Reel Time: Episode 22

We're back this week with a review of Bennett Miller's "Moneyball," and our top 5 most anticipated films for the rest of the year. Joined by the usual guests. Here's a non-iTunes link, enjoy.

Drive

"Drive"
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Albert Brooks, Ron Perlman, Bryan Cranston, Oscar Issac, Christina Hendricks
Directed by: Nicolas Winding Refn
100 minutes
USA/2011

The underlying crux of what makes Drive so appealing is the film's synergistic and swooning texture that sets in during the first few minutes and never lets up. What is Drive? Yes, on the surface it's a crime picture about a man with a code. The driver, played by the chameleon like Ryan Gosling, perhaps Hollywood's prettiest face, is launched into a vortex of violence after his stoic nature is invaded upon by outside forces. Leave it to Danish born filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn to infringe upon the genre's most familiar tropes and expand upon them with his own artistic and assured touch. There is this penetrating sense of calmness that surrounds the film, a wave of beauty and muted romance that lets us know this is the EXACT film that Refn wanted to make.

For me, the film represents some sort of pop song that lingers in the mind, its beats and rhythms so catchy and affluent, as to envelop the viewer into the best cinematic high. Refn is clearly influenced by the likes of Michael Mann and others, portraying an urban landscape in the most fitting sense. The juxtaposition of this loner played by Gosling and Refn's doom and gloom aesthetic is so skillfully mastered that audience members not familiar with Refn will be able to pinpoint the director's Euro sensibilities that are littered throughout the film.

After a smooth and extremely telling opening bit, we learn all we need to know about our protagonist. When not operating as a Hollywood stunt performer, Driver moonlights as a wheelman for various criminals in town, offering his services for 5 minutes before he leaves the scene in the blink of an eye. The rest of the first act is about the breezy possibility of romance between Driver and his neighbor Irene, played by Carey Mulligan. The dynamic between Gosling and Mulligan works so well because they're both portraying so much through body language, the film is purposefully short on expository dialogue for this very reason, Refn has no problem letting Gosling and Mulligan do their thing. Gosling brings a sort of pathos to this role, something much different from some of his prior roles. Things get complicated when Irene's ex-con husband played by Oscar Isaac returns home. Driver endangers his own code after he willingly involves himself in Oscar's dilemma.

This is when Drive kicks itself into another gear, unflinchingly delving headfirst into multiple outbursts of violence. Adding to the film's moody quality is the intoxicating score from Cliff Martinez. Blending 80's tunes to the already transfixing narrative is one of the film's best aspects. The supporting cast is having a ton of fun here. Albert Brooks and Ron Perlman as two menacing and seedy gangsters might feel trite and familiar, but both are expanding on their usual shtick and gleefully hamming it up. Unlike most mainstream action films, Drive's pension for bloodshed is earned in that it displays a change in Driver's psyche and cause. Refn's uber-stylized approach may be too over-the-top for some, but in the world of Drive, it all fits like a glove.

Grade: 4.5/5

5 best films seen in August

Films seen: 16

Silent Light (Reygadas, 07)

Millennium Mambo (Hou, 01)

Road to Nowhere (Hellman, 10)

Code Unknown (Haneke, 00)

Vivre Sa Vie (Godard, 62)

Warrior

"Warrior"
Starring: Tom Hardy, Joel Edgerton, Nick Nolte, Jennifer Morrison, Frank Grillo
Directed by: Gavin O'Connor
140 minutes
2011/USA

Gavin O'Connor's Warrior is a paint-by-numbers family/sports drama that has no problem cycling through the laundry list of cliches usually associated with the genre. It's tough to be original, I'll give Warrior that much, but to vacate all emotional resonance throughout such a long film is something that doesn't fly with me. O'Connor is no stranger to true life sports dramas, his 2004 film Miracle mostly hit all of the right notes and left you with some takeaway value, however pedestrian and familiar its story was. Everyone who saw that film knew the outcome, and although we can essentially pinpoint the final outcome of Warrior, it struggles to leave you with any lasting emotional connection to its Shakespearean-esque story.

At its core, it's about a fractured family, a father and his two sons coming to grips with the past on their own terms. Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton's portrayal of brothers is convincing enough, but leaves much more to be desired. All of the family's past betrayals and estrangements are introduced to us in the first act, but are glossed over in an unsatisfying manner. Some will be content with how quickly this is all predicated upon, but the screenplay relies less on showing us than it does telling us.

Hardy's Tommy Conlon is an ex-marine hero who has returned home to drop in on his reformed alcoholic father played Nick Nolte. Conlon's motivations are eventually made clear, but Hardy's performance is rather standoffish, making us constantly question if we actually care about him. He's playing this sad-sack guy who lets it be known that he wants nothing to do with his father, save for the fact that he's a damn good trainer and would like nobody else prepping him for an upcoming MMA tournament. On the flip side, there's Edgerton's Brendan Conlon, a school teacher failing to make ends meet. He's less bitter, but still has issues with old man Conlon as well. Edgerton is actually pretty good here, and is believable as a husband and father desperate to make fast cash. To no surprise, both brothers end up entering the same tournament, this much we've already gathered from the trailer.

