Details

Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 23 November 2014

Unemployed for quite some time, Louis Bloom (Gyllenhaal) has found a new profession to sink his teeth into.  Using a police scanner and a cheap video camera, he drives the streets of Los Angeles at night and tries to capture exclusive video footage of “newsworthy” events such as fires and car crashes.  He can then sell the footage to television networks to use on their much-watched breakfast programs.

There’s an early sequence where Louis arrives at the scene of a brutal carjacking.  Paramedics are treating the victim who is covered in blood and in critical condition.  A rival cameraman (Paxton) is also in attendance and is capturing the events from a few metres away.  Perhaps this is out of respect for the driver.  Perhaps because he knows news stations don’t want footage that is too unsettling.

Louis seems to have a different view of things.  He jams the camera in the face of the victim and seems to be taking pleasure from the gory footage.  It’s a moment that sums up Louis.  He’s a strange, socially awkward guy who doesn’t seem to know the difference from right and wrong.

Adding to the film’s odd premise is the fact that Louis has an enabler.  Nina Romina (Russo) is the news director for a breakfast program that is struggling in the ratings battle and is keen to use Louis’s material.  She explains that the best stories are those that involve minority perpetrators and white, middle-class victims.  Her idea of the perfect footage would involve “a screaming woman running down the street with her throat cut.”

Nightcrawler follows Louis as his moral compass goes further and further awry.  He tampers with a crime scene so as to get a better camera angle.  He sabotages his competition so as to increase his industry standing.  He uses his newfound power as a way of controlling Nina and a newly hired intern.  The fact that he’s become such a success is truly scary.

Written and directed by Dan Gilroy (a screenwriter on Real Steel and The Bourne Legacy), Nightcrawler does have something to say about the public’s fascination with certain types of news stories.  It comes back to the old adage – “if it bleeds, it leads.”  I wasn’t fully convinced by some of the behind-the-scenes newsroom stuff but thankfully, this isn’t the real focus of the film.  It’s more of a character study… and an unsettling one at that.

Jake Gyllenhaal (Donnie Darko, Brokeback Mountain) delivers a chilling performance as Louis Bloom.  He speaks in a robotic like manner and continually uses phrases which feel like they’re straight out of a self-help book.  When you throw in his passive aggressive personality, you’ve got one of the creepiest characters that we’ve seen on screen this year.  You don’t want this guy getting the upper hand on you!

An interesting piece of trivia about the film are the number of family connections.  Working behind the scenes are Dan Gilroy’s two brothers.  Tony Gilroy, who most will know as the Oscar nominated writer-director of Michael Clayton, is credited as a producer.  John Gilroy serves as the film’s editor (building on his resume which includes films such as Warrior and Pacific Rim).  In front of camera is Rene Russo (Get Shorty, The Thomas Crown Affair), Dan’s wife of more than 22 years.

The screenplay gets a little too far-fetched during the concluding stages but the positives clearly outweigh the negatives with Nightcrawler.  It’ll give you a good, hard shaking.

You can read my chat with writer-director Dan Gilroy by clicking here.

Details

Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 11 November 2014

Justin Miller (Wayans) and Ryan O’Malley (Johnson) are two guys living in Los Angeles who are going absolutely nowhere in life.  Justin works for a video game design company where he gets no admiration from his fellow employees.  His ideas are quickly scoffed at.  Ryan doesn’t even have a job.  He gets by thanks to royalties from a general herpes commercial he featured in two years ago (his only acting gig).

To put it bluntly – they’re screw-ups.  This is illustrated when they turn up to their high school reunion.  Both of them have come dressed as police officers thinking it to be a costume party.  It turns out Ryan misread the invitation.  It’s actually a masquerade party and they’re instantly the butt of everyone’s jokes.

Don’t feel sorry for them though.  Despite their silly actions, their lack of friends, and their inability to meet women, Justin and Ryan are about to have a hell of a lot of fun.  While walking home from the reunion, they find everyone looking at them differently.  It’s not because they’ve suddenly becoming better looking.  It’s because they’re still wearing the police uniforms.  Suddenly, people respect them.

There are lengthy prison sentences for those impersonating a police officer but it doesn’t deter these two.  They take their charade a step further by purchasing fake guns, bullet proof vests, and a run-down police car (complete with sirens).  They hit the streets and actually take it upon themselves to investigate crimes (well, the ones that interest them).

