Netflix And Chill: Vengeance (2022)

I heard some good things about Vengeance when it came and went a couple of years ago, because it isn't really the kind of film destined to rule the box office for weeks and months, or even days, but I never made it a priority in my overstuffed viewing schedule. I wasn't sure if it would be a film I could actually enjoy, and I don't consider myself a very big fan of writer-director-star B. J. Novak. Thank goodness streaming services often offer you too many options to bamboozle you into making an unexpected choice, which was the case here. I ended up liking this film. A lot.

Novak plays a New York City writer, Ben Manalowitz, who is living so deep in the surreal silliness of modern "culture" that he cannot step back and see himself for the walking parody that he's become. Not that others would notice either, because everyone in the same bubble is busy being ironic and using their phone screens to swipe their way through love, life, and constant content. Things change for Ben, however, when he is invited to the funeral of a young woman, Abilene, by family members who believe that the two were in a serious relationship (although they were just hooking up). That funeral is in West Texas. Abilene's brother, Ty (Boyd Holbrook), believes that her death was a murder, and believes that everything ties to some of the major criminal names in the area, which gives Ben a chance to overcome the creative block he has been experiencing recently. He sees a family in mourning, he sees people seeking connections and explanations where there may not be any, and he sees an opportunity to create a gripping and successful podcast.

I can see people being irritated by the first act of Vengeance. It is exactly what you expect it to be, and the main character is as annoying to spend time with as you may also expect. Things change quite quickly though, and this becomes clear when the plot truly starts to play out. Novak is surprisingly honest, to a degree, with the people around him, and he explains some of his podcast idea and his need to record conversations and get details that will fill in a full story for listeners. Some take fully to the idea, others view it with suspicion while figuring out a way to make the most of the situation. Novak is smart enough to aim at a number of targets, but he's also smart enough to hit a lot of them. The fact that he does it in a way that keeps everything based in a recognisable reality, after the opening exaggerated observations on modern life, makes it all easier to appreciate. It becomes smart while discarding that initial smugness, becomes sweet without ever being maudlin, and allows the lead character a shot at redemption without needing to turn him into an anointed hero.

While the direction is pretty unspectacular, Novak helps the movie immensely by writing such a great script. He then further helps it all by casting a great mix of actors who all feel well-suited to their roles. Holbrook continues to build an impressive filmography, even if he gradually becomes a less important figure here as the plot unfolds, and the always wonderful Lio Tipton portrays Abilene in the fleeting flashbacks that show us snippets of her life. J. Smith-Cameron is Abilene's mother, and she imbues her character with a grace and comforting presence that ensures she is never the butt of any jokes, while  Isabella Amara, Dove Cameron, and Eli Bickel are very good as the other siblings figuring out how to navigate around the Abilene-shaped void in their lives. Issa Rae is superb as the podcast producer, Eloise, giving Ben notes on how to best shape his story, and Ashton Kutcher feels like a very good fit for his character, Quentin Sellers, a record producer who seems to over-use poetry in a way that might be distracting from whatever soundbites Ben is trying to get from him.

This could have easily been stuffed with the laziest observations and character development, but Novak tries hard to pull a number of threads together into a satisfyingly thick narrative rope. He doesn't entirely succeed, there are one or two scenes that feel out of place because of wanting to underline the reversal of Ben's mindset as he learns more about this Texan town and the people he is growing to like, but he does a lot more than others might have done with similar material. Maybe I'll just have to start looking more closely at projects he has been involved with over the years.

8/10

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Cheaper By The Dozen (2003)

Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt play Tom and Kate Baker, respectively. Tom and Kate are the parents of, in case you couldn't guess, twelve children. Hence the title. The movie shows the chaos of their daily lives and some particular highs and lows that the Baker family go through as they work together as a team to deal with whatever life throws at them.

Directed by Shawn Levy, this is Disney-lite fare. In other words, it's NOT a Disney film, but certainly tries to be one. The thing to remember, as hard as it can be at times, is that Disney can do this kind of thing brilliantly when it gets everything in place. It can take material like this and elevate it, turn it from something groansome into something really enjoyable. Levy doesn't manage that.

Based on a 1950 movie that was based on a biographical book by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey, this is an old-fashioned and a safe family comedy. It rarely feels as if much has been updated from when the original movie was made. That's not to say that kids won't enjoy seeing the kids all play around and cause some havoc, but it doesn't make it a completely satisfying experience for all the family.

Martin and Hunt are decent enough in their roles, given most of the screentime while also playing second fiddle to all of the kids. It's a shame, but inevitable, that they aren't given better treatment. The younger kids don't fare much better, with most of them struggling to stand out from the crowd (twins Brent and Shane Kinsman are the exceptions). The older Baker children benefit from the fact that they're played by well-known actors - Tom Welling, Hilary Duff and Piper Perabo - but the most fun comes from Ashton Kutcher, playing a vain actor/model boyfriend of Perabo. Kutcher stays well within his comfort zone, but provides some great laughs as he's pestered by the Baker children, who just don't like him. Alan Ruck and Richard Jenkins also appear, both are also underused but it's good to see them.

The script by Sam Harper, Joel Cohen and Alec Sokolow is insubstantial, content to simply link from one set-piece to the next with neither enough good bits in between nor enough value in the main, big sequences.

It's passable enough, especially if you have kids to keep entertained on a rainy afternoon, but only just.

5/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cheaper-By-The-Dozen-DVD/dp/B000E6UMEY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1375526309&sr=8-2&keywords=cheaper+by+the+dozen

New Year's Eve (2011)

New Year's Eve is a big, bloated, all-star romance that shows how different people reach big moments in their life on . . . . . . . . New Year's Eve. Written by Katherine Fugate and directed by Garry Marshall, it's happy sappy fluff of the highest order. Originally planned as some kind of continuation from Valentine's Day (which I have yet to see), things eventually changed enough to make this a standalone film although I'm sure that the two easily make up an acceptable double-bill for those who can handle the excess sweetness.

