodrama delves into the destructive intersection of grief and addiction to reveal humanity lurking below the damage. Director and writer Zach Braff controls emotions to pragmatic levels, minimizing theatrical outbursts. Instead, Florence Pugh and Morgan Freeman convey internal turbulence through sorrow and resolve, without shortchanging the demons of addiction, realities of avoidance, and pangs of regret. Residing in the middle of crises caused by others, teenager Ryan represents a future than can either recover or succumb.

What Does Not Work As Well: A lot is going on here: parental abuse, alcoholism, a fatal accident, and addiction are compacted into a couple of characters. The courage to tackle raw social issues is ultimately undermined by uniformly tidy resolutions.

Conclusion: Quietly effective and well-acted without breaking new ground.



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Movie Review: Along Came A Spider (2001)

Genre: Crime Investigation Thriller

Director: Lee Tamahori

Starring: Morgan Freeman, Monica Potter, Michael Wincott, and Dylan Baker

Running Time: 103 minutes

Synopsis: In Washington DC, senator's daughter Megan Rose (Mika Boorem) is kidnapped from her school by a villain pretending to be teacher Gary Soneji (Michael Wincott). Secret Service agent Jezzie Flannigan (Monica Potter) teams up with semi-retired criminal profiler Dr. Alex Cross (Morgan Freeman) to track down the kidnapper. The pursuit will encounter many twists as Cross realizes Soneji is inspired by the Lindbergh baby kidnapping case and wants to achieve fame and notoriety.

What Works Well: This slick adaptation of the James Patterson novel enjoys Morgan Freeman's cerebral presence, and the first half oozes quality as a stimulating battle of wits unfolds with the requisite undercurrent of danger. Michael Wincott creates a worthwhile bad guy, and the feisty Megan will not settle for the role of docile kidnap victim. A ransom drop-off sequence is a breathlessly good tour of Washington DC landmarks.

What Does Not Work As Well: Tamahori ironically loses steam as the story starts to navigate several sharp twists in a clumsy search for elusive noir shadings. By the third act all the careful foundations have been discarded in favour of alternate, and superficially treated, agendas. Monica Potter is not quite up to the task of portraying a complex character battling to save her professional reputation. And the opening prologue summarizing the botched case that derailed Cross' career features unforgettably atrocious CGI.

Conclusion: Promising investigative work is undermined by shallow contortions.



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Movie Review: Angel Has Fallen (2019)

An action thriller, Angel Has Fallen provides enough of a plot to sustain the requisite good quality action at breakneck speed. 

Secret Service Agent Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) is in line for a promotion to Director, although his body is starting to ail. He nevertheless springs into action and saves the life of President Trumbull (Morgan Freeman) when he is attacked by bomb-carrying drones while on a fishing trip. Trumbull is left in a coma, and because Banning is the only agent who survived, he is suspected of involvement in the attack.

Vice President Kirby (Tim Blake Nelson) is sworn in, and evidence emerges that Banning received large payments from Russian-linked sources. He is forced to go on the run to clear his name, with the FBI's Helen Thompson (Jada Pinkett Smith) in pursuit. Banning suspects a private military contracting firm led by his old friend Wade Jennings (Danny Huston) was behind the attack, and turns to his outcast father Clay Benning (Nick Nolte) for help.

The second sequel to 2013's Olympus Has Fallen finds Gerard Butler, at 50 years old, huffing and puffing his way through the role. At least the character's physical decline is consistent with the actor, and the movie places his ragged health at the forefront. Within this category of wild action flicks, the story is not bad: the antagonist Jennings is introduced in the first sequence, with an army of private contractors at his disposal and a reason to go to war (Trumbull opposes the use of military contractors). This time Banning is forced to worry about his family, confront his health, then fight back when all evidence points to his involvement in an act of treason.

Nick Nolte is another plus. The veteran actor brings a voice more gravelly than an old pickup truck on a dirt road, and an attitude to match. Most of what Clay Benning is up to is played for chuckles, and it's good for the series to poke fun at itself while still demonstrating the apple does not fall far from the tree. In addition to Nolte, Morgan Freeman, Danny Huston, and Piper Perabo (as Banning's wife) ensure a strong supporting cast.

Director Ric Roman Waugh knows enough to fast-forward through most of the static scenes, then delivers far-fetched yet polished set-pieces with gritted-teeth intensity. The opening attack on the President and the climactic storm-the-building finale are particularly well staged, and all the chases, gun battles, explosions, and infiltrations arrive at the necessary breathless clip. This angel makes a racket when falling down, but is even louder standing back up.

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Movie Review: An Unfinished Life (2005)

A quiet drama about repairing family connections, An Unfinished Life is earnestly soulful and utterly predictable.

Escaping an abusive relationship with boyfriend Gary (Damian Lewis), Jean (Jennifer Lopez) packs up her 11-year-old-daughter Griff (Becca Gardner) and heads to the Wyoming ranch of her gruff father-in-law Einar Gilkyson (Robert Redford). He is not thrilled to see her, still blaming Jean for her role in the death of his son Griffin. In addition to running the ranch, Einar also cares for his long-time friend Mitch (Morgan Freeman), who is slowly recovering from severe wounds suffered in a bear attack.

