Cinematic Considerations

Year: 2020

  • Goldfinger

    April 9, 2020 · Watch the trailer

    It should come as little surprise that a quest for gold would prove to vault the James Bond film franchise to new heights as director Guy Hamilton’s first time behind the camera with “Goldfinger” pushed spy cinema to the next level.

    Without question the best of the six official films starring Sean Connery, “Goldfinger” has everything great about a James Bond movie in spades: iconic villains and gorgeous women to challenge him, picturesque locales, a killer theme song, inventive gadgets, fast cars and intense action.

    In EON Productions’ third film in the series, “Goldfinger” finds James Bond on the trail of a nefarious gold magnate whose international smuggling may just be the prelude to something much more vile and deadlier.

    Setting aside Bond’s exploits on the hunt of S.P.E.C.T.R.E., this entry in the canon serves as a standalone operation that puts the British spy on American soil for the first time.

    Giving his best performance in the series, Connery maximizes his charm and bravado as Bond, engaging in Hamilton’s signature combination of action and humor with gusto.

    There’s a subtle glee in Connery’s eyes when he delivers an understated quip about a foe’s demise or a charmingly aggressive pickup line. But his work is matched with a deeper empathy than shown on screen before for a rounded turn that brings Ian Fleming’s novels to life in a rich way.

    Fully comfortable in the part, Connery also has impeccable chemistry with his scene partners and effortlessly interacts with his intelligence counterparts, the women he tries to woo and his adversaries with considered affectations that adjust as needed but remain firmly in the distinct character he’s crafted for Bond.

    Honor Blackman gives Connery a run for his money as the first female in the franchise to truly go toe-to-toe with Bond as Goldfinger’s personal pilot.

    With as sexually charged a name as Pussy Galore, it might be expected that the character would be yet another femme fatale for the British spy to have his way with. But Blackman presses the attack with every line of dialogue, challenging Bond as Galore and Connery himself as an actor.

    Her performance perfectly shades the lines of good and evil, never revealing her true intentions to Bond nor Goldfinger and always keeping the hero guessing.

    Unlike nearly every other woman in the series to this point, Galore never uses her sexuality as a weapon or a way to get what she wants and Blackman expertly dismisses suggestions and flirtations with an aggressive calm. Even the lead up to what is assumed to be off-screen sex with Bond is physical in a way that suggests a battle of equal forces rather than a romantic predator and prey scenario.

    Just as memorable but for vastly different reasons, Shirley Eaton’s Jill Masterson is the gold standard for Bond iconography, glistening off the screen in a shining golden palette on the bed in Bond’s hotel room. Eaton gives a worthy performance in her five minutes on screen as a woman helping Goldfinger cheat at cards, but it’s in her character’s death that the franchise is permanently altered.

    The first female to die in the series, Jill’s shocking death gave both Goldfinger and Oddjob instant credibility as villains not to be trifled with and painted a portrait of artistic violence that would carry out in a myriad of way throughout the series.

    Gert Fröbe dazzles in his major film debut as the titular villain Auric Goldfinger, combining his imposing stature with rich, cunning facial expressions to give Goldfinger an antagonistic cunning for the perfect Bond foil.

    The German actor had difficulty speaking English at the time of shooting and Hamilton pressed him to deliver his lines phonetically at twice the normal speed. This allowed Hamilton to dub over the large majority of Fröbe’s dialogue with stage actor Michael Collins, who infuses the character with a dry wit and controlled maniacal obsession with gold.

    The film also heralded the arrival of perhaps the most iconic henchman in the entire series, the silent but deadly Korean bruiser Oddjob. Perfectly portrayed by Olympic medal winning weightlifter Harold Sakata, Hamilton creates a mystique around Sakata’s short but stout frame through a suspenseful introduction and brooding intensity from Sakata.

    A man capable of killing others by throwing a bowler’s hat feels incredibly preposterous, but Hamilton and Sakata make it more than convincing whether he’s crushing a golf ball with his bare hand or brushing off punches as if they were mere inconveniences.

    After sitting out “From Russia With Love” to work on “Dr. Strangelove” for Stanley Kubrick, “Dr. No” production designer Ken Adam returned to the Bond franchise, creating the most elaborate and iconic sets to date.

    Goldfinger’s farm estate is a magnificent achievement for the mid 1960s, with his lavish, sprawling parlor revealing itself to be home base for the plans of “Operation Grand Slam.” This transformation, complete with reversible pool table and walls on pulley systems, revolutionized and inspired a new height for the classic villain’s lair.

    Adam matches his special work several scenes later, constructing a four-story gold vault room with working elevator to imagine the interior of the famed Fort Knox, thus setting the stage for another iconic Bond one-on-one fight sequence.

    Hamilton builds the relationship between Bond and Oddjob gradually over the course of the film, showing Oddjob physically dominate the spy and Bond outwit the bruising butler, propelling them towards an inevitable showdown that’s perfectly choreographed to accentuate both their strengths.

    “Goldfinger” marks the debut of the signature Aston Martin DB5 in the franchise as Hamilton whips Bond across the Swiss countryside in multiple car chases filled with slick driving, bulletproof glass and spy gadgets that would come to define the series.

