It's Good, For the Lack of a Better Word

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

**1/2 out of ****

Directed by: Oliver Stone

Starring: Michael Douglas, Shia LaBeouf, Carey Mulligan, Josh Brolin and Frank Langella

Running time: 133 minutes

Stock markets across the globe had just been dealt a crippling blow when Wall Street hit movie houses in the December of 1987. Its follow-up, subtitled Money Never Sleeps, opens with a similar sense of gloom permeating through the global economy. But while the original film’s aura of excess and bravado has remained relevant, Money Never Sleeps is unlikely to follow in its daddy’s footsteps. It’s a timely financial thriller, but not a timeless one.

In 2001, Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) is released from prison. No one is there for him when he leaves. His son has committed suicide, and his daughter, Winnie (Carey Mulligan), has abandoned him. Living off a limited supply of cash, the man who once proclaimed that “Greed is good” has other matters on his mind. He wants to reconnect with Winnie and get revenge on Bretton James (Josh Brolin), a CEO whose testimony kept him in prison for longer than his sentence stipulated.

Gekko’s reconciliation alongside a new economic climate would have made for a fascinating character study, and having one of Hollywood’s most culturally symbolic villains get a second stab at financial glory certainly warrants a sequel.

Unfortunately, Gekko’s travails are a mere subplot in Money Never Sleeps. The film primarily focuses on Jacob Moore (Shia LaBeouf), a young proprietary trader. He is engaged to Winnie, and upon meeting Gordon, asks him to help bring down James, whom he suspects is responsible for the death of his mentor (Frank Langella).

Gekko’s and Moore’s overlapping storylines compete for the spotlight, but the latter (and less interesting) one wins out, absorbing a greater chunk of the film’s bloated running time. LaBeouf is great, though, as the brash, whipsmart trader who doesn’t feel the need to be anyone’s protégé.

There’s a lot of smart, sophisticated entertainment in Money Never Sleeps. The storylines move at a steady clip, and much of the financial jargon is spouted out at a similar rate – director Oliver Stone expects us to know these terms and doesn’t spoon-feed his audience.

The films looks rich and glossy, but Stone drapes the high-octane business world with a set of varied colours by exposing the darker machinations on Wall Street. To the surprise of nobody, the controversial director uses moments within the film to state his own views on the economic downturn.

There is a healthy market of strong performances here, but their high buying price is marred by questionable storytelling choices. Audiences want to get underneath Gekko's slimy skin one more time, but Stone retreats from this request by upstaging that character with another. Isn't that just greedy?

Ben's Back, Baby, Back

The Town

**** out of ****

Directed by: Ben Affleck

Starring: Ben Affleck, Rebecca Hall, Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner and Chris Cooper

Running time: 123 minutes

It wasn’t long ago when Ben Affleck was tabloid fodder, dismissed by critics for picking poor screenplays (Pearl Harbor, Gigli, the aptly titled Paycheck) and an easy target for gossip columnists due to his high-profile romances. Now, he’s the toast of the town with his latest film, also called The Town, where he doesn’t just prove that he’s a triple-threat talent – he is screenwriter, director and star – but a mature, accomplished filmmaker and master storyteller.

An epigraph opens the film, explaining that Charlestown (the place where our story is set) is the bank robbery capital of the world. One spectator glumly notes that bank robbers often pass down the torch of their notorious trade to the next generation.

The Town elaborates on that point. Doug MacRay (Affleck) is a second-generation criminal, with his father (Chris Cooper) in jail for life. MacRay is now making a living off holding up banks and other locales with a team of three others, including a hard-nosed firecracker, ‘Jem’ (Jeremy Renner, who went from acting alongside IEDs in The Hurt Locker to a character so intense, he's bound to explode at any minute).

MacRay and Co. rob a bank, and take its frazzled bank manager, Claire (Rebecca Hall) at gunpoint. MacRay decides to keep watch on her when hearing that she lives nearby. He eventually asks her out on a date, and they fall deeply in love. Meanwhile, a gruff FBI agent in the form of Don Draper himself (that would be Jon Hamm), who has been following MacRay’s gang from their inception, is on their case for a series of burglaries.

What makes this crime-centric film work astoundingly well is its sense of character and place. Affleck’s script, which he co-wrote with Peter Craig and Aaron Stockard (adapted from a pulpy Chuck Hogan novel) is concerned with the characters, their veering moral compasses and their relationships to each other amidst a town full of consequence and danger. Strong two-person scenes capture the pungent atmosphere of menace (when Affleck is on screen with Renner) and aching vulnerability (Affleck with Hall) within Charlestown.

