Spider in the Web, based on true events, tells the
story of Adereth (Ben Kingsley) – an aging operative whose glory days are
behind him. He was one of the best, and he used to garner the type of respect
he felt he deserved from his superiors – but now it is only the youngsters who
seem to appreciate him and his illustrious career. That may be because he
trained most of them, but that’s neither here nor there. When chemical attacks
begin to strike Damascus, Adereth takes on the task of finding the biological weapons
and the people responsible. Finding these weapons and putting a stop to these terror attacks is the perfect way for Adereth to ride off into the sunset. Of course to complicate matters even more so than they already are, Adereth has lost
the faith of his agency – leading them to send Daniel (Itay Tiran) to shadow him and
make sure that he is remaining in line. Finding the true motives of the mysterious Angela (Monica Bellucci)
becomes another hurdle that Adereth must overcome as he tries to weigh out who he can trust,
and who is conspiring against him.
There are a few interesting scenes throughout the film where we see the cunningness
and intelligence of Adereth – he is able to manipulate situations and people to
get exactly what he wants. Whether it be obtaining a certain piece of
information, finding some hidden pictures, or being able to sneak away from his
‘babysitter’ – Adereth shows time and time again that he is a seasoned vet that
has honed his skills over the years.
When the dust settles, these moments can't save Spider in the
Web from being a completely forgettable spy ‘thriller’. There are so many films and
franchises that offer a more exciting look at the world of espionage and Spider
in the Web simply does not deliver. I was hoping that adding an
international element would make Spider in the Web stand out and give me
something I haven’t seen before, but that is not the case. Director Eran Riklis
and writers Gidon Maron and Emmanuel Naccache are never able to establish a consistent
pace and the film seems to just trudge along without it. There is not enough
character development and I found myself not having any attachment to either of
the main characters or any of the auxiliary ones that pop in and out of the
film. Spider in the Web unfortunately wastes an interesting real life
premise and the talents of Ben Kingsley – go ahead and skip this one.
Before he's The Witcher, and long before he ever suits up as Superman again, Henry Cavill will track down a serial killer in Night Hunter. The psychological thriller finds Cavill teaming up with Ben Kingsley and Alexandra Daddario, a trio that keeps one foot in big studio flicks and the other in low budget efforts that go straight to DirecTV, as this one did.
This being the third trailer for Night Hunter (including one when it was titled Nomis), it may just be a reminder that it exists and can be ordered on DirecTV right now. So if you're in the mood for a poor man's Se7en, in which Cavill and Kingsley try to crack the deadly plan of a serial killer who targets women, then you know where to send your money.
The film is written and directed by David Raymond, and there might be something more to it than meets the eye. How else do you attract a cast that also includes Stanley Tucci, Brendan Fletcher, Minka Kelly, and Nathan Fillion.
SYNOPSIS:
Henry Cavill stars in this action-packed thrill ride that will shock you at every turn. When police detective Marshall (Cavill) and local vigilante Cooper (Ben Kingsley) arrest a serial killer targeting women, they discover his game has just begun. The hunt is on as the murderer masterminds a series of deadly attacks from behind bars. Now in a desperate race against time, Marshall and Cooper fight to stay one step ahead of their suspect’s deadly plan. Also starring Alexandra Daddario and Stanley Tucci, Night Hunter is a pulse-pounding thriller where the only way out is through the mind of a killer. Tick-tock.
Night Hunter will expand to theatrical release on September 6th, but you can watch it now on DirecTV.
Ben Kingsley's chameleon skills are legendary, effortlessly playing characters of many different cultures and ethnicities. For example, he's been Gandhi, Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann, and over the last couple of years has played his share of Mossad agents. The latter he'll do so again in the new thriller, Spider in the Web, in which he stars and romances Monica Bellucci.
At the age of 75, Kingsley still has the goods to play a Mossad agent, who many deem past his prime, as he engages in a dangerous mission involving chemical weapons sales in the Middle East. Bellucci plays his target, who could be an ally, a lover, or a deadly enemy. Who knows? Since it's Bellucci, who plays a damn good femme fatale, I'm going to assume it's a combination of the three.
Eran Riklis (Lemon Tree) is the director with Itay Tiran, Makram Khoury, and Filip Peeters co-starring.
