Review #1,303: 'Suburbicon' (2017)

The town of Suburbicon was the picture-postcard image of the American Dream and wholesome family values for Americans in the 1950s and 60s. No doubt for many, it still is, with its picket fences, perfectly-trimmed lawns, cheery residents, and clean, crime-free streets. But of course, this Norman Rockwell painting come to life is only a utopia if you're white, and so the foundations of this suburban slice of apple pie are rocked when a black family, the Mayers, move in. The chatty and chubby postman suddenly starts to stutter and quickly back away at the sight of them, and neighbours gawk open-mouthed while they water their lawns. Soon enough, town meetings turn to right-wing rallies, Confederate flags start to appear, and the black family find their home surrounded by an angry white mob calling for them to pack up and get out.

Set in 1959, before the Civil Rights Act would make such an occurrence a hate-crime, Suburbicon has plenty of satirical bite and good intentions, but feels like a blender stuffed with half-baked ideas. Strangely enough, the arrival of the Mayers and their subsequent experiences isn't the focus of the film, but instead plays out as a sub-plot, escalating in the background while the main (and way less interesting) story unfolds. Snatched up by George Clooney and writing partner Grant Heslov, Suburbicon was once a canned Coen Brothers project from the 1980s, a story of a shocking crime hidden away behind the plastic smiles of American suburbia, and may have possibly served as the inspiration for the Brothers' 1996 masterpiece Fargo. But Clooney, here directing his sixth feature film - and the first in which he doesn't appear in the front of the camera - is politically-minded and insists on making the film's themes contemporary. The result is an unfocused, all too mannered mess.

Looking much more like your typical resident of Suburbicon, Matt Damon's Gardner Lodge is a bespectacled, slightly overweight family man who lives with his disabled wife Rose (Julianne Moore) and his son Nicky (Noah Jupe). One night, Nicky is awoken by his father who tells him to get dressed and come downstairs. There waiting are two strange men, who intimidate and humiliate the family before knocking them all out with chloroform. The result of this horrific home invasion is the death of Rose, and the remaining family, including Rose's twin sister Margaret (also Moore), are apparently rocked by the experience. Margaret moves in to offer emotional support, and Gardner stoically tries to get on with things despite everyone offering their condolences at every turn. But is there something more sinister at play? Why does Nicky witness his father visiting his aunt's bedroom late at night and failing to pick the two men (played by Glenn Fleshler and Alex Hassell) out of a line-up when they are apprehended by the police?

Clooney wants you to ask these questions, but the film takes it time to answer them. Suburbicon often plays like a mystery, trying to keep you guessing despite the fun really lying in watching its characters deal with the consequences of their actions. It's far too restrained to be as savage as it needs to be in order to be compelling, and really shines a slight on the Coen's talent for bringing their stories to life. We should be laughing as Gardner's walls close in around him and wincing at his efforts to escape them, but instead we're lumped with figuring out the plot and distracted by the increasingly hostile mob gathering outside the Mayers' place. Thank God then, for Oscar Isaac, who pops up as a charismatic, moustached insurance investigator who doesn't quite buy Gardner and Margaret's game. It's a great role, one I would have expected Clooney himself to play, and livens up the entire movie as it starts to really struggle to handle the many plot-threads. Suburbicon has aspirations to be a movie for the history books: the story of walls, hostility and chaos clearly tie in with Trump's America. But as much as I like him, Clooney isn't the director for such a task, and Suburbicon is too much of a confused slog to pack much of a punch.


Directed by: George Clooney
Starring: Matt Damon, Julianne Moore, Oscar Isaac, Noah Jupe, Glenn Fleshler, Alex Hassell
Country: UK/USA

Rating: **

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,086: 'Money Monster' (2016)

Wall Streets fat cats are the target of Jodie Foster's real-time thriller Money Monster, as a live broadcast of a tacky but successful financial advice show is turned into edge-of-the-seat entertainment by those watching. It's a satire of both our eagerness to lap up whatever gibberish were told as long as it promises to make us money, and our morbid fascination with watching live streams of death and destruction in the era of information. Although both subjects have been tackled before, it's an intriguing premise, especially with the acting talent involved. Sadly, Foster seemingly hasn't picked up on the skills of David Fincher and Martin Scorsese while under their direction, and Money Monster is a toothless, unfocused effort.