As a director, Affleck capably generates taut, efficiently paced heist sequences and exciting getaway action. A thrilling set-piece where MacRay and company infiltrate a armoured truck and make off with the loot on bumpy, narrow sidestreets, for instance, has a kinetic energy but is edited with clarity.

We all knew Affleck could write (he garnered a Best Original Screenplay Oscar for Good Will Hunting alongside good pal Matt Damon in 1998). But here, he doesn’t just compose action sequences with command and confidence. He is also an actor’s director, using the strong characterization supplied in the script to guide him in getting pitch-perfect performances (especially from Hall, Renner and a surprisingly fierce Blake Lively). For those who used to think Affleck’s career was gone, baby, gone, I’ve got news for you. He’s back, baby. Back.

What Contemporary Cinema Can Learn From Television

During the late 1990s and the earliest years of last decade, the North American box office saw the strongest years of attendance since the early 1980s, when they had started publicly calculating box office totals. Since then, the number of receipts tallied has dropped considerably (in 2008, there were nearly 250 million fewer tickets sold than in 2002, the most attended year on record).

Box office analysts were keen to jump on reasons for this sudden decrease: the lack of original ideas coming from Hollywood boardrooms (despite a more crowded marketplace); the DVD format making the home-viewing experience a formidable one; and, the obscene climb in ticket prices.

During this period of box office remiss, a different format was experiencing a hefty rise. Throughout the last ten years, the quality of network and cable television programming has catapulted, elevating storytelling and craftsmanship to levels rarely seen in any medium of entertainment.

Perhaps audiences who would normally spend their time at the local multiplex were finding a better and more diverse set of options in comedy, drama and suspense on the small screen.

Just in time for the beginning of a new season of television, here's some friendly advice to give film writers, producers and directors, on how their films can learn from the narrative and creative merits of television's finest shows.

Here's What Hollywood Can Learn About Comedy from Modern Family:

--- Jokes and situations don’t have to be mean-spirited to be funny. You can "poke fun" at common stereotypes without "making fun."

--- Kids can be funny, too. So can women.

--- Single life may seem glamorous to those behind raunchy comedies, but married life can capably pack in comedy bit after comedy bit without becoming tiresome.

--- Don’t overload scripts with secondary characters that have little purpose. If you have an excellent ensemble, just stick with them. They’re all you need.

--- Write characters as if you know them personally. The Dunphys and Pritchetts remind us of our own families, and so we feel at home every time we tune in.

--- Don't force situational comedy. Let it flow naturally from within the scene or sequence. We don't see the comic scenario coming a mile away if the main point of the scene is to advance the narrative and not to provide a mere backdrop for the amusements.

Modern Family returns for Season #2 on Wednesday, September 22.

What Hollywood Can Learn About Crime Thrillers from Dexter:

--- Investigators and police officers are much more fascinating if they have a dark side.

2) --- Raise the stakes. The more conflict and dramatic tension there is, the more we learn about the characters and more investment we have in the story. We'll stick with your story if we're eager to see where things are going.

3) --- Not all crime scenes will get results right away, and most don't. Long, wieldy investigations with a lot of red herrings can keep the characters – and the audience – on their toes.

4) --- Don’t be afraid to test the audience’s moral compass. On Dexter, we’re rooting for a criminal to prevail, hoping that nobody will discover his secret identity.

--- Dramatic irony rules! Catching the bad guy is nowhere as exhilarating as watching him avoid getting caught, which Dexter has swiftly managed to do for four seasons. Watching our favourite spatter specialist get away with it all keeps us coming back for more. It's the whole bloody fun of the show.

Dexter returns for its fifth season on Sunday September 26.

What Hollywood Can Learn About Kids’ Films (or Films Featuring Young Actors) from Glee:

1) --- So many films and television series angled toward children have a bland, homogenized depiction of young adults. All kids are interesting, so all young characters need to extend beyond the cliches normally attributed to them.

2) --- Teachers are among the most inspiring figures in a child’s life. That fact can be expressed on film, too.

3) --- Kids are curious and know a lot about more adult matters (sex, for instance) than many would suspect. So don’t condescend to young audiences with naïve characters and squeaky-clean subject matter.

--- Being a kid is fun. The tone of the production should then be cheery, charming, and maybe even a wee bit cheesy.

--- Kids have heard the "be true to yourself' message a million times before. But there are ways to present it in an inventive and engaging way (through pop songs, for instance).

The 2nd season of Glee premiered on Tuesday September 21.

