A Man No Longer Included

A Man Most Wanted is a sad tale. A story of a broken man who is no longer included, and he knows it. Director Anton Corbijn shoots a wonderfully dark, dreary, and ultimately depressing story about the international war on terror. Negative superlatives aside, I highly recommend this movie.

This was Philip Seymour Hoffman's last film, and one of his best performances. PSH is in charge of anti-terrorism efforts in the city of Hamburg, Germany, a post he excels at, but is actually a demotion from where he once stood in the anti-terrorist hierarchy in Germany. You can feel PSH's character pain at the disrespect he receives from his superiors, and you get a sense of a man who is trying to get heard by yelling into the wind. Robin Wright masterfully plays an engaged, but detached CIA agent. I think my favorite performance was Nina Hoss as PSH's top lieutenant. The immigrant at the center of the story is played by Russian actor Grigoriy Dobrygin. His character, Issa, comes off as fairly naive, and easily manipulated by the powerful forces swirling around him. Rachel McAdams is alright as a human rights lawyer for Issa. Did you know she was Canadian? Me neither.

This movie is a welcome addition to the war on terror movies that have been released over the years. Incidentally, the movie is based off a John La Carre book so you know it's good. That is if you enjoyed Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, which how could you not?

I give this 8/10. Great solid movie about the war on terror.

Not as Hungry as I'd Like

These four notes are etched into my memory for all time. Not necessarily because of how great this movie is (it isn't all that great), but because this movie was crazy hyped. I felt like there was constant advertising of it. And, I'll admit, I was very excited. That changed when I left the theater.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first Hunger Games movie. Catching Fire simply did not live up to the first one. I did enjoy Catching Fire, but I thought it would be more enjoyable. I feel like the story just wasn't as engaging, and the characters seemed a little flat. Not all of the characters were flat though. I thought Elizabeth Banks actually did a fantastic job in this movie as Effie. Josh Hutcherson was also pretty solid just like in the first movie.

I will say that the movie is believably set up for the 3rd installment (I know the third movie is being broken up into two but whatever), so I don't feel like the series is unnecessarily carrying on. I think i've been too harsh on the movie. It definitely has it's moments. Lenny Kravitz? Exactly. Also, the introduction of Philip Seymour Hoffman was a welcome addition. Overall, this was pretty good. Not as good as the first, but close enough.

7/10. Entertaining. I'll watch again if I binge watch the quadrilogy at some point.

An Uncomfortable Reality

The Savages is a good movie. I won't go so far as to say it is a great movie, but it touches on all the hallmarks of a quality dramatic film: tension, relationships, uncertainty, relatability, redemption, and closure. I can understand why there was considerable buzz around this movie when it came out. Tamara Jenkin's movie deals with an all too common reality here in the United States, what a family is to do with a loved one as they pass beyond the point of being able to care for themselves.

Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Laura Linney play a convincing brother and sister pair that have to figure out what to do with their father, Lenny. Although not exactly stated in the movie, the viewer is correct to assume that Lenny was an abusive father. There are frequent references to this throughout the film. Despite this strike against Lenny, his character is still highly sympathetic. The movie is difficult to watch sometimes because of Lenny's inability to cope with situations as well as the multiple indignities he suffers. Speaking of Lenny, the actor who plays him, Philip Bosco, did a very convincing job. He manages to slip in and out of lucidity in a very natural manner.

I could have used a little more background information on the family dynamic as a whole, specifically how their mother fit into the equation. Did she die young? Did she run away? Was she even more abusive than Lenny? The two kids hadn't spoken with their father in a long time when all of the action of the film starts occurring, but we aren't given much of a window into what the characters were like before their current time. I get that the kids are neurotic, and intelligent, but ultimately a little messed up, but it doesn't feel entirely organic, or justified. Perhaps that is my own biases coming into play.

I think that my favorite character in the movie may have ended up being the attendant Jimmy at the nursing home, played by Gbenga Akinnagbe. Jimmy is one of the few characters developed in the movie that seems relatively normal. He is audience to the final moments of the Savage family, and there isn't much he can do to avoid that, but he takes it in stride.

The movie was a pretty realistic, at least I think, portrayal of our nursing home culture. The movie moves slowly at times, but so does life. As if to accentuate that slowness, the movie makes ample use of dramatic pauses, awkward situations, and emotion to bring you in. I don't know if I would watch the movie again by choice. I'm not sure I would turn the channel if it came on tv, but at times it seemed just a little too real.

8/10, glad I watched it, but may not see again.