Silver Linings Playbook - 2012

"Silver Linings Playbook" - 2012
Dir. by David O. Russell - 2 hrs. 2 min.

Official Trailer

by Clayton Hollifield

Boy, I wasn't expecting a film this good when I went to see "Silver Linings Playbook."  I generally like enough of the people involved, but given the setting and set-up (a romance between "crazy" people), I was expecting something leaning more towards the willfully weird "I Heart Huckabees" than, I guess I'd have to throw back to "Chasing Amy" as a romantic comedy that features flawed people that can't help themselves from making the wrong move at times.

Pat (Bradley Cooper) is former teacher who is about to be released from a court-mandated hospital stay, to go live with his parents (Robert De Niro and Jacki Weaver) while he tries to cobble his life back together.  He's bi-polar, and for much of the movie seems about half a second from detonating, except when he actually does lose it, which happens more than once.  Pat's goal is to turn himself into the man that his estranged wife wanted him to be, at which point he believes she'll come back to him and they'll live happily ever after.  He's so focused on her that even when he's introduced to Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), and sparks kind of fly (in a way that's appropriate to the characters), he's still talking about the ex and how he plans to get her back, even to Tiffany's face.

Probably the most distinct feature of "Silver Linings Playbook" is that it's very sharply, and specifically written.  The characters are not generic at all.  Despite the mental illness (which could have turned into a caricature in lesser hands), Pat is a real person, one who wants his wife back (even though the pursuit is a continual source of stress), one who's family are big Eagles fans, and one who's on constant edge trying to maintain control of his faculties.  In one of the interviews surrounding one of the "Hangover" movies, I remember someone talking about how Bradley Cooper has a sort of believable anger simmering under his characters, and that was the draw for putting him in those movies.  I didn't quite get that until this film, where that trait is on full display.  It's not malicious exactly, but he flies off of the handle at times, and just blurts out whatever he's thinking at any given time.  Cooper is absolutely the right guy for this movie.

The other half of the equation is Jennifer Lawrence's character, Tiffany.  Her character is equally specific (which is a goddamned miracle), equally well-written, and Lawrence has the fierceness to stand down Robert De Niro in a scene, which is saying something.  All the praise surrounding her performance is on the money and well-earned.  In terms of what that adds to the film is a rare treat; often in romantic comedies, one character is less a real person and more of a cipher, someone whom the pursuer's needs and wants are projected onto.  It would be inaccurate to say that Tiffany is the pursued, but that's often the role that the female lead is slotted into.  She's straightforward and goes for what she wants, which makes Pat's focus on his estranged wife brutal to watch - it's clear that Tiffany's putting up with more than she should in the hopes that Pat will eventually notice what's right in front of him, but that's also far from a foregone conclusion.

Another aspect worth noting is the incorporation of the football material in the movie.  It's rarely acknowledged in film; sports movies are sports movies, and it's completely ignored in every other film (or treated as some macho, juvenile diversion when it's not ignored).  In "Silver Linings Playbook," it's just an organic part of the community - of course everyone in Philadelphia pays attention to what the Eagles are doing.  Football games are a way to get family members who aren't getting along in the same room, a manner of father-son bonding, an event that everyone can come together around, a reassurance of normalcy.  Even characters like Danny (Chris Tucker), who keeps reappearing during the film having just escaped from the same Baltimore hospital Pat had been at, keeps trying to join Pat's family to watch the Eagles games.  It's a community, and the understanding of that here, in what is definitely not a sports movie, is flabbergasting.  If you don't believe that,  watch either of the big scenes between De Niro and Cooper's characters, one in Pat's bedroom, and the other when Pat Sr. explains his rationale for his wager on an Eagles' game; they're both brilliant.

The best compliment I can pay to the film is that even up to the very, very end, how things were going to play out was a mystery.  There are so many believable, combustible elements involved that as a viewer, you know the wheels are always about two seconds from flying off the vehicle.  And even more importantly, I was hoping that they wouldn't.  I was hooked all along, and even through the climactic dance scene, who knew what was going to happen?  "Silver Linings Playbook" is a fantastic movie, way better than I was expecting, and one I'm definitely going to watch again.

