Proud to be The American

I can't say I've been a fan of George Clooney for very long. I don't think I've ever seen an episode of E.R. with him. I tried watching Out of Sight years ago and gave up on it. I haven't seen The Perfect Storm, O Brother Where art Thou, Three Kings or Syriana. I haven't watched seen any of the Oceans films, that's how little of his career I've actually witnessed. But I have liked the little bit I've been privy to. He was great in his first big Hollywood film, From Dusk till Dawn. He was a big part of why the live telecast Fail Safe was so enjoyable. I loved his roles in the great films The Thin Red Line and Good Night, and Good Luck. And Up in the Air was an amazing movie for which he might have won an Oscar had he not been up against Jeff Bridges and Colin Firth at the time. There can be little doubt as to his talents as an actor, especially with his particular mix of acting talent, charm and sex appeal, so I'm happy to start paying attention to the man's career with 2010's The American, his indie thriller set in the mountains of beautiful Italy. The film is based on Martin Booth's book A Very Private Gentleman, originally released back in 1990.

Not exactly in a vacationing mood, is he?

In The American, George Clooney plays Jack, a hit-man recently chased out of hiding in Sweden by men seeking to take him out of the picture. His respite ruined, Jack returns to Rome, where his handler sends him into hiding in rural Italy, the literal middle of nowhere. There, he calls himself Edward and befriends both a priest (Paolo Bonacelli) and a prostitute (Violante Placido). Jack, paranoid of the world around of him and trying to get out of the game, is tasked with one more job before he can escape forever.

Focus on the pretty one... oh, right.

The film appears on the surface to be a normal spy thriller, but as you watch it somehow doesn't feel like one. Indeed, when I was watching the special features on the film's DVD, it's stated by director Anton Corbijn that it is in fact a modernized western, which actually makes a lot of sense. Rural Italy is not unlike the old west in its wide open spaces, untapped beauty and the almost ghost-town atmosphere of the villages outside of tourist season. Jack's journey for redemption and an escape from his past are popular themes in westerns, and even his friendship with the priest and prostitute are for needs both spiritual and physical that he doesn't get from his lonesome, outlaw life. When you begin to think of the film in this way as a current-day western instead of just another spy movie, you can appreciate it's intricacies so much more than you might normally. Corbijn may be relatively new to directing, but uses his experience as a professional photographer to effect that far outpaces the tenets of his job. Every shot is perfect - notice I don't say beautiful, as sometimes the perfect shot needs to be ugly - and he obviously put a lot of thought into every single scene before committing it to film.

Oh, boys and their toys!

You could be justified in saying that The American starts George Cloony "and a bunch of European actors you don't know" but the film is at least partially successful due to the talents of that support cast. Johan Leysen plays Pavel, Jack's mysterious handler. While Jack seems to show remorse for some of his actions, it's obvious from Leysen's performance Pavel has little to no compassion in his system, and seems to be annoyed at Jack's apparent loss of edge. Paolo Bonacelli has been acting in film since 1964, but you likely haven't seen him unless you happen to frequent Italian cinema. His role of Father Benedetto tries to get Jack to confess his sins and repent, seeing through the disguise since he himself knows about the sins of man. Bonacelli's performance suffers slightly from having to speak mostly English throughout the film, but otherwise is well cast here. Another assassin is played by Dutch actress Thekla Reuten, who you might have seen before; she was the female assassin Sayid had an affair with in the fourth season Lost episode "The Economist." Here the beautiful Reuten plays another tough woman, obviously a young up-and-comer in the death-dealing trade. She does a great job not letting the audience too far in, keeping her secrets and still seeming open and honest compared to the insular Jack. The gorgeous Violante Placido seems young enough that she wouldn't have a lot of acting experience, but the Italian actress and singer actually has film history in spades and puts it to great effect here. As Clara, the "prostitute with a heart of gold" might seem like a trite role at this point, but she pulls it off nicely and her work with Clooney is pretty damn good. One particular scene is a startlingly strong sex scene in which she sets the mood for the entire scene with the camera almost exclusively focused on her. She's a charming, talented actress and manages to be the heart of the film. Finally we get to Clooney, who actually puts on a restrained face as the assassin whose history seems to be jumping back to bite him after so many years. Clooney plays the grim, emotionless hit-man when he needs to, but his legendary motormouth is conspicuously absent and the emotion on his face throughout makes for one of his more unique roles. It might not be his best performance, but being so different from his previous roles it's certainly one that commands attention.