Financial expert Lee Gates (George Clooney) is about to air the latest edition of Money Monster, a show in which he dishes out money-making advice on the stock market in a cynical, over-the-top style. In the wake of a technical 'glitch' in a trading algorithm which cost stockholders £800 million, IBIS CEO Walt Camby (Dominic West) pulls out of a live interview, leaving IBIS chief communications officer Diane Lester (Caitriona Balfe) to face Gates' questions instead. Once the show goes live, delivery driver Kyle Budwell (Jack O'Connell) bursts onto the set with a gun and a home-made bomb jacket, demanding answers to why the $60,000 he invested in IBIS has vanished without explanation, leaving Gates and his trusted director Patty Fenn (Julia Roberts) to track down Camby and keep Kyle distracted.

The real-time format seems custom made for tension and excitement, but Foster displays little talent for setting the pulses racing. Her approach is to shoot clinically and unfussily, similar in many ways to Clint Eastwood, who has made some excellent movies, but whose films of late have been somewhat cold and careless. It blows its wad early on, serving up all the best moments before the film really gets going. Although he is hardly the buffoon he plays regularly under the guidance of the Coen brothers, watching Clooney dance to rap music while wearing an oversized dollar-sign necklace is a joy, and he plays the despicable cable-host reptile remarkably well. When he is quickly silenced by the gun-waving intruder, he stops his sleazeball routine and begins an unbelievable redemptive arc, losing the charisma in the process.

The same can be said of O'Connell, who channels the same repressed rage he did so well in the excellent Starred Up (2013), but is quickly subdued as Gates and Fenn start to ask their own questions. He is arguably the true hero of the film, if somewhat misguided, but Foster seems to lose interest in him while the rich take over and try to save the day instead. It's a contradictory message, and the decision to make the enemy one man with an expensive suit and an untrustworthy smile, rather than the masters of the universe running the world that the film should be attacking, reeks of a lack of ambition. It's a missed opportunity, and the performances are the only real positive I took away from the film. I would have been happier watching a movie focused solely on a man like Gates, and what helps him sleep at night.


Directed by: Jodie Foster
Starring: George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Jack O'Connell, Dominic West, Caitriona Balfe, Giancarlo Esposito
Country: USA

Rating: **

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,037: 'Hail, Caesar!' (2016)

When a film-maker builds up such a formidable body of work, it's all the more crushing when their next project falls somewhat flat. The Coen brothers Joel and Ethan have been churning out genre-bending masterpieces ever since 1984 with Blood Simple, and maintained a healthy independent spirit until they were eventually noticed by mainstream Hollywood with 1996's Fargo. Ever since, despite still serving up great work such as No Country for Old Men (2007) and Inside Llewyn Davis (2013), their filmography has been occasionally blighted by bewildering misfires such as the double-whammy of Intolerable Cruelty (2003) and The Ladykillers (2004). Sadly, they've done it again with Hail, Caesar!.

It's obvious that the Coens hold a keen interest in the old Hollywood system of the 1940's and 50's. They were satirising the world they view with a certain curiosity and perhaps a little disdain back in 1991 with the outstanding Barton Fink. Yet while that film portrayed a bleak, subdued world full of madness and loneliness as John Turturro's titular script-writer struggled with his work and his own demons, Hail, Caesar! is the glitzy, garish world of big-budget biblical epics and movie stars with everything to hide. Studio head Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin) is the man to try and hold it all together, from having to shield his actors' shady pasts from pesky twin journalists Thora and Thessaly Thacker (both Tilda Swinton) to handling an organisation of academic-type communists who have kidnapped his biggest star Baird Whitlock (George Clooney).

