Movie Review: Nice Guys

The Nice Guys
Misty Mountains, Bloom, Lipsync Productions, Nice Guys, Silver Pictures, Waypoint Entertainment, USA, 2016. 

Jackson Healy (Russell Crowe) is a bruiser for hire and Holland March (Ryan Gosling) is a jaded private detective in the 1970s Los Angeles. Adult film star Misty Mountains (Murielle Telio) crashes her car and dies. Girl named Amelia (Margaret Qualley) knows something about Misty's death. Holland is hired by Misty's aunt do find Amelia. Jackson is fooled by Amelia to motivate Holland to leave her alone. But it does not get easy for Jackson either as some crooks also search for Amelia and beat him up. They even kill his gold fish. Unacceptable! So Jackson realizes that Amelia is in danger and hires Holland to find her. 

Jackson

Holland and Holly

Amelia

Unsolved murders seem to pop around every corner. The investigations of the duo get dangerous and soon a feared hitman John Boy (Matt Bomer) steps in. Also politician Judith Kuttner (Kim Basinger) and her assistant Tally (Yaya DaCosta) have an offer to the Nice Guys.

Judith Kuttner

Tally

"Lethal Weapon" and "The Last Boy Scout" writer Shane Black wrote and directed a neo-noir comedy set in the 1970s. The popular culture then had innocent entertainment as "The Waltons" and porn flicks like "Deep Throat" and some humour is found from the conflict of the two worlds. Crowe/Gosling duo works well. Jackson is the heavy, taking care of fighting. Holland is the brains, well brains and brains. Holland thinks he is a smart detective, but he is constantly misquoting, accident-prone and rather stumbles upon clues than finds them. He is quite different from the cool characters Gosling usually plays. Holland's daughter Holly (Angourie Rice) brings the moral spine to the misadventures of the cynical men in corrupt world. Still the ending feels pointless, and there is a feeling of origin story.  It would not be a wonder if some sequel for the duo was made some day.

Rating: Good

Starring: Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling, Angourie Rice, Matt Bomer, Margaret Qualley, Yaya DaCosta, Keith David, Beau Knapp, Lois Smith, Murielle Telio, Gil Gerard, Daisy Tahan, Kim Basinger, Jack Kilmer, Lance Valentine Butler, Ty Simpkins, Cayla Brady, Tammi Arender, Rebecca Dalton Rusk, Terence Rosemore, John L. Morris, Michelle Rivera, Nathaniel 'Nate' Scott, Amy Goddard, Frank Mottek, Joanne Spracklen, Greg Lindsay, Maddie Compton, J. Todd Anderson, Meredith Berg, Lauren Marini, Ward Roberts, Ryan Powers, Lauren Bair, Zarah Kulczycki, Hana Yuka Sano, Marvin Ross, Rachele Brooke Smith, Adriana Karras, Milo Wesley, Marilyn Chen, Matthew Warzel, Jordan Hairston, Angela Everhart, Joshua Hoover, Yvonne Zima, Lexi Johnson, Chloe Hurst, Gary Weeks, Charles Green, Gary Wolf, Hannibal Buress, Steve Wilder, Garrett Carpenter, Hank Quillen, Michael Beasley, Dominic Bagarozzi, Karrueche Tran, Carson Meyer

Director: Shane Black

Movie Review: On the Border

On the Border a.k.a Coyote Rain
Nu Image / Millennium Films, Webster & Montague Production, USA, 1998. 

Jaded security guard Jake Barnes (Casper Van Dien) guards a bank located near Mexican border. Bank manager Ed's (Daniel Baldwin) wife Rosalita (Rochelle Swanson) has a steamy affair with Jake. Ed wants to kill the other man but doesn't know who he is. Ed is also laundering South American drug money. Jake and Rosalita plan to rob the bank as a big shipment of dirty money is arriving soon.

