Category Archives: Movie Reviews

Movie reviews: ‘American Sniper,’ ‘The Wedding Ringer,’ ‘Blackhat’

 

Bradley Cooper and Sienna Miller in 'American Sniper' (Waner Bros)

“American Sniper” 4 stars (out of four)

Clint Eastwood brilliantly directs the best film of 2014 with “American Sniper,” a compelling big-screen adaptation of the autobiography of late Navy SEAL Chris Kyle. An emotionally charged and brutally honest portrayal of the most prolific sniper in American military history, the film is honorable in that it’s not necessarily about heroics, but a heartbreaking, warts-and-all portrait of Kyle during his four tours of duty in Iraq, and the effects the war has on his loved ones at home.

A God-fearing military man who loves his country, Kyle, played with layered subtlety by Cooper, is taciturn, and appears to take no great joy in what he does. Forgoing any sort of “oorah” chants, his duty as a sniper behind the long barrel of an M40 rifle is one that he’s humbled by. If he does his job, his fellow soldiers live. If he doesn’t, they die.

Interview: Sienna Miller talks ‘American Sniper’

While “American Sniper” features perhaps the most authentic Iraq War scenes ever filmed, Cooper hauntingly brings the war home in his head, dealing with the psychological torment of a man operating on an extremely high, adrenaline fueled level, who is forced in the course of a day-trip home to downshift to the seemingly mundane life he leads at home in America.

It’s here where “American Sniper” becomes a well-rounded story, where Chris’s wife, Taya (Sienna Miller), tries to tap into the conflicted mind of her husband who can’t seem to embrace his duties as a family man because he’s too preoccupied with how many lives of soldiers he could be saving if he were back on the battlefield. He only finds his peace in other soldiers worth saving – the men and women physically and psychologically wounded in VA hospitals on the home front – a path that ultimately leads to his untimely death.

Whether it’s recreating the chaos of the battlefield or the monotony of Kyle sitting at home in front of a blank TV screen, Eastwood is in complete command of “American Sniper.” The film, naturally, is at its most poignant at its conclusion, where the director showcases real-life photos and videos of Chris and Taya Kyle, and the ultimate salute he received by his country after his death. Ultimately, Eastwood and Cooper humanize the man the enemies feared, and rightfully so, called “The Legend.”

Reviewed in brief:

“The Wedding Ringer” (R) 3 stars (out of four)

Kevin Hart and Josh Gad are hilarious in “The Wedding Ringer,” a predictable yet cleverly conceived comedy that is funny throughout despite some very disgusting, over-the-top gross-out moments.

Gad stars as Doug Harris, a loveable loser who realizes two weeks before his wedding to his high maintenance fiancée, Gretchen (Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting), that he has no friends: a big problem, considering he needs to come up with a best man and six groomsmen for the big day. Lucky for Doug, there’s a service for such quandaries, run by the fast-talking, silky smooth hustler Jimmy Callahan (Hart), who for $50,000, assembles a rag-tag bunch of “friends” for his client – a group, that along with Doug, makes him realize that he just may be lonesome himself.

Hart and Gad provide a perfect comedic one-two punch in “The Wedding Ringer,” and thanks to unlikely comedic turns by Ken Howard as Doug’s future father-in-law and the always adorable Cloris Leachman as Gretchen’s grandma, it thankfully avoids becoming a one-joke movie. It’s even charming if not a tiny bit poignant at times, bringing a strange sense of balance to the movie, considering it’s about as politically incorrect as a comedy gets.

“Blackhat” (R) 1 1/2 stars (out of four)

What should be a timely film about cybercrime is mostly just a cy-bore.

“Blackhat,” without a doubt, has all the right elements to construct a top-notch thriller, from director Michael Mann to “Thor” star Chris Hemsworth and a solid supporting casting including “The Help” Oscar nominee Viola Davis, but in the end, simply fails to connect with its audience. It starts out with promise and intrigue with a cyber-attack on a Chinese nuclear plant and the Mercantile Trade Exchange in Chicago, but quickly takes a sharp dive into a lumbering, aimless chase film where the feds spring a dangerous, imprisoned hacker (Hemsworth) to help ferret out the bad guy.

Mann, the “Miami Vice” TV director who went on to helm such modern classics as “Heat” and “The Insider,” never seems to find the right pacing and sense of tension with “Blackhat.” Try as he might to carry the film, Hemsworth, speaking with an American wiseguy accent, goes through the action movie motions on his way to the Mann-like one-on-one confrontation with the villain – an underwhelming development in that is played by the largely-unknown Yorick van Wageningen. So much for another Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro “Heat”-like confrontation that made the crime thriller such a nail-biter.

Tim Lammers is a veteran entertainment reporter and a member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association, and annually votes on the Critics Choice Movie Awards. Locally, he reviews films for “KARE 11 News at 11” and various Minnesota radio stations.

