The Little Things Review

Synopsis
Former Los Angeles detective and current Kern County deputy sheriff Joe Deacon (Denzel Washington) returns to LA to pick up some evidence. While there, he notices similarities between one of his unsolved cases and a current case being investigated by Detective Jim Baxter (Rami Malick). Deacon teams up with Baxter to solve the case.

Review
A good psychological thriller will find a hook that gets you into the story then won’t let you go and keep you on the edge of your seat the whole way through. The Little Things manages to do just that. The film finds new ways to pull you in as it goes on, adding new wrinkles to the story, providing new revelations and tension. It manages to keep a good mystery and paces itself well for the most part. As the mystery deepens and more is revealed, we the audience have just as much information and as many details as the characters on screen have, making the story more engaging as we are trying to solve the case at the same time as Joe Deacon (Denzel Washington) and Detective Jim Baxter (Rami Malek). For the majority of the film, the lens is on the the three leading men of Washington, Malek, and Jared Leto. Together, they carry the film expertly and naturally play off each other. Leto in particular was fantastic and easily the stand out of the trio. As is typical in this type of story, the movie is a bit of a slow burn, and as such it feels like it can drag out at times. The cryptic ending doesn’t wrap things up as much as expected but at the same time, it leaves the resolution open to interpretation, which feels fitting for this film.

I thought The Little Things was GOOD 🙂 It’s easy to find similarities between this film and other crime psychological thrillers, but it does everything it’s supposed to do. An engaging story and a core cast that’s at the top of their game provide thrills right up until the very end.

Trailer

Cast & Crew
John Lee Hancock – Director / Writer
Thomas Newman – Composer

Denzel Washington – Joe ‘Deke’ Deacon
Rami Malek – Jim Baxter
Jared Leto – Albert Sparma
Chris Bauer – Detective Sal Rizoli
Michael Hyatt – Flo Dunigan
Terry Kinney – LASD Captain Carl Farris
Natalie Morales – Detective Jamie Estrada
Isabel Arraiza – Ana Baxter
Joris Jarsky – Detective Sergeant Rogers
Glenn Morshower – Captain Henry Davis
Sofia Vassilieva – Tina Salvatore

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Lightning Review: The Magnificent Seven (2016)

Synopsis
When gold baron Bartholomew Bogue (Peter Sarsgaard) forces the residents of Rose Creek to evacuate their town, several people refuse. After her husband is murdered by Bogue for standing up to him, Emma Cullen (Haley Bennett) seeks help from the bounty hunter Sam Chisolm (Denzel Washington). Chisolm recruits several other men to help teach Rose Creek townsfolk to defend themselves against Bogue and his men before they attack the town.

Review
I’ve never seen the original 1960s The Magnificent Seven and it has been a very long time since I have seen Seven Samurai, so I can’t really attest to how the remake of a remake compares to its predecessors. But what I can tell you is that it makes for a fun ride if you take it for what it is.  The Magnificent Seven is first and foremost an action flick.  There is the potential for great character development but this film foregoes that to pack in as much explosions, gun-slinging, and excitement as possible.  The titular seven are each given the simplest of reasons for helping the townsfolk of Rose Creek. But you know what? That’s OK.  Director Antoine Fuqua understands exactly what kind of movie he wants this to be and doesn’t try to pretend it is something it’s not.

The cast is pretty start studded, including seasoned stars like Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke, and latest acting sensation Chris Pratt. I barely recognized Vincent D’Onofrio, who plays the Kingpin in Netlix’s Dardevil series, until a friend pointed out to me it was him.  Each character is unique and the cast is extremely diverse, making for some amusing and playful banter between them.  Pratt is a hoot as always and Washington gets the most screen time of anybody (mostly since he is the one who rounds up the group) but each of the other Seven gets their time to shine on screen.  The cast alone is well worth the time spent watching the film.

I thought The Magnificent Seven was GOOD :-). It is the definition of summer blockbuster. If you are looking for some deeper film with character study, then maybe check out Seven Samurai, one of this remake’s source materials. But if you want a popcorn flick with fun characters, good laughs, and a lot of action, then you’re looking in the right place.

