PostingandToasting

Matthew Vaughn wants you to know that the spy movies today are too serious. They are too dark, too long, and too exhausting. He fancies a time back when spy films had a sense of humor, took chances, and were over the top because, in his eyes, that made them something he feels these films were born to be....fun. It's hard not to agree with him. Some of my fondest memories watching the old Bond films of Connery and Moore were how over the top they were. The cheesy villains, gadgets, and one liners. They made you roll your eyes but you didn't care because you were enjoying the hell out of the movie. Now in in my opinion, the darkness of recent spy films, especially in the Bond franchise, has greatly improved the genre. While the old spy films are fun, they became almost too ridiculous and repetitive to the point where they were just bad movies. Kingsman: The Secret Service is Vaughn's homage to the old spy film. Reminding Hollywood to try to have a little fun once in awhile.

The story really is pretty formulaic throughout the first half. You have a mission from the past where something goes wrong and an agent goes down and that agent just happens to be the father of who will be our hero Gary....excuse me, I mean "Eggsy" (Yeah...I don't get it either) played competently by up and comer Taron Edgerton. Years pass and Eggsy has become the young lost soul who can't see to find a place in the world while trying to protect his mother and baby sister from an abusive stepfather blah blah blah. But again, much like those old spy films, you aren't seeing this film for the story.

The film really gets rolling once we get more familiar with Harry Hart, Eggsy's mentor and certified bad ass in one of the very best performances of the early year by Colin Firth. When you think of the casting going into the film, Harry is the most crucial. He is used to embody that old school spy who is one part bad ass and one part distinguished English gentleman. Firth is an English gentleman by nature but the risk of casting him in the role is he is just about the least bad ass type actor you and even HE can think of. You'll read this same thought in any other review of the film but that point really can't be overstated. Any director worth anything can make someone look like they can kick ass with effects and such (cough...cough...Tobey Maguire), but if the actor isn't believable throughout the rest of the film as a force to be reckoned with, then the film suffers. Firth talks the talk of the gentleman and kicks ass as the spy. He is smooth, funny, and blows up the film with his swagger. A performance not to be forgotten any time soon.

The rest of the casting is fitting. Samuel L. Jackson was the ideal choice to play an over the top villain because....well....what hasn't he been in his career if not over the top? Probably my favorite thing about his Valentine character is that I was originally going to write about how it was a little difficult at times to understand what some of the British actors are saying due to their thick accents. Vaughn gives a wink to the audience (especially the American audience) by giving the American Valentine a lisp that makes him sounds ridiculous AND gives him a line calling out the issue Americans have with Brit actors "You Brits...Y'all talk so funny". Well played Vaughn. We also get some solid supporting performances from Mark Strong and Michael Caine (playing a real ass hole in films lately) to round out a solid cast.

If you're going into Kingsman: The Secret Service and expecting Skyfall the you're going to be disappointed. Kingsman isn't about being dark and serious with some powerful societal message to go along with it. Kingsman does what Matthew Vaughn intended it to do which was to give you a fun time. It's got violence, comedy, and some great music adding up to a great time at the movies. So turn your brain off for a bit, enjoy the chaos and don't bother trying to hide the smile you'll have when you walk out of the theater....we all saw it.

J.K. Simmons has always been "that guy in that thing" and he really has been in a lot of things from Spider man, Farmers Insurance commercials, to a family sitcom about a blind guy. And while Simmons has been around awhile, he hasn't really been given anything to sink his teeth into. In comes young upstart writer/director Damien Chazzelle and his jazz ensemble epic "Whiplash".

Whiplash has the unique honor of being the least profitable film to be nominated for best picture at the Academy Awards (along with Chazzelles script and Simmons for supporting actor) but for a film that appears so small, it is one of the biggest and most epic viewing experiences of the year.

One of the reasons I loved Whiplash is that it surrounds a subject matter that I have little knowledge on, the world of surprisingly competitive jazz ensemble. Jazz music is all about precision, technique, and patience and all of those are on display in explosive fashion. The story follows a young aspiring jazz drummer Andrew (Miles Teller) who dreams of greatness while at the Schaefer Music Conservatory in New York. All of the students hope to join the exclusive Jazz ensemble led by the tyrannical Terence Fletcher (Simmons) who puts the title of abusive teacher to a whole new level.

Everyone has had that one teacher or coach in their lives that was unbearable. They would scream, criticize, and cause you so so much emotional abuse that caused you to fail more than the class or sport ever could. Few films have ever been able to capture this idea better than Whiplash as we watch Fletcher verbally emasculate his band members to tears and physical torment that is almost too much to watch. It's hard to say why Simmons was so effective here. He has the deep menacing voice, threatening eyes, and is looking surprisingly jacked in his black t-shirts (seriously, is Simmons gonna be the next Marvel super villain or something?) that help make him the bane of existence for all of his students.