Jean finds a job at a diner in the nearby town and initiates a relationship with local sheriff Crane (Josh Lucas), while Einar starts to bond with his granddaughter. With the bear captured and held in a cage, Mitch reflects on his near-death encounter and prods Einar to forgive Jean and move on from the past. The tension level rises when an agitated Gary shows up, looking for his ex-girlfriend. 

All the characters and issues residing within An Unfinished Business are introduced within 20 minutes of the start. From there a straight, clear line can be drawn to the ending, and no surprises get in the way of the safest predictions. Director Lasse Hallström brings his expertise in docile human-centred dramas to this adaptation of a Mark Spragg book, and delivers quality but staid entertainment.

Without narrative twists, time is invested painting a rustic picture of life on a Wyoming farm (pickup trucks to be fixed, cows to be milked) and the nearby one-street town (drunk young cowboys to be taught a few lessons). Jean finds a job at the local diner, and of course the owner Nina (Camryn Manheim) is the earth mother type with her own dramatic backstory, introduced and wrapped up in all of one scene.

The performances are excellent, Jennifer Lopez rising to the challenge of matching two legends. As Einar, Redford is dusty and distressed but mostly stubbornly determined to hold a grudge. Morgan Freeman brings the familiar physically-damaged-but-emotionally-prescient seen-it-all-before sidekick persona to Mitch. Becca Gardner keeps young Griff refreshingly real, balancing curiosity with uncertainty in her new surroundings.

The bear sub-plot occupies too much screen time, from capture to feeding and then a breakout, all forming a clumsy metaphor for getting back up stronger when life knocks you down. This applies directly to the bear and Mitch, but figuratively to all the characters. An Unfinished Life is every life accumulating scars of pain and wisdom, a story both genuine and common.



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Movie Review: Lean On Me (1989)

A high school biographical drama, Lean On Me is the story of one educator doggedly determined to make a positive difference.

In a prologue set in the late 1960s, Eastside High School in Paterson, New Jersey is a well-respected school. But idealistic teacher Joe Louis Clark (Morgan Freeman), also known as Crazy Joe, quits in disgust when accountants start influencing academic decisions.

Twenty years later, Eastside is a graffiti-covered hellhole of an inner city school beset by indiscipline and crime, with a high failure rate on state exams. Fearing political heat, Mayor Don Bottman (Alan North) reluctantly agrees with school superintendent Dr. Frank Napier (Robert Guillaume) to bring back Clark as Principal, with a mandate to improve academic performance.

Confident in his methods and deploying unbridled energy, Clark imposes a strict regime of discipline, kicking out all students involved in crime. He chains the side doors to prevent unauthorized entry, and demands unwavering adherence to the school's traditions and a focus on academic achievement. He gradually makes progress, but his uncompromising style antagonizes some parents and teachers, including Vice Principal Mrs. Joan Levias (Beverly Todd) and English teacher Mr. Darnell (Michael Beach). With the state exams rapidly approaching, a campaign to oust Clark gathers steam.

There is a lot of shouting in Lean On Me. The prologue hints at what is to come, with Clark expressing fury at the creeping reach of bean counters. But the volume only increases when he returns to Eastside High 20 years later, bullhorn in hand, and lets loose a demonstration of continuous hollering. Seeking results rather than admiration, Clark's leadership style is uncompromising, sparing no ears: students, teachers, parents, administrators, and politicians are all on the receiving end of his badgering. Some respond well, others buckle, and a few seeth.

Writer Michael Schiffer uses Clark's loud presence to push back against a seemingly hopeless situation. The principal's rescue mission appears impossible, but this is an underdog story, a specialty of director John G. Avildsen. As Clark gradually turns the school around and earns begrudging respect, Avildsen steers towards an unnecessary Hollywood ending, complete with dastardly villains and a large cheering crowd. The crowd-pleasing antics are juvenile and a disservice to the drama.

But thankfully, the story's underlying spirit rises above the embellishments, and the social subtext is powerful. With only a couple of exceptions Schiffer focuses on the collective rather than individual students, allowing Clark's achievements to carry far-reaching influence. Clark's man-on-a-mission intensity is fueled by an understanding of racial math. He uses society's low expectations to urge his underprivileged students (most of them blacks or Hispanics) to rise above and give themselves a fighting chance for a better future in the world outside the school's walls. 

The enduring image of Lean On Me is of Morgan Freeman standing tall, bossing the halls, and dragging a once proud institution back to relevance by force of will. One man can make a difference - a bullhorn just makes the job easier.

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Movie Review: Now You See Me (2013)

A lightweight crime caper, Now You See Me mixes magic and revenge-most-elaborate in a glitzy package, with frills overpowering content.

Four magicians are brought together by a mysterious benefactor for a show in Las Vegas. Illusionist Danny (Jesse Eisenberg), mentalist Merritt (Woody Harrelson), escapist Henley (Isla Fisher), and sleight-of-hand artist Jack (Dave Franco) perform as the Four Horsemen then shock their audience by seemingly stealing money from a French bank to conclude the show.

