Happy friends day, whatever the hell that means!
Onto the movies.
#44 Woman in Gold
There are a handful of movies, none more popular than Raiders of the Lost Ark, that paint the Nazi regime as a group looking to not only squash entire cultures under their boots, but also claim their most important artifacts as their own. In last year's Monuments Men, an entire group of US Army was dedicated to the cause of retrieving these stolen relics. Woman in Gold, also based on a true story, follows the successful recovery of Gustav Klimt's "Portrait of Adele Bauer-Block" from the country of Austria.
Onto the movies.
#44 Woman in Gold
There are a handful of movies, none more popular than Raiders of the Lost Ark, that paint the Nazi regime as a group looking to not only squash entire cultures under their boots, but also claim their most important artifacts as their own. In last year's Monuments Men, an entire group of US Army was dedicated to the cause of retrieving these stolen relics. Woman in Gold, also based on a true story, follows the successful recovery of Gustav Klimt's "Portrait of Adele Bauer-Block" from the country of Austria.
When the Dame Helen Mirren is involved in a film, it often gets pitched as some sort a "prestige piece". It goes without saying that she has earned her respect--I mean, she's a Dame! But with great respect comes great filmic responsibility, and often times she is asked to carry a little too much of the load. Such is the case for the latest Dame vehicle.
She plays Maria Altmann, a Jewish refugee in her 80s living in Los Angeles. When her sister dies, she recovers letters from the 1940s that discuss the family's attempts to recover art taken from their home during the occupation, chief among them the Klimt painting. As it would happen, Klimt has gotten awfully revered between then and now. Altmann hires Randy Schoenberg (Ryan Reynolds) to help her get it back and they make their way to Austria (cue childhood flashblacks apelenty). Turns out Austria is not so willing to give it up; the portrait, now housed in the national gallery, has become a major part of Austrian culture as a whole. Plus she can't lay claim to it, as the painting was not technically owned by her aunt. Womp womp. Reynolds' character, who initially can't stand being around Altmann for more than a few minutes at a time, becomes invested in fighting this damn thing once they lose.
Mirren is great as usual and Reynolds feels miscast. He is one of those actors who only works when he's allowed to act in a certain style, and in his case, it's when gets to drop one-liner bombs, a lá Van Wilder, Blade III, the upcoming Deadpool. I'm not saying he can't do serious, but this one felt like a struggle, a doberman on a leash. The movie suffered from overdoing it on the sentimentality front, finding ways to inject unnecessary flashbacks and cello swells when it could have gotten away with more present-time Mirren. It's an uplifting story (spolier alert) all in all and anything with Mirren is always worth a college try. I just wish that her struggle, her battle, the injustice of it all--wasn't beaten over our heads.
#43 Dope
Coming of age movies that take place in the inner city are tricky business. How do you tow the line between stereotype and reality? How do you prevent having a protagonist who young African-Americans can identify with that you don't necessarily want them to emulate? These can run the gamut from good kid pushed to the breaking point (Tré in Boyz in the Hood, Craig in Friday, Omar Epps' Malik in Higher Learning) and those that profit from the mayhem (O-Dog in Menace II Society, Tupac's characters in Juice and Above the Rim). The loose cannons often serve as a cautionary tale to a degree, ending up arrested or going out in a rapid-fire blaze of glory. But they are also the characters that end up idolized--rich, powerful and fearless, surrounded by women. Who wouldn't want that?
Mirren is great as usual and Reynolds feels miscast. He is one of those actors who only works when he's allowed to act in a certain style, and in his case, it's when gets to drop one-liner bombs, a lá Van Wilder, Blade III, the upcoming Deadpool. I'm not saying he can't do serious, but this one felt like a struggle, a doberman on a leash. The movie suffered from overdoing it on the sentimentality front, finding ways to inject unnecessary flashbacks and cello swells when it could have gotten away with more present-time Mirren. It's an uplifting story (spolier alert) all in all and anything with Mirren is always worth a college try. I just wish that her struggle, her battle, the injustice of it all--wasn't beaten over our heads.
#43 Dope
Coming of age movies that take place in the inner city are tricky business. How do you tow the line between stereotype and reality? How do you prevent having a protagonist who young African-Americans can identify with that you don't necessarily want them to emulate? These can run the gamut from good kid pushed to the breaking point (Tré in Boyz in the Hood, Craig in Friday, Omar Epps' Malik in Higher Learning) and those that profit from the mayhem (O-Dog in Menace II Society, Tupac's characters in Juice and Above the Rim). The loose cannons often serve as a cautionary tale to a degree, ending up arrested or going out in a rapid-fire blaze of glory. But they are also the characters that end up idolized--rich, powerful and fearless, surrounded by women. Who wouldn't want that?
This year's indie darling struggled to find its identity throughout the course of the film. Maybe that's appropriate, considering that the protagonist, Malcolm (Shameik Moore) dealt throughout with issues of identity. I definitely appreciated that about Dope; Malcolm's persona was pretty different (The movie's tagline was "It's hard out here for a geek") and ultimately I think director Rick Famiyuwa (The Wood, Brown Sugar) wanted people watching it to come away feeling like being different was okay.
