Posts tagged right
“The Informant!” More Twists Than a Drunken Snake
Sep 24th
More Twists Than a Drunken Snake
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
THE INFORMANT! is based on the true story of a whistle-blower in a giant corporation about an international price-fixing scheme, but it is much more than that.
It’s also a lough-out-loud comedy directed by Steven Soderbergh, who previously directed the 2000 ERIN BROKOVICH in all seriousness, but also directed the recent OCEAN’S movies as goofy crime capers.
Matt Damon stars as Mark “Corky” Whitacre, a high-level executive in Archer Daniels Midland, an Illinois-based agribusiness conglomerate. In 1992 a series of events leads him to believe that there is a “mole” in the company who is feeding information to the company’s Japanese competitors, thereby prompting the Japanese to request $10 million to reveal the identity of the mole and also correct another problem Corky’s company has with a virus.
Corky goes to the FBI, and when they question what his motive is, he says, “I’m trying to do the right thing here.”
The FBI is suspicious, because Corky is making $350,000 a year, and he becomes an informer on his own company. Again, he says, “Things are going on, I don’t approve of.”
Corky is only too happy to carry a concealed recorder to meetings in order to obtain evidence against his own company, because he believes that when all of this is over, he will be rewarded by being made the next president of the corporation.
No, Corky is not the smartest rung on the ladder, and he gives hilarious running commentary in internal monologues as the events unfold.
However, when the audience catches Corky in a lie to the FBI agents who are working with him, the audience thinks “Not so fast!” at this unusual and unexpected turn of events.
The FBI agents follow Corky to business meetings all over the world, and they become exasperated at Corky’s ineptness at being a spy, even though Corky brags that he is “Agent 0014,” because he is twice as smart as “007.”
Then something happens that causes the audience to think “Not so fast!” again.
So, hold onto your seats, because something else happens that causes a “Not so fast!” a third time.
In fact, as the film races to its conclusion, “Not so fast!” keeps coming again and again.
THE INFORMANT! takes more twists and turns than a drunken snake in a maze and is very rewarding.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“Whatever Works” Predictable, but Very Good
Jul 16th
Predictable, but Very Good
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
WHATEVER WORKS is the latest Woody Allen film, and it is pure Woody Allen, even though he doesn’t appear in it, himself.
Woody wrote and directed the film, but the part that he usually plays is taken by Larry David, and he does an admirable job of speaking the lines that you can recognize as being pure Woody Allen.
In fact, Woody wrote this back in 1977 for Zero Mostel, but when that renowned actor died that year, the screenplay was put on the shelf.
Woody has
updated it to the present day, of course, but you can also tell that some of the material that would have been daring over 30 years ago is now rather commonplace.
David plays Boris Yellnikoff, a grumpy curmudgeon if ever there was one, and the film begins in New York City with Boris and three of his buddies talking at a sidewalk coffee shop.
Actually, Boris is doing all the talking and then he breaks the “fourth wall” of the movie screen and starts talking directly to us, the audience. He says, “This is not the feel-good movie of the year. So if you’re one of those idiots who needs to feel good, go get yourself a foot massage.”
Boris walks with a limp, and a flashback to his life with his former wife, Jessica, shows the event that caused it. Boris says that on paper, they were ideal, but life isn’t on paper.
That night when Boris is about to enter his building, he is solicited by a young runaway woman who begs him for something to eat. She is from Mississippi, her name is Melody St. Ann Celestine, and she is played by Evan Rachel Wood.
Boris feels what little bit of pity or sympathy he is capable of, and he invites Melody up to his apartment, but says that she can stay for only two minutes and that’s it.
Well, for all his bluster, Boris relents and lets Melody stay for a couple of nights, which turns into much longer. And then their relationship changes, too, although Boris tells his buddies that he just wants her out.
The film takes a left turn when Melody’s mother shows up looking for her and then a right turn when her father does, too.
WHATEVER WORKS is predictable, but very good.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“Public Enemies” Not Number 1
Jul 9th
Not Number 1
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
PUBLIC ENEMIES is a disappointment, but it just might get better over time as some movies do when their reputations grow.
However, it has so many problems that that probably won’t happen.
Johnny Depp stars as John Dillinger, the notorious bank robber in the Thirties whom the FBI classified as “Public Enemy Number 1” until he was gunned down on a Chicago street after coming out of a movie theater.
No, that isn’t a “spoiler alert.” It is a historical fact and one of the problems with the movie: You know how it is going to end, and so where is the suspense?
The film starts in 1933, and we are told that it is the fourth year of the Great Depression. Dillinger shows up at a prison where he had just been paroled eight weeks earlier after serving nine years there.
He leads an escape of some prisoners, and as they head off in a getaway car, he says, “Let’s go to Chicago and make some money!”
Now, he doesn’t mean for them to get jobs in the Windy City. He means for them to rob some banks, even though robbing banks is getting harder than it once was.
Meanwhile, we meet Christian Bale as FBI agent Melvin Purvis, the special agent in charge of the Chicago field office. He has just shot and killed Pretty Boy Floyd, another well-known gangster.
In the meantime, Dillinger has picked up a coat-check girl named Billie Frechette, played by Marion Cotillard. He tells her right away that he is John Dillinger and that he robs banks, and he impresses her enough that he manages to get her to quit her job and to leave with him.
Now, there isn’t much of a story arc and what little there is, is confusing.
Depp comes from the Marlon Brando School of Acting with his mumbling, scratching, and twitching, and sometimes you can’t understand what he says.
Also, there are so many characters with their own stories that you can’t tell who they are, and they all look so much alike that you have a hard time telling who got killed and who is still alive.
Some well-known actors, you might not even recognize.
PUBLIC ENEMIES is definitely not Number 1, but it still brings a tear to your eye at the end.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
