We’re into that rather quiet period in cinemas between the last of the award contenders and the first big blockbuster of the summer (Spiderman 3 due next Friday). It’s a space when sometimes some quite original and interesting movies get their moment in the sunshine. Both these movies have the potential to do that, but both ultimately fall short of their potential and remain interesting but flawed offerings.
Alpha Dog – 3/5 (contains plot spoilers)
This is based on the true story of Jesse James Hollywood (renamed Johnny Truelove for the movie to avoid legal complications with Hollywood’s trial) a teenage drug dealer and would be gangster. He kidnaps the younger brother of somebody who owes him money (an unrecognisable drugged-up Ben Foster) and whilst working out what to do with him, the sheltered youngster is introduced into his cohorts’ world of partying.
How you react to this movie might depend on whether you’re aware of how its going to end – but as there has been a reasonable amount of publicity around Hollywood’s time on the FBI’s most wanted list, we can assume most viewers will be aware that its not going to be a happy ending.
The structure has potential – the action is interspersed with flash forwards to faux documentary recollections of those involved. Captions on the screen add up the tally of witnesses to the kidnapping. It is also interesting that these aren’t kids from deprived areas – these are the children of the privileged and the glimpses of their dysfunctional (and intoxicated) parent provides some insight into just why they developed the way they did. Much of the action seems framed in a much lighter tone, suggesting either a different outcome or the avoidability of the tragedy that unfurls.
However, the film is also flawed structurally – too much attention is paid to Truelove, who although making the decisions, is actually separate from much of what’s actually happening, and even the usually reliable Emile Hirsch (Lords of Dogtown, The Girl Next Door) can’t make interesting or engaging. Fundamentally, there also just too many characters – it all gets too confusing and muddled.
Where the film is at its strongest is when the focus is on the kidnapped Zach (Anton Yelchin – giving a great wide-eyed innocent) and his minder, Truelove’s right-hand man (Justin Timberlake – yeah, him). And the most pleasant surprise is that Timberlake can act – in fact, he steals the whole movie. It was a bold choice of character for him – someone who’s neither the romantic leading man nor particularly heroic or even villainous. In some ways his character is weak and too easily led, but Timberlake makes him convincing and engaging throughout all the films most entertaining moment and shows great range in doing so.
The other highlight is Sharon Stone’s flash forward as the bereaved mother – even hampered by a ridiculous fat suit, she adds a real depth and realism to her recollections – a performance which kind of feels like it belongs in a different film.
Reign Over Me – 3/5
On paper a film dealing with the personal aftermath of 9/11 and starring Adam Sandler could (maybe should) be a horrendous idea. That it almost works is a tribute to Sandler’s most restrained, least grating performance to date. He plays a broken shell of a man who lost his wife and chi
ldren five years previously in one of the 9/11 planes.
The film doesn’t directly address the atrocity itself. Instead the focus is on the personal aftermath. It treads a fine line between touching personal drama and wry comedy (dangerously, considering the subject matter) and for the most part pulls it off. Sandler’s Charlie Fineman is a man in complete denial – refusing to even remember his family and retreating into a world of computer game fantasy and obsessive kitchen re-modelling. A chance encounter with his former college roommate (Don Cheadle) renews their friendship and maybe offers a glimmer of hope for Charlie.
The film poses some interesting questions as to what extent it is right to interfere in a friends life to help them or whether its better just to be with them and let them find their own way. The first two-thirds of the film hold a delicate balance between genuinely moving moments, genuinely funny situations and dialogue and some neat observation of what people are actually like. Sandler shows more impressive range than he has previously and is really moving at times. At other times, he still suggests the usual Sandler a wee bit too much for satisfaction.
However, Sandler is completely over-shadowed by the absolute brilliance of Cheadle – who manages to be both utterly compelling and utterly normal at the same time. It is an amazing performance from a great actor on the top of his game and makes the film worth seeing. He is ably supported by the underused Jada Pinkett Smith as his slightly controlling, but still loving wife. Liv Tyler proves disappointingly forgettable as the psychiatrist who treats Charlie.
Given of all of that, it is a real shame that writer/director Mike Binder completely blows it with a ludicrous final act that doesn’t so much stretch the bounds of credibility as rip them to shreds and dance a merry jig upon them and ladles on the sentimentality with a shovel. We are given a needless courtroom drama which seems only to exist in order to give Donald Sutherland a twinkling eyed cameo as the judge (entertaining enough in another context, but misplaced here) and a rather forced happy ending with new romantic interest for Charlie.
