The Old Man & The Gun

First Hit: Once again Robert Redford shows why he’s one of the best in this, his swan song.

In 1994 I was standing at the United Airline's counter verifying my seat assignment. To my left was the First-Class counter and there was a gentleman standing there being served. We both left our respective customer service agents at the same time and ended up walking down the concourse together. I looked over at him and said, “where are you headed?” He smiled and said “Salt Lake City, you?” “Same” I said.

I mentioned that I was doing some work for the State of Utah and that I loved the beauty of the state. “Yeah, he said, it’s beautiful county.”

We continued walking towards our plane, but I couldn’t help but notice most of the people walking towards us were smiling and pointing at us. It was mostly women that were doing the pointing and nudging, with smiles on their faces, the person they were walking with.

I looked over at him and he looked back smiling when I said, “they must be looking at you, because I’ve never been looked at while walking in an airport." Then, as the smile creeped across his face, I said, “oh my, my mother is going to really be excited when I tell her I walked down the airport concourse with Robert Redford.” He laughed and said, “I get that a lot.”

Despite his outstanding performances as an actor, he’s never won an Oscar for acting and was nominated once for The Sting. I can tell you, that his performance as The Man in All Is Lost, is beyond amazing. He’s the only actor and the whole film is shot on a sailboat that is in distress. If you’ve never seen it, do so to watch this enigma of a man show you how to capture the whole screen all the time.

In The Old Man & The Gun, it’s been reported that this is his last film as an actor. And, as Forrest Tucker, Redford moved through this story like silk. As a lifetime bank robber he knows no other life. He’s been caught 16 previous times and escaped prison each time only to go back to the only profession that makes him happy.

We watch him rob banks by himself and with two partners, Teddy (Danny Glover) and Waller (Tom Waits). Hoping to catch the “Over the Hill Gang,” as the newspapers call them, is Police Detective John Hunt (Casey Affleck).

When Forrest robs a bank, he’s kind, thoughtful, and only shows the gun to the manager or teller. He waltzes in and out, no muss no fuss. He's a gentleman at all things.

During the initial robbery, he stops during his getaway to help Jewel (Sissy Spacek) who is stranded because her truck is stranded. What the audience knows it is also a away to take the heat off himself because the cops who are chasing him—drive right past.

He likes Jewel and they began to see each other and this story line provides the film much needed grounding.

Redford as Tucker is wonderful. He fits the enigmatic way Forrest goes through his life and I can see why Redford was attracted to this character. Spacek is fantastic. She’s so grounded and fully meets Redford’s character with grace. Affleck was strong as the determined detective that also has a heart to understand Tucker. Glover and Waits were great in their small but pivotal roles. Tika Sumpter as Affleck’s wife, Maureen, was sublime. I loved how she supported Hunt. David Lowery wrote and directed a wonderful story giving Redford a wonderful platform to say goodbye.

Overall: This was a joyous romp through Forrest Tucker’s life as a robber.

A Star Is Born

First Hit: First part of the film is engaging, however towards the end it less fetching and with a 135 minute running time, needed to be trimmed.

This felt like two separate films. The first part is engaging, and buying into the characters is easy. We are introduced to Jack (Bradley Cooper), a boozing leader of a popular band, in concert delivering raspy singing and playing wild guitar in-front of a huge adoring crowd.

Driving away from the concert he wants another drink and finds a bar. In the bar, he watches Ally (Lady Gaga) sing a fantastic rendition of La Vie En Rose. Jack is enthralled and heads backstage and after conversation they head to another bar to talk.

Jack discovers that Ally also writes songs, good ones. They begin a romantic relationship, and he invites her to sing one of her songs with him in front of an audience of thousands. Her insecurities, which are explored when she and Jack are hanging out in a bar, stem from what she says is her too-large of a nose. This reason for her insecurity wasn’t believable to me. A quick review of others who played this role, Barbara Streisand, has a far more unique nose. This wasn’t the best thing to select for Ally’s anxiousness. However, this is where the audience is hooked, and also where the movie begins to meander.

