Category: Reviews

  • ‘American Sniper’ hits the target, dead center

    ‘American Sniper’ hits the target, dead center

    Bradley Cooper as CPO Chris Kyle in 'American Sniper'
    Bradley Cooper as CPO Chris Kyle in ‘American Sniper’

    The movie American Sniper is based on Chief Petty Officer Chris Kyle’s bestselling autobiography with the title American Sniper:  The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U. S. History.  This book spent 37 weeks on the NY Times Best Seller list.

    Bradley Cooper portrays CPO Kyle, who was born in Texas.  His father Wayne (Ben Reed) taught him to hunt and shoot at an early age.  Young Chris didn’t dream about becoming a war hero, he wanted to become a professional cowboy.  When he sees the television footage of the 1998 bombings of the U. S. embassies in Dar es Salaam and Nairobi, he enlists in the Navy.  He becomes a SEAL and goes through BUD/s (considered by many to be one of the most difficult training courses in the military).

    Sienna Miller and Bradley Cooper as Taya and Chris Kyle in 'American Sniper'
    Sienna Miller and Bradley Cooper as Taya and Chris Kyle in ‘American Sniper’

    Meanwhile he meets and marries Taya (Sienna Miller) and he deploys to Iraq when the U. S. invades there, following the 9/11 attacks.  His first two kills as a sniper would test the internal ethics of any human being, but he makes them.  Soon he acquires fame among his comrades and becomes known as “Legend.”

    The film follows CPO Kyle through all four of his tours in Iraq and it is clear that each is more difficult than the one before.  He has some specific targets he definitely wants to get before “his” war ends.  One of these is a man known as “The Butcher” (Mido Hamada) whose cruelty in dispensing retribution to the locals who help the Americans goes beyond gruesome.  Another is “Mustafa” (Sammy Sheik), a Syrian who is a sniper for the insurgents.  He is an outstanding sniper and was a good enough shot to qualify for and compete in a Summer Olympic Games.

    Bradley Cooper as CPO Kyle flying home with coffins of comrades in 'American Sniper'
    Bradley Cooper as CPO Kyle flying home with coffins of comrades in ‘American Sniper’

    Just as each of his four tours grew more and more difficult, so did the time at home between them.  Clearly suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder but refusing to recognize or admit he is having problems, the relationship between CPO Kyle and Taya isn’t just strained.  It very nearly falls apart.

    This is an outstanding achievement in film, but it is definitely not perfect.  The action sequences are well done and riveting, but some of the scenes in Iraq drag a bit.  There is some poetic license taken with the facts of CPO Kyle’s life, both by rewrite and omission, but nothing that harms the story we’re viewing.  This is not a documentary film and its entertainment value is considerable.  What some misinterpret as jingoism is merely an accurate depiction of just how much Chris Kyle loved his country.

    I’m amazed that Clint Eastwood, at the age of 84 is still able to make movies that compare favorably to his memorable masterpieces like Letters from Iwo Jima, Mystic River, Million Dollar Baby and Unforgiven.  But he is and I hope he keeps making films.   I could borrow the number of 43 from 2013’s Movie 43 and use that number of superlatives to describe the performance of Bradley Cooper, but I won’t.  He is as good or better here as he was in both Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle.  He is definitely in the hunt for the Best Actor Oscar and the movie itself may bring home a Best Picture award.  You should definitely give American Sniper a shot.

  • ‘Unbroken’ is a riveting adaptation of a great book, about an amazing man

    ‘Unbroken’ is a riveting adaptation of a great book, about an amazing man

    Miyavi and Jack O'Connell in "Unbroken"
    Miyavi and Jack O’Connell in “Unbroken”

    Louis Zamperini was an ordinary man, born to Italian immigrants.  He was an ordinary man whose sheer determination and unbreakable spirt made him an extraordinary one.  Unbroken is a film adaptation of the best-selling book Unbreakable:  A World War II Story of Revival, Resilience and Redemption.

    Directed by Angelina Jolie, with four Oscar-nominated screenwriters collaborating on the script, and starring Jack O’Connell as “Louie”, the film isn’t a retelling of his entire life, but instead is focused mostly on his service during WWII.  It does go back in a nonlinear format to provide exposition on the experiences that made him into the amazing man he was.

