Prime Time: Money Monster (2016)

While I like all three main cast members here (George Clooney, Julia Roberts, and Jack O’Connell), I had spent a long time delaying a viewing of Money Monster. I suspected I would enjoy it, but was never in just the right mood for it. And if there is one typical viewer who doesn’t need reminded of the evils of what many perceive as an unfair stock market system, it’s me.

Clooney plays Lee Gates, the smarmy and self-centres host of a TV show that offers advice to people looking play the stock market game. His producer, Patty Fenn (Roberts), knows exactly how to work with her onscreen star, allowing him to go off on occasional tangents before pulling him back to whatever should be the focus of the show. Both of these people are about to be put in a terrifying situation by Kyle Budwell (O’Connell), a young man who lost his stash of savings in an anomalous stock crash that he suspects was engineered without any consideration for those unable to afford such a dip in their fortunes. Kyle has a gun, a jacket packed with explosives, and a very strong desire to keep the cameras on him and have everything playing out live as he gets to the truth of what may be a financial scandal.

Written by Alan Difiore, Jim Kouf, and Jamie Linden, who have all worked on a wide variety of projects that I have enjoyed to varying degrees, this is a smart and tense thriller that provides a fantasy scenario in which an enraged failed “everyman” has a go at smashing at least one small part of the giant machinery of capitalism responsible for widening the chasm of social inequality. It’s easy to stay alongside Kyle, thanks to the script and O’Connell’s performance, and viewers will want an ending that provides some kind of the justice he is seeking.

As well as the famous faces front and centre, there is also an extra famous face behind the camera, this being another feature directed by the talented Jodie Foster. Not only does she do well with the material, probably well aware that the script is full of tasty little moments for the actors to sink their teeth into, but she shows admirable restraint by not casting herself in the role given to Roberts, a role that I could easily imagine her excelling in.

Not that Roberts is a lesser choice. She exudes the will and savvy of someone more than capable of keeping a cool head in such a crazy situation. Clooney uses his showbiz charm to deliver his smarmy host, but also enjoys allowing that facade to start crumbling as things look to get worse and worse for him. Then you have O’Connell, playing his desperate man almost like a confused child who had just learned of a terrible secret. He’s a sad figure, but also senses something that others should have already cottoned on to, and one scenes at about the mid-point, where police have his partner communicating with him, underlines just how much he has lost. Elsewhere, Dominic West is as watchable as ever, even as a slick businessman trying to stay on his plane long enough for everything to blow over, and Catriona Baife is very good as his strained assistant, trying to maintain the company line until she also starts questioning just how the financial “glitch” occurred. 

Probably not a film anyone would consider essential viewing, and there are a couple of different elements mixed in that distract slightly from that great central idea, but Money Monster is old-fashioned entertainment with a bit of modern pizzazz added to it. You have great actors working with a solid script, and a commentary at the heart of it that has sadly featured in a number of other movies in recent years without any major change in sight. It may prove a bit frustrating, but it is also a perfectly enjoyable way to spend just under 100 minutes.

7/10

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Netflix And Chill: Nyad (2023)

The start of any year is always the time when I try to catch up on all of the movies that have been doing well in the journey to the Oscars, which often forces me to watch films I can't get enthusiastic about. Nyad was one of those movies. I just didn't see what I might find to enjoy in the true story of swimmer Diana Nyad, an open-water swimmer who attempted multiple times to swim between Havana, Cuba and Florida, with her final attempt also being hampered by the fact that she was then aged 64.

As has happened before, and will undoubtedly happen again, I was wrong. Nyad had me riveted from start to finish, despite me knowing about the outcome, thanks mainly to the performances from three main cast members (Annette Bening, Jodie Foster, and Rhys Ifans).

There's nothing here that is a surprise, whether you're considering what is shown onscreen or who is behind the camera, but it's all put together very effectively, with just the right reverence for the central characters accompanied by an acknowledgement of the self-mythologising that has been a part of Diane Nyad's character as long as she has been a figure in the public eye.

I would write a plot summary here, but it would just be repeating the end of the first paragraph. That's all you need to know. Bening plays Nyad, Foster is her coach, Bonnie Stoll, and Ifans comes onscreen just in time to be the integral third, a navigator/boat owner named John Bartlett. As well as the standard problem of swimming such a distance, Nyad has to deal with the weather, which can seriously affect the path taken through the sea, potential shark attacks, and dangerous jellyfish. There will also be a moment or two when such conditions start prompting hallucinations, something Stoll is well aware of and ready to deal with, as and when they occur.

Even if you know how this story ends, and I think everyone will have some idea of that (I mean . . . if I knew what happened, considering my limited knowledge of sports and athleticism, it must have been given some fairly substantial world-wide coverage), this is a great story of not only individual determination, strength, and courage, but the fact that it takes a whole team of like-minded people working together to help anyone even come close to achieving their life-long dream.

Both Bening and Foster have been deservedly nominated for awards already, and have already won a few accolades for their performances, and the film is carried along by both of them. With footage of the real Nyad and Stoll interspersed throughout the feature, there are easy points of comparison, and both leads feel like a perfect embodiment of their real-life counterparts, as well as a perfect embodiment of the main themes of the film. Ifans gives one of his most low-key turns, even dealing with an accent that he handles well, and his outsider view of the Nyad/Stoll dynamic is a great way to explore the good and the bad of the whole situation.

Co-directors Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi bring their skillset from a background in a number of celebrated documentaries, writer Julia Cox adapts Nyad's own book with a liberal attitude towards pesky things like truth and facts, "minor details" that would just get in the way of the cinematic journey, and the end result is as easy to dissect and criticise as it is to sit back and enjoy, or you could say . . . just go with the flow.

