Movie Review: Mission: Impossible III (2006)

Genre: Action Thriller  

Director: J.J. Abrams  
Starring: Tom Cruise, Michelle Monaghan, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ving Rhames, Laurence Fishburne, Billy Crudup, Maggie Q, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Keri Russell  
Running Time: 126 minutes  

Synopsis: Impossible Missions Force Agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is engaged to Julia (Michelle Monaghan), having retired from field duty and settled into the role of a trainer. But when his former trainee Lindsey (Keri Russell) is captured by elusive international weapons dealer Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman), Ethan returns to duty with his team to mount a rescue in Berlin. He next attempts to kidnap Davian from a Vatican gala to prevent him from peddling the dangerous "Rabbit's Foot" device, but Ethan's exploits have far-reaching consequences involving IMF Directors Musgrave (Billy Crudup) and Brassel (Laurence Fishburne), with a showdown in Shanghai.

What Works Well: The third installment in the franchise achieves superb polish, director J.J. Abrams finally unlocking the potential of the series. Tight editing, a controlled running time, and a steady stream of highlights deliver perfect measures of suspense (the abduction of Davian from the Vatican), stunts (plentiful, but the high-rise jumps in Shanghai are spectacular), and plain high-intensity action (the bridge ambush). Grit (Lindsey's rescue and aftermath) mixes with romance (Cruise and Monaghan sharing good chemistry). The globe-trotting plot is easy to follow, helped by a cast stacked with quality. Philip Seymour Hoffman is a terrific cold-blooded villain and worthy adversary to Cruise's combination of athleticism and intensity.

What Does Not Work As Well: The "Rabbit's Foot" deserved a better explanation, and the political machinations within the IMF Director ranks are half-baked.

Key Quote:

Lindsey (under fire with Ethan in the middle of a firefight): I'm out. How many rounds you got?

Ethan (checks weapon): Enough.

[rises, fires one shot, and takes out the opponent]

Ethan: Now I'm out.

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Movie Review: Doubt (2008)

A drama about possible misconduct involving a priest, Doubt boasts a talented cast but is firmly trapped in sterile stage origins.

The setting is 1964 in the Bronx. At a Catholic church also serving as a school for the community, the stern and old-fashioned principal Sister Aloysius Beauvier (Meryl Streep) keeps a close watch on the children's behaviour. She also notices when Father Brendan Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman) delivers a sermon about doubt, and airs her thoughts to the younger Sister James (Amy Adams), the school's eighth grade history teacher.

Sister James then observes Flynn interacting, perhaps inappropriately but she is not quite sure, with the school's only black child, altar boy Donald Miller. She confides in Sister Beauvier, who decides to confront Flynn and accuse him of improper behaviour. He denies any wrongdoing. Sister Beauvier continues to investigate, and reaches out to the boy's mother Mrs. Miller (Viola Davis) to better understand his home environment.

Directed and written by John Patrick Shanley based on his play, Doubt is a series of verbal clashes all taking place in and around the Catholic school. Barely rising above the status of a filmed play, Doubt leans heavily on the Seriousness of the Topic and the star actors to salvage some level of cinematic drama.

Streep, Hoffman, Adams, and Davis (who gets just the one scene) step forward and offer their theatrical best, but it's not enough. Shanley endlessly circles the same drain of Beauvier having her doubts about Flynn's behaviour but not quite the evidence she needs, and so they spar, then spar again, and then spar some more, repeating the same couched accusations and the same offended denials. Her rage and his defensiveness both escalate, but the power dynamics are wayward and the words fail to spark.

Sister James and Mrs. Miller are relegated to side-characters and observers, their attitudes perhaps indicative of the era but still far from helpful. Sister James naively bends with the wind, and Mrs. Miller hints her son should tough it out and accept mistreatment as long as he graduates.

The running time is padded with irrelevant details from Sister James' classroom, featuring boys and girls trying to be boys and girls but stifled by rigid codes of conduct enforced with relish by Sister Beauvier.

Almost as a late afterthought Doubt works its way to the rot eating away at a Catholic church allowing serial offenders to thrive, and the futility of women speaking out against a centuries-old male-dominated hierarchy. The topic is of tragic importance, here fumbled into cold, static discourse.



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Movie Review: Red Dragon (2002)

A serial killer suspense drama, Red Dragon is a fulfilling mix of mortal psychological mind games and dogged detective work.

In 1980, the FBI's Will Graham (Edward Norton) barely escapes with his life when he identifies his mentor and confidant, forensic psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), as a cannibalistic serial killer. Lecter is imprisoned for life and Will retires.

Years later, two families are slaughtered in their homes, one month apart. The FBI's Jack Crawford (Harvey Keitel) presses Will back into service to investigate the crime scenes before the killer strikes again. Recognizing the work of a psychologically disturbed killer, Will turns to the incarcerated Lecter for advice, while tabloid reporter Freddy Lounds (Philip Seymour Hoffman) salivates after the next headline.

Meanwhile lab technician Francis Dolarhyde (Ralph Fiennes) is fighting self-hate, insecurities about a minor facial disfigurement, and boiling inner demons. He starts dating work colleague Reba McClane (Emily Watson), who is blind. Dolarhyde and Lecter exchange correspondence, and Will's wife Molly (Mary-Louise Parker) and son are soon placed in danger.

A satisfying prequel to Silence Of The Lambs, Red Dragon is a taut and moody suspense thriller, benefitting from a strong cast, two deranged villains, and an emphasis on patient detective work. Director Brett Ratner adopts a stark and straightforward style, allowing the characters to dominate and confining visual artistry to the background. Ted Tally's script (adopting the 1981 book by Thomas Harris) avoids horror cliches, focusing instead on the painstaking work required to penetrate sick minds.

Despite building excellent momentum, the film does suffer from a few weaknesses. Edward Norton is an unconvincing presence at the centre of the drama, his Will Graham lacking sufficient weight to counter Lecter and Dolarhyde. The massacres of two families and the race to prevent a third atrocity are somehow relegated to a sideshow in the final act, as the danger becomes more personal for Reba and Will but also less broadly threatening. And for all the red dragon artistry and literature references, the damage in Dolarhyde's mind remains superficially abstract.

