American Assassin: Great Actors Playing Character Chess

Movie Review: American Assassin (2017)
Version: Library borrow

American Assassin is less about being an assassin than it is about being a spy. True, Mitch Rapp intended to assassinate the man responsible for the killing of his fiancée at the beginning of the film. And he goes to the Middle East to accomplish that goal, although after having reached the man he is foiled by the CIA, who kills the man instead. Then Rapp is recruited to become a spy. And so, American Assassin is really a spy thriller. Do you like spy thrillers? Then you should be good to see American Assassin.

Thus, the story morphs from the story of a young man intent on revenge to a young man focused on seeing missions accomplished. He is given over to the mentoring of an experienced ex-SEAL operative, Stan Hurley (played with precision by Michael Keaton), who takes no crap from any snot-nosed kid with no skills. Only, Rapp (played with less skill but with tones of earnestness by Dylan O’Brien) has other, better talents, like passion and drive and self-confidence, which help him get a mission done when others fall back as things go wrong. And plenty of things do go wrong. This puts the two at odds through most of the story, until Hurley gets captured by the bad guys near the end and it’s Rapp who comes to his rescue, Hurley finally giving Rapp his due appreciation. Of course.

There are other characters in this movie, like Rapp’s competitor for the assignment, who is almost immediately killed. Who didn’t see that coming? Or the woman asset in Rome who it seems may be playing for the other side. (I have to admit the DVD froze at that point and advanced to a spot later in the movie, and it wouldn’t let us go back to see what happened in between.) But the heart of the film are the two disparate characters, Rapp and Hurley, forced to work together by their CIA boss. In the end, it’s their combined abilities that helps them save the day, locating a nuclear device that threatens the lives of millions of people (eye roll).

Frankly, I’ve seen more than my fair share of thrillers about terrorists who too easily get their hands on nuclear devices and the thrill comes down to the hero or heroes having just seconds to save the world from devastation. It’s in movies, it’s all over TV, it’s in books. Really, Hollywood, that’s all you’ve got? Really, New York publishers, that’s your best shot?

As a spy thriller, American Assassin has plenty of action. But the locations are just so-so -- they could have occurred in any urban setting and it would have been “seen that before”. The directing and editing are meh. It’s the characters and the actors who play them that drive this movie. O’Brien has been the driving force behind the success of The Maze Runner series and he makes an effort to up his game in this otherwise cliché movie. Keaton is pure Keaton, always fun to watch, whether he’s a likable family man (Mr Mom), a robust hero (Batman and Batman Returns), a down-and-out man looking for his next big break (The Founder), or this ex-Navy SEAL professional struggling make it out alive while trying to save the world. Keaton can turn a facial expression on a dime, from reasonable dude to mean son of a bitch in a second, making his characters pop on the screen as is the case in this film. O’Brien is still learning his craft, but he easily plays a young man eager to take out the bad guys and win at all costs. It’s fun to watch just to see these two guys score the near disaster together.

So the deal here is, don’t watch American Assassin for the assassination, watch it to see O’Brien and Keaton play character chess on the screen. It’s a good watch.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi: A Disappointment

Movie Review: Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)
Version: Theater ticket purchase

I have had some challenges writing a review of Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Having enjoyed Star Wars: The Force Awakens, my wife and I had looked forward to this new release. Yet, sitting through the film, even in multiple short bursts of conversation afterwards, we kept coming to the same conclusion: The Last Jedi was a disappointment. It fell short of expectations.

As I wrote to a friend on Facebook, “Wish I could say we enjoyed it, but we were both unsettled with what we felt was a less than satisfying story and presentation. If this is as good as J.J. Abrams' crew can do, maybe The Last Jedi should be the last Star Wars. I've heard J.J. himself will direct the next episode to try to save the franchise. Maybe he will be our last hope.”

Let me explain.

Last Jedi is full of plot holes, inconsistencies, and flat out missed opportunities. It was a franchise sequel that sold its soul for a holiday blockbuster.

Here’s an example. There are multiple cameos for the sake of cameos. The appearance of C3PO and R2D2 serve no function except to hang a consistent thread through all the Star Wars films. In The Last Jedi, they never do anything that advances the story. But the appearances of Leia and Luke could have done the same thing, so there was no need for these useless droids.

