Caught Stealing.

Review #2418: Caught Stealing.

Cast: 

Austin Butler (Henry "Hank" Thompson), Regina King (Det. Elise Roman), Zoë Kravitz (Yvonne), Matt Smith (Russ), Liev Schreiber (Lipa Drucker), Vincent D'Onofrio (Shmully Drucker), Benito A Martínez Ocasio (Colorado), Griffin Dunne (Paul), Carol Kane (Bubbe), Yuri Kolokolnikov (Aleksei), and Nikita Kukushkin (Pavel) Directed by Darren Aronofsky (#1112 - Pi, #1580 - mother!)

Review: 

Sure, this is the new film from director Darren Aronofsky, but I'll be honest, the reason I picked the movie is that it seemed like the kind of movie that would slip through the cracks if I didn't act quickly. Honestly, I think I saw exactly one trailer for the movie, but I'm sure this was going to be something fitting of the guy who did Pi (1998) rather than say, the guy who did mother! (2017). So, what is the movie? Well, it is based on the 2004 novel of the same name (the first of three books involving the character, as followed by Six Bad Things and A Dangerous Man) by Charlie Huston, who wrote the screenplay for this film, which is the ninth feature film by Aronofsky. You might think is a caper with a few bits of humor. Well...it is technically a funny movie, but you sure will get some whiplash by the stuff that happens with this movie (as set in 1998, specifically late September in New York) which features a handful of characters that get killed for 107 minutes (horror movies wish they had that kind of body count). Omen or not, I saw the movie on a Thursday night to about three other people (my kind of audience, at least when it comes to ill-timed laughs). 

I did enjoy the movie, albeit one that sure takes its time to really get going in a tightly wound thriller about one man who is having an increasingly bad week, as one does when engulfed in trying to think quick for a myriad of tough decisions beyond "oh, I have a cat to take care of". But really, it is a funny movie even with such squeamish moments, mostly because I did get a kick out of the ways one is wriggled in and out of chaos: some may call it whiplash, but I lied, it really is just mayhem and I think some people prefer to shudder at it rather than admit that there was some sort of perverse enjoyment to be had (sure, there is some violence that might be too much, but, well, too bad). It does help to have a pretty neat lead behind it all with Butler, who maneuvers vulnerability (past and current) and a general sense of charm that we get behind pretty quickly in the expanding-and-shrinking scenario that comes with people and surprises at every corner. He has a certain natural attitude that just clicks to what we are seeing without seeming like just being an impersonation of say, Steve McQueen. His demons are ones that we understand when it goes from a path of realization in, well, not turning away from their problems. The cast around him is fairly quirky in their machinations of mayhem (with a cat involved, naturally), whether that involves the coarse King or the delightful rat in the coming-and-going Smith or the late favorite in friendly neighborhood killer pair in Schreiber and D'Onofrio. There are plenty of little sequences to highlight within the ever-growing pulse of terror of someone who isn't exactly gripped in calm/normal reality to begin with, and I think the ending is a pretty apt one in laying out that being on the beach may not be all it looks to be in "peace". It basically is a movie close to the sights and sounds you might have found in old fashioned chase movies, one that might be better with multiple rewatches down the road, suffice to say. I just wish I liked it more, mostly because there is a fewling this could have gone even murkier, but I guess people would have gotten up in arms more (to say nothing of its one big shock). As a whole, if you want a slap-bang film that is reasonably engaged with its late 1990s setting, you might find something worth getting into here. It has enough of a rumble in its execution to make it probably worth a watch, squeamish or not.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

Movie Night is taking a few days off, just for the record.

Foolishly, I forgot to detail my shortlist of stuff I forgot to review for August, so here it was: Frankenstein vs. Baragon, Gamera vs. Gyaos, 1941, Don Q, Son of Zorro / Mask of Zorro / Zorro, The Gay Blade, But I'm a Cheerleader, City Heat, The Black Swan.

Terminator Genisys.

Review #834: Terminator Genisys.

Cast
Arnold Schwarzenegger (The Guardian), Jason Clarke (John Connor), Emilia Clarke (Sarah Connor), Jai Courtney (Kyle Reese), J.K. Simmons (O'Brien), Dayo Okeniyi (Danny Dyson), Matt Smith (Alex), Courtney B. Vance (Miles Dyson), Lee Byung-hun (Cop / T-1000), Michael Gladis (Lt. Matias), and Sandrine Holt (Detective Cheung) Directed by Alan Taylor (#827 - Thor: The Dark World)

Review
The Terminator franchise (#001 - Terminator 2: Judgement Day, #063 - The Terminator, #089 - Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, and #090 - Terminator Salvation) is a strange one in terms of where the story goes in these films...and also the quality of the movies. The first two films are great movies, both being hallmarks in the sci-fi genre because of the high quality writing and entertaining action. The third movie was a mixed bag that felt unneeded. The fourth one was flat out uninteresting to watch. As for this film...it's certainly a strange one. It's clear the people behind this film saw Star Trek (#009) and tried to make their own version...and it could have worked. The idea of a Guardian Terminator protecting and raising Sarah might've have worked as its own thing, instead of shoehorning Kyle Reese into the dynamic. One of the biggest problems is that Courtney and E. Clarke don't have real chemistry together, and while no duo could really compare to the chemistry that Linda Hamilton and Michael Biehn had in the first film, there is never a moment where they click together. He just doesn't give much to care about, resembling one of those blank slates in a fan-fic. Ultimately, this is a movie that is at best moderately entertaining but at worst just a bland retread, with a sequence mimicking the first film, and even a T-1000 (that is promptly beaten in less than 20 minutes) that is a bit laughable, for all the wrong reasons. It just feels weird seeing another film where they think they will destroy Skynet by doing X. I appreciate the idea of a retcon, but there really isn't anything presented here to demonstrate the need to have another film. There's no real style to the movie, nothing that you can really identify as memorable. Another problem is that there are no real stakes, with everything feeling predictable (in a way like the third film) and somewhat tedious. Schwarzenegger is as entertaining as ever, having better chemistry with E. Clarke than Courtney does. J. Clarke is pretty decent for what he's given to work with. The action scenes are pretty decent, though sometimes it comes off as a bit dull with regards to the colors. There really isn't much to the supporting cast, with Smith having barely any time to register a presence beyond occasional dialogue. It's a movie that works when it's about the action, but not so much when it's about the characters or story. Honestly, just stick to the first two films.

Overall, I give it 5 out of 10 stars.