SYNOPSIS: Adereth (Sir Ben Kinsgley), a once-lauded but aging field agent of the Israeli Mossad, is deemed past his prime by his superiors. Convinced that he’s been fabricating intelligence to maintain his relevance, they send a young operative, Daniel (Itay Tiran), to ensure that Adereth does not deviate from his mission to deliver crucial information he claims is waiting for him regarding a chemical weapons sale to a Middle Eastern dictatorship. That tip leads to the enigmatic Angela (Monica Bellucci), who is a target. A lover. An enemy. All? Neither? As the lines of trust are blurred, Adereth realizes the hunter may become the hunted in a world of mirrors and deceit. Spider in the Web opens August 30th in theaters and VOD.
Both on TV and in the movies, people are obsessed with police investigations and, in particular, they love a good manhunt for a serial killer. Night Hunter (which was titled Nomis just a month ago) looks to appeal to those movie fans with a film that is clearly drawing some inspiration from Se7en, The Silence of the Lambs, and many others, while offering a cast that includes Henry Cavill, Ben Kingsley, and Alexandra Daddario. Not bad at all.
Cavill stars as a dogged detective who teams up with a former judge-turned-vigilante to track down a serial killer who targets women. However, they soon realize that capturing him is only the beginning. The film marks the directorial debut of David Raymond, who has cast Brendan Fletcher, Stanley Tucci, Nathan Fillion, and Minka Kelly in supporting roles.
Night Hunter gets an exclusive DirecTV run beginning August 8th, followed by theatrical and VOD on September 6th.
Ben Kingsley, Henry Cavill, Alexandra Daddario, Stanley Tucci, Nathan Fillion, Minka Kelly; that's a terrific group for a thriller that looks kinda...well, disposable. Nomis debuted in Los Angeles last year and there hasn't been much chatter about it, despite being quietly acquired by Saban Films. While there has yet to be an official release date, perhaps this Se7en-esque trailer signals some news on that front.
Written and directed by first-timer David Raymond, the film stars Kingsley as a vigilante who targets online predators. When he's caught by the police, he sets them on the trail of a dangerous man who has been abducting and murdering women for years.
Imagine if that old NBC reality series To Catch A Predator was hosted by the Punisher, which sounds pretty cool on paper. Whether it actually turns out to be we'll find out when or if Nomis ever lands stateside. With that Cavill beard they kinda have to, don't they? It'd be a crime not to.
As we enter the final week of 2018, we're starting to see the Oscars frontrunners emerge. Unfortunately, that means there is very little room for surprises, especially in the acting categories where it remains five nominees, rather than the 8-10 or whatever it is for Best Picture. And that, sadly, means that a lot of performances are going to get overlooked. It happens every year that sometimes a movie flies under the radar and that means terrific work by the cast goes unrecognized. Just as there are more great movies out there than people sometimes know, there's a lot of great acting out there that deserves some love.
Just as with the year's most underrated actresses, there was an embarrassment of riches to choose from, so many that I finally got to include Tom Cruise on the list! I don't think I've ever put Cruise on anything but damn he's incredible in Mission: Impossible-Fallout, literally breaking his own foot in the process. Dude deserves some love for that. I also found myself leaning towards roles in films that deal heavily with social justice, as that issue grows in importance to me and in the country as a whole. And I managed to keep it duo free for once, although I seriously considered both John C. Reilly and Joaquin Phoenix for The Sisters Brothers.
So here you go, check out my picks for the most underrated male performances of 2018. You can find all of our End of Year coverage here!
1. Crazy Rich Asians (review)- $22.2M/$110M
2 weeks at #1 is impressive enough, but this week Crazy Rich Asians crosses into a much smaller club of films who held the top spot for 3. It sounds like a small thing but holding that past week 2 is rare to say the least. Add to that the total box office take, surpassing $100M this weekend, and you have yet another sign that the audience wants more!
2. The Meg- $10.5M/$120M
3. Mission Impossible: Fallout- $7M/$178M
In an odd occurance Mission Impossible gains a week in the numbers, stepping back up to the #3 spot which was held by Mile 22 last week. I guess audiences were looking for a good action flick for Labor Day Weekend, which tells you what folks thought of Mile 22
4. Operation Finale (Review)- $6M
While it's not surprising giving the lack of exposure it's still disappointing to watch this film open so low. It's cast alone should have warranted a top 3 finish but here we are. This is where timing really comes into things. One can't help but to think what the results would look like at the very start of awards season when people are hungry for this type of film.