4.5 / 5 - Theatre

Fast & Furious - 2009

"Fast & Furious" - 2009
Dir. by Justin Lin - 1 hr. 47 min.

Official Trailer #3

by Clayton Hollifield

Four films in, "Fast & Furious" represents a bit of a detour for the franchise.  Instead of the "man under pressure" story in the first films, this one is more of a revenge flick.  It also marks Vin Diesel's official return to the franchise, which is very welcome.  FF4 (which is how I'll be abbreviating that for the rest of this review) isn't a subtle movie, and you need not worry that it's a radical deviation from what's come before.  It just that rather that examining what a person looks like in pressure cooker, FF4 (and it's sequel, "Fast Five") are more about the consequences of the choices a person makes in that situation.

As is customary, FF4 kicks off with a daring heist, spotlighting the precision driving of Dominic Toretto (Diesel) and his crew, which includes Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) and Han (Sung Kang).  This time around, they're stealing the gas trailers from a semi in the Dominican Republic.  It's successful, and they throw a blow-out afterwards (check off one booty-shaking scene here), but they're aware that the law is onto them, and it's time to blow that Popsicle stand.  Dom abandons Letty, knowing that when he's apprehended, it's likely to be violent for everyone involved, and he doesn't want her going down with him.  Later, a character's death brings Dom back to Los Angeles with vengeance on his mind.  To that end, he tries to infiltrate a cartel to get his hands on the murderer.  At the same time, Dom's old buddy Brian O'Connor (Paul Walker) is back with the police department, and is trying to infiltrate the same cartel in an undercover manner.  They both succeed, and everyone drives very, very fast the entire time.

While there's plenty of action and excellent driving sequences here, this is a film about having to pick up the pieces when things go sour.  Dom's actions leave him having to avenge a death that's pretty much on his hands (which becomes clearer later in the film).  And while Brian has put himself back on the right side of the law, he has to directly deal with what he did to Dom and his sister, Mia (Jordana Brewster) in the first film.  Even after the amount of time that has passed, he doesn't seem to have much of a handle on it.  Brian tries valiantly to right things with both, but in order to do that, one aspect or another of his life is going to have to give.  It's fortunate for both men that they're after a cartel boss, it gives carte blanche to do whatever they feel like doing to him and his henchmen.

One of the bonuses to this film is that it shows why Vin Diesel is such a good actor, particularly in an action film.  It doesn't hurt that Paul Walker is routinely awful, but Diesel combines a legit physical presence with the ability to portray a coiled spring about to explode.  Finding someone who can jump around and stage fight is one thing, but it's kind of fun to watch Diesel when the other characters are prodding him, and you know something is about to happen.  This far into the franchise, Diesel's character has a reputation (despite only having really been in one film previously), and FF4 makes the most out of that.

I know that it seems to be missing the forest for the trees to ignore talking about the action entirely, so I'll confirm that the racing scenes here are up to par with what's come before.  The initial heist of the gas trailers is pretty fantastic (and nail-biting), and a eye-catching way to kick things off.  There is also the customary "qualifying" race that the main characters have to survive, a pair of scenes involving racing through a tunnel (you kind of have to see it to understand how cool that is).  There's so much racing that the film dares to end on an incomplete heist, knowing that you'll fill in the blanks in your mind, and that you'll want to return for the fifth installment based on what you have to assume is going to happen.  It's a ballsy choice, and it pays off.  It's not a cop-out, cash-grab ending (like the end of the second "Pirates of the Caribbean" film), it's a wink to the audience that yeah, you're gonna come back the next time around because this film has delivered the goods.

Aside from the second film in this franchise, all of the films have been pretty dead-on in terms of how to keep a franchise interesting.  That's pretty remarkable, considering most of the movie franchises that have had enduring success have been based on a series of books (like the "Lord of the Rings," "Harry Potter," or "Twilight" series), and have had some sort of road-map available before they even got started.  Consistently, the "Fast and the Furious" films maintain their flavor, juggle an increasingly large cast of characters, and offer up exotic locales for cars to go really fast in.  It's not Shakespeare, but I'll be damned if they don't have me coming back every couple years for another installment.

3 / 5 - Blu-Ray