James Gandolfini

The Drop

First Hit:  I liked the developing twist of who really was in-charge of the neighborhood scene.

It isn’t easy to play the guy who appears to be a little slow of mind on the outside while really taking stock of everything and making sure it all works out for the best.

Tom Hardy plays Bob the bartender to his uncle’s bar. Although Cousin Marv (James Gandolfini) manages the bar he once owned, he sold it to some Chechnya tough guys who use the bar as a money drop for illicit activities.

Bob is quite, responds to situations in a measured way and isn’t rattled by threats. He happens upon a beaten and cut dog in a trash can and decides to rescue it. The trash can resides on Nadia’s (Noomi Rapace) property. Slowly they become friends around caring for the dog.

As Marv believes he can scam the new owners for one last large big score, he knows Bob will attempt to keep things on par and do what he has to do to keep clarity with a sense of purpose. Brooklyn, thugs, and a closed tight neighborhood are also stars of this film.

Some of the shots of the neighborhood and the interaction and closeness of bar patrons in “their bar” are sublime.

Hardy is brilliant. It isn’t easy to play the type of character this film calls for, while not giving away the actor's intelligence. Hardy does it in spades and makes this one of the very best performances  I’ve ever seen him give. Gandolfini was difficult to watch. The way he smoked his cigarettes belied a man who was sucking smoke to ease the hassle of living not only as a man but as the character. Life and art being one here. Although he did a good job with this character, I couldn’t help but watch him slowly dig his own grave through his unhappiness. Rapace was sublime. Her vulnerability, strength and action based on fear were perfect for the role. Dennis Lehane wrote a very strong screenplay. The direction by Michael R. Roskam for this story was very good and I liked how the brooding mood was consistently felt throughout the film.

Overall:  It was well acted and strong film.

Killing Me Softly

First Hit:  The not so subtle killings, the state of the economy, and a thugs life are oddly displayed here.

Three dumb smart guys think they’ve got a way to crash and rob a mob protected card game of about $30 – $50K. Because Markie (played by Ray Liotta) is hosting the game and it is believed he had previously robbed his own game, the three dumb smart guys Frankie (played by Scott McNairy), Russell (Ben Mendelsohn), and Johnny (Vincent Curatola) think that robbing the game, the mob will think Markie did it again, kill him and they’ll get off scot-free.

At first they think they are in the clear but then the mob catches on. Jackie (played by Brad Pitt) is the lead hit-man for the mob and is assigned to kill the perpetrators of the robbery because these games need to be trouble free and the mob's money protected.

In the background during this film there are multiple snippets of Bush talking about the instability of the economy as well as Obama talking about what he would do to change the economy along with how unprotected our money is.

All this is to give the audience an impression that mob life and their freedom to control the safety and free flowing-ness of their ill begotten money is as sacred and reflects the trouble and required for the safety of our money in the economy. Jackie doesn’t want to “do” all three of the dumb smart guys so he hires Mickey (played by James Gandolfini) who appears to be at the end of his usability. He spends all his time and money drinking any alcohol he can find, screwing as many whores he can hire and is fatalistic in that he thinks his wife is going to leave him and he’ll end up back in prison.

His scenes are strong, very powerful and watchable, but you can’t help but think this guy is on the fast track to death. With this new problem, Jackie also has the issue of working with new mob hierarchy which he requires approval from the mob HQ to make these hits and the price must be negotiated to make each hit. But Jackie being and "in charge guy" takes care of all the problems as quickly as he can.

I’m not really clear about the point of this film, because of the pointed background dialogue about the economy, community, and how hard it is to make changes within the economic community in America and how it is congruent with the difficulty of getting permission and getting the right price for wacking someone who steals from the mob.

It might have been better without this twist. But the tagline was suppose to set the audience free: "In America you're on your own."

Liotta is clearly sufficient as guy who got away with something once but probably should be wacked anyway. McNairy is very good as the guy trying to be a smart dumb guy. Mendelsohn was fantastic as the smart dumb guy who is so stoned but believes he’s got his game together. Pitt is good but he felt restrained in this role for some reason. Gandolfini is fabulous and the hit man who has run his course and running out of gas. Andrew Dominik wrote and directed this film and neither were great, although some of the scenes were shot very well.

