Old Guards

Actor Robert De Niro turned 65 this past August, while Al Pacino, his onscreen costar in the newly released “Righteous Kill” is now 68. After appearing together in just one scene in 1995’s "Heat," movie fans have longed for another onscreen pairing of the legendary actors. Although both men were nominated for Oscars for their work in “The Godfather, Part II” in 1974, they shared no scenes together. With “Righteous Kill” the wait is over, but the result is less then satisfying. Couldn’t Hollywood produce a more fitting script for these two legends of the modern silver screen other than this routine CSI-style cop drama?De Niro and Pacino play veteran NYPD detectives, who revisit a case they solved years ago only to stumble upon a possible serial killer who may or may not turn out to be a cop. And when a child killer is acquitted and set free, the two aging detectives conspire to put him behind bars by planting evidence in the case. Turk (De Niro) and Rooster (Pacino) like many movie cops in recent memory break as many laws solving crimes as the criminals do that they put behind bars. As unbelievable as it seems to have two elder police detectives doing the work of men usually twenty or thirty years their junior, De Niro almost pulls it off at times. Pacino is the harder sell, appearing more weathered and too tired to be kicking down doors anymore. This suspension of disbelief is made slightly bearable only by the charm of the film’s two stars. If you ever saw 1975’s “Brannigan,” which featured a 67 year old John Wayne as a Chicago cop hunting down a mobster while visiting London you’ll know what I mean. Director Jon Avnet injects a gimmick only 20 minutes into the movie that will make the inevitable conclusion come as no surprise to the film’s audience. I certainly figured it out early on and just in case you somehow missed it, just pay a bit more attention to those silly nicknames Turk and Rooster that scriptwriter Russell Gerwirtz came up with. The addition of two younger detectives on the case played by John Leguizamo and Donnie Wahlberg, (veterans themselves of many a cop drama) add virtually nothing to the film’s uninspired plot or running time. And the minor subplot featuring Carla Gugino (“American Gangster” and TV’s “Entourage”) as Turk’s kinky girlfriend and fellow cop just passes the time until the final scene plays out. Gerwitz won praise for his tight script for 2006’s “Inside Man,” but this time around he relies too much on conventional plotlines and familiar characters that lack any real cleverness or depth to be really interesting. While watching “Righteous Kill” I kept thinking about the last onscreen paring of Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas in “Tough Guys” made in 1986. Even a pedestrian film like that had more charm and cleverness and offered more genuine character development to it’s stars then “Righteous Kill” does. When making a police thriller with stars like De Niro and Pacino, who gave seminal performances in films like “Taxi Driver” and “Serpico,” wouldn’t a filmmaker like David Fincher (“Seven,” “Zodiac”) be more appropriate? One can only imagine what Martin Scorsese, whose Oscar-winning “The Departed” seem to inspire much of “Righteous Kill’s” 101 minutes, would have done with the material. It’s not too late of course, maybe the right script will come along that will offer these two genuine actors of the big screen a chance to pair up once more in something more rewarding for both them and their audience.

Missing In Action Redux!

