Noir November: The Way Of The Gun (2000)

Written by Christopher McQuarrie, who also decided to make it his directorial debut, The Way Of The Gun is a non-stop assortment of fantastic moments. It is, in fact, a minor modern classic, all too often overlooked in favour of movies that are deemed to have a better pedigree. Considering this film has James Caan in one of his best roles, and a nice turn from Geoffrey Lewis, with two great lead performances from Ryan Phillippe and Benicio Del Toro, I urge everyone to reconsider their opinion of it.

Phillippe and Del Toro play Mr. Parker and Mr. Longbaugh, respectively. They're not good men, as is made clear in perhaps one of the greatest opening scenes in the past 20 years. Drifting along, making money from selling various body fluids (another great scene shows them at a sperm bank), the two men overhear a conversation that starts them thinking about a big score. It turns out that a rich man (Scott Wilson) is about to be given a child by a surrogate mother (Juliette Lewis). Until she delivers the baby, the mother is very valuable indeed. She's being guarded at all times (by Taye Diggs and Nicky Katt), but that won't stop them from pulling off an impressive heist. Or so they hope. Can they manage it, and can they then negotiate themselves a fine payday without too much further trouble?

Full of great humour, resonant dialogue, and a number of great twists and turns, The Way Of The Gun showcases just what a great talent McQuarrie is. He can create cool characters and situations, and he loves to work some grittiness into the material, but he also allows for a layer of warmth that adds to the appeal of almost everyone onscreen. These are movie characters, but they're still allowed to be human.

Despite strong competition, I consider the two central performances here to be career-best turns from both Phillippe and Del Toro. Both work brilliantly in their roles, whether separately or alongside one another, and part of the brilliance of the screenplay is the way in which McQuarrie places them out of their depth without ever making them stupid. Watch their tactics, and listen to every line of dialogue, and you'll soon realise how smart they are. Diggs and Katt are also not stupid. They just happen to find themselves outwitted by an audacious move. Mind you, it takes time to figure out if they're better or worse than the characters played by Phillipe and Del Toro. Lewis is pretty good, although she's required to be the most vulnerable of all the characters onscreen, obviously. Baby bump or no, she has moments in which she gets to show how determined she can be when it comes to protecting her child. But I'd have to say that the scene-stealer of the movie is the mighty James Caan, putting in a performance here that hints at what may have become of Frank, the character he played in Thief. I'd put this up there as one of his best turns, perhaps even second only to his work in the aforementioned film. His scenes with Del Toro give the movie a beating heart, while his scenes with Geoffrey (yes, father of Juliette) Lewis highlight the cynicism and weariness that inevitably take over anyone who continues to work in a world constantly being invaded by the young. Dylan Kussman is the other main player, and does just fine as the doctor hoping to keep his pregnant patient from harm.

There are many moments here that feel cinematically cool, but they rarely feel as if they're shoehorned in there JUST to be cool. Even those, fairly unnecessary, opening scenes serve to set up the characters and the world that they inhabit. And how can you hate anyone who comes up with the colourful phrase: "Shut that cunts mouth or I'll come over there and fuckstart her head!"? It's profane, yet equally hilarious for the way it immediately makes jaws drop.

Is everyone going to love this movie? No. But I firmly believe that they should. McQuarrie is a talented writer-director (I also highly recommend Jack Reacher if you've not yet seen it) and I look forward to what he's yet to show us. It may not equal this debut, but he's failed to disappoint me yet.

9/10

http://www.amazon.com/Way-Gun-Blu-ray-Benicio-Toro/dp/B002NPY7EU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1416514616&sr=8-2&keywords=the+way+of+the+gun

Noir November: Thief (1981)

It's the classic premise. The career criminal about to step away from his life of crime as he's about to reach his main goal, yet he's held back from doing so by someone who knows just how good he is at his job. In this instance, James Caan is the titular thief, Robert Prosky is the awkward guy who wants Caan to keep realising his potential (for the sake of them both), and Michael Mann is the director making a great impression with his usual blend of cool style and attention to detail.

From the opening scenes, this is a film interested in showing you the lifestyle of a thief as a proper career. It's not just a film that gives you a main character and just enough of a sketch to believe in how he lives his life, it IS his life.

Whether he's on the job, confronting someone who owes him money, delivering some choice moments from his personal history to a woman he wants to develop a relationship with, Caan is never less than perfect in the role, one that remains his best ever. And the finale of the film, the last ten minutes alone . . . . . . . . . . . well, I won't spoil anything for those still to experience the movie, but they're absolutely in line with the character, making everything equally brilliant and heartbreaking. Prosky is an avuncular figure, until revealing his true colours, and he's fantastic in portraying the full range of the character, with those hooded eyes making even his more charming moments hold a certain sinister undercurrent. Tuesday Weld is the woman who Caan wants in his life, and she's very much his equal in terms of how up and down the journey through life has been. James Belushi puts in a sweet performance, as the young assistant who helps Caan get results. He may not be onscreen for very long, but he does well. And then there's Willie Nelson, popping up for mere minutes to show how loyal Caan is with the few that he decides to love and protect.

