Film

Battle of the Bay

13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi

I have liked three Michael Bay films in the past. Those are Bad Boys 2, The Island and the goofy Pain & Gain. That’s it. No Transformers, no The Rock. Keep that spastic shit far away from me. 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi is Bay’s best film yet. Is it the great film this true story deserves? No it isn’t. It is, however, a strong, competent effort from a guy whose action films are usually incomprehensible and schmaltzy. So, I think my “I Hate Bay” club membership card is going to be revoked … for now. Why is it his best film? Because the cast totally rocks from start to finish, and, to put it bluntly, Bay keeps himself at bay with this one. He actually tells a story, and a harrowing one, keeping over-baked action film trickery to somewhat of a minimum. There’s real, palpable tension in this movie, something I’ve never felt during a Bay movie before, unless frustrated, confused nausea counts as tension. The Bay tricks are still there: rapid paced editing, gratuitous shots of a buff John Krasinski glistening in the moonlight, and those unnecessary slow-motion shots that make everything look like a car commercial. The difference this time is that I didn’t find those tricks as distracting as in past Bay action films. This one seems properly modulated. It also has an appropriately gritty feel to it, as opposed to the shimmering sheen of past Bay efforts. The film is based on the book 13 Hours: The Inside Account of What Really Happened In Benghazi, written by Mitchell Zuckoff with the cooperation of the CIA contractors who fought during the Benghazi attacks. Some of the characters in the film retain the actual names of those contractors, while others have aliases.

The movie gets right to it. On the anniversary of 9/11 in 2012, a CIA security force in Benghazi, Libya, must try to protect a U.S. Ambassador during a terrorist attack on U.S. compounds. Because of the nature of these compounds, the security force finds itself dealing with a bunch of red tape prohibiting them from flying into action and, much by Bob Grimm worse, possibly preventing them from receiving assistance from the U.S. military. bgrimm@ Krasinski plays Jack Silva (an alias for newsreview.com one of the contractors), a former Navy SEAL stationed in Benghazi and deeply missing his 3 family back in the states. Amid reports of possible terrorist attacks on U.S. compounds, Silva remains on security detail, walking through the streets of Libya and posing as an American agent’s husband. Other CIA contractors depicted in the film include Tyrone "Rone" Woods (James Badge Dale), Kris "Tanto" Paronto (Pablo Schreiber … half-brother of Liev), Dave "Boon" Benton (David Denman), John "Tig" Tiegen (Dominic Fumusa) and Mark "Oz" Geist (Max Martini). When a Libyan gang busts through a security gate and attacks the compound where Ambassador Chris Stevens (Matt Letscher) is staying, the contractors, after unfortunate delays, try in vain to rescue him. The action then goes to another outpost where the contractors battle hordes of attackers all night, a night that culminates in fatal mortar attacks Granted, there’s going to be a lot of back and forth on what’s fact, embellished fact or pure fiction in this film. The CIA chief portrayed by David Costabile in the movie is already crying foul about the depiction of his actions. So it would be a stretch to call 13 Hours a definitive portrayal of the Benghazi events. It isn’t a stretch to say the actors are all quite good (especially Krasinski and Schreiber). The attacks are terrifying with the soldiers often not knowing if the people approaching them are friends or enemies. Bay does a nice job of keeping things offbalance and scary. In the end, Bay delivers the goods in a fine action film. That certainly won’t be enough for some. There’s a certain lack of depth to this movie. It doesn’t have the heft of Zero Dark Thirty. With that taken into consideration, there’s still no denying that it’s a fairly strong piece of action entertainment. Ω

"Did you put my stapler in Jello?"

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excellent 4 The Big Short Director Adam McKay, the master behind such broad comedy gems as Anchorman and Step Brothers, flexes his slightly more serious muscles for this one, a take on the housing bubble that nearly destroyed the global economy. An ensemble cast featuring Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling and Brad Pitt make this a funny-yet-scary look at how big banks nearly sent us back to the stone ages. Carell is especially good as Mark Baum, a banker with a conscience who realizes a little too late that things are going bad, and his wealth is going to come at the expense of a many U.S. homeowners. Bale is typically good as Michael Burry, the man who saw the storm coming and made a boatload of money betting against the biggest monsters of modern finance. Pitt has fun as a financial guru who has taken to the hills in anticipation of the oncoming financial apocalypse, while Gosling gives the whole thing a nice Martin Scorsese vibe as a fast-talking banker/narrator. It’s a drama, but it’s often funny. (Margot Robbie in a bubble bath … brilliant!) McKay shows that his chops go well beyond directing Will Ferrell with a fireman’s mustache.

3Daddy’s Home The second pairing of Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg isn’t as funny as their first offering, The Other Guys, but it’s still funny enough to warrant a look. Ferrell is in bumbling mode as Brad, stepfather to a couple of kids who hate him and the husband of Sarah (Linda Cardellini). Just when the kids are starting to only hate him a little, Sarah’s ex-husband Dusty (Wahlberg) comes back into the picture in a boorish bid to win back his ex’s love, reclaim his children and get Brad out of the house. This provides a setup that sees Ferrell’s Brad subjected to all forms of humiliation and injury, including a calamitous trek through his house on a motorcycle and a rendezvous with electrical wires after getting some impressive air off a half-pipe. Ferrell and Wahlberg are funny together, and the movie does a decent job of making them both likeable idiots. Thomas Haden Church steals scenes as Brad’s obnoxious boss at a smooth jazz radio station, as does Hannibal Buress as a handyman who winds up crashing on Brad’s couch. The film is nasty, but it’s neutered a bit by it’s PG-13 rating. It’s clear this is being marketed at families, but that’s a mistake right there. I’m sure there’s a nastier cut of this movie, and if I have a complaint it’s that the movie doesn’t go all the way with its sinister message. It pulls some punches, keeping it from being the dark comedy it deserves to be, and making it more of a feel-good film with some sinister undertones. Still, I laughed enough, and the film is recommended to fans of Ferrell and Wahlberg.

