Archive for April, 2018

Mark Felt:

The Man Who Brought Down the White House

Director: Peter Landesman

Cast: Liam Neeson, Diane Lane, Josh Lucas, Tony Goldwyn, Kate Walsh, Marton Csokas, Tom Sizemore, Eddie Marsan, Ike Barinholtz, Maika Monroe, Michael C. Hall, Bruce Greenwood, Julian Morris

Parkland and Concussion director Peter Landesman takes on another factual drama in his detail heavy fictional account of the Watergate scandal called Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the Whitehouse.

It’s April 1972 and Mark Felt, deputy assistant director of the FBI deftly underplayed by a haggard looking Liam Neeson is hoping to get the job of Director of the FBI after the death of J. Edgar Hoover.

Oscar nominee Liam Neeson (Schindler’s List) plays Mark Felt brilliantly, underplaying the amount of stress he is under when Felt is by-passed for the directorship for a Nixon crony Gray played by Hungarian actor Marton Csokas (Noah, The Equalizer).

Felt, who always played his cards very close to his chest, realizes that there is a massive conspiracy within government agencies. These fears are confirmed when the magnitude of the Watergate scandal broke in 1972 in which covert ex-spies where caught red handed breaking into the National Democratic Convention headquarters at the Watergate Hotel just prior to the November elections.

President Nixon got re-elected in November 1972 but Mark Felt soon realizes that a move by the government to capture the integrity and independence of the FBI when the slimy Billy Sullivan is poking around headquarters. Sullivan is suitably played by Tom Sizemore who hasn’t been in many films recently but is most remembered for his roles in Natural Born Killers, Saving Private Ryan, Black Hawk Down and Heat.

If audiences like detailed political docudrama then Mark Felt is for them.

Don’t expect action in this drama which is saved by memorable scenes between Neeson and his co-star Oscar nominee Diane Lane (Unfaithful, Trumbo) who plays his wife Audrey Felt as the couple also battle with the disappearance of their wayward daughter Joan played by Maika Monroe (Independence Day).

Mark Felt is a fascinating portrayal of one man’s ability to stick to his own ethics at a time when the Nixon administration was beyond reproach as Felt clandestinely feeds classified information to Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward played by Julian Morris and Time magazine journalist Sandy Smith played by Bruce Greenwood.

Felt was indeed the man who brought down the White House and in media circles was known only as deepthroat, a rather sexy title for an informant and extremely valuable source to the Fourth Estate which eventually caused the impeachment of President Richard Nixon and his administration.

Despite the intrigue, Mark Felt does get caught up in the details and scores a film rating of 7 out of 10. It is nevertheless a fascinating film for those that enjoy an intriguing docudrama. 

The film does feature a superb supporting cast including Eddie Marsan, Michael C. Hall, Tony Goldwyn and Josh Lucas. Recommended for viewers that enjoyed director Peter Landesman‘s previous American historical drama Parkland about the assassination of JFK.

Roman J. Israel, Esq.

Director: Dan Gilroy

Cast: Denzel Washington, Colin Farrell, Amanda Warren, Carmen Ejogo, Sam Gilroy, Tony Plana

Oscar winner Denzel Washington (Glory, Training Day) received another Oscar nomination for Best Actor at the 2018 Academy Awards for his betrayal of human rights lawyer Roman J. Israel Esq. in a film of the same name perceptively directed by Nightcrawler director Dan Gilroy.

Dan Gilroy expands his notion of urban cinema further in the compelling legal drama Roman J. Israel Esq. whereby the city in this case Los Angeles becomes another character in his film like it did so vividly in the disturbing Nightcrawler.

Its Roman who is living in downtown L.A. who doesn’t drive and catches public transport, living in an old apartment building next to a condominium construction site whereby he continually complains to city authorities about the after all hour noise levels.

Roman J. Israel Esq follows the story of an out of touch human rights lawyer who is unwillingly thrust into the legal limelight when his more esteemed partner has a sudden heartache. Roman takes on a case about a young African-American boy who is accused of killing an Armenian drugstore worker.

However, Roman’s case soon is not what it seems when he falls under the guidance of hotshot attorney George Pierce, a slick oily performance by the impressive Colin Farrell (The Beguiled).

Pierce soon lures Roman into the corporate legal world with plush offices in a downtown skyscraper overlooking a busy Californian highway. Roman also has to contend with his own ethical and moral convictions as he battles with the idea of being seduced by the trappings of wealth and commercialism, which conflict so sharply with his idealistic human rights beliefs.

These beliefs are embodied in Roman’s awkward relationship with the head of a civil rights Non-Profit organisation, Maya Alston played by Nigerian British actress Carmen Ejogo (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them).

Roman’s former law firm is being wrapped up by his incapacitated partner’s niece Lynn Jackson played by Amanda Warren last seen in the Oscar winning Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri.

As the case of the young accused becomes increasingly more complex and Roman J. Israel Esq in a desperate bid to earn fast cash does something illegal against all ethical considerations, the consequences of which come crashing down on a L. A. lawyer who like the inner city he dwells in, eventually consumes his entire existence.

