The Quick and Dirties: Guys on a Mission

The Q & D's are back, and they're bringing men on a mission with them. Bonus points, if you can guess why I chose those two particular guys to have in my banner for this topic. Those bonus points are only worth my undying respect, but still. Anyhoo, the rest of the guys in this post have their mind dead set on...something. And they are going to get it done. No, that's not a spoiler. You've seen a movie before, maybe even two. Besides, the question isn't what will they do, it's how will they do it? Let's see what these gents are up to.

The Founder

(2016)

This is the story behind the fact you're probably never very far from a pair of golden arches. The film's title refers to Ray Kroc (Michael Keaton), who didn't actually found McDonald's. However, he did bring it to national, even global, prominence. Given the position of the fast food giant as one of the world's most powerful corporations, I was expecting a carefully crafted and fluffy puff of hero worship. Refreshingly, this is not that. It's a pretty straightforward depiction of how Kroc strong-armed the restaurant's actual founders, Mac (John Carroll Lynch) and Dick (Nick Offerman) McDonald. Eventually, Kroc becomes the villain in his own movie. The operative word is "eventually." He grows into the role as the film progresses. This keeps him from being totally unlikable and builds his motivations organically. The only major misstep is how Kroc's transition from one marriage to another is handled. It's set up over the course of the first two acts only to give us an abrupt and insufficient payoff that isn't nearly as emotional as it thinks it is. Star Michael Keaton overcomes this with another in his continuing string of excellent performances. This film as a whole is a very solid biopic deserving of being seen by more eyes.

Possible 2016 Dellies Considerations: Best Actor (Michael Keaton), Best Supporting Actor (John Carroll Lynch, Nick Offerman), Best Supporting Actress (Laura Dern), Best Ensemble, Best Villain (Michael Keaton)

Going in Style

(2017)

Joe (Michael Caine), Willie (Morgan Freeman), and Albert (Alan Arkin) are three guys are enjoying their retirements to varying degrees. Things take a turn for the worse when they all lose their pensions because the company they once worked for is bought out by a bigger, more ruthless company that does away with those sorts of things. With their misfortunes piling up, and despite their lack of youth, our three heroes decide the way to change their fortunes is to rob a bank. A heist movie with grumpy old men ensues. Yes, this is a remake of the 1979 original, which featured George Burns, Art Carney, Lee Strasberg, The movie coasts by on the considerable charms of its stars. They occasionally rise above the mediocrity of the script to give us a few laughs. The story works well enough to make this a decent time-passer. Matt Dillon nearly walks off with the film as an FBI agent who works bank robberies. Aside from him, everyone else just does what they do as mundanely as they can. However, since we are talking about Caine, Freeman, and Arkin, it's not a movie you can really hate. Unfortunately, you might have trouble remembering it at all.

Possible 2017 Dellies Considerations: Best Supporting Actor (Matt Dillon)

Hell or High Water

(2016)

We join brothers Toby (Chris Pine) and Tanner (Ben Foster) while they're in the midst of an early morning bank robbing spree. Soon enough, we meet Marcus (Jeff Bridges) and Alberto (Gil Birmingham), a pair of Texas Rangers investigating the crimes. From there, we get a magnificent cat-and-mouse that's heartfelt on both sides. Jeff Bridges gives another wonderful performance of a gruff, rough around the edges authority figure, a la Rooster Cogburn in the True Grit remake. Gil Birmingham grounds Bridges, providing an excellent sidekick. Ben Foster is totally unhinged, and Chris Pine has never been better. The real surprise of the cast was a small, but powerful turn by Katy Mixon (of Mike & Molly fame) as a diner waitress. None of them would be able to give us the performances they do without the fantastic writing that combines with the direction of David Mackenzie to give us a dusty, gritty landscape filled with earthy people just trying to figure out how to make it through the next day. It's a brutal piece of economic angst that grabs the scruff of your neck and  drags you around. Somehow, we're thankful for that.

Possible 2016 Dellies Considerations: Best Actor (Chris Pine), Best Supporting Actor (Jeff Bridges, Ben Foster), Best Action Sequence (Tanner vs. Texas Rangers), Best Ensemble

Manchester by the Sea

(2016)

Lee (Casey Affleck) is the handyman in an apartment complex and is most certainly not a people person. We know that he's sad, but don't really know why. That comes into focus through flashbacks. In the present, his brother dies and suddenly Lee is the guardian of a teenage son. He's none too pleased about this and spends much of the movie trying to figure a way out of this arrangement. Affleck is excellent, as is Lucas Hedges who plays the aforementioned teenager. The dialogue is outstanding, giving them, plus Kyle Chandler and an Oscar nominated Michelle Williams, plenty to work with. However, I didn't love this movie as nearly as much as I wanted. The pacing is clunky leading the plot(s) to unfold awkwardly. It's a very good movie, but falls far short of being worthy of the mantle of greatness thrust upon it by so many.

