Wolfs

Director: Jon Watts
Starring: George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Amy Ryan, Austin Abrams, Poorna Jagannathan, Zlatko Burić, Richard Kind, Frances McDormand
Running Time: 108 min.
Rating: R

★★★ (out of ★★★★)     

Its title may be a grammatical nightmare, but writer/director Jon Watts' Wolfs finds two of the world's biggest movie stars reunited in roles that only further confirm their value. An action comedy throwback to when that genre routinely packed theaters, a project like this almost feels like a complete outlier now. But tight direction and a pair of immensely enjoyable lead performances end up being enough to temporarily breathe life into what could have been a paint-by-numbers effort. 

Built around a straightforward premise, George Clooney plays a cold, emotionally detached "fixer" not unlike his avenging protagonist in 2007's Oscar nominated Michael Clayton. Only this time, he's more likely to break the law than uphold it, remaining meticulously obsessive until an unexpected visitor forces him to face the possibility his skill set isn't as unique as he thought. 

That this interloper is played by Brad Pitt enables the actors to take dry, sarcastic jabs at each other, successfully calling back to the chemistry the duo shared in the Oceans films. While both are capable of turning an eye roll or sideways glance into pure hilarity with their understated expressions, what develops is an effective action bromance with bickering characters who can't stand just how alike they really are. 

Panicked Manhattan District Attorney Margaret (Amy Ryan) calls the number of an anonymous professional fixer (Clooney) when a young man she took back to her hotel room ends up dead. After arriving and calmly taking stock of the scenario, the fixer asks Margaret some questions before starting the clean-up process, assuring her everything will be fine if she does exactly what he says. Unfortunately, they're interrupted by a second unnamed fixer (Pitt) who was given instructions by the hotel's owner Pam (Frances McDormand) to sweep this situation under the rug. 

While neither "lone wolf" trusts the other, Pam orders the two men work together for the sake of protecting the hotel's reputation. But while debating how to best solve this issue and dispose of the body, one of them makes a discovery that reveals something more dangerously complicated. So if the feuding fixers want to avoid getting killed, they'll need to stop arguing long enough to rectify what's suddenly become a gigantic mess.

From the initial tone and execution, it's easy to understand how audiences could be roped into thinking this will be a deadly serious crime drama. And even when Pitt first appears, lingering doubts still surround that assumption, as Watts smoothly lulls us into a situation that's about to spin way out of control. 

With few expressions and even fewer words, Clooney's character retains complete control, at least until Pitt's fixer arrives and things go sideways. Neither takes kindly to a competitor invading their territory, but one of the better aspects of Watts' script is how it suggests an imaginary underground of criminal fixers who think only they can do this dirty work.

As their dilemma grows more complex, levels are revealed that go well beyond a prominent D.A's hotel indiscretion. And much of it involves protecting an unnamed asset referred to as the Kid (Austin Abrams), who's carrying something valuable enough to cause huge concern. Abrams' manic, livewire performance is the film's highlight, providing the perfect foil to Clooney and Pitt's exasperated fixers, who just can't agree on how to handle him. 

An excitingly chaotic and hilarious chase through New York City streets is Watts' pivotal set piece and it doesn't disappoint, nor do encounters with a no-nonsense medic (Poorna Jagannathan) and a Croatian mobster (Zlatko Burić) whose daughter's wedding they accidentally crash. And the great Richard Kind briefly pops up in an amusingly memorable scene as the Kid's Frank Sinatra-obsessed dad. 

For supposed experts in this narrow field, these fixers are pretty sloppy, though there's nothing normal about either the job at hand or this reluctant partnership.  How similar they are is a detail everyone notices but them, creating a humorous dynamic where their oversized egos prevent them from realizing they're stronger together than alone.