5. Searching- $5.7M/$6.2M
6. Disney's Christopher Robin- $5M/$85.4M
7. Alpha- $4.4M/$27.3M
8. The Happytime Murders- $4.4M/$17M
So no miracle box office jump in the second week....I guess the whole 'Naughty Puppet' renaissance is dead before it began
9. BlackKkKlansman- $4.1M/$38.3M
10. Mile 22- $3.5M/$31.7M
Special Mention:
13. Kin (Review)- $3M
It's not often we have to add a special section for a major release on it's debut week, Kin wanted to make an exception apparently. A solid and fun sci-fi action film Kin really deserved better, I can't help but to blame the same thing that marred the week's other major release, poor marketing. So few people knew this was coming out, even fewer knew anything about it. That's not how you sell a movie that was basically built for this time of the year.
Movies dealing in any way with the Holocaust, be it the execution of it or its everlasting effects, tend to be difficult because any story pales in comparison to the most horrific act of cruelty in human history. Extraordinary real-life stories are still found and frequently told, and Operation Finale, which deals with the pursuit and capture of escaped Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, the architect of the Final Solution and Mr. "banality of evil" himself, should have been one of them. The plot to bring him to justice is remarkable and an important emotional addendum to the atrocities committed by Eichmann and others, but the tone established by director Chris Weitz is unsure, and the philosophical power struggle between captive and captors uninspiring.
It's unclear the kind of movie Weitz is going for here. Operation Finale presents itself as a cold, clinical spy movie about Peter Malkin (Oscar Isaac) and the Mossad agents who undertook the secret mission to capture Eichmann (Ben Kingsley), who was hiding away in Nazi-friendly Argentina. But Wetiz and screenwriter Matthew Orton couch it in weird comedic diversions that feel out of place, and certainly when they come from the mouth of Malkin who is simultaneously vengeful, troubled, and grief-stricken over the death of his sister at the hands of monsters like Eichmann.
The film works best in the planning stages, like so many heist movies do. And this is very much like a heist movie, except that it's a person who needs to be stolen, not some rare jewel. It all starts when a young Jewish girl (Haley Lu Richardson, go watch her in Columbus or Support the Girls instead) meets and falls for a young man named Klaus (Joe Alwyn). Now, you'd think his name would be a dead giveaway but he is a Nazi, and it just so happens his father is Adolf Eichmann, who is going by the name Ricardo Klement and working as a foreman in plain sight. When the Mossad learn of this, they launch a plan to capture Eichmann and bring him back to Israel to stand trial for his part in the genocide of 6 million Jews.
Malkin is not in favor of this plan. He wants Eichmann dead, and that's the only justice he believes a man like him deserves. Plus, getting in and extracting Eichmann from Argentina, which is full of Nazi sympathizers reaching to the highest levels of government, will be far from easy. Better to just shoot him dead and be done with it. Others in Malkin's team agree, with nearly all of them having lost loved ones during the Holocaust .There's a powerful but woefully brief scene where the team talks about the family who died because of Eichmann an the Nazis. It's followed shortly thereafter by a visit from the Israeli Prime Minister, who tells them that their people's entire history is counting on them to succeed. No pressure.
Operation Finale needed more scenes like that, to get across the enormity of what Eichmann did. Perhaps fearful of being too grim, the film never goes too deep into Eichmann's part in the slaughter; nor does it really dig into his mindset or that of Malkin, who are posed as obvious rivals. There's a great deal of tension in the execution of the plan, as things go briefly haywire as most well-laid plans usually do. And then it becomes a waiting game as the team is forced to hold Eichmann in a safe house for days, leaving the war criminal time to play a game of emotional chess with Malkin. Their conversations aren't particularly enlightening, though. Eichmann takes the "I was just a numbers guy following orders" stance that many Nazis took to defend their actions, but the script doesn't attribute much else to him other than a distinctly mannered attitude. Malkin proves to be a lightweight in these discussions, as well, and even begins to sympathize with Eichmann, which understandably pisses off others stuck in the safehouse with them.