Based on a book by Frank Hohimer ("The Home Invaders"), Mann has taken the lifestyle, the tools of the trade, the focus needed by the main character, and created a screenplay that distils everything into a near-perfect, tense experience. The fact that he also supplies Caan with one of the greatest cinematic speeches since Shaw told two fellas about his time on the USS Indianapolis is nothing to be sniffed at either. I can only assume it's often forgotten by film fans collating greatest movie moments because it happens to take place in a diner, and Mann eventually gave people THAT diner scene from Heat, meaning that his own success has cast a large shadow over his back-catalogue.

As he has shown throughout most of his career, Mann knows how to do a crime film. The fact that it's great will be no surprise to anyone who has ever enjoyed his work. The fact that it's SO great, as his first feature, is the surprising part, making you realise that all of his more recent, and celebrated, outings have just been trying to maintain that high standard that he set himself straight out of the blocks.

A film to watch, own, and watch again. I'm sure I will get even more out of it when I have time to give it a rewatch.

9/10

http://www.amazon.com/Thief-Criterion-Collection-Blu-ray-DVD/dp/B00GBT62PQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1413745811&sr=1-1&keywords=thief

Ani-MAY-tion Month: Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2 (2013)

I really enjoyed Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs. Really REALLY enjoyed it. So I don't know why I assumed the sequel was just some rushed cash-in, without any of the same people in the main voice roles. It's not. In fact, this is a sequel on a par with the first movie. It's consistently cute from start to finish, but manages to undercut that cuteness with sharp humour, amusing puns (okay, I found some of them hilarious), and bright, imaginative sequences throughout.

Leading directly on from the events of the first movie, the residents of Swallow Falls are invited to move elsewhere while their island and town are cleaned up. Inventor Flint Lockwood (Bill Hader) is given the chance of a lifetime, when he's offered a job at LIVE Corp, the company ruled over by his hero, Chester V (Will Forte). But Chester V has a secret agenda, and only wants Flint nearby to keep an eye on him. The machine that caused so much trouble in the first movie hasn't shut down. It is, in fact, now helping to create a variety of food-based lifeforms. Flint is asked to go back to the island to help fix the situation, and his friends won't let him go back alone.

Just like the first movie, every aspect of this film just feels right. That's not to say that it's a perfect film, oh no, but it IS a load of fun from start to finish, full of creativity and jokes that should make you laugh out loud (well, they made ME laugh out loud). Hader and Forte are both very good in their roles, but they're helped out by a supporting cast that includes Anna Faris, Andy Samberg, Benjamin Bratt, James Caan, Terry Crews (voicing the character originally voiced by Mr. T in the first film), and Kristen Schaal.

Directors Cody Cameron and Kris Pearn have a lot of fun working from the script by Erica Rivinoja, John Francis Daley and Jonathan M. Goldstein. They have so much fun, in fact, that it fills up almost every frame, guaranteeing that viewers of all ages will keep smiling throughout.

Anyone who hates some quality punning may be a bit put out, but I distrust anyone who hates some quality punning anyway. Everyone else is pretty much guaranteed a great time. If you liked the first movie as much as I did then you'll also like this. It's smart, it's silly, it's highly rewatchable. Get to it ASAP if you have good taste (taste, see, because of all the food content in the movie - see? See?).*

8/10

http://www.amazon.com/Cloudy-Chance-Meatballs-Disc-Combo/dp/B0090SI39I/ref=sr_1_4?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1399762396&sr=1-4&keywords=cloudy+with+a+chance+of+meatballs+2

*Yeah, sorry about that.

April Fools: Silent Movie (1976)

One of my favourite shots in any film ever!

It does exactly what it says on the tin. Oh yes, Silent Movie is a silent movie, for the most part (only one person gets to speak, and it's a brilliant punchline), directed by Mel Brooks, who co-wrote the film with Ron Clark, Rudy De Luca and Barry Levinson.

The plot is a brilliant slice of meta fun, as Brooks, accompanied by Marty Feldman and Dom DeLuise, convinces a studio to let him make a silent movie, and then sets out to convince a variety of big stars to appear in his silent movie. That's the excuse for one set-piece after another, from going to great lengths to talk to Burt Reynolds, to keeping things perfectly balanced in James Caan's trailer while trying to get him on board. As the film starts to look more and more appealing to those in the business, a rival studio sends out a secret weapon to scupper the whole thing, the lovely Bernadette Peters.

For film fans, this is almost as enjoyable now as it was nearly 40 years ago, when first released. The comedy, as you could probably guess, is pretty universal and timeless, and it's only some of the stars who may be slightly unfamiliar to modern audiences (even if I do dislike the thought of a world in which people don't recognise Anne Bancroft, Burt Reynolds, or Paul Newman).

Brooks and DeLuise are very funny, but Feldman is the highlight for me. The man can be funny even when not playing with material, and I thank Brooks for giving him two great movie roles (with this and Young Frankenstein). A bit of praise, however, must also be given to those stars already mentioned, as well as everyone else who joins in with the fun.

Although the movie is little more than a loosely connected series of sketches, the format allows for this without it ever feeling like a major negative. Many silent movies were broken down into a number of different acts, of course, and this feels just the same.

If you're a fan of Brooks then you should enjoy this. If you're a fan of comedy then you should enjoy this. In fact, most people should enjoy this.

8/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Mel-Brooks-Collection-DVD/dp/B000AM6NCM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1391351938&sr=8-1&keywords=mel+brooks