Forced to begrudgingly get on the same page in the final act, it's to make a moral choice that requires them abandoning the rule book to embrace their consciences instead. Without time for debate or wiggle room, it becomes glaringly apparent that being a lone wolf carries baggage neither considered. Ending on a cliffhanger of sorts, Wolfs is the kind of film you wouldn't mind getting a sequel to, if only so Clooney and Pitt can have a rematch.                                      

Worth

Director: Sara Colangelo
Starring: Michael Keaton, Stanley Tucci, Amy Ryan, Tate Donovan, Shunori Ramanthan, Laura Benanti, Talia Balsam, Marc Maron, Chris Tardio, Victor Slezak
Running Time: 118 min.
Rating: PG-13 

★★★ (out of ★★★★) 

For the longest time any discussion about a movies focusing on 9/11 would revolve around one question: "Too soon?" But as years passed and more were released, those concerns eventually faded into the background, replaced with conversations about how accurately and tastefully this particular part of history would be handled. Paul Greengrass' United 93 set the gold standard in 2006, with most others that followed falling short, even occasionally using the tragedy as mere window dressing to tell another story altogether. With Worth, director Sara Colangelo takes a slightly different approach, zeroing in on a controversial aspect of its aftermath that's never been this exhaustively dramatized. The legalities and ethics related to the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund is fertile territory, with many still somewhat unaware of the exact complications and challenges surrounding it. And you'd be hard-pressed to find a more accurate title for the film than Worth, as it most definitely addresses the many meanings and implications that word carries. 

If this has a deficit, it's that some may find it clinical or dry in how it hits the same note repeatedly, albeit in slightly different ways. Luckily, that's offset by not only how elegantly and efficiently that note is struck, but a compelling lead performance that helps in juggling such a sensitive topic. This just so happens to echo the ethical dilemma its protagonist is faced with, attempting to quantify something so steeped in human emotion that any decision he makes will at least feel wrong. What's the monetary value of a human life? That's the big question, and whatever formula he and his legal team can come up with to please the powers that be simply won't hold in this scenario. It's only when he truly comes around to acknowledge and listen to the victims' families and their needs that some kind of path to justice can be forged. The story's best when focusing directly on that, walking us through the messy, uncomfortable process of eventually getting there.

Selected by the Attorney General to serve as special master to disseminate funds to the families and victims directly impacted by the 9/11 attack, lawyer Kenneth Feinberg (Michael Keaton) eagerly accepts the appointment, believing his extensive experience in dispute resolution make him an ideal fit for the position. But the primary purpose of the fund is for the government to avoid the inevitable barrage of impending lawsuits that would potentially cripple major industries and destroy the economy. Working pro bono with co-counsel Camille Biros (Amy Ryan) and the rest of his assembled team, Feinberg must determine proper compensation using a fairly inflexible plan he's objectively devised based on variety of socio-economic factors and circumstances under the law. 

Feinberg's given a limited amount of leeway from the government as he's faced with an almost impossibly tight deadline to get these families on board. After a chilly start that sees him scientifically discounting any emotion from his stringent equation, he draws the ire of Charles Wolf (Stanley Tucci), whose wife died in the north tower.  Becoming the program's harshest critic, he creates the web site, "Fix The Fund," but it isn't until Feinberg stops calculating and actually listens that he wakes up to the true enormity and purpose of the job put in front of him.    

Sitting on the shelf for over a year before finally dropping on Netflix, this is noticeably more intelligent and restrained than anyone could expect given its extended post-production history. Keaton's in nearly every scene, sporting a noticeably thick Massachusetts accent for what's probably his most prominent leading turn since 2015's criminally underrated The Founder, even as the material's likelier to remind audiences of Spotlight. But more like the former, he's again inhabiting a character on shaky moral ground throughout, regardless of his intentions. It's a tricky part, but one that again benefits from the actor's fast-talking edginess, as Feinberg constantly straddles that line between hero and villain while still remaining relatably human. On one hand, he can be viewed as a dedicated public servant, taking on a Herculean task no one in their right mind would dream of signing up for. Then again, must of that is quickly erased once we realize how he's going about it, which marks him early on as another disimpassioned bureaucrat looking to cut corners just to save a buck.

Keaton excels at conveying Feinberg's lack of self-awareness, plowing through his formula while displaying little regard for the mitigating factors involved. It's not that he doesn't care, it's that he cares in the wrong way, and it isn't until Charles Wolf enters the picture that he starts second-guessing his entire approach. Tucci's plays Wolf refreshingly against type, his character approaching the situation with common sense and respect rather than hostility. He aims to meet Feinberg on a certain level as opposed to merely reprimanding him and it works since the attorney doesn't have much of a choice. He's taking a pounding from all sides, whether it's the families, the government or the airline industry. 

