Flags of Our Fathers

The picture itself is one of the most iconic, instantly recognizable images in American history. Days into the battle for Iwo Jima, photographer Joe Rosenthal snapped a picture of six Marines on Mount Suribachi as they raised a flag pole on this remote Japanese-held island. For a country who needed it as World War II raged on and the casualty lists increased day-by-day, the picture became something bigger, something more. The story itself though, isn't so well known, as told in 2006's Flags of Our Fathers.

It's February 1945 and World War II is in its final year. The Allies are advancing on all fronts and in the Pacific theater, a huge invasion is being planned on the island of Iwo Jima. After days of horrific fighting, a platoon of Marines walks up Mount Suribachi, planting an American flag at the summit. A photographer snaps a picture that becomes an instant sensation across the U.S. Three soldiers in the picture, John Bradley (Ryan Phillippe), a Navy corpsman, and two Marines, Rene Gagnon (Jesse Bradford), and Ira Hayes (Adam Beach), are pulled from the fighting and sent back to the U.S.. Why? The trio of soldiers begin a nationwide tour so Americans buy war bonds to aid the fighting. As they criss-cross the country, each of them begins to question what they're doing. There's more to the story than what people are being told. And why are they being honored when so many others didn't make it off Iwo Jima, off hundreds of little islands all over the Pacific?

What director Clint Eastwood set out to do when he decided to make two films about the battle for Iwo Jima was truly daunting. Filming back-to-back, Eastwood filmed 'Flags' (from the American perspective) and then Letters from Iwo Jima (from the Japanese perspective). Both films received excellent reviews (Letters higher than Flags) and the two films combined to earn about $130 million in theaters while also picking up quite a few award wins and nominations. For 'Flags' alone, he's taking on a lot. The true story of the flag-raising in Iwo is a fascinating one. The picture we all know, the Marines memorial in Washington D.C., that was actually the second flag-raising on Mount Suribachi that day in March 1945. That's one of the biggest selling points for Eastwood's film, a not so well known historical story, and what actually played out. Interesting stuff throughout.

This is not a combat heavy movie for those expecting Saving Private Ryan or We Were Soldiers. This is a war story that involves combat but uses that as a jumping off point. The firefights on Iwo Jima were filmed in Iceland and are incredibly uncomfortable to watch, but that's what the fighting on Iwo was like. The Japanese garrison had miles of tunnels, bunkers, pillboxes and intended crossfires, all waiting to unleash hell. That garrison didn't intend to surrender. They intended to die fighting for the island, and the fighting was the definition of hell. These scenes aren't prolonged, but it's quick, hard-hitting and visceral. It's never flashy either. Eastwood just presents it and lets the scenes breathe. The actual flag-raising on Mt. Suribachi is almost secondary, an effective scene that is even underused a little.

No, not a combat movie. This is a movie about the profound impact the Iwo Jima picture makes in the months following the picture's release. The focus is on Phillippe, Bradford and Beach, three different responses, three solid performances. Also look for John Benjamin Hickey as Keyes Beech, the trio's military handler on the bonds tour, and John Slattery as Bud Gerber, the Treasury official working as the ramrod of the tour. The story in a sense is familiar, those who survived honored as heroes and struggling with the title. They survived while thousands of others didn't. Now they're talking heads, public relations figures meant to give the war a heroic and financial boost. A truly interesting story that isn't hugely well known.

Who else to look out for? Beyond those three main soldiers, look for Jamie Bell, Barry Pepper and Paul Walker as key Marines, Bell given more to do as a close friend of Phillippe's Bradley. Pepper is solid -- as he always is -- as Sgt. Mike Strank, the platoon sergeant trying to get his men through the fighting. Robert Patrick and Neal McDonough have small parts as higher-ranking Marines. With this comes a pretty major issue for me. The focus is almost solely on the three survivors. The Marines who raised the first flag and the three who don't survive from the second flag-raising are barely mentioned, much less introduced. When we see them killed later in a quick montage, the deaths have little to no impact because we simply don't know these young men. Two deaths do resonate, one happening off-screen, but it's because we've met these two men and know a little something about them.

The storytelling device is tricky here, 'Flags' going a little down the Saving Private Ryan route. The story is told with a modern framing device, WWII/Iwo Jima vets telling their story to a reporter ('Flags' author James Bradley). Then we're thrown back to the actual tour. Then we're thrown back to the fighting. It leaves a disjointed feel to the story without a rhythm being found. It feels like we're bouncing around too much. Mostly though, the film works. The emotions are there, and it is an effective, fascinating story. The final scene is especially touching as are the pictures we see rolling over the credits of the real-life people and the real-life incidents. It's not Saving Private Ryan, but that's an all-time classic. Well worth checking out for history and WWII buffs.

Flags of Our Fathers (2006): ***/****

Fury

War movies -- any war -- were a dime a dozen back in the 1960s, my without a doubt favorite decade for movies. The reasoning was simple...audiences ate them up for good and bad. Like any successful genre, there was an ebb and flow. With 1998's Saving Private Ryan, the war movie (especially World War II) was forever changed. More realism, more violence, less glory and flag-raising. In one of the best war movies since 1998 and still chugging along in theaters, here's 2014's Fury.

