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giving Cage his marching orders. The plot involves the attempts to retrieve a deadly object known as Pandora’s Box – a device that turns satellites into bombs – but never mind all that. xXx3 is basically an excuse to show cool people doing cool stunts, and on that level, it largely works. It’s also an excuse to show that the laws of science and logic don’t really matter, particularly in the sequence set inside a damaged airplane (given the absence of gravity inside the vessel, did the plane somehow end up in outer space?) or the bit in which a couple of characters surf the waves atop ski-equipped motorcycles. Donnie Yen provides the martial arts mastery, Ruby Rose contributes the smirks, and The Vampire Diaries’ Nina Dobrev donates some nerdy humor. As for Vin Diesel, he’s mainly there to support his own flailing career, which, the Fast & Furious flicks aside, has largely been on life support. Acting like it’s still 2002, Diesel’s Xander Cage allows countless hotties to hang all over his body and partakes in out landish stunts that would give even James Bond pause. Speaking of 007, there’s even a scene that apes Casino Royale, with a shirtless Xander Cage sauntering out of the ocean. But as my wife muttered as she observed his flabby flesh, “Meh. He’s no Daniel Craig, that’s for sure.”
SILENCE
/// Beginning with his first picture, 1967’s Who’s That Knocking at My Door, Martin Scorsese has often employed cinema as a reflection on his own experiences and beliefs regarding religion. Considering he had planned on becoming a priest before opting to become a filmmaker, this makes perfect sense, and additional musings on the matter can be found in projects as diverse as Mean Streets, Kundun, Bringing Out the Dead and, most magnificently, The Last Temptation of Christ. With Silence, Scorsese again fully turns his attention to the spiritual side, and the result is a movie that’s both disturb ing and deeply committed. To be clear, this isn’t a motion picture for those who superficially wear their Christianity like a shiny pinback button, falling for the long con of money-grubbing charlatans like Joel Osteen and believing their devotion to the Lord ends with slapping an ichthys sticker on a car bumper. Instead, Silence is an uncomfortable and unsettling watch, better at generating questions than sup plying answers – which, come to think of it, is perhaps the proper outcome for a film of this nature. Set in the 17th century, Silence fol lows two Portuguese priests, Rodrigues (Andrew Garfield) and Garupe (Adam Driver) as they head to Japan to search for their mentor, Father Ferreira (Liam
Acting like it’s still 2002, Diesel’s Xander Cage allows countless hotties to hang all over his body and partakes in outlandish stunts that would give even James Bond pause.
Neeson). Having had some initial success with converting the locals to Christian ity, the Church is rattled by the fact that Japanese authorities are now forcing all of the Jesuit priests and their followers to denounce their faith or face torture and execution. The word is that Ferreira has apostatized, a rumor Rodrigues and Garupe refuse to believe. Seeking to dis cover what really has happened, the two holy men are encouraged by pockets of Japanese peasants who continue to serve God in silence yet aghast at the widespread atrocities being committed by the Bud dhists intent on turning back the Western influence. Adapting Shusako Endo’s 1966 novel, Scorsese and scripter Jay Cocks (the for mer film critic who also co-wrote the director’s Gangs of New York and The Age of Innocence) have crafted a film packed to the breaking point with thorny issues. Of course, there’s the basic debate over the whole matter of proselytizing in foreign territories, but the picture also looks more specifically at whether innocent laypeople are actually dying to appease God or to appease the priests. Scorsese and Cocks prefer to keep the queries percolating, only succumbing to obviousness – and, thanks to an ill-advised Heavenly voiceover, unfairness – during the final stretch of this 160-minute undertaking. Garfield, all wrong as the amazing Spider-Hipster in his pair of so-so super hero ventures, follows up his strong work in Hacksaw Ridge with an equally intense performance in this picture. Those expect ing a co-starring role for Driver, however, will be disappointed with his compara tively brief screen time.
LIVE BY NIGHT
// “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.” That classic line is uttered by Al Pacino as Michael Corleone in 1990’s The Godfather: Part III, but truthfully, it can easily be muttered by any audience member who happens to catch Live by Night, Ben Affleck’s warmed-over plate of gangland goulash. Live by Night marks Affleck’s first proj ect in the director’s chair since his 2012 Best Picture Oscar winner Argo, and he also tackles the roles of writer, pro ducer and star. The movie is based on the novel by Dennis Lehane, and that largely explains its appeal to Affleck, whose first (and, by my reckoning, best) film as direc tor was 2007’s excellent adaptation of Lehane’s Gone Baby Gone. But Affleck’s literary loyalty comes at a price, since Live by Night emerges as the weakest of his four directorial at-bats to date. Technically, the picture can’t be faulted: It’s a gorgeous production, meticulously put together by a team of seasoned Hol lywood vets. This assemblage includes cinematographer Robert Richardson, who frames the saga in expansive and immacu late ways that seek to enhance the myth making (Richardson won a trio of Oscars for similar approaches on Hugo, The Aviator and JFK). Only in this case, the text can’t keep pace with the illustrations. There’s noth ing inherently wrong with the story, which centers on Joe Coughlin (Affleck), a Boston mobster who’s sent to Tampa to oversee operations and finds himself tangling with rival gangsters as well as the local Ku Klux Klan.
But there’s also little that’s fresh, with Affleck dutifully following a dog-eared playbook that’s been in rotation since the days when James Cagney would periodi cally gun down Humphrey Bogart. Select vignettes add some flavor — a sit-down with a Klan flunky leads to an extremely satisfying denouement — but nothing can overcome the implausibility of its leading character, a guy who seems entirely too sweet to be involved in such a nasty business.
HIDDEN FIGURES
/// Based on Margot Lee Shetterly’s non fiction book, Hidden Figures places Kath erine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson) at the forefront, relating how she was tapped for her skills as a mathematician to help NASA’s Space Task Group (headed by Kevin Costner’s tough but fair director) crunch the numbers needed to success fully send astronaut John Glenn (win ningly played by Glen Powell) into space and have him safely return to Earth. As Katherine copes with prejudice on various fronts, her best friends and col leagues Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spen cer) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae) are having equal difficulty in finding ways to advance in a society that frowns disap provingly upon their skin color. Clearly, these women are going to over come all manner of adversity and emerge triumphant, so – as is often the case – the pleasure is not in the destination but in the journey. CS
FEB 1-7, 2017
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