Possible 2016 Dellies Consideration: Best Actor (Casey Affleck), Best Ensemble

Message from the King

(2016)

After learning his sister is in trouble, Jacob King (Chadwick Boseman) leaves his home in South Africa and comes to the mean streets of Los Angeles to figure out what has happened. Soon enough, we find out she's been murdered, so her big bro starts hunting down the baddies responsible. Chadwick Boseman brings a certain amount of weight to the film and is really solid in the action-hero role. This just makes me even more excited for his upcoming turn as Black Panther in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but I digress. Here, the good work he does is held back by a paint-by-numbers script. There are some very good action scenes, and Boseman handles them well. The film is nicely paced and zips by. On the other hand, it's also generic and offers nothing new to the revenge flick canon. It's fun while it lasts, but is completely disposable.

Possible 2016 Dellies Considerations: Best Action Hero (Chadwick Boseman)

Naked

(2017)

Rob (Marlon Wayans) is about to marry Megan (Regina Hall), the girl of his dreams. The fact he drifts through life without any ambition robs Megan's wealthy father Mr. Swope (Dennis Haysbert) the wrong way. On the day of the wedding, Rob wakes up naked on the floor of a hotel elevator and tries to make his way to the church. However, when mishaps occur he invariably finds himself waking up in the same elevator without a stitch of clothing, forcing him to relive the same day over and over. Yes, it's Groundhog Day starring an oft-nude Marlon Wayans. The premise is mildly interesting, but saddled with a never-ending string of stillborn jokes. I would chalk that up to my general disdain for Wayans's brand of humor, but I watched it with fans of his and they weren't laughing, either. This makes it a boring, generic rom-com during its very best moments. Most of the time it falls quite a ways short of even those slight aspirations. If you stick with it through two and a half acts of lazy punchlines peppered with plenty of shots of our hero's bare bottom, the finale is at least lively. It only manages this because the pace becomes frenetic in a mad scramble to wrap up all the story lines that have popped up. It's a small thing to be thankful for, but this semblance of a pulse is a welcome reminder the movie is almost over.

Possible 2017 Dellies Considerations: None

The Nice Guys

(2016)

In 1977, the apparent death of a porn star brings together a pair of guys who never they would work together. The first is bumbling private eye Holland March (Ryan Gosling), the second is Jackson Healy (Russell Crowe), a freelance enforcer for bad guys. What makes the job so interesting is that the porn star's aunt thinks she saw her alive after the time her body was supposedly found. Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe make a dynamite on-screen duo. Their chemistry is off the charts, their comic timing superb. They make this a lively affair filled with humor. We also get a sparkling supporting turn from Kim Basinger. The script provides lots of twists and turns that try to throw us off its scent. You may still sniff it out, but its a blast just letting it go through all the histrionics. Shane Black double-dips as director and writer and delivers one of the best films to come from his pen.

Possible 2016 Dellies Consideration: Best Actor (Ryan Gosling), Best Supporting Actor (Russell Crowe), Best Supporting Actress (Kim Basinger), Funniest Scene (Holly Meets Healy, Bathroom Scene, Party/Body Dumping), Best Action Scene (John Boy Shootout), Best Fight Scene (Holly Meets Healy) 

Sully

(2016)

Back in January of 2009, airline pilot Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger (Tom Hanks) became a national hero when he landed a plane in safely in the Hudson River shortly after takeoff because both engines were destroyed by a flock of birds flying into them. In the process, he saved the lives of all 155 people on board. This movie focuses on the ensuing investigation to see if Sully was being truthful, or made a rash decision. I have an odd relationship with this one. As a standalone film, it's solid, carried almost completely by another perfect Tom Hanks performance. It never bores as director Clint Eastwood knows how to tell a story. Conversely, it never rises to the level greatness, either. That said, I had a struggle watching it because nearly every plot point in the film is a thousand percent false aside from the landing itself. The rendering of that landing is a gripping piece of cinema worth watching the whole movie for, by the way. What Cpt. Sully did was a great thing, but they built a movie by creating typical bureaucratic villains where none existed. However, I'm on record saying a movie must be judged on its own merit. Using that criteria, I enjoyed it as a decent courtroom (or hearing room) drama. However, it's not nearly as engaging as the similarly themed, but admittedly fiction, Flight.

Possible 2016 Dellies Consideration: Best Actor (Tom Hanks), Best Action Scene (The Landing of Flight 1549)

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