Hours

With some events -- both good and bad -- through history, the story resonates long after the event has passed. You remember where you were when you heard about it, watched it on TV, when someone informed you for the first time. I remember pretty clearly which class I was walking to when the effects of Hurricane Katrina rolled into Bloomington, Indiana. Torrential rail unlike anything I'd seen but nothing like the hell experienced by those in New Orleans during the hurricane. For a very interesting story about one man, check out 2013's Hours, a film that didn't get a theatrical release I'm aware of, but it certainly deserved one.

As Hurricane Katrina descends on New Orleans in August 2005, Nolan Hayes (Paul Walker) brings his pregnant wife, Abigail (Genesis Rodriguez), to the hospital as she deals with some horrific pain. Doctors tell him to wait in the waiting room, and an hour or so later he's dealt both amazingly good and horrifically bad news. He has a daughter, but Abigail died giving birth. Nolan doesn't know how to handle both pieces of news, but he doesn't have time to think. Katrina is throwing the brunt of its strength at the city -- including the hospital -- and almost the entire staff and every patient that can be moved is being evacuated. Nolan on the other hand is going nowhere. His prematurely born infant daughter is in an incubator that's helping her breathe. The doctor's estimate on when she can breathe on her own? Two days...hopefully. Responsible for running a backup generator with an ever-decreasing battery, Nolan keeps his daughter alive and waits. And waits. And waits for help.

Most of six months since his tragic, surprising death in November 2013, it's still hard to believe Paul Walker is dead. He will be in the next Fast and Furious in some fashion or another, and he has another movie scheduled to come out in the coming weeks, Brick Mansions. So for Walker fans, embrace these movies, appreciate them. Unless I missed it, I don't remember seeing this film from director Eric Heisserer (also writing the screenplay) in theaters at all. Why was that? No idea in the least. Probably because it isn't a movie that's going to break box office records. Instead, it's a brutally straightforward premise with a touch of realism and authenticity with Hurricane Katrina serving as a backdrop to a very emotional story. No theater run, no problem. This was a pretty good movie.

I would wager most people are aware of Paul Walker because of the Fast and Furious movies, myself included. I've never thought of him as a great actor, but more a likable, charming star with a solid on-screen presence. I know I'm not alone in that sentiment. Well, this movie does a good job proving otherwise. Paul Walker can act and can do it well. While there are other speaking parts, this is almost the film equivalent of a one-man show. Walker's Nolan is in every scene in the movie. This is an emotional part, a husband and new father forced to deal with a whole lot on his plate in a hellish situation. We see him get worn down over the course of the movie, see the exhaustion in his eyes and face as his impossible situation gets worse and worse. Movie star or actor -- your call -- Walker is a very natural on-screen presence so it's cool to see him embrace such a quality dramatic performance and run with it.

What works so well though isn't just the big moments. It's the quiet moments. The trailer (link below) would have you think this is an action-packed, thrill a minute kind of movie. It isn't. The moments that resonate are those of a father bonding with his newborn daughter, helpless and dependent on a machine to keep her breathing. He sits next to her and winds up the backup generator every three minutes so the battery won't run out. Nolan sits and simply talks to his daughter, telling her about him, about his life, her mom, and how they met. These could be sappy, even cheesy moments, but they work. We also get three or four quick flashback scenes as we see how Nolan met Abigail, them at a dinner party, getting ready for said party. It's just really quick scenes -- a minute or two here and there -- but it helps to humanize Nolan as he tries to bring his daughter through the ordeal. The situation is extreme enough that you're rooting for him, but that human element goes a long way.

Rodriguez is very good in a small part as Abigail, relegated to those handful of flashbacks. She has an excellent chemistry with Walker, two halfway decent looking people if there ever were. The rest of the cast is limited to small parts of the people Nolan meets during the storm, including a doctor, a nurse, a cook in the cafeteria, a rescue dog with an injury, three different looters (two more dangerous than the first) and a lone voice at the other end of the radio. This is Walker's movie, the focus is clearly on him, and he doesn't disappoint.

Wrapping up in 97 minutes, 'Hours' drags a little at times in the second half. There's only so much you can have him do in such a situation before it becomes either dull or repetitive. At the same time, Nolan seems to accomplish a lot in the 2-to-3 minutes he has before he's got to recharge the ever-dwindling battery. It needs to happen for the sake of the story so it's not a huge issue, but it is something I noticed as the story develops. These are flaws but nothing that cripples the movie as a whole. An interesting movie that deserved more of a theatrical release, more positive buzz in the news. Something, anything. It's an excellent, tense film with a highly emotional ending, including a great final shot. Definitely worth checking out.

