HAIL, CAESAR!

Nostalgia can be both good and bad, bringing folks back to a seemingly better time while often tempting folks to just live in the past instead of doing something great for the present.  The latter is, alas, the trap Joel and Ethan Coen fall into with their new film Hail Caesar!

It's the 1950s, and Eddie Manniz (Josh Brolin) is an executive fixes at Capitol Studios.  His job, which extends into all hours of the day and night, is to oversee the studio's assorted films and to fix the problems the actors get into.

And there are plenty of problems.  Baird Whitlock (George Clooney) is starring in the studio's big religious picture Hail, Caesar! but he has an older scandal hanging over his head; he also gets kidnapped by a group called the Future.  Hobie Doyle (Alden Ehrenreich) is a Western movie star whose country accent is terrible in his high society movie, driving director Laurence Laurentz (Ralph Fiennes) crazy.  DeeAnna Moran (Scarlett Johansson) faces the scandal of being a single mother, leading to the solution of having her adopt her own baby.  Mannix also has a possibly better job offer from a military company, and his battle with smoking leads him to confession every day.  There are also cameos by Channing Tatum as a musical's star singer-dancer Burt Gurney, Jonah Hill as studio legal patsy Joseph Silverman, and Tilda Swinton as identical twin gossip reporters Thora and Thessaly Thacker.

The Coen brothers have a great reverence for the 1950s movies, whether it's the snippets of the fake movies or the chain-smoking tough guy Mannix doing what he has to in order to keeps the wheels of the studio running.  Unfortunately, there's not more to Hail, Caesar! beyond this superficial adoration of the time period.  The truly stellar cast isn't given any real depth for any characters, and there aren't enough laughs or amusing scenarios to make this an effective comedy.  There are potentially interesting threads (the religious imagery and themes alongside the Communists) but they're given zero development.  Hail, Caesar! is ultimately nice to look at but not much more.

Overall grade: C
Reviewed by James Lynch

TOMORROWLAND

Director Brad Bird loves retro themes and images, as shown in his movies such as The Iron Giant and The Incredibles.  So he would seem to be the perfect person to direct (and co-write) Tomorrowland, a movie based on the 1960s version of a science fiction future and a Disneyland feature.  The results, though, are less than one would hope for.

Tomorrowland opens with Frank Walker (George Clooney) and teenager Casey Newton (Britt Robertson) recording a video, while a countdown winds down on some glass tubes.  We then get their backstories.  At the 1964 World's Fair, a very young Frank brought his homemade jetpack to a science contest.  Nix (Hugh Laurie) dismisses him, but a young British girl named Athena (Raffey Cassidy) believes in him and slips him a pin, which leads him to a futuristic place called Tomorrowland.

The movie then jumps to the present -- and Casey's story.  She's a science genius who lived with her father and little brother; her biggest hobby seems to be sabotaging a demolition team that's taking down a rocketship launch setup.  After she's arrested, her personal items now include a Tomorrowland pin -- and when she touches it she's seemingly transported to a futuristic paradise.

When the pin runs out of energy, Casey goes searching for any clue to where it comes from.  This leads to killer robots with laser weapons -- and Athena, who turns out to be a martial arts-performing robot herself.  She leads Casey to Frank, who wants nothing more to do with Tomorrowland.  But the killer robots are in hot pursuit, the reasons behind Frank's leaving are revealed, and naturally there's something threatening the whole planet...

Tomorrowland is alright, but it could have used a lot more of its fantastical technology that opens the movie.  The main characters are pretty one-dimensional (He's grumpy!  she's optimistic!) and there aren't many surprises or variations through the movie.  There are story problems (like why the robots casually kill people who come close to learning the truth -- and try to kill Frank and Casey -- but their murder is hardly the endgoal of their creators) and as many lulls as moments of excitement.  (At least a half hour could have been successfully trimmed from the movie.)  It's nice to see a movie where the protagonist is a female who loves science, but Tomorrowland would have benefited more if Brad Bird had let his love of fantasy fly more here.

Overall grade : B-

Reviewed by James Lynch

OCEAN'S ELEVEN dvd

Hollywood loves a good heist caper, and where better to have a high-stakes, high-reward caper than Las Vegas? Ocean's Eleven, the remake of the Rat Pack showcase film, delivers a tremendous amount of style and planning in the city devoted to risk and reward.