Doug Ross's Doctors without Borders run didn't work as planned

The film is not without its faults. While much of the film takes place in one Italian town of Castel del Monte, Jack seems to travel to other towns to broker business. It's not clear when he's in a particular town or why at any given time, however. This is a small and mainly unimportant pacing problem. Also a bit off is the introduction of Clara, whose intro is shoved into an interceding five second scene included solely to plug her into the story. Most against the film, however, is it's predictability. I figured out in the first five minutes what the film's big twist would be, and while The American was still an interesting film to watch, the weight of knowing what was coming was too much a distraction to fully appreciate. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, with The American's expert camera work and great cast getting most of my positive attention. It was also great to see Italy's beauty on film, just begging to be visited. It might not be the best Clooney film out there, but its certainly one you won't regret seeing on the way to watching his bigger, better fare.

Dog Eat Dog

So imagine you have less than twenty-four hours to watch a movie and review it for your blog. No problem, right? Well, except when you take eight hours out of that for your day job, two hours travel time, two for a seriously overdue laundry run, not to mention at least six hours of sleep, the time left begins to look a bit leery, doesn't it? Needing to see a film on short notice, I hauled ass down to the local Redbox to check out the latest releases, finally settling on two: the nearly forgotten George Cloony thriller The American and the Australian Oscar nominee Animal Kingdom. I'll admit that The American appealed to me more for that particular viewing, but my roommate took over the main room's entertainment center for the evening. Frankly I didn't mind (especially since I got to see her freak out to the tune of giant spiders in Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles) but the main room is the home of our lone blu-ray player, and I'd picked up The American in that format. This left normal DVD Animal Kingdom as the default choice, and I was hoping that the title didn't leave me feeling I had been stuck with second best.

I think Pearce won an AFI award for "Best 'Stache"

Animal Kingdom calls itself a crime story, and to that effect the film's protagonists are what most people would call the bad guys. Joshua "J" Cody (James Frecheville) is a teen whose mother tried to keep far from her criminal family. When she dies, however, he's brought back into the fold of his grandmother Janine (Jacki Weaver), who is the matriarch of a crime family that includes J's three uncles. J just tries to get along, but while his family can protect him, they're just as scary as the police, led my Officer Nathan Leckie (Guy Pearce). Leckie has the family in his crosshairs, and he may have no hesitation in using the young J to take the whole operation down.

Weaver = Wow

As the directorial debut of David Michod, this film is a good mix of high tension and wonderful acting. There's nothing mysterious about the plot, no secrets to uncover and you are given just about every detail you need to follow the story with ease. This is almost a revelation in modern film, where so many people like to whack you over the head with a surprise and watch you squirm. Everything becomes about the next big scare, or an unnecessarily confusing ending, or a major actor's cameo for little reason more than the director can do it. That's not to say that these things can't be good, just that they so rarely are effective anymore. Shyamalan and ilk, take note: if you have a well-told story and a competent cast and crew, good things will happen naturally.

Special appearance by Coco?

When you think of Australian actors, a lot of names come to mind: Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, Hugo Weaving, Portia de Rossi, Mel Gibson, Naomi Watts and Geoffrey Rush are but a small sample of the industry's more successful Aussies. One name you might neglect to remember is that of former LA Confidential star Guy Pearce, who makes an appearance here. Pearce plays a police officer who is hard-nosed, but fair as well, making him probably the most sympathetic character outside of J himself. Frecheville by the way seems to be a talented actor, but the role doesn't give him a lot of room to play around, with a lot of moody sullenness that is perfect for the kind of downtrodden character he is. Unfortunately, it doesn't allow me to say whether he'll make it as a performer or if he'll be typecast in this same type of role for years to come. Jacki Weaver has gotten both attention and awards for her portrayal of the maternal crime lord, and while I wasn't sure at first if she was going to have deserved them, she proved me wrong with a scarily charismatic performance that really put her head and shoulders over the rest of the cast. She was almost worth seeing this film on the basis of her talent alone, and she's the main reason I'd see it again given the chance. Another strong performance belongs to the role of J's uncle Andrew "Pope" Cody, Ben Mendelsohn. Pope is by far the creepiest, scariest character on both sides of the legal divide, and Mendelsohn makes you cringe with his every appearance on screen. I thought he was almost as compelling as Weaver, and while he'll never be a big star, his ability to create such vivid characters is deserving of more praise than he gets. Other good performances belong to Joel Edgerton, Luke Ford and Sullivan Stapleton as others in the crime family, and rookie actress Laura Wheelwright as J's unknowing girlfriend Nicky. There isn't a weak actor in the house, and the ensemble cast mesh well enough to make the tale realistic and honest.