    Tension builds and is perfectly paced by Hamilton over the course of the film and especially on a scene by scene basis. The dramatic intensity crafted in a scene where Goldfinger aims to cut Bond in half with a laser ping-pongs back and forth across three different shots – a wide shot of Connery strapped to a table, a mid-shot of Fröbe discussing his plans and tight closeups of Connery.

    Melded together by Hamilton and editor Peter Hunt, the scene takes a nonsensical situation and pulls audiences in with compelling antagonistic dialogue and a haunting underscore from composer John Barry to create the first true “Bond in peril” moment in the series.

    Barry also wrote the music for one of the best songs in Bond franchise history as Shirley Bassey’s growly voice echoes in the background of the opening title sequence. Backed with blaring horns and crashing cymbals, this iconic title track instantly asserts itself in the ears of audiences and declares this third entry as another major leap forward for the series and foreshadows Eaton’s golden fate.

    Bassey is the only artist to perform multiple Bond themes, also singing the title songs for “Diamonds Are Forever” and “Moonraker.”

    “Goldfinger” has come to define the Sean Connery era of the James Bond film franchise with its elevated take on the classic British spy. With strong antagonists and a well-crafted screenplay, Connery is able to deliver his most dynamic performance in the role and cement the legacy of the series for decades to come.

    It’s no secret why Sam Mendes and his team of writers relied so heavily on “Goldfinger” for their nostalgia aesthetic for 2015’s “Skyfall.” Rarely did another film in the franchise come close to “Goldfinger” in terms of its storytelling, performances and dynamism.

    Essential viewing for introducing new audiences to the James Bond franchise, “Goldfinger” is a pinnacle of 1960s action/adventure filmmaking and a top five entry overall.

    This is the third in a series of retrospective reviews of the James Bond film franchise as made by EON Productions in anticipation of the release of the 25th entry in the series, “No Time To Die,” which arrives in American theaters on November 25.

  • From Russia With Love

    April 8, 2020 · Watch the trailer

    Movie franchises trying to capitalize on success by getting the next film out as quickly as possible feels like a modern trend perpetuated by Marvel Studios and their endless supply of superhero content.

    And yet, Albert R. “Cubby” Broccoli and Harry Saltzman cornered that market decades earlier with their EON Productions studio seizing on the box office acclaim for their debut James Bond film “Dr. No” in 1962 with three subsequent features over the next three years.

    The immediate follow-up, 1963’s “From Russia With Love,” jump started the franchise thanks to the continuity of the production team and the return of both star Sean Connery in the lead role and Terence Young in the director’s chair.

    With double the budget and many times the scale of its predecessor, “From Russia With Love” is a classic entry in the Bond canon for its influence on the series as a whole and expansion of the world of cinema’s favorite MI6 agent.

    Based on the Ian Fleming novel, the second James Bond film follows the British secret agent to Turkey in pursuit of a Soviet decoding machine being offered up by a young Russian intelligence officer who has seemingly fallen for Bond from a single photograph. The machine is also being pursued by S.P.E.C.T.R.E., which has put Bond in their crosshairs following the events of “Dr. No.”

    Connery feels as though he’s relaxed, more self-assured in the role of Bond with this second run as he’s unafraid to be more deliberate and combative with line delivery. This isn’t Connery at his best in the part, though the foundations laid in the first two films will soon pay off for his most engaging work.

    “From Russia With Love” carries over the tradition of casting a pretty foreign face as Bond’s love interest with Miss Universe runner-up Daniela Bianchi, an Italian model who learned English for the film but ultimately had her lines dubbed over by British actress Barbara Jefford. Their combined work in the role of Soviet ingenue Tatiana works well enough; Bianchi has a flair for intense facial expressions and Jefford provides a convincing enough accent to mask audiences from the fact that she’s not Russian nor that it isn’t the actress seen on screen actually speaking.

    It goes without saying that in a film with too much going on, “From Russia With Love” is overloaded with villains – and not simply the nameless ones Bond and his allies eliminate in short order over the course of the franchise.

    Lotte Lenya relishes the role of ruthless Soviet counter-intelligence boss Rosa Klebb, infusing the iconic character with bitterness and controlled rage. The character on the script page is rather bland, but Lenya gives the part a distinct edge that helped make Klebb iconic in Bond lore and the primary influence on the Frau Farbissina character from the “Austin Powers” movies.

    Robert Shaw is thinner, over a decade younger and nearly unrecognizable from his iconic “Jaws” role here as blunt force object and SPECTRE assassin Red Grant. While the character is intended to be the silent, but deadly type, Shaw is able to infuse Grant with an engaging amount of charm, revealing Grant to almost be Bond’s villainous mirror image.

    The villain who works least well in “From Russia With Love” is the chess-playing mastermind Kronsteen, played serviceably enough by Vladek Sheybal, but lacking the screen time or character development required to make Kronsteen valuable or memorable.

    The same cannot be said of Anthony Dawson’s extended cameo appearances as S.P.E.C.T.R.E. leader Ernst Stavro Blofeld, whose appearance helps to define the villainy of the franchise despite audiences only seeing a portion of his body. As Dawson played the role of Professor Dent in “Dr. No,” this might help explain his obscured appearance and the fact that his lines were dubbed over by an uncredited Eric Pohlmann.