But working with what he has, Ralph Fiennes as Dolarhyde does open a second front of twisted yet almost pathetic criminality, and Ratner invests in the world of a serial killer struggling to overcome severe inferiorities. His strife is revealed through the enhanced emotional senses of Reba, Emily Watson bringing to life an intriguing character desperate to be treated as a woman rather than a blind person.

Although Hannibal Lecter is sidelined in his cell for most of the film, Anthony Hopkins ensures his malevolence is never far from Will's psyche. Lecter's gift of manipulation knows no bounds, and he uses Will's request for help as an opportunity to plot a remote yet savage revenge. The brilliant cannibal may be incarcerated, but everyone else is just a pawn on his heinous chess board as he orchestrates a fearsome collision between fragility and fury.

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Movie Review: Before The Devil Knows You're Dead (2007)

A crime-gone-wrong drama, Before The Devil Knows You're Dead enjoys a startling premise and sparkling cast, but the follow-through is only middling.

The movie jumps back and forth in time. Chronologically, brothers Andy and Hank Hanson (Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke) both have serious financial problems. The younger and more irresponsible Hank cannot keep up with alimony payments to his ex-wife Martha (Amy Ryan). Andy enjoys a managerial job but has an expensive drug habit and is pilfering money from his employer, with a looming audit about to expose his theft. Andy is married to Gina (Marisa Tomei), but behind his back she is having an affair with Hank.

Andy talks Hank into robbing the suburban jewellery store of their parents Charles and Nanette (Albert Finney and Rosemary Harris). With the insurance covering the losses and no one getting hurt, it's supposed to be a victimless crime to make some quick money. But absolutely nothing will go according to plan, and both Andy and Hank will find themselves sinking deeper into trouble of their own making.

Carrying a Coen Brothers vibe but lacking the icy streaks of dark comedy, Before The Devil Knows You're Dead traces a series of brotherly missteps leading to disaster. The well-labelled time jumps in Kelly Masterson's script are unnecessary but nevertheless boost the engagement value, while Sidney Lumet directs with an eye for the little details. The film's opening is strong, before the second act deflates and the climax unravels.

At its core this is a story of two losers stuck in a hole but never grasping the imperative to stop digging. Andy's drug use is sabotaging his career and marriage as he allows the resentment at being his father's second favourite son consume him. Hank has coasted through life on now-fading boyish looks while taking little responsibility for anything. He is now broke, short-changing his ex-wife and pursuing an affair with his sister-in-law.

Masterson and Lumet enjoy piling on the agony for the two dimwits, but the film suffers in the absence of any sympathetic, or even just smart, characters. Events spiral out of control and the brothers descend from twilight into absolute darkness, but since they author their own predicaments, their fate registers somewhere between well-deserved and who cares.

Their dad Charles is the closest thing to an innocent victim who deserves better, but most of his scenes are wasted on a truncated bang-your-head-against-the-wall subplot involving police indifference. Another frustratingly careless script dead-end involves Hank's misadventures with a rental car.

Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Albert Finney and an underused but frequently disrobed Marisa Tomei paper over most of the weaknesses with dedicated performances. Hoffman stands out as a brooding, coiled, and near-the-edge presence. As the plot lurches towards untidy conclusions, Michael Shannon appears late and livens up the post-robbery narrative in a couple of pivotal scenes as another lowlife dabbling in crimes he should avoid.

Before The Devil Knows You're Dead dances with misdeeds, turning up the temperature but lacking emotional warmth.



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Movie Review: Capote (2005)

A biographical drama, Capote enjoys a dominant performance from Philip Seymour Hoffman as it traces the author's investigation of the murder case that crowned his writing career.

In 1959, jovial New Yorker writer Truman Capote (Hoffman) reads a newspaper article about the brutal murder of a family of four in rural Kansas. He decides to investigate and write about the case, and travels to Kansas with budding author Harper Lee (Catherine Keener) to visit the scene of the crime and talk to the locals. They bond with lead police investigator Alvin Dewey (Chris Cooper) and his wife Marie (Amy Ryan). 

Soon two men are arrested and charged: Perry Smith (Clifton Collins Jr.) and Richard Hickock (Mark Pellegrino). Truman finds the soft-spoken Smith fascinating, and after the two men are convicted and sentenced to death, Capote arranges a better lawyer for the murderers and spends long hours in conversations with Smith.

Capote starts to write In Cold Blood, but the case drags on with a series of appeals. Smith refuses to talk about the night of the murders, and Capote sinks into emotional doldrums and heavy drinking, unable to enjoy life with his book stalled.

Exploring the personal trauma churning behind the celebrated true crime book, Capote is the colourful story of a flamboyant personality meeting his greatest challenge. Dan Futterman wrote the script from Gerald Clarke's book, and director Bennett Miller brings to life an author deliberately diving ever deeper into the mystery of the senseless killings at an isolated Kansas farm house.

While characters like Harper Lee, life partner Jack Dunphy (Bruce Greenwood) and the Deweys orbit this period of Capote's life, the unusual bond between author and murderer Perry Smith emerges as the core of the film. Perry's calm demeanour, his expansive vocabulary and the stillness in his eyes are at odds with a cold blooded killer, and Capote patiently waits for Smith to share the unshareable before he can finish his book.

The fascination is also drawn from too-close-for-comfort similarities between the backgrounds of the two men. As Capote learns more about Smith he traces the parallels in their upbringings, and the thin lines of opportunity resulting in one man becoming a killer and the other a famous and successful author.

Capote: It's as if Perry and I grew up in the same house. And one day he stood up and went out the back door, while I went out the front.

And as much as Capote genuinely wants to help Smith and his crime partner Hickock get a fair shake out of the justice system, ambition clashes with humanity as his frustrations mount the longer the case drags without a final resolution and Smith still refusing to talk about the murders.  