Here’s another. Pilot Poe, a hit in The Force Awakens, makes his second appearance in The Last Jedi. Apparently he was so popular in the beta views of Awakens, when he was killed off in the early scenes they had to add scenes to revive him. So they brought him back in this film. But he is more intense here than he was in Awakens, bothersomely so, and there is no thematic justification for it. His role here seems like an odd justification to keep him in the film, because he’s just a pilot, yet they have him challenging the generals and disobeying orders, which wasn’t like him in Awakens.

Still another. The general who appears in the opening scenes of The Last Jedi is an embarrassingly parodic version of every evil general of every past Star Wars episode. Was this an attempt at humor? At what cost to the serious tone of the film? He’s bumbling and mumbling and inept in a cringely pathetic way. The other generals were scarily evil autocrats.

Yet another. Snoke, the Supreme Ruler, who usually towers above his students as a dark and menacing holographic phantom with unlimited telepathic Jedi powers, appears in person in The Last Jedi. Once individually before Kylo Ren and once before Rey in the company of Kylo Ren. In person he isn’t nearly so imposing, although apparently his imposing Jedi powers are intact. He manages to telepathically seize Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber from Rey’s hand and set it at his side. After it’s apparent that Rey won’t turn to the dark side, Snoke confesses to the pair how he can read everyone’s mind and has been telepathically manipulating everyone. As he brags on, trying to telepathically force Kylo Ren to kill Rey, Ren uses his own Jedi skills to turn on Skywalker’s lightsaber and rotate it at Snoke’s side to slice through Snoke and kill him -- without Snoke-the-mind-reader noticing. You get how ridiculous this is, right?

One more. Kylo Ren comes off as a mentally ill manchild with daddy issues. This isn’t some evil dark lord pursuing the throne for the sake of power and glory, this is a kid who can’t get past some weakly implied -- never fully explored or explained -- disagreement with his father, certainly, and apparently also with his mother. And when Rey won’t go along with his need for revenge against mom and dad, he goes beserk. Throughout this film, Ren is a powder keg ready to explode. If Snoke was the father he always wanted, Snoke’s pointed verbal displeasure at his failures brings Ren’s daddy issues right back into focus. Where is the editorial justification for this explosive anger?

Plotus Holus Magnus. The resistance is running for their lives, chased by this enormous powerful dreadnought and a fleet of destroyers by The First Order. The resistance has a small fleet, led by a large ship, and one by one the dreadnought picks off ships. The weird, odd, unaccountable thing is, with all its power, the dreadnought can’t quite keep up with or get a speed advantage on any of the ships in the resistance fleet, even though they’re running low on fuel. The resistance ships are always just far enough out of reach that the dreadnought can only take pot shots at them and keep them running for their lives. Come on!

There are others. These are just the most egregious seeming.

If you haven’t seen the film yet, here is the gist of the story. The Republic survived The Empire but now The Empire has resurfaced as The First Order and it’s pummeled The Republic. The Rebel Alliance has become The Resistance, and they have been decimated by attacks from The First Order. The Jedi Order has also been decimated, and its final Jedi master, Luke Skywalker, has gone into hiding on a remote planet. As the film opens, picking up where The Force Awakens left off, Rey finds and confronts Luke Skywalker for help saving The Resistance. But Skywalker has gone into hiding after suffering a huge personal failure training a future Jedi, Kylo Ren, and Skywalker’s plans are simply to live out his days until death on the hidden planet. Rey asks him to train her but he refuses. Meanwhile, awaiting Rey’s return with Skywalker, leaders of The Resistance flee for their lives from attacks by The First Order, led by a nervous general in charge of a powerful dreadnought and a fleet of destroyers and Supreme Ruler’s (Snokes) highly emotional Jedi trainee, Kylo Ren. The Resistance makes its final stand on a deserted Rebel Alliance outpost, where The First Order will ram the front entrance to capture the remaining rebels and Kylo Ren will face his last remaining powerful foe, a recalcitrant Jedi Master Skywalker.