    Jack O'Connell, Domnhall Gleeson and Finn Wittrock in "Unbroken"
    Jack O’Connell, Domnhall Gleeson and Finn Wittrock in “Unbroken”

    We first see a young Louie growing up in Torrance.  He is an aimless youth until his brother Pete (D’Leo as the younger Pete, Alex Russell as the older Pete) gets him involved in running track.  He became a star athlete at Torrance High School and set a record for the mile run of 4:21.2 in 1934 (Note:  that record stood for nearly two decades).  In 1936 he was a member of the U. S. Olympic team that competed in Berlin.  While he “only” finished 8th in the 5,000 meters, he ran a record final lap of 56 seconds.

    Louis Zamperini enlisted in 1941 and became a bombardier on a B-24 Liberator.  Known as the “Flying Coffin” by many who served aboard them, B-24s had design flaws that made it much more likely to be damaged in combat.  He and a full crew were flying a mission in a patchwork plane when it was forced to ditch in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.  Only Zamperini and two others, Russell “Phil” Phillips (Gleeson) and Francis “Mac” McNamara (Wittrock) survived and managed to get into a raft.  After 47 days, Zamperini and Phil were taken prisoner by a Japanese warship and Zamperini wound up in POW camp near Tokyo.

    Miyavi as Corporal Watanabe surveying the prisoners in "Unbroken"
    Miyavi as Corporal Watanabe surveying the prisoners in “Unbroken”

    Corporal Mutsohiro Watanabe (Miyavi) is the camp’s commander and he takes a special interest in Zamperini because of his having been an Olympian.  Known as the “Bird”, Watanabe beats and tries to break Zamperini.  He becomes especially cruel after Zamperini refuses to make an anti-American radio broadcast.  The film ends with a touching slide-show, telling what happened to Zamperini and the other key figures in his amazing story.

    All of the actors are excellent and considering this is Miyavi’s feature-film debut, he was outstanding.  He brought the brutality of WWII Japanese POW camps alive.  Jack O’Connell is an ideal choice to portray the ordinary/extraordinary Louis Zamperini.

    Ms Jolie is a superb actress, very much deserving of her Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Girl Interrupted.  Had this not been only her third time in the director’s chair for a feature film, I think the film could have been improved more than just a little.  The pacing is very uneven and a few of the timeline transitions are less than ideally done.  Some of the sequences are overpowered by the score, as the music is used to create emotions that the images are more than capable of doing on their own.  However, all in all, this is a film worthy of your attention.

  • Support artistic freedom by catching ‘The Interview’

    Support artistic freedom by catching ‘The Interview’

    James Franco and Seth Rogen in "The Interview"
    James Franco and Seth Rogen in “The Interview”

    After all of the controversy, the hacking of Sony, the decision not to show the film and then the flip-flop on that decision, The Interview has been released in a limited number of theaters, and through several streaming sources.  If I were rating the movie solely on its artistic merits, I might have been more tempted to give it a somewhat lower number.  But given how the people behind this movie stood up for artistic freedom, it may well be worthy of the full four tickets we give at Tailslate.

    It’s a comedy.  Well, since Seth Rogen is starring, came up in a group-think with the story, and is co-directing with Evan Goldberg, that is to be expected.  On a side-note, I would like to see Rogen in a dramatic role with little to no comedy involved.  I suspect he would be like Steve Martin and the late Robin Williams, able to move from comedic to dramatic roles with ease.

    Lizzy Caplan in "The Interview"
    Lizzy Caplan in “The Interview”

    In The Interview Rogen is “Aaron Rapoport,” the man behind “Dave Skylark” (Franco), a wildly successful talk show host whose program is little more than a long-form interview version of TMZ television.  He interviews figures from pop culture, trying to dig up the best dirt.   The film opens with Dave doing a probing interview of the rapper Eminem.  Other celebs like Rob Lowe and Joseph Gordon-Levitt make cameos involving the program “Skylark Tonight.”

    When Skylark and Rapoport learn that North Korea’s dictator Kim Jong-un (Park) is a major fan of the program, Rapoport’s desire to handle more serious news combines with Skylark’s wanting to be treated with more respect results in the two men deciding to reach out and try to land an interview with the world’s most reclusive leader.  With the help of Kim’s head propagandist, “Sook” (Bang)  plans are made for the duo to travel to North Korea for a couple of days.  At this point, Agents Lacey (Caplan) and Botwin (Alexander) of the CIA come into the picture and convince Skylark and Rapoport to carry out a plan to assassinate Kim Jong-un.