You also can't talk about Whiplash without mentioning the lead role of Miles Teller. Teller is one of Hollywoods talented up and comers (especially if you've seen him in "The Spectacular Now") and he almost seemed to be the heir apparent to Vince Vaughn as the funny, fast-talking, likable schlub who could go on to lead comedies for the foreseeable future. This is actually the most different Teller then we've seen in his young career. His character of Andrew is of a socially awkward and talented musician who hasn't had a lot of success in life and will do anything to establish himself and make it so he is remembered for being "great" long after he's gone (shown perfectly during the dinner scene with his family, maybe the best scene in the film). To do this, he is willing to take Fletcher's abuse and use it as the motivation to prove he is great.

Anyone in the teaching/coaching profession can tell you that arguably the most difficult aspect of the profession is motivating your students. Fletcher's choice to use fear as his motivational tool proves to have varying success rates as he very easily breaks his students but their fear of him pushes them to be perfect because that is what he expects. You grow to hate Fletcher so much throughout the film that when it gets to a point in the film where he explains he cruelty it messes with you emotionally because you begin to somehow empathize with him. The fact that you can show any sympathy towards the character after what you've seen him to is a feat in itself and the credit goes to Chazzelle for shaping the story that way.

I hate to use the term "emotional roller-coaster" few films of recent memory fit that cliché better than Whiplash. The Jazz genre really fits the flow of the story because it can be easy going and calculated one minute to explosive and heart-pounding the next. Being able to fit so much size into a small budget film like this is amazing and a screenplay Oscar for Chazzelle should be in order if there was any justice in the world. I don't know if Chazzelle had a film teacher who was as harsh as Fletcher who pushed him as hard, but one thing is for sure is that, much like Andrew, Chazzelle seems like he wants to be great and I can't wait for him to continue to prove that.

War is often one of the most successful movie genres because of the glory that comes with war and the seemingly endless number of stories you can tell from it. From "Apocalypse Now" to "Saving Private Ryan", there have been so many war stories told, celebrated, and cherished by their fans around the world. However, for some reason the wars that have struggled to be embraced (by Americans in particular) are the ones we read/see headlines of daily in the Middle East. It's hard to say why this is. Maybe it's the difference of opinion of what the wars are being fought for, maybe it's simply hard to see the glory in a war while it's still going on. It's interesting because there have been a few films made on the subject that have been praised like "Zero Dark Thirty" and "The Hurt Locker" (Oscar Winner for Best Picture) but I feel those films lacked a certain humanity to them that could draw people in emotionally. "American Sniper" may be the one film of this genre to be widely embraced by viewers.

"American Sniper" follows the story of former Navy SEAL Sniper Chris Kyle and his accomplishments during his four tours in Iraq. Bradley Cooper added 40 lbs of mass and muscle to play the hulking Kyle, who was a man consumed by warfare and justifying his over 160 confirmed kills down to the simplest reasoning of good vs evil. To be the type of man like Kyle or any other advanced military figure, I've always felt that you have to be wired a little differently. Obviously you have to be brave and willing to make sacrifices and hard decisions. But I've also felt like you need to see the world in a different way and be able to disconnect yourself emotionally from your environment, knowing what you are expected to do. Kyle was certainly one of these men and Cooper shines in being able to show how it was the most dangerous environment that made him feel the most alive.

It doesn't make sense to someone who has never experienced anything like fighting in a war. Why would anyone "choose" to keep returning to such a hostile environment once, let alone three more times after making it back alive once? It's a question that tortures Kyles wife Taya (Sienna Miller) who can't understand why Chris constantly chooses to put himself in harms way when she and their children are their for him? It's almost as if they can't quench the thirst for Chris like war can, which is seen when he cites the order of his life's priorities as "God, Country, and Family". We all know of stories of how war has changed men when they return home and Chris was definitely a prime example of how difficult it can be to re- acclimate to peaceful surroundings after spending so much time in hell.

It's frustrating to see so many articles published about the film where they criticize Kyle for his "lack of remorse for the people he killed" during his combat days. Kyle was very vocal on his feelings towards his kills as he only saw these men as enemies to kill or else they would kill him. For someone to criticize the actions of a man just based on watching a movie and to have never been a position to make decisions like he did is lazy and irresponsible. To criticize a man who was trained to make decisions involving life and death in order to protect members of his platoon and the rights we stand for as Americans is foolish.

"American Sniper" is the best film Eastwood has done since "Million Dollar Baby" and Bradley Cooper continues his recent run of Hollywood success. Both lent a hand in producing the film and giving a fair interpretation of Chris Kyles life and experiences. Maybe more than his wartime experiences were the scenes of him attempting to re-enter the "normal" world. These men are trained to take any potential distractions and repress it so that nothing clouds the objective at hand. An American Sniper...A "Legend".

4/5