    The film’s signature action sequence, a thrilling close-quarters fight in a train, is expertly directed by Young and choreographed to highlight the cleverness of Bond against Grant’s straight-forward brutality. Each movement is deliberate and considered, well ahead of its time in terms of hand-to-hand combat in spy cinema.

    This moment feels personal, intimate in Bond lore given how much of the action within the series is littered with large, bombastic scenes that depict Bond in the middle of a war battle in essence. Young’s directorial style is more adept in wide shots that give action a sense of scale, which works well in a dynamic sequence where Bond takes on pursuers in a helicopter.

    That it comes so closely after the train sequence is no mistake either, highlighting the stark contrast between the two fighting styles and elevating Bond’s versatility as an agent.

    The Bond franchise is notorious for the ways in which it objectifies and subverts its female characters and “From Russia With Love” ramps this up tenfold from its predecessor “Dr. No.” The raw sexuality is not as overt, but still problematic.

    A catfight between two gypsy women plays a significant role during the middle of the film, debasing both women first by pitting them against each other for sexual dominance, then having both submit to Bond in an implied threesome.

    Klebb’s position as a Soviet agent is used – as frequently is done in Western films – to imply villainy, but subtle references to her being a lesbian are also used as an implication that her homosexuality is a further cause to her evil ways.

    The film saw the debut of its signature title card sequence featuring belly dancers from the stomach to thighs gyrating to an orchestral version of the title song as well as the iconic “James Bond Theme” penned by Monty Norman. The catchy, but largely forgettable “From Russia With Love” theme sung by Matt Munro scored the movie’s end credits, a rarity for the series.

    Where “From Russia With Love” becomes problematic is in how much the world of Bond expands in the second film from its rather contained origins with “Dr. No.” Young introduces a cacophony of new villains for Bond to take on, beginning the further reveal of the S.P.E.C.T.R.E. organization, while also having audiences navigate through multiple countries and the geopolitical relationships between Turkey and the Soviet Union.

    It’s clear engaging in the film that the screenplay was changed, often on the day of shooting, to help elevate certain characters like Red Grant and help mold James Bond into a larger connected franchise. On an individual film level, events are especially rocky, but in the greater context of the whole series, “From Russia With Love” sets precedents and creates the landscape for decades to come.

    This is the second in a series of retrospective reviews of the James Bond film franchise as made by EON Productions in anticipation of the release of the 25th entry in the series, “No Time To Die,” which arrives in American theaters on November 25.

  • Onward: Movie watching heading ‘homeward’

    Onward: Movie watching heading ‘homeward’

    One month ago, the latest film from Disney’s Pixar Studios opened in over 4,300 theaters nationwide and grossed more than $39 million in its opening weekend.

    With the hopefully short-term decimation of the movie theater experience thanks to the novel coronavirus, “Onward” has gone from the biggest box office hit of March to just one of countless new films available on a streaming service in April.

    The movie was one of the first major studio releases still in theaters to be available on demand for $19.99 – alongside early 2020 hits like “The Invisible Man” and “Birds of Prey” – but “Onward” has the further distinction of being the only one to move two weeks later to a streaming service, in this case, Disney+.

    The latest Pixar feature follows a pair of teenage elven brothers, Ian and Barley, who go on a magical quest to spend one more day with their father, who died when they were too young to remember him.

    “Onward” has an interesting hook for this seemingly simple tale, placing the narrative in a world where traditional mythical creatures like dragons, fairies and elves have traded in their magical heritage for the ease of modern living.

    The success of the film requires a voice actor with the ability to make Ian a relatable, sympathetic lead character that audiences can relate to and the choice of Tom Holland strikes this tone from the outset. With Marvel’s “Spider-Man” and “Avengers” films, Holland has proven to be well adept at creating genuine earnest characters that can also carry the emotional stakes of the film.

    Chris Pratt is perfectly cast as the voice of Ian’s eccentric, magical quest obsessed brother Barley, giving the character an equal infusion of Jack Black-esque enthusiasm and “Lord of the Rings” style fandom.

    Relentless energy is a tricky thing to balance in a vocal performance, though Pratt finds the right balance between boundless intensity of spirit and annoyance that doesn’t overwhelm Barley as a character and sets up some genuine emotional moments in the second half of the film.

    Holland and Pratt have a well-balanced chemistry that allows the primary themes of family and brotherhood to shine through despite some rocky moments in the screenplay.

    “Onward” translates well from the big screen to the home viewing experience with a 4K quality transfer onto the Disney+ platform. Characters have more texture and depth visually that creates a three-dimensional look on a two-dimensional viewing format.

    This works especially well during the film’s cinematic action sequences where “Onward” plays up its mythical origins with magic and mystical creatures that provide for engaging, entertaining moments.

    Absent from the move to the streaming platform is the animated short film “Playdate with Destiny,” a lighthearted, family-friendly tale that marks the first crossover between Pixar and one of Disney’s recently acquired Fox properties, “The Simpsons.” While not currently on the Disney+ platform, this short following baby Maggie Simpson should be on the service eventually and is worth checking out.

    The coronavirus has impacted every film studio in remarkable ways, none likely more so than Disney, a studio whose tentpole features prop up the theatrical release calendar for the entire film industry and help keep smaller theaters alive with massive family-friendly and superhero films.

