The Infiltrator

First Hit:  Tension begins early and stays through to the end of the film – well done.

The setting is the 1980’s. Columbian cocaine is pouring into the United States through Florida.

The US Government is doing what it can to stop the flow of drugs. Nancy Reagan’s “Just say no” campaign was in full bloom and most of the U.S. Customs department’s war on drugs was to follow the flow of the drugs.

One of Customs’ best agents Robert Mazur (Bryan Cranston) thinks that a better way to get to the top of the cartel was to “follow the money”. He and his partner Emir Abreu (John Leguizamo) set themselves up as a company with bank money laundering connections. Mazur takes the alias of Bob Musella. The way these two find their way to the right banking and cartel connections is filled with tense scenes made only better by the acting, especially by Cranston.

One thing that struck me was the complicated way things came together. There were a lot of characters and plot elements, however, I felt like it how a real life setup might unfold.

For instance, during a conversation with a cartel member in a strip club, Musella said he was engaged. He did this because he didn’t want to partake in a sexual encounter and he was fully committed to his wife Evelyn (Juliet Aubrey). Stating he was engaged required the U. S. Customs agency to set him up with a finance. His hard line boss Bonnie Tischler (Amy Ryan), selects a newly minted agent Kathy Ertz (Diane Kruger) which created its own level of tension and concern because she had no experience.

The film and scenes we’re not done in a highly slick manner, which worked for me because otherwise would have made the film appear too staged. Where Ertz and Musella worked best was during the scenes to develop a relationship with cartel member Roberto Alcaino (Benjamin Bratt) and his wife Gloria (Elena Anaya).

Cranston was really strong in this role based on a true story. His ability to create tension for his life and his family’s life was palpable. Leguizamo was perfect as his partner that seemed the on edge of being a really smart and partially unhinged. Ryan was perfect as the hard-line female Customs boss. Kruger was wonderful as the undercover fiancé. Bratt and Anaya were very strong as major components of the cartel. Ellen Sue Brown wrote a very strong script. Brad Furman did a wonderful job of making the film work by not making it too slick.

Overall:  This true story from the Eighties was well represented 30 years later.

The Secret Life of Pets

First Hit:  Made me think about what our dog might be doing while I was watching this film.  

Pi in hat

There are moments in this film where the animators and voice artists get dogs and cats perfectly right:  Watch the dogs circle to lie down. Other times they were represented as we might want them to be or the way we think they are.

The voice acting in this film is very strong; among them are:  Jenny Slate as Gidget. Louis C.K. as Max. Lake Bell as Chloe. Albert Brooks as Tiberius and the fully engaging Kevin Hart as Snowball the bunny.

Pi Smile Carpet edit

The overall story is that Max and Duke get lost and their friends come to help them find their way home. The animation was very strong and did an excellent job of catching their behaviors. Listening to the children in the theater react to this animated film was the signal telling me the writers and directors were spot on. They captured the young demographic perfectly.

The film did feel a little long and I would have cut the entire sequence in the sausage factory, thought it was unnecessary and didn't move the real story along.

Slate, C. K., Bell, Brooks and Hart’s voices were fully engaging and wonderful. Cino Paul and Ken Daurio wrote a very strong and fun screenplay. Yarrow Cheney and Chris Renaud did a great job of directing this animated feature and getting the most out of the voice actors.

Overall:  This film was fun and I left the theater happy.

Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates

First Hit:  This film was continually filled with very funny scenes that made sense – Enjoyable.

This is one of those films I anticipated not liking very much.

Physical comedy at this level can be pressed to the point that it becomes not funny. However, this film was different. Dave (Zac Efron) and Mike (Adam Devine) play brothers who do everything together. They are party boys and the scenes of their past antics as shown in the screen, have fun intentions but ended up being disastrous and funny.

What makes this film work is the boys' relationship to each other and that each bizarre sequence is well thought out and leads to another elevated scene.

The premise of the film is that their sister Jeanie (Sugar Lyn Beard) is getting married and their parents don’t want Mike and Dave to wreck their sister’s wedding with their antics. To make them change their ways, the parents tell them they are not allowed at the wedding unless they have respectable wedding dates. They get dates however they are not just happenstance like Dave and Mike believe.

Alice (Anna Kendrick) and Tatiana (Aubrey Plaza) are out of work because they show up to work drunk, are loud and obnoxious and only want to drink and have fun. Each has a different reason for their behavior and together they are almost as bad as Dave and Mike.

The girls see the guys on a TV program promoting a Craigslist ad to take dates, all expenses paid, to Hawaii for their sister’s wedding. Tatiana comes up with a plan to meet the guys and lie their way into this free trip. For them it was a vacation. The film then takes us to Hawaii and the fireworks of these four people’s antics begin. However, in the end they might make steps forward in their lives.

