Tower Heist

First Hit:  There are some very strong funny laughs in this totally improbable story.

From the beginning of the film, there are strong laughs, out loud laughs.

Maybe it helped that the woman behind me was fully engaged in her very out-loud amusing laugh at many of the situations. But like her, at times, I found some of this film very funny.

Arthur Shaw (played by Alan Alda) is a Bernie Madoff type character who has been accused of inappropriate use of investor money. “The Towers” where he lives in the penthouse suite which has his pool on the roof and a hundred dollar bill painted on the bottom.

“The Towers” (looking like Trump Tower), has a staff that is there to fully serve the residents. The manager is Josh Kovacs (played by Ben Stiller) who has a staff of willing workers including Charlie (played by Casey Affleck) the concierge, Lester (played by Stephen Henderson) the doorman, and Odessa (played by Gabourey Sidibe) as a chambermaid.

There is also a resident named Mr. Fitzhugh (played by Matthew Broderick). When Shaw is arrested trying to sneak out of the country by FBI special agent Claire Denham (played by Tea Leoni), the staff realizes that all their money, invested by Shaw, is gone. After a suicide attempt by Lester, the staff and Mr. Fitzhugh decide to find the $20 million dollar stash that is believed Shaw has hidden in his penthouse.

Also in the Penthouse is Shaw’s pride possession, a Ferrari once owned by Steve McQueen. The staff, guided by, their expert thief Slide (played by Eddie Murphy) set out to find the $20M only to find more but not in the form they expected.

Stiller is perfect as the controlling, yet flexible, Manager. Alda is beyond perfect as the arrogant financier who thinks he’s getting away with something. Murphy is great as the smart-alecky thief. Affleck is very good as the overly cautious father-to-be, who is only looking to have his baby born healthy. Sidibe is funny in this comedic role. Broderick is more forlorn than usual which fits him. Leoni is very funny as the FBI agent who wants to play by the rule book, gets drunk well, and wants The Tower’s staff to get their just deserts. Ted Griffin and Jeff Nathanson wrote a funny and impossible story. Brett Ratner did a good job of pulling laughs from the characters and dealing with improbability.

Overall: This film has a great cast, was funny often but what and how they rob Shaw was not realistic.

In Time

First Hit:  The concept of this film is outstanding and the acting very good; however the film isn’t memorable.

What would you do if you knew that you only had 1 year to live?

What would society do if everyone only had 1 year to live after reaching age 25? How hard would you work to gain more time? What would it be like to always look 25 no matter how old you really are? What would you do to live longer if you could get other people’s remaining time?

These are the primary questions this film asks audience members to think about. To keep you posted on your remaining time everyone has a digital clock imbedded in their left forearm. The clock stars the day you turn 25 years old. Your remaining time is always on your arm.

Will Salas (played by Justin Timberlake) is 3 years over his 25th birthday. He lives day to day. He gets other time by working hard. He never steals or inappropriately takes anyone else’s time. Other people rob people for their time. He meets up with Henry Hamilton (played by Matthew Bomer) who is over a century old and is done with living. He wants to die.

Will saves him from being shot. While hiding out Henry gives Will all his remaining time (hundreds of years) while Will is sleeping and then goes out and commits suicide. Chasing Henry are Timekeepers, led here by Raymond Leon (played by Cillian Murphy).

The Timekeepers track people who are giving away too much of their time and also track people who pass through time zones. In this world time is the only currency and is used for everything (instead of money), people trade time for food, coffee, and bus rides. If the master planners think there are too many people alive, they raise the price of everything thereby reducing the available time for individuals.

With his new gained time, Will travels to a fancy part of the city and meets Silvia Weis (played by Amanda Seyfried) who has a very rich (time wise) father Philippe Weis (played by Vincent Kartheiser). Philippe is a controller of time in a specific geographical area and he has a lot of time. In fact he has a 1,000,000 years in a bank vault in his office. Silvia falls in love with Will and because the timekeepers are after him, he has to run and she decides to run with him, living day by day for time.

The lesson Silvia imparts to the audience is that loving someone and living fully may require her to only live each day at a time. Good films need to stay with me and have me think about them a day or two (or even weeks or months) after I see them.

This film left my memory banks within 24 hours. And even though it was a great subject, and wonderfully acted, there was something missing – real questions about the real mystery of life, like what is time (outside of a human “concept by which we measure our pain” – John Lennon)?

Timberlake was excellent and really seemed to embody the part. Bomer was good as the disillusioned guy with more time than he needs. Murphy was excellent as the driven Timekeeper who just did he job the best he could and had a difficult time changing his point of view. Kartheiser was strong as Seyfried’s father although he almost looked younger than her. Seyfried was very good as the girl who needed to wake up from her sheltered existence. Andrew Niccol wrote and directed this. He did get strong performances and the film was well put together and crisp. It just seemed to lack the depth necessary to make it memorable.

Overall: In Time was good to watch and very entertaining, but with such a meaty subject why did it fade from my mind so quickly when a film like "Margin Call" still has me thinking. If you want entertainment this is a very good film to go see.

Real Steel

First Hit:  This was a fully entertaining and enjoyable film.

Yes it is much like “The Champ” in more ways than one, but so what – this film was very enjoyable.

Charlie Kenton (played by Hugh Jackman) is a washed-up boxer, who had one glorifying moment in the ring. He’s a loner traveling around in HI truck lugging robots around who fight bulls and other robots for money. He’s clearly a “live for the moment guy” looking to make a large score so that he can pay off some guys he owes money to.