Overall:  This was a mediocre film and boarding on being less than mediocre, but the few outstanding performances keep it from totally failing.

Where the Wild Things Are

First Hit: Although I left the theater with questions about how dark the film was, I was more struck at the beauty and excellent execution of this story.

The question that haunts me days after seeing this film is about why the film didn’t invite me into it emotionally?

There was very little about this movie that touched my feeling realm directly. However, from an intellectual realm, it was extraordinary and asked me to view my feelings, but from a distance. It was more about watching a young boy exploring and dealing with his dark, lonely, angry and sorrow fill world and I was an observer.

It was like watching life from in an atrium. From this place, Spike Jonze created an adult view of a children’s fantasy. Max Records plays Max the young boy who has temper tantrums and can be sweet as can be. Sitting under his mother’s desk fiddling with her stocking feet telling her a story was very sweet, compelling and engaging.

However as much as that was incredibly sweet, only to be juxtaposed with his outburst, while standing on the dining table, yelling at the top of his lungs that he was going to bite his mother for serving frozen corn instead of fresh corn showed the other side of the story.

Max’s life is one filled with fantasy as represented by the forts he sets up in his room, and the hard dose of reality as he pro-actively owns up trashing his sister’s room because she didn’t protect or help him when he started a snowball fight with her friends. He runs away from home and ends up in a land Where the Wild Things Are.

In this fantasy land there are very large animals with human voices. Carol (voice by James Gandolfini) is seen trashing everyone one else’s homes because KW (voice by Lauren Ambrose) is off with other friends. Like Max, he cannot control his anger and is severely insecure.

Other wild things see Max and immediately want to eat him. But Carol stops the threatening attack and Max announces that he is a former king and defeated the Vikings. This impresses the Wild Things so they crown him their king.

However, they begin to see that he doesn’t have kingly ideas and when he suggests they get into a dirt clod fight because it will be fun, people get hurt and luster falls from his crown.

Records was powerful as Max, as was Gandolfini, Ambrose, Chris Cooper, Catherine O’Hara, Forest Whitaker, and Paul Dano as voices of the Wild Things. Jonze shot this film with a semi-documentary feeling in the camera movement and positions which were helpful to sharing the story.

Overall: As a children’s film it is too dark and intense, as an adult view of children finding their way home it was extraordinary.

In The Loop

First Hit: Although this parody is funny, and provides an interesting look at how things might get done in Government, it is a little long winded and seems to lose the point here and there.

Washington and 10 Downing Street leaders are on their way to have a war. Although it is a very minor character in this film, the unnamed war is referring to our most recent Iraq endeavor. 

The film’s major characters are Simon Foster (played by Tom Hollander) a British Assistant Secretary of State, Malcolm Tucker (played by Peter Capaldi) as the British Communications Director, Karen Clarke (played by Mimi Kennedy) an American undersecretary, Lt. General George Miller (played by James Gandolfini) as a pacifist general, and a slew of other actors playing the conniving and sometimes pathetic assistants to the British and American politicos.

The feeling in the film is that brash behavior is the norm as no one seems too upset that Tucker says “fuck” or “fuckin'” at least 50 times, or in every other sentence, as he bad mouths everyone he meets and greets. However, this arrogance is somewhat mitigated when speaking to Americans as the British come off as a younger brother wanting to look tough instead of the leader of the pack.

Then there is the American Clarke whose mouth bleeds in stressful or unexpected situations which makes her lose her perceived power as a player. The cadre of assistants have some of the most interesting roles and dialog in the film as they position themselves and their bosses towards a decision about the pending decision about the war.

They move the plot regarding the decision about war forward so that it is a mere formality when the US and Britain decide to invade the unnamed middle eastern country with no truth based premise.

I found the acting good for the most part. What wore on me was the constant ego pumping, dissing and dismissing of others by politicos for the sake of pumping up their own egos. Whether this reflects some truth or not, I thought scenes were created to add more opportunities to create absurd dialog but added little to the story. I got tired of the tirade and because the outcome is known, I found myself waiting for the film to get there.

Overall: This film was a good parody and at times brilliant. However, there were too many scenes which I found the dialog pathetically overdone and unfathomable.

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