Hours (2013): ***/****

The Last Stand

It's good to have Arnold Schwarzenegger back. That is all. Elected Governor of California in 2003, the action star served two terms, putting his film career on hold for the time being. He returned to movies with The Expendables, a slightly bigger part in its sequel and officially took a key supporting role in last year's Escape Plan. But now, it's time for a leading role in a good, old-fashioned shoot 'em up, 2013's The Last Stand.

In the quiet border town of Sommerset Junction in Arizona, Sheriff Ray Towns (Schwarzenegger) enjoys a peaceful, restful life after years of serving in the L.A.P.D. Narcotics and Tactical Division. Well, that idyllic, peaceful life is about to get thrown a curve. With much of the town following the high school football team on a road game, Towns gets a call that someone has been murdered. His deputies stumble upon something in the desert, heavily armed ex-military firing on the deputies. At the same time, Towns gets another call, this time from FBI agent Bannister (Forest Whitaker), with a warning. A highly dangerous leader of a powerful drug cartel, Gabriel Cortez (Eduardo Noriega), has led a bloody escape and is making a beeline for Mexico in a modified, souped-up sports car. Bannister believes Cortez is heading right to Sommerset Junction. Towns figures Cortez's plan out, ex-military and all, but can he and his motley crew of deputies stop Cortez?

Ah, action movies, how I love you. This flick didn't do much business last year in theaters -- netting a little over $48 million -- but I remember catching the first trailer for this and being intrigued. This wasn't a movie I was dying to see, that I needed to see, but could it be good? Oh, you bet, and that's what it is in the end. From director Kim Jee-woon, 'Stand' is an entertaining, well-done action movie that's cheesy and goofy, blending some fun characters with one-liners, lots of bloody action and a straightforward good guys vs. bad guys premise. It isn't interested in rewriting the genre, and that's fine. In a lot of ways, it reminded me of last year's 2 Guns, a type of crime action movie that was really popular in the 1970s, especially with the U.S./Mexico border setting. Just enjoy it. Don't overthink it.

Schwarzenegger!!! It's fun to see one of Hollywood's all-time great action stars getting back to business. I got a taste of his return in Escape Plan (his parts in the Expendables are cameos as part of an ensemble, nothing more), but this is where it's at, the Governator in a lead role. Working off a script from Andrew Knauer, Schwarzenegger makes it look easy, even effortless, but he's always got that energy for the action. In other words, there's never a sense that he is phoning it in. Sure, the script has some fun with the 67-year old action star, but it's all in good fun. My favorite? "Sheriff, how are you?" to which Towns answers "Old" having crashed through a window. His backstory is handled in a quick explanatory scene, giving some depth to the small town country sheriff that's pretty familiar in action movies. How does Andy Taylor, um, uh....Arnold Schwarzenegger respond? With a whole lot of shootouts, gunfights and knock-down fist fights, as we've come to expect.

Who else to watch out for? Whitaker does his best as the city boy, the FBI agent who doesn't think a country sheriff could possibly know what he's talking about....even though the polished FBI agent just let a death row prisoner escape. Whitaker disappears in the second half as the action escalates, reappearing late. Johnny Knoxville has the comedic relief as Lewis Dinkum, the town kook with a warehouse full of guns, a part that's just right, not overused or overdone. Jaimie Alexander and Luiz Guzman are Towns' deputies, Rodrigo Santoro playing a town resident who teams up with the crew for the fight. Noriega is a more than worthy villain, his Cortez dripping with intensity and absolutely no fear, Genesis Rodriguez his "unwilling hostage." And because every cartel villain needs an over the top henchman, we get Peter Stormare as Burrell, the leader of the ex-military setting the ground work for Cortez's escape over the border. Also, look for Hollywood veteran and great character actor Harry Dean Stanton in a small uncredited part early.

With a movie that clocks in at 107 minutes, we're never long in between action scenes (and take away 6, 7 minutes for a long credit sequence). Cortez's escape is a good start -- reminding me somewhat of 2003's S.W.A.T. -- as the FBI scrambles to get him back. The highlight comes at the hour-mark, Cortez's advance crew descending on Sommerton where Towns and his deputies are waiting. It's entertaining and bloody and all over the place, bad guys dispatched with a head shot and a cool one-liner. Towns' entrance into the shootout is pretty epic too, Santoro driving a school bus, Schwarzenegger and Knoxville in the back with a seemingly ancient Vickers machine gun. The action is almost non-stop, but it's basically one sequence on top of another over the last hour. The finale between Towns and Cortez at the border is a whopper too, preceded by an epic car chase through a cornfield because....well, because car chases are cool.