An intelligent, well-acted, well-observed, well-scripted first two-thirds of a film looking at loss, personal tragedy, denial, friendship and the possibility of healing and growth, which is all kind of spoilt by a movie-cliché ending. Still worth checking out though.
Alpha Dog – 3/5 (contains plot spoilers)
This is based on the true story of Jesse James Hollywood (renamed Johnny Truelove for the movie to avoid legal complications with Hollywood’s trial) a teenage drug dealer and would be gangster. He kidnaps the younger brother of somebody who owes him money (an unrecognisable drugged-up Ben Foster) and whilst working out what to do with him, the sheltered youngster is introduced into his cohorts’ world of partying.
How you react to this movie might depend on whether you’re aware of how its going to end – but as there has been a reasonable amount of publicity around Hollywood’s time on the FBI’s most wanted list, we can assume most viewers will be aware that its not going to be a happy ending.
The structure has potential – the action is interspersed with flash forwards to faux documentary recollections of those involved. Captions on the screen add up the tally of witnesses to the kidnapping. It is also interesting that these aren’t kids from deprived areas – these are the children of the privileged and the glimpses of their dysfunctional (and intoxicated) parent provides some insight into just why they developed the way they did. Much of the action seems framed in a much lighter tone, suggesting either a different outcome or the avoidability of the tragedy that unfurls.
However, the film is also flawed structurally – too much attention is paid to Truelove, who although making the decisions, is actually separate from much of what’s actually happening, and even the usually reliable Emile Hirsch (Lords of Dogtown, The Girl Next Door) can’t make interesting or engaging. Fundamentally, there also just too many characters – it all gets too confusing and muddled.
Where the film is at its strongest is when the focus is on the kidnapped Zach (Anton Yelchin – giving a great wide-eyed innocent) and his minder, Truelove’s right-hand man (Justin Timberlake – yeah, him). And the most pleasant surprise is that Timberlake can act – in fact, he steals the whole movie. It was a bold choice of character for him – someone who’s neither the romantic leading man nor particularly heroic or even villainous. In some ways his character is weak and too easily led, but Timberlake makes him convincing and engaging throughout all the films most entertaining moment and shows great range in doing so.
The other highlight is Sharon Stone’s flash forward as the bereaved mother – even hampered by a ridiculous fat suit, she adds a real depth and realism to her recollections – a performance which kind of feels like it belongs in a different film.
Reign Over Me – 3/5
On paper a film dealing with the personal aftermath of 9/11 and starring Adam Sandler could (maybe should) be a horrendous idea. That it almost works is a tribute to Sandler’s most restrained, least grating performance to date. He plays a broken shell of a man who lost his wife and chi
ldren five years previously in one of the 9/11 planes.The film doesn’t directly address the atrocity itself. Instead the focus is on the personal aftermath. It treads a fine line between touching personal drama and wry comedy (dangerously, considering the subject matter) and for the most part pulls it off. Sandler’s Charlie Fineman is a man in complete denial – refusing to even remember his family and retreating into a world of computer game fantasy and obsessive kitchen re-modelling. A chance encounter with his former college roommate (Don Cheadle) renews their friendship and maybe offers a glimmer of hope for Charlie.
The film poses some interesting questions as to what extent it is right to interfere in a friends life to help them or whether its better just to be with them and let them find their own way. The first two-thirds of the film hold a delicate balance between genuinely moving moments, genuinely funny situations and dialogue and some neat observation of what people are actually like. Sandler shows more impressive range than he has previously and is really moving at times. At other times, he still suggests the usual Sandler a wee bit too much for satisfaction.
However, Sandler is completely over-shadowed by the absolute brilliance of Cheadle – who manages to be both utterly compelling and utterly normal at the same time. It is an amazing performance from a great actor on the top of his game and makes the film worth seeing. He is ably supported by the underused Jada Pinkett Smith as his slightly controlling, but still loving wife. Liv Tyler proves disappointingly forgettable as the psychiatrist who treats Charlie.
Given of all of that, it is a real shame that writer/director Mike Binder completely blows it with a ludicrous final act that doesn’t so much stretch the bounds of credibility as rip them to shreds and dance a merry jig upon them and ladles on the sentimentality with a shovel. We are given a needless courtroom drama which seems only to exist in order to give Donald Sutherland a twinkling eyed cameo as the judge (entertaining enough in another context, but misplaced here) and a rather forced happy ending with new romantic interest for Charlie.
An intelligent, well-acted, well-observed, well-scripted first two-thirds of a film looking at loss, personal tragedy, denial, friendship and the possibility of healing and growth, which is all kind of spoilt by a movie-cliché ending. Still worth checking out though.
1 comment:
Interesting to know.
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