Keaton's most memorable moment finds him in front of a room of distraught, grieving families attempting to explain his plan, soon looking as if he's about to crawl into a hole after unintentionally offending everyone with his business-like demeanor and condescending word choices. An unexpected phone call from President Bush sarcastically and almost comically "congratulating" him lets the lawyer know exactly what he's gotten into. There are also some strong supporting performances from Laura Benanti and Chris Tardio as the surviving wife and brother of a firefighter who died in the tower, Tate Donovan as an opposing lawyer looking to launch a class action suit and Shunori Ramanthan as a member of Feinberg's team with a personal connection to the attacks.

Max Borenstein's screenplay suceeds in making the realizations that Feinberg reaches seem as organic as possible, even if it's due mostly to Keaton's mastery at juggling a complicated range of emotions and reactions that sell an ending that may seem a little too pat for some. But it works, largely because Colangelo (no stranger to challenging material having directed The Kindergarten Teacher) ackowledges there's little about this fund that will ever be celebrated given the context, managing to strike an appropriate tone that stops short of over-sentimentality. She also wisely refrains from using reenactments, choosing instead to sparingly intersperse actual news footage when it's called for.  As an overlooked corner of the 9/11 story that hasn't properly been given its due, Worth proves to be a low-key, eye-opening examination of those who were left to pick up the pieces of what happened that day. 

Birdman

Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu
Starring: Michael Keaton, Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton, Andrea Riseborough, Naomi Watts, Amy Ryan, Emma Stone
Running Time: 119 min.
Rating: R

★★★★ (out of ★★★★)

There's an early scene in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) where washed-up Hollywood actor Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton) runs down a list of potential names to replace an injured cast member in his ambitious Broadway mounting of Raymond Carver's "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love." And they're all actual big name stars whose commitments to their blockbuster superhero franchises make them unavailable, even if the underlying feeling is that they'd never do it anyway. Twenty years ago Riggan was one of them, riding high on the success of his iconic Birdman role in a franchise he milked for three movies before the word "franchise" even entered the cinematic lexicon. But Michael Keaton is no Riggan Thomson. Well, at least not in reality. He is in the sense that he completely inhabits the headspace of this strange, self-obsessed character in the throes of a mental breakdown. Keaton was the only choice for this role not because he once played a superhero, but because he managed to escape just in time. One or two more Batman movies and this could have easily been a different conversation.

By all accounts of the man, the performance Keaton gives here is actually a massive stretch, as he never seemed at all vain, hung up on public opinion, or insecurely protective of his legacy. And he certainly doesn't appear to be a nervous wreck. But boy has he been missed. It almost seems unfair to affix the "comeback" label onto a performer who has been working consistently, if under the radar, for years, but we're selfish like that. In a good way. It isn't wrong to see our favorite performers being given the best material that will bring them the most respect and adulation. One of the big takeaways to come from the this film's release over the past few weeks is seeing everyone come to the realization that there are few actors more deserving of it than Keaton. It's something we've always known, but never really publicly acknowledged until now. Besides being a fascinating and funny meta commentary on the entertainment business, Birdman works as a satirical tragicomedy about a man who not only craves that validation, but desperately needs it for his life to mean anything.

On the surface, Riggan writing, directing and starring in a Raymond Carver adaptation appears to be a case of a faded movie star pathetically using Broadway to establish himself as a serious artist and gain credibility with the masses. Beneath the surface, that's also exactly what it is. And that deep, distinctive voice he keeps hearing in his head isn't afraid to tell him so. It's the voice of Birdman, telling him what a loser he is, and based on the evidence we have, he might not be far off. We find out he's already wrecked his marriage and career and now he's wrecking his play, produced by best friend and lawyer, Jake (Zach Galifianakis). His spunky, sarcastic daughter Sam (Emma Stone), fresh out of rehab, serves as his assistant while he's joined on stage by girlfriend Laura (Andrea Riseborough), first-time Broadway actress Lesley (Naomi Watts) and her boyfriend Mike Shiner (Edward Norton), called in as a last minute replacement.