Roman J. Israel Esq is a compelling examination of dignity, career ethics and the seduction of wealth, held together by a mesmerizing performance by Denzel Washington who plays the civil rights lawyer grappling to adapt to the changes of a millennial environment, while still listening to his Walkman and clutching a bulging briefcase on a legal motion to transform the Federal law system by giving each defendant a stronger chance of being represented equally and fairly before the law.

Roman J. Israel Esq gets a film rating of 8 out of 10 and is highly recommended for those viewers that savour a complex and ethically dubious legal thriller filled with conflicting images of paranoia and idealism. 

7 Days in Entebbe

Director: Jose Padilha

Cast: Rosamund Pike, Daniel Bruhl, Eddie Marsan, Ben Schnetzer, Nonso Anozie, Mark Ivanir, Denis Menochet, Lior Ashkenzi

Robocop director Jose Padilha directs Rosamund Pike and Daniel Bruhl in the fascinating life recreation of the 1976 Hijack drama of an Air France flight from Tel Aviv to Paris which eventually lands up in Entebbe, Uganda during the reign of Idi Amin.

Pike and Bruhl play Baader Meinhof terrorists and PLO sympathisers Brigitte Kuhlmann and Wilfried Bose even speaking German which is a comfort as Bruhl (Rush, The Zookeepers Wife, Inglourious Basterds) is half Spanish half German.

It’s also refreshing to see the Oscar nominee for Gone Girl, Rosemund Pike play a role against type.

Brazilian director Jose Padilha frames the action and tension of 7 Days in Entebbe within an Israeli contemporary dance number which is inventive and clever. The Book Thief’s Ben Schnetzer plays an Israeli soldier who is tasked along with his battalion to rescue the Israeli passengers from a rundown old Entebbe airport terminal, an efficient military exercise known as Operation Thunderbolt.

Nonso Anonzie makes a brief appearance as Idi Amin, but the real star of 7 Days in Entebbe is the almost unrecognizable Eddie Marsan as the Israeli defence secretary Shimon Peres who would one become Prime Minister of Israel. French actor Denis Menochet (The Program) plays a practical Air France flight engineer who attempts to gain sympathy for the plight of the passengers from the inexperienced terrorist Wilfried Bose.

7 Days in Entebbe is a fascinating recreation of one of Israel’s most daring rescue operations which captured the world’s attention at a time when hijacking was a common terrorist threat.

The tone of the film is definitely pro-Israeli but it is refreshing to watch an action drama which is not Americanized in any way but became one of the highlights of the Israeli military back in the summer of 1976.

Director Jose Padilha effortlessly blends real documentary footage with a brilliant recreation of one of the most bizarre hijackings in aviation history in the riveting 7 Days in Entebbe.

Whilst the film could have been edited in parts, 7 Days in Entebbe is a recommended film for audiences that enjoy stories based on real international events, whatever your political views are on the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Operation Thunderbolt ticks all the right boxes held together by superb performances by the films three main leads: Rosamund Pike, Daniel Bruhl and Eddie Marsan.

7 Days in Entebbe gets a film rating of 7.5 out of 10.

Pacific Rim Uprising

Director: Steven S. DeKnight

Cast: John Boyega, Scott Eastwood, Cailee Spaeny, Burn Gorman, Charlie Day, Tian Jing, Rinko Kikuchi, Adria Arjona

Film Rating: 6.5 out of 10

Successful sequels only work if they have a cinematic uniformity of vision.

Unfortunately the sequel to Guillermo del Toro’s highly original Pacific Rim (2013) called Pacific Rim Uprising is a paint by numbers sequel without much depth to it beyond massive creatures attacking Tokyo and Honolulu and the defensive Jaegers trying to fight them off.

Featuring rising stars John Boyega (Detroit, Star Wars: The Force Awakens) as Jake Pentecost, son of Stacker Pentecost from Pacific Rim and Scott Eastwood (Fury, Suicide Squad) as Nate Lambert, there are only few of the original cast in the sequel including Oscar nominee Rinko Kikuchi (Babel) as Mako Mori and Charlie Day as the crazed tech genius Dr Newton Geiszler.

Unfortunately no Idris Elba or Charlie Hunnam to light up our screens and make this sequel dazzle.

In trying to prevent another attack of the Kaiju on the Pacific Rim cities around the globe, Jake teams up with a young delinquent Amara Namani played by Cailee Spaeny.

Tian Jing (Kong: Skull Island, The Great Wall) plays Liwen Shao , head of a shady Shanghai Tech giant Shao Technologies which plays on introducing drones to control the Jaegers as a defence mechanism against another impending attack of the nefarious Kaiju.

Jake and Amara try to rustle up a team of young recruits but that is soon usurped by a sudden attack in Sydney of a rogue Jaeger. The action moves swiftly onto Tokyo in the most impressive CGI sequence whereby the roaming sea monsters are intent on attacking Mount Fiji while Jake and his team have to fight them off before they reach their volcanic destination.

As an effects laden CGI movie, Pacific Rim Uprising is fun to watch but lacks originality and the script is lacklustre coupled with the uninspiring direction by Daredevil director Steven S. DeKnight.

Pacific Rim Uprising gets a film rating of 6.5 out of 10 and is recommended for only those viewers that loved the first film. Otherwise this sequel, like many, is not going to have a broader appeal.