You'll see that blank stare a lot in Australia (I'm kidding, don't sic the Koalas on me!)

The film does have a few faults. The pacing isn't perfect, though there aren't many dull moments at all. The biggest problem I had was with some of the minor character introductions. There were some, like Nicky and a few others, who simply appear from thin air without pretense of an introduction. While some summary descriptors for their history are announced, it still makes those few scenes a bit shaky. Still,.this isn't enough to derail what is actually a solid crime film with plenty going for it. With a stellar cast and a good directing job by the talented Michod, Animal Kingdom misses that intangible to be an excellent film but does enough right to be a very, very good one. This is a title I recommend if you want something a little different than the slick, hyper-produced gimmicky fare currently available.

Version 2.0

Today's review is for Barney's Version, based on the 1997 Mordecai Richler novel and starring 2011 Golden Globe winner Paul Giamatti. It would be fair to say that Giamatti's nomination for Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical was the main reason I wanted to see this film. A trailer seen not long after those nominations cemented it as a film of interest. Sadly, movies of this ilk tend to keep holding patterns active in limited release and wait until the Oscars are announced before making the final push for box office success. Sometimes this works, as films like Black Swan and The King's Speech made a lot of money in limited release before Oscar nominations and wide release. Sometimes, however, this backfires when a film garners no major nominations and pretty much missed their chance at the big payday. Barney's Version is the perfect example, as here was a chance to really push Paul Giamatti as a major acting force left instead in a gutter by the wayside. But that has to do with marketing and number crunching, which isn't my forte. So how does this title stand up as a film in its own right?

Challenging the idea that one can't look TOO Jewish

The film tells the life story of Barney Panofsky (Giamatti), from his youth as a layabout in Italy through the marriages to his three ex-wives (played by Rosamund Pike, Minnie Driver and Rachelle LeFevre), the disappearance and presumed death of his chemically-addicted best friend Boogie (Scott Speedman), and to the present day, where he recounts all this in the wake of his latest divorce and continued accusations of responsibility for Boogie's death by the detective who originally accused him. The story is presented from Barney's version of the facts (hence the title), and Barney himself is an uncomplicated character, making motions through life until he meets his true, and then does everything he can to keep her with him.

"I'm so high...look at my thumb! Weird..."

I've never read the book by Richler, so while I can't say I was a big fan of the film's story as a whole, I can't be sure if this is a problem inherent in the novel or simply in the transposing of the tale to the big screen. Barney's Version can't seem to decide what kind of movie it is. The film goes from being a coming-of-age tale to a romantic comedy, dabbling in buddy films and gross-out humor, and managing to incorporate a murder mystery between the margins as well. This is unfortunate because with such a jumbled storyline it's difficult to get a gauge on what we're supposed to be feeling towards the characters, especially Barney, who appears to go to and fro along the sympathy scale without any clear destination. This might not sound bad to those reading this, but trust me when I say that I'm sure this works much better in a four-hundred page book than a 132-minute movie. Also of some concern was the film's makeup, which garnered an Oscar nom but nevertheless couldn't make Giamatti look the same age as his cohorts at any given time. I suppose they deserve credit for getting CLOSE enough.