Jake Barnes

Ed

Rosalita

Jake meets a suspicious hitchhiker girl Kristin (Camilla Overbye Roos) on the road and offers her a temporary housing. Violent criminal Barry Montana (Bryan Brown) forced her to seduce Jake as he also plans to rob the bank. Jake's old 'friend' Sykes (Bentley Mitchum, Robert's grandson) is released from the prison and arrives to town to further mess things up. Can you guess what he is up to? 

Kristin

Sykes

The film offers 1990s direct to video B-movie goodness. It is a noirish thriller with some steamy erotic scenes. It is a slightly better Casper Van Dien film if you are willing to forget the plot holes and some recycled script ideas. The border town setting offers some nice cinematography. Nothing is as seems and just about everyone wants the money. The ending is hilariously over the top with double-crosses and double-double-crosses! The femme fatales are ambiguous and it is difficult to see how it will end. Van Dien is wooden but still has more facial expressions than Kristen Stewart. Actually he fits the role as a bored guard who is stuck in the desert town. Bryan Brown chews the scenery with some weird scenes, that is a dangerous way to answer a phone:

Barry on the phone

Rating: Good

Starring: Casper Van Dien, Bryan Brown, Daniel Baldwin, Rochelle Swanson, Camilla Overbye Roos, Pedro Armendáriz Jr., Heidi Jo Markel, Bentley Mitchum, John Bishop, Bridget Wilkes, Gina Angela Ritchie, Elizabeth Bradley, Bill Stuart, Valentin Sandoval, Alma Nava, Ruth Bastillos, Gary Paul, Frank Bowles, Pavel Jezek, Fernando Fuentes Sr., Heidi Carrasco, Judith Van Vleet, Daniel Zubiate 

Director: Bob Misiorowski

Movie Review: Autómata

Autómata

Millennium Films, Green Moon, Nu Boyana Viburno, Bulgaria, USA, Spain, Canada, 2014.

2044 AD. Solar radiation has increased and the deserts surrounding the cities are radioactive. (Solar storms just do not work that way, however it is later explained that failed tests with nuclear energy caused the radioactivity.) The radiation has reduced the human population to 21 million. The remaining humans use Automata Pilgrim 7000 robots to do their work. The robots obey loosely Asimov's laws, they

1) can not harm living things and

2) they can not alter themselves.

The surviving lucky ones live in walled cities with blimps that create artificial clouds. The unlucky ones live in the surrounding ghettoes.

Automata Pilgrim 7000 robot

Jacq Vaucan (Antonio Banderas) is burned out insurance inspector working for robot manufacturing ROC company. His wife Rachel (Birgitte Hjort Sørensen) is having a baby. Cop Sean Wallace (Dylan McDermott) shoots a robot that learned to repair itself. The autopsy reveals that it was heavily modified by "Clocksmith" for smuggling illegal parts. Vaucan wants a transfer to a more peaceful city near sea. First he must someone responsible for the mess.

Jacq Vaucan

Rachel Vaucan

Sean Wallace

When Wallace breaks a modified pleasure bot named Cleo, Vaucan meets mechanic Dr. Dupre (Melanie Griffith). Vaucan asks Dupre to research the bio-kernel of the self repairing robot. Soon assassins target Vaucan and Cleo. Then Vaucan finds himself in the desert talking philosophy with his new robot pals.

Cleo

Dr. Dupre

Vaucan meets the robots

"Blade Runner", "A.I", "Animatrix", "Ghost in the Shell" and "Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence". All great movies pondering the differences, similarities,  interaction of humans and artificial life. Add also dash of "Mad Max"- series and "I Robot." Those influences I was thinking for the first half hour. Is what is called soul limited to carbon based lifeforms, or is it an emergent feature that appears when the data processing unit is complex enough?

Technically the movie looks good, with "Blade Runner"-style post-apocalyptic city, and robots that look like real mechanical robots and not just something made with pixels. Although the starting point is good it lacks something to make it a great hardcore scifi classic. In the second half plot-holes and clumsiness in the storytelling break the mood. There is interesting stuff about evolution and lifespan of species but it does not go quite deep enough before the final showdown starts. Luckily the action does not go overboard with special effects and the style stays quite realistic and minimal.