At the film's opening, Danny Ocean (George Clooney) is out on parole -- and ready for some big action. After meeting up with his buddy Rusty Ryan (Brad Pitt), Danny reveals his big plan: rob three casinos -- the Bellagio, the Mirage, and the MGM Grand -- in one night, walking away with $150 million in cash. The three all happen to be owned by Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia) in this twist on the classic gambling movie.

As you can imagine, such a big feat requires both a big plan and a big team. Bankrolled by Reuben Tishkoff (Elliot Gould), Danny and Rusty assemble an eleven-man team, with skills as varied as computer hacking, gymnastics, pickpocketing and grifting. (The ensemble for the supporting cast is an impressive collection of acting talent, including Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, Bernie Mac, and Carl Reiner.) They stake out their target (which holds the money for the three casinos), make their plans, and get ready for the big score.

UP IN THE AIR

Unemploment has been hovering close to ten percent for a while now, but its effects have been around far longer than that. An intriguing take on it -- both personal and impersonal -- is presented in 2009's Up in the Air. This is an original, sometimes funny, sometimes difficult take on it from the perspective of an isolated man.

Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) has an unusual job: firing people. His company sends him all over the country to fire people whose bosses can't do it themselves. Ryan spends almost all of his time in airports or in transit -- and he loves it: He is approaching ten million miles of travel, he has getting through airports down to a precise science, he takes pride in his job (being comforting to, without getting personal with, the fired; then passing them a folder with their severance information), and he enjoys the isolation. Ryan also has speaking seminars on his unfettered lifestyle: "The slower we move the faster we die. Make no mistake, moving is living. Some animals were meant to carry each other to live symbiotically over a lifetime. Star crossed lovers, monogamous swans. We are not swans. We are sharks." He also avoids his near-empty apartment and his family, even with his sister's upcoming wedding.

Movies require a change or interruption to advance the story, and Up in the Air hits Ryan with three big changes. First there's Anna Kendrick (Natalie Keener), a young and ambitious new hire at Ryan's company who has a bold new plan: Fire people through the Internet instead of in person. Fearing the end of his life of travel, Ryan winds up taking Anna on his job, showing her firsthand what it means to lay people off.

Second, Ryan meets Alex Goran (Vera Farmiga), a fellow business traveler and soon a romantic interest. They swap preferences on hotels, compare discount cards, and compare travel plans to see when they might meet next. For Ryan, Alex is a definite kindred spirit -- and possibly his first real connection with someone.

Third, there's the aforementioned wedding. The engaged couple Julie (Melanie Lynskey) and Jim (Danny McBride) don't travel much, so they give relatives (including Ryan) a large cardboard cutout of them to be photographed in the places they want to go but can't. This reminder of family is often seen poking out of Ryan's otherwise carefully-packed travel bag, as his family seems to pursue him on his once-simple travels.

Up in the Air is a very impressive movie. Ryan is a very complex character: He clearly takes pride in his lifestyle and his job, but he never sees the people he fires again and he never looks back. George Clooney gives this character enough charm to make him likable and enough depth to make him alone at the same time. The movie doesn't sugarcoat being fired (many of those fired are played by people who had been fired weeks or months before this movie was filmed), and the images of the recession -- offices stripped almost bare, pages literally filled with names of people to be terminated -- are quite powerful. Director Jason Reitman finds just the right tone with the other characters as well, from Anna's seeing firsthand what it's like to end a person's job to Alex and her carefree relationship with Ryan. Up in the Air is original, it's funny, it's even tragic -- and it's a powerful experience.

Overall grade: A-
Reviewed by James Lynch

MICHAEL CLAYTON

There's plenty of drama inherent in the law, and Michael Clayton captures the risks and great dangers of high-stakes legal battles.

George Clooney plays Michael Clayton, a "fixer" for a prestigious law firm. Clayton is the person who always seems to know a guy, who knows how to make a mess go away; as he says early in the film, "I'm not a miracle worker, I'm a janitor." Clayton is also world-weary, in debt for thousands after a restaurant with his brother fell through, concerned about a merger of his firm that could leave him out in the cold, and he has a gambling problem. And at the film's opening, as he wanders the countryside his car explodes.

We then jump back four days earlier. Clayton's latest mess is a big one: Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson) had been chief counsel for Clayton's firm representing chemical company United North in a $3 billion class action lawsuit. Apparently Edens stopped taking his mediation, because he stripped down naked during a deposition and went running into the street. As Clayton tries to fix things, he learns that Edens may not be as mad as he seems -- and that makes him more dangerous.