Movie reviews: ‘Taken 3,’ ‘Selma,’ ‘Inherent Vice’

Liam Neeson in 'Taken 3' (photo -- 20th Century Fox)

“Taken 3” (PG-13) 2 stars (out of four)

It Ends Here, the tagline on the poster for “Taken 3” promises and thank God.

“Taken 3,” presumably the last in Liam Neeson’s “Taken” saga that arrived with a bang in 2008, is the perfect example of an unnecessary sequel in a franchise being milked for all it’s worth. The first film – about Neeson’s daughter (Maggie Grace) being kidnapped by sex traffickers – was a spectacular action thriller; and its 2012 follow-up, where Neeson and his ex-wife (Famke Janssen) were taken as a revenge for his actions in the original, was average at best.

The newest installment doesn’t fare any better. At least no one is taken in it, which would have been an utterly ridiculous. Instead, it’s a chase movie and revenge thriller that isn’t any better or worse than any other films in the action genre. The big benefit here is the brand recognition and a likeable trio of leads with Neeson, Janssen and Grace, and the addition of the always great Forest Whitaker as detective who pursues Bryan Mills (Neeson) throughout the film.

The trailer and the TV spots pretty much let the cat out of the bag as far as the driving element of the plot is concerned: Ex-CIA operative Mills’ (Neeson) wife, Lenore (Janssen), is murdered, and Mills is framed for it. Wanted by the CIA, the FBI and the Los Angeles Police Department, Mills puts his “particular set of skills” to work to elude the authorities and find the real killers.

Interview: Famke Janssen talks “Taken 3”

From there, “Taken 3” goes on auto-pilot, employing the same sort of high-kinetic action and adventure that juiced up the prior two films in the trilogy. Stocked with Russian bad guys who are after Lenore’s suspicious husband (Dougray Scott), “Taken 3” has one semi-clever plot twist, but in the end, it just feels like a boring retread of umpteen films we’ve seen before.

If you don’t want to be, well, taken, for a lackluster ride, do yourself a favor and watch the original again, or check out Neeson’s under-rated detective thriller “A Walk Among the Tombstones” from earlier this year. Neeson is still one of the most charismatic actors out there, and with the right material, his “particular set of skills” work quite well.

Reviewed in brief:

“Selma” (PG-13)  3 stars (out of four)

It’s about time that the story of Martin Luther King Jr.’s voting rights march in 1965 from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, be told on the big screen – and it’s a big shame the film is being mired in controversy.

“Selma,” director Ava Duvernay’s unflinching depiction of the brutality marchers sustained in 1965, presents a huge quandary. On one hand, it’s an expertly-directed film that features brilliant performances by David Oyelowo and Carmen Ejogo as Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King, respectively; but on the flip side, former aides, historians and even one King’s associates are crying foul over the portrayal of President Lyndon B. Johnson (Tom Wilkenson) — who comes off as more of an obstructionist in the events leading up to the voting rights act than a partner in the efforts.

Minus the objectionable material, the bulk of “Selma” remains an important and necessary film for our times. Having said that, Hollywood still needs to be held accountable for the leeway filmmakers take when bending historical fact for the sake of creating drama on the big screen.

“Inherent Vice” (R)  3 stars (out of four)

Joaquin Phoenix stars in what is easily the biggest disappointment – and worst film – of last year.

The film’s top-shelf talent, which also includes Josh Brolin, is completely wasted by Paul Thomas Anderson’s pretentious direction, and a nonsensical script that’s virtually impossible to grasp.

Dreadful and plodding, this movie should have been called “Incoherent Vice.”

Tim Lammers is a veteran entertainment reporter and a member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association, and annually votes on the Critics Choice Movie Awards. Locally, he reviews films for “KARE 11 News at 11” and various Minnesota radio stations.

Tim Lammers picks top movies of 2014

Agree or disagree, here’s this year’s Top 10 list — wedging in 14 of the best movies on the big screen in 2014. See you at the movies in 2015.

10. “The Box Trolls”/”The Lego Movie”“The Boxtrolls” proves why stop-motion is still the best of all forms of animation, and “The Lego Movie,” a computer-animated film that mimics the under-appreciated art form, proves why we need more.

9. “Unbroken”/”Fury” — Directors Angelina Jolie and David Ayer shine proper lights on the unsung heroes of World War II: POW survivor Louie Zamperini in “Unbroken,” and a Sherman tank crew forced to do horrific things in order to survive in “Fury.” What Jolie lacks in context of Zamperini’s sufferings in the PG-13 “Unbroken” is more than made up for in brutally realistic R-rated “Fury,” starring, oddly enough, Jolie’s husband Brad Pitt.

Bradley Cooper in 'American Sniper' (photo Warner Bros.)
Bradley Cooper in ‘American Sniper’ (photo Warner Bros.).