    A seismic shift in Disney’s 2020 slate of films has drastically impacted their theatrical model with “Onward” hitting Disney+ likely six months before it would have and anticipated hits like a live-action remake of “Mulan” and the Marvel prequel “Black Widow” delayed by half a year.

    Disney spent $125 million on director Kenneth Branagh’s adaptation of the popular “Artemis Fowl” children’s novels, a film slated to be released next month and now pulled from theaters entirely for an exclusive, upcoming run on Disney+.

    How things play out for avid moviegoers over the next several months is unclear, but hopefully the promise of early hits like “Onward” finding new life on streaming services will stem the tide until social distancing is a thing of the past.

    Until then, “Onward” is a worthwhile family-friendly feature to fill the void and something worth checking out on Disney’s exclusive streaming platform.

  • Uncorked: Fathers and sons

    Uncorked: Fathers and sons

    Over the last several years, major film directors have made their way to the small screen, making limited series in search of creative freedom and risk-taking with the help of content hungry streaming services.

    Slowly but surely, this trend is starting to pay dividends for movie lovers as young, talented television writers and creators are making their way to feature films.

    Prentice Penny, show runner and one of the executive producers of the hit HBO series “Insecure,” partnered with Netflix for his directorial debut “Uncorked,” which debuted on the platform last weekend.

    “Uncorked” follows a young African American man in Memphis looking to break into a world dominated by white men as he seeks to become a master sommelier, an elite accreditation for wine professionals. Elijah struggles to balance his love of wine with familial obligations, mostly put upon him by his father who runs the family’s popular barbecue stand.

    Mamoudou Athie gives a solid, unspectacular performance as Elijah, offering the character the cool civility and demeanor required of a master sommelier candidate but with enough personality to carry scenes in the barbecue stand and at home.

    Emmy winner Courtney B. Vance is the ideal choice to play Elijah’s father Louis as the “American Crime Story” star provides immense gravitas and credibility to the project with his understated performance that belies the tremendous amount of work he’s doing with a limited part.

    Vance wears the burden of family legacy well in the role as Louis presses Elijah with a stoic, yet heavy hand and the transformation of his character over the course of the film feels genuine and earned.

    Veteran comedienne Niecy Nash steals every scene she’s in with her most compelling work to date as Elijah’s mother Sylvia, a cancer survivor trying to bridge the gap between father and son while stoking Elijah’s passion for wine. Her performance has the traditional humorous line deliveries viewers are accustomed to from Nash, but there’s also a refreshing tenderness to her work that helps Sylvia resonate with audiences in a way they can’t get to with Elijah or Louis.

    Penny takes liberties with his screenplay to paint a larger picture with broad brushstrokes, often leaving audiences to fill in the blanks as time fluidly progresses at various rates over the course of the film.

    For example, the development of Elijah’s relationship with Tanya floats in the background of his larger struggle between wine and barbecue. Landmark moments in their romance are shown – their flirtatious meeting discussing wine as rap artists, a first date at a roller rink, meeting his parents – but their love remains shallow and out of focus.

    Penny trusts his audience to fill in the gaps, leaving aspects intentionally unwritten to keep focus on the worlds of wine and barbecue, passion and family, pulling Elijah in different directions.

    It’s a bold strategy that doesn’t entirely pay off for viewers, who will occasionally have trouble orienting themselves after unannounced leaps in time.

    Visually, “Uncorked” has a smoky, seductive hue that draws audiences in and cinematographer Elliot Davis elevates the film with an engaging energy that pairs well with the rhythmic hip-hop soundtrack transitioning in and out of dialogue scenes.

    “Uncorked” was slated to debut earlier this month at the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, a premiere cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic that would have provided a much-needed word of mouth boost as it headed toward its release on Netflix this past Friday.

    An imperfect film in many ways, “Uncorked” does provide a welcome respite from current events and a promising feature debut from a filmmaker to watch in the future.

  • The Banker: Timing is everything

    The Banker: Timing is everything

    If “The Banker” had come out when it was supposed to, director George Nolfi’s film would have been the talk of the town.

    A spiritual successor to the Academy Award winning “Green Book,” it was a film with a lot going for it: a pair of talented African American actors including Oscar nominee Samuel L. Jackson, a well-crafted screenplay based on true events and a brand new studio in tech giant Apple looking to make a splash on the big screen.

    The film was set to debut at festivals and theaters during the heart of awards season last November before heading to the recently launched AppleTV+ streaming service, but was pulled at the last minute after sexual abuse allegations against the son of one of the subjects of the film – Bernard Garrett, Jr. – who also happened to be among the film’s producers.

    With audiences staying home to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, “The Banker” has since limped into theaters earlier this month and began streaming on Apple Friday to little fanfare.

    Viewers by and large aren’t aware of the fact that one of 2020’s best films – on the big screen two weeks ago – can be seen in the privacy of their homes today on a free trial or $4.99 monthly subscription to the new service, much more cost-efficient than the $19.99 price tag studios have place on digital rentals of similarly shuttered films like “The Invisible Man” or “The Hunt.”

    “The Banker” tells the story of two of the first African American bankers in the United States – Bernard Garrett and Joe Morris – who first become significant Los Angeles real estate owners before purchasing a small Texas bank. Unable to purchase the property on their own due to the political and cultural climate of the 1960s, Bernard and Joe hire a white man, Matt Steiner, to front their investments.