May it last longer than the first two

The performances, however, are what make the film as good as it is. Giamatti especially makes it onto a very long list of lead actors who SHOULD have been nominated for Best Actor at this year's Oscars but didn't make the cut of final five (talk about a category that could benefit from expanding to ten nominees). Though his character goes through a few periods where the audience would be fully forgiven for thinking him a complete and utter douchebag, Barney is more often than not a good man who falls in love, loses and gains friends and enemies, and undergoes a life transformation over the course of, well, his life. Often he's the main reason I kept my eyes on the screen, and for much of the film qualifies as it's savior. Rosamund Pike is also charming as Barney's third wife Miriam, who is the love of Barney's life, the one and only. Though you can't escape that Pike looks years younger than Giamatti at all points during the film (she's only two years older than ME, folks), their relationship is shown in a very realistic manner, and Giamatti can't take all the credit for that. While Pike is forced to work under a lot of aging make-up during the film's run, she still manages to convey a different type of heart than we've seen from her before. Not to be outdone are the first two wives, played by Lefevre and Driver. Lefevre, whose biggest role to date was the role of Victoria in the first two Twilight films (and lost that role in the third by committing to this one), takes a small role and makes it hers as the snotty young woman Barney knocked up to become his first wife. Driver's career prime may not have been as high as some hoped or expected, but she's still delightful here as his shrill, overly-emotional second. Scott Speedman puts on one of the better performances I've seen from him as Barney's talented but troubled best friend, and Mark Addy makes a nice turn as a hard-nose detective sure Barney is guilty of murder. Last and unfortunately least is Dustin Hoffman as Barney's ex-cop father. Hoffman is in his "Focker" phase, with the cliche Jewish persona in full effect. He's not BAD, per se, he's simply played this role far too long and far too often, and it shows. While he still cranks out the occasional award-nominated roles, this isn't one of them.

Is the makeup making him look older or younger? I can't tell

There were times where I really wanted to get up and walk out of the theater. There were times I was sure I was seeing a masterpiece. Unfortunately, these were parts of the same film. While Giamatti deserves every great attemtion for his role in Barney's Version, the movie itself is mainly blah. It ties up every loose end with an annoying lack of subtlety, and while the ending gets up there in the "masterpiece" rating, it doesn't make up for the rest of the film not getting the job done. Not a great movie, by any stretch, but I'd recommend it just to see Giamatti and crew exchange good dialogue over the decades.

The Ballad of Rich People

Oliver Stone is arguably well past his career peak. His films haven't received any major award nominations in over fifteen years. Many of his recent titles have barely made back the money spent in making them. W was the presidential film nobody who lived through Dubya's two terms really wanted to see. Alexander was on the same historical fiction plateau as Kingdom of Heaven that filmmakers wanted to create despite nobody filled audience chairs to see them. Any Given Sunday and World Trade Center were successful, but harbor no hopes of being remembered decades from now. No, Oliver Stone will be remembered not for his recent releases, but those released twenty years ago that we still talk about today: titles like JFK, Platoon, and Wall Street. Having not had ample opportunity to make it to the theaters this week (and with few exceptions any reason to go anyway), I dropped by the Redbox and grabbed the sequel to one of Stone's classics Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, taking the chance to catch a film I'd missed last year in the theaters. Though I've never seen the original, this seemed ample opportunity to catch up on the role that won Michael Douglas his Academy Award, and the trailer had been appealing enough to me that I was sure I didn't need to see the original to understand what was going on.

Didn't I see this the same street on Sex and the City?

WSMNS is a revenge tale set astride a backdrop of the current global recession. After eight years of imprisonment for insider trading and securities fraud, Gordon Gekko (Douglas) is released from prison in 2001. Fast forward seven years, and Gekko has become a best-selling author and celebrity lecturer, his face all over CNN and any major network that will have him. Meanwhile, Jake Moore (Shia LaBoeuf) is doing well as an investment banker with Keller Zabel (KZI), a major Wall Street bank. He may be relatively wealthy, but he has good influences in his life, like his girlfriend (and Gekko's estranged daughter) Winnie (Carrie Mulligan), a successful blogger and social activist. He is also raising money for his pet project, a green energy company. All in all, he's a good kid. That changes when  That changes overnight when KZI, which had apparently been just treading water, finally goes under. A bailout to get the company back on track fails thanks to rival banker (Josh Brolin) and with the company in ruins, Jake teams up with Gekko to try and strike back at the man who destroyed Jake's company.

In an attempt to make them more sympathetic, Stone put them on a train. Genius!

If it all seems overly simplistic, that's because I haven't explained everything. There's a LOT going on in the plot, mostly involving character development over moving the actual story forward. This is a positive turn, as far too often character development can be strewn along the wayside in making a concise story, easily followed by the audience. Unfortunately, the story itself is not as good as the characters portrayed, and while the backdrop especially is relevant to the issues we face today, the fact that this story is told from the perspective of which collar rich folk dulls the impact for the average viewer somewhat. Even the poorest characters in the film are a Blogger who racks up fifty times more hits daily than I've had for the entire run on my blog and an author whose media attention is more than that of Steven Levitt and Ben Mezrich COMBINED. Even though some of their causes are noble, not one character's motivation isn't to be wealthier than they currently are.