It's April 1945 and World War II is all but over in Germany but the fighting rages on as the German army makes its last stand. In the 66th Armored Regiment, a Sherman tank command by Sgt. Don 'Wardaddy' Collier (Brad Pitt) returns to base having been the lone survivor from the entire outfit of tanks sent into battle. One of his five-man crew was killed in the battle, leaving the tank -- named 'Fury' -- short a man. Wardaddy is about to get his replacement, but it isn't what he was expecting. Joining the tank crew is Private Norman Ellison (Logan Lerman), eight weeks into his army life, a tour he was trained to work as an office clerk. He's got no combat experience and has never been inside a tank. Wardaddy works with what he has though, Fury gearing up with supplies, fuel and ammunition. The dying gasps of war await up the road as the Allies must take the next crossroads and next town all the way until Berlin.

Wow, what a flick. Director David Ayer -- of Training Day, End of Watch fame among others -- spent several years developing this film, and let's say this. He did his homework. This is a gritty, gruesome, truly uncomfortable film to watch not because it exaggerates anything, but because it lays it all out there and simply tells the truth. This is war in all its horrors. It isn't heroic or full of glory. War is about survival, about sticking by your buddies, about getting by and not letting the war claim you. It is a dreary, muddy movie featuring a solid musical score (underused, never overbearing) from composer Steven Price (listen to the soundtrack HERE). Call it the Private Ryan effect, but war movies can't get away anymore with being glossy or clean or easy. The bar was set ridiculously high with Steven Spielberg's film, and Ayer's Fury does a hell of a job trying to climb up to that level.

When I saw first saw the trailer for 'Fury,' my curiosity/worry was that Brad Pitt was channeling his excellent but over-the-top performance from Inglourious Basterds. He isn't. This is an equally intense but not so hammy performance, Pitt bringing Wardaddy to life. It's an archetypal character, one you've seen before in war movies and will likely see again. Sergeant Collier has promised his crew he'll get them through combat untouched, and since they've joined the fighting in Africa (about 2.5 years earlier), he's been able to keep that promise. Well, until now, as a crew member was killed in combat, and they're all starting to question their mortality. Like the rest of the Fury crew, Sgt. Collier isn't necessarily a likable character. He makes decisions that men only have to make in war and combat. Excruciating decisions, ones that tear a man apart. So not likable? Maybe not, but eternally fascinating and interesting to watch.

I think Ayer -- who wrote the script in addition to directing -- had two goals in making this film. One is in the Band of Brothers vein, showing the bond that men in combat situations develop. Life and death certainly brings men closer. Again, it's some archetypal, familiar characters, but they WORK. In addition to Lerman's Norman, a newbie to everything war-related, the Fury crew includes Boyd 'Bible' Swan (Shia LaBeouf), the gunner, Trini 'Gordo' Garcia (Michael Pena), the driver, and Grady 'Coon-Ass' Travis (Jon Bernthal), the ammo loader, a drawling Southerner. These are different men from different backgrounds, but they've been to hell and back in combat. Their outlook on life and war is altered to the point it's warped. They've been fighting across Africa and France and Belgium and Germany for years. The end is in sight as the war comes to a close. All they want to do is get through it alive.

So on that level, Ayer nails Goal No. 1. The attempt never comes across as heavy-handed in showing us how close these men are. That's not to say they're perfect friends. They argue constantly, they rip each other to places, and would seem to have nothing in common. When the line is drawn in the sand though, they're there for each other. Some scenes especially crackle, especially Gordo explaining the Fury's involvement in the fighting after D-Day. LaBeouf nails the scene, a single tear rolling down his face. As they roll across the countryside up top or preparing for battle in the tight, claustrophobic confines of their Sherman tank, the movie reeks of authenticity. This is the bond that develops among men in combat. This is how awful life as a tank crew was. This is war at its dirtiest, grittiest and bloodiest. Also look for Jason Isaacs as an infantry captain working in conjunction with the Fury.

Now Goal No. 2; what tank combat was really like. Killing an infantry soldier is horrific itself, but weapons and technology were developed to tear through the thick armor of a tank. Imagine then what those weapons do to the men inside those tanks. Ayer did his research, no doubt about it. Watch 'Fury' and you truly get a sense of what fighting inside a tank was like. A horrific, gruesome fight between four Sherman tanks and one Tiger tank illustrates the strategy, the weaknesses in both sides' armor, and the frenetic chaos of battle. The violence is on the level of Saving Private Ryan so be forewarned if you're squeamish (and I typically am). Ayer doesn't dwell on the violence so it comes across in lightning-quick flashes, but it is rough. Limbs are ripped off, heads explode and countless soldiers -- both Germans and Americans -- are killed. This isn't a movie for the weak of heart. What 'Private Ryan' did for infantry violence and combat, 'Fury' does the same for tank and armored combat.