    The film’s success lies largely with the dynamic chemistry between its principal cast, with Anthony Mackie giving some of the best work of his career since 2008’s “The Hurt Locker” as financial whiz Bernard. His calm, almost stoic demeanor provides the necessary gravitas to give audiences faith in his sense of purpose and the way Mackie shows just enough of Bernard’s inner anger reflects the drive within the character.

    It’s in perfect balance with Jackson’s free-flowing, charismatic turn as Joe, a verbose, wily businessman who’s just as eager to make a profit but follows his gut more than his brain and isn’t afraid to speak his mind.

    On the page, the characters of Bernard and Joe are rather simplistic cutouts of real people with little complexity aside from their drive to succeed and their apprehension about racial inequalities in business. But what makes “The Banker” a worth-while watch is how Mackie and Jackson are able to elevate the material with their on-screen chemistry, which feels natural and genuine. Their characters’ different approaches to problems at hand makes for simple, yet effective storytelling and provides for many of the film’s most entertaining moments.

    It’s especially effective in the movie’s engaging first hour, where Bernard and Joe begin working together and bring a willing, yet clueless Matt on board as the face of their partnership. Hoult is adept at playing Matt as naïve rather than the fool and it helps make scenes where Joe teaches him golf or Bernard explaining complex algebra feel fun and not demeaning.

    Nolfi’s film often struggles to make clear the financial transactions involved, whipping audiences through technically heavy jargon like “capitalization rates,” but there’s a lot of flash and pizzazz to the montage style in which Nolfi wraps and compartmentalizes this information for viewers.

    “The Banker” moves along crisply and the direction isn’t particularly noticeable aside from the occasional montage, but Nolfi and his team of screenwriters – five are credited here – could have easily trimmed the film by 10-15 minutes without losing much and maintained the momentum of the first hour.

    A potential awards season contender last year, there’s frankly no real chance for “The Banker” to be up for accolades given its middling release and the likelihood that enough films will still be released theatrically in 2020 to boot Apple’s debut feature from the shortlist of contenders.

    The ease of access to AppleTV+, combined with strong work from Mackie and Jackson, make “The Banker” a welcome distraction in a world of uncertainty and something worth seeking out at home.

  • Spenser Confidential: Last man standing

    Spenser Confidential: Last man standing

    It started with unflappable British spy James Bond heading for the hills as “No Time To Die” moved from a mid-April release to late November.

    Within the last week, film studios have been shelving their biggest upcoming releases with Disney’s “Mulan” postponed indefinitely and Universal’s ninth “Fast and the Furious” film pushed to 2021 amid growing concerns for public safety due to the coronavirus outbreak globally.

    As ardent film fans stay away from their local movie theaters, one studio hopes to reel in all the attention with a full court press of new releases. Netflix, the streaming service now doubling as its own production house, will have released 17 new feature films in the first four months of 2020, compared to 18 major releases from the six other large studios combined.

    For films still in theaters, box office numbers have sharply dropped relative to expectations across the board due to lower attendance with most films falling by 60% or more from the previous week.

    One film that would have been affected by this economic downturn is Mark Wahlberg’s new crime dramedy “Spenser Confidential” from longtime collaborator and director Peter Berg, a middling, uneven flick that would be considered a massive bomb if it opened in theaters last weekend.

    Luckily, it’s the number one most watched film on Netflix according to the streaming service as audiences stay home and give a movie they probably wouldn’t consider paying to see a shot.

    Based on the 80s private-eye TV series “Spencer for Hire” and the novel “Wonderland” by Ace Atkins, “Spenser Confidential” follows Wahlberg as former Boston cop Spenser, fresh on the streets after serving a five-year prison sentence for assaulting a superior officer. When that officer and another detective are brutally murdered, Spenser cannot look away and privately investigates the crimes with the aid of his roommate, Hawk.

    The title role is a perfect summary of what Wahlberg is best at as an actor: no-nonsense toughness with a dry wit and casual charm. There isn’t much to the role, nor Wahlberg’s performance for that matter, but the movie fits the actor’s strengths to a T and makes the overall movie-watching experience better than if the role were played by a younger, less confident actor.

    His brash, standoffish demeanor puts him at odds from a chemistry perspective with Winston Duke, whose equally tough-guy persona as Hawk clashes with both actors essentially trying to be the alpha in the relationship. Duke, relatively unknown by comparison to Wahlberg despite memorable roles in “Black Panther” and “Us,” takes a backseat for the most partbut there is still an unease that never really cements into an engaging relationship.

    This isn’t the case with Wahlberg and Alan Arkin, playing Spenser’s mentor Henry with ease and a brilliant sense of comic timing. Their chemistry is naturally and effortless, making for the most engaging, entertaining sections of otherwise listless action fodder.

    Because so many viewers have a Netflix subscription for other reasons – binging television shows, access to classic movies, etc. – turning on “Spenser Confidential” feels like playing with house money. A byproduct of this is diminishing viewer expectations, a film watched on Netflix or Amazon or Hulu doesn’t have to be as remarkable, or in some cases, good at all. It just needs to be worth time because it feels free to watch.

    In this context, “Spenser Confidential” is definitely a film checking out for movie-fans social distancing and self-quarantining due to coronavirus. It’s not great, nor a movie that needs to be seen on a big screen, but in this time of uncertainty, any casual distraction that can allow people to turn off their minds and relax is a welcome reprieve.

