Tag: Ryan Gosling

A COUPLE OF NICE GUYS TO SPEND TIME WITH

Posted on by Lloyd Marken

If there was a film that I was most excited to see this blockbuster season it wasn’t Captain America: Civil War or Batman Vs. Superman – it was this little gem. that tapped into nostalgia for an era that had passed before my birth.

For some of us the name Shane Black means something, even if arguably his best film remains his first and has just turned 29 years old.

This hairstyle will never date!

That film was Lethal Weapon which he wrote leading to him becoming Hollywood’s highest paid screenwriter in the mid 90s. He went away for a while before he made his directorial debut with Kiss Kiss Bang Bang in 2005. His filmography often features two opposites buddying up to take down bad guys with witty banter and inventive action. The marketing for this film promised a classic Black vehicle, Kiss Kiss with the bonus of a period setting. The marketing of the time was second to none delighting in the tropes of the time, a rockin soundtrack, a cheesy cartoon version and the two stars touring with the same dynamic their characters have.

 

I’m not sure any film could have lived up to that marketing and maybe The Nice Guys doesn’t quite get there but it comes close, all the ingredients from the marketing are present in the film. Atlanta and CGI fill in for 70s smog filled L.A.. Shots are taken at the pop culture and counter culture of the day, it’s kinda again to see characters questioning the intentions of the government again by the way.

Tropes of the crime genre are intact, a small crime that leads to a bigger cover, an elusive dame always one step ahead of the heroes and two broken down men who can’t help at the end of the day but not try and do the right thing. despite their cynicism. In place of maybe a helpful secretary or former police comrade there is Angourie Rice playing Holly March, the daughter of Ryan Gosling’s P.I. Holland March. Russell Crowe seems to be having the time of his life as bruiser Jackson Healy enjoying the chemistry with his main co-star, acting his age and giving his character some depth. The former beefcake is beefier than he once was  with grizzled grey hair and an aged nonchalance that is instantly likeable. You still buy him in his fight scenes too of which there are plenty. He’s a thug that prides himself on having a brain, a little morality (beating up girls pests who harass girls) and keeping pet fish while he remembers despondently an ex-wife “Marriage is buying a house for someone you hate.” Jackson Healy is in the lineage of great American heroes going back to Ethan Edwards right through down to Rusty Cohle and how Shane Black originally positioned Martin Riggs. Men who saw and did stuff long ago and can no longer be part of the rest of the community in peace time but can protect society from other bad men in times of trouble. Some stories deal with bringing such a man back into the fold, others with returning him to this state. Crowe with his impish smile and easy charm points to possibilities, the film’s best scene maybe in park late at night with Healy talking to the younger Ms. March. She tells him you’re not a bad person and the look on Crowe’s face says he wants her to believe it. Gosling played such an anti-hero himself in the excellent Drive, so in a change of pace here he is a domesticated everyman and comic foil. Holland March is a former cop, bad in a fight, cynical, not above ripping people off for an easy buck to buy some more booze – a screw up. It’s interesting these two slobs are poor but still have cool cars and live in cool places. Was everything cheaper then, are my tastes bad or is this just typical Hollywood fantasy? Come to think of it, there is a plot point that might explain this.Holly March his daughter also knows the world is a bad place and bad things happen, divorce will age kids up and Holly is smart and capable. Rice though does play her with just the right amount of innocence though and a touching faith that her Dad can be a good man again. She’s the heart of the film, maybe why these two men try so hard and the promise of the next generation shaking off the gloom of a decade of Americans hit by Vietnam, Watergate and recession.

There’s a lot to love in this film, the characters most importantly. I would gladly see these characters again in a sequel. Men being men, witty dialogue, trippy dream sequences with giant bees but the film maybe runs a little too long. Matt Bomer’s John Boy is a fantastic idea for a henchman but becomes less threatening the more his prey survive, main villains remain off screen too long and the third act finale has the right setting (a car show in a high rise hotel) but doesn’t quite fire with the excitement of say…well any other Shane Black movie. Still these are minor quibbles and that soundtrack is rockin! The mantra of good filmmakers is the story is key. You can’t make a good film without a good script. That’s good advice but the older I get, the more I give a movie a free pass sometimes on how well realised the characters are and how much they draw you in. Gosling. Crowe. These are two cool guys that are nice to hang with for a couple of hours or more.