    Randall Park as Kim Jong-un in "The Interview"
    Randall Park as Kim Jong-un in “The Interview”

    There are laughs, some mild and some much stronger spread throughout this movie.  The flow of humor is uneven and when we watched the film’s trailers we saw some of the best bits.  Any movie involving Seth Rogen will have laughs involving pot, posteriors and his other humorous predilections.  That’s fine.  We know going in what we will get, and this film delivers it.  Aside from the uneven pacing of the film itself and its gags, the only real problem with The Interview is that when it was conceived, someone else was dictator of the DPRK.  That man was Kim Jong-il and he might well have been a better target for lampooning.  I don’t recall him threatening people over 2007’s Team America: World Police.

    Randall Park is excellent as the current “Dear Leader” of North Korea.  His portrayal of Kim Jong-un pokes fun at how the Western media has portrayed the most powerful 31 year old in the world.  Rogen is solid, and while Franco is a bit one-dimensional in this role, he and Rogen have great chemistry on-screen.  Theirs is a “bromance” that deserves more screen pairings of the two.

  • Roger Ebert’s career explored in stellar documentary, ‘Life Itself’

    Roger Ebert’s career explored in stellar documentary, ‘Life Itself’

    Roger Ebert in his early days at the Chicago Sun-Times
    Roger Ebert in his early days at the Chicago Sun-Times

    Life Itself takes its name from the memoir with the same title penned by the late Roger Ebert.  Ebert’s book was released back in 2011 and he was the one who first announced that it would become a documentary film.

    I have to admit to feeling a little guilt after I saw the film.   Back in December of 2012, I took issue with a review that Mr. Ebert had published.  Not with his opinion of the film, we are all entitled to our opinion on a movie.  My issue was that in describing the film he got major plot points completely wrong.  The piece I wrote about this was not unkind to the man, was accurate and on point.  Yet I still feel a twinge of guilt after having been critical of perhaps the best known film critic ever.

    Roger Ebert was and is an inspiration to me, and countless others.  He was a reporter first, and got the job as film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times without applying for it.  When the incumbent left the job in 1967, it was assigned to him.  At that point he stopped his pursuit of a doctoral degree at the University of Chicago to focus on his new position.

    Noted film criticPauline Kael called some of Ebert’s early reviews “the best film criticism being done in American newspapers today.”  Ebert expanded outward from being the critic at the Sun-Times, teaching film and then making the move that really put him on the map, hosting a film review show on television.

    Roger Ebert and his wife Chaz in 'Life Itself'
    Roger Ebert and his wife Chaz in ‘Life Itself’

    The documentary Life Itself does much more than show us the career of perhaps the world’s most famous film critic.  It details his origins, the events that shaped his life, and in an honest, open fashion, the illness that ultimately took this genius from us.  Director Steve James (Hoop Dreams, Stevie) clearly worked tirelessly to make this movie.  We see how he had to do most of his interviewing of Roger Ebert via email, since Ebert lost the ability to speak in 2006 due to cancer.  The choice of James to do this film may have a connection to the fact that in 1994, a terrific year for film, Ebert chose Hoop Dreams as the best movie of the year.  Not the best documentary film of the year, the best film of the year period.

    Roger Ebert married late in life and Life Itself details his amazing wife, Chaz.  It also has great outtakes from Siskel and Ebert At The Movies, and explores his very complicated relationship with Gene Siskel.  We gain some insight into his life as well, mostly from commentary provided by his widow, Marlene Iglitzen.

    Life Itself isn’t just a great documentary film, it’s a great movie overall; much like Hoop Dreams was.  Steve James has a gift for taking even the most mundane moment from a person’s reality and making it impossibly interesting.  Don’t miss this.

  • ‘Begin Again’ is beautifully absorbing

    ‘Begin Again’ is beautifully absorbing

    begin1
    Keira Knightley in ‘Begin Again’

    In 2007, writer/director John Carney’s Once had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won the World Cinema Audience Award in the Dramatic category.  While there are some familiar elements in his latest film, Begin Again, it is a different movie.