Hoffman disappears into Capote, infusing oodles of confidence and heartfelt passion into the openly gay celebrity author, whether regaling his entourage with endless stories or staring at the bottom of an empty glass while barely enduring the delays as sentence appeals drag all the way to the Supreme Court. Unfortunately none of the other characters or performances come close to competing with Hoffman for attention. The brutal multiple murders are the only counterpoint, and the film skirts the edges of becoming a one-man show.

In Cold Blood was Capote's final completed book. The film salutes the man behind a seminal work, and the tortured process of creating a literary masterpiece out of a heinous crime.



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Movie Review: Patch Adams (1998)

A biographical drama and comedy, Patch Adams examines one man's attempt to humanize medical care.

It's the late 1960s, and after a suicide attempt Hunter "Patch" Adams (Robin Williams) admits himself to a psychiatric facility. He discovers a talent for connecting with fellow patients at a personal level and making them laugh, improving their disposition. He checks himself out and pursues a dream to become a doctor, enrolling at the Medical College of Virginia. He befriends fellow-student Truman Schiff (Daniel London), but his attempts to get to know classmate Carin Fisher (Monica Potter) are initially firmly rebuffed.

Patch is disappointed with the limited patient interaction afforded to medical students, and starts surreptitiously visiting hospital patients to provide companionship and humour. His anti-establishment antics incur the wrath of Dean Walcott (Bob Gunton) and the contempt of his studious roommate Mitch Roman (Philip Seymour Hoffman). Patch achieves high course marks in addition to espousing a different approach to providing care, and slowly gathers a circle of followers to practice medicine differently.

Loosely based on the life of the real Dr. Adams and directed by Tom Shadyac, the film stays close to traditional free-spirit-versus-the-establishment trappings. With quality production values and solid performances from a good cast, Patch Adams delivers the requisite call to cheer for the underdog rocking the boat. But the film's blatant aggrandization coupled with an excessively mawkish music score provide an overdose of sugar.

For all the good intentions on display to support Adams' genuinely caring and charitable approach to patient treatment, the film stubbornly ignores some fundamental questions. Investing large amounts of time with a few patients must mean that many other patients are left behind. Adams' dream of providing free treatment for all is laudable except that funding has to come from somewhere. And an expansive, humour-filled and personable approach to patient care works with a Robin Williams-like personality, but maybe not so much for doctors not bestowed with such extroverted talent.

The Steve Oedekerk script is not interested in exploring the difficult sides of these issue, and is instead content to portray Adams as purely good and absolutely just, and anyone who disagrees with him as a fossil. There is a brief moment of reflection when Adams' methods contribute to tragedy, but before long a butterfly flutters its wings and it's back to the cause.

Williams and Monica Potter lead the cast and complement each other. Shadyac allows Williams enough free reign to sprinkle welcome humour and sharp wit at regular intervals, and otherwise the star remains adequately focused. Potter is the antidote, and for most of the film provides Carin with a spine of resilience to Adams' charms.

Patch Adams highlights the need for the medical profession to remember the name behind the number on the chart, but does so with all the subtlety of a bold underline with triple exclamation marks.

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Movie Review: Punch-Drunk Love (2002)

A romantic comedy drama, Punch-Drunk Love mixes issues of emotional depression with love, but is ultimately too quirky for its own good.

Barry Egan (Adam Sandler) is a businessman specializing in the distribution of novelty gadgets, and works out of a warehouse in Los Angeles. Barry is lonely, unmarried, and has seven sisters who mercilessly tease him. One strange morning he witnesses a bizarre car crash, picks up a harmonium mysteriously placed on the sidewalk near his work, and meets Lena Leonard (Emily Watson), who is dropping off her car for repairs. Barry also starts to buy a large amount of pudding in the hopes of collecting millions of frequent travel points through a special brand promotion.

Feeling really lonely one night, Barry calls a sex chat hot line and gives away all his personal and credit information before talking to a girl calling herself Georgia. Lena turns out to be a colleague of one of Barry's sisters, and she persists enough to start a relationship with him, and this eventually blossoms into a romance. Meanwhile Georgia tries to extort money out of Barry, and when he resists, her boss Dean Trumbell (Philip Seymour Hoffman), a cheap furniture salesman, unleashes goons to intimidate Barry into paying up. But empowered by his new found love for Lena, Barry discovers new inner strength to fight back.

After delivering the complex multi-story Magnolia at over 3 hours, Paul Thomas Anderson looked for a smaller, simpler project. Punch-Drunk Love was the outcome, and on this evidence, Anderson should stick to ambitious epics. While well produced, gorgeously photographed and containing some points of interest, Punch-Drunk Love is low key to the point of irrelevance, a story that carries its embrace of eccentricity to eye-rolling territory. The film is supposed to celebrate the rejuvenating and physical power of love, but generally just falls flat, with neither the comedy nor the romance elements ever finding a zone of comfort.

The harmonium sits on Barry's desk, a mountain of pudding is piled on the warehouse floor, where the workers seem to specialize in wrecking things. Barry wears the same blue suit for most of the scenes but cannot explain why, and explodes into uncontrollable rages that should make him extremely unattractive if not downright dangerous to someone like Lena. He makes up for his fits of anger by otherwise being laid back to the edge of abject lethargy.

Scenes are dragged out to exhaustion, the thin script (written by Anderson) struggling to meaningfully fill the 95 minutes of screen time. Despite the absence of material Adam Sandler does his best, and delivers an engaging and mostly reserved performance. Ironically, this is one of the few times that Sandler gets to work with a celebrated director, and he stumbles into a piece of abstraction. Punch-Drunk Love is a sparse effort trying to fill space with nothingness, and not unexpectedly drifts away into immateriality.

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Movie Review: The Ides Of March (2011)

An inside look at the United States political process, The Ides Of March delves into the ruthless backroom machinations that define election campaigns. The film is almost incredible, and also likely too close to the truth for comfort.

Governor of Pennsylvania Mike Morris (George Clooney) and Arkansas Senator Ted Pullman are locked in a tight race for the Democratic party presidential nomination. The next big milestone is the Ohio primary, and both campaign teams are going all out to win. Veteran Paul Zara (Philip Seymour Hoffman) runs Morris' campaign, assisted by the young, bright and idealistic Stephen Meyers (Ryan Gosling). Their opponent is Pullman's campaign manager Tom Duffy (Paul Giamatti). New York Time journalist Ida Horowicz (Marisa Tomei) is covering the nomination battle.