The story is full of half-baked Jedi mind tricks and overly sentimental references to past characters that don’t do them justice. Even the ending is an emotional cliche. The Luke Skywalker of The Last Jedi just isn’t the Luke Skywalker of Star Wars lore (actor Mark Hamill has said as much) -- the J.J. Abrams crew seem to have a fetish for killing off canon characters, just as they did with Han Solo in The Force Awakens. Han Solo didn’t seem like the same Han Solo in that episode, either. The only character who seems like the same ol’ same ol’ is Chewbaca. How can you fake a wooky?

So the uptake is this. Star Wars: The Last Jedi is a deeply flawed movie. We didn’t like it. The more we thought and talked about it, the more we couldn’t shake that indictment. And when we talked to others about it, we discovered that’s what they thought, too.

Should you see The Last Jedi? Sure. See it on the big screen on discount day. Or wait for it to come out on DVD/BlueRay and borrow it from the library. But just be warned: It has enough rough patches to wear the treads off a tire.

The Book of Henry: The Critics Are Wrong; This Is an Endearing Film

Movie Review: The Book of Henry (2017)
Version: Cable on-demand rental

The Book of Henry is an endearing film about an 11 year old boy upon whom is heaped the woes and cares of a world barely within his control. He is beyond question a genius surrounded by misfits and underlings, and he does his best to use his talents to aid those in need in the time he has in life. The story takes a sad turn and you think he has failed, but then the misfits and underlings rise to Henry's hopes and dreams, and the story reaches its uplifting climax as we realize that the genius was in Henry's thoughtful trust in those for whom he cared.

In researching this admittedly quirky independent film, I saw a lot of emotional critical raw dislike. But let me be contrary to that notion in loving this movie. It could be depressing in places. SPOILER: Main character Henry dies in the middle of the film. His younger brother Peter is heart broken. His mother Susan flips out and loses it. But those don't turn out to be critical to the outcome of this story or the heart of the film itself.

Here is the gist of the story. Henry is a genius; he tells his mother's best friend, Sheila, he prefers "precocious". His mother Susan appears irresponsible, flighty, barely able to take care of two young boys let alone raise two who will grow into responsible young men. It is Henry who guides her own adult decisions, including looking after her finances and investments. While she is working at a restaurant, Henry and his brother keep an amazing "fort" in a treed back lot, where Henry does his thinking and where he builds amazing contraptions. They do for themselves while Mom plays video games in the living room after hours. Yet, she reads them bedtime stories -- she dreams of being a childrens book author and illustrator -- and has rituals which comfort the boys at bedtime. Clearly, she is a good mom. And next door, there is Henry's classmate Christina, a lovely and gentile 11 year old girl that Henry suspects is being abused by her stepfather and whom Henry seems obsessed with protecting. Part of the drama unfolds around Henry scheming to expose her father's abuse.

A good part of the film involves the intricate interplay between these key characters and it seems as if all depends on Henry's dominant smarts and willpower to overcome evil. But then all that falls apart when he dies. Key to our hope as viewers is Henry's red book, which he tells Peter to make sure he gives to his mother. And it's what that book provides Henry's mother that moves this movie and its positive energy forward. It's not quite what you think, if you've started this movie and didn't finish it, by the way. The conclusion is far different than you might have thought!

I'll give high marks to the actors in this feel-good drama. Naomi Watts is brilliant as the mother, at first ditzy as a scatter brained, clearly inept leader of the family, then slapped in the face to reality when she really needed it. It was quite a responsibility for Jaeden Lieberher as lead male in this role as Henry, but he played it well, hitting all the emotional notes when needed, yet also playing out the smart bits equally well. Maddie Ziegler is vulnerable and yet not obvious in her role as Christina. There's also a special bond between Henry and Susan's friend Sheila, played with precision by Sarah Silverman, who appear not to get along but in the end appreciate each other very much. Jacob Tremblay is very young as brother Peter, but he handles the tear-jerker scenes of losing his brother, who was his protector at school and in life.

As an indy film, The Book of Henry also enjoyed the freedom to be a beautifully filmed movie. The opening scenes were elegant. Settings were moody and defined the emotional impact of the story. The shots and lighting suited the moods as well, and the sequence timing and editing suited the storytelling rather than manipulating the marketing. This is a well crafted film. Kudos to the opening credits graphics as well.