In 1992, Ben Stiller created and starred in a weekly comedy variety show for HBO which parodied movies, television shows and commercials with hilarious results. “The Ben Stiller Show,” only lasted one season, but it launched it’s young star and creator on a promising career in comedy. Sixteen years later, Stiller uses his many talents as a writer, actor and director in bringing a laugh-filled parody of the Hollywood war film genre to the big screen.
In the 1980s when Stanley Kubrick made “Full Metal Jacket,” and Oliver Stone won an Oscar for his “Platoon,” many of the films actors were made to train in a mock boot-camp before production. In “Tropic Thunder,” Stiller (along with actor-turned-writer Justin Theroux who co-wrote the script) takes that idea one step further by transporting his actors right into a drug cartel controlled jungle in southeast Asia. In turn the actors are forced to become real soldiers while making this movie within a movie.
Stiller plays Tugg Speedman, an action movie star whose made one sequel too many who teams up with Australian actor Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr.) and comic star Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black) to make a big budgeted film version of a popular Vietnam war novel.
As Kirk Lazarus, Downey takes on a daring task of portraying a Russell Crowe-like Australian actor so committed to his role of a black soldier that he has his skin surgically dyed to play the role. Downey steals just about every scene he’s in along with Brandon T. Jackson as Alpa Chino a rapper-turned actor who is constantly offended by Lazarus’ staying-in-character during the shoot. If this may seem offensive to some, Stiller’s Tugg Speedman had just recently starred in a dramatic film called “Simple Jack,” playing a mentally challenged farmer whose performance is a favorite of the drug cartel who will soon hold Speedman captive in the jungle.
Then there is Jack Black’s character of Jeff Portnoy, a heroin-addicted comedy star who is best known for his series of film comedies where flatulence takes center stage. Black handles most of the low-brow humor in the film but with his usual charm that makes it all somehow tolerable.
But “Tropic Thunder” is much more then a parody of war films, Stiller also lets loose on actors, agents, managers, studio heads, writers, directors and anyone else he can think of along the way. Tom Cruise makes a hilarious unbilled appearance in the film as a vulgar, grotesque studio head who will no doubt appear all too real to those who work in the industry.
Steve Coogan plays Damien Cockburn the British director in over his head in trying to bring this big budget war film to the screen. Cockburn’s exit early in the film is graphically disturbing yet undeniably funny. For Stiller, who grew up in Hollywood as the son of actor/comedians Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, he must have had plenty of background experiences to draw from in lampooning the self-absorbed culture of tinsel town and it’s players.
For fans of “Platoon”, “Apocalypse Now”, “Full Metal Jacket” and the “Missing in Action” franchise, “Tropic Thunder” is a feast. Many scenes in “Thunder” are directly inspired from those in the aforementioned films. And if you’ve ever seen “Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker‘s Apocalypse,” the documentary shot by Francis Ford Coppola’s wife, Eleanor about the making of “Apocalypse Now”, you’ll know where Stiller got most of his inspiration.
“Tropic Thunder” is reminiscent of Mel Brooks’ “Blazing Saddles,” a perfect parody of an often-made film genre, but with plenty of vulgar and equal opportunity offensive humor to go around. Stiller has a keen eye for mocking the industry he grew up in and a fearless attitude in it’s presentation. “Tropic Thunder” is not for everyone, it will offend some and make most others laugh. I know I laughed a lot during the film’s 107 minutes but felt equally as bad for doing so at times.
Ben Stiller Movies

Unlikely Hero!

Will Smith returned to movie theaters this past 4th of July weekend proving once again that he, along with fireworks and backyard barbeques are essential to celebrating our nation’s birthday. “Hancock” is an unlikely superhero careless in his execution of superhuman deeds and miserable in his own life filled with public drunkenness and foulmouthed exchanges with the public he is charged to protect. Will Smith has a blast portraying the title role of John Hancock, who is as clueless to the origins of his own special powers as those mere mortals around him. His penchant for destroying millions of dollars worth of public property while trying to save those in peril have finally caught up with him at the film’s opening. The news media (including Nancy Grace) have called for his arrest for outstanding warrants for the millions in damages he has caused for the tax payers of Los Angeles. After inadvertently saving the life of PR man Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman), Hancock is forced to give into Ray’s attempts to reinvent the disgraced superhero’s public persona. Those efforts lead to much of the first hour of the film’s comic genius at times turning the formula of the superhero genre completely over on it’s head. Hancock’s short temper and often crude sense of justice make his attempt to clean up his act not only difficult but extremely entertaining for the audience. Through most of the film, director Peter Berg borrows from Richard Donner’s Superman playbook in attempting to give “Hancock” a realistic look or what Donner called his use of verisimilitude in making an unbelievable story believable. Berg’s Hancock is a superhero whose actions have consequences something that even Donner failed to realize in his classic 1978 Superman film. After a short stint in prison, the reinvented Hancock appears on the scene to stop a bank heist, during which echoes of John William’s Superman march can be heard ever so slightly in composer John Powell’s less bombastic approach to scoring of a superhero movie. It’s only in the second half of the film’s short 92 minute running time that things bog down as the superhero’s origin is somewhat explained. When Ray’s wife, Mary (Charlize Theron) cast doubt on Hancock’s ability to reinvent himself, we later learn that her concern for her husband and son are not the only interest she has in mind. This complicated relationship with the film’s star leads to a most unexpected plot surprise which although welcomed tends to interrupt the rhythm of the film to a fault. What started as a unique and fresh take on the superhero film genre slowly evolves into a conventional comic book style story. The short running time and likeability of it’s star manage to keep it from completely falling apart. Smith who provided last year’s sci-fi thrill-ride in “I Am Legend,” once again through charm and pure onscreen charisma delivers the goods in this tailor-made role. One only hopes that although the film’s ending leaves plenty of room for a continuing franchise of sequels, that the capable star will deliver more challenging roles that have lead to his two Oscar nominations in years past.