Stephen genuinely believes that Morris is a positive change agent who is capable of great achievements. His attention is momentarily distracted by attractive campaign intern Molly Stearns (Evan Rachel Wood). They seduce each other and start a steamy affair. Meanwhile, Paul is working overtime to try and secure the critical endorsement of influential North Carolina Senator Franklin Thompson (Jeffrey Wright). Considered a king-maker, Thompson is negotiating with both campaigns, effectively selling his support to the candidate who offers him the most attractive White House position. All appears to be going well for Stephen, until he receives a phone call from Duffy, who wants Stephen to defect to the Pullman campaign. A rapid series of cascading events then throws the nomination race into turmoil, threatening to end Stephen's promising career.

Directed and co-written by Clooney as an adaptation of the play Farragut North by Beau Willimon, The Ides Of March exposes a two-faced political system that presents a fake public profile while running on a cut-throat culture of deceit, back-stabbing and betrayal. That politics is a blood sport is not new; that the participants engage with a deadpan matter-of-factness while twisting the knife is never less than disturbing.

The events portrayed are only loosely based on fact, but while too much drama is packed into a few days of campaigning, the individual misdoings all ring true as actual headlines from real political wars. Clooney moves the talk-fest along swiftly, allowing each event to shine brightly but ever so briefly in the glare of the 24/7 news cycle: there is always the next outrage waiting to feed tomorrow's talking heads.

Appropriately, the candidates are the articulate faces of their respective campaigns, but very much secondary characters in the overall context. The strategy, policy, negotiations and message control are the domain of men like Paul, Stephen and Tom. They are the backroom operatives who prefer to stay in the dark, spinning stories to reporters but manipulating events from behind the curtain. The film is a compelling chronicle of a battle of wills, and Clooney constructs it with zest, focusing on soul-destroying compromises driven by the rampant ambition to win at all costs.

A dream cast contributes greatly to the film's appeal, with Philip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Giamatti biting into their roles with glee, allowing Ryan Gosling to adopt the more cerebral and circumspect approach. Stephen is at the centre of the film, and Gosling treats the role as a story of awakening. Stephen transforms from idealistic bright young assistant campaign manager to a veteran of the political wars, a journey that will require him to taste bitter disappointment and discover just how far he will personally go to safeguard his dreams.

Evan Rachel Wood radiates an outer innocence and inner self-indulgence, always hinting that Molly wants to play in a league that may just be too tough for her. Marisa Tomei suffers somewhat from a vaguely underwritten role as the clinical reporter Ida.

Of course by the time Stephen emerges at the other end of the Ohio primary, his idealistic dream is a nightmare of corruption, his path to success littered with victims. But in the high stakes world of politics, the prize comes with the reward of enormous power, justifying all necessary means.

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Movie Review: Charlie Wilson's War (2007)

Based on real events, Charlie Wilson's War is the remarkable story of one US Congressman adopting the cause of the Afghanistan resistance during the Soviet occupation, ultimately hastening the end of the Cold War.

Texas Congressman Charlie Wilson (Tom Hanks) is known more for parties than policies, but he does sit on the powerful defence appropriations committee. Joanne Herring (Julia Roberts) is one of the richest women in Texas, and sees the fight against communism as a Christian duty. Through a smooth combination of seduction and badgering she convinces Wilson to pay attention to the plight of the mujahideen who have taken up arms against the Soviets after the 1979 invasion and occupation. She arranges a trip to the region, and Wilson meets the Pakistani president and experiences the plight of the Afghan refugees and their commitment to fight.

Back in the US Wilson uses his influence to gradually increase the funding allocated to the mujahideen, and then teams up with gruff CIA agent Gust Avrakotos (Philip Seymour Hoffman) to convince Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia to help in the fight by channeling better weaponry to the rebels. The turning point comes when Stinger missiles are secured, finally giving the mujahideen a weapon to counter the fearsome Soviet aerial threat. But Wilson has troubles of his own, as his partying habits make him the target of a larger investigation into congressional misconduct just as the war is heating up.

In exactly 100 minutes, director Mike Nichols packages the story of the last Cold War battle. Charlie Wilson's War is the truth-is-stranger-than-fiction adventure of an unknown politician who engineered a war halfway around the globe and brought the Soviet empire to its knees. Based on the George Crile book, the film is frequently funny, always sharp and filled with larger than life characters who happen to be real.

With a peppy style reflecting Wilson's personality, Nichols wastes no time in introducing the politicians and power elites who make deals in the hallways and between the bedsheets. Seduction, persuasion, cajoling and power mix easily in Washington DC and various Middle East capitals as strange bedfellows are created, the principle of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" uniting unlikely allies to take the fight to the Soviet war machine. Wilson's affable style makes it all happen, as he prods financiers, agents and politicians towards the common goal. By the end of the 1980s the mujahideen are transformed from a ragtag militia to a fighting force capable of routinely destroying the best tanks and helicopter gunships that the Soviets could throw into the battlefield.

The arming and empowering of the Afghan fighters coupled with the US turning its back on the region once the Soviets were defeated sowed the seeds for a new era of terrorism that erupted a decade later. The film does not shy away from the unintended but predictable consequences, as one war begats another.

Charlie Wilson may be one of Tom Hanks' last great roles. He captures a happy Congressman enjoying life and adopting a cause once he experiences the pain of the refugees, but always maintaining a light attitude towards his mission. Hanks glides through the film bringing to life Wilson's astounding deal making skills and calmness under pressure. Some of the film's best moments occur in the chaos of Wilson's office, as he coolly juggles the erupting corruption scandal while holding an interrupted meeting with Gust, while the bevy of beautiful assistants scamper in and out of the office.

And Philip Seymour Hoffman is unforgettable as the straight talking and never smiling CIA agent with the foulest of mouths, looking for the next global cause to adopt and finding in Wilson a partner in surreptitious warmongering and secret deal making. Amy Adams as Wilson's administrative assistant and Ned Beatty as the Chair of the defence appropriations committee round out the main cast members.