Efron was perfect for this role. He’s found a niche of being handsome, smart and dumb enough to be both funny and serious in this role. Devine presses his comedy a bit more than I like; however, it works well in this film. Kendrick continues to surprise me at her ability to stretch her persona. Here she compulsively lies and it really works. Plaza is very strong in this role. She’s all out and does a great job of being all out. Beard is wonderful as the sister. Andrew Jay Cohen and Brendan O’Brian wrote a script full of great and funny scenes. Jake Szymanski did a wonderful job of getting laughs out of this funny script. He kept the flow going and there isn’t a dull moment or a time where I found myself saying, this is too much; it was just funny.

Overall:  This film surprised me at how it kept moving and kept itself on track in a fun way.

Eat That Question: Frank Zappa in His Own Words

First Hit:  Riveting documentary about a music man who followed his own path and beliefs.

At the beginning of the film, Frank makes a statement that went something like this:  There are so many people who only know me from my first few records and concerts. The fact is they don’t know me or my music at all. I’m one of those people who are in this category although I have never claimed I knew much about him.

I saw Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention at two locations in 1967, the Anaheim Convention Center and the LA Sports Arena. I was both shocked and engaged by the music and the show that was part of his performance.

It was the original rock performance art and show. It was truly a unique show. Although, I'd occasionally check in by buying an album or listening to a track from a record, but to his point I never saw him perform again and he was never a "must listen". However, I knew that he was a genius and this film confirms it.

The movie consists of interviews and clips of Frank and his band. Chronologically this film shows how Frank walked his own path and never compromised on what he wanted to develop and deliver.

There is one point in the film we see him sitting and listening to an English philharmonic orchestra and conductor he hired to play one of his classical compositions. An interviewer asks him if this is the best use of this high level orchestra? He responds by saying, I saved my money, I’m the one that is paying for all this because I want to hear what I wrote. No one else has any money invested in this except me. Therefore it is my right to have this orchestra play what I want them to play because I'm paying for it.

With this statement, I began to better understand his path and his love for music as he defined it. He loved creating music and because he worked at it 16 hours a day, he had a right to hear it in any way he wanted. It was his life.

Zappa was his enigmatic intelligent self. Thorsten Schutte did a brilliant job of stringing together previous interviews, film clips, and music segments.

Overall:  This was a wonderful film about a brilliant man.

Our Kind of Traitor

First Hit:  Really nice build up for first half,  just sustains the intensity through the back half, but ends quite nicely.

My wife mentioned to me that she thought “Our Kind of Traitor” is a lackluster title for a film and I agree.

There are a couple of stories going on in this film:  First we have and see a Perry and Gail (Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts respectively) struggling as a married couple. And second we have a Russian laced espionage thriller. How do these two stories meet? Struggling as a couple, Perry and Gail are on holiday in Morocco to try to bring some romance back into their ten-year relationship.

They are very different people; Perry is a poetic professor at a prestigious university and Gail is a workaholic lawyer who makes a lot of money. In a Moroccan restaurant, Gail gets a work call and has to leave so Perry gets propositioned by a gregarious Russian named Dima (Stellan Skarsgard) to join his party for a drink. Dima takes a liking to Perry and invites him to a late night party followed by an early morning tennis match. Their friendship grows and Dima asks Perry to deliver a thumb drive to MI6 in London when he returns home.

As head money launderer for the Russians, Dima suspects he and his family will be killed soon after a bank deal transpires in London. Gail thinks Perry is not doing a smart thing by going through with the delivery but despite her opinion, he follows through.

The tale heats up after they deliver the thumb drive to MI6 Agent Hector (Damian Lewis) but starts to fall off in intensity as the cat and mouse game begins to drag on. However, in the end, Dima wants to save his family, Perry and Gail may get closer, and Hector wants to put a nail in the coffin of his former boss whom he suspects as selling his soul and being a traitor.

McGregor was perfect because he portrayed the intelligence, compassion and integrity this role required. Watts was wonderful as the smart, quick witted wife while in the end wholly supporting her husband’s actions. Skarsgard was sublime. His intensity, deep boisterous growls, and single-minded objective made him the right man for this role. Lewis was adroitly a great choice as the MI6 agent, who was willing to move outside the box to follow his revenge. Hossein Amini wrote a good screenplay from the John le Carre novel. And despite the strong start and mediocre back half, Susanna White’s direction, in the end, brought the whole thing together rather well.

Overall:  One of the better film versions of a John le Carre story.