What Hollywood Can Learn About Dramatic Narrative from Friday Night Lights (currently, my favourite program still on the air):

1) --- Without conflict, there is no tension, no action and no reason for a character to change or develop. The more conflict you have, the more absorbed an audience will be in the story and in the protagonist.

2) --- It’s all fourth downs for many of the characters on FNL. Then again, the more difficult and agonizing it is for one to achieve their own personal victory - either on or off the field - the sweeter that victory is.

3) --- The United States is full of vibrant communities. Metropolitan areas have little left to offer on the big screen while small middle-America ruralities can paint a blisteringly powerful portrait of life at the current moment. These places all have stories to tell.

4) --- Don’t be afraid to tackle family drama. Done right, it can be the most brutally honest material in a dramatic narrative.

5 ---- Avoid glamour and romanticism. The characters on FNL are conflicted even before the episode’s central conflicts come into play. There’s little money to go around. As a result, they don’t always do the right thing. They sacrifice doing what’s enjoyable for doing what’s necessary.

Friday Night Lights returns to DirecTV on October 27, and will air on NBC next spring. It will be the show's 5th and final season.

Welcome to the Jungle

Animal Kingdom

***1/2 out of ****

Directed by: David Michod

Starring: James Frecheville, Ben Mendelsohn, Joel Edgerton, Jacki Weaver and Guy Pearce

Running time: 112 minutes

Hungry for a lean, hard-boiled crime thriller with plenty of meaty performances? Look no further than Animal Kingdom, an electric feature film debut from Australian writer/director David Michod.

Newcomer James Frecheville is Joshua ‘J’ Cody, a teen who moves in with his grandmother (Jacki Weaver) and three uncles after his mother dies from a heroin overdose. The family has ties in Melbourne’s shady criminal underworld, and they plan to initiate ‘J’ into their menacing retreats.

But after two police officers are shot (elements from Kingdom were loosely inspired by the Melbourne-bred Walsh Street shootings), an earnest detective (Guy Pearce) suspects that the Cody clan is behind the murders and makes 'J' the prime witness to the family’s whereabouts.

Michod handles his first feature film with an assured grip. He wisely establishes the family dynamic early, and has the camera linger on the natural behaviour within their habitat, rather than in the drug-dealing and blood-ridden scores elsewhere. The film is patient in the sense that it takes its time in figuring out the characters, but busy in how actively it exposes the dark undercurrents of the malicious Cody kingdom.

The suspense starts building when we realize that something’s making this family tick, but – like 'J' – we can only sniff out the tension. By refraining from going into the exact details of this criminal underground, we never know when, how, and from who the menace will strike next (the motives for these outbursts are not always given up-front).

The performances from an all-Australian cast are exceptional. Hopefully, these actors will get more overseas recognition in the future.

As Smurf – the mother whose bite could eat her young – Jacki Weaver is ruthlessly cold and calculating. Although Smurf warms up to ‘J’ by reciting poignant memories of his mother, there is a sharpness in Weaver’s eyes that suggests otherwise.

Likewise, Ben Mendelsohn is arresting as Andrew Cody, the oldest and creepiest uncle of the lot. He often exhibits a distant, yet hypnotic gaze that hints at an emptiness languishing inside of him. His villainy is subtle yet simmers underneath all of the mayhem.

Finally, Guy Pearce shows a police officer's noble conviction with great focus and authority (remember, he did enter the public's radar over a decade ago as the by-the-book lieutenant in L.A. Confidential, and he's equally as good here).

Animal Kingdom is brilliantly acted, hauntingly filmed, and incredibly suspenseful - mostly because it knows how and when to pounce on an unsuspecting audience. It ranks among the year's best films.

Summer 2010: A Recap

Well, another summer at the movies is officially in the books. Here’s my recap of the summer’s best and worst cinematic offerings, divided into three categories and followed by their starred rating (out of ****):

The Best of the Best:

Exit Through the Gift Shop: A fascinating, intriguing and howlingly funny documentary of sorts from the guerilla art phantom known as Banksy. By following documentarian Thierry Guetta, who made it his duty to chronicle the adventures of street artists across L.A., and then turning on a dime to attack people like Guetta himself, Banksy stuns us by testing the audience on what constitutes art while delivering a film that's a masterpiece in itself. [****]

Toy Story 3: An exceptional sequel that works on two levels: first, as an exuberant roller-coaster of sparkling visuals, exhilarating set pieces and pure manic fun, and second, as an emotionally grueling throat-grabber. It’s a dark, intelligent and moving meditation about growing up and moving on. Pixar understands that this Story wouldn’t be worth telling if not for these toys we have such personal investment in. [****]