It all builds to an incredibly moving, graphically violent, chaotic extended firefight as the Fury crew goes toe to toe with an SS battalion in transit. One of the most perfect battle/firefight scenes I've ever seen in a movie, an insanely choreographed sequence in the German countryside as darkness approaches. The final shot of the movie truly shows the carnage of battle, a perfect ending to illustrate what we've just seen. It isn't a perfect movie, but for what it sets out to do, I loved it. The bond among fighting men, a great cast, incredible combat sequences, and a sense of how awful the closing months of the war in Germany really was.

Can't recommend this one enough. One of the best war movies around.

Fury (2014): ****/****

Brick Mansions

Well, it's almost a full year later, and it's still odd and incredibly hard to believe that Paul Walker isn't with us anymore, the actor dying last November 30, 2013 in a car crash. There was an odd sentiment watching Hours and Vehicle 19 for me knowing he's not around anymore, taken too soon. His last completed film before his tragic death? Here's 2014's Brick Mansions.

It's 2018 and Detroit has become a crime-ridden war zone. It's so bad that one especially horrific housing complex, Brick Mansions, has been walled off and is guarded around the clock by armed personnel. Inside Brick Mansions a criminal kingpin, Tremaine Alexander (RZA), rules the walled-in complex with an iron fist but even he may have stepped in it too big this time. His men have acquired a neutron bomb, and the countdown is on until it explodes just a few hours away. The only ones who can possibly stop it? An undercover detective, Damien Collier (Walker), looking for revenge, and a longtime resident in the Mansions and huge rival to Tremaine, Lino Dupree (David Belle). The two men from different backgrounds and with different incentives must now work together to get to Tremaine and find the bomb in time. Can they survive the bullet-riddled Brick Mansions?

This 2014 action flick from director Camille Delamarre is actually a remake of a 2004 French film called District 13, also starring Belle. It got mixed to negative reviews but did tolerably at the international box office. It is pretty easy to see why people/critics didn't care for it. 'Brick' is dumb, sometimes really dumb. Cliched, familiar and goofy, yes, yes and yes. And here comes the shocker. I liked it for all those reasons. Not proud of the fact, but whatever. It's 90 minutes of action, cool characters, and fun to cheesy one-liners. And it is only 90 minutes. If you hate it, so be it. 'Brick' isn't around too long to offend anybody. This feels like a movie ripped away from the 1980s and plopped down into 2014. With all the makings of that action heavy decade, I came away very pleasantly surprised.

Maybe I shouldn't be too surprised. Yeah, I realize the fact that I'm an action fan is hard to believe. Right?!? What is surprising is 'Brick' comes from a Luc Besson screenplay, a writer/director/producer I'm typically hit or miss with. The coolest thing is Belle's involvement, one of the creators of parkour. Watch some examples HERE if unfamiliar with it. An early chase scene sets the tone, Belle's Lino running and bouncing and jumping his way through Brick Mansions with a small army of gangsters close behind. It's just cool to watch, cool to see and impressive in with what ease Belle does it. Even Walker (and some stunt doubles) get into the action late with some parkour fighting. This is an action flick, pure and simple. Character development, slow, pensive scenes about beliefs and principles...this ain't the movie for it. Sit back and appreciate the goofiness.

Without a ton of star power, the movie and the cast still look like they're having a ton of fun. I especially liked the dynamic between Walker's Damien and Belle's Lino. An action Odd Couple, they fight their way through the Mansions, always ready with a clever quip or fast-paced one-liner. Walker always seemed at home in the action genre, always looked comfortable, and this is no exception. The same for Belle, not an actor but appearing at ease in front of the camera. They each have their motivations for their actions, Damien looking for revenge for his father's death in the Mansions (damn you, RZA!) and Lino trying to save his ex-girlfriend (Catalina Denis) who becomes a bit of a bargaining chip...while basically wearing a Catholic school girl outfit. Because, you know, waitresses wear outfits like that for a long work shift.

Look, I get it. This isn't a good movie. Whole scenes and characters seem ripped from previous movies. Again, this should have been a 1980s action movie! RZA gets to ham it up as Tremaine, the smooth, well-dressed arms and drugs dealer always ready to dispatch one of his thugs to prove a point. He also cooks a lot so he's a good guy deep down someplace. Gouchy Boy plays Tremaine's main enforcer, K2, usually trying to just not mess up too bad while Ayisha Issa is Tremaine's fishnet and high heels wearing, switchblade-favoring lesbian enforcer, Rayzah. And because we need some corrupt officials, look for Andreas Apergis, Richard Zeman and Bruce Ramsay.

Don't judge me too harshly for enjoying this one. It's fun, entertaining, pretty dumb and over the top. We've got bad guys who couldn't shoot the broad side of a barn, over the top henchmen, including one mammoth enforcer named Yeti (Robert Maillet), and at one point we actually get the Catholic school girl-looking girlfriend strapped to a missile with the lesbian enforcer close by waiting for the order to...well, enforce. The action is hyper-edited and dumb and fun and so, so stupid. That's the movie. Appreciate it for all its badness and goodness rolled into one.