The FBI's Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo) teams up with the Interpol's Alma Dray (Melanie Laurent) to investigate, but they are forced to release the magicians due to lack of evidence. Dylan consults with magician debunker Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman), who believes the Four Horsemen have planned multiple heists. Sure enough, at their next show in New Orleans they deliver a financial shock to their sponsor, insurance magnate Arthur Tressler (Michael Caine), and humiliate Dylan in the process. He doggedly pursues them to try and stop further audacious criminal acts.

A none-too-serious affair, Now You See Me bounces off the energy generated by magic deployed to even the score. Director Louis Leterrier maintains rapid pacing and infuses the aesthetics with jazzy special effects and light shows. The Four Horsemen's performances are less about magic and more about throwing cinematic CGI and hair-raising stunts onto the screen, the outcome frivolous if never boring.

The script (by Ed Solomon, Boaz Yakin, and Edward Ricourt) introduces mystical elements related to a secret society of magicians established in ancient Egypt, but of course has no idea where to go with the hokum. Instead, Now You See Me plays fast and loose with logic while looking for traditional thrill rides like the big fight and the big car chase. Essential plot elements pop up purely to maximize the mindless entertainment quotient; hence, a massive safe containing untold millions is introduced out of nowhere moments before it becomes central to the climax. It's fairly easy to trace the outline of the big final twist, which, in retrospect, makes little sense.

The talented cast members add plenty of star power but are mostly pulled along by the wild antics, all the characters remaining at the sketch level while trading spiky barbs. Woody Harrelson best manages to infuse some wicked personality traits into the mentalist Merritt, while veterans Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine add weight in relatively minor roles. 

Now You See Me pulls off an old trick: dazzling with style to distract from limited substance.



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Movie Review: The Bonfire Of The Vanities (1990)

A satirical comedy-drama about human surrender to avarice, The Bonfire Of The Vanities tackles weighty subjects with a dismissively careless attitude.

Perpetually drunk reporter-turned-author Peter Fallow (Bruce Willis) basks in the glory of his new-found fame as a best-selling author. In flashback, Fallow recounts the past year's events. Sherman McCoy (Tom Hanks) is one of the few "Masters of the Universe", a mega-wealthy Wall Street bond trader raking in millions per deal. Married to Judy (Kim Cattrall), he is carrying on an affair with the equally married airhead Maria Ruskin (Melanie Griffith).

Sherman picks up Maria from the airport and after a wrong turn they end up deep in the Bronx late at night. They tangle with two Black men and in the frantic effort to drive away Maria, now in the driver's seat, accidentally runs over one of the men. Maria convinces Sherman not to report the incident, but with the victim in a coma the outraged South Bronx Black community rises to demand justice and a full investigation of the hit-and-run, with Reverend Bacon (John Hancock) leading the protests.

Ambitious District Attorney Weiss (an uncredited F. Murray Abraham) recognizes the publicity value of the case. Assistant DA Kramer (Saul Rubinek) starts investigating, and Fallow is plucked from obscurity to start pumping newspaper headlines. Soon Sherman's car is identified and his life is forever altered, with a climax in the courtroom of the Black Judge White (Morgan Freeman).

An adaptation of Tom Wolfe's novel, The Bonfire Of The Vanities critiques rampant narcissism with inflated humour. Overcoming a nightmarish production cycle featuring countless casting and miscasting chops and changes, director Brian De Palma nevertheless luxuriates in creating a vivid and hyper-realistic world, whether in McCoy's Manhattan apartment or on the streets of the Bronx. And he layers on the cinematic tricks, glitz and style, including a spectacular opening single tracking shot extending close to five minutes as Farrow arrives at a gala event. 

But the problems run deep, from Farrow's boring and unnecessary narration to the juvenile comedy antics, including McCoy using a shotgun to end a party and Kramer instigating a physical courtroom fracas. And unrefined hyperbole surrounds every distasteful character. In the context of a movie studded with star names, the absence of a single empathetic character becomes a problem script writer Michael Cristofer cannot solve. Fallow has traded his career for the bottle, Maria is an over-sexed and vocabulary-challenged moron, Weiss is a villain in a suit with his eyes solely on the Mayor's chair, and Reverend Bacon is a larger than life thunderous buffoon.

Which leaves Tom Hanks stranded in the central role of Sherman McCoy, a man with apparently no redeeming qualities, making money by trading money and happy to cheat on his wife with a bimbo. Still, the film needs a victim and McCoy is the closest thing to it, but he remains a relative non-entity as the cause of racial justice is co-opted by all around him for selfish causes.

Morgan Freeman's Judge White emerges as the one individual fighting a rearguard action to safeguard some sense of decency amidst the sea of moral bankruptcy. Within a societal sensibility portrayed as rotten to the core and well beyond salvation, his climactic speechifying carries no conviction.

For all its faults, The Bonfire Of The Vanities is nothing if not perceptive. It borders on cartoonish, but the film lays bare the tsunami of materialistic selfishness and greed corroding hearts and minds, a fiery spiral reaching into every corner and always spinning downwards.

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Movie Review: Going In Style (2017)

A geriatric comedy, Going In Style is a stodgy story about three desperate old men plotting a bank robbery.

In New York City, retirees Joe, Willie and Albert (Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Alan Arkin) are stunned to learn that after a lifetime of blue collar work, their company pension is disappearing due to a corporate takeover and offshore relocation. Facing financial ruin, Joe concocts a plan to rob a bank, inspired by having recently witnessed a hold-up.

