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Movie Review > Salt

Salt: She's beautiful, there's a plot about Russian sleeper agents & complex action sequences. It's a  thriller. What more can anyone ask from this genre? I think it's a 'go-see' if you like this type of movie. Angelina Jolie carries the film, plays it to the hilt & is... well, sort of believable, as a REALLY tough CIA operative named Evelyn Salt. This is the 'pilot' film. Expect sequels; I'd bet money on it. Would 3.5 stars (of 5) be too much? Nah. I enjoyed it. It was fun. Here are a couple of other reviews. 

• NPR > Who Is 'Salt'? Tastily Enough, It's Angelina Jolie 
• NYT > Spies, Spider Venom & Sex Appeal
• The Stranger > Salt: More Like Womb Raider, Amirite?

Movie Review > Inception starring Leonardo De Caprio

"Inception" starring Leonardo DeCaprio directed by Christopher Nolan (Momento, Dark knight, Insomnia) is what I would call a REAL psychological thriller. Personal analysis helps.

Here we go.

Leonardo de Caprio -- the extractor -- specializes in subconscious security. He spies on, and tries to extract information from his target's psyche. To do it he has to get into the target's sub-conscious where ideas & truths run free. Our most natural experience with the sub-conscious is in dreams so De Caprio has a way to enter these dreams.

This movie naturally centers around a particularly difficult case. To succeed, the plan is two fold. 

First, the inception of an idea, i.e. planting/suggesting an idea to the target, since once implanted, there is no stopping it. Ideas and truths -- as well as fears & doubts -- roam freely in the sub-conscious; thus modern day psychoanalysis. The idea being that the inception of the idea will eventually lead to truth. 

But because of the complexity of this case, the other part of the plan involves, not one or two but three levels of dreams, i.e. the participants in the level one dream, are taken over by folks @ level 2, only to be supplanted by the folks at the 3rd level of the dream. This suggests the complexity of the target's defenses  protecting the truth. So you sit in a darkened movie theatre following Leonardo de Caprio (and others) pursue the idea implanted deep in the target's psyche.

The overall architect of this multi-tiered dream construct is non other than Ellen Page, the quirky star of current Microsoft commercials but most preciously starring in the wonderful "Juno".  I'm not sure why she was cast in this role except maybe it was her ability to provide a flat-line performance, i.e. objective, methodical, mathematical. 

Anyway, back to the plot.

The plot, i.e. the assignment, is to discover the final wishes of a dying tycoon: is he going to leave his company to his son or force him to strike out on his own? A pretty thin motive to be carrying such a heavy movie load but Mr. Nolan tries to bulk it up by having the dying tycoon's only competitor finance the whole caper for business reasons.

The trick here is to make sure that (1) there is enough time to complete the job & (2) that everyone is sufficiently asleep so they don't wake up & interrupt the flow of the various dreams which have to work in sync to succeed. 

Enter an East Asian character who has the right sleeping potion. He also has the music that, when played, awakens everyone from their drugged sleep. The sleep has to be deep enough to repel any doubts caused by outside influences (noise, light, etc.) because any of these would intrude on the dreams & create greater obstacles to retrieving the truth. These disturbed 'dreamscape' scenes are visually interesting.

Confused enough?

The last layer of this plot involves the investigator, himself, who is trying to 'return' home to his kids having left his wife behind in an earlier dreamscape where there was nothing but happy times. He is torn by the guilt of leaving her behind & returning to real life & the love of his kids. Each time any of these feelings enter his psyche, his wife appears & he has to interrupt his mission to deal with her.

At the end of this rather longish movie, everything is resolved. You might be a  little tired of thinking about what you just saw but you cannot deny that you were on a director's trip much as "Apolcalypse Now" was for Francis Ford Coppola. If you enjoy this sort of movie, you will probably enjoy this one, too. I did. 

Movie Review > 'Solitary Man' starring Michael Douglas

'Solitary Man' stars Michael Douglas w Susan Sarandon, Danny DeVito & Mary-Louise Parker.

It took a lot of executive producers, producers, a couple of writers & two directors (I'm not sure how that works) to get this film to market. To me that usually means (1) it is a crappy film by some first timers starring unknowns or (2) when you have a cast like this one, it isn't your 'usual' Hollywood fare which is generally good in my book.