    Begin Again is the story of “Greta” (Kiera Knightley), “Dave Kohl” (Adam Levine) and “Dan Mulligan” (Mark Ruffalo).  Greta and Dave have come to New York City because a record label has signed Dave.  He refers to Greta as his partner, and they have written music together for some time.  Greta is also a singer.  The label provides everything they need, including an apartment and for Dave, someone who tempts him to stray.  This brings their romance to a bad ending.

    She seeks solace from her longtime friend “Steve” (James Corden) who came to New York and now ekes out a living as a busker.  He moves her into his apartment and takes her to a club where he’s performing.  Since it is open microphone night, he pushes her into singing one of her songs.

    Kiera Knightley and Adam Levine in 'Begin Again'
    Keira Knightley and Adam Levine in ‘Begin Again’

    Her performance catches the eye of Dan, who is in the midst of a meltdown.  He and his wife “Miriam” (Catherine Keener) are separated, he doesn’t spend nearly enough time with his daughter “Violet” (Hailee Steinfield) and his long-time partner in the record label he founded, “Saul” just fired him.  But the moment he hears Greta singing on stage, his meltdown is ending.  He once again has that magic touch to turn someone’s song into a major hit.

    Aside from being a “nowhere to success” type of film, Begin Again explores complex interpersonal relationships with a mixture of comedy and drama that works quite nicely.  We don’t learn why Dan and his wife separated until we are into the third act, but this is actually an excellent choice by Mr. Carney.

    Keira Knightley and Hailee Steinfeld in 'Begin Again'
    Keira Knightley and Hailee Steinfeld in ‘Begin Again’

    He tries to talk Saul into funding a demo for Greta but that doesn’t go well.  In desperation, he decides they will make a “guerilla recording” of her songs and gets his old friend “Trouble Gum” (CeeLo Green) to pay for the musicians needed for the recording.  Of course, Steve is involved in the album’s production.  Greta gives Violet some good advice and they bond a little, while Dan tries to resolve his unresolved situation with Miriam.  Meanwhile, Dave decides he must have Greta back just as his first album with the label drops, making him a star.  Greta has some big decisions to make.

    Keira Knightley once said that auditioning for Phantom of the Opera was embarrassing because she knew she couldn’t sing the role of “Christine” (Emmy Rossum got the part).  However, her pipes are more than up for the task of singing the songs Greta writes and sings in this film.  She sounds wonderful.  And much like Once, the music really enhances the movie.  This is a dream cast considering what great actors Knightley, Ruffalo and Steinfield are.  Adam Levine does a nice job and Catherine Keener is underutilized.  See the film and pick up the soundtrack.  Both are well worth it.

  • ‘Snowpiercer’ melts the screen with its brilliance

    ‘Snowpiercer’ melts the screen with its brilliance

    Chris Evans in 'Snowpiercer'
    Chris Evans in ‘Snowpiercer’

    Snowpiercer is boldly brutal, but brilliant filmmaking from writer/director Bong Joon-ho.  Unlike many current films taking place on a dystopian Earth, the cause of the death of most of mankind is made clear at the outset.  The progression of global warming caused a desperate attempt in 2014 to cool the planet by seeding a chemical into the atmosphere.  The result was a cataclysmic Ice Age and almost everyone has died.

    However, there is a group of survivors aboard the train of “Wilford” (Ed Harris).  He’s a billionaire who made his money in trains and decided to construct his dream train.  Known as the Snowpiercer, it circles the globe annually, hitting the same spots on the same day of the year.

    The population aboard the train is divided into the “haves” who live in the front and the “have-nots” who live in the tail.  17 years after the survivors boarded the train, the latest attempt at a rebellion by the tail’s inhabitants is about to begin.  “Curtis” (Chris Evans) leads the rebels in attacking the guards as food was being delivered and they make it to the prison section as planned.  There they free “Namgoong” (Song Kang-ho).  He is a critical part of the planned rebellion as he built the doors that divide the train’s sections.  With his assistance the rebels plan to get to the front of the engine and seize control, enabling them to have a portion of the luxury that the front’s plutocrats have been enjoying for nearly two decades.  The rebels bribe Namgoong and his daughter “Yona” into helping them by promising to supply them with ‘Kronol’ a highly addictive drug that is also explosive.  The soldiers of the train’s front are not going to give up without a fight.