Charlie Wilson's War celebrates the craziness of making war by proxy, and the man who recognized the new front line, took on communism, and won.

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Movie Review: Almost Famous (2000)

A sweet coming of age story set in the world of 1970s rock music, Almost Famous is an engaging dramedy inspired by the true life adventures of writer and director Cameron Crowe.

It's 1973 in San Diego, and 15 year old William Miller (Patrick Fugit) is an aspiring music writer, despite the protestations of his mother Elaine (Frances McDormand), who wants him to become a lawyer. Inspired by a meeting with the dean of rock critics Lester Bangs (Philip Seymour Hoffman), William tries to sneak backstage at a Black Sabbath show, but instead connects with the opening band Stillwater, a middling rock outfit on the cusp of either stardom or obscurity.

The band's guitarist Russell Hammond (Billy Crudup) sees something that he likes in William, especially once William stumbles his way into a free-lance assignment to write for the influential Rolling Stone magazine. Stillwater have their groupies, including the wispy Penny Lane (Kate Hudson), who regularly sleeps with Russell, although the guitarist has a wife stashed in New York. William anyway develops a serious crush Penny, and they both end up on Stillwater's bus as the band tours across the United States in search of their moment in the spotlight. With William growing up quickly surrounded by sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll, he struggles to focus on writing as the band starts to tear itself apart and Penny falls hard for Russell.

Crowe himself wrote for Rolling Stone, and toured with bands including The Allman Brothers, Led Zeppelin, Eagles, and Lynyrd Skynyrd. He created the fictional Stillwater as a prototypical 1970s rock band, and amalgamated his tour experiences into the adventures of young William Miller. Almost Famous has the unmistakable feel of a heartfelt trip to the nostalgia of youth, a young man discovering the world and himself while enjoying a real live soundtrack.

The film draws its energy from a diverse group of believable characters surrounding William. Starting at home with his mother (frazzled as she loses control of her children) and his I've-had-enough sister (Zooey Deschanel) and extending all the way to the groupies, band manager and the Rolling Stone editors, Almost Famous feeds off the dynamics of suburban normalcy colliding with the parallel universe of the rock stardom industry. For the first two thirds Crowe keeps the drama on an even keel, the film unfolding gradually as a slice of life. The final third introduces a heart-stopping near-catastrophe for the band followed by an overdose, as the dramatic quotient spikes up. Both incidents are fully believable, but they also detract from the more impressive gentle focus on relationships.

Russell Hammond is the heart of the film, the guitarist at the centre of his band, bonding with William as an older brother and leading Penny to a potential broken heart. Billy Crudup provides Russell with a world weariness stemming from an appreciation that while the lifestyle is great, time is running out, Stillwater is still a second-rate band, and maybe the dream won't come true. Penny Lane remains one of Kate Hudson's best roles, as the young actress finds both confidence and fragility within Penny, a young woman who thinks she has all the answers but finds herself irresistibly drawn to an unavailable man. Less interesting is Patrick Fugit as William, as Almost Famous is a film where the main character is more of an observer than an instigator. Fugit is unfortunately stuck with a goofy smile and floppy hair for too many scenes.

With a soundtrack of music both from the era and inspired by it, including songs written for the film by Peter Frampton, Almost Famous captures the spirit of an era, where rock came out to play and to a young man coming of age, everything in love and life seemed possible.

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Movie Review: A Most Wanted Man (2014)

A contemporary counter-terrorism drama, A Most Wanted Man adapts the John le Carré novel into a serviceable film. While Philip Seymour Hoffman's final performance is a rich achievement, the rest of the film idles among too many characters stuck in a singular mode.

A mysterious Chechen man named Issa Karpov (Grigoriy Dobrygin) arrives illegally in Hamburg, Germany, and immediately attracts the attention of the authorities. Günther Bachmann (Philip Seymour Hoffman) heads a Hamburg-based anti-terrorist unit tasked with infiltrating terrorist cells, and he places Issa under observation. Günther is also interested in the activities of Dr. Faisal Abdullah (Homayoun Ershadi), a seemingly distinguished Muslim leader who advocates peace while raising funds for charities. The problem is that a sliver of all the money raised by Dr. Faisal always seems to be diverted to terrorist causes. The CIA's Berlin station chief Martha Sullivan (Robin Wright) keeps a watchful eye on Günther's activities.

Günther takes a risk and resists the pressure to detain and interrogate Issa, and instead pursues the connections that can lead to bigger conspirators. Issa makes contact with Annabel Richter (Rachel McAdams), a young lawyer who helps immigrants settle in Germany. Issa wants Annabel's assistance to approach the private bank controlled by Tommy Brue (Willem Dafoe), where Issa's father, a former Russian general, has parked a fortune that now belongs to Issa. With a large amount of money at play, Günther finds himself confronting a shadowy transaction that may be as simple as a young man distributing his father's wealth to charities, or as deadly as terrorist financing for the next big attack.

A Most Wanted Man is Philip Seymour Hoffman's final completed performance, and he is the main reason to watch the film. He delivers a tortured performance as Günther, a man uncomfortable with the new rules of war in the post-9/11 era. Hoffman wears Günther's emotional burdens like a heavy winter jacket, a master warrior of the spy world who has lost too many soldiers and yet tries to adhere to the old rules of patient observation, surveillance, nurturing informants and network infiltration.

But this is Hamburg, where the 9/11 plot was hatched and developed. Government types in Berlin are agitated and eager to quickly stamp out characters like Issa, and the CIA is all too willing to help by bundling people off to black interrogation sites. Günther has to fend off the rabid dogs demanding action while first ensuring that he does not lose Issa, and then proving that the patient approach can pay dividends. With Günther as the one character grappling with complex realpolitik trade-offs that could potentially cost many innocent lives, not to mention his career, Hoffman is flawless.

