It’s a good feeling when a fading legend proves that he still has something left to give. Robert De Niro (Cape Fear, Taxi Driver) is one of the most accomplished and legendary actors of all time, having earned seven Academy Award nominations for acting, including two wins (The Godfather: Part II, Raging Bull). He has proved that he can be successful across many genres, including drama (The Deer Hunter, Cop Land), comedy (Analyze This, Wag the Dog), action/adventure (Midnight Run, Ronin), and mystery/suspense (Heat, Sleepers) to name a few. He can play some of the most likable characters we’ve ever seen (Leonard Lowe in Awakenings, Jack Byrnes in Meet the Parents) as well as some of the most reprehensible, violent, and hostile characters who we will never forget (Max Cady in Cape Fear, Ace Rothstein in Casino, Al Capone in The Untouchables and many, many more). Unfortunately, he has become (what my friend Tim affectionately refers to) a movie whore in recent years. One can hardly fault him for his work ethic and desire to earn a paycheck, but most of us would be amazed to know that De Niro has made more than 20 films since 2010’s Little Fockers. Only two of these films (Silver Linings Playbook for which he was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar and Limitless were the only two that earned more than 60% on Rotten Tomatoes). While he was excellent in each of these two films (and pretty terrible in the other 18), Nancy Myers’ (It’s Complicated, Something’s Gotta Give) The Intern reminds us just how endearing and versatile that De Niro can still be. He is a part of cinematic history who people will take about in 50 years the same way that we talk about James Stewart, Humphrey Bogart, Spencer Tracy, and Clark Gable today. Perhaps De Niro will be even more revered because today’s cinema has allowed its actors to portray characters with much fewer restrictions.
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Category Archives: 2015
Vacation (2015)
Forget what the critics say (27% on Rotten Tomatoes, IMDB Metascore 34/100). If you like the National Lampoon’s Vacation movies, I think you’ll enjoy the Ed Helms (The Hangover, television’s The Office) led Vacation. It follows the same formula as the other movies in the series, and it has Ed Helms! Ed Helms is one of the funniest men in Hollywood! He took his bit part in the middle half of The Office and made it impossible for the writers not to keep him. With respect to Rainn Wilson, John Krasinski, and Jenna Fischer, The Office became Ed Helms’ show once Steve Carell exited. Even when his movies miss (The Hangover Part III, The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard), it’s not because of him. He keeps these terrible movies from becoming complete zeroes. So how good he misses here as a grownup Rusty Griswold with all nuances of his father Clark (Chevy Chase – Spies Like Us, Three Amigos) and his mother Ellen (Beverly D’Angelo – Coal Miner’s Daughter, American History X)? He doesn’t miss at all. Instead, he crushes it in 2015’s comedy of the year.
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The End of the Tour (2015)
The most unexpected surprise movie of 2015 was the incredibly well-written and well-acted The End of the Tour. While The Gift was the biggest surprise of the year, I went into that movie believing I would probably like the film, but maybe not that much. With The End of the Tour, I was super apprehensive about one of those things because the trailer just looked pretty corny. While I know many comedic actors can start in fantastic dramas (Robin Williams, Jonah Hill, Bill Murray), I was very uncertain that Jason Segel was up to this task at this point in his career. Segel has killed it with his comedy, both on the big screen (I Love You, Man, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, The Muppets) and television (How I Met Your Mother, Freaks and Geeks). He’s had a couple of misses (Sex Tape, Bad Teacher), but I still felt that he hadn’t worn out his recipe for success. Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell, and others have all made hundreds of millions using the same formula. I think Segal is undoubtedly a more talented actor than Sandler. With Ferrell, time will tell. He’s in a bit of a lull, but I wouldn’t count him out. Nonetheless, Segal is an unbelievable talent who quietly goes about his business and will continue to earn opportunities in film and television.
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The Revenant (2015)
Why not save the best for last? It doesn’t always work out that way, but The Revenant was the final movie released in 2015. In fact, except for in a few select theaters in a few select cities, you couldn’t see the film until January 7th. Was it worth the wait? Absolutely it was. It seems like we’ve seen trailers for months building this movie up. Each time I saw a preview, I couldn’t help but get excited. I believe that this might have been my most anticipated movie since Shutter Island, and with that movie, I had reason to be wary because it was a 2010 movie released in February. You usually don’t get the best films of the year released that early in the year. While Shutter Island exceeded expectations, The Revenant was all that and more. Leonardo DiCaprio (The Wolf of Wall Street, The Great Gatsby) has been burned by the Academy many times before. While The Revenant is his fifth Academy Award nomination for acting, he should have at least three or four more. None of those past omissions matter now, as DiCaprio is the front runner to win Best Actor this year. I wouldn’t quite qualify him as a lock to win, but it is only a two-actor race, and his performance was more impressive than the fabulous performance given by Eddie Redmayne in The Danish Girl.
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Concussion (2015)
Continuing the theme of 2015 awards season movie releases failing to meet expectations because of the lack of emotional audience engagement comes Concussion, a true story dealing with the effects of professional football concussions. The movie, set in 1982 Pittsburgh, begins with one of the city’s most recognizable faces (Mike Webster of the Super Bowl-winning Steelers teams of the ’70s) living in his truck and slowly losing his mind. Mike (David Morse – The Green Mile, Disturbia) gives the most poignant performance in the entire movie. In a film where we could and should care for all sorts of characters, Mike is the only supporting character who drives out any emotion in us or allows us to feel any empathy. In just a few short scenes, Mike can convey to us that despite what his doctors say, he has significant life problems that are a result of something that happened to his mind from the time he retired in 1990 until the time frame at the start of the film (2002). His 14-year career included 150 straight games as a starting center from 1976 to 1986.
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