The Ace Black Movie Blog

Showing posts with label Sam Elliott. Show all posts

Saturday, 28 November 2020

Movie Review: Did You Hear About The Morgans? (2009)

A romantic comedy with boots on, Did You Hear About The Morgans? enjoys two stars in fine form, an out-of-the-way setting, and a sparkling script.

In New York City, successful realtor Meryl Morgan (Sarah Jessica Parker) is separated from her husband and lawyer Paul (Hugh Grant). Their marriage crumbled under the stress of arguments about adoption, and he subsequently cheated. But now he is contrite and desperately wants to win her back. They go on a date which ends with them witnessing a gangland murder and being placed in a witness protection program.

Relocated to the tiny community of Ray, Wyoming, Meryl and Paul are sheltered by gruff Marshal Clay Wheeler (Sam Elliot) and his wife and Deputy Marshal Emma (Mary Steenburgen). The Morgans have to get used to the rural small town lifestyle and learn to live together again, while the assassin from New York attempts to track them down.

Rom-coms tend to thrive in New York, and while Did You Hear About The Morgans? starts in the Big Apple, the story soon packs its bags and heads way west. Writer and director Marc Lawrence recognizes the humour inherent in ejecting perennial urbanites Sarah Jessica Parker and Hugh Grant out of their comfort zone, and he plonks them down in fictional Ray, Wyoming. Actually, the outskirts of Ray, Wyoming, because Clay and Emma Wheeler prefer to live a bit away from the hustle and bustle of the one-block town.

And the friendly friction between transplanted city folks and the rural lifestyle is fertile soil to freshen the produce on this genre shelf. Cows, horses, one bear, rifles and pick-up trucks of course all contribute. And in addition to the Wheelers, Lawrence populates the town with colourful characters including the larger-than-life Earl Granger (the ever watchable Wilford Brimley), an all-purpose doctor and an equally adaptable nurse/assistant fire chief.

Meanwhile Meryl and Paul are busy getting reacquainted and resetting their troubled marriage. The attempted relationship revival and associated tip-toeing through dark corners of their past lead to more-honest-than-usual conversations. The third leg of the narrative stool is the murderer tracking down the couple, and while a crime investigation instigates the cross-country displacement, it is also the least developed element. A sub-sub-sub plot is played for breezy laughs and features Paul and Meryl's stressed-out assistants (Elisabeth Moss and Paul Kelly) falling in love (involving tasers) back in New York.

Sarah Jessica Parker and Hugh Grant avoid any stretching and import their prepackaged screen personas with minimal modifications. She is pleasantly neurotic and cannot imagine the concept of a life outside of Manhattan, and he is self-effacing and lightning quick with a side quip. Sam Elliott and Mary Steenburgen are exceptionally good as gracious hosts who get to marvel at the foreign critters acting as houseguests.

Breaking new ground more literally than figuratively, the Morgans are worth hearing about.

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.

Tuesday, 23 October 2018

Movie Review: A Star Is Born (2018)

A musical drama and romance, the 2018 version of A Star Is Born is a slick package but adds precious little to the oft-told story.

Jackson Maine (Bradley Cooper) is a hard drinking country-rock music star, still packing arenas but well past his creative prime, and suffering from worsening tinnitus. One night after a show he stumbles into a bar and catches a performance by Ally Campana (Lady Gaga). Entranced, they talk through the night. She reveals her insecurities about her looks and unwillingness to perform her own material. Ally's father Lorenzo (Andrew Dice Clay) is a chauffeur and wanna-be crooner who believes he could have been another Sinatra.

Jackson invites Ally to his next concert and insists she perform a song with him on stage. The clip goes viral and soon she is part of his tour, their romance blossoming as her reputation grows. Jackson reveals his own troubled upbringing in Arizona, and his strained relationship with his brother Bobby (Sam Elliott), now his tour manager. Music producer Rez Gavron (Rafi Gavron) spots Ally's potential and starts packaging her into a superstar, straining her relationship with Jackson, whose drinking gets out of control.

Directed, co-written and co-produced by Cooper, the latest version of A Star Is Born is a grand exercise in quality film making, but nevertheless fails to justify its existence. After the 1937, 1954 and 1976 versions, it is difficult to imagine what more can be added to the narrative. And sure enough the 2018 go-around settles down to a straight forward regurgitation, most closely resembling the 1976 edition, thankfully absent anything resembling Streisand's frightening ego.

Despite the unnecessarily overlong running time of 135 minutes, Cooper demonstrates good directorial touches and avoids getting bogged down in any one mood for too long. He has less success with the unmemorable music, a combination of bland and generic, and overall the film carries less of an emotional punch due to the ease with which Ally gains her stardom: being thrust onto a stage by a superstar in front of a ready-made audience of 100,000 fans in the digital age is not exactly the most arduous route to stardom.

More troubling is Ally's journey from talented singer-songwriter with a unique appeal to the prepackaged and generic gyrating entertainer she turns into under the suspect tutelage of producer Rez. It may be that the road to a Grammy in 2018 means spouting nonsense lyrics while dolled-up to look like every other manufactured airhead, but Ally never even pauses to question her trajectory.