Unfortunately for the film, none of the other characters are nearly as complex. Issa, Annabel, Brue, Martha and Dr. Faisal are predictable and monochromatic, and in a case of too many characters causing a shortage of development space, none of them undergo any form of interesting evolution. The book provided breathing room for the relationship between Issa and Annabel to deepen, and rounded Brue with a complex backstory. Despite a two hour running time, this is all sacrificed by director Anton Corbijn and screenwriter Andrew Bovell, leaving Hoffman to fight a lonely battle to maintain momentum.

As can be expected with any le Carré adaptation, A Most Wanted Man is slow paced, more concerned with mood, gloom and pessimism than the traditional trappings of a thriller. The film delivers infrequent jolts of activity, but generally just soaks in a grey aura resigned to an eternal conflict between opposing forces locked in a shadow war. The causes, labels and tactics may change, but for men like Günther, with every skirmish a little piece of the soul dies a tortured death.

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Movie Review: The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)

A powerful psychological drama about love and obsession among the idle rich, The Talented Mr. Ripley is a gorgeous journey through the darkest corners of the human psyche.

Tom Ripley (Matt Damon) is a conniving and talented young man living a lonely life in 1950s New York. A confidence artist and an expert at impersonations and forging signatures, Tom is mistaken for a Princeton graduate by boat tycoon Herbert Greenleaf (James Rebhorn). Herbert takes an immediate liking to Tom, and hires him to travel to Italy to convince Herbert's son Dickie (Jude Law) to give up an aimless life of decadent pleasure and return to the US. Upon arrival in Italy, Tom meets and befriends fellow traveler Meredith Logue (Cate Blanchett), and starts to explore the possibilities of his impersonation talents by introducing himself to her as Dickie Greenleaf.

Tom then tracks down Dickie, finding him living at a waterfront villa with girlfriend Marge (Gwyneth Paltrow), and discovers that Dickie is not only a philanderer, but that he also has an expansive and magnetic personality. Tom becomes Dickie's constant companion to the mild annoyance of Marge, and meets Dickie's friend Freddie Miles (Philip Seymour Hoffman), who senses Tom's lack of genuine sophistication.

Tom all but abandons the job that Herbert assigned to him, and instead grows increasingly fond of the carefree lifestyle while becoming quite obsessed with Dickie, believing that they should be lovers. His misplaced infatuation results in violence and bloodshed, and a game of hide and seek across Italy that will put all of Tom Ripley's talents to the test.

An adaptation of the 1955 Patricia Highsmith novel of the same name, The Talented Mr. Ripley is a feast for the eyes and the mind. Working with a terrific cast, director Anthony Minghella captures a decadent, sun-bathed 1950s Italy where rich foreigners gather to enjoy a life of doing nothing. The exteriors are alive with a sense of constant frolicking, while the interiors inhabited by the likes of Dickie, Marge and Freddie are flush with carefree spending.  Minghella finds a particular highlight in an evening at a jazz club, Tom utterly drowning in the pool of Dickie’s charisma as a club teaming with revelers parties into the night.

The opening hour is a study of the insidious charm of evil obsession. Smart as Tom Ripley is, he finds Dickie’s personality and life irresistible, and ultimately, Tom cannot bear the thought of not being a special member of Dickie’s inner circle. The journey from strangers to potential lovers occurs in Tom’s mind, while for Dickie, Tom is just another interesting character to have fun with when convenient and discard when bored.

Tom’s violent tendencies are sparked by the heat of his growing attraction to Dickie, and once he crosses the threshold from subservient and insidious to dangerously proactive, Tom creates the canvass to put his skills to the ultimate test. His ability to mislead, confuse and obfuscate friends and strangers alike carrying him far towards his dream of joining the rich and idle set.

The second half of the film becomes more frantic but ironically loses momentum. Once Tom embarks on a path of fooling all the people all of the time, the movie takes on a breathless chase and deceit posture, and as a result loses the rich focus on character depth. While it is fun to watch Tom weave a complex web of interdependent subterfuge to try and outsmart the Italian authorities and Dickie’s acquaintances, the film shifts from uniquely intellectual to simply clever.

Matt Damon is mesmerizing as Tom Ripley, his eyes always just hinting at a lot more going on in his head than he really wants to lets on. The rest of the cast is stellar, Gwyneth Paltrow traveling furthest from content girlfriend to accusing victim, while Philip Seymour Hoffman lands a delicious and all-too-brief turn as Freddie Miles, the one man to see through Ripley and call him on it with layers of unspoken sarcasm.

Sucked into a life of luxury and seduction, The Talented Mr. Ripley is devious and deadly.

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Movie Review: Scent Of A Woman (1992)

A combination coming-of-age and life crisis drama that unfolds with spirited zeal, Scent Of A Woman rides the monstrous engine of a bravura Al Pacino performance.

Charlie Simms (Chris O'Donnell) is a low key student at the preppy Baird School for boys in New England. With the Thanksgiving long weekend approaching, Charlie witnesses his friends and fellow students pulling off a prank that destroys the new Jaguar of the school's stiff headmaster, Mr. Trask (James Rebhorn). An inquiry is called for after the weekend, with Charlie likely to be in a lot of trouble if he does not reveal the identify of the pranksters.

Carrying this burden, Charlie takes what he believes to be a simple weekend housesitting job to look after the blind retired Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade (Al Pacino), a loudmouthed, opinionated and bitter man. But Frank has plans for a final hurrah in life: he sweeps Charlie along and they set out to spend a lavish weekend of luxurious eating, drinking and womanizing in New York City. As the weekend progresses, a tentative father-son relationship starts to evolve between the veteran and the student. Charlie slowly starts to realize that he is going to have a key role in Frank's weekend, while Frank learns about Charlie's troubles back at Baird.

Scent Of A Woman is built for the highlight reel, and offers several outstanding moments. The first meeting between Frank and Charlie is a spectacularly unfair collision between an uncertain young man and a grizzled army veteran, the master sizing up the student for an adventure that Charlie does not even know about. The tango sequence, from set-up to denouement, is a genuine all-time classic movie scene, bundling the meaning of life into all of about six minutes, Frank demonstrating what it means to seize the right opportunity, trust true instincts and enjoy the moment.

