2016 Films: #12. The Infiltrator

July 16th in Chicago.  Brad Furman directs this based on a true story picture about U.S. Customs agent Robert Mazur who went undercover to help bring down Pablo Escobar's drug money laundering operation. Bryan Cranston plays Mazur, a devoted family man and equally devoted to his job as an undercover agent (he gets offered retirement based on an injury stemming from a malfunction wire that burned him, he turns it down of course). Acting on some information from an informant, Mazurgoes undercover as a banker laundering drug money for the drug cartels.

Mazur struggles to keep his marriage together while being utterly dedicated to his job as he gets deeper and deeper into the organization, working his way to the top. He even brings his aunt (brilliantly played by Olympia Dukakis) in to cement the facade. Slowly they build their case an everything comes to a boil at his "wedding" (he's pretend engaged to another undercover agent) where law enforcement arrests everyone.

This is by no means a bad film but in terms of an "undercover cop" film it's not the best. It's mediocre to good. You're not missing anything by not seeing it. This bothers me because the source material (it's a true f*cking story!) is really interesting, its great cast but it's a "meh" film. This story is a perfect example of what law enforcement should do to money launderers in real life, PUT THEM ON TRIAL AND PUT PEOPLE IN PRISON!

Death Penalty might be too much but hard time in maximum security peniteniary would be a start.

Want to see a good film in this genre then see Donnie Brasco, The Departed or Internal Affairs. Those are much better films. This film actually follows the same premise as Donnie Brasco; undercover is obsessively dedicated, has moment where he has to "prove himself" to organization by committing a vile act in character, family life suffers, sympathy for a criminal who he's befriended and remorse for the arrest of said criminal when the sh*t goes down. I was never worried for Cranston's character. Now his partner Emir Abreu's (nicely portrayed by John Leguizamo) fate was in doubt but I wasn't given a chance at any emotional attachment to that character. Fine acting all around, decent pacing but the picture just didn't have it. There's a reason the film only received a 66% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It's good but nothing special.

2016 Films: #13 Road Games

Netflix rental on July 23rd. This British film saw it's US release in March of 2016. I had never heard of it (not that I was scoured the Spring releases all that thoroughly) and it seemed like a good choice for a Saturday night while my wife was attending a bachelorette party.

The picture takes place in the French countryside when we join Jack, a British citizen hitchhiking his way around, trying to get back to England. On the road he meets up with Veronique and the two decide to travel together. Since Veronique is a young, hot, sultry French chick, Jack pretty much falls for from the get go.

Exactly how she appeared just before the obligatory "let's go skinny dipping in the pond" scene.

Despite the fact there is a legend about the bodies of hitchhikers turning up in the area, the two forgo common sense and accept a ride from an eccentric gentleman, Grizard. Grizard suddenly decides that he can't go as far as they wanted but offers to put them up for th night at his home. Jack says sure but Veronique thinks its a bad idea. Once they see the guy's large home Jack reassures Veronique that things will be ok. They meet Grizard's wife Mary and have a nice dinner. Then things start to get weird.

Jack and Veronique feel that there's something "off" about the couple but still decide to spend the night. In the morning, Jack is informed that Veronique left during the night. Which is weird because Jack thought that Veronique had a thing for him. Jack goes after Veronique and winds up in the clutches of a sinister loner and things look grim. Jack manages to escape and makes it back to Grizard's where he rescuces Veronique. The young couple escape, survive a unsurvivable car wreck and have the final showdown in a field. Then there's a big reveal.

The film is written and directed by Abner Pastoll and has solid performances from Andrew Simpson (Jack),  Joséphine de La Baume (Veronique),  Frédéric Pierrot (Grizard) and Barbara Crampton (Mary). The picture is minimalistic and has some riveting moments (I didn't see the big reveal coming, nice job!). However, it takes a while for the tension to get ratcheted up and it didn't really get all that ratcheted up for me. Plus, once Jack and Veronique link up, you can see where the film is going. All in all this was a decent film for a Saturday night Netflix viewing. Definitely not awful but nothing fantastic either. It was a ice little thriller worth checking out if you're interested in this sort of thing.

2016 Films: #11. Nice Guys

June 23rd in Sheffield, OH. This picture received a 91% Rotten Tomatoes rating and has grossed $35 million against an $11 million budget to date. The film is directed by Shane Black who wrote the first two Lethal Weapon films and The Last Boy Scout. The fact that he wrote The Last Boy Scout is convenient here because The Nice Guys is pretty much a Last Boy Scout remake. Hear me out, Ryan Gossling is Holland March, an ex-cop turned down on his luck private eye. He's a widower and single father who's just a fun enough dad to keep from being a terrible parent (make no mistake, he's a terrible parent). March has a drinking problem and a teenage daughter who's way too mature for her age, copes with her mother's death better than her father and is crucial in helping solve the case.