Working almost like a series of loosely-connected vignettes, the Coens also weave numerous sub-plots into the mix. Mannix must also deal with the issue that one of his leading ladies, DeeAnna Moran (Scarlett Johnansson) is unmarried but with child and can no longer fit into her mermaid costume. Singing cowboy actor Hobie Doyle (Alden Ehrenreich), a pretty face more accustomed to strumming the guitar and riding horseback, is thrown into a drama role at the last minute, much to the frustration of sophisticated director Laurence Laurentz (Ralph Fiennes). There are smaller roles also for Channing Tatum, Frances McDormand and Jonah Hill in what is an unnecessarily bulky ensemble that the Coens struggle to keep a grasp of. With no real sense of direction, Hail, Caesar! often feels like a collection of clips from separate, better movies.

Despite the narrative flaws, there's still plenty to savour. Those distinctly 'Coen-eque' moments are peppered throughout, with Hobie's awkward first day on set and Channing Tatum's musical tap-dance being particular standouts. Although Brolin excels and Clooney makes for a very convincing wimp, Ehrenreich is the one who steals the movie as the extremely likeable dimwit who may actually be the only one paying attention. He demonstrates great comic timing and all the charm of the western idols his character is paying homage to, and he seems the perfect fit for a young Han Solo in Disney's as-yet untitled origin story. The film may have even worked better as a whole with Hobie as the lead and doing away with several side-stories. Instead, it is an unfocused splurge of good ideas rather toothlessly executed but wonderfully performed. Definitely lower-league Coen.


Directed by: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Starring: Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Alden Ehrenreich, Ralph Fiennes, Scarlett Johansson, Tilda Swinton, Channing Tatum, Frances McDormand, Jonah Hill
Country: UK/USA/Japan

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #751: 'The Monuments Men' (2014)

It's rather difficult to spot a George Clooney-directed movie. He's riffed on the Coen Brothers, Billy Wilder and Alan J. Pakula, without ever settling on a style of his own. Of course, there's nothing wrong with taking inspiration from masters of their craft, but there's something undeniably empty about Clooney's output (the excellent Good Night, and Good Luck (2005) excluded). His latest, a light-hearted, men-on-a-mission World War II romp, is quite possibly his worst yet. It wants to be a war movie of old - a breezy, patriotic adventure best enjoyed on a rainy Sunday afternoon, but ends up being awkward, saddled with an awful script penned by Clooney himself and frequent collaborator Grant Heslov.

After successfully convincing the U.S. President to assist in maintaining the cultural heritages of the countries ravaged the war, Frank Stokes (Clooney) is given the go-ahead to round up a crack team and enter Europe to save the art looted by the Nazis. Stokes and his friend James Granger (Matt Damon) quickly gather the team - which consists of Richard Campbell (Bill Murray), Donald Jeffries (Hugh Bonneville), Walter Garfield (John Goodman), Jean Claude Clermont (Jean Dujardin) and Preston Savitz (Bob Balaban). Granger heads to occupied France and hooks up with spy Claire Simon (Cate Blanchett), who believes the team are out to steal the art for themselves, while the rest of the group split up with various objectives.

Artistic licence has obviously been taken here, and there is no problem with that for the sake of both entertainment, and bringing the valiant efforts of those involved in the real Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Program, to people's attention. The undeniable greed of the Nazis (they hoped to open the Fuhrer Museum to home their loot) and the merciless destruction of any work produced by Jews, shouldn't be hard to convey to an audience. Yet, somehow Clooney struggles to make us care. Perhaps it's the cheery casualness of it all, or the fact that the film is nothing more than a few scenes lacking context where the cast mess around without letting us in on the joke.