    Tilda Swinton in 'Snowpiercer'
    Tilda Swinton in ‘Snowpiercer’

    This is a combination of science-fiction, fantasy and intense action.  The result enthralls, capturing the audience’s attention as the reduced rebel force closes in on their objective.  There is gore galore and yet it isn’t gratuitous but drives forward the compelling storyline.

    The characters are fascinating.  Tilda Swinton is Wilford’s factotum/Ms Fix-it and is obsequiously obnoxious in a delightful performance.  Ed Harris delivers Wilford as similar and yet different from his amazing work in The Truman Show, where his ‘Christof’ created a world while marching solely to the beat of his own drummer.  Chris Evans is solid as the tortured hero.

    The visual presentation is stellar, icy landscapes that whizz by from one perspective and yet are held in the occasional gorgeous longshot.  The action sequences stun with their violence and clever use of light and dark.  Better still, this isn’t just a sci-fi/fantasy/action flick.  While this isn’t Occupy Wall Street propaganda, the message of the societal problem of income inequity is there all the same.  Not overbearing, but a definite reminder of the dangers that such sharp divisions entail.

  • ‘They Came Together’ does a good job of generating laughs

    ‘They Came Together’ does a good job of generating laughs

    Paul Rudd, Amy Poehler, Bill Hader and Ellie Kemper in 'They Came Together'
    Paul Rudd, Amy Poehler, Bill Hader and Ellie Kemper in ‘They Came Together’

    Anytime I look at the “specs” of a film prior to viewing and see that the running time is less than 90 minutes, unless it is a documentary, I get nervous.  While not always true, usually the shorter running time is an indicator the film will disappoint.  Fortunately for the 83 minute movie They Came Together, that wasn’t the case.

    Writer/director David Wain has been hit (Wet Hot American Summer) and miss (Wanderlust) and with this film he’s closer to the former than the latter.  This send-up of the rom-com genre aims for ten laughs a minute and gets an average of six or seven.  The film opens with two well-dressed couples enjoying an upscale dining experience.  “Joel” (Rudd) and “Molly” (Poehler) are regaling “Kyle” (Hader) and “Karen” (Kemper) with the tale of how they first met.

    Amy owns and operates a tiny candy shop while Joel works for Candy Systems and Research (CSR) a company that owns and operates mega candy stores.   But You’ve Got Mail isn’t the only rom-com being sent up here with wicked (some) humor.  Jerry Maguire, Along Came Polly and Notting Hill are just a few of the genre’s film being spoofed here.

    Rudd and Poehler have strong chemistry in 'They Came Together'
    Rudd and Poehler have strong chemistry in ‘They Came Together’

    Turns out Joel and Amy first met at a Halloween party, brought together by the host couple.  Joel just found his girlfriend “Tiffany” (Smulders) in bed with a co-worker of his while “Molly” is just worried over the CSR store putting her out of business.  Halloween is a great opportunity to use costumes to cause laughs and Wain takes full advantage.  The hilarity runs from there as Joel and Molly fall in and out of love with each other and others.

    Spoofs can be incredibly brilliant (Blazing Saddles and Airplane come to mind) or amazingly awful (Date Movie and Disaster Movie are among the worst of this group).  They Came Together is neither brilliant nor awful.  The performers make up for the occasion comedy misfire as they are all veteran comedy actors.  Yes some of the jokes are recycled but are there really that many original jokes left to write?

    I didn’t check to see if David Wain has made a film that Paul Rudd didn’t have a speaking role in, but I highly doubt it.  Casting him opposite Amy Poehler was a strong choice as they have nice chemistry.  While many think of Chris Meloni only as the anger-management challenged detective from TV’s “SVU,” he’s an old hand at garnering laughs.

    As always, the true test of a comedy is how much it makes you laugh.  You’ll get your money’s worth of laughter from They Came Together.

  • ‘Jersey Boys’ has wonderful music and an interesting tale

    ‘Jersey Boys’ has wonderful music and an interesting tale

    An early moment in the history of the 'Jersey Boys'
    An early moment in the history of the ‘Jersey Boys’

    Jersey Boys is a pretty good movie.  Therein lies the problem.  It is only pretty good.  When I enter an auditorium to watch a movie directed by Clint Eastwood, I expect excellence.  He rarely disappoints.  Given that this is an adaptation of a smash-hit Broadway musical, it stood to reason that he would splash that musical across the big screen with his usual panache.  It is a good film and there are many fine aspects to it; and perhaps I’m being unfair by having had such high expectations.