Brolin still has the occasional Jonah Hex flashback

The acting is pretty amazing here. Of course most of the attention (and rightfully so) has fallen on the shoulders of Douglas, who was nominated for a Golden Globe for his reprisal of the inimitable Gekko. Though it's been more than twenty years since he played this role, Douglas took to it like a second skin, adding bits of new to the comfortable layers of greed and manipulation that he's famous for. Most notable is his desire to reconnect with his daughter. LaBoeuf is surprisingly good as the story's protagonist, Jake. I say "surprisingly" even though he's been good in the few things I've actually seen him in. I guess it's more his choice of movies that puts me off, from Disturbia to Eagle Eye to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. These are NOT good movies, but LaBoeuf is a good performer, and as a good-hearted conniver who sees everything spiral out of control around him, It's easy to forget how privileged he is when you see how hard he works and his faith in good will. I didn't see An Education, so this was the first film I've seen Carrie Mulligan in, and she's also quite good. Torn between her social ethics, the man she loves and the father she can't forgive, she's probably the most sympathetic character in this tale. Brolin once again rides high on his late-career surge, this time as the film's main antagonist. While Brolin does a good job overall, his role is perhaps a tad oversimplified and while still a serious threat, not one you can't imagine being overcome. Frank Langella and Susan Sarandon appear in the film also, and though Langella's role is somewhat on the smallish side as Jake's boss and mentor, he does a good job early on setting the table for the rest of the film. Sadly, Sarandon is a cipher as Jake's real estate investor mother and hence cannot add a lot to the small role she has been assigned.

Obviously never told not to sit with his eyes that close to the screen

For what the original film represents, it's almost too bad this sequel wasn't better reviewed upon release. Then again, since the original existed in Stone's "golden age", it simply simply be that this new film is nowhere near the quality of the first. That wouldn't be surprising, especially given Stone's propensity for visual elements, such as the NYC skyline overlaid with a stock price chart. Stunts like that alone wouldn't be bad, but Stone seems to enjoy doing things like this a bit too much, since every time there's a break in the story, he fills the void with endless similar visual trickery as a bridge. At best, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps is a timely, relevant look at the market crash through the eyes of those directly involved, a great exercise in character development, and hosts at least good performances from all involved, and a great one from Michael Douglas. At its worst you have largely useless characters, meandering plot threads and unnecessary twists that make the finale predictable and anti-climactic. In the end, I liked this film, though I feel my appreciation for it would dwindle were I to revisit the original. Stone might no longer be at his peak, but if this is the standard fare he introduces these days, I certainly won't reject any future films of his out of hand.

The Way Back Machine

World War II movies are a tricky business. There's nobody that will deny the cultural and historical significance of the war on the entire world, so changed was most of human society by the events the war brought. That alone makes films about the war popular and almost guaranteed money-makers. The problem with that is that there's no guarantee of quality when it comes to these films. Pearl Harbor is a perfect example of a WWII film that made gobs of dough solely on the patriotic message the film portrayed, and certainly not on any quality film-making. Since WWII films are so popular and populous, they basically construct a genre all their own, one which seemingly every year add more titles to the roll call. That alone put The Way Back on my radar, and it's trailer was intriguing enough to get me into the theater this past Monday and check it out. With a talented director in Peter Weir and a strong acting cadre, the film seemed like more than those similar titles littering the WWII landscape could aspire to.

Guess which ones won't be making it home to momma?

Beginning at a cold Siberian gulag, The Way Back is based on the book The Long Walk by Swladomir Rawicz, depicting his alleged escape from sed gulag on a 4,000 mile walk to India and freedom. Janusz (Jim Sturgess) is a Polish political prisoner, arrested after the Russian invasion of Poland for conspiring against Mother Russia. When torture doesn't get him to confess, the authorities torture his wife to make her give him up, and before long Janusz is shipped off to Siberia and a labor camp that holds men from several nationalities oppressed by the Communist state. After a few months, a severe snowstorm presents the perfect opportunity for Janusz and some of his friends in the camp to make a break for it, beginning their long walk to freedom.