With Mike, Riggan meets his match in a performer who proves to be even more self-absorbed than he is, and about ten times more difficult and obnoxious, hijacking the entire production to basically go into business for himself. But critics and audiences love him, which proves to be important as they struggle through previews and wait for the inevitable axe to fall from influential New York Times theater critic Tabitha Dickinson (Lindsay Duncan). It's make or break time for Riggan, who must also contend with the arrival of his ex-wife, Sylvia (Amy Ryan) and Birdman, who proves to not only be a voice in his head, but an actual superhero alter-ego with powers of telekinesis and levitation.

Form rarely informs function as it does here, with a technical approach that should generate as much discussion as the story or performances. Iñárritu's whole movie appears to have been filmed in one unbroken take, as scenes don't exactly end but rather bleed into each other as the camera follows the actors, swooping in (like a bird?) from one area of the theater to another, or even out onto the street when necessary. It'll be bizarre and sometimes off-putting for some, but there's no question it injects the action with this breakneck pace and makes us feel as if we're in the theater, backstage spectators to a train wreck we shouldn't be seeing. With most films there's at least a moment or two when you're taken out of it, made fully aware you're just engaging with a piece of entertainment. This shooting style makes such a moment of pause or reflection on the audience's part impossible. You're just completely lost in it, submerged too far down the rabbit hole to even contemplate the implications until the credits roll.

Hilariously sabotaging rehearsals and previews, without giving a second thought to that what's left of Riggan's career rests on a vanity project, Norton's Mike is a terror. If anything, he thinks he's doing him a solid by royally screwing with it. And it's sadder still that he could actually be right. We see many scenes from the play and even certain ones multiple times, but it's because of Norton that each one is more hilarious and energetic than the last. Whether Iñárritu's trying to play with the media's perception of Norton being "difficult" in the same way his script toys with Keaton's image, the actor far transcends that in-joke to deliver a performance that somehow, someway makes this unlikable jerk a relatable and complicated person. We anticipate every bit of mischief he causes since the movie feels most alive when he's sharing scenes with Keaton, who unlike his bizarro onscreen counterpart, has no problem ceding the spotlight to his co-star. Norton plays such a strong antagonist that the movie briefly suffers when he disappears and the third act kind of fly off the rails, if such a description can even apply to a project like this. Let's just say it doesn't fly off the rails the way you expect it to.

If the production's really all about Riggan, than the movie's all about Keaton, with the actor reminding us how equally adept he is at tackling anything thrown at him, whether it be comedic or dramatic. Here he gets the chance to do both, and a whole lot more, all at once. He's always been tough to categorize and even cast because of that flexibility, so this ends up being the perfect outlet for a performer whose onscreen persona always seemed a bit too crazy and dangerous to fit into the box of a conventional leading man. With this role, he finally doesn't have to be pigeonholed like that, given the opportunity to play a difficult, often unlikable protagonist wrestling with crippling fears and insecurities.

There are those trademark Keaton moments where he flies off the handle and gets that manic look in his eyes, but his best scenes are the quieter, brutally honest ones Riggan shares with his ex-wife and daughter, the latter played by Emma Stone as you've never seen her before. Noticeably thinner an paler with her giant eyes eating up every corner of the frame, it's about as far a departure for the actress as it gets, abandoning her "good girl" persona to embody the angry and bitingly sarcastic Sam, whose real job is mostly to keep her father's raging id in check. And that she does, even when he doesn't want to hear it, facing off with Keaton and Norton and more than holding her own in an edgy performance few probably thought she had in her. In less showier roles, Watts and Riseborough are destined to be underappreciated, especially Riseborough, who's a feisty wonder in her scenes opposite Keaton. And who thought Zalifiankis would ever play the most reasonable character in a comedy? 

This is a film that makes no bones about calling attention to itself at every turn and is completely in love with its strangeness, rarely hesitating to remind you of it in every scene. Tolerance for that unsubtle approach will vary, causing a debate as to whether all these techniques truly inform the story or Iñárritu's showing off. It's probably a little bit of both, but there's no denying those creative choices make for a far more intriguing experience than if it were presented as a relatively straightforward dramedy about an actor coming to terms with his past and ego. A performance showcase above all else, it can't be a coincidence that three stars of huge superhero movie franchises were cast in it, and as someone completely burnt out by the genre, it was thrilling to see it skewered, while still being dealt a compelling character study in the midst of the craziness. Birdman almost defies categorization, as it takes a while to really wrap your head around, assuming you're even intended to. And that's always a great thing.

