13 HOURS: THE SECRET SOLDIERS OF BENGHAZI Review

Director Michael Bay is not someone you would call subtle. As the director of films like Armageddon, Pearl Harbor, Bad Boys I & II, and the Transformer series it is clear to see the guy doesn't mind indulging just a smidge. Typically the guy gets a pretty bad rap for crafting films of spectacle with very little substance, of putting forth his uber-machismo attitude that displays the women in his films as little more than figures of sexuality, and for generally allowing his movies to get away from him as the action (and more specifically the explosions) take over. That said, 13 Hours: The Revenge of the Dark of the Moon is very much a Michael Bay film. Of course, it is a film that Bay has been wanting to make for some time now and that desire, that passion clearly shines through. One could add to the list of Bay's tendencies his penchant for idolizing the American flag and the country it represents. When it comes to America or at least the American military, Bay seems to believe in absolutes and by absolutes I mean the guys on the ground, the soldiers, the people doing the dirty work are the kind of people we should all aspire to be. And maybe that's true, maybe the way Bay has depicted the six men who didn't have to do what they did on September 11, 2012, but chose to risk their lives to save other American lives is completely accurate. I have no qualms with how these heroes are represented as 13 Hours doesn't look to get political, but simply aspires to tell the story of the type of man it takes under such circumstances to make shit happen. My qualms with the film come when these men have little to no substance to them, when they are more or less interchangeable, and when the attempts at adding some weight or personal insight to the situation are so blatantly obvious it takes you out of the movie. Still, those who go into 13 Hours knowing what they want and what they're getting will undoubtedly describe this as nothing short of awesome and the type of pro-American film liberal Hollywood doesn't make enough of. Instead of being pro anything though, I like to imagine most filmmakers simply try to lend each story they tell a sense of well-rounded perspective, but with Bay there is no inhibition about the actions of these men and to even question as much is a fallacy. And so, 13 Hours is the culmination of everything Bay has ever wanted to put to screen and while it's certainly an entertaining action flick it still doesn't connect in the affecting way his over-powered soundtrack suggests he wants it to.

THE WALK Review

Man on Wire is the Academy Award winning documentary from 2008 that preceded this dramatization of French high-wire artist Philippe Petit's walk between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center on August 7, 1974. What made the documentary such a critical success and one of the more all-around entertaining documentaries ever made was largely due to two factors-1) Petit himself and 2) the heist-like nature required to pull the stunt off.  Petit is a character who needs no exaggeration. To watch him describe his mentality and desires in the documentary was to paint so vivid a picture that re-enactments were never needed. There was also a surplus of photos and footage from around Petit and his accomplices planning and executing this rather risky gamble to fulfill one man's crazy dream that filled in the gaps when Petit wasn't acting out his recollections. So, the question is why would anyone want and more importantly why does anyone need another version of a story that has already been told in a magnificent (and no doubt more honest) way? The documentary was filled with drama and tension so why dramatize it further only to restrict it to a narrative structure that would likely end up making the distressing story rather passionless. There seems to be no definitive answer as to why this new interpretation was necessary within director Robert Zemeckis' film, but strangely it seems to make perfect sense given the man behind this particular vision. Zemeckis has always been a filmmaker who likes to push the envelope when it comes to technology and trying things other filmmakers wouldn't dare attempt (see Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Cast Away, The Polar Express). In Petit's story the director has found an inherently dramatic, fun and literally breathtaking tale that perfectly accommodates the type of innovative filmmaking methods he likes to march out and test on his audiences. And so, while The Walk may not be a movie we all needed, that certainly doesn't make it one worth ignoring. In fact, it's rather invigorating once it gets going.

First Trailers for Michael Bay's 13 HOURS

As a big fan of Michael Bay's previous film between Transformers movies, I've been looking forward to seeing what he does next away from the Autobots. When we learned Bay's next project was going to be something of a Benghazi war story based on actual events it was surprising, but in a strange way made complete sense. Bay has always been an action director first and foremost and no matter how bad of a rap the guy gets, he is one of the best action directors working today. He is an auteur in his own right and even if you don't care for many if any of his films one must at least admit they are gorgeous to look at and can be insanely fascinating if not for the story they present, but the thoughts going through the directors mind in order to create something as bombastic as Bay typically does. With the blandly titled 13 Hours that features an even cheaper feeling subtitle in The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, Bay enters territory that melds his take on true stories with that of what he has been perfecting his entire career. John Krasinski leads the film that tells of the six members of the military security team that fought to defend the Americans stationed at the embassy in Benghazi when it came under attack. It is also of note that Chuck Hogan (The Town) wrote the script while the Bay imagery is still fully intact if not looking like something akin to American Sniper or Zero Dark Thirty in it's tone if not it's aesthetic. James Badge Dale (Iron Man 3), Max Martini (Pacific Rim), Pablo Schreiber (Orange Is the New Black), and David Denman (The Office) fill out the rest of the main players with the film set to hit theaters on January 15, 2016.