But we all know in the first 10 minutes, even if he makes a large score, he’ll be back to where he is because he doesn’t plan or think ahead. One day he is served with papers that his son Max (played by Dakota Goyo), who he saw once as a baby, has lost his mother and that he has custody or has to sign over custody to the boy’s aunt. He sees this as an angle to get money and as the boy clearly tells him, “you sold me for $50K”.

The boy has to spend some time with his father before custody is handed over and we all know what happens next; Max and Charlie are alike in many ways and each learns and grows by being with the other.

There is very little that is not predictable in this film but there is nothing about this film that isn’t genuinely entertaining. The relationship between Charlie and Bailey Tallet (played by Evangeline Lilly) who’s father trained Charlie as a boxer is clearly believable. The relationship between Max and Bailey is wonderful, especially when she shows him clippings of his father boxing.

Although I thought the Tak Mashido and Farra Lemkova characters were a bit overdone there was little I didn’t like.

Jackman is perfect as the guy who cares, doesn’t care, thinks, doesn’t think, and has the physical attributes to pull off this role. He was great. Goyo was, to me, the star of this picture. He shows grace, talent and a command of the role that was wonderful. Lilly, was good as the woman waiting for her love to realize it. John Gatins and Dan Gilroy philosophically borrowed strongly from “The Champ” but they made it their own as well. Shawn Levy clearly knows how to make an entertaining film.

Overall: Although there is not real big meaningful message here, this film was simply a joy to watch.

Killer Elite

First Hit: Some action between long bouts of boredom based on a poorly written script.

Not all films based on a true story play well on screen or are interesting. I would have like to think this one would have been good if the story had been told well.

The actors are all good actors. Jason Statham (here as Danny - perfect name as the all-around good guy) and Clive Owen (here as Spike – good name for the party spoiler) both are proven and capable of being great action actors. With Statham being one of the more capable physical action actors right now. His soft voice, intense look and great coordination keep him on the forefront of action films.

Owen is very capable as a physical action actor but his overriding hook is his intelligence and commanding voice. In this film his intelligent nature was left on the back porch leaving him to come off as out of character with both himself and the story.

Robert De Niro (here as Hunter – perfect name for older assassin) has a history of being very good as a dramatic actor and good enough as an action hero. Here he plays the older wiser assassin who has wife and kids he cares about.

Unfortunately we only hear about his family at the end of the film, why? I don’t know. It seemed to be thrown in to make a point but it was lost on me. Early on in the film, Danny decides to get out of the killing business because he almost kills a young girl in a hit he is doing with Hunter. Then he gets drawn back in to save his friend Hunter from being killed by a powerful Arab, but to do so he must kill three people.

This is where Spike comes in because he doesn’t want these killings to happen. Poor plot construction, and at times very poor execution. I dislike the experience of sitting in a film wondering how much longer it will be until it is over. This was one of those films.

Statham is solid but his character isn’t quite fleshed out and there is nothing to know why he took the job of assassin. De Niro is really a bit old for parts like this even though he is supposed to be the role of wisdom. I don’t think it was wise for him to take this part. Owen came off as more blindly stupid (yes, his character took a bullet in one eye) in this role than he can actually muster. He’s naturally an intelligent person and playing stupid is not up his alley. Gary McKendry wrote this poorly constructed script from a novel by Ranulph Fiennes which is supposed to be based on some truth. Gary McKendry directed this and it failed to be a cohesive smart action film.

Overall: Barely worth watching on DVD some lazy Sunday evening after a long baseball game.

Warrior

First Hit: Even with its ring violence, this is a great film.

UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) is the mixed martial arts (MMA) promotional organization.

I’ve watched a few of the television bouts and for the most part they are very difficult to watch. People get hurt. People are in the ring to hurt the other person. Although it isn’t particularly my cup of tea, it doesn’t mean it cannot be used as a background for a good film.

Paddy Condon (played by Nick Nolte) is a retired old drunk with a penchant for listening to Moby Dick on cassette recorder. He’s got 1,000 days of sobriety when his youngest son Tommy (played by Tom Hardy) shows up at his doorstep. The relationship is filled with sadness and hate. Tommy is silent, brooding, and is a soft spoken volcano.

His oldest son Brendan (played by Joel Edgerton) is married but he and his wife Tess (played by Jennifer Morrison) are barely making a living. Brendan is a physics high school teacher and also fights in parking lot MMA fights. He needs the extra money or he will lose his home because of the medical expenses incurred by his daughter.

The brothers haven’t spoken for almost 15 years and there is animosity between both brothers and their father. Their life as kids in the same house with Paddy, their mom was hell.

To make some money and gain some pride, they both enter a single elimination UFC bout of the top 16 MMA fighters. Both brothers are in it to win.

What made this film work is that the characters were well defined, they had difficult and compelling stories, and the acting was superb.

Nolte is perfect as the sober father who really hopes to be forgiven for his past indiscretions. Hardy is amazing as the brooding, pent up volcano, younger son. Edgerton is very dynamic and wonderful as the somewhat wiser older brother who will do anything to keep his family in their home. Morrison is both sexy and beautiful while being supportive and loving as Brendan’s wife.  Gavin O’Connor and Anthony Tambakis wrote a wonderful and strong screenplay. O’Connor did a fantastic job directing this story and using MMA fighting as a backdrop.

Overall: This is a very good film with strong performances.