Gone Baby Gone

Director: Ben Affleck
Starring: Casey Affleck, Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris, Michelle Monaghan, Amy Ryan, Amy Madigan, Titus Welliver
Running Time: 114 min.
Rating: R

***1/2 (out of ****)

Everyone loves a comeback and very few comebacks these past couple of years have been as sweet as Ben Affleck's. His Academy-Award winning script Good Will Hunting (which co-wrote with buddy Matt Damon) vaulted him to the top of Hollywood's A-List in 1997, an honor he did his best to erase from our collective memories in the decade that followed. After starring in a series of truly awful big-budget flops and one disastrous celebrity engagement his talents as an actor and a writer began taking a backseat to his penchant for cashing big paychecks. He even starred in a (terrible) film called, appropriately enough, PAYCHECK.

The kid from Boston who finally got his break was gone, and in his name was placed was alongside other far less talented stars that let fame go to their heads. Then…something happened. He actually apologized. He admitted the choices he made were wrong and would now be concentrating on his work. Like many, I didn't believe him. After a strong supporting turn as fallen Superman star George Reeve in last year's Hollywoodland, we were forced to pay attention.

Maybe there was something to this "new" Ben Affleck after all. And now with Gone Baby Gone, which he both co-wrote and directed, the transformation is finally complete. I can't say it's a film that will stay with me forever but for a first-time director, or any director, it's a great achievement and requires multiple viewings to truly be appreciated And for Affleck it's the antithesis of all those other empty-headed big budget movies he starred in the past decade, during which he must have paid very close attention…to what NOT to do for his first feature.

Set in Boston, the film (adapted from Mystic River author Dennis Lehane's novel) centers around private investigator Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck) and his girlfriend and partner Angie (Michelle Monaghan) are hired to look into the disappearance of a little girl, questioning locals in the neighborhood who are reluctant to open up to the cops. This doesn't sit well at all with Boston Police Captain Jack Doyle (Morgan Freeman) and Detective Remy Bressant (Ed Harris) who don't want two gumshoes jeopardizing their case or the welfare of a small child. The girl's mother, drug addict Helene (Best Supporting Actress Oscar nominee Amy Ryan) isn't thrilled about it either, as it brings to light a lot of her shady activities with local thugs and exposes her incompetence and carelessness as a parent. The investigation also causes an even greater rift in her relationship with her sister and brother-in-law (played superbly by Amy Madigan and Titus Welliver).

The first hour of this film plays like a procedural. No, it is a procedural. So much so that I was wondering what all the hype was concerning a movie that's really just unfolding like a good episode of Law and Order, only with bigger stars. Most of it concerns Patrick and Angie gathering clues from and having (sometimes very heated) confrontations with the local riff raff while Freeman and Harris' characters complain about it. As I looked down at my watch though I noticed things were moving abnormally fast for a crime drama. It seemed as if they had burned through this really standard, unimaginative crime procedural in 60 minutes flat. I also asked myself why this movie was asking us to feel so sorry for this reckless, uncaring parent. Little did I know.

Then exactly half way through the film a shift occurs. I can't dare say what nor would I probably even be able to explain it, but let's just say the wool was completely pulled over my eyes and the story went places I never imagined it could. The layers of all the characters you met will be peeled away and the film will reveal itself as anything but a routine police drama. The twists and revelations just keep coming to the point that I had to throw my hands up in the air and admit that Affleck got me. The first hour can't be judged on it's own terms, something I wish I had known while watching it. There's no way I could have though because the script conceals its tricks so slyly and brilliantly, despite the fact they're all right there in plain view and make perfect sense. When it ends you think to yourself, "How could something that started like THAT, end like THIS?" Nothing is what it seems at first. No situation. No character. Everything is more complicated, and tougher. This isn't about just a missing girl or a grieving mother. Not by a long shot. Scenes that could be written off as throwaways in the first hour have a way of coming back and haunting you in the second, particularly a philosophical argument Patrick and Angie have in the car about the case.