Clayton isn't the only player in this game. Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton), the chief counsel for United North, isn't happy with Clayton's handling of the situation -- and she is willing to go outside the law for her resolution. And Clayton's boss Marty (Sydney Pollack) just wants things resolved in his client's favor.

Michael Clayton features a truly superlative cast in a compelling story. While George Clooney is the star (and title character) of this movie, he doesn't overshadow everyone else -- even with his fine performance. Tom Wilkinson is amazing as the attorney whose madness or conscience leads him to revolt against his work -- while proclaiming, "I am Shiva, god of death." Swinton is terrific as a lawyer who seems frail and nervous in private, practicing in front of a mirror to put on a great public face. The movie starts a little slow, but as the different problems and threads come together, Michael Clayton becomes quite gripping. (The dvd extras are pretty basic: two commentaries and a few deleted scenes.)

Overall grade: A-
Reviewed by James Lynch

OUT OF SIGHT

Elmore Leonard's novels have always been about character as crime, and the movie Out of Sight is no exception.

As much a romance as a crime caper, this Steven Soederbergh film is smooth, clever, and romantic to boot.

Jack Foley (George Clooney) is a criminal who relies on his brains instead of guns to rob banks. He escapes with the help of his friend Buddy (Ving Rhames), planning to steal a fortune in uncut diamonds from banker Richard Ripley (Albert Brooks), also in the prison. But as luck would have it, Federal Marshall Karen Sisco (Jennifer Lopez) happens to be stopping at the prison just as Jack is climing out of a tunnel in the ground. Buddy wants to leave her, but Jack brings her along, joining her in the trunk during the getaway. Afterwards, the two seem obsessed with each other: Karen wants to be part of the task force that's chasing Jack, while he calls her from time to time to chat.

Back to the crime... As we learn from flashbacks, ganger Maurice Miller (Don Cheadle) wants to be part of the robbery -- but he's a lot more dangerous than Jack. There's alos Glenn Michaels (Steve Zahn), a stoner who is easily led. And Marshall Cisco (Dennis Farina), Karen's father and a cop, sees before she does how deep her interest in Jack goes.

Out of Sight is a combination of the star-crossed lovers (here, the criminal and the law enforcement official) and the robbery caper. Neither of these are completely original, but they flow together seamlessly here. Director Soderbergh makes the action stylized, but not so much that it's over the top (as in his Ocean 11-13 movies). George Clooney puts on his frequent charming rogue persona to good effect, and Jennifer Lopez is quite good as the romantic, yet officially determined, love interest. Add in a good supporting cast and a few surprises on the way, and Out of Sight becomes a pretty good crime-romance movie.

Overall grade: B+

Reviewed by James Lynch

Michael Clayton (2007)

George Clooney takes a well deserved break from being Danny Ocean in the drama, Michael Clayton. It is a variant from the usual type of lawyer movies, typified by John Grisham's work where most of the action takes place in the courtroom. This is more of a morality play and character study that reminds me of The Insider at some points.

Clooney portrays Michael Clayton, a lawyer in a high power NYC law firm. His position is "the fixer," which makes him a highly paid janitor that uses his legal degree to clean up messes, while the rest of the firm focuses on the usual duties (not to be confused with this fixer). The movie starts at the end, as Clayton heads to Westchester to start the cleanup process for a well to do man that ran someone over and then left the scene of the accident. On his return trip, his car ends up blowing up. We rewind four days to piece together how he ends up being the target of a murder plot (I kinda wish they would just run it from start to finish as it gets more confusing this way, and didn't add much overall). Along the way, we see Clayton is trying to fix his brother's gambling debt, and his relationship with his son is strained. His law firm has been defending a agriculture chemical company from a massive lawsuit, which will be hard to wiggle out of, and the senior partner on the case goes completely manic when he is needed most requiring the services of the fixer to make it right. Through it all, Clooney portrays a man that is in this world deeply, skirts the law himself, and in the end, just wants to get out of the situation that is his daily life.

In my analysis, I can see why folks thought this film was so great, but I don't agree. While Clooney's performance is strong, I found the plot confusing at points, and not quite right. Seriously, after working for a multimillion law firm for years and not making partner, would Clooney's "golden parachute" be $75,000 that he has to beg for? Michael Clayton just didn't end with a satisfying sense of finality that I would have expected from it. While die hard Clooney fans will find this film a treat, I just don't what the hoopla was all about.