Quote me on this: "Ed Harris in his ugliest role yet."

While the cruelty of the Germans during World War II is practically legendary - most notably their treatment of Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses and other minority groups - and German Prisoner of War camps enjoy popularization in film and television from The Great Escape to Hogan's Heroes, it's often glossed over just how practically evil Josef Stalin's regime was in the east. Any region conquered by the Soviet Union at that point was absorbed into its girth and the people mercilessly manhandled by a nation bent on global domination. And so a variety of nationalities ended up at these camps, many for political crimes such as preaching religion or conspiring against the state, and many Yugoslavs, Latvians, Poles, Americans and Russians are held at these camps far from civilization for simply getting on Stalin's bad side. That aspect made this film unique even among similar films by focusing on an aspect of the war most people don't think of.

Bet they're not expecting the Spanish Inquisition

The pacing of the film feels uneven at times. The scenes in the camp early on feel rushed, as the film attempts to introduce us to our prospective escapees in a timely manner so as to get the main story underway quickly. Unfortunately, that makes for the worst part of the movie, as some of the characters are not very distinguishable early on, and the result is a mishmash of scenes that don't really make sense until much later on. It's not a complete throwaway, but when you compare it to the seemingly endless distant shots of characters walking across forbidding landscapes, you wish a bit more time had been invested in the opening. Over the course of the film the characters thankfully become much more detailed, and any fear of confusing people becomes far less likely.

Bet Russia's beginning to look real good right now...

The cast also manages to be one of the strongest I've seen in any film of late. Sturgess, who I'd enjoyed in the gambling thriller 21, is amazing as Janusz, the impromptu leader of this motley crew of misfits and malcontents. He seems to be a natural when it comes to using the wilds to survive, and while no background is given as to why that would be the case, he still makes for a believable leader and a compelling and charismatic main character. Ed Harris is surly and strong as the American Smith, a man so beaten down my personal tragedy that he has become solely focused on personal survival, and while you are saddened when any of the film's characters dies, Smith is the one you keep actively wishing to go on. That's the power of Harris's performance. Colin Farrell plays Valka, a professional Russian criminal who forces his way onto the crew to avoid a gambling debt in prison. Farrell, long an under-appreciated actor by film goers, has possibly the most fun on this cast as a man who has done evil things and the experience allows him to see the darkness in others. Saoirse Ronan is also amazing as Irena, a young Polish teen the group takes in. I've never seen Ronan in anything before, though she had been nominated for a Golden Globe (for Atonement), and seeing this makes me want to go back and see her earlier work. It also makes me excited for the upcoming Hanna, which I saw a trailer for the same day. Other standouts include Dragos Bucur as an accountant with a strange sense of humor, Skarsgard family member Gustaf as a former priest, and Mark Strong as a former actor who initially plans the escape. It's to the film's credit that every character represented is interesting and unique, making those people who would be cannon fodder in lesser films into real humans, especially when you know not all of them will be making it home.

Remember when Colin Farrell was a big deal? Me either.

While the lack of success in the box office was a little suspicious in my eyes, The Way Back thankfully turned out to be almost as good as I'd hoped. There are the aforementioned pacing issues, but for the most part it works itself out over the film's two-plus hours. The settings are extraordinarily beautiful, even with the promises of probable death brought with it. That can be attributed to National Geographic's involvement in the film's production. With amazing acting and a powerful story of human strength, The Way Back would probably be #1 on my list of films for 2011, had it qualified. Unfortunately, the film was released briefly in late 2010 to qualify for award nominations, and while it did garner an Oscar nom, it was only for Best Makeup. As good a movie as it is, however, I'll still pop it in as #9 on my list of 2010's Best Movies. Definitely worth seeing, if you can work it in.

Mechanical Problems

Sometimes it doesn't take much to get me excited about seeing a particular movie. Violent, explosion-laden films are the easiest to tempt my palette, since they offer maximum excitement with minimal brain activity. I enjoy the mood-laden, intellectual film more than most, but just being able to turn your cognitive center off for a couple of hours to enjoy a show is just as much fun, and that's why The Mechanic was one of my more eagerly anticipated releases this month. A remake of the 1972 film starring Charles Bronson, this title's trailer alone guaranteed gunfights, explosions and more mature content than you could wave an AK-47 in the general direction of. Not unlike last year's The Losers or The Expendables, The Mechanic promised the kind of entertainment normal guys flock to in droves and normal women pretty much ignore altogether.