Brick Mansions (2014): ***/****

Sniper: Legacy

Released way back in 1993, Sniper was a moderate success and little more. It received generally mixed to negative reviews and earned only $18 million in theaters. So why did this movie have such a second life? It's 21 years later, and the original Sniper has spawned four sequels, all of them of the straight to DVD variety. They're not especially good but in the guilty pleasure category, they qualify as highly entertaining flicks. Today's review is the newest sequel, 2014's Sniper: Legacy.

Having survived the bloody conflict in Congo (see Sniper: Reloaded), Brandon Beckett (Chad Michael Collins) has become a very skilled sniper in the Marine Corps, building up a reputation for himself as a promising young shooter. He's stationed at a black ops base near the Turkish border when his commanding officer, Major Bidwell (Dominic Mafham), tells him that Beckett's father has been murdered by a rogue military sniper. He can't allow him to go on a mission to take out his father's killer but just the same...he can turn his head and let Brandon do what he chooses. The rogue sniper is taking military personnel out one-by-one, all related to an off the books mission 10 years before in Afghanistan. What happened exactly? Can Brandon find this sniper before he gets caught in his gun sights? The key to it all may be Thomas Beckett (Tom Berenger) and what he actually knows.

As I mentioned in my 'Reloaded' review, I grew up watching the original Sniper on countless airings on AMC and TNT, weekdays and weekends alike. It's not a great movie by any means, but it is an endlessly watchable flick. The sequels aren't on the same level -- even 'Reloaded' was more guilty pleasure than good -- but it's fun watching them just the same. They're all straight to DVD and made on a small-scale, especially in the budget department. The reason for checking this one out is pretty obvious but more on that in a bit. From director Don Michael Paul, 'Legacy' isn't particularly original, mostly cliched, generally pretty dumb...and a lot of fun. It's a turn your brain off 98 minutes where you can sit back and watch some fun, cliched and familiar character archetypes throw some one-liners around and a whole lot of snipers picking off their enemies via headshots. Can't ask for too much more, huh?

Oh, right, the big reason to check this out. Yeah, it's that Tom Berenger fella. The original star of Sniper (along with co-star Billy Zane, who returned in 'Reloaded'), Berenger returned for the first and second sequels but deciding not to do 'Reloaded.' Well, Master Gunnery Sergeant Thomas Beckett is back! Now 65 years old, Berenger isn't the spry sniper from the original. He's rocking some cool white, even Silver Fox-esque hair and he's got a little paunch around the middle, but who cares?!? Beckett is back. Unfortunately Beckett doesn't show up until the 55-minute mark but he makes the most of his screentime. One-liners and smart-ass comments around every corner, he even gets to say the character's most famous line, "One shot. One kill." Berenger never became a huge star, but he's always been one of my favorites, and this is probably his most well-known role. Definitely cool to have him back.

Thankfully 'Legacy' seems content to avoid the pratfalls of the abandoned son and the father who abandoned him backstory. It's almost brushed aside, two tough guys -- Thomas and Brandon -- wanting to talk about it, but this ain't the movie for it! Let's shoot some bad guys! What few scenes they have together, Berenger and Collins are solid together. I especially liked their scene where they discuss some vices and how they ended up where they are. Again, nothing flashy, but solid.

With Berenger not showing up until almost the hour-mark, we've got plenty of chances to meet some other characters. And in the end, this is more of an ensemble which ends up being pretty cool. I really liked Mafham's Major Bidwell, the no-nonsense team leader with the nickname 'Bullet Face' because one of his sniper trademarks was shooting his victims in the face. Yikes! In the big name department, Dennis Haysbert plays the Colonel (no other name provided), possibly a good guy, possibly a bad guy. You'll have to watch to find out! And come on, it's a Major League reunion, Jake Taylor (Berenger) and Pedro Cerrano (Haysbert). That's cool! There's also Mercedes Mason as Sanaa, adding the necessary sexy female sniper to the recipe. 

It's all pretty mindless, dumb and entertaining fun. Things are better when Berenger is around, especially in the final 30 minutes as both Becketts, Bidwell and Sanaa team up to take out our rogue sniper (Doug Allen) and a Syrian terrorist (George Zlatarev) he's working with. There's some cool shootouts sprinkled throughout the briskly paced flick, a whole lot of snipers gunning for their targets. If you like the Sniper movies, you'll enjoy this one. I did. I'm giving it a 3-star rating knowing it's not that good. I'm getting to be a cheap date in my old age. If a movie entertains me, I'm on board and I was entertained throughout here with 'Legacy.' Now how about another sequel pairing Tom Berenger, Billy Zane, and Chad Michael Collins? Heh?!? Get to it, Hollywood.

Sniper: Legacy (2014): ***/****

Ride in the Whirlwind

I think one of the best ways to describe director Monte Hellman is interesting, maybe even quirky. A director with movies like Two Lane Blacktop, Cockfighter, and China 9, Liberty 37 to his name, Hellman specialized in odd, typically pretty low budget flicks. He also had a friendship and solid working relationship with a huge rising star in the 1960s. That name? Keep reading with 1966's Ride in the Whirlwind.