You could possibly argue that Justin and Ryan are the “bad guys” but since this is a light-hearted buddy comedy, you need a stereotypical bad guy for them to face off against.  This is where the film introduces us to a group of sinister Albanians who seem to be involved in everything – drugs, guns, corruption and money laundering.  They’re led by the villainous Mossi Kasic who warns them that “I’m the law here.”

That’s enough said in terms of the story.  It’s not particularly adventurous and there aren’t many laugh-out-loud moments.  There’s only so far you can take this concept and I quickly grew tired of the crude, endless chatter between the two leading characters.  They party in nightclubs, they smoke weed, and they torture suspects.  Some may find it amusing.  Others (myself included) will not.

It won’t be winning any awards but those at 20^th Century Fox won’t be complaining.  Let’s Be Cops was shot on a budget of just $14m and has already grossed in excess of $100m across the globe.  The film clearly has its fans but if I’m sitting down to watch a buddy cop comedy, I’d much rather go with Bad Boys, Lethal Weapon, Rush Hour, The Heat, The Guard or Hot Fuzz.    Those films will be remembered.  This one will not.

Details

Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 19 November 2014

To borrow the term from a friend, this latest instalment in the Hunger Games series is suffering from “part-one-itis.”  It’s an affliction that has plagued other successful franchises including Harry Potter, Twilight and The Hobbit.  I enjoyed the first two Hunger Games flicks.  I’m confident I’ll enjoy the final chapter (due for release in November 2015).

Unfortunately, this one isn’t up to scratch.  By splitting Suzanne Collins’ concluding novel into two movies (so as to double the box-office), we’re left with a film that never gets out of first gear.  It’s heavy on padding and light on action.  Its finale isn’t even close to matching the excitement from the earlier releases.

To provide a quick refresher, the Hunger Games series is set in a world with much inequality. The capital city is home to a group of wealthy families who live a comfortable life full of many luxuries.  The neighbouring districts live in poverty and their citizens work like slaves so as to serve the capital.

Each year, the capital holds a televised “game” where two representatives from each district fight to the death in a huge arena.  At the end of the last film, Catching Fire, some of the competitors managed to escape the game and fled to a far-off district.  They were led by the heroic Katniss Everdeen (Lawrence).

That brings us to the start of Mockingjay – Part 1.  The actions of Katniss have helped spawn an uprising with the districts.  They are now united in their attempts to fight back against the controlling capital and to overthrow the villainous President Snow (Sutherland).  Don’t get too excited though.  You’ll have to wait until Part 2 before the uprising hits full stride.

Instead, this instalment is focused more on planning and preparation.  Katniss is persuaded to shoot some propaganda videos which will be broadcast to the other districts to help lift their spirits.  She also must work out how to rescue her “close friend” Peeta Mellark (Hutcherson) who is being kept against his will in the capital.  Oh yeah, and there are sequences where she rescues her sister’s cat and another where she goes walking in the forest with her old flame, Gale (Hemsworth).

I do like this franchise, honestly!  It’s taking some important concepts (controlling governments, tainted media, and supressed citizens) and packaging them up as an entertainment for younger audiences.  It’ll sell a gazillion more tickets than a documentary on the equally suppressive regime in North Korea.  It’s also provided the confidence for studios to adapt similar novels for the screen (e.g. Divergent, The Giver).

Mockingjay – Part 1 is sure to have its passionate fans.  I’m thinking of those who loved the novel and will be thrilled just to see it realised on the big screen.  There are also those who are embracing this newish concept of splitting a novel into multiple parts.  It allows you to create cliff-hanger type endings similar to what we see when a popular television drama is wrapping up its season.

The themes are appealing, the characters are intriguing and the visuals are impressive.  It’s just a shame about the unnecessarily slow pace.

Details

Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 02 November 2014

A small Belgian solar panel factory has 17 employees.  One of them, Sandra (Cotillard), suffers a stress-related breakdown and is granted extended leave.  During her absence, the business goes through a slight downturn.  Management believe the work can comfortably be performed by just 16 employees.

Instead of making the tough decision himself, the boss shirks the responsibility and throws it over to the staff by way of a vote on a Friday afternoon.  They have two choices.  Option one – they can agree to terminate Sandra and with the cost savings generated, they will all receive a bonus of 1,000 euro.  Option two – they can agree to keep Sandra but they will not receive any bonus.