You might not like Arthur's version of "tag"

In the film Jason Statham plays Arthur Bishop, a "mechanic" or contract killer. Arthur's talents at subterfuge are so good that he can pull off a hit in a remote area without anyone knowing he was ever there. He plans every killing out for every contingency, making him among the most successful assassins in his organization. Things are going fine until his only friend and mentor Harry (Donald Sutherland) is assassinated for selling company secrets, and Arthur teams up with and trains Harry's son Steve (Ben Foster) to get revenge on the people who had Harry killed.

And don't expect him to pick up the tab, either

One of the reasons I was so enticed to see this film was that it's precisely the type of film Statham does so well. I remember first seeing him headline The Transporter to great effect, and I've enjoyed him as a performer since first seeing him in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. That's not to say he's incapable of making bad movies (the man WAS in a Uwe Boll film, after all), but a simple, action film of this caliber is the type of thing that goes right up his ally. The plot is swift-moving to keep the holes from being readily apparent, focusing almost entirely on the action when available. Character interaction goes out the door during these scenarios, unless you count people shooting one another as "interaction." The way in which the action is directed is itself hardcore and believable, with only Arthur's apparent perfect executions stretching the feasibility factor a pinch.

The "Rooftop Olympics" are underway

Statham is pretty much what you'd expect from a lead role of this kind. Arthur is played as almost emotionless when it comes to doing the tasks he's assigned, but when he's home he's a refined individual chomping at the bit to let his more emotional side forth. What works so well in this case is that Foster is across from him, playing Steve in the exact opposite formula. Steve is a passionate individual, with a mean streak (not unusual for Foster, looking at his resume) and a passion that comes out explosively during missions. For a pair of leading men, the partnership works wonders, and their scenes together are some of the best the film offers. Sutherland is a heralded performer, and for good reason, but he can't get the good roles like he used to. His role here is interesting, but several performers could have done the same job he did for the little time his character affects the audience. Once he's gone, he's barely left a presence for us to feel, and he's quickly forgotten. Tony Goldwyn does manage to stick around as Arthur's boss Dean Sanderson, but his role is mostly dry. Unlike several villains from similar 2010 titles, however, I actually got the feeling that Dean was dangerous, thanks to a hulking physique and deadpan stare. He was certainly more threatening than Jason Patric or Patrick Wilson.

The Julie Taymor stage play has been plagued by delays...

One thing that did bother me was the lack of strong female roles. I understand the film is a remake of a seventies cult hit, but the entirety of women in this film are servants, prostitutes, whores, or victims, in that exact order. There are no female assassins, no female executives for the agency, not anything resembling a powerful character throughout the film's runtime. While I'd be incorrect in stating that the film objectifies and exploits women, it would be more accurate to suggest that the filmmakers purely didn't think about them at all. THIS should be the film feminists are speaking against... but I guess the lack of award nominations lets it pass.

No, not THE bomb... just a bomb

The action is non-stop, and while the annoying close-up shots mar the on-screen violence at points, on a whole it's better done than your average film of the like. For what faults it has, that's what The Mechanic does well. It might not be as competent as it's originator, but what it does well it does competently and without mistakes. That's not enough to propel it to the top of the heap, however; The Mechanic comes in at #2 for the year. It probably won't be among this year's best, but it can safely be assumed it won't be among the worst either.

Pinnochio it Ain't

Romantic comedies can be tricky business. There are so many that follow the exact same format, dissimilar man and woman who gradually fall for one another over the course of the film. On occasion, that formula is turned on it's head and you get exceptional titles like When Harry Met Sally. Other times, the formula and the chemistry between the romantic leads works so well that you get a title that exceeds expectations despite covering no new ground; Love & Other Drugs.would be a perfect example. But the vast majority of the films in this genre rarely ascend to such lofty heights, content to market themselves to the current younger audience and distinguish themselves in little way from their contemporaries. The question is which tier contains No Strings Attached, directed by Ghostbusters director Ivan Reitman. Star Ashton Kutcher has held the theme close to heart, starring in films from 2003's Just Married and My Boss's Daughter to the more recent What Happens in Vegas, Valentine's Day and Killers. He's been in so many romantic comedies he's practically married to it. But co-star Natalie Portman has had such a varied career to this point that it's difficult to imagine her in such a film, especially when she's likely to win an Oscar for her psychological horror film Black Swan. So what happens when these two seemingly mismatched performers are asked to make a film that might otherwise get completely ignored under other circumstances?