Willie reluctantly agrees to participate, but Al, who is pursuing a romance with Annie (Ann-Margret), is unsure and needs more convincing. After a botched training run to steal from a local supermarket, the trio reach out to Joe's connected former son-in-law Murphy and shady pet store owner Jesus (John Ortiz) for help. The three friends proceed with planning and training for the heist, but FBI Agent Hamer (Matt Dillon) will be a challenging foe.

An imminently forgettable remake of a 1979 George Burns film, Going In Style is a flimsy excuse for three veteran actors to parade across the screen. With no laughs and no edge to be found in the Theodore Melfi script, director Zach Braff resorts to basic juvenile and unconvincing antics to try and squeeze some entertainment out of an exhausted premise.

While Caine, Freeman and Arkin are dependable performers, they essentially sleepwalk through the movie by leaning on their pre-established screen personas to compensate for missing character depth. The story meekly attempts and miserably fails to stoke the flames of seething anger against faceless corporations and greedy banks padding their bottom lines at the expense of the little people.

Instead, Going In Style settles for a mundane plot consisting of hapless wannabe crooks bumbling their way to an unconvincing heist against a backdrop of constant bickering to simulate friendship. A serious disease, strained family dynamics and a tentative romance are predictably thrown in as sub-plots to activate when convenient.

Neither smart nor stylish, Going In Style has nothing going for it.

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Movie Review: Lucky Number Slevin (2006)

A raucous crime thriller, Lucky Number Slevin offers a delectable multi-faceted plot and jaunty execution. A busy story of gangland vendettas offers rich rewards and plenty of barbed wit.

After a series of seemingly unrelated murders including the killing of two bookies and a sniper attack, Goodkat (Bruce Willis) sits next to a young man at an empty bus terminal and recounts a strange story from 1979, when a struggling family was brutally annihilated as a result of a horse race fix gone wrong.

Back in the present Slevin Kelevra (Josh Hartnett) arrives in New York City to stay at the apartment of his friend Nick Fisher, who is mysteriously nowhere to be found. Jovial next-door neighbour Lindsey (Lucy Liu) makes friends with Slevin, but he is soon mistaken for Nick and abducted, twice: first by mobsters working for The Boss (Morgan Freeman), then by goons working for The Rabbi (Ben Kingsley).

The Boss and The Rabbi used to be gangland partners who ran the city's most powerful crime syndicate. Now they have fallen out, The Boss' son has been killed, and he wants Slevin to assassinate The Rabbi's son in retaliation. Meanwhile The Rabbi wants Slevin to repay an outstanding loan. Goodkat is lurking in the shadows, and police detective Brikowski (Stanley Tucci) tries to untangle all the motives as Slevin seeks to survive the impending mayhem.

Plenty of movies have attempted to recreate the sheer verve of Pulp Fiction; few have succeeded as well as Lucky Number Slevin. This is an in-your-face barely-in-control full throttle thriller, a white knuckle wild ride through the world of crime and punishment.

Combining numerous disparate events that slowly converge into a brilliant whole with a collection of memorable characters, Lucky Number Slevin is an intricate narrative puzzle. The film starts with the pieces all over the place, but writer Jason Smilovic and director Paul McGuigan know exactly where they are heading and how to get there. Every detail matters, and as the picture is assembled the narrative wizardry comes to the fore. Of course the plot holes are there to be picked, but overall the story of vendettas, revenge, goons and rogue assassinations is sly and resplendent.

Stylistically McGuigan deploys typical Tarantinoesque touches, including colourful marginal characters, just about everyone lying about almost everything, occasional philosophizing, brief explosions of violence, and oddities like rivals The Boss and The Rabbi occupying apartments across the street from each other. In relative terms the blood and gore are dialed back, and Lucky Number Slevin revels in the power of a single compact trigger event for all the mayhem.

The cast members stay within themselves and allow the script to star. Josh Hartnett is in the middle of the pandemonium as Slevin, and finds one of his career best fitting roles. Without stretching beyond established personas, Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman and Ben Kingsley offer plenty of weighty veteran talent, all three as men still trading in death when they should know better.

Breezy and fierce in equal measures, Lucky Number Slevin runs the perfect race.

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Movie Review: Evan Almighty (2007)

A family-oriented comedy, Evan Almighty scores some laughs but spends too much time in a CGI-generated animal kingdom.

News anchor Evan Baxter (Steve Carell) from Buffalo, New York, is elected to Congress on a campaign promise to "Change the World". Along with his wife Joan (Lauren Graham) and their three boys, he relocates to a massive house in a new Washington DC suburban subdivision. Baxter is quickly wooed by veteran Congressman Chuck Long (John Goodman), who is sponsoring a bill that would endanger parkland.

After mysterious crates of building equipment start appearing at his doorstep, Evan is visited by God (Morgan Freeman), who instructs him to build an Ark in preparation for an impending flood. Evan does his best to ignore God's command, but is soon trailed by a huge number of animals, all in pairs. With his political career already endangered and his family believing he is going through a severe midlife crisis, Evan faces a major dilemma.