Overall Grade: B

Reviewed by Jonas

Ocean's Thirteen (2007)

This week's other third parter is Ocean's Thirteen. Once again, after all the hype that these Ocean films get, not much can live up to it. I also didn't really go for the first two, but I figured I'd give it one more try.

George Clooney once again plays Danny Ocean, a mastermind of the casino heist. Never mind that he made off with tons of loot in the first two films; this time it's to avenge how Willie Bank (Al Pacino) wronged his friend in a casino development deal. Bank is building the ultimate Vegas casino, something to even trump the over the top Wynn. Of course, the obvious solution is to just take Bank out the back and rough him up. Naah, then we wouldn't have any film. Instead, Danny Ocean enlists the aid of his old crew including Matt Damon, Bernie Mac, Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck, and Don Cheadle (of note, Julia Roberts didn't return this time around, but I'm not sure she really worked in these films anyway) with an elaborate plot to drain Bank's bank. Even going so far as to enlist outside consultants, they come up with plan to get a bunch of whales into the casino, betting large, and then for the house to lose at all their games simultaneously. Oh, and because they don't need the money, they're not even going to win anything out of this (they do get some jewels later, but it's an afterthought).

So, does the Ocean crew deliver the goods this time around? Well, unlike the other outings, I liked Thirteen better than the last two. I think that this time around the plot had some more substance, was better developed, and I actually wanted to see how it finished. With so much simultaneous star power, the acting was solid throughout. The scenes of the Vegas strip were well done, and they did convey the excitement and vibrancy that permeates that town. One criticism is that there were still too many scenes that dragged on, especially without any dialogue, and I had to use the fast forward button to muddle through.

My other criticism is that in their effort to get this to look like an older movie shot on film, at least on the DVD through my LCD HDTV, it was overdone. To my eye, they had added some type of film effect filter, and it turned up the grain a little too much, and made it look lower quality than the base video likely was. Also, it was plenty overdone in the first scenes, but they had pretty much ditched it by the end. Trying to get the video to look retro and classic is one thing, but this ended up being a distraction, and should have at least been consistent throughout.

I can't say that I'm waiting to see Ocean's Fourteen, but at least Ocean's Thirteen was ok.

Overall Grade: B

Reviewed by Jonas

The Perfect Storm (2000)

While I rarely rewatch films, quite seldomly there are a few that I really enjoy. I decided to rescreen The Perfect Storm, and see how it has held up through the years. It stars George Clooney, Diane Lane, and Mark Wahlberg.

The story, which is based on actual events, centers around a New England town, Gloucester, MA, which is a fishing town. Clooney plays Capt. Billy Tyne, who runs the Andrea Gale, a swordfishing boat, for the ship's owner. After he returns from a bad outing, he rounds up the crew for one more outing before closing out the season as a chance to bring in the big catch. In order to fill the hold, he heads out to the Flemish Cap, where he has a great catch. Unfortunately, just as he is filling up the hold, his ice machine conks out. Rather than let the fish rot, they make an ill fated decision to try for home through the perfect storm- where two fronts and a hurricane are converging.

I enjoyed The Perfect Storm immensely the first time, and just as much the second. The special effects are well done as we see the waves battering the fisherman and their boat. The acting is well done, and I think Clooney will be well remembered for this role. Also, Mark Wahlberg and Diane Lane gave strong performances. Finally, the soundtrack is great, as it was done by composer James Horner, better known for the music of Titanic, among a long and distinguished career.

If you missed The Perfect Storm the first time around, definitely catch it on DVD. It's already a classic, and a great thriller of the sea.


Overall Grade: A

Syriana

While I'm always up for a thriller that deals with insider trading, black ops and the oil industry, I was rather disappointed with Syriana. There are way too many characters to the point that I couldn't keep them all straight. Add to the mix multiple subplots that slowly intertwine, but are often confusing, and move at a turtle's pace (no, make that a slug's pace...). It was intellectually insulting that the Middle Eastern action took place in some generic, nameless Persian Gulf nation. Come on, at least tell us where we really are! The final nail in the coffin is that half the film is in Arabic or Farsi with subtitles. Not even the acting abilities of George Clooney, or Matt Damon can save this dud of a film. Syriana missed the mark by a mile in my estimation.

Overall Grade: C-

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