The vast majority of the critics were wrong about The Book of Henry. If you are patient with this film and get your head out of the Hollywood blockbuster mode, you can and will appreciate this movie for the story and storytelling that it is. And that's what film ultimately is -- storytelling. If it's just about bringing in dollars to the box office, there's something wrong. This is a worthy film for most members of your family. See it!

The LEGO Ninjago Movie: Entertaining Mind Play on the Screen

Movie Review: The LEGO Ninjago Movie (2017)
Version: Library borrow

Out of a possible five LEGO tiles, I'd give the third LEGO movie -- The LEGO Ninjago Movie -- a four. I liked the other two better. But only slightly. The problem is, they all seem to be developed out of the same formula, so I was kind of disappointed that this one wasn't a lot different: Boy with daddy issues fights off megalomaniac father figure who seeks to dominate the boy's culture. And there's a wise elder other-fatherlike figure nearby to guide the boy.

What I did like about The LEGO Ninjago Movie, indeed with all LEGO movies, is the playfulness of the script and the multiple sight gags and easter eggs you see throughout the film. And the characters are always fun, way fun!

The basic premise of the story is that Lloyd (Luh-loyd as his detached abandoned father calls him) is a teen at a typical high school shunned by his classmates for being the son of the local evil warlord. That's his "day job". "By night" he's a young ninja superhero, one of six, who battles that evil warlord to defend their island home against attack and conquer. The warlord brings along a gang of spirited generals to help him take on the island and the ninjas, and when things go awry, he jettisons them from their volcano home lair when they can't come up with new evil plots for their next attack. Lloyd is the leader of the ninjas, who has a chip on his shoulder because his father, Garmadon the evil warlord, left him when he was a baby, and as he confronts Garmadon in each attack, he gives him one more opportunity to explain why he abandoned him and redeem himself with his son. But things aren't quite as they seem and Lloyd and his ninjas go off on a journey of discovery with the aid of their wise mentor, Master Wu, to find The Ultimate Weapon, to take on Garmadon.

The Ninjago version of the franchise has the usual concoction of LEGO-tile built creations, from cityscapes to vehicles to outside environments to weapons and characters. It's an imaginative play word you would love to sit down on the floor and mess around with like a kid, only it's on your TV screen and it's animated. I can't imagine the work it takes to create a world like that in an animation studio. But this production studio has done it and made it highly watchable.

There are, of course, multiple voice talents, but the ones that matter in this story are Dave Franco as Lloyd, Justin Theroux as Garmadon, and Jackie Chan as Master Wu. The film actually begins with Jackie Chan in live action as a wise Chinese merchant who introduces a young boy to the story. These characters are the heart of the action and these actors rise to the occasion. (Interestingly, before I watched this DVD I watched a young Jackie Chan in Rumble in the Bronx where he does some of his most amazing kung fu stunts -- in this movie, Chan looks much aged.)

The graphics for the end credits were interesting, too. They used what looked like paper LEGO schematics for building the LEGO Ninjago world to build the title graphics around. That's worth staying around for.

A LEGO movie is always fun family entertainment. They won't all be five out of fives, and it's unfair to compare one against another, really. The LEGO Ninjago Movie stands on its own as an interesting story with imaginative characters and entertaining mind play on the screen. Go for it!

Dunkirk: Widely Misses the Mark

Movie Review: Dunkirk (2017)
Version: Library borrow

Evacuation of Allied soldiers from the British Empire, and France, who were cut off and surrounded by the German army from the beaches and harbor of Dunkirk, France, between May 26- June 04, 1940, during Battle of France in World War II.

Allied soldiers from Belgium, the British Empire and France are surrounded by the German Army, and evacuated during a fierce battle in World War II.

Fionn Whitehead, Damien Bonnard, Aneurin Barnard, James Bloor, Barry Keoghan, Mark Rylance, Tom Glynn-Carney, Kenneth Branagh


The massively award-nominated and occasionally awarded film Dunkirk (2017) has been lauded by multiple critics. Among its nominations are for direction, editing, and musical score. I've afraid I cannot agree. But who am I, just a film fan, to disagree?