This is Clooney as Steven Soderbergh, clearly channelling his experiences on Ocean's Eleven (2001), but lacking the ability to control an ensemble or pen a script that helps establish each character. On paper, the cast is of the highest quality, but in the film, they are all basically the same person. Everyone is 'the funny guy', yet no-one is funny. Without any feeling of a consistent threat throughout the film, it's hard to care, so Clooney lumps in an 'I think I've stepped on a mine' scene near the climax which cries of desperation. If this had been made 50 years ago with, say, Henry Fonda, this would probably be a classic. But this is 2014, and The Monuments Men is one of the biggest disappointments of recent years.


Directed by: George Clooney
Starring: George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett, John Goodman, Bob Balaban, Jean Dujardin, Hugh Bonneville
Country: USA/Germany

Rating: **

Tom Gillespie

Review #721: 'Gravity' (2013)

Movies in space are as common as they come, be it the shaky sets and questionable science of the 1940's and 50's, the camp and kitschy 60's and 70's, the alien-filled deep space of the 80's and 90's, or the explosive CGI of nowadays, audiences have always had a thirst for space opera and film-makers have always had a vision of the great darkness above the sky. But never has it seemed so real, so beautiful and so utterly terrifying as it is in Gravity, Alfono Cuaron's first movie since the excellent Children of Men (2006). It is a truly stellar vision, possibly the finest use of special effects ever. Yet oddly, I kinda hated Gravity, because for all it's promise and early vigour, it's just your average Hollywood popcorn-muncher wrapped in a pretty bow.

Deep into a space mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope, rookie engineer Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) focuses on her work while the wily veteran Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) hums pop tunes and makes cocky remarks. Suddenly, they are hit by high-speed debris from a Russian satellite and are flung into space. Their shuttle, Explorer, is destroyed and their entire crew dead, and their only hope is to float across the great nothing to a Chinese space station, where they hope to re-connect with Houston and find a way home. But with the debris quickly making it's way back around and the perils of nothingness in their way, Stone is faced with some quick and tough decisions.

It's a shame I didn't get to see this in the cinema, as, although I'm not a fan of the 3D revolution, the staggering visuals and wonderful cinematography would have no doubt complimented the medium. Space here is a terrifying beast, the first time cinema has really captured how vast it really is. When Stone is first flung away from the Hubble, she spins manically out of control, reaching out for objects that aren't there, screaming when there's no-one there to hear her. Of course, smooth operator Kowalski is on hand to fly out and rescue her, but in those few minutes of desperation, she is truly alone.

Yet away from the action, Gravity dabbles in terrible, ham-fisted dialogue, familiar disaster-movie set-pieces, and heavy-handed metaphorical imagery about birth, death and life. This is the kind of film that has lines like "you've got to learn to let go" and "clear skies with a chance of satellite debris." Normally I would brush this off as your typical pap but I wanted and expected so much more from Gravity. After the heart-pounding opening 20 minutes, the film begins to drag, and actually feels long for a movie of just 90 minutes. Bullock's character is meant to an underdog, sympathetic in her never-say-die attitude, but she comes off as inept and annoying, and I fail to see why the Academy found her performance worthy of an nomination. A massive disappointment, but certainly a beautiful one.


Directed by: Alfonso Cuarón
Starring: Sandra Bullock, George Clooney
Country: USA/UK

Rating: **

Tom Gillespie

Review #363: 'The Ides of March' (2011)

In the height of the run-in for the Democratic Presidential candidate, young campaign manager Stephen Meyers (Ryan Gosling), who is working for Governer of Pennsylvania Mike Morris (George Clooney), is called for a meeting by rival campaigner Tom Duffy (Paul Giamatti) who attempts to convince him to jump ship. Meyers refuses, but fails to tell his boss Paul Zara (Philip Seymour Hoffman), only to admit it to him later. Furious at the lack of trust now between the two, Zara fires Meyers, who furiously tries to join the rival team. During this time, Meyers has been romancing intern Molly Stearns (Evan Rachel Wood), who may just harbour a secret of his own. Over the course of the film, Meyers learns the true nature of politics, and just what it takes to survive in the business.