Riding south through Texas to find more work in the border country, three cowboys, Vern (Cameron Mitchell), Wes (Jack Nicholson) and Otis (Tom Filer) are casually making their way down the trail. They ride up to an isolated line shack in the mountains, a group of five men hiding out there and suspicious of this trio of newcomers. Why? The men are what's left of a gang of stagecoach robbers led by Blind Dick (Harry Dean Stanton) on the run from a posse after a robbery produced a dead stagecoach guard. Upon seeing that the three cowboys don't present a challenge, Dick allows them to eat and drink with them, even staying the night. Seeing the clues all around them, Vern, Wes and Otis immediately know they're not being told everything. They need the rest though and agree to ride out the next morning. They wait too long though. A posse shows up the next morning, and now these cowboys are in some serious trouble.

Shot back-to-back with another 1966 Hellman western, The Shooting, 'Whirlwind' is a little-known, mostly forgotten western. It was released in a time when the perception of the western genre was changing to a more cynical, realistic and sinister outlook. These flicks were dubbed revisionist westerns as they gave a new look at a genre that was always good guys vs. bad guys. Nothing is clean or easy. It's a dirty, gritty world where survival reigns above all else. Both Shooting and Whirlwind were filmed in Utah, the budget for both films a combined $150,000. That wouldn't cover the catering for most modern movies!

In the revisionist vein, 'Whirlwind' is worthwhile because of that darkness. If there was a such thing as a tragic western, this would be it. The iconic image of the cowboy is a genre archetype, maybe the most important western archetype. The three cowboys we meet -- Vern, Wes and Otis -- aren't heroes. They're not lightning-fast gunslingers. They're not maniacal killers. They are cowboys, plain and simple. We learn little to nothing about them, only that they're hard-working saddle tramps who are most comfortable in the saddle. Their laconic, easy-going demeanor feels real, very natural and not forced at the least. They sit around a campfire talking about where they hope to go, what jobs they hope to get. They don't want the trouble they find themselves in, but there's no clean way out of it. They have to make decisions about how far they want to go to make sure they get out unscathed.

It sounds so criminally simple, but the mistaken identity angle works perfectly. That's where the tragic element comes into play. They're just trying to do their job. They don't want anything to do with this trouble. The focus is on Nicholson and Mitchell, the younger cowboy with a lot of experience just the same and the more veteran cowboy with a few more miles on his backside. Without knowing much about them, I found myself liking them. The rest of the cast is generally unknown, Harry Dean Stanton as Blind Dick the lone exception. George Mitchell and Kathleen Squire are a husband and wife on their small ranch the cowboys meet on the trail with Millie Perkins as their semi-curious daughter.

So what's the big issue? Almost everything I've brought up until now seems like a glowing review. It could have been a classic, but it isn't. At 82 minutes, 'Whirlwind' is a short movie but it ain't a quick movie. Hellman has said in interviews he tries to focus on the visual and leave dialogue by the wayside. That's fine but when nothing happens for long stretches of an already short, slightly sluggish movie, we've got an issue. Reality is almost always a plus in a western -- and it is here -- but there just isn't much in the way of energy as our cowboys are on the run with the posse closing in not too far behind. I liked where it went late with a dark ending that could have been far darker. I liked the movie for a lot of reasons, but it could and probably should have been better. Still worth checking out if you can track it down.

Ride in the Whirlwind (1966): ** 1/2 /****

The St. Valentine's Day Massacre

I grew up in Chicago so I love just about everything in the Windy City, all the sports teams, the downtown area, all that great food from Chicago style hot dogs to Chicago style pizza. But that Chicago history? My goodness, there are some dark moments from the Black Sox scandal to the Chicago Fire, the riots at the 1968 Democratic convention and generally all sorts of political corruption and deception. One of the most violent incidents in the city's history? That's told in a 1967 B-movie, The St. Valentine's Day Massacre.

It's early 1929 and the streets of Chicago are filled with warring gangsters from two rival gangs. On one side is Al Capone (Jason Robards), a brutal, possibly maniacal Italian gangster with Mafia ties, who rules Chicago's South Side with an iron fist. Running the city's North side is George 'Bugs' Moran (Ralph Meeker), his Irish gang trying to hold onto their territory.  Things across the city are building to an unavoidable confrontation as both sides fight for control of thousands of speakeasies, Prohibition still raging. Capone has grown tired of Moran's gang trying to build up their power and has put into work a plan to execute his rival gang leader. Can one gang win out over the other? Can anyone win with the city's streets riddled with bullets and blood?

Everyone's heard of producer/director extraordinaire Roger Corman? He's one of Hollywood's all-time greats at getting movies made on the cheap so basically the King of B-Movies. That's not a bad thing, and I say it as a compliment. This generally forgotten 1967 gangster flick is one of his best, telling the true story of one of Chicago's darkest moments. It was filmed on studio streets -- cheaper than Chicago's downtown area -- but it works, giving the city a closed in, wintery and claustrophobic effect. This is a flick that works almost like a quasi-documentary, like something you'd see on The History Channel...but darker, much darker. With narrator Paul Frees and his perfectly gravelly voice laying things out, introducing dates, people and times, it all fits together like puzzle pieces.