I always love it when movies treat morally complex situations intelligently, without insulting the audience, but instead engaging them. At one point during the film one of the characters tell Patrick he has to "TAKE A SIDE." That could very well sum up the film as we're asked to take a side and you'll be flabbergasted at the depth and complexity of the question that's asked of us. And just think how many movies these days refuse to take a side and bail out. This one doesn't. It's possible you may not agree with the side the film or the main character takes but you have to give them credit for taking one and standing firmly behind it. You may even be angry with that stance, but you'll still be thinking about it days after the final credits role. It's a movie that understands that sometimes people do the right things for the wrong reasons or the wrong things for the right reasons. And that the line between right and wrong is often thinner than anyone believes it is.

It seems as if every year there's one Oscar nominated performance (usually in a supporting category) that has me scratching my head wondering what the Academy saw that I didn't. Upon first viewing I thought that performance belonged to Amy Ryan. Don't get me wrong I thought she did fine, but at first just didn't see anything that was especially worthy of a nomination. And considering she isn't in the film any longer than a total of 15 minutes I found myself even more perplexed than usual. I was all set to write this nomination off as just another case of an actor being given a ridiculous amount of hype and accolades for just doing a good job in a small role (think Geoffrey Rush's overrated Oscar-winning turn in 1996's Shine).

But then, hours later I realized all the scenes that stuck with me were hers. She's given a line very late in the film that must be the most offensive remark I've heard in a movie in the past year. That it even made the final cut is enough for my jaw to drop, but the way Ryan delivered it was such that I thought that yes, that was exactly the kind of stupid, insensitive thing this woman would say. It showed just how dumb she really is and what little grasp on reality she has. She isn't a bad person. That would be way too simple. She's just a woman who because of her station in life and lack of education can't improve her situation for herself or the daughter she loves. There's a subtle but important difference in playing the character like that and playing her as a total careless bitch, which would undercut the effectiveness of the entire story.

Ryan succeeded where so many other actresses would have failed and her performance ends up being the glue that holds the entire moral center of the story together. It isn't a huge role, but it's a crucial one. Affleck's script also has to be praised for adding those shades of complexity to the character Ryan played so brilliantly. And it's always great to see an actress who has been working hard for years finally get their big break and a well-deserved opportunity for bigger, better roles in the future.

If there's anyone else that could be singled out it's Casey Affleck who before this I seriously doubted had the goods to carry a film. Going in I chalked up his casting to nepotism but he's very effective and miles away from his Oscar- nominated supporting turn in The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford. Watching him here I think I gained a new appreciation for what he did in that film because the roles are as drastically different and diametrically opposed as can possibly be. There isn't a wimpy or cowardly bone in Patrick Kenzie's body. Ed Harris and Morgan Freeman electrify, personifying men of duty who are completely sure every step they take is just and right, even when there's heavy doubt that it is. You could make a strong case that Harris should have also earned a supporting nod for his complex portrayal in a very tricky role.

The opening shot of Gone Baby Gone is of the streets of Boston with everyone in the neighborhood going about the regular business of their day. At the end of the film we see basically the same scene again, but this time everything looks and feels different after what's unfolded. The streets. The sidewalks. The kids playing. Simple everyday life almost appears to have more value to it after watching and experiencing this ordeal. You could discuss and analyze the ending with friends afterwards but it wouldn't be long before that discussion became a heated argument. The movie polarizes its characters and us.

Comparisons will undoubtedly be made between this and the other Lehane adaptation, Clint Eastwood's inexplicable 2003 Best Picture nominee Mystic River. While that film contained a twist ending that elicited giggles, this contains one that's heartbreaking, right down to the final scene, making a profound and intelligent statement about our flawed nature as human beings. As a whole this work is far superior and I can see it holding up even better on repeated viewings. It'll be interesting to put in perspective just how effective this film is when contrasted alongside the other heavy-hitters of awards season. Gone Baby Gone could prove over time to be a film with strong staying power. And it means that Affleck guy can finally quit his day job if he wants. He just might have a real future behind the camera.