Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit - 3 smiles

Four actors have played Tom Clancy’s character, Jack Ryan: Alex Baldwin in The Hunt for Red October, Harrison Ford in A Clear and Present Danger and Patriot Games and an unsuccessful reboot of the character with Ben Afflick in The Sum of All Fears. Now comes another reboot with Chris Pine in “Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit.” And although I liked the Harrison Ford movies, I like this one even more, which doubles as an origin story, taking us back to Jack Ryan’s beginnings. (But note this is not based on a Clancy novel.) Ryan (Pine) is at an economics college in London when 9/11 occurs and he decides to devote himself to protecting his country from all enemies ‘foreign and domestic’ by joining the Marines. After being injured in Afghanistan, he is recruited by Commander Thomas Harper (Kevin Costner) to join the CIA as an analyst. Ryan’s role changes from analytical to operational when, in the capacity as an undercover agent on Wall Street, he discovers the seeds of a Russian conspiracy to crash the US economy. Under Harper’s orders, Ryan heads to Moscow to investigate. The mastermind of the plot, Viktor Cherevin (Kenneth Branagh), sees the American as ‘dangerous’ and seeks to have him eliminated. Meanwhile, dodging bullets and thwarting attempts on his life takes its toll on Ryan’s relationship with his fiancée, Cathy (Kiera Knightley), who thinks his evasiveness might be evidence of an affair.

Director Kenneth Branagh maintains a smooth, controlled pace that ratchets up the tension in three action sequences (a hotel ambush, a heist, and a car chase) that, in less expert hands, could have become routine. As choreographed by Branagh, they crackle with tension and suspense. By movies’ end, you’re exhausted. And Branagh handles the necessary story exposition without bogging down the action. There’s even time for character development (in an action movie, no less!). Chris Pine, perhaps best known for playing Star Trek’s Captain James T. Kirk, has the presence and physicality to make Ryan a believable action hero. Kiera Knightley is strong and appealing while Kevin Costner is well suited as the mentor. And Branagh provides a villain who is less a megalomaniac and more of a misguided patriot. “Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit” is quality entertainment for January, when lesser movies are usually dumped. 1/19/14

Inside Llewyn Davis - 1 smile

The Coen Brother’s latest movie, “Inside Llewyn Davis” is a slice-of-life movie that drops you in the middle of Llewyn Davis’ (Oscar Issac) life, takes you in a circle and ends where you started. It’s a visually striking mood piece about the blossoming folk culture of the 60s and about one man who just can’t cut it. Davis can’t get a break, either because he doesn’t have the ambition or the latent or because he can’t curb his aggressively egocentric attitude. The Coens have created a film around an annoyingly unlikable person who is also uninteresting. Davis is so thoughtless and in so many different ways, so stupid, that it’s impossible to feel any sympathy with or empathy for him. And David’s negativity seems to bring out the worst in the people around him – Jean (Carey Mulligan), an ex reduced to hurling insults and invectives at him; Roland Turner (John Goodman), a decrepit hipster who sees through him, sizing him up in clear terms; and Mitch and Lillian (Ethan Phillips and Robin Bartlett), a patient academic couple who don’t always understand their narcissistic friend. (They are the owners of one of two cats that have unfortunate encounters with Davis.) The one positive is the soundtrack, which is enjoyable; especially fun is Justin Timberlake's song, 'Please Mr. President.'  “Inside Llewyn Davis” has a central character that challenges us to like him and the movie. And perhaps the Coen Brothers really don’t care if we like either.  1/7/14

August: Osage County - 1 smile

I didn’t care for the play, “August: Osage County,” when I saw it a few years ago at the Ahmanson in downtown Los Angeles and I didn’t like the movie. The Westons are so dysfunctional that, after a while, it becomes difficult to understand why these people are even in the same room as each other, much less professing to care about each other’s lives. And the yelling. So much yelling, so many arguments, so many screaming matches (that feel like monologues…….duh! This was first a play after all.) Of the dozen or so fights, one might have proved effective. But when you put so many of them together, it becomes entirely clear that long expository monologues are the predominant technique used in this movie. Unfortunately, that leaves little room for quieter, more subtle moments. And as much as I admire Meryl Streep, she overacts, virtually chewing up every scene she’s in and forcing the rest of the very able cast to amp up their acting to keep pace. The film adaptation of Tracy Letts’ Pulitzer Prize-winning play about familial resentments, secrets and betrayals is a faithful, if heavy-handed, one. It’s about mean people acting ugly and it’s a challenge to get through. 1/4/14

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty - 2 smiles

“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” directed by and starring Ben Stiller, doesn’t work. By trying to combine fantasy and romance with goofy humor, globetrotting adventure and feel-good inspiration, Stiller has made this movie too much of a mixed bag of clashing tones. Walter Mitty is an introverted guy with an active fantasy life, according to the classic 1939 James Thurber short story. Stiller has re-invented Walter as a shy daydreamer who has never ventured out of his native New York, but is able to shed his timidity and exchange his imagined heroic fantasies for the real thing in record time. And Stiller bypasses Thurber’s satire in favor of earnestness, but part of that blame has to go to Steve Conrad’s script.

Walter, who has a crush on his co-worker Cheryl (Kristen Wiig), is a photo editor at Life magazine where he’s bullied by an obnoxious new boss (Adam Scott) and mocked by co-workers. Then Walter loses a photo by world famous photographer Sean O’Connell (Sean Penn), the photo that is to go on the cover of Life’s last issue. Deciding to find Sean, who does not have a cell phone, Walter jumps from a helicopter into the ocean near Greenland, dodges an erupting volcano in Iceland and climbs the Himalayas with ease. He even plays soccer with Sherpas. Yet his journey is surprisingly uninvolving. And for some inexplicable reason, Walter remains a vague character. He’s somewhere between an Everyman and a comic goofball, not enough of either. He’s bland, genial, sporadically funny and long suffering, but rarely engaging. “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” is a stylish and attractive-looking movie. Too bad it’s just so-so.  12/27/13