A sequel to Bruce Almighty and again directed by Tom Shadyac, Evan Almighty takes a firm turn towards fluffy family values territory and leaves behind the edgier material probed in the original. Compared to the frantic Jim Carrey, Steve Carell's more subdued brand of comedy is put to good use, although the bland build-an-Ark plot gets quickly tiresome.

The film places plenty of trust in the special effects team, and they do deliver an eye-popping number of critters on the loose in Washington DC and the Virginia suburb where the Baxters take up residence. The climax is another special effects extravaganza featuring a flood of sorts. And throughout, Evan is subjected to a humorous and uncontrollable physical transformation into a Noah-type avatar, complete with beard and robes.

The green screen emphasis means the plot did not receive too much attention, Shadyac and his screenwriter Steve Oedekerk probably hoping nobody would notice the almost utter irrelevance of the whole animal subplot when everything was said and done. The villainous plot of Congressman Long on which the entire movie rests is barely explained.

Evan Almighty delivers a regular stream of chuckles, but mostly of the superficially cuddly and forgettable variety.

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Movie Review: Under Suspicion (2000)

An interrogation murder mystery, Under Suspicion establishes a tense premise and builds impetus before stumbling badly.

In Puerto Rico, influential lawyer Henry Hearst (Gene Hackman) and his wife Chantal (Monica Bellucci) are getting ready for a gala fundraising event when he is summoned by Police Captain Victor Benezet (Morgan Freeman) for a few questions. Victor and Detective Felix Owens (Thomas Jane) delve into Henry's version of events from the previous day, when he found the dead body of young girl while out jogging with a neighbourhood dog.

Victor and Felix suspect that Henry is hiding something, and when Henry starts to change some details of his story, the suspicions grow. Victor steers the interrogation towards Henry's strained relationship with Chantal, as well as Henry's whereabouts when an earlier murder of another young girl occurred a few weeks back. With Chantal impatiently waiting for her husband at the fundraiser, Henry's interrogation ordeal stretches into the night.

Directed by Stephen Hopkins and co-produced by Hackman and Freeman, Under Suspicion is a character study of a rich man hiding layers of secrets. With Hackman in fine form as Henry Hearst and Freeman and Jane providing the persistent prodding (calm and agitated, respectively), the film's premise provides rich soil to nurture a story of the miseries, frustrations and desires hiding behind facades of tuxedos, mansions and swanky evening gowns.

Intentionally or not, the film is also very much about two carefully planned and staged rapes and murders, the victims innocent young girls, with Henry in the vicinity of both crime scenes. Victor's objective for the night is to solve two heinous crimes, and shredding Henry's carefully cultivated image of success and confronting him with an impressive mound of circumstantial evidence is a means to an end.

With the foundation well constructed, the film's ending falls down in spectacular fashion. Accompanying Henry and Chantal to the smoldering wreck of their relationship core carries some merit, but not when all the other plot points, carefully cultivated over 110 minutes, are abandoned in a flash. Under Suspicion attempts a bait and switch, but sells itself short.

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Movie Review: London Has Fallen (2016)

A mindless action thriller, London Has Fallen is a disappointing sequel, going far beyond suspension of disbelief and into ridiculous territory.

American intelligence services destroy the desert hideout of international arms dealer Aamir Barkawi (Alon Moni Aboutboul) with a drone strike. Two years later the British Prime Minister dies suddenly. All the world's leader make plans to attend the funeral in London, including US President Ben Asher (Aaron Eckhart). His Secret Service Director Lynne Jacobs (Angela Bassett) is nervous about the lack of security planning time, and agent Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) is entrusted with keeping the President safe. With his wife Leah (Radha Mitchell) pregnant, Banning is contemplating resigning from active duty but accepts the London assignment.

Just before the funeral is set to start at St. Paul's Cathedral, a large number of heavily armed terrorists  disguised as police officers launch coordinated attacks throughout London, causing mass casualties. Banning is barely able to extract Asher from the main attack zone, and the two go on the run. The attack is funded by Barkawi, seeking revenge for the death of his family members. With London swarming with terrorists, Banning has to keep the President alive long enough for friendly backup forces to arrive.

While 2013's Olympus Has Fallen was a laudable riff on Die Hard, London Has Fallen chucks out all that was good about the original, and leaves only brain dead action behind. After just 15 minutes of rudimentary set-up, director Babak Najafi unleashes the noise and fury of a London overrun by terrorists, and the film does not take a breath for the remainder of its 99 minutes.

There is a fine line between a far-fetched premise and just a lazy idea. Olympus was a far-fetched premise very well executed. London lands with a thud on the wrong side of that boundary. The script requires a massive number of police officers -- even Buckingham Palace guards! -- to be secretly replaced with an army of bad guys armed to the teeth with machine guns and grenades in the run up to London's biggest ever security operation, without anyone noticing.

And after the initial attack things get worse, with hordes of terrorists on motorcycles, in cars and with stinger missiles having free run of the city, and no genuine enforcement types of any stripe even attempting any sort of intervention. Of course the same terrorist leaders who carefully planned this secret but massive operation consisting of thousands of undetected attackers will now be stupid enough to be defeated by a single secret service agent.