That being said, is a Dope coming of age movie in the ghetto? Is it social commentary on the freedoms of kids in a certain socioeconomic status? (I know it was senior year, but there was about a minute and a half of mother and son time) Is it a comedy? Is it a drama? Why did seemingly everyone in the whole movie have a gun?
Malcolm plays in a band called Ahhreeoo with his best friends Diggy (Kiersey Clemons, hands down the best part of the movie) and Jib (Tony Revelori, the lobby boy/lead of Grand Budapest Hotel). Somehow, they have their instruments set up at all times in a room off the auditorium. Whatever...senior year, right? They ride colorful bikes, wear colorful clothes, get straight A's (Malcolm is working on his entrance essay for Harvard throughout the film) and try to evade getting beat up for their Jordans. One afternoon, they reroute their way home as part of a pummeling avoidance scenario and end up in Inglewood, where Malcolm bumps into Dom (A$AP Rocky, surprisingly good in his first turn as an actor), a drug-dealing acquaintance, leaning up against his car. He has him go talk to Nakia (Zoë Karavitz) for him to invite her to his birthday party. Malcolm is immediately smitten. Nakia accepts, and Dom invites Malcolm and his crew to tag along. After some hijinks, the three under-agers end up in the club shooting liquor, dancing, vomiting, repeating. Shortly after Dom steals Nakia away from dancing with Malcolm, the club is shot to hell by what looks to be first rival gangs and then eventually the DEA(?) In the ensuing madness, Malcolm grabs his backpack and Nakia and hightails it out. On the ride home, he asks her to prom she says she'll consider. Not until the morning does Malcolm realize that Dom has put pounds and pounds of party drug molly--and a handgun--in the backpack for safekeeping.
That's where I'll leave it, both because a) I don't want to give away much more of the plot and b) shortly after this is where the movie started going off the rails for me. It turns from interesting narrative to a slapstick caper with far too many absurd interactions and coincidences that drive the now mostly unrealistic story to a conclusion. One of these coincidences - tying together the drugs and the Harvard application- is borderline offensive. Blake from Workaholics stops by as a seasoned drug dealer and hacker (because yes, now they suddenly need one of those) and spends most of his onscreen time trying to posit to the trio that it's totally okay for him to use the n-word, which it isn't.
That being said, is a Dope coming of age movie in the ghetto? Is it social commentary on the freedoms of kids in a certain socioeconomic status? (I know it was senior year, but there was about a minute and a half of mother and son time) Is it a comedy? Is it a drama? Why did seemingly everyone in the whole movie have a gun?
Malcolm plays in a band called Ahhreeoo with his best friends Diggy (Kiersey Clemons, hands down the best part of the movie) and Jib (Tony Revelori, the lobby boy/lead of Grand Budapest Hotel). Somehow, they have their instruments set up at all times in a room off the auditorium. Whatever...senior year, right? They ride colorful bikes, wear colorful clothes, get straight A's (Malcolm is working on his entrance essay for Harvard throughout the film) and try to evade getting beat up for their Jordans. One afternoon, they reroute their way home as part of a pummeling avoidance scenario and end up in Inglewood, where Malcolm bumps into Dom (A$AP Rocky, surprisingly good in his first turn as an actor), a drug-dealing acquaintance, leaning up against his car. He has him go talk to Nakia (Zoë Karavitz) for him to invite her to his birthday party. Malcolm is immediately smitten. Nakia accepts, and Dom invites Malcolm and his crew to tag along. After some hijinks, the three under-agers end up in the club shooting liquor, dancing, vomiting, repeating. Shortly after Dom steals Nakia away from dancing with Malcolm, the club is shot to hell by what looks to be first rival gangs and then eventually the DEA(?) In the ensuing madness, Malcolm grabs his backpack and Nakia and hightails it out. On the ride home, he asks her to prom she says she'll consider. Not until the morning does Malcolm realize that Dom has put pounds and pounds of party drug molly--and a handgun--in the backpack for safekeeping.
That's where I'll leave it, both because a) I don't want to give away much more of the plot and b) shortly after this is where the movie started going off the rails for me. It turns from interesting narrative to a slapstick caper with far too many absurd interactions and coincidences that drive the now mostly unrealistic story to a conclusion. One of these coincidences - tying together the drugs and the Harvard application- is borderline offensive. Blake from Workaholics stops by as a seasoned drug dealer and hacker (because yes, now they suddenly need one of those) and spends most of his onscreen time trying to posit to the trio that it's totally okay for him to use the n-word, which it isn't.
There were things about Dope that were great. Sections of dialogue worked really well, the 90s hip-hop soundtrack was appreciated, and I liked many of the performances - especially the show stealing Kiersey Clemons as Diggy, the street - smart lesbian tomboy making the most of a man's world. It was all over the place, though, and the plot veered in a way that it shouldn't have. A couple of silly montages, lowbrow moments that didn't need to be there and unfeasible situations detracted for what could have been a much stronger movie.
Still, kudos for Malcolm for keeping it real.
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