Dunkirk is the story of Britain's effort to rescue nearly 400,000 troops from Dunkirk, France, in late-spring 1940 as they wilted under the superior military strength of the Germans. The scale of the film in showing the threat posed to the troops, the efforts and failures the Brits faced, and their struggle to survive a brutal and unethical and continual attack is massive.  Just the scope of the filming, the number of extras, and the logistics is amazing. The special effects and stunt work to demonstrate the damage to ships on which troops were loaded for their escape and sunk was pretty good. But that's where the thumbs up end for me.

Editing? The film jumps around between characters and settings and time frames, making you lose the narrative thread of the story line right from get go. We were well into a third of the movie before we realized what was going on as the scenes shifted from day to night to day to night to day to night, on and on. Characters suddenly started showing up in disjointed places in the story. We might be at the beginning of the story or in the middle of the story, at any one time we weren't sure.

Directing? The editor works closely with the director and while the editor makes choices based on the script, the director makes the final decisions. This confusing disjointedness of the story is more likely his problem. Sure, the overall vision of the film, the grand scheme of the story, is attributable to him, but so are the nits. So I'll give him kudos for the overall vision, but I'll also give him boos for the messy narrative thread, too.

Musical score? To be blunt, there was nothing memorable about it. It should be memorable. It should help drive the emotional elements of the story, build the tension and stimulate the elation, even touch the heart. You should be able to hum the musical score when the movie is over. There's no "there" there from this film.

And there are few magical moments for actors in this film, either. I don't think anyone has been nominated for an award yet -- Oscar nominations are yet to be announced as of this writing. This is an ensemble cast of un-notable performances, save Mark Rylance playing a fairly minor part as Mr Dawson, the owner of a small private boat on his way to rescue the soldiers, and Kenneth Branagh as Commander Bolton, head of the British Naval Forces in charge of the evacuation, who stayed behind when all ships had finally left. There were good performances otherwise, but nothing exceptional. It was, basically, an ensemble cast of dozens. Ho-hum. Rylance is a memorable British character actor. Branagh is an accomplished international star. Neither was the star of the film, yet they shined.

Dunkirk was a story needing telling. Perhaps in Britain and Commonwealth markets it plays differently and the actors are better known and their performances better appreciated. So maybe I'm missing something. But the way this film was edited, the way the narrative thread was spliced together so haphazardly, I think it missed its mark. Sorry. My take is, this film widely misses the mark and is overrated.

Girl Gone: A Mystery Turned Thriller Turned Horror Turned Sour

Book Review: Girl Gone by Gillian Flynn
Version: Library Hardcover borrow

Working with an author who was writing his first short stories, I read a particularly interesting cross-genre story -- a mystery, thriller, and potential horror. When I said how much I liked it, he suggested I read Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. So recently, I found myself reading this stunner of a story from 2014 that amazingly begins as a mystery, midway through crosses over into a thriller, and near the end becomes sort of a horror. And it works!

The main characters are Amy and Nick, a love-struck couple from New York City who lose their metropolitan writing jobs and the luster of success. Nick's parents back in Missouri run into major health problems, leaving his sister Margo (called "Go") to handle the stress, so Nick uproots big-city Amy and moves her reluctantly to small-city Carthage, Missouri.

Amy comes from a wealthy family, who has left her a large endowment. Nick is from a broken family, with few resources. Arriving in Carthage with no jobs and only Amy's endowment to live on, Nick taps her endowment to buy a bar, which he co-owns with his sister Go. With everyone under stress, the marriage suffers. On their fifth wedding anniversary, Nick goes home for something and discovers the home in a wreck and Amy mysteriously missing. Unleash the unfolding clues to the mystery, which seem to point to Nick as the killer of Amy!

We meet a host of other interesting side characters. Two police officers investigating Amy's disappearance. Potential other perps. Amy's worried parents. Nick's parents, one who has dementia and lives in a nursing home, the other who is dying from cancer. Amy's diary, telling her side of the story; Nick's narrative telling his side. Go, Nick's dogged supportive twin sister.

Halfway through the book, the story morphs into a thriller. No spoilers here -- suffice it to say, the story takes a sudden amazing turn as we find out the disappearance isn't what we thought it was. And a plot to nail Nick is underway. His very future and life are under threat. We meet new characters, some trying to help Nick, some that are direct threats to others.

