Act of Valor

Glad I saw this film, and it was a treat to hear the director, Mike McCoy, afterward.

Lots of new tech here with the Canon D5, and special lenses - about 85% digital, and the rest 35mm film - all put together seamlessly.

As for the acting - well, they're all SEALS, and they did much of the script, creating it on a day-by-day basis, and when the script didn't work, they did their thing - as they speak to one another in a language filled with code, and when silence is needed, with hand-signals.

This is no doc - it was all shot in live-fire training - no blanks at all. They filmed in various locations around the world - so the whole thing has a very real feel to it. When the gunboats pull up at the extraction point after a hostage rescue, and those boats let go with their Gatling guns, sounding like a zipper, it's truly goose-bump time.

There's enough blood and gore to make it real, or so it seems to me. But blood and gore were not the purpose. Rather, to show these men as flesh-and-blood human beings who go to work like anyone goes to work - to do the best job possible.

McCoy noted, "these are some of the brightest people I've ever met - the communications specialists on ship, a woman, with a Ph.D in geology."

They are all professionals, and their devotion to one another is clear. They work as a team, or they can't work at all.

One of the most telling lines in the film - on board ship, prepping for a rescue operation, one of the SEALS asks, "Will they have patrols?" The Chief replies: "We don't know, but most likely they lave patrols. They do this for a living, too."

Emotionally, I kept thinking of the Russell Crowe film, Gladiator. And the Roman Empire, and the need to defend an empire's borders. America is The Empire right now - our military presence reaches around the world - we go anywhere, and perhaps rarely ask for anyone's permission. Another dramatic moment in the film - SEALS are in rubber boats, awaiting pick-up - and suddenly, from the deeps, a nuclear submarine quickly breaches; the boats scuttle onto the sub, everyone's picked up, and the sub dives again.

What with all the machinery of war - sophistication beyond anything most of us know, and men and women trained to the nth degree. I sat in the theater amazed and in wonderment.

Every empire has enemies - such is the nature of an empire. And these men (and they are all men; women are on the ships and involved in all aspects of a mission, but not on the teams), so finely trained, defend the borders and rescue those in harm's way.

It's an amazing story, well told.

But it's no puff piece for recruitment, nor a right-wing propaganda spiel.

I thought: "These men are doing their job, and doing it very well."

Though I regret America's policies at many points, I'm glad they're at work. America does have enemies, and they seek to do us harm. Like it or not, I live in the Empire, and I'm glad to live here. And I don't want anyone to wear an explosive vest and blow themselves up in any American city.

I work hard to see that the Empire is as just as it can be, and I'm grateful, at the same time, for those who keep our land safe.

It's a difficult world, and if we were not the Empire, someone else would be, and, perhaps, in time, as we replaced Britain, someone or something else will replace us - maybe China, maybe India, or who knows what or who.

Well, I'm rambling right now.

Worthy seeing in a theater?

For sure.

Robin Hood

Ridley Scott has done it again. The man knows how to make big movies, and he’s scored with “Robin Hood,” starring the ever-powerful Russell Crowe as Robin Hood, or more accurately Robin Longstride, because this is a prequel to the familiar story, and I liked it.

And with Cate Blanchette as Marion Loxley, we have another marvelous actor.

Both Crow and Blanchette have 12th century faces – hard and good, intense and strong, kindly, with steel!

It’s gritty and it’s 12th Century – life is dark, damp and short.

Be sure to stay for the credits – it’s a million-dollar sequence – the most exciting credits I’ve ever seen.

Acting is superb … great cast ... the cinematography captures the 12th Century – the mud and the warfare. Like was hard, indeed. Music is typical for a movie of this caliber – powerful stuff for a powerful story.

The story is massive, and there are some editing jumps, but the audience can follow along ... and did the French have landing craft?

The relationship between Robin and Marion could have been done a bit more effectively, but it works.

Don’t wait for Netflix – see it now.

State of Play

What a good movie.

Tense and gripping, with plenty of twists and turns, good acting and some incredibly relevant messages.

As a film, for entertainment, topnotch. I found myself utterly engaged and mostly baffled by how it was going to unfold - for me, this is what film entertainment is all about.