Despite all its faults and some cheap special effects, London Has Fallen occasionally captures the freewheeling spirit of a third-person shooter console game, Najafi at least staging his numerous action scenes with some panache. And in Gerard Butler he has an actor willing to grit his teeth and get on with all the killing necessary to save his President, while almost giving the impression that he is taking it all seriously.

In addition to Eckhart and Basset, the supporting cast also includes Morgan Freeman in another throwaway performance as the Vice President, while Melissa Leo and Robert Forster are utterly wasted in tiny roles.

London may have fallen, but the quality of this franchise fell faster and deeper.

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Movie Review: Batman Begins (2005)

A superhero origins story, Batman Begins kicks off the trilogy with an engrossing and cerebral character-centred experience.

In Gotham City, a young Bruce Wayne has a traumatic encounter with bats, then witnesses his parents' murder during a mugging. Wracked by guilt, Wayne (Christian Bale) abandons his family's wealth and heads out into the world, living a life of squalor and crime. Dumped into a remote prison in Central Asia, he is rescued by Henri Ducard (Liam Neeson), who oversees his combat training and inducts Wayne into the League of Shadows, an organization of elite warriors led by the mysterious Ra's al Ghul. Once Wayne learns the League's real agenda, he abandons them and returns to Gotham to fight crime on his own terms.

With help from long-time family butler Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Caine) and Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman), head of the Applied Science Division at Wayne Enterprises, Bruce gradually adopts the crime-fighting persona of Batman. He keeps his mission a secret from childhood friend Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes), now an idealistic Assistant District Attorney. Wayne embarks on a quest to both reclaim control of Wayne Enterprises and rid Gotham of corruption, starting with violent crime lord Carmine Falcone (Tom Wilkinson). He recruits honest police lieutenant James Gordon (Gary Oldman) and uncovers a vast psychotic drugs conspiracy involving psychologist Dr. Crane (Cillian Murphy), a villain known only as Scarecrow, and an unexpected powerful mastermind.

A big screen reboot of the Batman mythology, Batman Begins is an exquisite effort from director and co-writer Christopher Nolan. Committed to a surprisingly bright palette and an emphasis on people rather than action, Nolan creates a seminal example of what a smart comic superhero adaptation can achieve. Batman Begins first and foremost engages the mind and forgoes cheap thrills, and the origins story goes a long way towards grounding the film in the person of Bruce Wayne rather than the antics of a man in a costume.

The 140 minutes are surprisingly brisk, and despite some jumping around in time Nolan tidily breaks down the narrative into three parts. The backstory is the longest and best, rich in the details of a young Bruce experiencing the trauma of being trapped in a well, triggering a close encounter with bats, with a direct line from that experience to the death of his beloved parents. His formative years are then scattered on a life in search of any meaning in the company of other lost souls, until the intervention of Ducard and subsequent training as an elite warrior.

The second act focuses on Wayne defining his mission in life, buttressed by Alfred and supplied by Lucius on his way to assembling the raw material for what makes a Batman. Both Alfred and Lucius carry echoes of the past with strong links to the legacy of Bruce's father, and a large part of Batman Begins' appeal resides in the continued multi-generational commitment to do right. The finale is what can be expected, the true villains making themselves known and triggering an opera of mayhem with Batman improvising on the fly to save his beloved Gotham.

On the way to the transition Nolan has plenty of fun providing backstories to everything from the Batcave to the Batmobile, with detours to explain the origins of the suit, the mask and the emergency light signal. This is a true beginnings story, and nothing is left undefined.

Christian Bale slips into the role comfortably, displaying enough emotional depth to play up the emphasis on the individual rather than the role. Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Liam Neeson, Tom Wilkinson, Rutger Hauer (a slimy executive at Wayne Enterprises) and Cillian Murphy ensure that every key role is bolstered by a serious talent boost. Only Katie Holmes is overwhelmed, with a difficult, underwritten role and an unconvincing performance.

Batman Begins is a storytelling masterpiece, a fascinating crime fighter finally receiving his deserved high quality big screen production.

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Movie Review: The Bucket List (2007)

A comedy and drama about an unlikely friendship late in life, The Bucket List is better than its seemingly flimsy premise may suggest.

Edward Cole (Jack Nicholson) is a surly and extremely wealthy hospital tycoon. Carter Chambers (Morgan Freeman) is a kindly but well-read mechanic. The two men end up in adjacent hospital beds, both battling cancer and undergoing chemotherapy treatment. Their relationship gets off to a rocky start but gradually the two men warm up to each other. When they are both given only months to live, Edward and Carter create a bucket list of things they want to do before they die.

They embark together on a trip of a lifetime to knock off as many items as they can, including skydiving, car racing and a trip to the pyramids, with help from Edward's assistant Thomas (Sean Hayes). Carter's wife Virginia (Beverly Todd) deeply resents her husband taking off with a new friend when he has a limited amount of remaining time to spend with family. As Edward and Carter travel the world together, they form a deep bond and broach painful topics, including religion, family and their deepest regrets.

Movies about genuine friendships between men rarely strike the requisite chords, and often veer towards either mindless brohood or grim and stoic mutual respect. Here two veteran actors in Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson working with astute director Rob Reiner and a Justin Zackham script take on an often awkward topic, and pull it off with surprising ease.