The vote takes places without Sandra’s knowledge and the overwhelming majority go with the first option.  The bonus was simply too great to pass up.  Sandra gets wind of the decision via a phone call and is immediately overcome with emotion.  Her income is critically important to her husband and two children.  Without Sandra’s job at the factory, they will most likely default on their mortgage and be forced into public housing.

Sandra confronts management and requests a second vote.  She argues that the employees were pressured into choosing that particular option and further, she was not present so as to put forward her own arguments.  It is agreed that a second vote will take place on Monday morning by way of a secret ballot.  It leaves Sandra with 48 hours to get in touch with her 16 co-workers and try to convince a majority that she deserves to stay.

My attention wavered during several chunks of Two Days, One Night.  Once the premise is established, it becomes repetitive in the way that Sandra tracks down and speaks to the other employees.  She outlines her position and they fire back with their own views.  Some throw their support behind her.  Others do not.  It leaves Sandra wondering if she’s in a lose-lose situation.  Even if she can win over a small majority, how easy will it be to work with those upset that they’ve lost their important bonus?

Why the film is worth your time is for its exploration of mental illness.  Sandra is already battling depression and these events have the potential to further rupture her self-esteem.  It’s a wild roller coaster.  Her spirits are instantly lifted when she speaks to a colleague who agrees to vote for her.  All that positivity is lost an hour later when she speaks to someone else with an opposing view.  It leaves her husband, Manu (Rongione), scrambling to keep his wife upbeat.

After premiering at Cannes, the film moved on to the 2014 Sydney Film Festival where it defeated 11 other films to win the Official Competition.  It was recently announced as Belgium’s entry for the foreign language category at the 2015 Academy Awards and many pundits believe it will be nominated.  Much of the praise is being directed at French actress Marion Cotillard (La Vie En Rose, Inception) who is terrific in the leading role.  She draws on a wide range of emotions and her passionate performance with resonate with many.

Details

Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 13 November 2014

American author Dennis Lehane has some powerful fans in Hollywood.  Three of his novels have previously been brought to the big screen by top-notch directors – Clint Eastwood for Mystic River, Ben Affleck for Gone Baby Gone and Martin Scorsese for Shutter Island.  The catch is that while these intriguing films were based on Lehane’s work, other writers were responsible for the adaptation from lengthy novel to two-hour screenplay.

That’s not the case this time around.  Based on his own short story (entitled “Animal Rescue”), Lehane has crafted a script that bears all the trademarks of a traditional crime drama.  It centres on a quiet, unassuming guy named Bob Saginowski (Hardy).  He doesn’t seem that bright and his social skills are lacking.  That said, he’s somehow found a job working at a small bar named Cousin Marv’s.

Marv’s (Gandolfini) name may still be on the front door but he’s no longer the owner.  He sold out years ago to a group of wealthy Chechens who are using the bar as part of a money laundering operation.  Bob and Marv take home their small salary and turn a blind eye to all the illegal activity.  It’s not like they have a choice though.  Those who have double-crossed the Chechens have a knack for disappearing… permanently.

Things start to get messy when the bar is held up late one night.  The two masked thieves escape with only about $5,000 in cash but that’s not really the point.  The question is – who would have the audacity to steal from the wealthy Chechens?  Did they simply not know who owned the bar?  Or is there something much more devious going on here?

A few other characters are brought into the mix to keep you guessing.  Detective Torres (Ortiz) is investigating the robbery and a handful of other crimes in the neighbourhood.  Nadia (Rapace) is a young woman from the neighbourhood with a hidden past.  Eric Deeds (Schoenaerts) is a local goon who is suspected of being involved in a much talked about murder.

This is a decent drama.  It’s not ruined by overly convenient moments or unbelievable twists (as tends to be case with such films).  You may be a little confused by these characters are first but as their motivations are revealed, you start to realise the sense in their actions.  It all leads up to a worthy ending and a particularly memorable line from the police detective (which sums it all up).

That said, it is a little slow in places.  A significant chunk of time is spent watching Bob bond with a puppy dog that he finds in a rubbish bin.  Yes, it’s a cute dog that will woo audiences but it feels like an odd plot device.  I’m not fully sold on its purpose.  I was also unconvinced by the budding friendship / relationship between Bob and Nadia.  It’s hard to figure out what’s drawn them to each other.

It’s worth noting that The Drop marks the final on-screen performance for James Gandolfini (The Sopranos) who passed away in June last year.  It’s nice to see him one final time and so yeah, that in itself is a good enough reason to see this film.