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Captain America: Civil War: Mini-review

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Chris Evans

Chris Evans is all smiles after looking at Captain America’s box office totals

BLess that two months ago, Warner Brothers pitted the two greatest heroes in the DC Comics universe against each other in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Not to be outdone, Disney and the Marvel superheroes have fired back, and the result is a knockout. Not only does Captain America: Civil War have many more superheroes than does its DC counterpart, it has something much more important: a sense of humor.

Civil War has a detailed and, at times, cumbersome plot that basically serves as a device to eventually pit most of the superheroes in the Marvel universe against each other. After several civilians are killed when Captain America (Chris Evans) stops terrorists in Africa from stealing a biological weapon, the United Nations wants to put the Avengers under its direct control. The Captain refuses, and when it later appears that his friend, the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), is responsible for a mass bombing, Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) heads up a team of Avengers to bring the Soldier in, even if it means taking on Captain America to do so. 

Captain America: Civil War is divided in two roughly equal halves: brooding and fighting. The movie acknowledges the enormous amounts of collateral damage resulting from the finale showdowns in previous Marvel films, and several of the heroes, most notably Iron Man, are wracked with guilt about their involvement. But, much as in Batman v Superman, it’s hard for audiences to take this as anything other than a means to a spectacular end. And the end is truly spectacular, a terrific battle royal pitting a dozen heroes against each other in and above a commercial airport runway setting that conveniently allows them to toss jets at each other with no innocent bystanders in the middle. The two most noteworthy participants in the battle are a new, actually high-school-aged Spider-Man (Tom Holland), and an easygoing Ant-Man (Paul Rudd), who reconfigures his suit to turn himself into a giant. There’s a light touch to the showdown, and, indeed all the set pieces, as directors Anthony and Joe Russo keep the quips flying along with the fists in all the action scenes. Just as important, they made a wise choice in centering Captain America around the more optimistic and youthful appearing Evans rather than the more world-weary Downey. The movie still feels a bit bloated and slow moving at times, but Captain America: Civil War is easily the most effective and entertaining of the Marvel superhero ensemble movies. 
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Triple 9: Mini-review

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Woody Harrleson

Woody Harrelson is one of many wasting their time and talent in Triple 9

C-In police lingo, a Code 999 means “Officer down – urgent help needed.” The makers of the new action thriller Triple 9 might well have sent out a Code 999 of their own. For, despite an excellent cast and two dazzling set pieces, Triple 9‘s script needed some urgent rewriting help that never arrived.

The movie starts with a bang as a highly trained crew of crooked cops and ex-military criminals led by Michael Atwood (Chiwetel Ejiofor) pull off an elaborate daylight bank robbery. As cover for an even more dangerous second robbery, the team decide to kill Chris Allen (Casey Affleck), the new partner of Marcus Belmont (Anthony Mackie), one of the crooked cops in the crew. However, Chris’s uncle, Jeffrey (Woody Harrelson) just happens to be the detective investigating the first robbery.

Director John Hillcoat has a cornucopia of acting talent at his disposal in Triple 9, including Kate Winslet as a Russian mobster’s wife calling the shots for the robbers and Aaron Paul and Norman Reedus as two more crew members. In addition, Hillcoat brilliantly stages both the bank robbery and a shootout at an apartment complex (shown in the clip below). These sequences bring to mind the bank robbery scene in Michael Mann‘s Heat, a film that Triple 9 screenwriter Matt Cook undoubtedly tried to emulate. However, Cook’s script is hopelessly muddled as he tries and repeatedly fails to depict the morally ambiguous nature of almost every character in the movie. Triple 9 simply has too many characters competing for too little screen time. Chiewetel Ejiofor is top billed, but in two hours, virtually the only thing the audience learns about him is that he has a son that the Russians are keeping away from him. The plot has the expected twists and double crosses, but the audience will probably be too weary from trying to keep up with the characters to pay much attention. With a script this lackluster and confusing, it’s no surprise that Woody Harrelson comes off best here, livening up nearly every scene with zingers and one-liners. When Harrelson is onscreen or the action is going down, Triple 9 comes alive, but otherwise, it’s a cinematic Code 10—off duty.
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The Night Before: Mini-review

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Seth Rogen

Seth Rogen reflects on his drug trip in The Night Before

B-Moviegoers this holiday season have already had the opportunity to see the umpteenth version of the prototypical Christmas get-together film, Love the Coopers. Now, they get to see a most non-prototypical Christmas get-together movie, The Night Before, a film that has far more Seth Rogen than jolly St. Nick.