Inception: No wonder this film has enraptured audiences with its big thrills and even bigger ideas: it’s conceptually ambitious, emotionally complex and thought-provoking while delivering one of the most labyrinthian science-fiction universes ever constructed, molded entirely from the mind of writer/director Christopher Nolan. DiCaprio gives one of his most assured performances as a man having trouble grasping hold of what’s real and what’s not. Meanwhile, he must lead a complex espionage mission that's quite the mind-bender - literally. With layers upon layers constantly being added to this sci-fi puzzle, Inception makes you ponder even as it leaves you spellbound. [***1/2]

Lebanon: Yes, this is another Israeli film set during the Lebanon War. But what makes this one unique is how chillingly realistic it is. Almost the entirety of this 93-minute film is spent within the confines of a grimy tank (director Samuel Maoz was a gunner in a tank during the War, and much of the film is derived from his experiences). With the viewfinder of the tank being the only porthole to the violence outside, Maoz’s film is both gripping and almost unbearably suspenseful. War movies mainly succeed by placing the audience within the strife, and Lebanon achieves this with technical mastery and utter simplicity. [***1/2]

Despicable Me: Sure, it doesn’t have the emotional depth of Pixar’s best works. But this delightful animated flick about a dastardly villain named Gru who must take care of three orphaned girls is slyly funny without being demeaning and sentimental without being sappy. Steve Carell uses a European accent to great effect to voice Gru, while the infectiously funny team of minions should just get a film of their own. [***]

The Kids are All Right: The adults are more than all right, too. I’m referring to the pitch-perfect performances by Annette Bening and Julianne Moore as a lesbian couple whose marriage is tested by the arrival of the sperm-donor father (Mark Ruffalo). The poignancy and messiness of marriage are so accurately depicted – without ever the need to comment on the couple’s homosexuality – that it almost makes us forget about an unconvincing plot development. Almost. [***]

Micmacs: From Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amelie) comes a comedy that is less of a coherent film than one dazzling set-piece of shenanigans after another. Dany Boon is a video store owner with a bullet submerged inside his head. Alongside a crew of colourful companions, he goes against the weapons manufacturers who made the bullet. Even though the film aims for quirk over substance a few too many times, Jeunet's tribute to silent-era zaniness of the Keaton-Lloyd variety is abundantly creative with its visual humour and sly comedic timing. [***]

Restrepo: Journalist Sebastian Junger and photographer Tim Hetherington spent one year examining the lives of an American platoon in the Korengal, a valley in Afghanistan, not far from Taliban forces. Restrepo is a fine piece of photojournalism, shot from handheld cameras (even during combat) and starring the courageous men that lived and fought in one of the most dangerous postings in Afghanistan. [***]

Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage: The progressive rock trio documented in Sam Dunn and Scott McFadyen’s documentary says in one of their biggest hits that, “If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.” If you choose not to see this documentary, you’ve made a choice to ignore an insightful and hugely entertaining flick. This doc tells all about one of rock and roll’s most important and prolific groups – a group which managed to sell millions of albums without ever shattering their illusion of integrity – with the help of some excellent archival material and a flurry of colourful interviews. {***]

The Trotsky: High school comedies are usually lowbrow, so a Canadian-made film about a student who starts a revolution becomes he claims he’s the reincarnation of a revolutionary manages to be something quite different. It’s refreshingly witty and features a tour-de-force from Jay Baruchel as the eccentric if sweet-natured title character. Even though the film’s subplots often feel contrived and a tad rushed, this is Baruchel’s movie. And like the figure he emulates, he effective leads the film to the status of a minor Canadian classic. [***]

Winter’s Bone: A tough film in the way it demands its audience to stay with its bleak Ozark surroundings and nearly hopeless tone, what makes Winter’s Bone so effective is in the soul of protagonist Ree Dolly. Dolly’s journey to find her bail-jumping, drug-dealing father while keeping her family safe from a community of criminals is riveting. And she’s portrayed with grit and grace by Jennifer Lawrence. The film is slow in building momentum and sometimes tough to stomach, but the raw, tragic drama is gripping. [***]

The Middle of the Pack:

The A-Team: If you go into The A-Team expecting a work of high art, prepare to leave disappointed. Sure, the plot’s not much and the characters are essentially cartoons, but as a highly caffeinated action picture, the film succeeds. That’s mostly due to the ensemble cast – which includes Liam Neeson and District 9’s Sharlto Copley – who convincingly hold all of the lunacy together. [**1/2]

