Film Pairings —Pierce Brosnan: One Comedy, One Not So Funny

Salma Hayek With Brosnan

I’m a Pierce Brosnan fan. Not obsessive, but I have the sense that if he is in a film, while it may not be a classic, it will be entertaining.  Ghost Writer, and Matador were examples of Brosnan at his best. For me – and I know how debated this is – he made a fine Bond, splitting the difference between Sean Connery’s earthy and Roger Moore’s tongue-in-cheek portrayals.  The two Brosnan movies tonight do not tap any deeper level of acting skill than a Bond film requires, and the movies will not give you any greater understanding of the universe, but if you are looking for an escape from the daily grind you could do far worse:

After The Sunset — Lots of fun.  We have a charming diamond thief, a beautiful and smart woman, a rogue FBI Agent, an exotic local island, a quirky local gangster and an extremely desirable diamond.  In addition to Brosnan, we have Salma Hayek, Woody Harrelson and Don Cheadle, all of whom perform admirably in roles that fit well, but are not especially demanding. Released in 2004, this heist comedy was directed by Brett Ratner.

Brosnan As The November Man

November Man — The film opens in a sunny seaside town. In moments, the fun is over. This is a gritty violent, spy film. Reviews when it was first released in 2014 were not entirely favorable. That may be explainable.  It is not as splashy as a Bond film and not as subtle and wily as movies based on John le Carré novels. November Man, based on a series of spy novels by Bill Granger, falls somewhere in between and works just fine on a smaller screen. The story raises questions about the use of killing as part of the exercise of some larger justice. Pierce Brosnan is the central figure, an ex-spy lured back into the game to protect a loved one.  It wouldn’t be a spy plot if there weren’t enough twists and betrayals to fill a couple of hours and keep us guessing. Turns out we can’t trust the Russians or the Americans. Who knew?  Directed by Roger Donaldson, the cast includes fine performances by Luke Bracey as an ambitious young CIA agent who sees Brosnan’s character variously as a hero and a devastating disappointment, and Olga Kurylenko as the hunted, the only one who is able to put all the pieces together.

If you want an accompaniment to the evening’s entertainment, something light and tropical (don’t forget the umbrellas) is suitable for After The Sunset. However you may wish to switch to something darker and more sinister for the November Man as the setting eventually moves from a lush tropical isle to a bleak Eastern Europe.  If your spirits need to be unspirited, switch from coconut water to a good, strong Coca Cola.

Film Pairing — The Expectations Game, A Hit And A Miss

Bourne IV, lots of action, but more plot

I went to see The Bourne Legacy because I had seen the first three Bournes and enjoyed them. I went see the first three because Matt Damon was in them, because the formula was entertaining, and because it grabbed me at minute one and didn’t let go until the credits.  I love vacations.  I had lowered expectations for The Bourne Legacy.  I was pretty sure it would be the last gasp, that the people who owned the rights were squeezing the last bit of toothpaste from the tube, that the story would be forced.  Not so.  While the action slowed a tiny bit, the story was richer and than its predecessors.  While Jeremy Renner is no Matt Damon, he didn’t have to nor did he try to be.  He created a separate, perhaps more believable character with clear motivation in a believable story (well as much as they can be in these super-hero movies).  Fine performances by Rachel Weisz, Edward Norton and Albert Finney contributed to the high quality of this half-removed sequel. Congratulations go to director Tony Gilroy and to Eric Van Lustbader who picked up the Bourne series after creator Robert Ludlum’s death.

A Must See for Christopher Walken Fans

I went to see Seven Psychopaths because it was directed by Martin McDonagh, who directed one of my favorite films, In Bruges, and because Christopher Walken was in it.    What could go wrong?  For many, I read, not a lot went wrong.  Madmen chatting and arguing in between bloody murders, with moments of dark, deapan humor.  Unlike The Bourne Legacy where I expected little and got a lot, with Seven Psychopaths I expected a lot, and got a disjointed story with spotty humor and no one, save Walken, to care for.  Frankly, I didn’t even like the dog.  The film has a highly regarded cast.  In addition to Walken, we get a wonderfully quirky (I mean this in a good way) and talented cast: Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson, Tom Waits and Harry Dean Stanton.  For me, that wasn’t enough.  It didn’t hold together. Sometimes this happens when the director is also the producer and the writer.  There’s nobody there to say, “wait a minute.”  On the other hand, there are those who believe that under the surface silliness and confusion, there is a sendup of psychopath killer-based Hollywood films.  Maybe, I missed something.  But I think Kill Bill already did that.

Both movies are in the theaters now.  And certainly The Bourne Legacy is well worth seeing on the biggest screen possible.  Seven Psychopaths is entertaining enough — the actors are fun to watch — for a rental or a download.

To accompany the films, one might have a few sips of brandy to take the chill off the opening of Legacy and then switch to beer for Seven Psychopaths as you pal around with Colin Farrell’s character, a writer keeping track of the psychos who is never without a bottle in his hand.

Film Pairing — Corrupt Cops and Self-Destruction

One of the standard noir plots and of crime fact and fiction in general is about cops becoming robbers.  I think that being a cop has to make even the noblest of people vulnerable to the hardening of the soul, to the bitterness that comes when the bad guys make out better than the good guys, when it seems that nothing you do seems to make any difference or when getting by with it looks easy.  And of course, not every soul is noble to begin with.

Two films, one heralded and showered with awards and the other nearly forgotten even before it was released are featured here.

The Departed, directed by Martin Scorsese, won four Oscars. Scorsese, himself, won an Oscar and a Golden Globe for best director. Released in 2006, the film was based in large part on a highly rated Hong Kong film called Infernal Affairs.  What we have is an active-duty cop on the take and another cop doing undercover in a Boston gang trying to ferret him out.  It’s a simple plot, but one with suspenseful twists and turns and a cast of Hollywood heavyweights.  Where else would you find Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Martin Sheen, Mark Wahlberg, Alec Baldwin and Vera Farmiga in the same film? And for good measure there is the inimitable Ray Winstone playing second in charge of the local Irish gang to Boston boss Nicholson, more than keeping up with the scenery-chewing icon.  Lots of testosterone.  It oozes from the screen.

In The Departed the story is about finding the bad cop.  In Rampart, the story is about a police department that doesn’t want the cop found.  They are already sinking in a sea of bad PR from the bigger corruption — Rampart, a real LAPD scandal of immense proportions.  They don’t want the story of this bad seed and his highly personal brand of corruption to the mess. What we get from Rampart, released only last year, is a lesser phenomenon, but not a lesser film. The corruption of the cop in The Departed is a fait accompli pretty much from the beginning of the film.  In Rampart the focus of the film is on one cop, who despite the larger scandal going on around him, finds ways to be corrupt all on his own. He is a guy who wants what he wants and takes it — a man without allegiance. The world exists for him alone. It is perhaps a little less exciting than The Departed, but we delve into character a bit deeper — or try to. 

In a screenplay co-written by the famous crime writer, James Ellroy, we watch Woody Harrelson’s cop character devolve from a nasty human being to an even nastier one.  While the cast is not the powerhouse of The Departed, we are treated to fine performances from Ned Beatty, Sigourney Weaver, Anne Heche, and Ice Cube, with a cameo by Steve Buscemi.

If you get thirsty or want to feel part of the gang, you might open a bottle of Irish whiskey. If you want to change for the second feature, you could go for beer. Domestic is fine.