Mixing mild comedy with increasing levels of serious discourse, The Bucket List wanders into territory where men are at their most vulnerable: saying sorry, admitting mistakes, debating core beliefs and leaving no regrets behind. Family man Carter has to face being selfish to pursue his bucket list despite his wife unspooling a professional guilt drama. Hard nosed Edward has to come to terms with what it means to actually care about someone beyond making money off perfunctory health care facilities.

These are heavy emotional rocks for men to turn over, and the premise of death knocking firmly on the door of life allows Edward and Carter to literally and figuratively go to places they would have otherwise never ventured near.

Reiner steps back and allows his two stars to shine, only infrequently falling into mundane travelogue moments (the Great Wall) or unfunny farce (at the racetrack). Otherwise he ensures that Edward and Carter build up their characters gradually, the men naturally revealing more of their psyches to each other as the trip progresses and the end nears in under 100 minutes.

Nicholson plays a slightly toned down version of his typical outspoken devil-may-care persona, with Freeman a perfect foil as the thoughtful blue collar worker, full of trivia, worldly belief and calm resignation.

The Bucket List is funny and melancholy, two superstar actors effortlessly teaming up to write a final chapter.

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Movie Review: Chain Reaction (1996)

A doltish thriller set in the world of science, Chain Reaction has an incomprehensible plot and defaults to a tiresome series of repetitive and routine chases.

In Chicago, a group of University-funded researchers are working on a new hydrogen-based power source to produce plentiful and free energy. Dr. Paul Shannon (Morgan Freeman) and Dr. Alistair Barkley (Nicholas Rudall) head the project, and the team includes physicist Dr. Lily Sinclair (Rachel Weisz), machinist Eddie Kasalivich (Keanu Reeves) and project manager Dr. Lu Chen (Tzi Ma). When the team finally achieves a breakthrough, their warehouse headquarters is invaded and destroyed in a spectacular explosion by unknown assailants. Barkley is killed, Chen disappears, and Sinclair and Kasalivich are framed as spies for a foreign government and go on the run.

FBI Agents Ford (Fred Ward) and Doyle (Kevin Dunn) lead the investigation, but Eddie and Lily stay one step ahead of their pursuers as they try to reconnect with Shannon. Meanwhile, the secretive C-Systems Research company headed by Lyman Earl Collier (Brian Cox) emerges as a shadow organization trying to control the science behind hydrogen energy.

Directed by Andrew Davis three years after his success with The Fugitive, Chain Reaction attempts to recreate the same formula of innocents-on-the-run and fails miserably. The fault lies entirely in a lame script credited to J.F. Lawton and Michael Bortman that places the focus squarely on scientific discovery and a large-scale conspiracy, and then fails miserably to explain itself even at the most rudimentary level.

This is a film where none of the villainous actions make any sense. The murder, large-scale destruction and mayhem caused by the explosion that launches the film appears to have achieved nothing, in that the bad guys flattened half of Chicago but did not manage to steal the secrets of the technology that purportedly triggered their action. The science is reduced to a series of noisy lasers, flashing lights and violently shaking cylinders, none of it deemed worthy of any clarification. The conspiracy is hurriedly explained in vague terms about world economic collapse, but the script does not bother to reveal what the antagonists' intentions are.

Elsewhere the lack of attention to basic details is evident. Eddie and Lily are supposedly smart people on the run for the entire film and never try to change their appearance. Perhaps Reeves demanded that his flowy long hair remain untouched during the shoot. Lily is a physicist, but the unfortunate Rachel Weisz is reduced to an almost mute appendage being pulled along by Reeves as they look for the next narrow escape. Not once does she say anything remotely smart or contribute to the plot.

With an acute lack of anything resembling thoughtfulness, Chain Reaction offers a never ending series of cheap thrills. This is bad guys chasing good guys in circles for close to two hours, less a sequential reaction and more of a downward spiral of dumbness.

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Movie Review: 5 Flights Up (2014)

A drama about dealing with change late in life, 5 Flights Up (also known as Ruth and Alex) is an amiable story about what matters and why.

Alex and Ruth Carver (Morgan Freeman and Diane Keaton) are an elderly biracial couple who have lived in the same 5 story walk up Brooklyn apartment for more than 30 years. The lack of an elevator is catching up with them, and Ruth's niece Lilly (Cynthia Nixon), a real estate agent, has convinced them it's time to sell. Alex, a struggling artist all his life, is not quite sure that selling is the right thing to do, but grumpily goes along.

As prospective buyers troop through their apartment during an open house, he recalls their early days as a ground breaking newly-married couple (Korey Jackson and Claire van der Boom) moving into the neighbourhood. A bidding war heats up for the Carver's unit and the selling price approaches $1 million. As Ruth and Alex start their own frantic search for another place to live, two other stories unfold simultaneously: the media breathlessly covers a police chase for a possible terrorist on the loose in New York City; and the Carver's aging dog Dorothy undergoes expensive surgery for a back ailment.