As the film journeys onward, we’ve bought into their love because their chemistry is excellent and Lady Gaga as an actress is fully believable. Cooper, we know, can act his pants off, and for the most part he’s good here, but I couldn’t help but sense there was some struggle with him directing himself.

The last half of the film is where this film begins its decline. For me, Jack never really seems to, or appears to, clean up from his drinking and drug use, although he supposedly does. When he finally cleans up, Ally’s music and business manager Rez Gavron (Rafl Gavron) tells Jack, that he’ll be the reason for Ally’s downfall if he continues to associate musically with his wife Ally.

At this point it becomes obvious what’s going to happen, as the clues are poignantly spread out during the course of the film.

Cooper as an actor was excellent more towards the beginning of the film, but it seemed to fall off towards the end. I have no idea of the sequence in which the film was shot but there is a noticeable difference between the beginning and end of this movie. As a director and producer, there seemed too many scenes and prudent trimming would have helped to overall presentation. As an aside, he did a great job of playing a musician on stage. Gaga was extraordinary. She is a natural on the screen and this part was perfect for her to introduce acting into her repertoire. Gavron was strong as Ally’s career guiding manager. Sam Elliot (as Bobby, Jack’s older brother) was wonderful as the older brother who did his best to raise Jack. Andrew Dice Clay (as Andrew, Ally’s father) was sublime. I’m happy to see him in this role without the “Diceman” attitude. Anthony Ramos, as Roman, was wonderful as Ally’s best friend. Eric Roth and Bradley Cooper wrote a good script, although it needed to be trimmed. Cooper, as previously stated, directed this film.

Overall: The singing was terrific, and it showcases the talent of Lady Gaga

Night School

First Hit: A few funny moments in a supposed humorous feelgood film that also attempted to make a point.

Right from the beginning, the failures of this film are present. Kevin Hart playing Teddy Walker, is shown being in high school. To make Kevin look younger and in a different time, they gave him a cornrow hairstyle. It didn’t work, Kevin looked way too old to support the premise.

Although this error could have been alleviated by using another actor, they compounded this error a couple more times in the film. This filming and directional error stayed with me through out.

Present day, Teddy is a high-school dropout but a super salesman selling barbeques. He sells more than anyone else at the company where he works. He spends all the money he makes and his closest friend Marvin (Ben Schwartz), who is a runs a Wall Street company, keeps telling him to save and quit spending.

Teddy is dating and living with a very successful woman named Lisa (Megalyn Echikunwoke) who everyone says is out of his league. When Teddy proposes to Lisa he accidently blows up his place of work. Being a high-school dropout, with no prospects for work, he starts working at a fast food joint as a promotional chicken. When Marvin says he can work for him if he gets he GED, he tells Lisa he’s already working for Marvin.

Enrolling into a Night School class taught by Carrie (Tiffany Haddish) he’s now grouped with other people who are struggling to make their life better. The interaction with them is, at times, funny.

As the film dances between Teddy’s untruthful relationship with Lisa, his high-school days, and his GED classroom antics, the film came across as chopped up.

Hart was Hart. There really wasn’t a character named Teddy. It is Hart as a person named Teddy. Haddish as the night school teacher who cares, was very funny. Echikunowoke, in a limited role, was strong as Lisa. Schwartz was good as Teddy’s friend. Ron Riggle was funny as McKenzie, one of Teddy’s GED classmates. Taran Killam was OK as the school principal and former nerdy high-school classmate of Teddy’s. Romany Malco as Jaylen, one of Teddy’s GED classmates, was strong. Mary Lynn Rajsku, as Theresa, was hilarious as one of Teddy’s GED classmates. Anne Winters was good as Mila, one of the GED classmates. Al Madrigal, as Luis, was funny as one of Teddy’s GED classmates. Kevin Hart and Harry Ratchford wrote a sophomoric kind of script. Malcolm D. Lee did an OK job of directing this film.