Where 'Massacre' separates itself from the quasi-documentary feel is that darkness, that gangster world we're thrust into. Low budget though it may be, the movie looks great with countless gangsters wearing impeccably cool suits with fedoras, rocking vicious tommy guns and 1920s boats of cars that look as cool as ever now in 2014 as they would have in 1929. As for the real life gangsters, this isn't The Godfather where you kinda sorta maybe sympathize with the Corleones, however vicious and murdery they are. There ain't a single sympathetic character anywhere in sight. These are nasty, brutal, violent folks interested in making money and killing some rival gangsters in the process. You're not rooting for anybody. You're not hoping these guys come out unscathed. You just wanna see how it all shakes out and who's gonna make it. Let me tell you...not many do.

One of the coolest aspects of 'Massacre' is its ridiculously deep cast. We're not talking a disaster flick type of cast full of aging A-list stars. We're talking a couple very solid movie stars/actors at the top and a cast backing them up absolutely packed to the guts with familiar, recognizable character actors. As for the leads, Robards is terrifyingly hammy as everyone's favorite Chicago gangster, Al Capone. He's got that look in his eye, you just never know what he's going to do next. Meeker is excellent too in a more understated but just as sinister part, Bugs Moran, an Irish gangster and Capone's main rival for power. Also look for a young George Segal in one of his best early roles, playing Peter Gusenberg, one of Moran's enforcers/lieutenants working closely with his brother, another enforcer, Frank (David Canary) while constantly fighting with live-in girlfriend (Jean Hale).

Okay, brace yourself because you're about to get hit with a whole lot of links to actor's IMDB pages. These are all the real-life people involved in the 1920s world of Chicago gang wars, an extremely interesting historical time if you're interested in the subject matter. On the Capone side keep an eye out for Clint Ritchie as the massacre's mastermind, Frank Silvera, Harold J. Stone, Paul Richards, Joe Turkel, Alex Rocco, Leo Gordon, John Agar, and Richard Bakalyan and Jack Nicholson (Yes, that Jack Nicholson) as two hired mafia killers. On the Moran side of things, watch for Bruce Dern, Kurt Kreuger, Tom Reese. Some appearances are quicker than others, but it's cool to see so many people in one movie, even if it is only for a scene or two.

Just an entertaining dark and dirty movie. If you're a fan of history whether it be Chicago or gangsters or anything in between, this gritty, cynical, particularly vicious flick is for you. I loved it.

The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1967): *** 1/2 /****

Sex Tape

You know, just KNOW that the movie isn't going to be good. It isn't word of mouth. It isn't the negative reviews or the generally poor box office showing. You only need to see a trailer and immediately understand that this certain movie is going to be a dud. Today's entry? That's 2014's Sex Tape!

A married couple with two kids, a nice house and good jobs, Annie (Cameron Diaz) and Jay (Jason Segel) have hit a bit of a rut...sexually. Their busy lives don't allow them to have sex much anymore, if at all, both of them exhausted each night. After one particularly disastrous attempt to rekindle things in the bedroom, Annie comes up with an idea. What if they recorded themselves having sex, attempting all the unique positions offered by The Joy of Sex? It works just as they planned...except with one unforeseen consequence. Jay didn't delete the video, their sex tape accidentally uploading to their iPad Cloud. That's not an issue in itself except that Jay has given away a bunch of iPads, and they're all synced up. Now some of their closest friends and families, co-workers and acquaintances are now in possession of Annie and Jay's very intimate sex tape. Can they get all the copies back?

Released this summer, 'Tape' reunites much of the cast and crew from 2011's Bad Teacher. You know what's not so good about that sentence? I thought Bad Teacher was pretty bad to the point it was painful at times. On the other hand, a movie is a movie and a review is a review so I watched it just the same! Director Jake Kasdan works off a script from Segel, Kate Angelo and Nicholas Stoller, Segel and Stoller also writing the two new Muppet movies and Five-Year Engagement. It's odd to consider the fact that a movie about the evolution of amateur sex tapes can...ya know, exist, but it is. From the celebrity pornos that popped up in the 90s to the more technologically advanced iPad videos of the 2010s, here we sit. The odd part? As bad as I thought the movie looked, it had some potential early on.

Go figure. I didn't expect that either. The formula early is tried and true, the married couple who's been together for years looking to spice things up. Yep, it's the stuff of romantic comedies dating back to the birth of romantic comedies. It works in an odd way though, an early flashback showing Annie and Jay's early parts of their relationship when they had sex all the time, everywhere, anyplace and in lots of different positions. It quickly, and I mean quickly, detours once their sex tape gets uploaded unintentionally to the Cloud. The humor was already physical, but it becomes madcap, screwball physical humor that simply tries too hard. Nothing just breathes, just develops on its own. It's like the cast is defying you NOT to laugh. THESE ARE THE MOMENTS YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO LAUGH! At one point, Segel's Jay actually runs through a mansion from an angry German shepherd and then swears at him. In the meantime, Annie does some cocaine with her boss. Hilarity!