-Lloyd Marken

DEADPOOL: FINALLY A HAPPY ENDING FOR RYAN REYNOLDS

Posted on by Lloyd Marken

Oh hello. I don’t like to always follow the formula of film reviews. Sometimes I can’t help but use the dreaded pronouns I, myself and me. Sometimes I break away from the formula of having the first paragraph be about whether the film is good, the second paragraph introducing the plot followed by a third paragraph to expand on said plot and maybe start to go into the performances. Sometimes I never really have much of a fourth paragraph referring to technical aspects that stand out which often include cinematography, score or the stunts. Sometimes I skip straight to the fifth paragraph and rate the director in comparison to his/her other films before closing with the sixth where you reiterate how good it is maybe with a pithy comment. I don’t always follow this formula but it is insane how much better my reviews have been when I have started writing trying to fit this structure. By the way I really like the review I did for Youth if you’re interested. Deadpool likewise is a comic book movie screaming how much it is not like your average comic book movie and yet still following the structure of the formula in some ways. That’s not to say it isn’t like a breath of fresh air in this comic book movie saturated market. Timing can play a part in these things coming off Age of Ultron which was great but not as satisfying as its predecessor and arriving just before the juggernauts of Batman v Superman (v what the fuck is that?!) and Captain America: Civil War, Deadpool feels like a renegade upstart lacking the big bucks of those films but daring to go to places with meta-humour and adult content that those franchise four quadrant blockbusters would not dare. movies film dc features total filmGuardians of the Galaxy, which I really shouldn’t be mentioning because the link to it is tenuous at best and will just increase my word count which is always far too long but screw it it’s a blog and nobody is paying me so I’ll be self-indulgent, arrived at a time that there hadn’t been a space opera in a while besides those Star Treks of which the latest was good but not nearly as funny as a Talking Racoon with a machine gun. If it came out now it might feel like it was trying to catch the wave of popularity The Force Awakens is enjoying. A few years ago Deadpool would have been subverting a genre the average movie goer didn’t know inside and out. It turns out my ex-wife was right, timing is everything although I think she was talking about foreplay rather than motion picture releases and box office success.

The film opens with possibly the best opening titles sequence of the entire decade, certainly the most memorable and original one I can think of in a long time. The camera tracking through a car crashing in ultra-slow motion, while orientating us to where the car’s occupants are and throwing up humorous self-mocking credits. This is a moment from the film’s most impressive action set piece. Opening with a conversation in a taxi cab it becomes a car chase down a crowded freeway that segues into a lengthy shoot-out before concluding with a character stand-off where the lead villain and two X-Men are involved. This sequence is such a stand out that it is broken up into at least the 4 listed sections above each ending with a cliff-hanger to peak interest before it is intercut with a series of flashbacks. By chopping and changing like this the filmmakers also disguise the fact that in sequential order the audience would basically be following yet another standard origins story. Ryan Reynolds plays Wade Wilson, a mercenary and former special forces soldier who falls in love with escort Vanessa played by Morenna Baccarin. The flashbacks while not as interesting are still unconventional themselves (the development of the central love story is partly depicted in a sex montage that will never let you think of international women’s day the same way again) but it is also where the film reveals it’s heart showing the lead character as vulnerable as we will ever see him. A cancer diagnosis is played honestly by Reynolds and Baccarin showing what a young laconic couple would face when disease creeps into their lives. Wade gets an offer to enrol in an experimental government project that will cure him but not all is as it seems. The torture basement where his mutant powers of healing as well as physical disfigurement come forth is suitably dinghy and depressing. Deadpool is actually insane in the comic books which I’m not sure is as obvious in the films where the fourth wall breaking just seems like a good running gag but his anger against villain Francis is well articulated and as an audience member you are right there with him following the basement story. The second act of the film having left the freeway and flashbacks plays as a more straightforward revenge showdown but is lightened by crude jokes and Reynolds’s nice interplay with Leslie Uggams as Deadpool’s roommate Blind Al.

