Movie Review: Righteous Kill

Righteous Kill is a righteous attempt, all right. What other scenes can you freeze frame and show Al Pacino and Robert De Niro having an actual conversation between their characters? (Answer: only in Heat, from 1995.) Let's be honest, director Jon Avnet really starts with a leg up, doesn't he?



And he kind of screws it up, quite honestly. The opening title sequence quickly sucks us in with two cops, our A-list stars, on the shooting range with a variety of weaponry. After we get over our wonderment of two A-list actors in nearly every scene together, we jump into their 30-year careers just before retirement. We view that thirty year period that we feel is happening in real time. The plot is essentially answering the following question: what do you do about the criminal you've caught, know without a doubt is guilty, and know won't get prosecuted? Do you take the law, nay, justice into your own hands? Would that be right or wrong? OR something in between?



We're reminded of that question continually, the plight of an NYPD detective, as we view some righteous kills.. some clear cut examples of vigilante justice. The kills start piling up, and suddenly the whole department realizes its chasing what appears to be a poetry-writing, notecard-leaving, good marksmanship serial killer. We know who it is, they don't. Or at least, that's what we lead ourselves to believe.



The twist is a fairly good one, as twists in shoot em' ups go, but herein lies the rub: part of the twist completely, totally lost me. There are several dark and eery references to violence against women throughout the plot, and we manage to shrug that off, unwillingly. However, the twist has to include it as well. That's where I find the cheap attempt to heighten the dramatic ending falls flat on its face. You have extraordinary actors. Use them to convey the drama, not the damsel-in-distress bit that's been done for hundreds of years.



We do get a wonderful performance from rapper 50 Cent, and Brian Dennehy as Lieutenant Hingis stands out as well, perfectly cast. Donnie Wahlberg is forgettable, but John Leguizamo is not, his usual bulldog self.

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Movie Review: Slumdog Millionaire

Life has happened, and I've run out of time to blog. (Gasp) So, because I promised, and because I can riff on movies until I'm blue in the face, I give you my take on Slumdog Millionaire.


What a ride.

This is a journey we all take together, and what a ride. What a treat. The colors are spectacular, from the opening chase sequence to the final scene's scarf. It enriches us culturally, taking us on a journey of survival of two young boys that become victims of India's own religious wars. We view their plight through their eyes and, as such, we are prone to the same dread they feel when fate frowns upon them.. and also when it smiles.


This is a story for mankind, that begins in Mumbai, India. The plot is fairly simple: a poor young kid from nothing goes on an Indian game show, and does really well. Too well. How he does this is the story behind the title, behind our collective conscience, behind our labored human experience. Nearly every sense is treated: our ears to the pulsating rhythms of Indian baselines and drumbeats, our eyes the beautiful bright oranges and blues of saris and panoramas alike, the near ability to feel the ground under our feet as we run with our young protagonists.

We learn an amazing tale of survival, of the poorest and the fittest. Survival itself begins to take on various forms, morphing itself into sacrifice, betrayal, and ultimate redemption. And as we begin to cheer, to look forward to destiny's sly smile on this unlikely candidate, we're just not sure if he can pull it off.

If I have a modest complaint about the film, which I give an up-enough thumb for you to see it in the theater, it would be that Bollywood emulates Hollywood a little too much for me. A little too "two by four", if you will. However! I'm not the typical Hollywood audience, and one generally likes it when one feels good upon exiting.

You will certainly do that. It is written.

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Movie Review: Seven Pounds

It's nice to read about other adventures of parents with their furry (and human) children, true. It's nice to share that info, too. But today, I thought I'd provide a bit of a newsworthy service, in the form of a movie review.

Last night, in a rare turn of events, my husband and I went out to see a movie. On a whim, we changed plans and saw Seven Pounds, starring Will Smith (http://www.sevenpounds.com/). The movie asks a lot of its viewers, on several levels. It's written in medias res, or, as my high school Latin teacher would say, "ya know, in the middle of stuff." You begin the movie with an extreme close-up shot of an extremely emotional Will Smith, of which you know nothing about. Nor the cause of the emotion. In this way, the movie asks a great deal of patience (and suspension of expectation) from its audience.

Patience, from an American audience, is a tough thing to expect.

Over the course of the little over two hours, we begin to piece together what Will Smith's character meant when he said, in the opening scenes of the film, "In seven days
God created the world. It took me seven seconds to shatter mine." He must help seven individuals, all very different people with very different circumstances. We learn much more about some than others, and in a few we literally feel their hopes and dreams as they're unfolding.

The film also relies on subtleties that, if we aren't careful, we may miss. This is one of the greatest treasures of the film. They are so wonderful you can hear slight whispers between audience members to one another, to ensure they each caught it.

We find ourselves on a journey, and we have no choice but to wait it out.

In one particular character, Rosario Dawson's character, it's heartbreaking. No, heart wrenching..for the character, and suddenly, for us as well, as we finally learn the true extent of pain and suffering. Pain, and all kinds of suffering, are central themes of the movie. Dawson's character proves to be the tie that binds, and everything comes together quickly for us at the end.

For anyone who has ever experienced any kind of loss in their life, particularly a significant one, this will be an emotional journey through that personal pain. It will cause all of us to examine ourselves, and our relationships, just a little bit more closely. In one entity, a simultaneous celebration of life and pursuit of suffering.

This is one rare movie that everyone should see, as we will all come out better versions of ourselves.

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