Overall: I left the theater uninspired by this comedic attempt.

White Boy Rick

First Hit: The best part of this film is that somewhere there is a true story behind it; just not very well represented here.

Rick Wershe Jr. (Richie Merritt) is a young, somewhat quiet, and cocky fifteen-year-old boy being raised by a single dad Richard Wershe Sr. (Matthew McConaughey) along with his sister Dawn (Bel Powley).

Richard has a slightly twisted view of raising his kids surely because his parents Grandpa Ray (Bruce Dern) and Grandma Verna (Piper Laurie) are a real piece of work as well. The grandparents yell from their front porch at their son, who lives across the street and spend a lot of time criticizing how Richard is raising his kids.

Film starts with Richard and Rick coming home from a gun show where they purchase fake AK-47s to resell with home made silencers. Upon reaching home, they find Dawn high on heroin while being pawed by her much older dealer black boyfriend.

From here the film dives into Rick wanting to be a dealer, gets caught up with the FBI coaxing him too turn and become an informant by letting him keep the profits of his dealing. The FBI only want Rick to turn over the bigger fish. Part of their leverage is that they lay off Richard’s creating illegal silencers for the guns he resells.

We watch Rick become a big-time dealer in Detroit, help gets his sister get clean, but then makes mistakes and eventually ends up in jail.

Merritt was good as Rick in that he showed a inner strength along with a vulnerability. McConaughey was so-so as Rick’s dad. I don’t think he fit well with this role and his odd attempt to have a Detroit, northeastern, accent didn’t work very well. Dern was entertaining as a crotchety self-righteous old man. Laurie was equally crotchety until Dawn decided to come clean and spend time with her. Powley was very strong as a girl raised by a man who had no idea on how to raise a daughter and got herself together later in the film. Close to the best acting in this film. Brian Tyree Henry was strong as Police Detective Jackson. Jennifer Jason Leigh (as Agent Snyder) was excellent as the FBI Agent trying to flip Rick. Rory Cochrane was very good as FBI Agent Byrd working with Agent Snyder to flip and help Rick. RJ Cyler as Rick’s friend Rudell “Boo” Curry was excellent. He moved through this film convincingly. Andy Weiss and Logan Miller wrote an OK screenplay. Yann Demange directed this story, and it seemed a disjointed and unclear.

Overall: This story could have been told more effectively.

Fahrenheit 11/9

First Hit: Covers a lot of stuff but I think it was mostly about Presidents and people in power managing and acting poorly.

This film seemed all over the place, and I was never quite sure of the primary focus or target of this recent offering by Michael Moore. It includes some of his typical stunts, like an attempted citizen’s arrest of the Michigan Governor Rick Snyder who poisoned the people of Flint, Michigan by changing their community water source from Lake Huron to the Flint River. There was also the spraying of Flint water at the Governor’s mansion.

Much ado was made of this in the press and the outcry of the act and Governor’s inaction when poisons were discovered in the water was audible throughout the United States. One of the saddest parts of the film was when, then President Obama came to Flint and pretended to drink water to ensure that the problem was fixed. Instead of coming to help and rescue the people of Flint from an arrogant governor, he placated everyone.

Another part of the film was how Hilary lost the election to our, now, President Trump. This re-telling shares virtually no new information and only reminds us of how an election went wrong.

Then there are his hits on President Trump. There is little new shared here that helps us understand his manipulation of disenchanted, mostly white, people. The disenchanted are rich conservatives that want more money in their pocket and partially educated people who are feel disenfranchised.

The best is his explanation as to how Trump deflects by offering alternatives. For instance his admiration for people who have a lifetime rulership of their country and he laments that he would consider this if offered.

Moore does some things well in this film, like his honoring of the Stoneman Douglas high school kids that are creating change. And other things are more bombastic and overdone without pinpoint clarity of purpose.

Overall: Not one of Moore’s better films.