This is the second movie in a few months that has found Kingsley playing an escaped war criminal, the other being An Ordinary Man. In both he takes on an air of superiority that is both magnetic and terrifying. He makes for a good foil with Isaac, whose Malkin is haunted by visions of his dead sister. The slow revealing of his backstory and closeness to his sibling is the most powerful aspect of a messy and anti-climactic final act. Others in the cast don't get much to do, and that includes talented co-stars Melanie Laurent as Hanna, the team doctor who shares a past with Malkin; and Nick Kroll as mission leader Rafi Etan. Operation Finale is well-executed but lacks the insight to be more than just a pretty good movie about the Holocaust and there are already enough of those.
Stop me if it seems like this plot has been overdone: a Nazi war criminal is being tracked by a man sent to kill him. It's been done. A lot. And Kingsley, who played an escaped war criminal just a couple of months ago in A Simple Man, could do this kind of thing in his sleep. And yet the more I see if Chris Weitz's thriller Operation Finale the more I can't wait to see this recognizable story yet again.
The film stars Kingsley as Adolph Eichmann with Oscar Isaac as the man commissioned to track him down and bring him back to Israel for trial. This trailer opens with a nerve-wracking shaving scene and never really lets up. I can't wait to see these two screen heavyweights go at it. The rest of the cast is pretty great, too, and includes Melanie Laurent, Nick Kroll, Joe Alwyn, Haley Lu Richardson, Greta Scacchi and Lior Raz.
Just a couple of months ago Ben Kingsley played a Serbian war criminal in An Ordinary Man. Now in Chris Weitz's Operation Finale he takes on a similar role, only this time he's a Nazi who is also responsible for the murder of millions. I don't know what that says about Kingsley, but anybody interviewing him might want to be wary.
The first trailer for Operation Finale finds Kingsley on the run from a team of Mossad agents led by Oscar Isaac. Their goal is track the criminal down and bring him to justice. The rest of the cast is solid and includes Inglourious Basterds' Melanie Laurent, Nick Kroll in a rare dramatic role, Joe Alwyn (Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk), Lior Raz (The Kindergarten Teacher), and Columbus breakout Haley Lu Richardson.
This is Weitz's first film as a director since 2011's acclaimed A Better Life, which earned Demian Bichir an Oscar nomination. It's not that Weitz hasn't been busy, though. He recently penned Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Cinderella for Disney. I'd also be remiss if I didn't mention he was a producer on Columbus, which is probably how Richardson came aboard. Hard to believe Weitz is the same guy who gave us all of those American Pie movies back in the day.
Here's the official synopsis: This thrilling true story follows the 1960 covert mission of legendary Mossad agent Peter Malkin as he infiltrates Argentina and captures Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi officer who masterminded the transportation logistics that brought millions of innocent Jews to their deaths in concentration camps.
Ben Kingsley's chameleonic ability, his skill at transforming into wildly different characters of varying ethnicities from film to film, will always be worthy of praise. But I think we shouldn't overlook his talent for hamming it up like a champion, a skill he seems to be making greater use of during the later stages of his stages. He puts it to good use in a domineering performance in An Ordinary Man, chewing the edges off as a Serbian war criminal who befriends a young maid whose motives are a bit cloudy.
Written and directed by Brad Silberling, An Ordinary Man is Kingsley at his most entertaining. He's never better than when he's going over the top to carry the dramatic load, and that tends to be in the plethora of mentor/mentee films he takes part. But where Kinglsey is often mismatched with underwhelming co-stars, Hera Hilmar more than measures up. Kingsley towers as a man simply known as the General, who is shuffled around from safehouse to safehouse by Serbian loyalists in an effort to keep him from being arrested for war crimes. The General may be getting older but he's still a tough cookie, as we see in the opening scene when he saves the owner of a local grocer from a robbery, simply by being bold and swift. A man of some principle, the rescue came moments after he had been belly-aching over the quality of produce.
Like Henry Hill growing bored of living in Witness Protection, the General has grown tired of a life of hiding in plain sight. He's fed up with being shuttled from one shabby apartment to another by his handler (The Tick's Peter Serafinowicz) and wants a change of scenery. He gets that when his latest bland hideout is suddenly visited upon by the former occupant's maid, Tanja (Kingsley's The Ottoman Lieutenant co-star Hera Hilmar), who he greets by forcing her to strip down while holding a gun to her head. Convinced she's not secretly there to kill him, the General invites her to be his maid instead, with a pay raise. Hopefully it's for hazard pay.
A low budget two-hander, the film mostly takes place in drab apartment buildings while the General and Tanja warm up to one another. It quickly becomes clear (as if the whole stripping down thing wasn't a clue) that he still fancies himself a commander of others. He enjoys the power and influence he has over Tanja right from the start, although as they become closer she begins to exert some control over him. The General enjoys the odd prank, like going out into the city and making fools of those who are tracking him. Tanja is mostly dragged along and forced to do whatever the General wants, regardless of the danger it puts them both in. It's only after a sudden mid-movie reveal, that isn't so surprising really, that we see their relationship truly deepen.
Silberling wants us to see the man behind the monster, and let's make it clear that the General is a monster. He practically brags about the genocidal acts he committed on behalf of his country, frequently bringing it up as a means of provoking a reaction from Tanja. She rarely indulges, and the General usually ends up musing with himself about his past actions, and if there are any regrets. But this isn't a story that wants to dive too deep into what makes a man like the General tick, and it becomes unseemly that we're basically being asked to sympathize with him. Or at the very least to overlook what he's done and just enjoy the witty repartee between him and Tanja. We never see the impact of what the General has done, so he automatically comes out smelling like a rose. It's not the most interesting angle this story could have taken, which may be why it doesn't seem as if anything of consequence is happening.
Actually filmed in Serbia, An Ordinary Man is anything but ordinary on a visual level. Clearly shot on a tight budget, it benefits greatly from the authentic locations and population. But this is Kingsley's show, he launches from rant to rant like a cannon's fusillade, only allowing himself one or two scant moments of subtlety. Hilmar isn't asked to be a firebrand, but she stands tall in her reserved yet defiant reactions to the General's brazenness.
One wishes An Ordinary Man had more narrative momentum and that it was more of a character study but it's got Kingsley proving again why he's one of the most watchable actors working today, and that's enough.
Arriving on DirecTV tomorrow ahead of its theatrical premiere next month is the political thriller with the cool name, Backstabbing for Beginners. The film stars Theo James, Ben Kingsley, and Jacqueline Bisset, based on the memoir by Michael Soussan about the corruption in the Oil-for-Food Programme set up by the United Nations.
James, who has been keeping a low profile since 2016's Allegiant and Underworld: Blood Wars, plays an idealistic U.N. employee hoping to do some good in the world. Instead he uncovers a vast global conspiracy, investigates the murder of his mentor, and deals with a corrupt boss that you knew just had to be played by Kingsley.
"You and me, kid, we can save the world," Kingsley says in the new trailer. "Trust me."
That's one of those things that can sound really nice or really menacing depending on who says it. If it comes from a Ben Kingsley character it's probably not such a good thing.
Directed by Danish filmmaker Per Fly from a script by The Manchurian Candidate's Daniel Pyne, Backstabbing for Beginners hits theaters and VOD on April 27th, preceded by DirecTV on March 22nd.
Ben Kingsley is one of our greatest living actors and a chameleon who can play virtually anybody he puts his mind, even the occasional supervillain. But, let's be honest, he doesn't always have the best judgement in the projects he takes on. I'm going to hold out hope for his latest, An Ordinary Man, as it reteams him with Hera Hilmar, the underrated actress from The Ottoman Lieutenant.
Directed by Joseph Ruben (The Good Son) and co-starring The Tick's Peter Serafinowicz, the film stars Kingsley as a war criminal and former general on the run from international authorities. Helmar plays the maid at his new secret hideout, with the two developing a relationship before he uncovers her true identity, which changes everything.
An Ordinary Man hits theaters and VOD on April 13th.
Ben Kingsley has joined Oscar Isaac in Operation Finale, playing Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann. Isaac plays Mossad agent Peter Malkin, tasked with Eichmann's capture. He held a personal need for revenge against Eichmann as he and other Nazis were responsible for the death of his sister. Directed by Chris Weitz from a Matthew Orton script, it will follow the manhunt that led to Eichmann's capture in Argentina in the 1960s. [Deadline]
Robert Zemeckis' untitled film with Steve Carell just got a little bit better with the addition of Diane Kruger. The Troy actress has boarded a narrative take on the 2010 documentary, Marwencol, about a man who builds a miniature version of a fictional WWII village, populated with figures of himself, his friends, and even his attackers, to help cope with a violent assault. Druger will play the witch of Marwen, who revives Carell's alter ego every time he is killed.
At the outset of David Michod's War Machine, General McMahon (Brad Pitt), takes a crap in a stall at a Dubai airport, then marches triumphantly away like he just won the battle of Hamburger Hill. It's both a sign of the lack of seriousness paid to serious material, and a metaphor for McMahon's shitty mission statement. As he goes marching from one pile of crap to a far worse one, McMahon is incapable of realizing just how badly his situation stinks, because in his mind he's the only guy in the world who can clear the air.
War Machine is an odd film, which tonally falls somewhere between the Coen Brothers' Burn After Reading and 2001's military satire, Buffalo Soldiers. Neither is appropriate for an adaptation of late journalist Michael Hastings' book, The Operators: The Wild And Terrifying Inside Story Of America’s War In Afghanistan, which was based on his piece in Rolling Stone that destroyed the career of General Stanley McChrystal, then the commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan. McMahon is basically the McChrystal stand-in, and he's just been given the mountainous task of "cleaning up" the war in Afghanistan, whatever that means. You could probably put "whatever that means" at the end of any of McMahon's mission parameters and it would fit. Known as a born winner, a soldier's soldier who always speaks his mind and says what others are scared to, McMahon only knows victory. And he's convinced his way of doing things, far away from the pencil pushers and bureaucrats of Washington, will lead to victory.
But what in the Hell does "victory" actually mean? McMahon and his quirky team of skilled aides, played by John Magaro, Topher Grace, RJ Cyler, Anthony Hayes, Daniel Betts, and Anthony Michael Hall as the now-infamous Michael Flynn, are asked to led the counterinsurgency effort which is in itself ludicrous since WE are the insurgents. Kinda hard to change hearts and minds when you're the invading party, and just dropping a few leaflets doesn't do it. McMahon is a bulldozer when a mission like this requires nuance. He was doomed from the start, although his efforts are sincere.
There's satire here, or a lazy attempt at it, but the targets are scattershot and the jokes not particularly insightful or funny. Perhaps they would have been a decade ago, but after years of debate and late night talk shows they feel a little stale. An example would be McMahon's comical meeting with President Hamid Karzai, which plays like Brad Pitt doing his worst Clint Eastwood impression while having a conversation with Kingley's Trevor Slattery from Iron Man 3. It's just weird, and leaves you wondering what the heck that scene was all about? Much of the film's first half is occupied by such lame grabs for humor as McMahon gallivants around the world, running into the very Washington politicians he loathes, who then proceed to hamper his mission just as he always claimed they would. And yet it's them who get to ride on Air Force One with the President, not him.
Pitt is already getting railed for what many consider the worst performance of his career. I don't know about that, but it is one of the most bizarre. It's stranger (and much less funny) than his incomprehensible turn as a punching bag in Snatch. His McMahon is a cockeyed, overconfident buffoon, leading his sheep over a cliff and into a public relations nightmare. Don't get me wrong, I think Pitt probably has the movie's cartoonish tone down better than just about anybody with all of his outlandishly rigid mannerisms. It just seems like the wrong movie was formed around him as others try to play their characters straight. The one exception is the always terrific Lakeith Stanfield as a soldier mystified by the murky parameters of their mission. McMahon takes a liking to him for speaking his mind, but it's also the beginning of his slow realization that maybe he's been given a task Hercules couldn't shoulder. The final stretch is McMahon coming to grips with that head-on, and the balance shifts to become more somber and thoughtful. The consequences of this absurd mission are played out as the confused Marines (including Stanfield's character) are forced into a battle to take Helmand Province. Michod, whose previous work has been on Aussie thrillers Animal Kingdom and The Rover, seems more comfortable in the firefight scenario. However, the scene itself feels like it was brought in from a completely different movie, and like someone decided the military guys needed some kind of visible win since they don't come away looking very heroic.
War Machine never establishes a clear mission statement, leaving its director and talented cast in unfamiliar territory with no exit strategy.
Suicide Squad's Margot Robbie will continue her criminal ways in Dreamland, a film she'll both star in and produce. She plays a fugitive bank robber who is miraculously captured by a fifteen-year-old boy who hopes to claim the bounty and save the family farm from foreclosure in the devastated Dust Bowl region. Once he gets to know her, he comes to realize she's more than the FBI claim her to be. The film will be written by Nicolaas Zwart and directed by Miles Joris-Peyrafitte, whose prior film As You Are (which I reviewed here) was an award winner at Sundance last year.