Also memorable but starting to veer into the melodramatic are the twin climax moments, first Charlie saving Frank from his lowest ebb, paving the way for the "I'm in the dark here!" roar, then Frank returning the favour and standing up for Charlie at the formal school inquiry. That entire ending is overcooked to a carbonated mess, but there is no doubting the power in Pacino's delivery of the seminal "If I were the man I was five years ago, I'd take a FLAMETHROWER to this place!"

For a movie that is essentially a study of two characters, the running time of 157 minutes is quite excessive. Nevertheless, director Martin Brest keeps the drama ticking along nicely, driven by an unapologetically over the top Pacino performance that finally won him the Best Actor Academy Award. Frank is an exaggerated character, and Pacino takes that leeway and runs with it all over New York. Ironically, the best acting happens in the most quiet moments, but it is the bombast that dominates the movie.

Chris O'Donnell holds his own and gradually grows into the role of Charlie. O'Donnell finds the uncertainty of a seventeen year old thrust into an early test of adulthood, and while he stays very much in Pacino's shadow, O'Donnell does rise to the few scenes where he finally has to take the initiative rather than react. The supporting cast includes small roles for Gabrielle Anwar as Pacino's tango partner, and Philip Seymour Hoffman as a fellow student at Baird.

Trading nuance for impact, Scent Of A Woman fills the room with excessive but still rousing human drama.

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Movie Review: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)

The second installment in the adventures of Katniss Everdeen based on the Suzanne Collins novels, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire provides depth to the story but limited forward progression. The movie suffers from middle-child syndrome, lacking a proper opening and leaving the ending for another day. But the film does fulfill its objective of transforming Katniss from naive competitor to potential revolutionary leader.

After surviving the 74th Hunger Games along with fellow District 12 competitor Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) tries to overcome the trauma of the Games by seeking comfort with boyfriend Gale (Liam Hemsworth). However, Katniss and Peeta's act of rebellion in both surviving the Games begins to inspire an uprising in various Districts. President Coriolanus Snow (Donald Sutherland) insists that Katniss and Peeta pretend to be true lovers and loyal to the Capitol, as they travel through Panem on a victory tour with chaperon Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks) and previous District 12 winner Haymitch (Woody Harrelson).

But with an insurgency spreading, Snow conspires with new game-master Plutarch Heavensbee (Philip Seymour Hoffman) to throw Katniss and Peeta back into the arena by re-casting the 75th Hunger Games as a battle among previous winners. Facing another duel to the death among 24 competitors to be broadcast live by gleeful presenter Caesar Flickerman (Stanley Tucci), Katniss and Peeta forge an alliance with electronics expert Beetee (Jeffrey Wright), the athletic Finnick (Sam Claflin) and the resourceful Johanna (Jena Malone). But these Games will be different, with vicious fights for survival against elements unleashed within the arena, and an unexpected outcome.

Catching Fire is one long bridge from the original premise of the first movie to the climactic battles to come. There is a sense of biding time, as the first half is preoccupied with the Victory Tour, and Katniss beginning to sense that something has changed in Panem. Her small act of defiance has triggered a new, flickering hope throughout the land. With the regime clamping down with heavy handed brutality, Katniss slowly realizes that whether she wants to or not, she is becoming a symbol of rebellion and the public face for a movement that she does not yet understand.

The second half of the movie is an unfortunate retread of the original, Katniss and Peeta thrust back into the arena for another battle to the death. The 75th Games are more of a strategic struggle against the elements, not too different from a rather tiresome episode of television's Survivor.  In succession, a poisonous mist, killer baboons and Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds create a litany of "what next" challenges thrown at the competitors, triggering several rounds of frantic running around and arm waving.

As much at Katniss tries to remain the protagonist, there is no escaping the reality that in these Games events happen around Katniss, and members of her alliance are busier than she is fending off the threats. Katniss and Peeta evolve into treasures to be protected rather than problem solvers, and with the central role elevated to a symbol rather than a heroine, Catching Fire begins to flounder.

Outside the arena, Director Francis Lawrence does create a grim environment throughout Panem, colouring the film with depressed greys and relatively pale greens as the winds of violent change start to travel through the land. He also extracts good performances from the cast, Jennifer Lawrence again providing the magnetic centre of the film in an intense, introspective performance full of growth from warrior girl to rebel leader. However, Lawrence does suffer from a Katniss who has to endure a uniformly grim disposition in this episode: she has no opportunity to be anything other than upset or angry.

In support Woody Harrelson makes the biggest impact, as he often does, here giving Haymitch a knowing glint in the eye, offering Katniss the strongest clues that things are different, while still enjoying large quantities of booze at every opportunity. Donald Sutherland delivers a standard evil hissing dictator performance, but Philip Seymour Hoffman looks a bit lost, his attempt at conveying Plutarch's mysterious agenda coming across as rather disinterested. Tucci is as over the top as can be expected from an intentionally aggravating television show host.

The actors representing the three boys in Katniss' life hover around Lawrence like dark planets orbiting the sun. Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth and Sam Claflin are all steady, with Claflin the most animated and least dewy eyed, but all three are quite overshadowed by the girl in the middle of their lives. The revolution in Panem may be catching fire, but the career of Jennifer Lawrence is burning hotter than the flames in the streets of the Districts.

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Movie Review: The Master (2012)

A rather tiresome study of two characters, The Master is just about saved by the terrific acting of Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman, but nevertheless registers as a misfire for director Paul Thomas Anderson.

Freddie Quell (Phoenix) comes out of World War Two as a sex-obsessed alcoholic, brewing toxic drinks, unable to settle down, and drifting from one dead-end job to another. He stumbles into the orbit of Lancaster Dodd (Hoffman), a self-proclaimed Master of "The Cause", a pseudo-religious cult based on psychological interviews, mostly feeding on the insecurities of the clueless.

Dodd's entourage includes his wife Peggy (Amy Adams), daughter Elizabeth (Ambyr Childers), son-in-law Clark (Rami Malek), son Val (Jesse Plemons) and benefactor Helen Sullivan (Laura Dern). They try to spread their influence by mingling within social circles and selling Dodd's books. The Master cannot tolerate any dissent, nor can he rationally defend his work when challenged. He does develop a strong bond with Freddie, who proves to be a simpleton but also a staunch defender of The Cause, often physically intimidating any sceptics. But Freddie's inability to quit drinking causes continuous turmoil, with Peggy in particular disgusted by his loutish behaviour, and his standing within The Cause is thrown into question.