There are three things that cannot be faulted with this film - that is the stellar acting by a multi-talented cast, the sharp script, and Clooney's direction. Gosling is quickly becoming Hollywood's favourite A-lister (even though I've been championing him for years!), combining good looks, charm, and a huge acting talent. 2011 was good to him, with this film, and the year's sleeper hit, Drive, catapulting him to stardom. The reliable supporting cast - Giamatti, Hoffman, Clooney, Wood, Jeffrey Wright and Marisa Tomei - all prove effective in their roles. The script, by Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon, and Clooney himself, packs a lot into its feature running time, but it keeps things rather tense and suitably fierce. And Clooney, who is quickly becoming a hugely confident director, keeps the style of the film very much that of the political thrillers of the 1970's. Not to say he is a homage director, but he clearly takes his styles from his peers. Given that America's finest cinematic era was the 70's, there's certainly nothing wrong with taking its influences from it.

Yet, given all the style and fine acting on display, The Ides of March seems rather pointless. It is clearly depicting the corruption of the self through politics as Gosling evolves from naive and passionate wunderkid, to morally dubious game-player, though it's nothing that has been seen before. So politics corrupts? No shit. A shame then, as I wanted to really like this film, and I suppose I did, but ultimately it left me yearning for more, and I felt the film would have been more effective as a mini-series, giving time to breathe life into its characters between the moments of back-stabbing and shady meetings. It's undoubtedly extremely well made and well-intentioned, but rather hollow. Clooney, however, still remains a director of promise, and I will still be eager to watch whatever he directs next.


Directed by: George Clooney
Starring: Ryan Gosling, George Clooney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Evan Rachel Wood, Marisa Tomei, Jeffrey Wright
Country: USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #332: 'The Descendants' (2011)

Hawaiian-based lawyer Matt King (George Clooney) is on the verge of brokering the sale of 25,000 acres of land which will make him and his extended family millionaires, when his wife is placed into a coma following a boating accident. Learning that she will never wake up, and that because of her will, the doctors will soon turn off the life support, Matt tries to re-connect with his two daughters, 17 year old Alexandra (Shailene Woodley) and 10 year old Scottie (Amara Miller). Scottie is in trouble at school for making inappropriate art and picking on fellow students, and Alexandra has problems with drinking. Matt also learns from Alexandra that his wife was having an affair with an estate agent named Brian Speer (Matthew Lillard), so they all travel to Kaua'i to confront him.

Director Alexander Payne's previous films have all focused on deeply flawed yet entirely real human beings, and The Descendants is no exception. His 2004 masterpiece Sideways, one of the finest comedy-dramas of its decade, focused on a depressive, bitter writer and his adulterous friend on their stag holiday. These were quite despicable characters, yet thanks to a smart script, brilliant performances, and some genuine humanity, you became invested in them almost instantly. Clooney's Matt is hardly as unlikeable as that, but he is a man who has all but neglected his family for years, and one that holds the cards to a land sale that could see one of the state's most beautiful and natural location turned into a tourist hotspot.

This is ultimately a story of re-discovery. Matt comes from a line of mixed white and Hawaiian descendants, and is constantly locked in a battle with himself over the sale of the land. He and his cousins plan to sell to a Hawaiian native, but the land is a vast area of beauty that he used to enjoy with his wife and children, and so by selling it, he will be ultimately selling himself out. Hawaii is key to the plot. Usually portrayed as a place of beauty and serenity, Payne breaks this trend in the first few scenes where he shows us the homeless shacked up on the beach, and the urban areas blowing with dirt and litter. It is also volcanic, and Payne shoots it with as many blues and greys as there are oranges and yellows. It is thought of as paradise, but as Matt tells us in the opening narration, "paradise can go fuck itself."

Clooney gives possibly the best performance of his career here. He has no beard to alter his appearance like his Oscar-winning turn in Syriana (2005), here he is laid bare, and gives his most emotionally naked performance. He has truly come a long way since Batman & Robin (1997) almost single-handedly destroyed his career before it started, and I wouldn't be surprised if his name is called for Best Actor in the upcoming  Academy Awards. Woodley is also impressive, quickly evolving from a generic bratty teenager into a mature confidant to her father.

