The Ace Black Movie Blog

Showing posts with label Oliver Platt. Show all posts

Saturday, 19 March 2022

Movie Review: Executive Decision (1996)

A terrorist hijacking thriller, Executive Decision is exceptionally well-crafted, and maintains inventive tension throughout an immersive story.

US Special Forces under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Austin Travis (Steven Seagal) fail to recover stolen nerve gas canisters during an operation in Italy. Months later, jihadists led by terrorist Nagi Hassan (David Suchet) seize control of a Boeing 747 flight out of Athens. Hassan demands the release of a captured terrorist leader and a safe landing in Washington DC. Flight attendant Jean (Halle Berry) stays calm as the hijacking unfolds.

US Army Intelligence consultant Dr. David Grant (Kurt Russell) concludes Hassan's real intention is to detonate a bomb attached to the nerve gas over the United States, causing a mass casualty event. To avoid blowing the airliner out of the sky and the death of 400 innocent passengers, Travis activates a plan to insert his unit onto the 747 using a modified stealth attack aircraft and untested latching technology. Accompanied by Grant and aeronautics engineer Dennis Cahill (Oliver Platt), Travis' squad embarks on the dangerous mission, but nothing will go according to plan.

Superficially, Executive Decision appears to be a straightforward Die Hard-style rip-off, set in the skies. But writers Jim and John Thomas and director Stuart Baird have other ideas, and produce a wildly entertaining, remarkably taut and mostly original thriller. Of course expectations of realism have to be set aside, but full enjoyment can be found within the script's internal logic, with clever surprises awaiting at every turn.

The edge-of-your-seat thrills start early, with the wacky concept of transferring an elite group of soldiers from a stealth jet onto a 747 through a hatch below the cockpit. Baird and his special effects team make the unreal seem real, culminating in an unexpected expiration, signalling loudly that this thriller is not content to play according to pre-established rules. The action then boards the mammoth airliner, and here the film teases by delaying the rush to a direct confrontation. Instead, a deliciously elaborate and tense hide-and-seek, cat-and-mouse preparatory game unfolds. The special forces assisted by civilians Grant and Cahill stealthily organize in the plane's bowels, while the terrorists command the cabin and flight deck.

Exemplary highlights are derived from sequential crises, as every time one problem is solved, another, worse complication arises. One matter of urgency is finding and diffusing the bomb attached to nerve agent cannisters, a task made much more difficult due to a serious injury suffered by bomb disposal expert Sergeant Campbell "Cappy" Matheny (Joe Morton). Cahill has to overcome his fears and learn all about bomb de-activation literally on the fly.

In parallel with the bomb countdown, Baird leverages the claustrophobic horizontal and vertical spaces to excellent effect. Grant and Captain Carlos "Rat" Lopez (Joe Leguizamo) manoeuvre through cramped utility shafts, installing spy cameras to track the terrorists' movements, and secretly recruit flight attendant Jean as their mole within the cabin. With the clock ticking down towards the airliner entering US airspace and being shot down, more dramatic surprises await as Grant and Rat have to think fast and act faster to avert disaster.

The one main disappointment arrives at the climax, an overly familiar and unnecessary land-the-stricken-plane routine not in keeping with the preceding quality. But in producing a fiendishly canny and rowdy thrill ride, Executive Decision earns its wings.

All Ace Black Movie Blog reviews are here.

Friday, 27 November 2020

Movie Review: Beethoven (1992)

A child-friendly comedy, Beethoven offers harmless laughs in the story of an amiable dog adopting a family and guiding them in and out of various messes.

A St. Bernard puppy escapes from evil veterinarian Dr. Varnick (Dean Jones) and his two dognappers (Stanley Tucci and Oliver Platt), and makes its way to the suburban home of George Newton (Charles Grodin). The three Newton kids Ryce, Ted and Emily are immediately enamoured with the puppy, and their mother Alice (Bonnie Hunt) helps convince the dubious George to keep it.

The dog is given the name Beethoven and grows into a big, slobbering, messy but lovable adult. Beethoven becomes an essential family member, protecting George from shady business investors, supporting Ted against school bullies, rescuing Emily from a pool incident and helping Ryce meet her cute classmate. But Dr. Varnick still has nefarious plans, placing Beethoven and all the Newtons in peril.

Co-produced by Ivan Reitman and directed by Brian Levant, Beethoven delivers family-suitable laughs, yuks and yukky laughs. The script by Edmond Dantès and Amy Holden Jones stays within all the safe zones for young children with just a few zingers thrown in for the adults to enjoy, and with a big friendly dog as the center of attention and three kids to interact with, the humour is easy to find.

To support young attention spans the narrative structure is episodic, as Beethoven gets a succession of relatively short set-pieces to demonstrate his smarts. A few end in riots of laughter, including the escapades of the malicious investor couple (David Duchovny and Patricia Heaton) seeking to steal George's business. Dr. Varrick's heartless plot supplies the overarching wickedness connecting the introduction to the climax, but of course he is up against a wholesome family pulling together.

The visuals are smooth, Levant often adopting a dog's point of view as a few other 4-legged friends of Beethoven woof their way into the story. Mercifully, just the one musical montage sneaks in, here used to fast-track Beethoven's growth from cute and small to still cute but not-so-small.