"Okay, what's that smell?"

Actually, the result is not too bad. No Strings Attached has Adam (Kutcher) and Emma (Portman) as a pair of souls who met at a summer camp during high school. After many years as occasional friends, they decide to get together, but not in the boyfriend/girlfriend way. Emma has a problem with committed relationships, leading to the two becoming "friends with benefits," or more simply sex buddies. This works out well for both of them until Adam begins to realize that he's falling for his partner, which threatens to not only disable the couple's current train, but end their entire friendship in the process.

"Yeah, well... we bang"

As I mentioned earlier, Kutcher has done a bunch of these films, so you'd have to figure he pretty much knows what to do when the camera turns on. Of course, I wouldn't KNOW from seeing any of them; I haven't actively watched Kutcher in anything since 2000's Dude, Where's My Car, and so I'm not really an expert on his works beyond his role as Kelso in That 70's Show. Seemingly having not aged physically since 1998, Kutcher is a basic charming guy, but since he does it so well you'd think he was a modern day Carey Grant or Robert Redford, not simply playing a variation of himself. Adam is a somewhat interesting role, with the young man suffering father issues stemming from his father Alvin (Kevin Kline) being such a famous actor while Adam languishes as a Hollywood stagehand. While what Kutcher does is good, however, it's hardly a stretch from his public persona. Portman is much more interesting, with an aversion to commitment so intense she's almost neurotic. She simply doesn't believe in the idea of relationships because of seemingly eventual partings. If you're going to break up anyway, why put in all the effort and hard work? Portman makes the movie, and though her character's issues are the film's main impetus, she is never the villain or made to be the reason things don't go so as well as they could.

"The balloon is my apology for the smell the other night."

If only the film loved its supporting characters as much as it did the two leads. Kline is charming but something of an asshole as Adam's famous father. The film keeps reminding you that he's an asshole while adoring fans look at him and sigh. A side story featuring a budding relationship between Adam's friend Eli (Jake Johnson) and Emma's friend Patrice (Greta Gerwig) was interesting but did nothing to move the film's story forward. Cary Elwes was barely used in the film, and I wonder why his character was even kept in the script at all, so ineptly was he used. Chris "Ludacris" Bridges entertained with one-liners but otherwise was underutilized. Mindy Kaling and Olivia Thirlby are talented actresses whose casting here served no purpose besides providing familiar faces. The only secondary character used to good effect (besides Kline) is Lake Bell as a nerdy assistant at Adam's work. A little better use of these secondary characters would have allowed the main story to go a little more smoothly, whereas there were a few too many bumps due to lack of story cohesion.

Soup in bed?? On THOSE sheets???

While Ivan Reitman made his name writing and directing comedies in the seventies and eighties, he hasn't done a real romantic comedy since Legal Eagles in 1986, and it shows. As mentioned before, the story suffers from stutters and hiccups due to not having enough plot to really fill 110 minutes. It's also quite adult in it's look at human sexuality (which isn't bad) but goes over the top in parts (which is). The best scene involves Adam using a sort-of taboo situation to give Emma a mix tape, but there aren't nearly enough great scenes like that throughout No Strings Attached's story to make it easy watching. It's obvious the more adult content is meant to appeal to a younger demographic (ironic, yes) but it also seems that Reitman was not necessarily the best option to work on this, as the film doesn't feel unique to the generation its targeting. I can easily see this story being adapted as a more mature non-sexually-oriented title that can appeal to more than just a small demographic.

Ah, the awkward slow kiss... a classic

All in all, I actually LIKED No Strings Attached, though that was more in spite of it's faults than because of anything it did particularly well. The dialogue is actually quite snappy, the acting from the two leads Portman and Kutcher is enjoyable and the laughs do come enough to make me forget about the lousy story and underused supporting cast, at least in the moment. It didn't cover any new ground for the genre, but I certainly had more fun in this film than I did watching The Green Hornet; for this reason alone No Strings Attached makes #1 of 2011's Top 10 films. How much you want to bet the next film I see knocks that clean off?