Jason Bateman

Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck Bring Spark to Mediocre ‘State of Play’

BrianTT — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 00:21:24 -0600

Rating: 3.0/5.0

CHICAGO – I’ll be the first critic to tell you that they don’t make adult thrillers often enough. I was very disappointed by the lackluster box office take of Tony Gilroy’s ” Duplicity”. But does that mean that we should give all intellectual mysteries a pass? Of course not. And while I want to love Kevin Macdonald’s “State of Play,” a few poor decisions during production keep it back from being the excellent film it could have been.

It’s even easier to see where “State of Play” went wrong than with most so-so movies because we have the original, amazing BBC mini-series for comparison. Of course, Macdonald couldn’t be expected to duplicate what was accomplished in six hours with only two, but the decisions made in the truncation were not always the smartest ones. And, perhaps, someone should have considered that the lengthy original could never have been adequately condensed into two hours.

Russell Crowe as reporter Cal McAffrey.
Photo credit: Glen Wilson and Universal Pictures

Before you say that this version should be judged on its own, I can’t rewrite history and change the fact that I’ve seen (and adored) the original. I know what “State of Play” could have been. And many of the flaws of this version are amplified by their absence in the source material. Essentially, work that was “all grays” has, often by the necessity of length, had its shading removed and become purely black and white.

One thing can be said about “State of Play” for certain - it’s not slow. Now, that doesn’t mean it’s not boring but the actual plot moves at 100 miles per hour. Don’t show up late for this one.

In the opening scenes, a junkie is shot and an innocent bystander takes another bullet when he happens to witness the first execution. Shortly thereafter, a rising Congressman’s aide, Sonia Baker (Maria Thayer) is going to work when she ends up on the track and not the platform of high-speeding public transportation.

Old-fashioned reporter Cal McAffrey (Russell Crowe) gets the junkie case and rising star Della Frye (Rachel McAdams) lands the Congressman’s aide story after it’s revealed that her boss, Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck), was sleeping with his head researcher. It turns out the Collins and Baker were working together on a major hearing involving a Halliburton-esque company when they started up an affair. Could the company have been involved in her accident? Or the Congressman? What about the Congressman’s wife (Robin Wright Penn)?

Things get really complicated when it turns out that Cal’s shooting and Sonia’s accident are related. The fact that Cal is old friends with Collins both helps and hurts the investigation by both the journalists and the cops. Helen Mirren plays the editor.

Newspaper editor Cameron Lynne (Helen Mirren) questions reporter Cal McAffrey (Russell Crowe).
Photo credit: Glen Wilson and Universal Pictures

There’s not a false performance in “State of Play” and anyone who likes it will do so because of the great ensemble. At first, I wasn’t sure about Crowe’s paunch (not quite as big as “Body of Lies” but not far off) and the low-key nature of his performance, but it works. He’s in nearly every scene in the movie and, as usual, he delivers. Affleck is great too, proving that the string of smart decisions he’s made lately - “Hollywoodland,” “Gone Baby Gone” - were no fluke.

Jeff Daniels and Jason Bateman are also great in small roles, and Helen Mirren could make anything interesting, even if she isn’t given nearly enough of the great material that won Bill Nighy awards for the same part in the BBC original. Only McAdams feels miscast, but almost all of her moments are exposition, pushing the speeding plot forward..

Great cast? Check. Great writers? You can’t do much better than Matthew Michael Carnahan (“The Kingdom”), Tony Gilroy (“Michael Clayton”), and Billy Ray (“Shattered Glass”). But they make some regrettable choices. The final act is a particular mess with the breakneck pace turned up to eleven. There are confessions and revelations that come so quickly that they feel like actors working towards a final scene more than anything organic. It feels rushed.

Probably because it is. And that rushing misses something about the story. The heart of the BBC original was about how the world of journalism and politics have become intertwined. The lines between the people covering politicians and the lawmakers themselves have become blurry at best. They’re too defined in the US “State of Play”. This is just another story of the white knight of journalism versus the corruption of big business. Of course, as a writer, I’m tempted to say there can’t be too many of those, but it doesn’t have the impact of something deeper.

Ultimately, “State of Play” is a well-made, well-paced thriller, but it’s ultimately merely so-so. It’s an average thriller that falls below the median when compared to the spectacular original. People who agree that there aren’t nearly enough adult thrillers will find a lot to like here but even people haven’t seen the original will sense there could have been more.