In Last Boy Scout, Bruce Willis plays Joe Hallenbeck. A disgraced ex-secret service agent turned down on his luck private eye, who is divorced, drinks too much, has a teenage daughter who's way too mature for her age and is crucial in helping to solve the case. He's not a terrible parent because his ex-wife has custody (he ends up being framed for her murder) but he's a delinquent dad. The similarities are too close to overlook. Both films deal with government corruption (a crooked in senator in Last Boy Scout and a crooked Justice Department prosecutor in The Nice Guys) and have a sadistic weirdo henchmen...

Milo from The Last Boy Scout.

"Blueface" from The Nice Guys.

That still leaves Russell Crowe and Damon Wayans. Crowe plays Jackson Healy, a muscle for hire thug type with a good heart who strives to do better than intimidate people. Damon Wayans played Jimmy Alexander Dix, a disgraced ex-quarterback for the fictional LA Stallions. Different characters sure but they both have a good heart, help March/Hallenbeck get back to the good standing they once had. Each character is also a better parent to the daughters of March/Hallenbeck. The Healy/Dix characters also embody characteristics in the March/Hallenbeck characters. March and Dix are more or less goof balls capable of courage when the moment arises. Healy and Hallenbeck are both gruff tough guys who aren't opposed to hurting people. When Healy first meets March, he breaks his arm. Hallenbeck has a signature catch phrase before belting someone. To be honest, Healy is pretty much Bud White if Bud had broken up with Lynn Bracken (Kim Basinger reference) and moved back to LA. Also, both films are whimsical despite being very violent

The convoluted plot of The Nice Guys revolves around the death of a porn star and her film crew. It seems the porn star and her crew knew about the pollution the auto industry is trying to hide in their upcoming trial against the DOJ. March and Healy follow leads that requires them to crash a Boogie Nights type party, dodge bullets, get involved with crooked government officials and uncover a larger criminal enterprise. All in a days work.

The acting is good, the pace of the film is fine and the 70's fashion was fun but there's a lot of talent going through the motions here. The film is set in 1977 but there are several background continuity gaffes. In one scene there's a Jaws billboard, a film released in 1975. There is a shot of Holly's (March's 13 year old daughter) room showing an orgy of evidence that she's a teenager in the 1970's. One such piece of evidence is a London Calling poster. That particular album by The Clash was not released until 1979. That's just the stuff that I remember. A 91% rating is way too high. This is not Shane Black's best work. It's very derivative. If you haven't seen this yet, wait until it comes out on HBO or Redbox. Don't pay full price for a film that's been done before.

2016 Films: #10. X-Men: Apocalypse

June 16th in Johnson City, TN. This is the latest installment of the X-Men franchise after 2014's Days of Future Past essentially wiped the slate clean of all the content that took place in the X-Men films between 2000-2009 (that's three X-Men films and the the hideous X-Men Origins: Wolverine if you're keeping score at home) and the other sub-par Wolverine stand alone film that came out in 2013. Presently, the franchise canon is this film, the previously mentioned Days of Future Past and 2011's X-Men: First Class.

This film takes place in 1983, 10 years after the events in Days of Future Past. Professor X's School For Gifted Youngsters is thriving and old student Alex Summers brings his little brother Scott (spolier: it's Cyclops!) to the Professor when is mutation manifests. Magento has taken up a simple life as a factory worker in Poland, complete with wife and child (why he chose Poland, a Communist country that's not quite as bad as the Soviet Union but still oppressive is beyond me) despite the fact that he's been wanted by every law enforcement agency in the world for the last 10 years. In Egypt, a powerful mutant has awakened after several centuries of hibernation and he's discovered by plucky CIA agent Moira MacTaggert (who definitely has not aged 20 years!).

While Apocalypse makes his way to Europe and hooks up with Angel, Pslyocke and Storm, Magneto is discovered. When authorities attempt to take him in, his wife and daughter (who seemed a little older than 10) are tragically killed (the way they die is borderline ridiculous but I'll let it pass because the filmmakers didn't want to belabor the point), Magneto turns to the dark side and becomes Apocalypse's fourth horseman.

Cue ominous music.

