The Place Beyond the Pines (2013)
Romina (Eva Mendes) visits her ex-lover, motorcycle stuntman Luke Glanton (Ryan Gosling) to casually tell him he’s the father of her child. She’s shocked and disappointed to find Luke wants to be a part of the child’s life.
If movies have taught us nothing else, we know motorcycle drivers will inevitably turn to a life of crime. Mistakenly believing money will earn him a larger role in his son’s life, Luke uses his skills to rob banks and evade capture. Predictably, it doesn’t work as planned and Luke meets an early, violent demise at the hands of police office Avery Cross (Bradley Cooper).
Fifteen years later, Avery is running for public office and his son becomes involved with the teenage son of the deceased Luke.
Bradley Cooper is incredibly versatile, believable in silly action films, serious war films, romantic dramas and melodramas like this.
Ryan Gosling is underrated. His work in Half-Nelson (2006), Lars and the Real Girl (2007) and Drive (2011) proves he’s an actor of real talent not content to rest on his marquee looks. This is his second collaboration with director Derek Cianfrance, after the controversial, but excellent Blue Valentine (2010).
Sadly the women in this film, Eva Mendes and Rose Byrne, don’t get a lot of screen time and serve as glorified plot devices.
Ray Liotta is engaging as corrupt cop Peter Deluca. After Field of Dreams (1989) and Goodfellas (1990), he seemed destined for superstardom, but his career has been mostly smaller supporting roles like this.
While Liotta’s career has devolved into smaller roles, Bruce Greenwood seems to have hit his stride in his fifties. He spent his younger years playing supporting roles, but now he’s in demand for older, wiser roles like Bill Killcullen.
I like Mahershala Ali’s work as Remy Dalton and it’s nice to see him in something else.
This film was trying to show both sides of a story, but instead of integrating the viewpoints into a single narrative, the filmmakers chose to treat this like a double feature with the second film starting immediately after the first ended. The first half is a stylish, fast paced interesting film. The second is a plodding mess which knew where it wanted to end up, but had no idea how to get there. It’s too heavy-handed and too long. By the time we care about Luke, he’s dead, and we’re too emotionally exhausted to care about Avery.
Stormy Weather (1943)
Bill Williamson (Bill “Bojangles” Robinson) comes home after the first World War and pursues a career in entertainment.
The musical movie is loosely based on Robinson’s own experiences and features many of the most famous black performers of the day.
Lena Horne plays Williamson’s fictional love interest, Selina Rogers. Her rendition of the titular song made her a star.
This movie is often compared to Cabin in the Sky (1943) another all black musical from the era. Cabin in the Sky is the far superior film, but from the moment the Nicholas Brothers appeared on-screen, I was spellbound. Their dance number at the end of the film is worth watching this eighty minute movie.
Hot Shots! (1991)
Lt. Sean “Topper” Harley (Charlie Sheen) is recalled to active duty in the navy to help with a top-secret mission, bombing an Iraqi nuclear plant.
Charlie Sheen has never interested me. His talent has never equaled his ability to generate controversy, and he doesn’t add anything to the role.
It is fun to see Jon Cryer and remember he had a career before Two and a Half Men.
Cary Elwes will never find a better role than Wesley in The Princess Bride (1987). Like Robin Wright, Mandy Patinkin, Andre the Giant, and Wallace Shawn his name is enough to bring waves of nostalgia crashing down on people of a certain age.
This movie throws so many jokes at the audience some of them were bound to be successful, but not enough of them to make this Airplane! (1980) knockoff work.