In her film debut Lady Gaga ironically shines in the early scenes as the wide-eyed ingenue, but is less effective and often just surly when Ally's stardom takes hold. Cooper is excellent as the fading Jackson Maine, and the balanced emphasis on the two leads is one of the strengths of the 2018 retelling.

The romance is familiar and suddenly fiery when it suits the script, the idea that trouble may follow obsessive drunkenness and career divergence seemingly catching Jackson and Ally by surprise. Jackson's deep backstory related to his relationship with his father and brother carries good weight, and with Sam Elliott in good form, more time could have been invested in this aspect.

A Star Is Born provides glossy, loud and overblown entertainment. The movie is tolerable, but the story is just tired.

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.

Wednesday, 20 December 2017

Movie Review: Road House (1989)

An action film set in the rough and tumble world of bouncers, Road House is a good bad film.

Bar owner Frank Tilghman (Kevin Tighe) hires professional "cooler" Dalton (Patrick Swayze) to help clean up the rough environment at the Double Deuce club in a small rural Missouri town. Dalton, an expert martial arts fighter, is considered the best in the business, and quickly sets about getting rid of corruption and rowdy behaviour. Gradually the Double Deuce is elevated to a respectable establishment. Dalton also starts a relationship with local doctor Elizabeth Clay (Kelly Lynch) and a friendship with band leader and ace guitarist Cody (Jeff Healey).

Dalton: Pain don't hurt.

Dalton's progress is not appreciated by corrupt rich businessman Brad Wesley (Ben Gazzara), who runs the town with an iron fist and demands protection money from all businesses. Wesley's goons start to pressure Dalton to leave town, leading to violent confrontations. Dalton calls on his old buddy Wade Garrett (Sam Elliott) for back-up.

Garrett, referring to Elizabeth: That gal's got entirely too many brains to have an ass like that.

Directed by Rowdy Herrington and produced by action film master Joel Silver, Road House is one bad movie that is undeniably entertaining. Filled with cringe-inducing dialogue, superfluous nudity, ridiculous and frequent fight scenes and a total detachment from reality, Road House is nevertheless enjoyable for its sheer bravado as it luxuriates in its awfulness.

Dalton, instructing the other Double Deuce bouncers: I want you to be nice...until it's time...to not be nice.

The plot borrows heavily from that most basic western cliche, the mysterious stranger with one name, a dark past and few words who cleans up a town run by baddies and frees the long-suffering local residents. The Road House script adds bone crunching and bloody violence, nudity and foul language to meet the expectations of the low-brow market in 1989. And just because this is a Joel Silver film, somehow an impromptu and utterly needless striptease makes its way onto the screen.

Making it all worthwhile is Patrick Swayze, displaying star magnetism through sheer looks, flowy hair, a singular expression and coiled energy in his frequently shirtless body. Dalton drivers a Mercedes instead of riding a horse, and is supposed to have a philosophy degree from NYU. Through screen presence alone, Swayze almost makes that achievement believable.

Dalton: Nobody ever wins a fight.

Musician Jeff Healey somehow ends up in this cluttered mess, and adds to a soundtrack rocking out to energetic country blues. Best of all is Sam Elliott as Dalton's mentor, wandering in for the sole purpose of kicking ass with the wisdom of an older man who built his life's purpose on ass kicking.

Tilghman: It's a good night. Nobody died.
Dalton: It'll get worse before it gets better.

Road House is an unpretentious exercise in lowest common denominator action filmmaking, where star charisma, familiar plot elements, and the hot button of simplistic justice are served on a chipped plate with a greasy spoon.

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.

Monday, 6 February 2017

Movie Review: I'll See You In My Dreams (2015)

A low-key drama about love and death, I'll See You In My Dreams enjoys a heartfelt Blythe Danner performance but otherwise meanders in and out of cul-de-sacs.

Carol Peterson (Danner) has been a widow for more than 20 years, and she enjoys an independent lifestyle close enough but not within a retirement community. Her dog Hazel is a close companion, as are her friends Georgina (June Squibb), Sally (Rhea Pearlman) and Rona (Mary Kay Place). When Hazel dies of old age, loneliness sets in, and Carol is further annoyed by an elusive rat that takes up residence in her apartment.

Carol starts a tentative friendship with underachieving pool cleaner Lloyd (Martin Starr), a much younger man, and then she is asked out on a date by the rich, confident and masculine retiree Bill (Sam Elliott). A karaoke date with Lloyd reawakens her passion for music, while Bill wants to move quickly towards a serious relationship. With Carol wondering which way to steer her emotional life, daughter Katherine (Malin Åkerman) comes for a visit.

An independent production directed and co-written by Brett Haley, I'll See You In My Dreams tackles themes of loneliness, love and death's looming shadow in the latter stages of life. The film maintains a soft and grounded tone, with Haley sprinkling touches of humour and wisdom in enough doses to keep the mood more light than overbearing. At 96 minutes the film is perfectly paced, with enough time for Carol's story to unfold without unnecessary moping.