  • The Way Back: Acting for revitalization

    The Way Back: Acting for revitalization

    Famous celebrity, actor, and Oscar-winning writer/director Ben Affleck has spent the past several years confronting his personal demons both on and off screen.

    His work in David Fincher’s 2014 mystery thriller “Gone Girl” was a treatise on the cult of celebrity status – and largely unbeknownst to Affleck during filming – an intentional bit of casting that put audiences at odds with his character in the film because of their personal disdain towards him.

    While his recent work as Batman in the DC Comics Extended Universe provided Affleck an opportunity to cash in on his fame, it also has allowed him to pursue more introspective work including a somber turn in last year’s Netflix drama “Triple Frontier” and now with the sports drama “The Way Back.”

    Reteaming with his “The Accountant” director Gavin O’Connor, “The Way Back” features perhaps Affleck’s most thoughtful, self-reflective performance to date as Jack Cunningham, a former high school basketball star turned alcoholic washout asked to become the head boys’ hoops coach at his alma mater.

    That it comes on the heels of a well-documented personal battle for Affleck with alcoholism that led to multiple stints in rehabilitation, relapsing and a divorce from Jennifer Garner is not by accident either.

    Every moment of “The Way Back” is considered and has an air of subtle authenticity speaking to Affleck’s own struggles. A title change from “The Has-Been” to “The Way Back” suggests this to be true; watching Affleck’s innate precision at showing the signs of substance abuse and hiding them from those around him is especially poignant.

    The film’s highest points are in the lowest moments of Jack’s personal hell, stumbling out of his second home at the neighborhood dive bar, waking up hungover and drinking a can of light beer while in the shower, avoiding life as a whole.

    It’s in these moments where the line between Jack Cunningham the character and Ben Affleck the performer are exceptionally blurred and viewers cannot possibly separate the two, which usually hinders the success of a film. For “The Way Back,” it’s the only way the film works.

    O’Connor’s screenplay, written with Brad Ingelsby, never fully commits to Jack’s story of redemption in overcoming his alcoholism, fusing an intimate, personal journey with a rather bland, standard sports drama that believes itself to be “Hoosiers” but never has any element that elevates the story of a rag-tag group of losing basketball players becoming a team to the level of Affleck’s individual performance.

    It’s often noticeable in Affleck’s work how uncomfortable he is coaching the players on the team, which feels both a part of the way he built the character of Jack and how much he’d rather be focusing on the half of “The Way Back” that has nothing to do with basketball.

    This isn’t to say that the sports drama is entirely uncompelling. A veteran in the genre directing both 2004’s Olympic ice hockey feature “Miracle” and the exceptional 2011 mixed martial arts film “Warrior,” O’Connor does a terrific job of creating montages that engage viewers in the basketball action.

    Basketball sections of the film do provide much needed lightness to an otherwise heavy drama and occasionally create opportunities for Affleck to show Jack’s growth as a person.

    But “The Way Back” simply shouldn’t have this much PG-13 level sports in an R-rated character drama. A more composed script would have pushed the film – and especially Affleck’s performance – into Oscar-worthy status and could have made it the first truly great film of the new decade.

    Affleck’s subdued, introspective turn is worth the price of admission to “The Way Back,” a film that hopefully showcases more great things to come from one of Hollywood’s most dynamic and passionate filmmakers.

  • Dr No

    March 4, 2020 · Watch the trailer

    Nostalgia is a hell of a thing.

    It’s impossible for a film like “Dr. No” to be made in 2020, and not because the illustrious British spy James Bond can’t carry a marketable movie franchise.

    The first entry in the EON produced series of films based on Ian Fleming’s novels is a product of pop culture in the 1960s, a time many might consider “simpler” when what they really mean is “less progressive.”

    Nostalgia allows viewers to overlook the simplistic sets or the antiquated “movie magic” that created things like the underwater window in Dr. No’s lair or the miniature satellite launch done on a shoestring budget.

    Nobody faults the original “Star Wars” trilogy for similar shortcuts to make large destroyers made from plastic float through space and blow up planets.

    Where we, in retrospect, can’t be as forgiving in our pensive look back at early spy cinema like “Dr. No” is in its antiquated – or better still, intolerant – use of minority characters and the creation of the bombshell “Bond girl.”

    In order to play the titular villain, Canadian actor Joseph Wiseman was outfitted with heavy makeup used to “simulate an Asian heritage,” according to filmmakers. Similar effects were used on British actress Zena Marshall for her supporting role as secretary Miss Taro.

    The Bond series has always had a complicated history with its portrayal of diversity on screen, and while “Dr. No” might not be the most egregious offender, trends have to begin somewhere.

    A franchise starting film before such a concept existed, “Dr. No” introduced viewers in 1962 to the now-classic British secret agent code name 007 and his international quests to thwart the plans of evil super-organization S.P.E.C.T.R.E. Director Terrance Young’s film follows Sean Connery’s debut in the role of James Bond as he investigates the murder of a British agent in Jamaica and teams up with CIA officer Felix Leiter in stopping a plot to destroy American rockets bound for space.