‘State of Play’ stars Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Helen Mirren, Jeff Daniels, Jason Bateman, and Robin Wright Penn. It was written by Matthew Michael Carnahan, Tony Gilroy, and Billy Ray and directed by Kevin Macdonald. It opens on April 17th, 2009. It is rated PG-13.

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

Superhero Film ‘Hancock’ With No Superhero Ancestry Proves Bold But Deadly Decision

HollywoodChicago.com — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 02:19:27 -0600

Rating: 2.0/5.0

CHICAGO – With superhero films as hot in 2008 as psychedelics were in the 1960s, the new blockbuster superhero film “Hancock” fits in with the label but without any of the ancestry.

While 2008 superhero films such as “Iron Man,” “The Incredible Hulk,” “The Dark Knight,” “Hellboy II: The Golden Army” and “Punisher: War Zone” (along with “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” coming in 2009) are all based on previous stories with a previously ravenous fan base, “Hancock” with an alcoholic and listless Will Smith and Charlize Theron – who hides a surprise bombshell – literally comes from nowhereland.

Charlize Theron (left) and Will Smith in “Hancock”.
Photo credit: Sony Pictures Entertainment

In fact, “Hancock” is the only 2008 superhero film not derived from a previously established comic book.

Will Smith in “Hancock”.
Photo credit: Sony Pictures Entertainment

The original script for “Hancock,” which was inked by Vincent Ngo in 1996 and called “Tonight, He Comes,” was shuffled through the Hollywood director’s circuit until director Peter Berg (“The Kingdom,” “Friday Night Lights,” “The Rundown”) finally ate it up in Oct. 2006. Filming began in July 2007.

Its truly original origin could have either been its golden savior or its deadly assassin. The decision ultimately proved treacherous as everything it tried to do to be different just made it the same.

Its originality actually might not seem so novel, too, once you consider the 1983 film “The Return of Captain Invincible”. In that film, Alan Arkin plays Captain Invincible and Christopher Lee plays his nemesis (Mr. Midnight).

Captain Invincible is asked to return from retirement to the superhero battlefields, but this time around, he’s a raging alcoholic. Sound familiar? Uh huh.

Upon closer scrutiny, the principal downfall of “Hancock” isn’t even in the question of its origins but more in the forcefulness of its script. “Hancock” felt entirely too written. A good film, of course, is written eloquently well – so well, in fact, that you forget it’s written. A hackneyed story feels forcefully written.

Will Smith (center) “Hancock”.
Photo credit: Sony Pictures Entertainment

After writers Vincent Ngo and Vince Gilligan launched off on their journey to script a man who can demolish the street beneath him at the mere jetting away into the sky, they added Superman-like strength. As for where to go next, you can actually feel them pondering the decision. They then inked something cliché because they were already committed to the process and the big Hollywood dollars would be on the line.

Now Smith’s cliché costuming to look the superhero part was actually the least cliché part of the entire script. Smith’s character despised it, appeared awkward in it and actually successfully sold you on more authentically being that inebriated chap. Sporting a costume that looked like it could have been purchased at Walgreen’s on a man who felt more comfortable being naked was refreshingly witty.

Will Smith (second from left), Jason Bateman (second from right) and Charlize Theron in “Hancock”.
Photo credit: Sony Pictures Entertainment

All in all, we can’t be satisfied with all the “Hancock” plot twists and turns because we didn’t get to the heart of what actually makes a superhero a superhero. Will Smith himself doesn’t know and couldn’t tell you if you asked him – even after he has been jailed, rehabilitated and PR spun by Jason Bateman who’s trying to change the world.

RELATED IMAGE GALLERY
View our full, high-resolution “Hancock” image gallery.

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More film reviews from critic Adam Fendelman.

While it is a bit of a twist to make your “good” superhero hated and then needed and then loved once he learns to love himself, focusing on that internal exploration of the superhero felt like the self-discovery process should have happened privately with Dr. Phil rather than as a central plotline in a major Hollywood film.

Now Charlize Theron’s character had teeth. Will Smith as an anonymous “John Hancock” who can’t remember his genesis is branded by the film as a Bruce Willis-like “Unbreakable” character, but who the heck is Charlize Theron? Is she just the scorching wife of PR man Jason Bateman or does she have something incredible up her sleeve, too?

“Hancock” director Peter Berg would have been better served directing this script with a focus on her as the central character – a character who veils who she really is under the guise of humanity rather than the bumbling, stumbling Will Smith who merely cloaks his superhero depression with a bottle. Any takers for “The Incredible Housewife”?

“Hancock,” which features Will Smith, Charlize Theron, Jason Bateman and director Michael Mann in a small acting role, opened everywhere on July 2, 2008.