    For those who don’t know already, Jersey Boys tells the tale of the Four Seasons, a very successful musical quartet that hit #1 before the Fab Four crossed the Atlantic.  Francesco Castelluccio, who changed his name to Frankie Valli (Young), was a young barber by day and singer by night.  Tommy DeVito (Piazza), his brother Nicky (Cannizzaro) and Nick Massi (Lomenda) had a trio and DeVito wanted to bring Valli in as their lead singer.  DeVito worked for one of the local mob bosses, Gyp DeCarlo (Walken), who’d noticed that Valli has a very talented voice.

    After trying hard and getting nowhere, Joe Pesci (Russo, and yes, we’re talking about the Oscar winning actor) brings another very talented musician, Bob Gaudio (Bergen) into the mix.  Nicky had left the band and with Guadio, they become the Four Seasons (it happened in real life almost exactly how it is shown in the film).  They hook up with producer Bob Crewe (Doyle) and after a sputtering start, the song “Sherry” rockets to the top of the charts.  Tommy runs things and the band has successes.   There are also problems and there is trouble on the horizon.  Frankie Valli’s personal and professional lives do not co-exist well.

    John Lloyd Young and Renee Marino in 'Jersey Boys'
    John Lloyd Young and Renee Marino in ‘Jersey Boys’

    The story is told in a linear format with frequent flashbacks, but also utilized monologues by each of the four main characters, giving their unique perspective on the events as they transpire.  The transitions from monologue to events aren’t always seamless, but this is more than outweighed by the stellar musical performance pieces.  Clint Eastwood made the choice to record the performances live, not the usual method.  The results are most of the movie’s best moments.

    The casting of John Lloyd Young was an excellent choice, as he originated the role on Broadway and has the “pipes” to carry it off.  The rest of the cast is more than adequate to the task, with Renee Marino having some marvelous moments.  Considering that Christopher Walken would be brilliant in anything, even a remake of Plan Nine from Outer Space, it’s no surprise he stands out here.

    I have not seen the musical on stage (something I need to rectify) so comparisons are inappropriate.  The majority of the artistic license taken with the real events is fine, as the changes from what really took place to what’s shown on screen improve the story.  Obviously, the music is spectacular.  Definitely worth checking out.

    The one omission from the real story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons that I would have liked to see in the film is his battle with otosclerosis.  That’s an abnormal growth in the middle ear and it had robbed him of his ability to hear his own singing during the 1970s.  He preserved in spite of this, and eventually surgery restored his hearing by 1980.

  • Meet Shep Gordon, the most powerful man in Hollywood you’d never heard of

    Meet Shep Gordon, the most powerful man in Hollywood you’d never heard of

    Shep Gordon relaxing at his home in Hawaii
    Shep Gordon relaxing at his home in Hawaii

    Leo Rosten, author of The Joys of Yiddish, defines the word mensch as meaning “someone to admire and emulate, someone of noble character.”  As we see in this strong documentary film from Mike Myers and Beth Aala, Shep Gordon is more than just an ordinary mensch.

    Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon tells the story of a man who knew nothing about the music business, but his first client as a manager was Alice Cooper.  How did he become Cooper’s manager?   By interrupting what he thought was a sexual assault at the hotel he was checking into.  The woman who punched him for coming to her aid was Janis Joplin, the man was Jimi Hendrix and after the three got to be friends, Hendrix suggested that Shep become a manager.

    That and many more stories about how this man, whose roster of clients included Cooper, Anne Murray, Blondie, Teddy Pendergrass, Luther Vandross and many more came to be a documentary because of a business deal Gordon made back in 1991 when Supermensch director Mike Myers was trying to get Alice Cooper to appear in Wayne’s World and to use a song of his on the soundtrack.  Shep had him over a barrel and eventually they made the deal as well as becoming friends.