    What makes “Dr. No” rewatchable – aside from all the classic Bond film tropes that began as a creation of Young’s mind – is Connery’s charismatic turn as the lead. He brings a casual, yet cavalier attitude to the role that makes Bond effortlessly charming to the ladies he seduces for information and yet doggedly determined to complete his mission by any means necessary.

    The Bond of “Dr. No” is remarkably clever by franchise standards, often outwitting both adversaries and allies with a keen sense of observation that allows Bond to place himself in the right place at the right time, getting the jump on would-be assassins out to kill him at every turn.

    A middling screenplay and marginal action are offset by Connery’s winning performance that – with Young’s expert direction and partnership – creates the standard for the cinematic character’s persona for the next four decades. Audiences don’t care to see a well-dressed man play baccarat, insist on a particular drink and engage in innocuous banter, but Connery makes all of it seem intoxicatingly cool.

    It’s remarkable that the first credited Bond girl in franchise history – Ursula Andress’s Honey Ryder – nor his girlfriend Sylvia Trench (played by Eunice Grayson) spoke a line of dialogue in “Dr. No” themselves as both parts were dubbed over by German voice-over artist Nikki van der Zyl.

    Andress was brought on for her beauty, and thanks to terrific planning in direction by Young and the perfectly scouted location in Jamaica, a rather bland, thinly written character wanting to find seashells becomes the object of young men’s affection and an iconic Hollywood bombshell within the first ten seconds of screentime. It’s a truly brilliant way to introduce a character, one that Martin Campbell pays rightful homage to in a gender-flipped tip of the cap to the franchise’s origins in 2006’s “Casino Royale.”

    Action in “Dr. No” is minimal but effective and Young uses elements of surprise and suspense leading into these sequences to offset the limited budget and simplicity of the stunt work. The final faceoff between Bond and Dr. No happens so late in the film and ends so abruptly that it undercuts the momentousness of Bond’s victory and the quality of No’s villain status.

    The series’ entrenched connection to iconic musical introductions began in “Dr. No” with the Monty Norman-penned “James Bond Theme” recorded by the John Barry Orchestra filled with pulsing bass line, crashing cymbals and thunderous brass setting the backdrop to the pinhole camera opening sequence of Bond firing on an unseen bad guy behind the camera, which doubles as a gun barrel itself.

    Other songs in the film like “Under The Mango Tree” and “Jump Up” play pivotal roles within the plot of “Dr. No,” but neither hold up nor create the legacy of the “Bond Theme” that is extended into the title sequences beginning with 1963’s “From Russia With Love.”

    The complicated legacy of “Dr. No” beyond its franchise originating landmark gives audiences iconic moments, a rousing film score and a lead in Connery that will come to define action stars and the character of James Bond especially for decades to come.

    These highlights do come at a cost and “Dr. No” quickly becomes simply the first and not the best for Connery as Bond or the franchise as a whole.

    It is this problematic history that forced Bond producers to approach the character differently when adapting the classic spy to modern times with films like “Casino Royale” and “Skyfall” and help propel those features to great success with their complex narratives.

    This is the first in a series of retrospective reviews of the James Bond film franchise as made by EON Productions in anticipation of the release of the 25th entry in the series, “No Time To Die,” which arrives in American theaters on November 25.

  • Portrait of a Lady on Fire: Subtlety in romance

    Portrait of a Lady on Fire: Subtlety in romance

    Desire is all about delay.

    The anticipation, the angst, the longing all cascading towards a moment of passion.

    It’s a difficult trick to pull off in the world of cinema, but Céline Sciamma’s “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” builds from embers into a raging inferno of emotion in one of the best romance films in ten years.

    The French filmmaker progresses from a trilogy of coming-of-age features into the world of adulthood with a pitch perfect examination of nuanced affection that turns to admiration that begets passionate lust with a daring contemporary feel to a period love story.

    Set on an isolated island in Brittany in the end of the eighteenth century, Sciamma’s fourth feature follows Marianne, a young artist commissioned to paint a wedding portrait of a woman without her knowledge.

    Key to the success of “Portrait” is the relationship between model and artist, an examination of the soul that Sciamma deciphers as much as a mirror of self-reflection as a keen eye peering into the world of another.

    The film lives and dies on the performances of its two leads and Noémie Merlant brings an effortless earnestness to Marianne that pairs perfectly with Adéle Haenel’s quiet intensity as Héloïse. Each moment in the film feels genuinely considered, not by the actresses portraying the characters, but by Marianne and Héloïse themselves.

    Dialogue in a script can provide the context for someone being unable to say what they feel, but the right amount of hesitation or inflection in a voice can be just as breathtaking. Merlant and Haenel are masterful at pulling at the seams of Sciamma’s screenplay and digging beneath the surface of the script in a richly intimate, physical way that smolders in intensity without the two ever touching.

    Framed together in a single shot along the cliffs of Brittany, the pair challenge each other with inquisitive, stolen glances that flicker like embers off the screen. “Portrait” captures intimacy as it grows and changes better than any romance film in a decade and the collaboration between actresses and filmmaker shimmers as viewers fall in love with Héloïse, then Marianne, and then both of them together and apart.

    Their dynamic chemistry is offset slightly by the presence of a third major character in an otherwise sparsely cast film.

    Typically in a film like this, Luàna Bajrami’s Sophie would be a distracting interloper character that pulls audiences away from the primary romance. But Bajrami matches both leads in quiet intensity with a stoic, yet emotional turn that enriches the world of the film and accentuates the progression of Marianne and Héloïse’s relationship.