Uggams is part of the supporting cast that fares best including Karan Soni as the taxi driver Dopinder, Brianna Hildebrand as Negasonic Teenage Warhead, an assortment of people bringing Colossus to life and Gina Carano as Angel Dust completely channelling major henchman parts from 80s action films that I expected her to do a neck crack at some point. Baccarin as love interest Vanessa is limited somewhat in the second half but comes across as a whole human being in a role that would have been in danger of being a cliché. My favourite moment for her is when they are in the Doctor’s office. Ed Skrein is effective as Francis but lacks presence possibly due to playing against Reynolds in the role the latter was always meant to play-just not like he did in that Wolverine film! T.J. Miller as Wilson’s best friend Weasel has his moments which are a bit like his comedy. His acceptance speech at the Critic’s Choice Awards last year was awesome but the guy just doesn’t always do it for me and that’s true here too. I suppose since this is a review I should probably be more articulate in my opinion of Miller but  I really would rather write about how amazingly hot Jennifer Garner is. I mean seriously those cheekbones, that smile. By the way Jenny there was absolutely nothing wrong with the black one.

 Absolutely nothing.

I also respect you for your talent, personality and intelligence and I love my wife but there really was nothing wrong with the black one and yes I think about sex a lot. By the way I don’t have an ex-wife like I mentioned earlier. But if I continue to write blog posts like this…. Maybe I’ll need to buy a unicorn stuffed toy for myself too.

And now it’s time for the technical paragraph. Tim Miller shoots the action effectively and the effects are first rate especially given the budget, the crew are not lacking in ambition. The palette is grey and gloomy for the most part and I for one could’ve used a bit more colour but it fits the mood. Different sets are effectively lit to convey mood but there is little variety, this is a drab grey city that is mostly overcast when not raining and full of small dinghy apartments and bars. Yes the humour buys an awful lot of good will and is the best part of the film but if the action didn’t hold up or the film lacked heart we wouldn’t care as much. We do. The soundtrack as well is a fantastic arrangement of old hits mixing country, hip hop and power ballads. Juice Newton’s Angel of the Morning is well and truly back folks.

Mic movies film marvel trailer

A few years ago I saw a great romantic comedy that pushed Sandra Bullock back into the superstar stratosphere. She followed with an Oscar win in The Blind Side, an excellent action comedy The Heat and anchored a special effects drama directed by a first rate film maker. Her male co-star Ryan Reynolds did some good films after The Proposal but if there was a Ryan who broke out in that time frame his surname was Gosling not Reynolds. But like I said kids it’s all about timing. Here we are and some of those failures have made this film’s success that much sweeter. Alright getting close to 1,200 words so better wrap this up. Ryan Reynolds can play a lot of different notes, he really can and I hope he gets to in the years to come but he has always delivered as a first rate smart ass and the Merc with the Mouth (that is not stitched up!!!) really is the role he was born to play. Did I say that already? Whatever he is great in this film.

I saw Deadpool on opening night in a packed cinema; the crowd was lapping up every minute. Two days later I saw it again for a late session and the theatre was uncharacteristically packed again. The marketing had been clever and hitting the mark for months but don’t let anybody tell you any different- nobody expected this. The film cost $58 million dollars and has so far grossed $710 million dollars worldwide. In its opening week initial gross estimates were revised three times at least. It was hoped to be a hit but it has surpassed all expectations and delivered something audiences were craving. It has not been an easy, likely or guaranteed journey to this film getting made let alone it being this good. God it’s just so nice when everything just comes together. If you’re 18, do yourself a favour and go see this movie.

-Lloyd Marken

THE BIG SHORT: A COMEDY TO GET ANGRY ABOUT

Posted on by Lloyd Marken

The Big Short is a comedy to be sure but like most great comedies there is a lot of anger underneath the joke it is telling. Because The Big Short is about how people get screwed over by money. Lots and lots of money, people with money, people chasing money, people valuing money too much, people taking money, people spending money and people wasting money. Don’t kid yourself money may not buy you happiness but it sure makes the world go round and we are all on the treadmill making it spin as much as anybody. The makers of this film know this simple truth. Most people just want to go to work, pay their bills, raise their families and pay off a house that will be downsized to fund a retirement. They care about the state of their world and they don’t like being ripped off but if they’ve got a job right now the global financial crisis can become a distant memory.