It is, of course, New Year's Eve. One man needs to get to a certain place by midnight to reunite with a woman he has fallen in love with, one woman ends up catering for a gig and party that features her ex-boyfriend as the main entertainment, one mother is determined to keep her daughter from making any big mistakes, a pair of strangers are stranded in a broken elevator, a young man sets out to help an older woman complete a fairly expansive "to do" list, two pregnant women end up with a chance to win a cash prize depending on who has their baby first, a man lies dying in his hospital bed and one woman feels the eyes of the world watching as she tries to ensure that the Times Square ball drops at midnight.

Imagine if Love Actually had been made in America. Then imagine that it was only half as good. You then have New Year's Eve. The writing is just weak and predictable, the direction is just dull and predictable and the only good points about the film come from the few cast members who do well. Zac Efron and Michelle Pfeiffer are fun to tag along with as the former tries to help the latter get through her checklist of special experiences. And then Josh Duhamel is at least likeable in his tale, he's the one trying to reunite with the woman he loves. And . . . . . . . . . . oh no, that's all. Aside from a few cameos from the likes of Hector Elizondo, Larry Miller, Matthew Broderick, Carla Gugino and Yeardley Smith, there is nobody else to praise.

Jessica Biel and Sarah Paulson may not be terrible but they're stuck in a terrible story (they're the two pregnant women). Robert De Niro, Cary Elwes and Halle Berry go through the motions in there tale, which is ultimately pretty dull. Sarah Jessica Parker often annoys me so while she wasn't the worst offender here I still can't say that I enjoyed her performance. Hilary Swank was dull but okay, Ashton Kutcher was okay but dull, Lea Michele was dull and dull and then we get a double whammy in the storyline featuring Jon Bon Jovi and Katherine Heigl. Thankfully, Sofia Vergara is also involved in their pathetic and uninteresting part of the proceedings so she at least brings a bit of energy to the screen.

Overall, this is something that most people will be able to sit through without smashing up their TV but few will end up revisiting. Unless they start feeling particularly masochistic every New Year's Eve.

5/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Years-Blu-ray-Copy-Region-Free/dp/B0058N2SIG/ref=sr_1_2?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1355677261&sr=1-2

Reindeer Games AKA Deception (2000)

Ben Affleck stars in this twisty turny action thriller directed by John Frankenheimer and written by Ehren Kruger and it's not as bad as you may have heard. It's not as good, or clever, as it thinks it is but it's a mildly entertaining way to spend two hours and benefits from the presence of the gorgeous Charlize Theron being absolutely gorgeous.

The plot is as follows: Ben Affleck plays Rudy Duncan, a man imprisoned for stealing cars who is about to get his freedom. His cellmate (Nick Cassidy, played by James Frain) is also near the end of his term, five years. Nick has been developed a relationship with a woman who has been writing to him in prison and is looking forward to getting out and meeting her. But as the day of freedom approaches, tragedy strikes. When Rudy leaves the prison he sees the lady of letters (Ashley, played by Charlize Theron) waiting. After a few moments of wrestling with his conscience, Rudy jumps off the bus and runs over to her. He then introduces himself as Nick. What follows seems too good to be true. Rudy is happy, he's in the arms of a beautiful woman who wants to look after him and the only problem is the fact that he lied about his identity. That problem soon becomes pretty major when the happiness is spoiled when Ashley's brother (Gary Sinise) and his gang crash the party. They are planning to rob a casino and they know that they now have the man who can help them. At least, that's what they think. If Rudy comes clean then he's worthless to them and will end up dead but if he tries to keep up the pretence his options aren't looking as good that way either.

Starting with a bunch of dead Santas and then moving back in time, this is a movie that you know isn't necessarily going to end well for most of the people involved. Seeing that Gary Sinise has a gang that includes Danny Trejo, Clarence Williams III and Donal Logue reaffirms that notion. Yet, strangely, it never feels that tense and that's possibly due to the main role going to Ben Affleck.

Here's the thing, I am no Affleck hater (I'm about the one guy who enjoyed Daredevil, as flawed as it was, and I am happy to see him doing so well in his directorial career) but he just doesn't make this role work. He never seems worried, he's not all that convincing and he walks through the movie with that Teflon coating of a star that won't be unexpectedly killed off. I'm not going to spoil the film by telling you if that remains true by the very end of the movie but it certainly kills off the tension for the first 3/4 anyway. Thankfully, the rest of the cast includes those already mentioned (and did I remind you of how gorgeous Charlize Theron is?) and a delightful supporting role for the great Dennis Farina.

The direction by Frankenheimer is solid although with the film running at just over two hours you can't help thinking that a little pruning here and there might have helped. A better script from Kruger would have also helped. It's not THAT bad but it just doesn't hit the sweet spot required. The surprises aren't as surprising as they should be and the lines that are supposed to be cool sound like they were written by someone pretending to be Shane Black as opposed to, y'know, Shane Black. It's a shame that Kruger appears to have peaked so early in his career and has never come close to writing something approaching his work on the superb Arlington Road.

Thankfully, the performances carry this movie along for the duration. Affleck may not be great here but he's okay, which doesn't matter when time is given over to the great supporting actors anyway. Charlize Theron once said that this was her least favourite of all her movies but I think she was too harsh. It's not essential viewing but it has some nice touches, a bunch of great actors and a chance to bask in the glow of the gorgeousness of Charlize Theron (which you might recall me mentioning just two paragraphs above).

6/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Deception-DVD-Ben-Affleck/dp/B00005B71N/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1355072115&sr=1-1