Last Flag Flying: Angry...Sad...Hilarious, Yet Moving -- Well Done!

Movie Review: Last Flag Flying (2017)
Version: Amazon Prime

An at times angry, at times sad, often hilarious yet moving script, with superb acting, and a compelling story make Last Flag Flying a must-see evening watch. Watch out for the adult language, however.

This is the story of a Vietnam veteran asking his distant war buddies to accompany him to receive the return of his son's dead body from service in the Iraq War. Along the way they recount their life journeys since parting after their own war struggles and come to terms with the realities of war today as they discover the son's demise in Iraq isn't what they were first told.

I can't imagine a finer ensemble cast for this film. Steve Carell plays Larry "Doc" Shepherd, the distraught father. Bryan Cranston plays Sal Nealon, the off-his-rocker and say-it-straight foul-mouthed bar owner with too many demons to live a constrained life. And Laurence Fishburne plays Reverend Richard Mueller, the saved-by-Christ hellbender who keeps everything real. Rounding out the cast are J. Quinton Johnson as Washington, the son's best friend who accompanies the body home, and Yul Vazquez as Colonel Willits, who serves as the foil for everyone's anger. Together, they explore every possible emotion dredged up from both the Vietnam and Iraq wars, the injustices of war, the idiocies of chance, and the sorrows of life.

This film took us through the complete range of emotional experiences. It starts out slow and somber and quiet, but throughout it escalates through periods of piqued anger and raucous humor and teary-eyed sadness, even irritation and desperation. But having gone through these peaks and valleys, you will have enjoyed the experience because it will have been a journey taken with these characters, experienced with them, through their eyes, the more real because the actors brought them to life. Watch for an exceptionally poignant scene, a turning point, with actress Cicely Tyson, that makes you catch your breath it is so well played out. Won't spoil it here.

I didn't care for the lighting or the cinematography. It looked cheaply done. But this is totally a character-driven film. They spent their budget on the script and the acting. And it shows. Well done.

John Wick: Chapter 2: Zounds! Practically Non-stop Action.

Movie Review: John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017)
Version: Library borrow

Zounds! There's more action in John Wick: Chapter 2 than in almost any other action movie I've ever seen, including the original John Wick! It's practically non-stop.

John Wick (played by Keanu Reeves) returns from his last romp in the original movie, during which the love of his life, his car, was stolen. He retrieves it from the bad guys in a gigantic gun battle chase scene, then drinks a toast for peace to the head bad guy and returns home, where he buries his guns and his loot. From there, everything goes to toast.

Santino D'Antonio (played by Riccardo Scamarcia) visits Wick to call in a chip of service. Wick has retired from service as a hit man, but D'Antonio insists Wick must honor the chip. Wick says no. So D'Antonio blows up with Wick's home with Wick in it. Wick hunts him down in Rome to finally honor the chip, which it turns out is to kill D'Antonio's sister, who has claimed the family's seat at the world crime table, which D'Antonio wants. Wick still doesn't want the job, but it's his only way out. D'Antonio's sister is to be enshrined in the organization in the Colosseum in Rome that evening, so Wick goes on a shopping spree buying clothes, guns, knives, and the whole shot to take down D'Antonio's sister and her gang of protectors who will go after him afterwards.  What follows is another wild fight scene in, under, and around the Colosseum, going on in part of which is a full celebration with a rock concert. Wick is deft with a gun and hand-to-hand combat!

D'Antonio must, of course, revenge the death of his sister, so he puts out a $7 million worldwide bounty on Wick. That creates another rumpus gun battle chase scene as John Wick tries to get away, finally arriving in New York City, where he finds refuge at the hotel owned by Winston (played by Ian McShane). From there he leaves to hunt down D'Antonio, who is contemplating the lavish artworks of his late father at a monolithic art museum. To get to him, Wick seeks the help of the mastermind of the underground, the Bowery King (played by Laurence Fishburne). And once inside the museum, Wick chases after D'Antonio shooting his way through galleries and finally into a mirrored modern-art display that would be the pursuer's worst nightmare. Watching D'Antonio's back is the dangerous Ares (played by Ruby Rose), who can't ever quite keep up with Wick.

In the final scenes D'Antonio gets back to Winston's hotel of refuge for thieves and crime bosses, where rules are rules. But John Wick does the unthinkable, and finds himself once again the target of a worldwide bounty hunt.

I've told you a lot about the plot without spoiling anything of significance. I did so to show you how much action there is in this film. Reeves must have been worn out after a day, a week, a month of shooting this film. Pistols, semi-automatic rifles, shot guns, knives - pencils - all weapons in his all too capable hands. And nothing and no one can best him. He leaves bodies in the streets and alleyways like pigeons leave droppings on statues.

Some have suggested this is just a thin-plotted movie to serve the interests of gun play, but I disagree. The gun play very much serves a bigger, more interesting plot in very exciting settings. The gun play is choreographed beautifully and flawlessly like a dance ensemble. And the cast ensemble is delicious in its evil and its cunning.

If you like an action film, if you like a gun battle movie, if you like an movie with a super anti-hero who just can't be stopped despite all the odds being against him, then John Wick Chapter 2 should be perfect for you. My family and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Passengers: If You Want a Good Time

Movie Review: Passengers (2016)
Version: Library Borrow

I couldn't tell from the preview trailers what this movie was really about, and to be honest, the trailers didn't do the film justice. I'm glad that I ignored them because Passengers is a terrific film.

Jim Preston and Aurora Lane have booked a spaceflight to a world 120 years into their future, their flight time slowed through cryogenics. But there's a malfunction on this dreamy spaceship awakens them much too early, and they must try to fix the problem or learn how to deal with arriving at their destination dead of old age. Many cataclysms await them in the attempt, of course.

Chris Pratt is the irrepressible Jim Preston, a lowly mechanic booked on the cheap ticket. Jennifer Lawrence is the smart, indomitable writer booked on first class. Together, they navigate the uncertain future. But there's a secret held between them that threatens their collaboration and its efficacy is upheld only at the discretion of the seemingly trustworthy robotic waiter Arthur, played brilliantly by Michael Sheen. Just when all hell is breaking loose, another soul is awakened early, Gus Mancuso, a member of the crew, played deftly by Laurence Fishburne. Not everyone's future is bright and rosey, as you might surmise.

As a science fiction flick, Passengers is well done stylistically, with excellent special effects, and thematically, with a great story line. Even the science seems pretty well intact. As a drama, the film is full of plot twists and complex conflicts that keep you engaged in the one hour 56 minute run. As a romance story, it has it's great moments as well, as Preston and Lane fall in love over their roles as the sole couple run wild in this enormous ship hurtling through the glorious vastness of space with only themselves (and, well, mechanical Arthur) to answer to. But then, there's that secret between them.

In the end, the questions are, will they find a way to go back to sleep to survive the trip to their new world, or will they find a way to live their romance out together, or will some other calamity swallow their ship and their lives much too early? And then there's that damned secret.

From the movie trailers, I was prepared to not particularly like this film. But this is why I rarely give much credence to movie trailers. This is a great film. Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence are always fun to watch. Michael Sheen shines in his role, and Laurence Fishburne is elegant in his portrayal. And just when you think you know where the story is headed, up pops surprise after surprise, right up to the end.

If you want a good time, watch Passengers.