And near the end, Girl Gone turns into kind of a horror story. There's an actual murder. Someone is an insidious mastermind at work, as a different kind of threat to Nick and his future continues. And then there's the story of what happened to Amy. Everyone in Nick's life is affected, and not for the good. If you're looking for a good outcome, there isn't one.

For me, there's the rub. After all the work building up the mystery and then the thriller, there's no decent end to the story. It's brilliantly written, well plotted and executed (no pun intended, considering that someone is murdered near the end). The characters are well defined and finely tuned. Descriptions and scenes are exceptional -- Gillian Flynn is a wonderful writer! I would have read it for the excellent writing alone. But I felt cheated at the end. For me, it turned sour.

Gone Girl has offers more twists and turns than a Disney theme park ride. This story was one wild ride. If Flynn had just written a more fulfilling end (face palm). My author friend thought it was a fitting end, considering the complexity and brilliance of the plotter behind Amy's missing and all the mystery and thrill and horror that person planned and executed. To me, it was like making it through a state fair fun house only to fall through a trap door at the end.

Should you read it? Definitely. It's damned fine writing. I enjoyed every paragraph. Just don't be surprised if you feel let down at the end. Let me know in the comments if you disagree.

Kingsmen: The Golden Circle: Brilliant but Unfortunately Not Suitable for All Audiences

Movie Review: Kingsmen: The Golden Circle (2017)
Version: Library borrow

The second movie in the Kingsmen franchise, The Golden Circle, is brilliant. But unfortunately it isn't for everyone. Certain language and a very explicit sexual scene make sure of that. Adult supervision is strongly advised during the music festival scene! If you're okay with strong language and you can keep the kids out of the room during the music festival scene, then teens might get through this otherwise fun, action-packed film unscathed.

Julianne Moore plays a drug lord who has tainted the world's supply of recreational drugs with a toxin that over time renders users first silly, then crazy, then paralyzed, then dead -- unless the United States gives in to her demands to legalize all drugs. Then she will release an antidote with immediate results to rescue the world's population of drug users. And it turns out, it affects people of all walks of life, including the president's chief of staff, a Kingsman's love interest, most of the world's population, and best of all, entertainer/song writer Elton John, who steals the show near the end.

The Kingsmen become involved when Moore's character, Poppy, blows up their headquarters in London and elsewhere. The only Kingsmen left are Eggsy (played once again by Taron Egerton) and Merlin (played again by Mark Strong). A clue leads them to a whiskey distillery in Kentucky, where they discover a "cousin" organization called The Statesmen. They meet a group of very erstwhile American agents, including leader Champ (played by Jeff Bridges), Tequila (played by Channing Tatum), and Whiskey (played by Pedro Pascal), whom they enlist in the battle against Moore's drug empire known as The Golden Circle. The Statesman's version of Merlin is Ginger (played by Halle Berry). An added interesting twist, Poppy has enlisted the help of Charlie (played by Edward Holcroft), one of the Kingsmen enlistees who didn't make it in the last movie. Colin Firth returns as Harry, rescued and resuscitated by The Statesmen but not knowing who he was.

For every Kingsmen British skill and tool, there is a Statesmen American equivalent in this movie, making for an entertaining match up as the story plays out. Umbrellas and suitcases give way to whips and lassos, stylish bowlers give way to Stetsons, broughams give way to cowboy boots, and on and on. But what they all have in common is their flair for quick action and well honed technique. From the beginning to end of the film, there is action. And just for added fun, Elton John gets to throw in a high-air karate kick during a rescue-scene sequence at Poppy's Cambodian lair. It's worth watching the movie just to see that!

So much imagination went into the making of this film. Not just the sets in London and surrounding countryside, but also making the Kentucky distillery look amazing. And then Poppy's lair is just out of this world incredible! Add to that the CGI for robotics and the special effects for the car chase scenes! Then the attention to detail for the fight scenes. For an examination of all that, make sure you get the Blue-Ray version, which includes an Extras section that lasts well over an hour -- there is so much there to see and absorb in that section alone!

My uptake for this film is, if you can take the more than occasional f-bomb throughout this film, and if you aren't squeamish about the explicit sexual scene during the music festival, see Kingsman: The Golden Circle. It's really quite brilliant, as the Brits like to say.