Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey –The Usual Suspects, Se7en) isn’t your usual man going through your typical midlife crisis. A man going through a midlife crisis might quit his job, buy a sports car, cheat on his wife, long for a life with no responsibility, or obsess compulsively over things he can’t have. But all of these things at once? Maybe. But it’s less likely for sure. Sam Mendes (1917, Revolutionary Road) is a highly well-known director, even though he has only directed eight movies (as of 2020) and earned just one Oscar nomination before that year. But his film struck an accord, and he took home the two biggest trophies of the year for a person in his profession, Best Director and Best Picture for his debut feature-length film, 1999’s American Beauty.
Category Archives: Wes Bentley
Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018)
Mission Impossible: Fallout should be looked at as the template for how action movies are created. This is everything you want in a pure action movie that is wrought with the same suspense, mystery, and comedic tones that you would expect from this top-of-the-line franchise. Tom Cruise (Born on the Fourth of July, A Few Good Men) reprises his most recognizable character (people, Top Gun came out over 30 years ago…Maverick is great, Ethan Hunt is the identifiable Cruise character…at least for anyone younger than 35). I’ve spent a good part of the last two decades knocking Tom Cruise for his choice in roles, wishing he would return to the types of roles that earned him three Academy Award nominations between 1990-2000. And I honestly, at the time, though he was phoning it in for box office dollars. I understand an action flick here and there. I understand that action is the niche for various A-listers (Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone) but not Tom Cruise. He has more depth than these other actors, and I felt he was repeatedly resorting to variations of the same role (Jack Reacher, Oblivion, Edge of Tomorrow). But I was wrong. I’ve watched all of these movies, and while, yes, they are all action movies, he never phones it in. He actually might bring a more consistent intensity to his role than any other actor out there. And this was no exception. Although it is hard for us to see anyone else play Tony Stark/Iron Man than Robert Downey Jr., it would be challenging to see anyone besides Cruise play Ethan Hunt.
Welcome to Me (2015)
Kristin Wiig (Bridesmaids, The Skeleton Twins) got off to a bit of a late start in her movie career. Still, the hilarious Saturday Night Live alum is making up for lost time and immersing herself in as many unique roles as possible. In my opinion, the funniest female cast member in the history of SNL isn’t allowing herself to be typecast like so many of her predecessors (both male and female) by basically starring in full-length versions of the skits they performed on television. In recent years, many alumni (especially the females like Amy Poehler and Tina Fey) are establishing themselves as legit, in it for the long run actors, writers, directors, and producers. Many of the three names mentioned in this paragraph will rank the talents as 1) Fey, 2) Poehler, and 3) Wiig. I may be in the minority when I say Wiig is my favorite of the three, followed shortly by Fey. For me, while super-talented, Poehler is a distant third.
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Interstellar (2014)
Interstellar is a good movie that aims to be not just a great movie but a movie that people talk about for years and years to come. I imagine that there will be a circle of fans who will do this, but I think, for the majority of people, this will be a movie that they enjoy but won’t ever think of as being unique or legendary. I think this movie tried too hard to make that lasting impression rather than just live in the moment of making a great film. As I will mention below, this movie could have been much more straightforward and, in doing so, much more effective. I felt the first 45 minutes of the movie created a cast of characters and a setting in which numerous stories could have been told, and the film could have succeeded. I say this because Interstellar is, first and foremost, a space exploration movie with overtones of the importance of human relationships and weighing what is best for society against what is best for an individual. However, I would like to know if I recommend the movie. And I do recommend it. As much as I wanted it to be great, it wasn’t. But it was still good. At 168 minutes, it is at least 45 minutes too long. And the spaceship scenes themselves are absolutely brutal. There is way too much dull talk of esoteric physics that went straight over the heads of 90% of the audience. It wasn’t needed and forced you to try to use your brain to comprehend everything that was happening. That wasn’t why I was there. I go to movies to not have to use my brain.
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