Directed by Richard Loncraine and written by Charlie Peters, 5 Flights Up focuses on the deeply personal crossroads of one couple, but captures some universally applicable truths. The film's strength is that there is absolutely nothing unique about the decision point facing Alex and Ruth. Indeed, even the expanded narrative about the media's frenzy over a terrorist manhunt and the pet in distress stays in the realm of the routine. Loncraine uses the familiar to focus on a couple still very much comfortably in love grappling with uncomfortable changes at an advanced stage in their relationship, and the human dynamics and emotions ring true.

The film enjoys a calm, modest pace, the economical 92 minutes suitable for the small story about big transformations. Brooklyn has gentrified, real estate prices are unimaginable, the world of violence and 24 hour inaccurate coverage is at the literal doorstep, and everything demands accelerated attention. Alex views the world around with soulful eyes, accepting the need for time to move on but not quite sure that it's for the better.

The only solid rock foundation is the love between Alex and Ruth. They accommodate and tolerate each other with a natural commitment built on years of trust. Both contribute pebbles in the shoes of the marriage, but as with all couples who have made it through decades of marriage, Alex and Ruth are not so much two distinct people as they are one entity driven by two complementary psyches. Loncraine captures their union with a serene beauty: no matter what craziness is going on, this is an unshakable marriage.

Diane Keaton and Morgan Freeman instantaneously click as a couple, and the veterans navigate the film with a natural smoothness. Cynthia Nixon nails the manic intensity of a real estate agent operating on hyperdrive and surviving on the oxygen emanating from a restless cell phone.

5 Flights Up may be about nothing that matters in the grand scheme of things, and it ambles towards the contentment of a predictable outcome. But it achieves its modest goals with the warmth of seasoned affection.

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Movie Review: Million Dollar Baby (2004)

A superlative boxing drama, Million Dollar Baby is the story of a woman determined to box her way to a meaningful life, and the reluctant trainer who has to decide if he wants to help her get there.

Frankie Dunn (Clint Eastwood) is a grizzled elderly trainer and an expert cut man, now running a gym more derelict than most. His only friend and confidant is the equally old former boxer Eddie Dupris (Morgan Freeman), who lost an eye in his final fight (with Frankie in his corner) and is now reduced to the role of gym janitor. As a result, Frankie has developed a reputation for being too cautious in managing the careers of his fighters, and they tend to leave him for other managers when on the cusp of glory. Frankie is also estranged from his daughter, who returns all his letters unopened.

Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank) invites herself to the gym and starts pestering Frankie to train her. He wants nothing to do with training a woman, perceiving women's boxing as a passing fad. Maggie is from a white trash family and is nothing if not persistent, saving every penny from her waitressing job to buy better equipment. Frankie eventually relents and agrees to train her as long as she doesn't question any of his instructions. Together they start the long road to success, with unexpected outcomes.

Directed by Eastwood, written by Paul Haggis and narrated with soul by Freeman, Million Dollar Baby contains plenty of plot after Frankie finally agrees to work with Maggie. But it is not possible to reveal more of the narrative without spoiling the movie. Suffice to say that the drama extends to ecstasies and agonies rarely captured in screen sports stories, and the final 45 minutes takes a stunning twist towards a new realm that both shocks and captivates. This is a film that transcends its genre to touch the essence of the human spirit, with both Frankie and Maggie forced to confront what really matters and the definition of life itself.

Maggie's arc is the story of boxing, the sport an escape road from a wasted life of ruin, with the bonus offer of a potential shot at glory. Eastwood provides only snippets of Maggie's despicable family background, and it's enough to justify all her desire to do whatever it takes to escape her default status. Meanwhile plenty of texture is derived from the interaction between Frankie and Eddie, two veterans more than worn out by the battles of days past, but still unable to leave the sport behind.

Frankie tries to fill the emptiness in his life by learning languages and reading refined literature. None of it helps. His oxygen is obtained ringside, living vicariously through every punch and feint, looking for opponent weaknesses and developing knock-out strategies for his fighters. Eddie is more grounded, still keeping his eye on the talent at the gym as he drags his janitorial buckets around, looking for the spark of talent that can be nurtured into a contender, and encouraging the no-hopers to at least dream big. The conversations between the two, about everything from the regrets of yesteryear to the holes in Eddie's socks, add enormous depth to the film.

Eddie's narration is almost poetic in its mystical reverence towards the sport of boxing, where everything seems backwards. Boxers step out to attack, step in to defend, use the right foot to push left and the left foot to veer right. Self protection is the basis for destroying an opponent, and boxers control their breathing in the most breathtaking moments. It's a sport where victory comes from pummeling an opponent but only within preset rules, and one life can change for the better when another life lies in agony, face down on the canvas.

And the film has the old-fashioned patience of a 15 round bout going the distance. Eastwood allows himself a running time of 132 minutes, and plenty of scenes add in the necessary shadings to flesh out Frankie, Eddie and Maggie into deeply affecting characters. Eastwood, Swank and Freeman create unforgettable and imperfect people, all three stubborn enough to withstand the rigours of the sport, and all three full of individual warts, passion, heroism and perseverance.

Million Dollar Baby avoids anything that looks glamorous. Even Maggie's higher profile fights exude the ambiance of a sport struggling for relevance, and most of her lower rung bouts are little more than sideshows in local gymnasia. There is finally money to be made at an inordinately high cost. Frankie and Maggie confront the risks and rewards together, and find both to be more than they could have ever imagined.

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