By ADAM FENDELMAN
Editor-in-Chief
HollywoodChicago.com
adam@hollywoodchicago.com

‘Juno’ the First LiveJournal, Blogger Film; Writer Diablo Cody a Standout Star

HollywoodChicago.com — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 21:30:03 -0600

AUSTIN, Texas – No one says anything plainly in “Juno”. Hyper clever, hyper literate and hyper pop savvy, it tells a light story of teenage pregnancy in a package of verbose middle classiness.

Ellen Page (left) and Olivia Thirlby in “Juno”.
Photo courtesy of IMDb
Furthering the influence of the Internet on filmmaking in the 21st century, “Juno” has hyper-thought cleverness and the distinct personality of voice that comes from the personal blogging set. It’s the first LiveJournal or Blogger film.

That’s not entirely odd, though, since 2007’s unjustly maligned “Hot Rod” could’ve been the first feature-length YouTube movie. The dialogue in “Juno” doesn’t just call out to be read. It’s like hypertext that calls to be clicked on.

Under the razor-thin direction of Jason Reitman, “Juno” – unlike “Hot Rod” or “Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters” – is a pure movie. It dispenses any obtuseness and has the instincts of an audience pleaser.

Where an average movie about pregnancy turns its water-breaking scene into a dramatic, third-act starter (which even “Knocked Up” did), this film’s screenplay (scribed by hilarious blogger and memoirist Diablo Cody) has its eponymous character signal a pop-culture reference double threat: “Thundercats are go!” (This is a combination of Thundercats and Thunderbirds.)

Ellen Page and Michael Cera in “Juno”.
Photo courtesy of IMDb
The movie has two standout stars – Ellen Page as Juno and Cody as the screenwriter – while Reitman (himself the distinct and clever voice behind “Thank You for Smoking”) wisely steps aside for a one-off and applies a perfect, hands-off directorial approach.

He sprinkles certain moments of gravity here and there.

As for Page, I’m not even sure she’s a talented comedienne. She just has the range to act that funny. While there’s none of the same intensity she brought to “Hard Candy” here, there’s still some of the (barely used) tenderness she brought to Kitty Pryde in “X-Men: The Last Stand”.

In “Juno,” she never falls into smugness despite spending most of her screen time being a wise girl. That’s probably because – in this film’s rich screenplay – she’s never necessarily the smartest person in the room. Each adeptly cast role gives a character a speech or moment to shine.

Director Jason Reitman in “Juno”.
Photo courtesy of IMDb
Allison Janney’s nail-obsessed stepmother has the hilarious dressing down of an ultrasound technician while J.K. Simmons has the funny reaction to learning who knocked up his daughter: “Next time I see him, I’m punching him in the wiener.”

That would be Michael Cera, who is still earning his own career-launching lauds from “Superbad”. Despite having the least amount of quotable lines, he milks awkward stutters and sweetness better than anyone his age.

The couple played by Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman – in what at first seems like a superfluous subplot – lends the movie most of its gravity. Garner’s baby-lacking matriarch has her best moments when Juno tells her she’s lucky not to be pregnant.

The gem is the turn by Bateman, who tweaks the sarcastic authority of his “Arrested Development” persona into a surprisingly bottom-line, to-be father who never got over the night his band opened for the Melvins. When Bateman, Garner, Simmons and Page first meet on screen, it’s the film’s centerpiece scene.

Jennifer Garner (left), Jason Bateman and Ellen Page in “Juno”.
Photo courtesy of IMDb
Again, this movie belongs to Cody from her blogging. She’s originally from Chicago, by the way, but moved to Minnesota to live with her Internet boyfriend – Jonny – who’s now her husband. Seriously. They now live in Los Angeles.

Cody is used to clever wordplay to pad earnest moments of connection and soul bearing. Formerly a brief stripper, Cody’s long-running blog (formerly here) gained national exposure with her memoir “Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper”.

While the book and blog are almost equally as entertaining (if a little overwritten), Cody’s style – when applied to dialogue – has a leaner, tongue-jumping humanism to it.

Reitman gives generously selfless direction. He finds the widely sought comedy light touch that’s essential here. How many times have you seen a clever movie where the mumble mouths and lazy eyes of actors are passed off as dry wit?

From right to left, Olivia Thirlby, Allison Janney and Ellen Page in “Juno”.
Photo courtesy of IMDb
I recently screened “Juno” at the Austin Film Festival where both Reitman and Cody introduced the film.

