There's a ton of police dramas that use the line "He's a cop on the edge", mainly when lead cop in said movie is going to kill a ton of bad guys at the behest of some dead partner or blood relative. Our "cop on the edge" goes on an orgy of violence that ultimately ends with him being congratulated for shooting all the bad guys and being an all around nice guy, even though he's an asshole to everybody.
Bad Lieutenant isn't about a "cop on the edge". It's about a cop that jumped off the edge feet first into whatever private hell he had created for himself. The film stars Harvey Keitel as the bad lieutenant, an investigator with the NYPD whose job isn't even second in his life. First is betting (badly) on baseball. Second is getting high. Third is getting off. Throughout the film crime is something he is more apt to be committing than fighting. Even though the lieutenant is working a case involving a nun who is literally raped on the alter of her church it all is secondary in the story of a man who has hit total rock bottom.
Harvey Keitel delivers one of the greatest performances of his career in this film. Bar none and you have to remember that this guy's worked with Scorsese. He pours his soul into a character that is at one minute pathetic, generating apathy from the audience, to heinous. Keitel fears nothing in performing in this film. His drunken and drug induced binges that cause him to forget about "to serve and protect" show a man that is broken. He's done. There are no scruples for the lieutenant. One particularly disturbing scene involves the main character asking a pair of young girls out for a joy ride to show him how they would perform fellatio or he'll call their dad. The lieutenant then proceeds to fiddle with himself as they mimic as ordered. Rock bottom.
This is a film that goes beyond the idea of gritty. A dark tale from all angles. Bad Lieutenant is basically a redemption tale with our main character trying to claw his way to civilization again from the deepest, darkest hole imagined. It's a film that pulls no punches and is really a disturbing look at how life can turn out for you. A pure morality tale that doesn't feel preachy, yet gets it's point across beautifully.
Do I really have to tell you about this movie? Do I really? It's The Rock in a tu-tu. Remember when Hulk Hogan did that twenty years ago with Mr. Jefferson? Yeah, it's the same sort of premise. Big, burly guy goes way out of his element, but ends up shining. That's all I'm going to say besides kids will like it. I can't really go on. Sorry.
There's a cardinal rule to films like It's Complicated. No one in the movie will be middle class. There will never be a plumber (unless it's for comic relief). There will never be a gardener (unless it's for comic relief). There will never be a nerdy computer guy (unless it's for comic relief). The main leads Alec Baldwin's character is a high class lawyer. Steve Martin's character is a high class architect. Meryl Streep's character runs a bakery that must have run the Super Wal Mart out of business because it's so damn busy and legendary and awesome. It makes so much bread (pun not intended) that she's ripping her house apart and making it the way she wants it (enter Adam played by Steve Martin).
So the whole point of this film is that Jane (Streep) starts playing house with Jake (Baldwin) who is also her ex-husband (insert studio audience "ooooohhhhh"). Jake's obsessed, but Jane isn't so sure. As a matter of fact, she knows it's a mistake and enjoys spending time with Adam, who is designing her house and eating her muffins. Insert standard romantic comedy plot devices and hilarity ensues.
Let's see how I can do this quick, because to be perfectly honest this movie was over rated as hell and doesn't deserve any more time than is needed to tell break it down real fast. Streep is good in a role with little to do but hit herself in the head for getting naked with Jake over and over again. Steve Martin needs to lay off the plastic surgery. His face is smoother than a Ken dolls ass. Plus, you're Steve Martin. You shouldn't be getting shown up by Alec Baldwin, who is the only redeeming thing in the film and he gets annoying after awhile.
Brought to you by Nancy Meyers, who follows the Hollywood chick flick model with every film she does, It's Complicated fails to be anything more than a "Hey ____________________ is in this! Let's go see it!" film that banks on names and not scripts. A two hour cliche.
Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) has a ton of problems. He's playing Steve Jobs to Stark Expo. The U.S. government is on him to turn over the Iron Man suit. His competitor is wanting a bigger market share. And Mickey Rourke is trying to kill him. What is a super hero to do?
Two years ago I wrote about the original Iron Man ushering in the era of the terribly flawed super hero along with The Dark Knight. These aren't Supermen or silly teenagers bitten by radioactive whatever. They're weak men with obsessions. As we get into Iron Man 2 Tony Stark has the same issues, though they are toned down a bit. It's like watching your kid grow up from Legos to video games to girls. Tony has advanced and is more mature.
Iron Man 2 is mainly a competition between Tony and Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell), a weapons manufacturer who is filling the void left by Stark industries. In the shadows is Ivan Vanko (Rourke) who blames Starks family for leaving his father to rot in a Siberian hell. As happens in super hero movies, Hammer and Vanko strike an agreement to benefit both parties and pee in the Stark punchbowl.
This sequel is not quite as good as the first one. The key word here is quite. It's still a very good film to start off the summer movie rush that seems to be filled with stinkers this year (I'm looking at you Karate Kid). The cast performs beautifully together and we can't forget Gwyneth Paltrow returning as Pepper Potts, Tony's guardian angel looking over his shoulder. Scarlett Johansson joins the cast as another tough woman going from Woody Allen films to beating the crap out of a dozen guys at one sitting. Don Cheadle replaces Terrence Howard and I can just see Howard kicking himself for it. This is the fun movie for the character and Cheadle does a fantastic job filling the role.
Directed once again by Jon Favreau Iron Man 2 follows the same basic style of the first film with sleek special effects and NO 3-D! Overall the film is great, but the alcoholism angle that I had heard so much about is really brought in and whisked away rather quickly. Other than little things like that Iron Man 2 is a sequel that is a worthy second chapter. It's a great action film that delivers for its entire running time. A solid summer popcorn flick.