Much like when they co-starred in Bad Teacher, Diaz and Segel do have some legitimate on-screen chemistry. They're good together. They play off each other well, but that script is just so bad. Unfortunately, they just never had a chance to really make something of the story that honestly/truly/for reals has some potential. Oh, and Jason Segel is very comfortable with male nudity. If curious, we see his butt...a lot, and unfortunately not enough of Cameron Diaz. Also look for Rob Corddry and Ellie Kemper as Robby and Tess, Annie and Jay's best friends, a fellow married couple and potentially in possession of the missing sex tape. Rob Lowe makes an uncomfortable appearance as Annie's potential new boss. His Direct TV commercials are far funnier than the part here, and that ain't a good thing. And in the uncredited surprise cameo appearance, Jack Black shows up late, potentially holding the key to getting the sex tape back.  

What most of my comedy reviews come down to is pretty simple. Did it make me laugh? A stupid story is far from a deal-breaker as long as I laugh, and that's the biggest issue here. I didn't laugh nearly enough. When I did, it was because what I was watching was so unbelievably bad/dumb. Case in point, Jay violently swearing at the passed out German shepherd. Jay falling off a balcony is pretty priceless too. Some of the best moments come late when we do see some of the in-question sex tape. Those are some genuine laughs, but those are in the final minutes of a 94-minute movie. Not a surprising negative review, but just not too good.

Sex Tape (2014): * 1/2/ ****

St. Vincent

So that Bill Murray guy, he's got Saturday Night Live, Stripes, Caddyshack and Ghostbsters to his name. Not a bad career right? Yep, for most, but Murray did all those over about a 10-year stretch. What's weirder? He's in icon status now and probably has more popularity in 2014 than he did 10 or 15 years ago. If he keeps starring in movies like 2014's St. Vincent, that popularity is going to go nowhere but up.

Living in his old Brooklyn home, Vincent MacKenna (Murray) is content to live as a crotchety, grumpy, retired old guy. He goes to the horse track, drinks regularly at the local bar and spends some "quality time" semi-regularly with Daka (Naomi Watts), a pregnant Russian stripper/prostitute. Nothing wrong with all that, right? Well, his cozy, grouchy existence is about to be thrown for a loop. Vincent has some new neighbors next door, a mom, Maggie (Melissa McCarthy), starting a new job as a nurse, and her 12-year old son, Oliver (Jaeden Lieberher). His standoffish, downright rude interactions get things started off on quite the positive -- that's sarcasm -- but Vincent can only do so much. Looking to provide as best as she can, Maggie has to take some long hours, some long shifts...and Oliver needs a babysitter. In steps Vincent who oddly enough gets along with young Oliver pretty well and pretty quickly. No way that oddball friendship works, right?

Ever heard the name Theodore Melfi? Yeah, me neither. To be fair, you shouldn't have. Melfi is a longtime producer who has also directed some short films. This 2014 comedy/drama is his feature film debut, and for good measure, he also wrote the screenplay. It's quite the successful debut with universally positive reviews and a decent box office showing as it picks up some word of mouth while also getting a more major theatrical release. The biggest thing I can say/warn about is that this isn't your typical indie comedy full of quirks and eccentricities and oddballs. All those things are there, but it isn't the exact same movie you've seen over and over again. It is familiar. It is predictable, and you've most likely seen similar movies before. Now all that said...I loved this flick from beginning to end, predictability or not.

Go figure that Bill Murray is really, really good here as Vincent MacKenna. This isn't hamming it up goofy Carl the groundskeeper. This is an excellent acting performance. Rocking an understated, not laid on too heavy Brooklyn accent, Murray gives some real depth to Vincent. You think you know everything about him from the moment you meet him, but credit to Melfi's script. There's a whole lot more going on with Vincent than what we see at first. Yes, he's an alcoholic, he gambles too much and he's rude, crude and politically incorrect, but don't judge too early. Not always likable, not easy to hate, he's a normal guy in his older years struggling with those years passing by.

In the predictability department, it doesn't come as much of a surprise that Murray's cantankerous fogie bonds pretty quickly with Oliver. This is a kid in a new neighborhood and school without many friends, and he doesn't seem too put off by Vincent's standoffish act. They click instantly. Vincent teaches Oliver how to defend himself, to stand up for himself. Is it cliched? Yes, 100 percent, but it is handled in expert fashion. It's got a touch of Gran Torino (Eastwood in the old guy role), but a lighter touch. Young Lieberher is excellent too, a natural, easygoing and likable presence as Oliver. He's not the disgustingly adorable little kid that seems so prevalent in movies. He's just a kid, and that makes all the difference. For Murray, maybe there's an Academy Award nomination in his future. Hopefully at least.