The Master suffers from a disjointed script cobbled together from ideas considered surplus for There Will Be Blood, tall stories recounted by actor Jason Robards, the life story of John Steinbeck, and inspiration from the squalors of Scientology. The result is a strangely muted narrative in which very little actually happens, and plenty of time passes with blank stares, pregnant pauses, and strikingly endless repetition of some scenes.

The film may be trying to explore themes of fake dogma and how some poor souls can be easily manipulated, but it's a laborious, painfully obvious and almost pointless exercise. Anderson struggles to generate any sort of momentum, the film slow to the point of standing still, and he is equally unable to create sympathy for either of his two main characters. While Lancaster is an effective salesman of garbage to the easily manipulated, neither he nor Quell are portrayed as anywhere near smart or worth caring about. The lack of likability becomes a heavy anchor tied to the ankle of the movie, and other than the obvious conclusion that they deserve each other, the destinies of oily charlatan Lancaster Dodd and brutish drunkard Freddie Quell are all too easy to file under the "who cares" category.

But The Master does enjoy two memorable acting performances. Phoenix bows his back, twists his face, and develops an awkward, slightly hesitant walk, Freddie a broken shell of a man looking for a reason to live just so that he can drink for another day. Hoffman gives Dodd the authority of a man quite capable of fooling some of the people all of the time, his sense of self-importance barely concealing an intellect that is making up the nonsense of The Cause almost in real time.

In comparison Amy Adams is quite wasted. She gets just the two strong scenes, one asserting her dominance over Lancaster by taking complete control of his manhood, and in the other dressing down Freddie by calling him out for who he is. Otherwise, she fades into the wallpaper. The other supporting actors have little to do except occupy slow moving space.

Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman do provide two masterful reasons to watch the 140 minute film through to its conclusion, but it's nevertheless a slog.

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Movie Review: The Big Lebowski (1998)

A piece of classic modern nonsense, The Big Lebowski thrives on an mood of utter pacifist irreverence. The Coen brothers Ethan and Joel create a Chandleresque mystery in modern Los Angeles, through the cracked mirror of a skewed society where the peculiar is normal.

Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski (Jeff Bridges) is unemployed, penniless, and extremely mellow in his attitude to life. In contrast, his best friend Walter (John Goodman) is a strung out Vietnam veteran still fighting the war - any war. They spend most of their time bowling with mutual friend Donny (Steve Buscemi). Two thugs break into The Dude's apartment, demanding money owed by Lebowski's wife. Except that The Dude has no wife. Realizing that they have the wrong Jeff Lebowski, the thugs depart, but not before urinating on The Dude's carpet.

Spurred on by Walter, The Dude visits the mansion of the very rich other Jeff Lebowski (David Huddleston), seeking a new carpet. Before long, the rich Lebowski and his personal assistant Brandt (Philip Seymour Hoffman) hire The Dude to help secure the release of trophy wife Mrs. Bunny Lebowski (Tara Reid), who has been kidnapped and is being held for a $1 million ransom. Walter ensures that the planned exchange is a total botch, landing The Dude in a lot of trouble, especially when Maude Lebowski (Julianne Moore), the rich Lebowski's estranged daughter and an eccentric artist, gets involved, along with pornographer Jackie Treehorn (Ben Gazzara).

The Dude is one of the most indelible slackers created for the movies. Larger than life and utterly comfortable with doing nothing, he never lifts a finger in anger, and actually hardly ever gets angry. As his life gets ever more insane, he maintains an inner calmness and just gets on with extricating himself from each successive mess. Perpetually dressed in a jumble of a house robe, old shorts and ratty t-shirt, his face haggard yet still optimistic, The Dude is a one of a kind. Jeff Bridges embodies the role and delivers a memorable performance, dominating with tranquillity.

The Big Lebowski plot is maybe not as original as the main character, but it's close. The Coens draw inspiration from Raymond Chandler's overcomplicated detective mysteries as well as real-life Los Angeles characters to create a convoluted narrative that always threaten to break out of control, but is just held in check. Some distractions, such as the detective in the Volkswagen, do seem like needless clutter, but overall there are a lot more hits than misses. The juxtaposition of 1940s classic elements, like the old rich man in the mansion, his oily assistant, the vixen, the potentially more dangerous sister, and the pornography sub-plot are all easily modernized. Seen through the eyes of The Dude, who just wants a clean rug to bring together his room, they become often priceless fodder for humour.

Counterbalancing The Dude is Walter, a man strung out and unwilling to view life as anything other than a battlefield. In one his more prominent big screen roles John Goodman matches Bridges' coolness with delightfully unhealthy intensity and a misplaced sense of self-confidence. Walter's ideas rarely help the situation, but he is never short on ideas, which makes him a valuable friend to the passive Dude.

The Dude and Walter spend all their spare time (which is all their time) at the bowling centre, where the submissive Donny receives a constant stream of disrespect from Walter. Against the constant crash of balls striking pins, life's little problems are blown into full fledged crises, as The Dude and Walter manage to make every bad situation worse by talking it through.

The other characters are more linear but play their role in adding to the prevailing quirkiness. The rich Jeffrey Lebowski is the spiritual descendant of General Sternwood from The Big Sleep, and his wife Bunny is not far from Carmen, Sternwood's wild daughter. Julianne Moore is Maude Lebowski, the (relatively) more rational family member, echoing Carmen's sister Vivian. Only Maude has the iciness to compete with The Dude's nonchalance, and she is the only one to get what she wants out of him.

The main cast members are surrounded by hoods, nihilists, pornographers, and really strange bowlers. John Turturro as Jesus Quintana goes way over the top as The Dude's next opponent, but even he seems to fittingly belong in a Los Angeles brimming with wackos.

Filled with attitude and a unique brand of laid back energy, The Big Lebowski throws a perfect game.

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