Ajami: The stories within the titular Jaffa town which houses Jews, Arabs and Christians are compelling. The storytelling techniques which co-directors Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani use to tell these stories make this feature not just one about struggle, but one which is a struggle to follow. The numerous characters and subplots are a crowded bunch, and the non-linear storytelling doesn’t help matters. It’s worth noting that this is a film crafted with both Israeli and Palestinian crews, and certain sequences are quite gripping, but it’s a bit too muddled and confusing to make much of an impact. [**1/2]

Iron Man 2: The sequel to the massively successful 2008 comic-book adaptation is flashier and contains a broader array of gadgets than its predecessor. But while it’s grandly entertaining (Favreau has improved as an action director), and features another electric performance from Downey Jr., the underwritten subplots and lack of engaging secondary characters makes this follow-up quite disposable. That’s what happens when more time is focused on the machines than to the people inside of them. [**1/2]

Robin Hood: Oh, Errol Flynn, how we miss you so. While that’s not to disservice this handsomely mounted and enthralling adventure, Ridley Scott’s origin story of the Prince of Thieves lacks the fun we expect from the legend. [**1/2]

Salt: Homaging the Cold War era espionage thrillers that the film’s director, Philip Noyce, used to make, Angelina Jolie plays a CIA agent who may also be a Russian spy. The film becomes increasingly preposterous, and the final third is just ridiculous. But the pacing is quick and efficient, and Jolie continues to prove her stature as a bona-fide action star. [**1/2]

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) is a Toronto teenager who must battle his object of affection’s seven ex-boyfriends to claim her. The battles are fought in a universe styled like a video-game, and that’s where Edgar Wright dazzles us with his visual flair and entertains us with his referential humour. But elsewhere, the film leaves us cold. Not a single character or situation feels authentic. It's hard to care for the outcome of the battles if we don’t feel for what’s at stake. [**1/2]

The Bottom of the Barrel:

The Other Guys: Will Ferrell plays the oblivious good cop. Mark Wahlberg plays the hard-nosed tough guy. Together, their antics in this sendup of the police buddy comedy should work. And they do… for the first 45 minutes. But as two-dimensional characters in an only sporadically funny film, there’s only so much material the two can tolerate before the film eventually becomes tiresome. [**]

Knight and Day: Tom Cruise is a suave assassin who kidnaps Cameron Diaz to help with some hijinks and operations around the world. Too bad the film’s all smiles, no substance. There is no spark of chemistry between the two actors. There are no thrills in the mundane action sequences. And there is not an inkling of wit or humour either. If it weren’t for the A-list pairing of Diaz and Cruise, it would be hard to care for a single element of this dimwitted action-comedy. [*1/2]

The Expendables: Sylvester Stallone first made an impression by handily fighting large carcasses of meat in Rocky. It’s too bad what may be his final big-screen affair – as a leader of a testosterone-filled group of mercenaries – is also a big hunk of meat. It's a bona-fide turkey. Even though the projector went out an hour into my screening (thank goodness), I feel safe to say that there were enough insipid attempts at acting, lazy attempts at character and plot development, and purely ineffective attempts at staging coherent combat scenes to garner this film the one-star rating it already deserved. [*]

Well, I'm Back!

I hope that all of your summer vacations went swimmingly. I took a two-month leave of absence from the Screening Room to be a counsellor at Camp White Pine this summer (pictured above). Suffice to say, the whole thing went by way too quickly.

The Screening Room has many changes in sight for the coming year. This year, there will be as many articles as there are reviews (I penned only a couple of articles last year, as opposed to nearly 50 reviews). The columns will usually be focused on film and popular culture. I may also choose to write up on something from the world of music, television or literature – I am not only passionate about film, folks.

Reviews will still be commonplace, but since I’m promising a greater capacity of my creative work, NOT ONE REVIEW WILL EXCEED 500 WORDS (past posts usually contained between 600 and 800 words).

Also, I urge you all to vote in the weekly poll (yes, there will be a new poll every week). Furthermore, do your best to leave a comment at the bottom of the article or review. I love hearing feedback on my work – both complimentary and constructive – and I really appreciate what you all have to say.

I am currently catching up on many films that I missed when away this summer. Next weekend, I will post my Summer Recap of the dozen or so films that I viewed this past season. There will be a small blurb on each, and whether or not they are worth checking out (in theaters or on DVD) or should be skipped entirely. I was quite impressed with many of the films I saw the past three months (four films so far have received a ***1/2 rating or higher). But there were some disappointments, too.

I am looking forward to other great year of viewing, discussing and writing about the truly awesome world of movies and popular culture.

Thanks!

Jordan Zachary Adler