Just a fun movie with some familiar touches, even the 1959 classic Rio Bravo. Sit back and enjoy it, welcoming back Aaaahnold.

The Last Stand (2013): ***/****

Identity Thief

Although she worked regularly in film and television from the late 1990s, Melissa McCarthy truly burst onto the scene with her Oscar-nominated part in 2011's Bridesmaids. Since then, she's been all over the place with her successful CBS sitcom Mike and Molly and movies like This Is 40, The Hangover Part IV, and another 2013 entry, Identity Thief. Is it worth it to seek it out?

With a decent job, a nice house, two daughters and a third on the way with wife, Trish (Amanda Peet), Sandy Patterson (Jason Bateman) has a pretty decent life, if a dollar-conscious life. He's even started a new job that will pay him more money, giving his family far more financial security....or so he hopes. Sandy starts getting calls from an odd assortment of places confirming appointments and reservations, and then he finds out what's going on. His identity has been stolen, and someone is racking up huge amounts of debts on his accounts. The police are basically handcuffed by the law and jurisdiction, but they can tell Sandy that his thief is a woman, Diana (McCarthy), living it up in Florida on his credit. The only catch? The cops can't do a thing, leaving Sandy to bring her back to face the charges. Oh, this should go smoothly.

I think this comedy from director Seth Gordon is undone by one fatal flaw. If this sounds preachy or condescending, so be it. In the age of Internet thievery and identity theft, the premise here is obviously incredibly timely. Why then does Gordon, scriptwriter Craig Mazin and the film insist on trying to make McCarthy's Diana sympathetic? Again, if that sounds naive or innocent, get over it. She robs people -- more on that issue later -- and then creates her own identity with their name, credit card info and social security number. Maybe it's not even that she does it, but that in the third act 'Thief' tries to rationalize why she does it. Oh, no, she was abandoned as a child! Oh, goodness, I'm sorry you robbed me of all my money! We're good, don't worry about all that identity theft. Just commit, make McCarthy a bad guy. Don't try to rationalize it all.

Onto bigger and better things, other flaws that do a solid job of kneecapping this movie that in its early goings had some potential. The script is atrocious. So many scenes happen and/or develop simply because the movie needs to continue, not because it makes any sense at all for those things to happen. Example No. 1: In the opening scene, Bateman's Sandy picks up the phone and gives McCarthy's Diana his social security number because she says his identity has been tampered with and "her company" can offer security. He gives it to her. Are you kidding me? This guy is a high-level, very intelligent accountant, and he just throws his number out there because the voice at the other end asks for it? Awful. Oh, and my random favorite is when the story requires Sandy and Diana to be stranded in the middle of nowhere. Sandy's rental car is across a lane of traffic on an expressway (just go with it, it's a long story how it got there). An 18-wheeler semi crashes into it at full speed, incinerating it on impact. In what world does that happen? The truck wouldn't stop, turn, avoid it? Then, upon hitting the car, it wouldn't stop?

Amidst all this garbage is the potential for at least a mildly entertaining movie because of the pairing of Bateman and McCarthy, an Odd Couple match made in hell. They do have a great chemistry together, the lunacy of what Bateman's Sandy actually has to do providing some really funny moments through the first 45 minutes. Though the script does her no favors, McCarthy is an extremely talented actress and comedian. She commits to her parts physically, taking abuses you wouldn't normally expect of a female comedian. Once Sandy dupes her into going back to Denver to settle things, Diana basically decides to make the trip a living hell. Some scenes go too far, just pushing further than they need. If the flick would have figured out a better, more pointed tone, then we'd be onto something, but instead the two talented actors are left swinging in the breeze. Bateman's deadpan delivery paired with McCarthy's over the top antics work surprisingly well.

The rest of the cast doesn't come away so well. Peet is good in a thankless part as Sandy's worrying, well-meaning wife. Jon Favreau is ridiculously bad as Cornish, Sandy's ignorant, very rich boss who has no concept of what human interactions are really like. Genesis Rodriguez and rapper T.I. are unnecessary as two henchmen of a jailed drug cartel leader (Jonathan Banks) who Diana pisses off (because there wasn't enough going on in the story already) and are trailing her. Similarly unnecessary is Robert Patrick as a debt collector with $ for eyes. Also look for John Cho and Morris Chestnut in supporting parts. 