The Descendants has been advertised and portrayed as a comedy-drama, and although their is some fine comic moments in the film, usually stemming from Nick Krause's surfer-dude Sid's inappropriate comments, the film is ultimately an emotional drama. This led to frustrated shufflings in the cinema by people expecting either a generic rom-com or a full-blown comedy, and caused one very annoying fat idiot behind me repeatedly yawning. It is about 15 minutes too long, and lingers too much on the rather predictable and un-involving sub-plot about the land sale, but The Descendants is powerfully written and often very moving, and is a fine example of how Alexander Payne is the finest storyteller of real human beings working today.


Directed by: Alexander Payne
Starring: George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, Amara Miller, Nick Krause, Beau Bridges, Matthew Lillard, Robert Forster
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #14: 'Fantastic Mr. Fox' (2009)

Wes Anderson's adaptation of Roahl Dahl's book of the same name casts aside the CGI animation of Pixar for some old-school stop-motion animation. It tells the familiar story of the cheeky Mr. Fox (voiced with the usual charm of George Clooney) who leaves his days of stealing chickens behind him to marry Mrs. Fox (Meryl Streep) and settle down with their newly born son, Ash (Jason Schwartzman). After buying up some new property that is situated near the land of Boggis, Bunce and Bean, three farmers with a terrible reputation, Mr. Fox is tempted into his old ways. He plans the heist of the century (in fox terms) to hit each farm individually without getting a scratch, aided by his loveable-but-dumb friend Badger (Bill Murray), and eventually his visiting nephew and natural athlete Kristofferson (Eric Chase Anderson).

When the farmers discover what Mr. Fox is up to, Franklin Bean (Michael Gambon) unites the three and plans a revenge attack on Fox's burrow. Soon, Mr. Fox has to team up with his own gang of rather hopeless animals to escape the tractors that have begun digging up their home. They also have to face Bean's cider-loving, knife-wielding, finger-snapping bodyguard Rat (Willem Dafoe). Feeling guilty for the situation he has placed his family and friends into, Mr. Fox must come up with a plan to defeat the persistent farmers.

Anderson's sense of humour that has been so present in his previous films is in full flow here. Clooney can deliver a quirky line like no other actor working in cinema today and his time working with the Coen brothers have clearly paid off. Mr. Fox is selfish, cocky and obnoxious, but with Clooney behind the microphone he is a completely loveable character. The quirkiness is upped by the presence of Anderson regulars Murray and Schwartzman, whose personalities shine through the animation and give their clay characters an important human feel. Michael Gambon also has a field day voicing the sadistic and psychopathic Bean, who in his own way is absolutely hilarious.

Anderson's decision to go with stop-motion animation adds a nostalgic edge to the film. The book is clearly beloved to the director, and to many people who have read this or any of the number of children's classics by Roahl Dahl. I remember reading Matilda, James And The Giant Peach and The BFG as a child in school and being fascinated and enthralled, and Fantastic Mr. Fox brought those memories back. Of course, the film's sense of humour is not in tone with the book, but the overall feel and charm of the film really captures the spirit of Dahl's books. The opening heist has Mr. Fox ingeniously navigate his way through a farmyard in the style of Super Mario Brothers. It is super-charged, throwing reason and continuity out the window for the sake of having some immature fun, and it works.

Rushmore (1998) and The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), Anderson's two greatest films, were two of the best American comedies to come out in recent years, and Fantastic Mr. Fox adds something different and equally impressive to an already-impressive CV. It also cements his status as a director whose films you can always look forward to. The film's giddiness and unashamed childishness elevates the film, and it's nice to see a children's story adapted without the need for flashy effects or feeling the need to darken the tone. Highly recommended.


Directed by: Wes Anderson
Starring: George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Eric Chase Anderson, Bill Murray, Michael Gambon, Willem Dafoe, Owen Wilson, Jarvis Cocker
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie