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| Courtesy of Sony |
(Rated PG-13 for some language including suggestive comments.)
The cast: Bradley Cooper, Emma Stone, Rachel McAdams, John Krasinski and Bill Murray.
What it’s about: A washed-up military contractor (Cooper) returns to Hawaii to help an eccentric billionaire (Murray) launch a satellite. While there, he reconnects with a former girlfriend (McAdams) while also falling for an Air Force pilot (Stone).
The good: I’m a big Cameron Crowe fan, so I can find plenty to love in his films (yes, even Elizabethtown – arguably his worst). In Aloha, it’s individual moments that stand out, like small talk between characters, a hilarious scene between Cooper and Krasinski that requires subtitles, and a whopper of a final scene that allows the movie to finish strong despite its many problems.
I’m all for Cooper’s recent trend of playing characters who aren’t unrepentant jerks, and any movie that allows Stone to show off her goofy side can’t be all bad. Krasinski and McAdams are both strong in small roles, which gives me the impression that a lot of their story got lost in the editing process. That’s too bad – the characters are interesting enough for their own movie.
The not-so-good: As much as I love Crowe’s work, most reviews of his latest aren’t going to be kind. The 100-minute romantic comedy feels like it was hacked down from a much longer version, with crucial subplots and connective tissue missing from the overall narrative. I was still confused about plot points and character relationships well past the halfway point. That’s fine when you’re watching a David Lynch film; not so much when it’s a fluffy romcom.
The editing contributes to jarring tonal shifts, as if Crowe didn’t know if he was making a romance, a war movie, a spy thriller or a family drama. Murray is woefully miscast as a hippie Lex Luthor, but he does what he can with the role by injecting it with his oddball charm.
Stone, who I absolutely adore, is a bigger problem. It’s not exactly her fault, but she ends up being the face of the movie’s weird diversity problem. The actress’ role is supposed to represent the islanders’ issues with colonization and constantly being used as a bargaining chip.
Her character’s last name is Ng (pronounced like “rain” when you remove the R) and she’s “one-quarter Hawaiian.” Every time she says this (which is often), it reminded me of how often I hear people around here claiming to be “one-quarter Cherokee.” As much as I love Stone, her character’s perspective would’ve felt more authentic had Crowe cast an actual Hawaiian actress to play her.
Grade: C+
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| Courtesy of IFC Films |
(Rated R for violent content including a rape, language, and some sexuality. Playing in limited release and on VOD.)
The cast: Ethan Hawke, January Jones, Bruce Greenwood and Zoe Kravitz.
What it’s about: Former fighter pilot Thomas Egan (Hawke) now finds himself battling the enemy by remote control from an air conditioned trailer in Las Vegas. He puts in a productive work day, and then drives home to his wife (Jones) and kids. But the jarring difference in his two lives is starting to affect his mental state, leading him to question the effectiveness of the work he’s doing.
The good: Andrew Niccol, reuniting with frequent collaborator Hawke, is great at establishing the morally troubling issues with drone warfare. Clearly, the most beneficial aspect is that the pilot isn’t physical danger, aside from maybe an occasional bout with carpal tunnel syndrome. But what most outsiders (me included, before seeing this movie) might not think about is the staggering psychological implications of wiping out a building full of possible terrorists thousands of miles away and then meeting your family for dinner.
Niccol also effectively captures Egan’s creeping sense of feeling trapped in a life he doesn’t want – not only with the claustrophobic environment of the tiny trailer, but also in how the filmmaker transfers that sensation to every other aspect of Egan’s life.
Hawke, continuing his recent career resurgence, is intriguing as the pilot without a plane; he’s struggling – but mostly failing – to hold his career and family together. Granted, he and Niccol jump to the “functioning alcoholic” stereotype a bit too quickly, but sometimes clichés exist because they’re true.
Greenwood and Jones are terrific in smaller roles, representing the opposing spheres of Egan’s life. They’re both concerned for his mental health, while simultaneously expecting him to live up to their expectations. Jones is especially adept at differentiating a character so similar (at least superficially) to the woman she played on Mad Men for seven seasons.
The not-so-good: As strong as Jones is, the drama of Egan’s home life never feels as vital as his scenes in the trailer. Instead, it comes across as an afterthought to the world of drone pilots that Niccol is clearly more interested in.
The film is also didactic in spots. Each of Egan’s co-workers conveniently falls on a different place in the political spectrum, allowing Niccol to work in a bunch of talking points about just wars and, as the title indicates, “good” kills. It might work on paper, but it makes the characters seem like mouthpieces for specific beliefs rather than real human beings.
Grade: B
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| Courtesy of Magnolia |
(Rated PG for thematic elements, some language, smoking and a brief nude image. Playing in limited release and on VOD.)
The cast: Carl Boenish and Jean Boenish
What it’s about: A documentary that tells the intriguing story of Carl Boenish, known as the father of BASE jumping. The former engineer turned his love of skydiving into a passion for discovering even crazier stunts of human flight, leading him to record-breaking jumps and a marriage to someone who loved death-defying acts as much as he did.
The good: Boenish was militant about capturing his jumps on film, so there is plenty of astonishing (or terrifying, depending on your perspective), real-life footage of people surfing on airplanes, jumping from skyscrapers and leaping off giant cliffs. That element is the main reason I was disappointed to watch the documentary on my computer instead of the big screen.
Filmmaker Marah Strauch is great at evoking certain feelings with perfect song choices. She knows most viewers aren’t going to experience these sensations first-hand, so she tries her best to capture those emotions through music. She also structures the narrative in a way that makes the tragic conclusion feel less like a shock and more of a sad inevitability.
The not-so-good: Boenish and his wife are fascinating characters, but Strauch never seems interesting in analyzing why they would devote themselves to something most people would consider insane. There’s some occasional lip service to metaphysical mumbo-jumbo, but we never really get a deep dive into these people’s lives.
Grade: B-
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