Russel Crowe plays a tough Washington journalist who's seen a lot of life on the other side of boundary - he's savvy, he's dedicated and he's a maverick. In terms of characterization: he's the old hand - it's all about investigation and follow-up, hunches and connections, last minute copy and "stop the presses" - everything journalism has been at its best.

Rachel Adams portrays a young, savvy, blogger who's all about getting out the story right now, who spends more time in front of the computer than on the streets - who writes well, but doesn't know how to dig for the real story behind the sensational headlines.

Both of them are thrown into a double murder - a junkie and a nice young may, both shot and killed professionally within 20 feet of each other ... any connection? And then like a freight train out of control, the story hurtles into ever greater depths of corruption.

Ben Affleck is a young and up-coming Congressman dedicated to exposing the shady war dealings of a powerful multi-corporation behemoth with plenty of money from government contracts and plenty of hired guns.

Robin Wright Penn is the Congressman's wife - a marginal presence in the story, but a key part right at the end.

Helen Mirren is her wonderful self as the editor - hard-nosed and driving, and utterly frustrated by the possible demise of this once great newspaper, now under new ownership, and it's no longer about the story, it's all about sales.

As the story unfolds, it takes a lot of twists and turns, but with good directing (Kevin Macdonald) and editing, there's never moment of confusion - just good story-telling.

As for relevance - wow! As the years of the Bush Administration are held up to the light of scrutiny, it would seem that folks like Blackwater and who knows how many of the ruling party were in cahoots for big money and power. If big-city newspapers are no longer about the story, but only the sales, it would seem that some parts of the government, in clandestine partnership with covert operations, are no longer about the people but the profits.

As for journalism - what's happening? With the demise of the newspaper industry, the Fourth Estate, who will be the watchdog for society - who's going to put on a porkpie hat and smoke unfiltered cigarettes and hang around the police station, stop in for a drink at a seedy bar, and comb through old files?

Like the mortgage industry that succumbed to too many 20-somethings who knew all about the money but nothing about the industry, will the journalism world become nothing but tabloid blogs, long on sensation and short on story?

I don't know, but the Fourth Estate is one of the anchors of democracy, watchdogs of truth.

This is fine fim, and if you want only entertainment, this will provide it, but if you're looking for entertainment with some provocative questions, this is one to see.

American Gangster

Awesome!

Two actors (Denzel Washington & Russell Crowe) at the top of their game ... a director (Ridley Scott) who does peerless work ... great filming, music, script, amazing little touches - toward the end, watch for the paper coffee cup being passed back and forth.

A parable of integrity and honesty, their power and their limits.

A great sadness pervades my spirit right now ... Frank Lucas ... African American ... clever, adroit, faithful and honest within the boundaries of his family, yet fated to meet the inevitable end.

How can the African American make it in a system weighted against success?

I know that things have changed since the Vietnam era during which the film occurs, but having lived 16 years in Detroit, I know how sad it is for millions of African Americans doomed to live on the margins, struggling to make it, and often falling into despair and crime. Living now in LA, I sense that opportunities are richer here than Detroit ... but racism still pervades the American consciousness, and may God help us rid our spirit of its many evils.

Frank Lucas goes to jail ... loses everything ... released in 1991 - to what?

The cop ... Richie Roberts ... a resolutely honest cop who earns the mistrust and disdain of his fellow officers because of it ... finally assigned to a special unit investigating drugs.

Two men, fated to meet ... both honest in their own way, ending, in the commentary afterward, as friends. In the end, Richie passes the bar and becomes an attorney. His first client? Frank Lucas.

The film dragged a bit, but time was needed to develop the two characters and the worlds in which they lived and the families and people around them.

A film worth seeing ... and no doubt, Denzel Washington is a towering film presence.

Denzel Washington's chilling portrayal of a man utterly ruthless in achieving his goal and utterly loyal to his family is amazing. His face, without expression, blank and cold, is one of the most incredible moments of acting I've ever seen. An Oscar nomination should surely come his way.

Russell Crowe captured the harried, honest and frumpy cup ... studying on the side to become an attorney, scared to death of public speaking.

All other roles - clean and appropriate. Real estate folks - pay attention to the moment when Frank Lucas buys a Manhattan apartment and offers cash - the expression, the voice, of the agent say it all. A little moment, among many, in this fine film - like discovering a jelly bean in your lunch box!

Worth seeing ... that's for sure ... R rated, for sure!