And so it was with 'Solitary Man', which felt like a thoughtfully constructed David Mamet play -- lots of interesting dialog with almost no action.

'Solitary Man' is the story about a man, a super car salesman, reminiscent of Gordon Gecko, also played so deliciously by Mr. Douglas -- who we watch on a downward spiral starting from a high flying New York City lifestyle, finally becoming the solitary man.

One piece of his storied existence collapses after another. And while on the one hand, we could feel sorry for him, on the other hand we feel he might be getting everything he deserves for having lived his arrogant, salesman, over-the-top life when the truth stopped mattering.

The character -- as played by Mr. Douglas -- walks this careful line throughtout the film so the audience can never quite commit to one camp or the other.

And while there are some minor scenes with the rest of this accomplished cast, this movie is all Michael Douglas. And like a mature Jeff Bridges in "Crazy Heart", Michael Douglas gets better with age in my opinion.

There's a depth & a realism to this role that almost makes one forget that he's Michael Douglas or maybe makes you marvel that it actually is Michael Douglas. Perhaps Mr. Douglas -- who's has had his share of ups & downs -- found some truth in the character based on his own experience from which to draw inspiration. However he did it, it worked.

I would give it four stars were I an actual reviewer. If you like thought provoking films, go see it. Don't go see it for laughs even though there are a few of those as well.

The official website is here.

Movie Review > The Ghost Writer

"The Ghost Writer", the most recent Roman Polanski effort is a good old fashioned thriller in the style of "Chinatown" or, better yet, a political thriller like "The Parallax View". 

This two hour film didn't seem too long or at all contrived. The characters & situations flow easily as we follow the Ewan McGregor character -- the writer hired to 'ghost' a former U.K. Prime Minister's memoirs -- as he painstakenly unravels an elegant mystery that revolves around the fine art of modern espionage. 

The prime minister character, fashioned after Tony Blair, is played ably by Pierce Brosnan. His accomplished political wife, played by Olivia Williams, floats in and out of the thriller, while putting up with her husband's personal assistant (wink, wink) played by a buttoned up Kim Cattrall. The dialog is snappy most of the way through and there are few legitimate laughs to be had as a bonus. 

In England, a political advesary accuses the P.M. of a war crime while he is visiting America which sets off a media frenzy (and the mystery) that everyone here in the U.S. should already be familiar with: remote trucks, shouting reporters, microphones, angry mobs of protesters, helicopters & the rest. You know.... it could easily have been coverage of Paris Hilton going to jail or Lindsay Lohan coming out of jail or tracking Michael Jackson on his way to and from court, only more serious, presumably. Here, at least, there is some real suspense.

Anyway, I walked out of the theatre feeling like I hadn't wasted a minute of my time except on the ads & trailers preceeding the film. If I were a critic I'd be tempted to give "The Ghost Writer" five stars but would probably back off a bit & give it 4 or 4.5. I had a great date. Even the popcorn was tasty. 

Film Review: "Crazy Heart" w Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Colin Farrell & Robert Duvall

Jeff Bridges was so scuzzy in 'Crazy Heart'. He was so sweaty, so raw, so natural, that you could just about smell him on the screen where he portrays a character named 'Bad Blake' (what he thought of himself), a talented but end-of-career boozy country singer, playing one night stands (in more ways than one) in dingy bars, even in a bowling alley, who falls in love too late in his troubled life.

I don't know if Jeff Bridges will get a best actor Oscar for his performance this year, considering the competition in his category & the politics of such awards, but his performance was exceptional. He seems to get better every time I see him on the screen.

Bridges seem to slip in and out of this kind of role with great ease. Whether this is because he has become one of those exceptional character actors or because it's just so close to his own personality is hard for me to know. John Wayne always played John Wayne -- even in 'True Grit' when he was probably at his best.

In any case, I would definitely recommend spending the $8 on 'Crazy Heart'. It's a touching film with a meaty role for 'Bad' even though the very end was a bit too 'packaged' for me.

Others in the cast include Robert Duvall, Maggie Gyllenhaal & Colin Farrell -- all of whom play convincing roles as they touch the life of "Bad Blake" aka Otis (I forgot his last name).

Happy Valentine's Day.