5The Hateful Eight Quentin Tarantino returns to form after the just OK Django Unchained with yet another masterpiece, a grandiose Western potboiler that boasts his best dialogue in years and an Oscar caliber performance from Jennifer Jason Leigh. I didn’t dislike Django, but I thought there was something a little off and sluggish about it. It definitely left me wanting more from Tarantino on the Western front. I thought he had a better, grittier Western still in him, and this film proves that he did. Many of the Tarantino cast regulars return, including Samuel L. Jackson, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen and Kurt Russell. Russell, who delivered what I believe is his best career work in Tarantino’s Death Proof as Stuntman Mike, gets another chance to go to town with a Tarantino script and he embraces it with much enthusiasm. Russell plays John “The Hangman” Ruth, a bounty hunter renowned for bringing in his prisoners alive so that their necks meet the noose in the end. Riding in a stagecoach to Red Rock, with the notorious Daisy Domergue (Leigh), his latest bounty, chained to his arm, he comes across bounty hunter Major Marquis Warren (Jackson), and this is where the fun begins. The party rescues one more man, future Red Rock Sheriff Chris Mannix (an outstanding Walton Goggins), from an oncoming blizzard. The stagecoach heads for Minnie’s Haberdashery as a means of shelter, where they meet the rest of the cast and tensions soar. On top of being a terrific mystery containing one of the best screenplays Tarantino has ever turned out, this is also one of his very best-looking films. Do not miss it on the big screen.

5The Revenant For the second year in a row, director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu has delivered the year’s best film. The best movie of 2015 is The Revenant, an eyepopping Western thriller that gives Leonardo DiCaprio, the winner of the Golden Globe for Best Actor, the role that should finally score him that first Oscar. The innovative Inarritu was also responsible for last year’s Birdman. DiCaprio gives it everything he’s got as Hugh Glass, a scout working with fur traders on the American frontier in the early nineteenth century. Glass, while doing his job, gets a little too close to a couple of bear cubs, and Mama Grizzly is not all too happy about such an occurrence. What follows is a lengthy and vicious bear attack where Glass tangles with the nasty mother not once, but twice. Inarritu, DiCaprio and some amazing visual technicians put you in the middle of that bear attack, minus the searing pain of actually having a bear’s claws and teeth rip through your flesh. Trust me when I tell you, it’s an unforgettably visceral moment when that bear steps on DiCaprio’s head. DiCaprio is incredible here, as are Tom Hardy as a villainous fur trapper who wants to leave Glass behind, Domhnall Gleeson as the commander forced to make horrible decisions, and Will Poulter as the compassionate man who makes a big mistake. It’s a revenge tale amazingly told.

4Room A young woman (Brie Larson) and her five-year-old son, Jack (Jacob Tremblay) are held prisoner in a backyard shed. When they manage to escape, mother and son must learn to cope with life outside of their prison walls, and reacquaint themselves with their immediate family. While Larson is excellent here, Tremblay is the biggest reason to see this movie. His portrayal of a small boy who has only known one room his entire life is revelatory, a performance like none other. While Larson has picked up a Golden Globe and a much-deserved Oscar nomination, Tremblay was robbed. Joan Allen delivers strong work as Jack’s grandma, dealing with the horror that brought him into the world and loving him the instant they meet. William H. Macy has a small but memorable part as Jack’s grandpa, a person who can’t get over what happened to his daughter. Lenny Abrahamson, who made last year’s excellent and relatively unknown Michael Fassbender comedy, Frank, directs the movie. Based on his work with these two films, he’s one of the industry’s most interesting directors. The movie basically plays out in two parts, the imprisonment and the aftermath. Larson delivers a performance deserving of the accolades, but it’s Tremblay who makes the biggest mark.

5Star Wars: The Force Awakens With this seventh chapter in the Star Wars saga, J.J. Abrams and crew have done exactly what they did with Star Trek, and created a fun movie that not only respects the blessed canon of a beloved franchise, but stands on its own as a piece of supreme entertainment. It’s 2015’s most entertaining film, for sure, and a movie that stands up proudly in the realm of Star Wars movies. In many ways, Star Wars: The Force Awakens is the best movie in the franchise. I won’t say it’s my personal, sentimental favorite. (I think The Empire Strikes Back still holds that post, but a little more time will tell.) The Force Awakens has solid storytelling, its special effects are first rate, and the performances are, undoubtedly, the best the franchise has ever seen. That’s due in part to Daisy Ridley, an incredible talent who becomes an instant star for the foreseeable future as Rey, a scrappy scavenger on a Tatooine-like desert planet. I don’t think I’m overdoing it by saying she delivers the alltime, all-around best dramatic performance in the Star Wars universe in this role. The film will leave you craving for more, and a good Star Wars craving is a nice thing to have.