The human characters are not very interesting, and for example Rachel's part is quite small and not very well realised. The bad guys are just one-dimensional baddies. It does not help that one interesting character is killed early in the movie. However it is more interesting to see what the robots are doing. In the underrated Robin Williams' movie "Bicentennial Man" robot named Andrew struggled to become a human. In "Autómata" the robots try to evolve beyond humanity, finally abandoning the primitive imitation of human form. The robots also try to understand arts and culture to maintain the memory of doomed humans.

So it is not perfect despite all the potential. There was also problem with Ibáñez's previous movie "Hierro" where the atmospheric first half was flattened by clichés and over-explaining twists in the second half. Still "Autómata" is smarter and better than most scifi-films today, but it could have been much better.

Rating: Good

Starring: Antonio Banderas, Dylan McDermott, Melanie Griffith, Birgitte Hjort Sørensen, Robert Forster, Tim McInnerny, David Ryall, Javier Bardem (voice), Boris Kabakchiev, Lyubomir Neikov, Krasimir Kutsurapov, Anton Lamrev, Geraldine Somerville, Harry Anichkin, Stanislav Pishtalov, Daniela Dancheva, Danny Kirrane, Christina Tam, Andrew Tiernan, Benjamin Phillips, Andy Nyman, David Koral, Micah Phillips, Christa Campbell, Tim Barlow, Philip Rosch, Hristo Mitzkov, Darianna Krasteva, Valentina Ivanova, Anton Trendafilov, Stoyan Angelov, Velizar Velizarov, Bashar Rahal, Dan Cade, Albena Stavreva, Carla Rodrigo, Alejandro Serna, Dimitar Ilkov 

Director: Gabe Ibáñez

Movie Review: Killer Joe

Killer Joe
Starring: Matthew McConaughey. Emile Hirsch, Juno Temple, Thomas Haden Church, Gina Gershon, Marc Macaulay, Gralen Bryant Banks, Carol Sutton, Danny Epper, Jeff Galpin, Scott A. Martin, Gregory C. Bachaud, Charley Vance 

Director: William Friedkin
Voltage Pictures, Picture Perfect, Worldview Entertainment, ANA Media, USA, 2011.

Chris Smith is a drug dealer in Texas who is in trouble because his mother Adele (Julia Adams) stole his drugs. He owes money to gangster Digger Soames (Marc Macaulay). Chris conspires together with his incredibly stupid father Ansel (Thomas Haden Church) who is Adele's ex-husband. Chris' stepmother Sharla (Gina Gershon) is cheating Ansel but Ansel does not know anything about it. 

Chris and his father Ansel

Stepmother Sharla

Trailer park

A local cop Joe Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) does side business as a paid killer. Chris, Ansel and Sharla hire Joe to kill Adele and plans to get her life insurance money. However the sole beneficiary of the insurance is Chris' teenage little sister Dottie (Juno Temple). Joe wants payment beforehand. Chris does not have money so Joe accepts Dottie as retainer. Dottie has to start a strange relationship with seemingly mild mannered Killer Joe, who turns out to be a psychopathic manipulator. To complicate things Chris is very possessive of Dottie. Joe moves into their apartment. Chris begins to hesitate about killing Adele but it is becoming obvious that Chris has done a deal with the Devil. And then Chris' plan starts to go wrong.

Killer Joe Cooper

Dottie

Chris takes too big a bite

The movie is based on the play by Tracy Letts. William Friedkin's movie is a powerful white trailer trash crime story with black humour. The movies characters are all more or less moralless scum, so Joe acts as the final nail in the coffin of the dysfunctional family. Dottie is the only character who is somewhat innocent (but still being like a ticking time bomb). The movie itself is well acted Southern style neo-noir. The theme of botched crime and its consequences is a bit reminiscent of what "Fargo" would look if it was directed by Rob Zombie. The movie manages to paint a picture of deeply unpleasant human beings. Due the controversial themes and unpleasantly brutal scenes "Killer Joe" can not be recommended for sensitive viewers or those who are easily offended.

Rating: Good