Jamie Dornan has joined My Dinner with Hervé, a film Hitchcock director Sacha Gervasi has been developing for years with Peter Dinklage attached to the title role. The film centers on the final days of Fantasy Island star Hervé Villechaize, who played the popular Tattoo character. Gervasi based the story on his experiences as the last person to interview him before he committed suicide in 1993. We'll see if the addition of Dornan actually gets this projecting moving, but considering he was preceded by James McAvoy and Dominic Cooper, I have doubts. [Deadline]
The amount of random, anonymous films Ben Kingsley has starred in is about to increase by one. The veteran actor has joined the cast of Underground, which stars Peter Franzen (The Gunman) and Carly Chaiken (In A World...), with Norwegian filmmaker Pål Øie (Hidden) directing from an idea by Luc Besson. The story centers on two New York detectives investigating a series of disappearances, which leads them underground and the discovery of a secret that should never see the light of day. [Deadline]
As the Trump administration ponders escalating the war in Afghanistan, a war he spent his campaign bashing by the way, it's a pretty good time for Netflix's biggest acquisition yet, War Machine. The film, often described as a parody, is based on Michael Hastings' book, The Operators, and follows a fictionalized version of General McChrystal, who had an epic rise and crashing fall from grace for talking trash about the Obama administration. What makes this film so important for Netflix is its star, Brad Pitt, and it'll be a showcase for what his level of star power can do for the streaming network's subscription count.
Here's the synopsis to go along with the brand new trailer: In a film for our times, writer-director David Michôd (Animal Kingdom) recreates a U.S. General’s roller-coaster rise and fall as part reality, part savage parody — raising the specter of just where the line between them lies today. His is an anti-establishment, pro-soldier exploration in the form of an absurdist war story of a born leader’s ultra-confident march right into the dark heart of folly. At the story’s core is Brad Pitt’s sly take on a successful, charismatic four-star general who leapt in like a rock star to command coalition forces in Afghanistan, only to be taken down by his own hubris and a journalist’s no-holds-barred expose. War Machine addresses the debt we owe to soldiers to question the purposes to which they are being directed.
Also starring Tilda Swinton, Ben Kingsley, Emory Cohen, RJ Cyler, Topher Grace, Anthony Michael Hall, and Scoot McNairy, War Machine hits Netflix and select theaters on May 26th.
War Machine might be the most important original movie in Netflix's growing stable. Not only does it boast their biggest star yet, Brad Pitt (You thought I was going to say Adam Sandler??), but it's based on highly respected source material from a journalist who was a giant in the field. That would be the late Michael Hastings, who wrote the book The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America’s War in Afghanistan, taken from his Rolling Stone expose that got four-star general Stanley McChrystal canned from the Obama administration.
The movie, based on the new trailer released today, looks as if it will live up to Hastings' standards as a slightly ironic look at reality. The semi-fictional story follows a four-star general who gets in way over his head as he tries to rebuild Afghanistan. David Michod (The Rover) is behind the camera for this one, while Tilda Swinton, Emory Cohen, RJ Cyler, Topher Grace, Anthony Michael Hall, Anthony Hayes, John Magaro, Scoot McNairy, Will Poulter, Alan Ruck, Lakeith Stanfield, Josh Stewart, Meg Tilly, and Sir Ben Kingsley fill out one heck of a cast.
The Ottoman Lieutenant is an ill-conceived film from the
very beginning.
Marketing itself as “the first movie to explore the eastern
front of World War I,” really The Ottoman Lieutenant is yet another vaguely
historical romantic drama, where the biggest question isn’t “Whatever will
happen to the tension between the Turks and the Armenians, and how does it
shape World War I, the Middle East, and the future of Islamic/Christian relations?”
but instead “What handsome man will the pretty white American woman choose?”
The “history” of this film is so superficially explored and the film so
unwilling to offer any kind of genuine tension or unlikable characters (aside
from evil Muslim Turks, of course) that it never rises above generic love story
into anything more meaningful, educational, or memorable.
The film, set in the early 20th century,
focuses on American nurse Lillie (Hera Hilmar), whose grief over her dead
brother and her disgust with the country’s segregation and racism leads her to,
on a whim, leave behind her wealthy parents and travel to Turkey after she
hears one of the doctors of a remote hospital discuss their mission to offer healthcare
to all people in the region, whether they are Muslim Turks or Christian Armenians.