The death of Carol's dog Hazel is the trigger for reflection on what level of companionship she needs. Hazel and the small circle of friends had papered over the gaps caused by the death of her husband, but now Carol needs more, with pool boy Lloyd and the flamboyant Bill presenting contrasting alternatives. Lloyd is a young man already stuck in the neutral gear of life and a dead-end job, but he has the sensitivity to coax Carol back towards her singing passion. Meanwhile, cigar chomping Bill has a heart as big as Texas and confidence to match. He is all about living life to the fullest, spending lavishly, not having any regrets, and not wasting any time.

The two men nourish Carol's soul in different ways, but events intervene and cause her to remember why she valued being alone: caring about others can be hard work, and the emotional investment comes at a price. She does not doubt the pleasure of companionship, but the pressure is also not to be discounted.

Despite an absorbing performance from Blythe Danner, I'll See You In My Dreams peters out in its final third. Katherine's appearance is left hanging and the choice between the two men self-resolves. Carol becomes more of an observer and listener rather than a catalyst, and she defaults to an unimaginative level of comfort. While it's a pragmatic reality that mature people rarely embrace new risks, it's still vaguely disappointing that Carol doesn't more strongly advocate for girls just wanting to have fun, at any age.

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.

Tuesday, 22 September 2015

Movie Review: Thank You For Smoking (2005)

A workplace dramatic comedy, Thank You For Smoking examines the distasteful careers of those who lobby for industries that knowingly kill people. With biting satire, the story of a cigarette industry spokesperson cleverly humanizes the monsters behind the seemingly heartless statements.

Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart) is the charismatic public face for the Academy of Tobacco Studies, an industry-funded advocacy group pumping out dubious science and responding to attacks on big tobacco. Nick is really good at his job, and becomes a well-known and publicly reviled figure, to the point of receiving death threats. His regular lunch companions include Polly (Maria Bello) and Bobby Jay (David Koechner), who hold similar jobs for the alcohol and firearms industries respectively.

Nick's nemeses includes Senator Ortolan Finistirre (William H. Macy), who is leading the charge for more graphic warnings on cigarette packages. With sales figures falling, Nick impresses his boss "BR" (J.K. Simmons) and tobacco tycoon "the Captain" (Robert Duvall) by suggesting that the industry pay for high profile movie stars to start smoking again in big-budget productions. This leads to a surreal meeting with Hollywood uber talent representative Jeff Megall (Rob Lowe).

Nick is divorced, but is nevertheless trying to be good dad to his inquisitive son Joey (Cameron Bright), who joins Nick on some of his business travels. On one trip they visit the actor Lorne Lutch (Sam Elliott), better known as the iconic Marlboro Man, but who is now dying of cancer. Meanwhile investigative journalist Heather Holloway (Katie Holmes) wants to profile Nick, and they start a scorching sexual relationship over a series of interviews. Just when everything appears to be going swimmingly well for Nick, his career is suddenly disrupted on all fronts.

The first major feature written and directed by Jason Reitman, Thank You For Smoking takes a clever look at the distasteful edges of a free civil society. Through the character of Nick, the film explores the themes of freedom of choice, fatherhood in the face of notoriety, and a capitalistic, hypocritical society where politicians and industrialists wage battle. Everything and everyone has a price, cheese can be compared to cigarettes, the dream machine of Hollywood is a giant advertising space, and science is the first casualty amidst the sleaze, spin, and scandal.

Produced on a modest budget, Thank You For Smoking is sly, witty, and compact at 92 minutes. Reitman packs the film with quick vignettes from Nick's life, the film unfolding with a mischievous attitude to match Nick's unapologetic stance. Nick's task is not about proving that cigarettes don't kill; rather, it's about obfuscating his way through the next argument so that the relevant facts are buried in an avalanche of spin.

The film succeeds in turning Nick into not quite a hero, but rather a necessary presence, a product of a system that refuses to curtail freedom and allows every accused the right to buy the best defence. That a smart, handsome and charismatic man is attracted to the job is then simply a matter of matching talent to the professional requirement, no different than a slick lawyer standing up for a seemingly blatantly guilty defendant in court.

Reitman also offers up Nick as a victim. As the face of a reviled industry, Nick not only has to deal with maniacs out to harm him, but his son also suffers the misfortune of having a nationally despised father. Nick is not deterred, and insists on exposing young Joey to the world of lobbying and advocacy. Joey gets to see the behind the scenes world where a dying man gets to choose between a briefcase full of money and freedom of speech, and where movie agents control how many smoke rings will be puffed on screen, and for what price.

Aaron Eckhart picks up the film and runs with it, enjoying one of the most prominent roles of his screen career and maximizing the impish side of his persona to create a man who is likeable in spite of himself. All the supporting cast members get into the swing of events and deliver rollicking support, with Elliott, Simmons, Duvall, Holmes and Macy enjoying their moments despite relatively limited screen time.

Every operator, no matter how slick, has a weakness, and Nick is about to discover his vulnerability in the most publicly humiliating way. He magnetism breeds overconfidence, and he will face his greatest crisis just when his industry needs him the most. However, in a society built on selling without conscience, there will always be welcome space for the modern fast talking, quick thinking confidence man.