I was really impressed by this. And whether I completely believe Nyad, or whether she got away with printing her own legend, I was equally impressed by her journey (not just through the water, but moving from being so self-involved to realising how much help and support she received from others). I hope others end up feeling the same way, even if this is just a step on the way to discovering other athletic swimmers, and some documentaries looking at similar challenges (e.g. The Deepest Breath).

8/10

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Maverick (1994)

Springboarding from the old TV show (not one I have ever actually seen), Maverick is a comedy Western that coasts along on the charm of the leads, rejigs a lot of the classic Western tropes in ways that subvert them for comic effect, and entertains from start to finish. It's the kind of film that has the feeling of good humour and camaraderie emanating off the screen, and I think it's one that too many people seem to have forgotten about already.

Mel Gibson plays Bret Maverick, a cowboy who lives for the thrill of the draw. The draw of cards from a deck. He’s a gambler, and one who makes more money by acting naive. He also stays alive by acting cowardly, avoiding fights whenever he can. But being unwilling to fight everyone who wants a fight doesn’t mean that Maverick is incapable. He’s actually quick and sharp with a gun, and his wit. Alongside a couple of other main characters (Annabelle Bransford, played by Jodie Foster, among them), Maverick is aiming to get his place at a major poker tournament set to take place on a riverboat. He needs his entry fee, he needs to avoid people who are dead set against him taking part, and he needs to keep lady luck on his side.

Directed by Richard Donner and written by William Goldman, the marriage of expertise both behind and in front of the camera makes this a real treat. It’s easygoing - the more tense and dangerous encounters remain focused on being cinematic, without needing to add grit or any complete revisionism - and the story hits all of the expected beats without feeling tiresome. Goldman has given us better scripts, undoubtedly, but this is a film that really plays to his strengths, and subsequently rewards anyone who appreciates his writing skills (which should be pretty much everyone).

Gibson gives a star turn up there with the best of his star turns, charming and cheeky and always one step ahead of people who think he is two steps behind. He’s a reluctant hero, always making time to sigh and roll his eyes before endangering his life to help others. Foster isn’t quite as good, playing her scheming “Southern belle” character in a way that fails to light up the screen as it should. She improves as the film goes on though, and her comedy chops work better whenever she is verbally sparring with Gibson. James Garner is welcome in his strong supporting role, especially as he brings the baggage of his performance in the main role when it was a TV show, and the rest of the cast is stuffed full of great actors and faces from the Western genre. James Coburn, Dennis Fimple, Denver Pyle, Leo Gordon, and many others are all given some screentime. There’s a great villainous turn from Alfred Molina, a very fun cameo from Danny Glover, and a hilarious sequence with Graham Greene helping the main character to scam some money from a rich hunter. Add in small turns from Geoffrey Lewis, Art LaFleur, Dan Hedaya, and Max Perlich and you have a non-stop parade of great turns.

There’s also a playful Randy Newman score, a number of impressive stunts (including an excellent runaway coach sequence), players winning poker with hand that defy astronomical odds, and occasional glimpses of classic cowboy gun-handling. And it all adds up to a fun time, one that doesn’t even feel overlong with a 2+ hour runtime because you are rarely left without a smile on your face as things play out.

8/10

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Hotel Artemis (2018)

We've had a lot of great action movies in recent years, and a number of them have taken the time to at least hint at an unseen criminal world running parallel to our own. Hotel Artemis is another film along those lines. It's a blend of sci-fi, action, and standard thriller stuff. It's not great though. Unfortunately, it struggles to even be good.

Jodie Foster plays The Nurse, the woman in charge of the titular building. It's a safe haven for criminals, an exclusive medical facility that has some hard rules in place for the safety of everyone who comes and goes. If you're not up to date with your subscription payments then you can't get in. You can't bring in weapons. And you don't hassle the staff (Foster and her right hand man, Dave Bautista). Of course, these rules all start to be broken on a night when one man (Sterling K. Brown, in a lead role that feels very much like a supporting one) turns up, wounded brother in tow, after a botched robbery. There's a riot in the city causing problems, a couple of other residents (Sofia Boutella and Charlie Day) not getting along too well, a wounded cop (Jenny Slate) in need of assistance, and a surprise visit from the wounded owner of the establishment (Jeff Goldblum).

Hotel Artemis is so close to being a good film that it's almost frustrating to consider how much it misses the mark. The cast are all very good, and very good in their roles (even Charlie Day, who I like in comedic work but sometimes seems miscast when in more serious roles), the hints at the unrest going on in society are intriguing, but never developed into anything more worthwhile, and the few scenes that show the more badass characters actually being badass are fun (although Bautista is sorely underused, and when will Sofia Boutella be given the action movie lead role that she deserves?).

Writer-director Drew Pearce spends far too much time showing that this is his first feature, and that most of his written work used him best as part of a team of creative minds working towards the same goal. There's a damaging lack of focus, an unearned confidence in the dialogue scenes (Foster and Goldblum may be enjoyable to just listen to as they speak but they still need to be given more than the cheesy and clichéd dialogue that they're given here), and a general inability to give any of the main players material that is worthy of their talents. I also had an issue with the way we were given the rules of the hotel, only for them to be broken with far too little time or pressure applied to the decisions.

Take a bunch of lesser-known names and this movie becomes a straight-to-disc time waster. With this cast, however, there's really no way it can be viewed as anything other than a disappointment. The only person who comes close to being used well is Boutella, and even that feels too little too late, in an action sequence during the third act that puts her front and centre.

5/10

You can buy the disc here.
Americans can buy it here.