There are hints of real emotion in the first act of Warrior, but everything is prematurely glossed over to the point of no return. Once the actual fighting begins, there really isn't a whole lot to care about. When we finally take a break from the training montages and the tournament, we're exposed to more of Hardy's character having the same harsh resentment towards his brother and father. The film let's us know this much, Hardy's Tommy saved a life during his military stint and is a supreme physical specimen in the ring, that's about as far as his character goes in terms of development. Nolte is doing his usual thing here, as his character is quietly crumbling on the inside given the circumstances.

Given how under-cooked the film feels, it's entirely watchable and doesn't actually feel long given the near two and a half hour run time. Most of, if not all of the fights in the film are effortlessly blocked and convincing. If you're an MMA junkie, I imagine there's a lot for you to like here. For how melodramatic and inspiring the film intends to be, it really has no juice, and nearly leaves you feeling entirely hollow instead of being emotionally spent. O'Connor is playing it safe for good reason, taking no extreme risks in style or storytelling, but relying on performances and delivery. The former is in tact for the most part, but the latter's attempts at forcing and budging us to care simply falls short.

Grade: 2.5/5

Reel Time-Episode 20

We circle back to a mainstream release this week as our director spotlight centers on Steven Soderbergh. We reviewed his latest film Contagion, and 1998's Out of Sight. Joined by Andrew Cate, Tom Stoup, Deepayan Sengupta, and Derin Spector. Here's a stand-alone link, enjoy!

Contagion

"Contagion"
Starring: Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Marion Cotillard, Jude Law, Laurence Fishburne, Bryan Cranston, Elliott Gould, Sanaa Lathan,
Directed by: Steven Soderbergh
105 minutes
2011/USA

The latest from Steven Soderbergh is a tightly wound thriller that should easily get under the skin of audience members. We've seen this kind of exercise before, a thrilling global epidemic cautionary tale that pits doctors and government higher-ups in office buildings and meeting rooms constantly exchanging ideas and solutions on how to contain and defeat the threat at hand. This is essentially the gist of Contagion, but perhaps more macro and frantic. It's about a dangerous airborne virus that quickly affects one person, then another, quickly manifesting itself into a global threat. The film dives headfirst into the on-goings of a more than a handful of characters and their hands-on battle with the virus.

There really is a startling addiction and "lean forward in your seat" quality to the first 30 minutes of the film, which are easily its best. After that, the screenplay starts to diverge from its best bits, growing smaller in scale through each scene. True to its nature, there is little to no fat on the film. Aside from the argument that the film boasts way too many characters, Contagion generally moves at a break-neck pace, which is highly welcome given the kind of mood and state of mind that Soderbergh is trying to convey here.

Capturing a portrait of a society overtaken by fear and paranoia is the film's best attribute. Soderbergh is no stranger to this certain kind of sprawling tale, for most, Traffic will come to mind, but Contagion is more subtle in the ways the characters are connected. It's not really a story of interconnected relationships, as it is a cinematic flip-book of normal people trying to wade through the unknown while struggling to keep their cool. The film succeeds mostly from the realism portrayed throughout, as the screenplay sidesteps any herrings in falsity.

Contagion boasts an extremely large cast of familiar faces, which surprisingly didn't dissuade me from buying into the film from the onset. The script gives us a few catalysts to guide us through the film, most notably Matt Damon's character, who in the first act loses his wife played by Gwyneth Paltrow and his son to the unknown disease. Other than Damon, there's the intriguing arcs of both Laurence Fishburne and Kate Winslet's character's. The film also features Jude Law as a gap-toothed, opportunist blogger who brings some freshness to the film. No where near an earth shattering performance, it's refreshing to see Law having fun on screen again. Those complaining that the film lacks a central emotional attachment are clearly missing the point of the film. It's a depiction of losing someone you love in the blink of an eye to something without a face, cause, or motivation. The uncertainty of life in such a small window of time is predicated upon throughout, as lives are lost at an alarming rate.

Contagion however, is far from perfect. Scott Z. Burns's script loses a ton of its effortless "ickyness" as it gently settles in and begins to slow down during the second hour. For having only a 105 minute run time, Contagion could've benefited more from the same go-go pacing of its first third. Once the scenes of social anxiety and widespread panic rear their head, Contagion starts to feel a whole lot like we've seen this same act before. Soderbergh's photography is once again the standout here, comfortably towering over the film's story and approach. The director's persona as both mainstream money maker and artistic auteur semi blends in here, but one can't help wonder why Soderbergh would choose this project at this certain time in his career. This is exactly the type of mainstream fare that Soderbergh likes to put out, but my guess is that audiences would rather discuss their favorite anti-bacterial soap with one another than discuss the film.

Grade: 3/5