    Shep Gordon welcoming the Dalai Lama to his Hawaii home
    Shep Gordon welcoming the Dalai Lama to his Hawaii home

    As the story unfolds we learn that Shep Gordon is pretty much responsible for creating the “celebrity chef” concept, slept with many beautiful women in the entertainment industry (Sharon Stone was one mentioned),  and made many friends along the way as he did what he’s described as “doing compassionate business.”   He talks about “coupons” and how he’s always willing to help someone first, with no expectation of a quid pro quo.  He was part of the process of creating the persona of Alice Cooper on stage that made him a legendary figure in the work of rock music.  Shep Gordon made Teddy Pendergrass a star by coming up with the idea of concerts for women only.

    The film also delves into Gordon’s personal life, how he is Jewish but follows Buddhism these days (Myers calls him a “Jew-Bu”).  So many of his long-time friends and associates talk about him in glowing terms that the idea of making even a partial list is daunting.  A couple of those that stood out were Sylvester Stallone, Michael Douglas and Emeril Lagasse.

    Mike Myers may be a first time director, but he’s got more than dozen writing credits and three for producing Austin Powers:  International Man of Mystery and its sequels (the 4th entry in that series has been announced) and it shows in how well-made this picture is.  As documentaries go, this is a first rate film.

  • Seth MacFarlane’s ‘A Million Ways to Die in the West’ is funny enough

    Seth MacFarlane’s ‘A Million Ways to Die in the West’ is funny enough

    Giovani Ribisi and Seth MacFarlane in 'A Million Ways to Die in the West'
    Giovani Ribisi and Seth MacFarlane in ‘A Million Ways to Die in the West’

    Movie westerns are nowhere near as popular as they once were.  The western comedy is a narrower niche to mine for movie magic, but Seth MacFarlane went there for the follow-up to his smash-hit Ted.  The result, A Million Ways to Die in the West is an R-rated comedy that makes the audience laugh.

    Stepping in front of the camera in live-action, MacFarlane portrays “Albert Stark” a sheep farmer in the tiny town of Old Stump in 1882.  He is supposed to shoot it out with another resident of the town but talks his way out of the confrontation.  His girlfriend, the schoolmarm “Louise” (Amanda Seyfried) promptly dumps him.  While she denies there is another man involved, she quickly takes up with the foppish “Foy” (Neil Patrick Harris), owner of the local moustachery.

    Liam Neeson is "Clinch Leatherwood" in 'A Million Ways to Die in the West'
    Liam Neeson is “Clinch Leatherwood” in ‘A Million Ways to Die in the West’

    Meanwhile, the most notorious killer in the territory, “Clinch Leatherwood” (Liam Neeson) and his gang are splitting up before they rob a stage.  He orders his wife “Anna” (Charlize Theron) to go with one of his henchman to lay up in Old Stump to keep her out of harm’s way.  She meets Albert and decides that she wants to help him.  She will pretend to be his girlfriend at the county fair so that Louise will see them together and get jealous.

    That doesn’t work as planned and things wind up with Albert set to face off with Foy in a week in a gunfight.  Problem is, Albert can’t hit the broad side of a barn with a gun, but Anna sees no difficulty with this.  She plans to teach him how to shoot.  She’s also learning about herself from her friendship with Albert.

    Charlize Theron, Amanda Seyfriend and Neil Patrick Harris in 'A Million Ways to Die in the West'
    Charlize Theron, Amanda Seyfriend and Neil Patrick Harris in ‘A Million Ways to Die in the West’

    Comparing A Million Ways to Die in the West to Blazing Saddles is unfair.  While Mel Brooks and Seth MacFarlane are both comic genius personified, what could be done 40 years ago cannot be done today.  A Million Ways to Die in the West lacks the razor-sharp edge of comedy that Brooks achieved with his western masterpiece. But like I said, the comparison is unfair.  Seth MacFarlane doesn’t have that broad depth of experience, yet.  I think he will continue to improve.  Based solely on its own merits, this is a successful western comedy.

    A Million Ways to Die in the West has a lot of laughs, pays homage to a number of westerns along the way, takes full advantage of a talented company of actors and makes the 116 minute running time pass quickly.  Charlize Theron continues to impress as she will stand out in any film, no matter how good the film itself is, while Neil Patrick Harris is a lot of fun to watch.  Seth MacFarlane isn’t going to win any awards for his acting here, but he does his best.  His best is definitely worth checking out.