Full Trailer for THE WALK Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Upon seeing the initial teaser trailer for Robert Zemeckis’ latest endeavor late last year I wasn't too excited for what it was promoting. The story of Philippe Petit had already been documented in the critically acclaimed documentary Man On Wire and it seemed unlikely that Zemeckis’ film would be able to match that acclaim or even what made the documentary so fascinating and that's not even taking into consideration that a dramatized version of these events hardly seems necessary. Still, the narrative film is coming and it has Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the lead so it will inevitably be discussed, but what I can't tell is if this movie wants to be more of an Oscar-contender or if it simply wants to be an exhilirating thrill ride that really capitalizes on the IMAX and 3D aspects of its production. The marketing is certainly driving this angle home, but this second, full trailer for the film also highlights the heist-type aspects of the film given Petit and his crew were not allowed to go to the top of the twin towers, string a wire between them and attempt to tightrope walk between them. The trailer is much better than what I would have initially expected from the film and the fact this trailer came with the announcement that this will be the opening night film at the New York Film Festival this year only makes me all the more curious. I wish we didn't live in a culture where we had to think of films simply as Oscar-type films and those for pure entertainment, but we typically do. Maybe The Walk can break that frame of mind. The film also stars Charlotte Le Bon, Ben Kingsley, James Badge Dale, Ben Schwartz, Clément Sibony, César Domboy and opens in 2D, 3D, and IMAX 3D on October 2nd.

STRETCH Review

Joe Carnahan has made six feature length films, four of which I have now seen. Some of them I remember, others I don't recall much of. I haven't seen his debut 1998 feature Blood, Guts, Bullets and Octane (which looks and sounds horrendous) nor his sophomore follow-up in 2002's Narc though I hear that one is actually worth a look. I was introduced to Carnahan's tendency for manic action in his hyper-stylized 2006 effort which he both wrote and directed, Smokin' Aces.  I can remember Aces featuring an all-star ensemble, but a story that alludes me though that doesn't matter. It was a film with a visual flair all its own and from what I do remember it was that overt style that made me want to seek it out more than anything else. Going through the rest of Carnahan's filmography brings us to the highly underrated, intended to be franchise-starter that was 2010's The A-Team (an almost $80 million domestic gross against a $110 million budget) and then on to the next years The Grey which gave Liam Neeson what looked like another actioner in his new position as official movie badass, but was actually a thoughtful, meditative look at love, loss and the meaning of our existence among the threats of the wilderness and wolves. He is an eclectic kind of filmmaker as the aforementioned filmography proves, but he clearly has his tendencies when it comes to the types of films he likes to make and the very precise style he likes to infuse them with. There isn't necessarily one distinct style, though his pacing is key, but it is more about the melding of the style and material together in a way that produces something that feels totally organic. Organic in terms of a harmonious relationship between several different elements and Carnahan is now at a point in his career with his latest, Stretch, that he pulls off his manic tone with ease as his multifaceted screenplay dips in and out of different circumstances while never losing its energy.

PARKLAND Home Video Review

There has always been an intense amount of interest around the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and with good reason. It was a horrific event in which the President was murdered in front of countless people with any number of possible suspects, there was a race to get Kennedy to the hospital, the immediate man hunt for the suspected shooter and countless other avenues were followed that fateful November day. What writer and director Peter Landesman has attempted to do, in his directorial debut no less, is condense these events into a feature that runs a mere hour and a half long (including notes at the end and the credit sequence). There is not nearly enough time here to develop the several intriguing stories the film documents, much less get to know the the actual emotions felt by the people placed under these extraordinary situations. Parkland would be a film that justifies a run time of at least three hours, but it seems Landesman is keen on hitting the high points of these events and highlighting little more than small moments of that day in brief, almost news clip-like segments that intertwine to piece together November 22, 1963 and the subsequent days following as both the President and his suspected killer were laid to rest. I am a sucker for historically-based films and have read plenty on the JFK assassination, the investigations around this event and the countless conspiracy theories that continue to plague it nearly fifty years after it occurred. I also know better than to get my history lessons from the movies and so I approached this film with a sense of both optimism and caution as it seemed both ambitious while at the same time a balancing act of moments pulled straight out of the history books with little more intention that bringing to life how this death affected unsuspecting, regular citizens while adding nothing more to the story and having no particular point of view it was going to approach the subject matter with. Unfortunately, while the actual events of that day remain engaging as ever Parkland is only able to take us so far because it only gives its content so much attention before moving on and taking the audience, no matter if we have lingering questions or deeper interests, with it. I can admire the film for what it is trying to do and the dots its trying to connect, but ultimately this is more a failed experiment than anything else with an execution that doesn't come close to what it promised.