While I enjoyed the first 40-45 minutes or so, things derail and do so quickly. The movie clocks in at a ridiculously long 111 minutes. There are multiple points where I thought things were wrapping up, and then it keeps going. One stupid scene after another develops, things getting more ridiculous by the scene. At one point, Sandy actually has a snake fall from a tree onto his neck, Diana trying to remove the snake with a stick on fire. By the time Diana meets Sandy's family and we hear her sob story, I was done. It's a wasted opportunity here. Hopefully there isn't a sequel coming our way either, but I certainly wouldn't be surprised.

Identity Thief (2013): * 1/2 /****

Man on a Ledge

Released in 1951, Fourteen Hours is a tense, straightforward story of a man standing on a ledge high above the streets of New York City and the consequences as crowds watch below and the police try to save the man. Fast forward some 60 years, and we've got 2012's Man on a Ledge, a movie that uses the same premise, adds a whole lot of unbelievable background before degenerating into a stupid action movie. Yeah for ridiculous!

Just days since escaping from prison and a 25-year sentence, ex-cop Nick Cassidy (Sam Worthington) rents a room in the Roosevelt Hotel and promptly steps out onto the window ledge some 20 stories up. He's almost immediately spotted by someone on the streets below and within minutes there are police and fire department on-site to talk him down. Cassidy requests a specific negotiator, Lydia Mercer (Elizabeth Banks), and the stand-off begins. Questions immediately arise though. What are Cassidy's intentions? What exactly is his end-game? Across the street, Nick's brother, Joey (Jamie Bell), and his girlfriend, Angie (Genesis Rodriguez), are using the distraction to break into a heavily guarded vault owned by real estate mogul, David Englander (Ed Harris). How does it all tie together though?

What's good about this movie? For starters, the premise alone for its originality. It has tones of the original Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, and that's never a bad thing. A media circus and how people respond? It's hard to mess that up. From high up in the Roosevelt Hotel, Worthington's Cassidy looks down on somewhat organized chaos. Crowds gather, on-lookers taking pictures and filming video, some willing him to jump, others hoping he steps back into the hotel room. From director Asger Leth, those are the parts that work. A guy pushed to his limits deciding to jump or not to jump? The most basic of premises that does add a layer of tension, questioning and worry.

What's bad about this movie? Basically everything added on top of that story. There's just too much going on that tries to top off the premise of a man standing on a ledge about to jump. SPOILERS STOP READING SPOILERS Cassidy was set-up as a dupe in a "robbery" gone wrong, his goal a multi-million dollar diamond belonging to who? Harris' Englander of course. Cassidy obviously claims his innocence and is trying to do so in the most ridiculous, convoluted way possible. His brother and his girlfriend -- amateur thieves apparently? -- break into Harris' building and manage to break into his supposedly impregnable vault. END OF SPOILERS It's just all too much, ruining an at least somewhat interesting premise. Unfortunately, it gets dumber as the story goes along.

I like Sam Worthington. I do, but his selection in movies could use with some brushing up. He just isn't given much to do -- literally standing on a ledge much of the movie -- and leaves little impression. As the negotiator coming off a negotiation gone horrifically wrong, Banks is fairly solid as Lydia Mercer. Bell and Rodriguez are painful to watch, a young couple fighting like a bunch of teenagers. Oh, and they're robbing an impregnable vault with heavy security at the same time. Rodriguez is not a strong actress, and seems to be there to wear a low-cut shirt that shows off her cleavage in a red push-up bra. Not a complaint, just an observation. Harris is wasted as he sneers through his part with Anthony Mackie playing Cassidy's former partner, Edward Burns as Mercer's fellow negotiator, Titus Welliver as the on-site police commander, and Kyra Sedgwick as a story-seeking field reporter.

Even through all the holes in the storyline, I still had hope for this story as it developed. But by the end of the story -- and pardon the pun -- but this one falls off the cliff. What was mildly believable becomes ridiculous quickly. People start jumping from building to building and ledge to ledge, chasing from kitchen to stairwells and hotel rooms, and then BAM! Twists galore! None of it really comes together though, leaving the premise a somewhat enjoyable but ultimately disappointing end result. Too bad.

Man on a Ledge <---trailer (2012): **/****