Rogen plays Isaac, who along with best buds Ethan (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Chris (Anthony Mackie) meet every Christmas Eve and visit the same places they did since they were teenagers. This year will be their last go-around, since Isaac’s wife Betsy (Jillian Bell) is expecting her first child and Chris’s NFL career is taking up too much of their time. But Ethan gets tickets to the best Christmas Eve party of all time, the legendary Nutcracker Ball, and the three friends plan to end their evening there. Of course, they run into numerous detours along the way.

Director Jonathan Levine and a host of writers, including Rogen’s comedy partner Evan Goldberg try to blend Rogen’s usual crudities with a sentimental Christmas movie and mostly succeed. Much of the crudity comes from an early Christmas present Betsy gives Isaac, a box filled with seemingly every drug known to man. When the drug jokes work, as when Isaac imagines the statues in a manger scene talking to him, The Night Before is hilarious. But Levine hasn’t mastered the art of keeping cutups like Rogen and James Franco (who plays himself in a cameo) under control, so some of the crudity simply falls flat and, worse, keeps going on anyway. Yet once the audience gets past the sex and drug jokes, The Night Before is, at heart, an often sweet bromance about three 30-something manchildren who finally realize they need to act like adults. Isaac has his fatherhood issues, Chris needs to address his steroid use and the impending end of his pro career, and Ethan must get over his fear of commitment that sabotaged his relationship with Diana (Lizzy Caplan), his ideal woman. Along the way, the guys do get some guidance from a most unlikely source, a scene-stealing drug dealer from their youth, played by Michael Shannon. The film’s attempts to mix raucous humor and the gentler moments don’t always work, but, with the help of a solid ensemble cast, The Night Before  winds up being a pleasant holiday surprise. 
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Black or White: Mini-Review

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Kevin Costner

Kevin Costner loses the beard before he plays a lawyer in Black or White

B-It’s easy to bash Black or White, writer/director Mike Binder‘s earnest effort to explore race relations in 21st century America from the point of view of a wealthy white man, and many critics have done just that. The movie is not a documentary, and the racial issues it explores are not nearly as pressing as those that have regularly made the front page in the last couple of years. Yet, before it falls apart in an overly melodramatic third act, Black or White is an engaging and at times insightful family drama.

The wealthy white man in this case is Elliot Anderson (Kevin Costner), a newly widowed attorney with a bi-racial granddaughter Eloise (Jillian Estell) and a major drinking problem. Eloise’s other grandmother Rowena (Octavia Spencer) wants to be a bigger part of the girl’s life but Elliot refuses because of his ill will towards Eloise’s father Reggie (Andre Holland), a drug-addicted petty criminal. Since Rowena’s brother (Anthony Mackie) is an even higher-powered powered attorney than Elliot, a major custody battle ensues. 

Kevin Costner carries Black or White with one of his best acting performances in years. Elliot at times seems a stereotype (he even resorts to referring to Reggie by the n-word), but Costner’s chemistry with young Estell is amazing. He makes Elliot comical without ever becoming a total joke. Mike Binder has a firm hand on his material for most of the movie and gives most of his characters just enough depth to make Black or White interesting and at least somewhat unpredictable. Unfortunately, Binder apparently couldn’t think of a way to resolve the custody issues, so he resorts to a bizarre, violent plot twist that makes the ending anticlimactic and far too convenient. Ending aside, Black or White is a generally entertaining crowd pleaser that at least raises some significant issues, even if its answers are by no means comprehensive.
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