Fully aware who the real star is, the human actors easily slip into support mode, Charles Grodin playing up his set-upon dad persona, Bonnie Hunt countering with the sympathetic mom adept at finding her husband's soft spots. Dean Jones is the caricaturish villain, staying just on the right side of not-too-scary, while his sidekicks chase after bumbling laughs, both Stanley Tucci and Oliver Platt paying their dues in relatively early roles.

Full of energy if not originality, Beethoven is easy viewing.

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.

Saturday, 18 January 2020

Movie Review: Chef (2014)

A lighthearted drama, Chef explores new beginnings in the story of a once-celebrated cuisinier rediscovering his touch and reconnecting with family.

In Los Angeles, chef Carl Casper (Jon Favreau) is being stifled by his restaurant owner Riva (Dustin Hoffman), who wants to keep the menu safe. In his personal life Carl is still on good terms with ex-wife Inez (Sofia Vergara) and tries to spend quality time with his 10 year old son Percy (Emjay Anthony). A scathing review by food critic Ramsey Michel (Oliver Platt) triggers a social media war of words, and Carl loses his job.

He agrees to join Inez and Percy on a trip to Miami to recharge. The wealthy Marvin (Robert Downey Jr.), Inez's other ex-husband, agrees to bankroll Carl's venture into the food truck business, selling Cuban sandwiches. With the help of his friend and sous-chef Martin (John Leguizamo) and with Percy tagging along, Carl launches the food truck and embarks on a multi-city cross-country trip back to California.

When early career momentum stalls and early promise buzz evolves into middle age compromise, a fork in the road offers alternatives. Writer and director Favreau places his lead character at the decision point and allows him to flounder. With plenty of close-up shots of food being prepared (tantalizing or boring, depending on appetite and food porn tolerance), Chef is a mostly buoyant study of a career reset assisted by friends and family.

Despite the potentially weighty subject matter the film sidesteps excessive displays of dramatic emotion in favour of some comic highlights, mostly stemming from Carl bumbling into a career-ending social media storm. The film otherwise rides a comfortably fun vibe, the better-than-usual relationship between Carl and ex-wife Inez adding a welcome ray of hope that not all failed relationships need to end in acrimony.

The second half is essentially a food truck summer travelogue, Carl reconnecting with Percy as they establish the Cubano business driving from Miami back to Los Angeles. While a few conflict points spark between father and son, again Favreau steers Chef towards genial fare, Carl building a strong bond by passing on his love of cooking to Percy, while the ten year old takes charge of an effective online marketing campaign.

The high-powered but small supporting cast seems to be having a good time. Scarlett Johansson features in the first half as Carl's confidant and the hostess at Riva's restaurant, but then disappears. Dustin Hoffman and Oliver Platt get two scenes each, Robert Downey Jr. just one, and overall Favreau conveys a sense of buddies pulling together to create a small but pleasant movie on both sides of the camera. No doubt they all also enjoyed good food while on set.

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.

Thursday, 2 May 2019

Movie Review: Please Give (2010)

A quirky comedy and drama, Please Give offers low key but astute commentary about family relationships, guilt and death.

In New York City, Kate (Catherine Keener) and her husband Alex (Oliver Platt) run a mid-century furniture resale business. They buy their stock from the apartments of recently deceased elderly people, taking advantage of grown children during their moment of grief. Kate is wracked by guilt, and hands money to every seemingly homeless person. She is also having trouble communicating with her teenaged daughter Abby (Sarah Steele), who is suffering from a bad skin condition.

Kate and Alex have purchased the next-door apartment occupied by crusty ninety-two year old Andra (Ann Guilbert), with plans to expand into her unit when the old woman dies. Andra is cared for by her kind granddaughter Rebecca (Rebecca Hall), a mammogram technician who lives with her more contemptuous sister Mary (Amanda Peet), a skin care therapist. The lives of Alex, Kate and Abby start to intertwine with Rebecca and Mary in unexpected ways.

Death as an avenue for profit is always a queasy topic rich with possibilities. Writer and director Nicole Holofcener finds the damp patches of guilt in this well-constructed and character-rich story, and Please Give is filled with calibrated moments of pleasure along with honest, funny, awkward and sometimes painful human contact.

To assuage her guilt Kate is a one-woman charity, distributing bills to New York's homeless population and then some. Except Kate is much less generous with her daughter Abby, who is desperate for a new pair of jeans, and Holofcener elegantly folds in the unintended consequences of charity that begins outside the home.

Abby's teenage traumas are relatively typical for a white privileged child of wealthy parents, but her angst is also the spark that forges connections with the sister pair of Rebecca and Mary. Her skin condition brings the opportunistic Mary into focus, while the considerate Rebecca offers Abby a comforting bond over dog walking.

Meanwhile the husband and wife team of Kate and Alex appear to be friends and business partners, but perhaps they lost the passion in the gap between his dismissive iciness and her remorseful fretting. Suddenly Alex is flirting with Mary, who is happy to embark on another ill-considered adventure. Meanwhile, Kate's exploration of volunteer opportunities at charity organizations is all kinds of wrong funny.

Please Give demands strong performances to work, and the cast delivers. Rebecca emerges as the pure heart of the film, and Rebecca Hall shines in a role full of selfless commitment. Catherine Keener is also excellent in conveying an exterior of polished professionalism barely concealing gobs of self-loathing.

With the elderly Andra and the grandmother (Lois Smith) of Rebecca's new boyfriend also meddling in the lives of their offspring, Please Give is a candid and clever probe of dynamics between four generations of women.