    Sciamma expertly crafts art into the visual style of “Portrait,” building a world of undeniable cinematic moments that often feel like paintings stacked on top of one another to build a story.

    So much of this artistry comes through in how the audience is introduced to Héloïse through Marianne’s lens as Sciamma takes viewers on an elaborate examination of Haenel, her hair, her earlobes, her piercing eyes. Every detail that Marianne paints into existence on canvas is masterfully imprinted into the hearts of engaged audience members with careful precision and expert cinematography from Claire Mathon.

    The romance of the film comes not just from the brilliant chemistry Merlant and Haenel share on screen, but in the way it is portrayed through the camera lens with longing, lingering shots mixed with stolen glances that push the audience into the middle of a forbidden love affair.

    The best French film in many years, “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” was eligible for awards season acclaim, usually playing as a de facto runner up to eventual Oscar Best Picture winner “Parasite” in international feature categories. Astoundingly, the French film community chose not to submit “Portrait” for major Academy Award consideration, opting for the political crime drama “Les Misérables,” which recently took home the country’s top film prize.

    Emotionally stirring and wonderfully subdued, “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” is a daring and expressive film that dazzles in its simplicity and feels of the moment in spite of its period setting.

    Sciamma’s film is a must for cinephiles willing to overcome the one-inch tall barrier of subtitles and a thought-provoking drama that lingers long after the credits roll.

  • The Last Thing He Wanted: Short term loss, long term value

    The Last Thing He Wanted: Short term loss, long term value

    With a seemingly endless budget, Netflix continues to pour money into project after project with avid disregard for the bottom line.

    This strategy may seem counter-intuitive to budget conscious business owners, but for film lovers, the streaming service writing blank checks to everyone from Martin Scorsese to Noah Baumbach to Michael Bay is an overall win.

    Some productions may miss the mark financially, but the expansive spending spree has given filmmakers a chance to produce more daring endeavors and creative risks that should make directors better at their craft.

    Dee Rees – an African-American writer/director who broke out in 2017 with the Oscar nominated drama “Mudbound” – received a major push from the streaming service for her follow-up feature based on a Joan Didion novel of the same name, “The Last Thing He Wanted,” which premiered earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival and dropped on Netflix last weekend.

    Filled with major star power in Oscar winners Anne Hathaway and Ben Affleck and the promise of an emerging filmmaker, “The Last Thing” has the pizzazz and the cinematic bravado necessary for a taut political thriller, but the film falls flat from the outset with an unnecessarily confusing, lackluster screenplay.

    Hathaway stars as an investigative journalist whose pursuit of the story overlaps with a guilt-propelled errand thrust upon her by her unstable father and pushes her into the middle of an international labyrinth of drugs and violence that could prove to be her undoing.

    The former Academy Award-winning actress is an apt choice for audiences to follow around for the majority of the film’s two-hour run time, but Hathaway plays the character at such a cautious distance that it’s nearly impossible for viewers to get fully behind her performance enough to maintain interest in the haphazard political intrigue.

    Her best moments come in the film’s opening third, which takes advantage of Hathaway’s emotional intensity both verbally and within her eyes. This manifests itself differently as her character investigates potential war crimes in Latin America versus personal crisis with her father as well as her daughter at boarding school.

    Hathaway is well matched with veteran character actor Willem Dafoe, an alert and present performer willing to take risks as Hathaway’s estranged father slowly deteriorating mentally. Their scenes are dynamic and resonate with audiences long after Dafoe leaves the screen, a rarity in Rees’ film.

    Although Dafoe does venture over into the realm of caricature at times, his performance still carries large segments of “The Last Thing” with a bright, engaging turn that breathes life into the sails of the narrative.

    The weakest link in the film is Affleck’s stiff, dry turn as a political instigator from Washington with questionable motivations. If the description of the character feels vague, it’s likely because Affleck doesn’t bring much to the performance beyond a simple, almost clinical recitation of dialogue from Rees’ screenplay and it doesn’t hold up comparatively to his recent work in another Netflix original film, J.C. Chandor’s 2019 feature “Triple Frontier.”

    As is to be expected with a high-budget political thriller, “The Last Thing” rounds out its considerable supporting cast with a cavalcade of moderately familiar faces that provide depth and richness to a world that far exceeds its middling story, including exceptional turns from Rosie Perez as Hathaway’s investigative partner and Edi Gathegi as a rival gun runner.

    The adaptation of Didion’s novel is problematic and messy, from the lingering and verbose prose narration that gives context to the mental state of Hathaway’s character to the ping-pong storyline jumping to the muddling of a relatively straightforward narrative.

    This feels more a fault of Rees as screenwriter – a credit she shares with Marco Villalobos – than as a director as her visual storytelling is sometimes engaging and always interesting with strong cinematography from Bobby Bukowski.

    For a variety of reasons, “The Last Thing He Wanted” doesn’t really pull together as a compelling narrative but the shades of a taut political thriller can be seen in the shadows.

    Ultimately, this makes Netflix’s spending to give Rees a chance to grow as a filmmaker worth their investment and “The Last Thing He Wanted” is a perfect movie for audiences interested in the genre to take a low-risk chance on.