Reitman said he remembered the day he first read “Juno”. As he introduced her, he told the audience: “You’ll remember this as the day you met Diablo Cody.” Cody promptly replied: “That is the stupidest intro I’ve ever heard.”

Cody could go either way from here. Delivered by inferior actors or directors, her dialogue could quickly grow annoying and go the way of Zach Braff’s blog. Then again, she could be next Kevin Smith.

Reitman himself is too good a writer to only direct.

Page’s range is once in a generation. She’ll be a draw for anything she stars in from here on out. For all these diverse talents, I ultimately came away from “Juno” just wanting these three to get together and make many, many more movies.

Juno is slated to open in limited U.S. theaters (including Chicago) on Dec. 14, 2007. We selected this film as one to watch for on Sept. 14 Our Oscarman rating for this movie currently ties with our highest films.

By Shane Hazen
Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com

‘The Kingdom’ a Prescient Portrayal of Relentless Ghost in the Terrorist Machine

HollywoodChicago.com — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 20:37:09 -0600

CHICAGO – In 1967, author Arthur Koestler wrote the non-fiction book “The Ghost in the Machine”.

The title has come full circle with Friday’s release of “The Kingdom” whereby the ghost – an Osama bin Laden-like extremist – must be extricated from his clandestine machine of terrorists.

From left to right, Jason Bateman, Jamie Foxx, Jennifer
Garner, Ashraf Barhom and Chris Cooper in “The Kingdom”.
Photo courtesy of IMDb
Even if you could smoke out the ghost in the machine, the most disquieting concept of such a search-and-destroy mission is much like what happens with the mythical Hydra creature. When Heracles decapitated one of the monster’s heads, another grew right back in its place.

Such can be said about today’s terrorist leaders. Even when offing a big fish, the mere action itself fanatically rouses another to rise in his place.

In “The Kingdom,” which can be thought of as the anti-“Syriana,” wild-man director Peter Berg (“Friday Night Lights,” “The Rundown”) touches with grave timeliness on modern-day fears through excellently evocative histrionics and relatively accurate portrayals of the abomination that is life and war in Saudi Arabia.

Jennifer Garner in “The Kingdom”.
Photo courtesy of IMDb
Following blood-splattering carnage in broad daylight, FBI agents Jamie Foxx, Chris Cooper, Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman are surreptitiously dispatched from the U.S. to the scene in Riyadh to recreate the chaos and punish the executioners.

Life there – with several American families dangerously trying to live in local harmony – is a perplexing and ferocious wake-up call for many of us who lead relatively normal American lives.

The film was actually shot in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates along with at Arizona State University; in Phoenix; in Mesa, Ariz.; and in Washington, D.C.
As you could imagine, diplomats are hamstrung with slow debates of territorialism. The FBI agents quickly learn that Saudi authorities are leery and unwelcoming of American interlopers into what they consider a local matter.

Jamie Foxx in “The Kingdom”.
Photo courtesy of IMDb
They nonetheless permit them local access, impart as much safe passage as possible and work as a team to bridge two innately dissimilar cultures.

Foxx gets the decoration for this film’s best acting, Cooper loves to get down and dirty and makes you appreciate him for it, Garner feels fragile for her surroundings until Berg grants her one hardcore whoop-ass scene and Bateman is unfortunately cast as an attempted funny man who the film seriously could have done without.

Richard Jenkins, who plays the FBI’s director, felt exactly where he should be and likely equaled the performance that would have been handed over by Robert De Niro before he decided not to accept the role. Chicago’s Jeremy Piven was purely obnoxious and should have sported the dunce hat along with Bateman.

Jennifer Garner in “The Kingdom”.
Photo courtesy of IMDb
Don’t be fooled by Danny Elfman’s beautiful score. For Berg’s cast and crew – much like in “A Mighty Heart” about the death of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in Karachi, Pakistan – filming with intense sequences of brutal violence often wasn’t safe overseas and even in the U.S.
During filming on Aug. 12, 2006, assistant property master Nick Papac was killed in Mesa, Ariz. after the all-terrain vehicle he was driving crashed into Berg’s SUV. On set in Phoenix, Garner collapsed twice due to the sweltering, 115-degree heat.

While some films launch us into fictitious fantasy worlds, we also escape reality into film to glimpse an even truer reality that’s deep within chasms we could never reach.

The geopolitical thriller that is “The Kingdom” makes an important statement about our political relations with that country while vitally illuminating how and why terrorists become who they are.

By ADAM FENDELMAN
Editor-in-Chief
HollywoodChicago.com
adam@hollywoodchicago.com