American Hustle

Continuing to play catch-up, here's my review of Oscar hopeful: American Hustle.

Based off the ABSCAM operation and set during the late 1970's and early 1980's, Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale) is a low level con artist working with his girlfriend Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams). After both are caught in a scam by FBI Agent Richie DiMaso, (Bradley Cooper) Irving and Sydney reluctantly work for Richie to bring down various politicians including the mayor of Camden, New Jersey, Carmine Polito (Jeremy Renner).

Due to the complexity of the undercover operation, not all parts go smoothly. Irving's unpredictable wife Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence) complicates matters as a potential love triangle forms between Irving, Richie and Sydney. As the operation progresses, Irving and Carmine start to become friends and Richie wants the operation to grow in size in an effort to take down more and more corrupt politicians. The size of the operation begins spiral out of control and all parties involved begin to struggle to keep everything in order.

The plot is not as complex as it sounds, but it is more of a foundation for what truly makes this film entertaining: the performances. Even as I felt this was my favorite film of the year, I understand that American Hustle is not a great film. The plot falls by the wayside in favor of letting you enjoy the performances and the fun that the actors and director, David O. Russell are having.

The fun that the actors and crew are having does not take you out of the film. Instead the film brings you in and provides you with one of the best comedies of the year. Everything from the bad wigs, to bad accents and the way the characters handle the complicated scam that is presented in this film as a fun, but not overly-complicated 2 hour film. Even the title card that starts the movie, really sets the tone for how serious the film handles the ABSCAM plot that the film is based on. American Hustle tries really hard to entertain you, and based off what David O. Russell and the cast offer, I feel the film succeeds on that level.

The one weak link in the film for me, personally was Jeremy Renner. Everyone else in the film felt like they were on the same page, but with his character everything felt off and out of place and ultimately felt that Jeremy Renner was miscast as Mayor Polito. As the film progresses towards its conclusion, there is a scene where Irving and Carmine confront each other in Carmine's house. Carmine asks Irving if he is lying to him; at which time I felt bad for the character itself, but not by the performance delivered by Jeremy Renner.

I know there's been a lot of hate and backlash towards the film lately, but as just an enjoyable piece of cinema with overall good performances, it's hard to not rank American Hustle near the top of the best films list of 2013.

8.3/10

The Dark Knight Rises

So here it is (Karina). With my first ever film review, I figure you might as well start with a bang. And what film this summer is bigger than The Dark Knight Rises? Oh, right. The Avengers. Well, besides The Avengers, I am here to review, albeit late, The Dark Knight Rises.

The Dark Knight rises is written by Jonathan and Christopher Nolan, with a story credit given to David S. Goyer. As with the other two films in the trilogy, Christopher Nolan directs this final chapter as well.

As we all know from the end of The Dark Knight: Batman went on the run to protect the image of Harvey Dent, The Joker was (presumably) taken in to custody and the citizens of Gotham City decided that today wasn't a good day to die.

Eight years have passed since the end of The Dark Knight. Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) and the citizens of Gotham annually mark Harvey Dent Day. Commissioner Gordon does not agree with what Harvey Dent Day stands for, but, due to crime being practically eradicated from Gotham City, continually preserves the lie.

Batman and Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) have both stepped away from the spotlight. Granted no one seems to notice that both disappeared around the same time, but hey, this is a comic book film. Bruce has become a shadow of his former self. Living a life of exile inside his sprawling mansion still reeling from the loss of his love; Rachel Dawes. Bruce's trusted servant, Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Caine) keeps at Bruce, trying to make Bruce push his life forward and have meaning.

All the while, a terrorist known simply as Bane (Tom Hardy) descends upon Gotham City, bringing his many minions and threats of destruction. As a multi-tiered plan, understanding what he has truly in store for Batman and the citizens of Gotham takes a good chunk of the film. Bane's plan, like the script to this film, takes the long way to get to a short resolution.

While this is going on, you also get Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway) showing up as a cat burglar who straddles the line of good guy/bad guy and police officer John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) acting as the eye for the audience as he snoops around Gotham City finding out information about Bane's plan and Batman himself.

Now, it may sound like I am being harsh on the film, and that may be somewhat accurate. The first two films in the Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy are some of the best comic book adaptations ever. With this film, though, 'Rises' seems to struggle with trying to live up to the prior films. The success of The Dark Knight no doubt put so much pressure on this film that it is a miracle that 'Rises' is as good as it is.

The biggest fault with this film, though, lies in the screenplay. As stated, Jonathan and Christopher Nolan wrote the screenplay, with a story credit by David S. Goyer. The story feels like a first draft of a script with none of the fat removed off yet. There are characters and plots that take up valuable time within the script that could have been removed and the script would have continued on without missing a beat. In my opinion, the most glaring example of someone/thing that could have been excised was Selina Kyle. If you have seen the film, imagine the film without her. There is not much she adds to the story that other characters couldn't have done in her place. Now this isn't a knock on Anne Hathaway, as I thought her performance was fine, but that her character was underwritten and could have easily been edited out to condense the already excessive runtime.

A few more issues that I must address come in the end. First, the final moments between Bane and Batman are so utterly disappointing. I will not go into why they are so disappointing, just to say that the resolution between these two characters is an awful resolution. Secondly, a character in the film undergoes a plot twist. Prior to this twist, they are not really needed at all in the film. It is never good having a character in a film for just the sake of a plot twist. And my last little complaint lies within the ending. This film has the feeling of dread hanging over it the entire time. With this being Batman, I can understand why the film ended the way it did. I just feel that the ending didn't match the tone for most of The Dark Knight Rises.

There are many issues with The Dark Knight Rises; from the excessive runtime to the screenplay. With that said, though, this is still an entertaining film with a lot of good things to see. Tom Hardy's Bane is much different that Heath Ledger's Joker and I think it was a smart move on Christopher Nolan's part. Instead of replicating what was done before; having a charismatic character like the Joker, Nolan instead provides Bane who is just brute strength. This is not to say Bane is better, not by a long shot. It was just a good idea of Christopher Nolan to not go to the same well again.

Overall, this is not a bad film. This is a good film with a lot of flaws. I wish the screenplay had been edited down to have given a tighter and leaner film instead of the bloated film we got. Like I said, though, this film has a lot of good in it as well. When it comes down to it, this superhero film is nowhere near as bad as Superman IV: The Quest For Peace. And in the end, isn't that all that matters?

7.2/10