8. “The Imitation Game”/”Big Eyes” — The amazing tale of Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch) is told on two levels: One about Turing the  genius mathematician who invents a pre-cursor to the computer to help the British break German’s Enigma code during World War II; and second Turing as gay man in a time where homosexuality was outlawed in the U.K. Since his covert efforts with Britain’s MI: 6 technically didn’t exist, not even saving millions of lives couldn’t prevent the persecution of one life – Turning’s own. “Big Eyes,” meanwhile, tells another true story about secrets – this one set in pop art scene of the 1950s and ’60s – through the unique cinematic brushstrokes of canvas and film artist Tim Burton.

7. “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”/”X-Men: Days of Future Past” — While the wonderfully funny and action-packed “Guardians of the Galaxy” marked a departure to the light side for Marvel Studios, the latest film in “The Avengers” superhero saga daringly ventured down the complete opposite path with a ’70s political thriller twist, to boot. Though technically not a Marvel Studios property, “Days of Future Past” and star Hugh Jackman did its Marvel Comics roots justice by righting some wrongs from previous films in the “X-Men” series.

6. “St. Vincent” — Bill Murray is at his best in the feel-good movie of the year as a ne’er do-well with a heart of gold and chamber of heartbreaking secrets. Melissa McCarthy, Naomi Watts, Chris O’Dowd and newcomer Jaeden Lieberher complete the joyous halo that encircles Murray in “St. Vincent,” a dramedy that’s every bit as poignant as it is funny.

5. “Gone Girl” – Director David Fincher is at the top of his game in Gillian Flynn’s complex crime thriller, expertly adapted by the screenwriter from her own best-selling novel. Featuring one of the best ensemble casts of the year (including Ben Affleck, Carrie Coon, Kim Dickens, Tyler Perry, Neil Patrick Harris, Missi Pyle and Sela Ward), “Gone Girl” is taken to a whole new level by former Bond girl Rosamund Pike in what’s easily the best female lead performance of the year.

4. “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” – Director Matt Reeves pulls off the impossible by topping “Dawn’s” predecessor, “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” – a brilliant reboot of a classic film series. The apes continue to evolve in “Dawn,” and so does the story and Andy Serkis’ motion capture acting. Awards voters better soon get with the program and accept what Serkis does as a legitimate form of acting.

3. “Birdman” – Michael Keaton gives a career performance as a struggling big-screen superhero trying to reinvent himself on Broadway in “Birdman,” the most inventively staged film of the year. The only reason this film works is because of Keaton, who will no doubt enjoy a career renaissance with an Oscar nomination (if not a win) in his future. Of course, it helps to have Edward Norton in your cast, who is as brilliant as ever in a crucial supporting role.

2. “Whiplash” – J.K. Simmons gives the one of the best performances of the year as a conniving, vitriolic jazz conservatory instructor who uses mental abuse in an effort to try to bring out the best in his students – specifically an immensely talented but emotionally fragile drummer (Miles Teller). Simmons is so explosive in “Whiplash” that he makes Louis Gossett Jr. in “An Officer and a Gentleman” feel like a pre-school teacher.

1. “American Sniper” – Director Clint Eastwood places you in the thick of the battle in the Iraq war while Bradley Cooper puts you in Chris Kyle’s conflicted mind in this brutally honest portrayal of the most lethal sniper in the American military. Sienna Miller is also heartbreaking at Kyle’s wife, Taya, a woman suffering the residual effects war has on families. To say the film is riveting is an huge understatement, especially given the tragic fate that awaits Kyle as he finally finds his peace and tries to help other veterans adjust to life on the home front.

Most over-rated movie of the year: “Boyhood” — It’s a clever idea no doubt, filming a child’s life over a 12-year period and there’s no deny the effort and planning director Richard Linklater put into the project, but ultimately, “Boyhood” feels like a gimmick because of a mostly uneventful story. Perhaps critics were ultimately more fascinated with the idea of making a movie over 12-year period than the film itself. Besides, haven’t we seen characters grow up on screen before with the films in the “Harry Potter” saga?

Worst movie of the year: “Inherent Vice” — The film’s top-shelf talent is completely wasted by Paul Thomas Anderson’s pretentious writing and direction, and a nonsensical script that’s virtually impossible to grasp. Don’t pay attention to the film snobs who pretend to understand what’s going on in this bloated heap of “I’m smarter than you are” filmmaking, because they really don’t. Dreadful and disappointing, this movie should have been called “Incoherent Vice.”

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Reviews: Tim Lammers talks ‘Unbroken,’ ‘Into the Woods’ on KARE-TV, more

Jack O'Connell in 'Unbroken'

Tim reviews the true-life WWII epic “Unbroken” and musical “Into the Woods” on KARE-TV in Minneapolis with Diana Pierce below. Also, you can read Tim’s review on BringMeTheNews.com and hear Tim review the films on The Tom Barnard Podcast and KQRS-FM.

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Tim Burton Book 2
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