There isn't a weakness in the cast, starting obviously with Mr. Murray and Lieberher. I really like Melissa McCarthy, and it's cool to see her do a funny but still pretty dramatic performance. She gets the laughs, but she doesn't count on the physical, often overdone humor that has limited the potential of a movie like Identity Thief. Watts has some fun as the Russian stripper/prostitute who's pretty clueless but gets along with Vincent just the same. Also look for Chris O'Dowd as the religion teacher at Oliver's school, Terrence Howard as Vincent's bookie, Dario Barosso as Oliver's bully turned friend, and Kimberly Quinn as a nurse Vincent sees once or twice a week. An excellent cast full of interesting, sympathetic (some not as sympathetic) characters that all add that human touch to the story.

I'll give Melfi's script credit. For the most part, it is fairly to pretty predictable. You always kinda have a sense where things are going...until you don't. The script throws the audience for some loops about the halfway point that worked pretty well. Some reviews I read thought it got a little too sentimental, but I thought the tone and story departures worked pretty well. It comes back to a straightforward thought that isn't the most uplifting thought, but it is honest. That thought? "Life ain't tidy." It's rarely easy to fix or solve. Life has problems, often unforeseen problems, and you have to decide how much you want to work to fix those problems. I loved the movie from beginning to end. A good sign of its impact on audiences? The credits feature Murray alone on-screen sitting, just singing and doing some odds and ends.

Nobody in the theater left. We all sat and kept watching it until the end. A testament to the movie, especially to Murray's awesome lead performance. I loved this movie and can't recommend it enough.

St. Vincent (2014): ****/****

The Avenging Angel

I knew the name but knew little about the history. Meet Brigham Young, a leader of the Latter Day Saints movement, a Mormon who helped found Salt Lake City. I've always been aware of the name and dug into the history a little bit when he appeared on this season of AMC's Hell on Wheels. Well, when it rains, it pours. This little-known TV western popped up on Encore Westerns recently, 1995's The Avenging Angel.

Having traveled west as a young boy with Brigham Young (Charlton Heston) and his Mormon followers, Miles Utley grows up a devout follower of the leader of the Latter Day Saints. It is a movement though riles many, building enemies wherever it goes. As he grows up, Miles becomes a member of the Danites, a secret group of bodyguards who's sole job is to protect Young from threats both inside and out. Now a grown man, Miles (Tom Berenger) is the most skilled of these hidden assassins but now even he will be tested. He kills a would-be assassin during one of Young's speeches but something isn't quite right. It doesn't all add up. Instead, Miles finds that he's the target of something bigger and far more sinister than he thought. Who's the fall guy? Unless he can prove otherwise, it's Miles who may hang.

It's been the year of the TNT made-for-TV western here at Just Hit Play with Rough Riders, Crossfire Trail, The Buffalo Soldiers and now, The Avenging Angel. I had absolutely no recollection of this somewhat earlier entry until I stumbled across it late at night on Encore Westerns a few weeks ago. Like the other TV movies, it's made on a smaller scale but is never really limited by it. Good story, interesting cast, lots of potential. I liked the filming locations, giving the story a mountainous backdrop, and the story is pretty cool as it bends the truth quite a bit for the sake of some entertainment. 'Angel' is missing that special something, and I can't quite put my finger on it. It's okay but not much more.

If there's a positive, it is Tom Berenger, a very solid actor who never quite became a movie star. Recently I reviewed Rough Riders, Berenger stealing the movie in a showy part as future U.S. president Teddy Roosevelt. This is the polar opposite of that part. It's a quiet, intense, even sinister part. Without question, Berenger's Miles obeys orders, knowing he's doing what is required, no matter how difficult. And then it isn't so cut and dry. Has he been used for more sinister motives? I've always liked Berenger, and this is a solid, not so flashy tough guy part. That's not enough though so Miles is given two different love interests, Liza Rigby (Leslie Hope), the wife of an important Mormon leader, and Miranda Young (Fay Masterson), the daughter of Brigham Young. Three cheers for the unnecessary love story!

The rest of the cast is....well, interesting. Heston makes more of an extended cameo as the respected Mormon leader, Brigham Young. This is Hollywood legend Charlton Heston, glaring and growling through his part. Still, it is a Hollywood legend, providing some legitimacy just by being there. The same for James Coburn in a fun part as an aging Mormon trailsman, Porter Rockwell, who hasn't met his match, even training Miles for everything his job as a Danite will throw at him. Also look for Kevin Tighe, Jeffrey Jones, Tom Bower and Daniel Quinn as assorted Mormon leaders, some more important than others. It was also cool to see Andrew Prine in a cool one-scene appearance as a newspaper publisher who isn't afraid to ruffle some feathers through his stories. 

I guess the worst thing you can say about this flick is its predictability. Once we've met everyone involved -- in other words, the suspects -- I thought it was pretty easy to piece it all together. When the twists come revealing who's behind this big, bad, evil plot, it doesn't really come along as a twist. That's the movie in a nutshell. Not surprising and could have been better. I'll give Berenger credit though. As another reviewer pointed out, he's got a knack for finding little known stories of American history, like here and in 1999's generally forgotten One Man's Hero. That one's good and Rough Riders was really good. This one's not that memorable.

The Avenging Angel (1995): **/****