Trailer

Cast & Crew
Antoine Fuqua – Director
Richard Wenk – Screenplay
Nic Pizzolatto – Screenplay
Simon Franglen – Composer
James Horner – Composer

Denzel Washington – Sam Chisolm
Chris Pratt – Josh Faraday
Ethan Hawke – Goodnight Robicheaux
Byung-hun Lee – Billy Rocks
Manuel Garcia-Rulfo – Vasquez
Martin Sensmeier – Red Harvest
Vincent D’Onofrio – Jack Horne
Haley Bennett – Emma Cullen
Cam Gigandet – McCann
Peter Sarsgaard – Bartholomew Bogue
Luke Grimes – Teddy Q
Jonathan Joss – Denali
Emil Beheshti – Maxwell
Mark Ashworth – Preacher
Billy Slaughter – Josiah
Carrie Lazar – Leni Frankel

Inside Man Review

This review was originally posted for MovieRob‘s heist-themed Genre Grandeur (which was chosen by yours truly 😀 ).

Synopsis
Hostage negotiator Detective Keith Frazier (Denzel Washington) gets called in when a Manhattan bank gets taken over by bank robbers, led by Dalton Russell (Clive Owen). Russell claims to have planned the perfect heist and is always one step ahead of the police. Meanwhile, the bank’s owner (Christopher Plumber) hires Madeleine White (Jodie Foster) to speak with the robbers and retrieve his prized possession contained in one of the safe deposit boxes.

Review
For my entry in this heist-themed Genre Grandeur, I was going to pick my favorite heist film, Ocean’s Eleven, but didn’t choose it for two reasons: 1) I’ve already reviewed it (which you can check out here), and 2) I’m hoping someone else chooses it for their Genre Grandeur entry. Instead, I opted to go with another one of my top heist films: Inside Man. Inside Man may not have the same fun atmosphere as Ocean’s Eleven but what it does have is a heist where the audience only has what little information the main characters have.

Heist films can be told from either the robbers’ perspective or the police’s perspective. Most often, whichever perspective the movie is told from, chances are that is who will prevail over the other. However, it is very hard to tell who will win the cat-and-mouse game in Inside Man. The movie is told from the police’s perspective but the robbers always seem to be one step ahead of them. As the audience, we are kept just as in the dark about the robber’s true motives as Detective Frazier (Denzel Washington) and the rest of the police force. It really keeps you engrossed in the film and on the edge of your seat if you don’t already know what is coming.

Denzel Washington and Clive Owen are both fantastic in this film. I wouldn’t say it is one of their best films for either actor but they are both able to take their parts and run with them. I liked Owen better, but only slightly, because he had the calm and collected thief mastermind shtick down. Washington and Chiwetel Ejiofor are so much fun to watch on screen together. They make a perfect pair of detectives, easily bouncing off each other and clearly having fun.

This film utilizes a seldom-used technique of flash forwards. These are used to get the some of the hostages’ perspectives about the bank robbery, as well as offer some exposition and even foreshadow events that are to come. Like I said, this technique isn’t used very often in movies and I thought it was used to great effect here. However, I wish it would have been used more because it only occurred a few times randomly in the middle act of the film. It could have been used more frequently to see more of the robbery from the hostages’ point-of-view. Maybe it was a time constraint (the film runs over two hours) or Spike Lee not wanting to offer too much of a good thing and leave us wanting more.

I feel like Jodie Foster’s character wasn’t necessary to the plot. She mainly served as exposition for what the robbers were going after and why it was so important to the bank owner, Arthur Case (Christopher Plumber). This information could have been given through Case’s discussions with the police or by Owen’s character, since it is the item he is trying to steal.

I thought Inside Man was GREAT :-D. Washington and Owen steal the show with their performances in a film with many other big names. The third main character, played by Foster, doesn’t feel completely necessary to the plot. Flash forwards are a cool effect used in the film that I wanted to see more of. Inside Man keeps you just as off balance as the other characters without becoming too complicated it trips over itself, creating a fantastic payout in the end.

Favorite Quote
Detective Mitchell: Let me see your shoe.
Detective Frazier: Huh?
Mitchell: Let me see your shoe.
Frazier: Why?
Mitchell: ‘Cause I have never seen anybody put their foot that far up a guy’s ass.

Trailer

Cast & Crew
Spike Lee – Director
Russell Gewirtz – Writer
Terence Blanchard – Composer

Denzel Washington – Detective Keith Frazier
Clive Owen – Dalton Russell
Jodie Foster – Madeleine White
Christopher Plumber – Arthur Case
Williem Dafoe – Captain John Darius
Chiwetel Ejiofor – Detective Bill Mitchell
Carlos Andres Gomez – Steve
Kim Director – Stevie
James Ransone – Steve-O
Bernie Rachelle – Chaim
Peter Gerety – Captain Coughlin
Victor Colicchio – Sergeant Collins
Cassandra Freeman – Sylvia