The Big Short wants you to remember and begins its story in 2005 before the Global Financial Crisis hit. Dr Michael Burry played by Christian Bale manages a hedge fund and notices that a majority of subprime mortgages are not receiving payments and in the second quarter of 2007 they will reach a breaking point so he bets against the market going to get deals from the big banks for pay outs if what he predicts comes true. The big banks, predicting the market will continue as is, take that bet. As the story progresses certain other individuals learn of Burry’s prediction and investigate further. These include Ryan Gosling as Jarred Vennett who works for one of the big banks but believes in Burry’s theory but needs a buy in from another group who ends up being Mark Baum’s specialist team who work with some independence at hedge fund FrontPoint Capital. The fourth group we follow are two young up and coming traders in Charlie Geller (John Magaro) and Jamie Shipley (Finn Wittrock) who see Burry’s forecast has merit too but lack the contacts to profit off it unless they get help from a former neighbour and retired banker Ben Rickert (Brad Pitt).

Most of the names in the film (based off Michael Lewis’s film) are not the actual names of the people involved and there is a lot of breaking the fourth wall to even cheekily explain if something really happened or didn’t to the point where you might still be unsure? Mostly narrated by Gosling’s Jarred Vennett the fourth wall at times seems like it may never be re-established as he pulls the audience in like an accomplice about  the American banking section, how the GFC started, how Wall Street uses big words, how he is a pretty cool guy (obviously he’s Ryan Gosling). On top of the fact that the movie stars three hunks, given the dryness of the topic there are scenes where celebrities talk directly to the audience tongue in cheek to explain basic financial terms that inform what happened. Some are so quickly cut together you may want to get a Lewis’s book afterwards just to make sure you got it right. When Margot Robbie informs the audience that subprime mortgages are just another term for ultra-risky mortgages and that financiers use these terms to confuse you it draws a fine line between condescension and inclusivity.

This is the film’s greatest conceit; it’s inversion of what happened. The majority of Americans got ripped off and screwed over by the Global Financial Crisis! Then it spread to the rest of the world too! The Big Short doesn’t follow suckers or losers though, it follows winners, people smart and brave enough to see what was going down and the film makes us feel included in their wisdom and plight when we weren’t. I don’t say this cynically, I think this is the best movie ever made about the Global Financial Crisis and it will reach the broadest audience and make them feel the most about it as a result of this approach. The film is never preachy but there are few lines sprinkled throughout that hit home not just about the financial sector but maybe even our society at large. There are montages of photos to remind us of current events and major pop culture distractions at the time. One great sequence shows many characters leaving a hotel and their current wealth defined by the car they leave in. There are neat explanations of what is going on using Jenga blocks and revised figures on a white board.

What is interesting is as the GFC looms we start to worry if our heroes will succeed against a system that is so good at protecting itself. Burry’s clients baulk at paying increasing fees on the short bonds without any hint of the market failing in sight while the young Geller and Shipley are turned away at every point. Bale is often acting for the most part by himself playing a man who in many ways is introverted and single minded, he does a lot with very little.

The heart of the film though belongs to Steve Carell as Baum who leads his team to investigate Burry’s predictions before throwing in their money. Here we get a sense of real people who will be affected by the fall in Florida and also the smug financiers meeting for a conference in Las Vegas who don’t care. Carell who put on weight for the role is a bundle of simmering anger throughout the film at one point he even says he wants Vennett to be right about Burry because he wants these people to pay even though he is technically one of them. If all you’ve ever seen is Carell play nice guys or idiots you’re in for a treat in a much more understated performance than his one in Foxcatcher. In the end his sad acknowledgement that nothing will change about the system is a far better request for it to then a direct call to arms. After all there is some acknowledgement that whether these men win they take no pleasure in the downfall of the American economy or that worker bees in the financial market lost their jobs too. Women are noticeably sidelined in this story, (two men are married and we don’t see their wives) but the trades were done by these men and beyond two important character scenes with Baum’s wife (Marisa Tomei) the story is focussed on their work spaces not their domestic ones. That being said the cast is full of fantastic actors on the rise in all the speaking roles from Baum’s team to mortgage brokers to rating agents.

Director Adam McKay has directed some of the best Will Ferrell comedies of the past decade including The Other Guys which touched upon this subject with its villains reflecting already a strong interest in the subject matter from the filmmaker. With this film he steps away from broad comedies and proves there are other types of films he can make. Which is not to say The Big Short isn’t funny-it’s hilarious! I mean you have to laugh about this stuff because otherwise…

-Lloyd Marken