Back at the X-Mansion, Scott takes a liking to star student Jean Grey and Raven shows up with Nightcrawler, Apocalypse and is crew show up at the mansion to kidnap Xavier (Apocalypse plans to use Professor X carry out his plan to tip the balance of power over to the mutants) and the ensuing battle, there's an explosion, Quicksilver arrives to save everyone, there's a tragic good guy death and Stryker shows up to capture the students left behind.

Jean, Scott and Kurt (Nightcrawler's real name) stow away on a helicopter to Alkali Lake, run into a soon to be named Wolverine (surprise!), who slaughters his way to freedom, and rescue everyone. While the X-Men are making their getaway, Apocalypse gets Magneto to mess with the Earth's magnetic field in order to cause a lot of destruction where several landmarks are destroyed. Again. This sets everything up for the big showdown in Egypt.

The big showdown goes to form; the bad guys have the good guys on the ropes, just when all seems lost, the good guys rally. Professor X also gets his signature "chrome dome" look during the final showdown as well. Mutants save the Earth again.

There's a reason this film received a 48% Rotten Tomatoes rating. It's not that good. In fact it's lousy. I was bored. The plot was redundant. Apocalypse is a blow hard who really just spouts Magento's rhetoric from the films that are no longer in the franchise canon. The plot and character development suffer for the sake of giving you mutants that weren't in the 1st series of films. Angel gets no development whatsoever. He's there because he was a horseman for Apocalypse in the comic books. Storm joins the X-Men in the end so she might get a backstory in the next film. I felt that Psylocke was wasted as a character. She had some cool powers and the character could've been expanded on but I felt that any showcase she got was because of her outfit (Olivia Munn doesn't act so much as she's just in action sequences).

It's a nice ensemble sure. But not very useful when fighting.

Everything that Nightcralwer did on screen was pretty much the same as what he did in X-Men 2. Nothing new from him. The scenes where Quicksilver uses his power are still exciting to watch but they're really just expanding the scene not giving us anything new or interesting (like the ham-handed way we get the information that Quicksilver is Magento's son). Plus the effects for his powers are probably expensive so his powers get limited screen time. That leaves us Jean Grey. Sophie Turner is beautiful, she plays Jean very well but it's pretty much the same Jean Grey as Famke Janssen but younger and her Phoenix powers manifest in one film instead of over two. You can also see where the next installment is going to go as well. More Jean Grey/Phoenix and more Wolverine. To be fair, I am not looking forward to the next installment.

2016 Films: #9. 13 Cameras

May 27th in Chicago, on On Demand viewing. My wife and I were looking for a horror/thriller film to watch on a Friday night and we came across this little gem. It's not much but it's a nice little thriller or bloodless horror film from writer/director by Victor Zarcoff. Claire and Ryan are a young couple expecting their first child and moving into a new rental property. Gerald the landlord, is a creepy dude to say the least and he seems to take a shine to new tenants. So much show that he installs cameras around the house to watch them, Claire mostly. Gerald gets to see their lives unfold and takes physical pleasure in doing so, especially when Ryan brings home his blonde, nubile assistant for some off-site pleasantries. Things start to unravel and Gerald has to take care of things.

The picture received a 77% on Rotten Tomatoes and has a run time of 87 minutes. It goes by quickly and doesn't drag anything out. There are some plot holes for sure but not enough to get into a twist over. 

2016 Films: #7. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny

May 6th in Chicago: This sequel is a Netflix original. The film takes place 18 years after it's groundbreaking predecessor and the only returning character is Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh). This film received an 18% Rotten Tomatoes rating and with good reason. It's not good at all. It has nothing of the original. It might have been a passable martial arts film if it did not claim to be a sequel. It was more like a reboot. Very similar characters doing very similar things. Take a pass.

2016 Films: #8. Captain America: Civil War

May 19th in Topeka, KS: To date this film has grossed nearly $400 million domestically and received a 90% on Rotten Tomatoes. The film is has some roots from a 7 issue limited series from nearly 10 years ago. Here's he problem with The Avengers as it pertains to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there are no villains that can match up with them so they have to fight each other. This time we get a battle royal with multiple combatants instead of a one on one match up.

The film is good but 90% seems to high. I was very excited for the appearance of the Black Panther (it was cool!) but the Spider-Man cameo was neither hot nor cold for me. Quite frankly, I just don't really care much for the whole Winter Soldier arc either. I get it, Cap and Bucky are friends but the guy is an assassin. He's not your pal anymore. Bring him to justice for crying out loud. There are a lot of plot holes that are convenient for the script but this is still a fun film. Be advised, we are getting diminished returns on these films.