The dislike between the two ethnic groups is strong, but an American flag flies
over the hospital, and the doctor, Jude (Josh Hartnett), describes Eastern Anatolia
as a “place of unspeakable violence … but it is also a place of fierce spirit.”
It’s into this totally unknown world that Lillie arrives,
on her first day in Istanbul meeting the handsome Turkish Army Lieutenant
Ismail (Michiel Huisman), who sneaks her into a mosque that she describes as
feeling like she’s “inside God’s thoughts.” That’s about all her experience with
Islam and Muslim ideology although she’s in a country that is predominantly
that faith because at the hospital, she and Jude are both Christians.
The creator of the mission, the doctor Woodruff (Ben Kingsley),
isn’t as welcoming to Lillie as Jude is, though—upon first seeing her, he declares that
the hospital is “no place for a woman.” But while he is, in fact, sexist and grumpy, the reality is also that strife between the Muslim Ottoman Empire and the
rebellious Christian Armenians, who want their own country, is growing. As the
buildup to World War I continues, Lillie finds the world around her changing,
with more injured people coming to the hospital, more movement at the garrison
near the hospital, and more interactions between her and Ismail.
The growing friendship between the two of them isn’t unnoticed
by Jude, who clearly has a thing for Lillie and whose Christian faith automatically
aligns him more with the Armenians than with the Turks. He answers “yes” when
Ismail asks if “Just because I wear a uniform and carry a gun, that makes me a
killer?” and he practically grills Ismail on whether Lillie’s “honor” is still
intact after they spend an afternoon together. And so that love triangle
preoccupies most of the film, while the very bloody fighting between the
Armenians and the Turks takes a backseat.
The Ottoman Lieutenant somewhat alludes to the differences
in ideology between Muslims and Christians and relies on archival footage to
depict the destruction of World War I, but that backdrop isn’t the clear focus
here—how Lillie chooses between Ismail and Jude is. But it’s strange, then,
that the film is named after Ismail’s character instead of Lillie, whose
journey—of leaving wealthy Philadelphia behind to pursue a career in medicine
in a place she’s never been, in a language she doesn’t speak, in a faith she
doesn’t understood—is theoretically far more interesting. Instead, it’s Ismail
who gets solo missions; it’s Ismail whose concerns about the Turkish Muslims
and their tactics are highlighted; it’s Ismail who makes major choices that
save people’s lives.
Not only does the film tracing his arc feel like an undermining
of Lillie’s story, but it takes away from subplots worth exploring about what happened
during the Armenian genocide, what occurred to Armenian culture in the region
afterward, and how World War I shaped the Ottoman Empire and what the Middle
East would look like. It’s not like all of those things could have
been answered in this film’s 100-minute runtime, but it’s frustrating how
singularly the film focuses on Ismail at the loss of so many other
opportunities.
There are some things here that work: A relationship
between Lillie and a young patient gives the American woman some legitimate
character development that her romance with Ismail doesn’t; Kingsley adds a
sheen of dignity to a character who is (predictably) tortured by loss; and some
of the landscapes are pretty enough, even though they mostly look like CGI. But
Hartnett feels particularly miscast, and how the movie positions Jude as a controlling
jerk whose obsession with Lillie is OK because of his faith and devotion is
repulsive at times (like when he spits at Lillie, “My God, I can smell him,”
but then goes to pray afterward). Similarly irritating is how unwilling the
film is to truly explore the overlapping and divergent elements of Christianity
and Islam; for a plot that relies so centrally on the relationship between
followers of those religions, the movie doesn’t do much to get into why.
Overall, The Ottoman Lieutenant feels like a first draft
that was roughly edited without being reconciled—from the movie pivoting away
from its would-be protagonist to telling a story that doesn’t dig deep enough
into itself. An enlightening film could be made about this particular place in the world at that particular time, but The Ottoman Lieutenant isn’t it.
There are a few interesting scenes throughout the film where we see the cunningness
and intelligence of Adereth – he is able to manipulate situations and people to
get exactly what he wants. Whether it be obtaining a certain piece of
information, finding some hidden pictures, or being able to sneak away from his
‘babysitter’ – Adereth shows time and time again that he is a seasoned vet that
has honed his skills over the years.
