Beau Knapp – People Talking

Movie Review – ‘The Nice Guys’ – Hitsville U.S.A.

Directed by Shane Black
Written by Shane Black & Anthony Bagarozzi
Cast: Ryan Gosling, Russell Crowe, Angourie Rice, Kim Basinger, Margaret Qualley, Yaya DaCosta, Keith David, Beau Knapp, Matt Bomer, Daisy Tahan, Ty Simpkins, Hannibal Buress
Soundtrack: David Buckley and John Ottman

Even if you don’t know him by name, if you’re an action movie fan, you probably already love yourself some Shane Black.

From being one of the guys in Predator, to being the screenwriter of Lethal Weapon 1, 2, 3, and 4, to other odd jobs like directing Iron Man 3, Shane Black has always had a knack for blending action and humor.

Nowhere is this gift more apparent than in, dare I say, his magnum opus, The Nice Guys, which is, if you couldn’t tell already, a 1970s Los Angeles pulp detective story with more than a dash of comedy.

I expected this movie to have laughs. I was not necessarily expecting it to be funnier than, say, Deadpool. In fact, The Nice Guys is probably funnier than any marketed comedy you’ll see this year, but, don’t get it twisted, it’s still a killer detective story at heart that’s got fangs when needed.

The key to the whole thing, save for Black’s screenplay, is the chemistry between Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe. Both have comedic chops on their own, particularly Gosling, but together they’re absolute dyn-o-mite. Throw in a brilliant young actress named Angourie Rice and you have a film that’s solid gold. We don’t get too many private eye stories anymore (pretty much the whole reason why Shane Black wrote this), and I’m sure glad we now have this one, but I’m willing to bet this movie could have been about anything, and as long as you had that combo of Black, Crowe, and Gosling, it’d be a smash (having Keith David show up certainly doesn’t hurt either, because that guy rules).

Other than that I don’t feel the need to say too much more. I anticipate The Nice Guys will be a Top 5 movie in 2016, and you definitely don’t want to miss out.

Go see it at your earliest convenience at your local moviehouse.

Rating: ★★★★½

Movie Review – ‘The Gift’ – Something’s a Little Off

Written and Directed by Joel Edgerton
Cast: Jason Bateman, Rebecca Hall, Joel Edgerton, Busy Philipps, Beau Knapp, Wendell Pierce, David Denman, Katie Aselton, P.J. Byrne
Soundtrack: Danny Bensi & Saunder Jurriaans

I’m in a tough spot with this one.

On the one hand, this is a mystery thriller filled with plot twists, and people have a right to not have those spoiled, so I don’t want to give anything too important away (the trailer reveals quite a bit as it is).

On the other hand, I want to give ‘The Gift’ an honest assessment, because it certainly did not live up to my expectations.

First things first, don’t believe the hoopla. As it stands, this movie has a 93% rating on RottenTomatoes, but the current Metacritic score of 76 is much more accurate. To be sure, ‘The Gift’ is a decent psychological thriller, and a worthy directorial debut from Joel Edgerton (I sincerely hope he continues to make movies, though perhaps with some more collaborative help), but it’s not to be compared with Hitchcock, or Fincher, or Soderbergh, or even Dan Gilroy.

Frankly, given the hype, I was hoping ‘The Gift’ would be the best thriller since ‘Side Effects‘, but it’s a far cry from that, though not without merit. Edgerton’s overall story is actually the strongest factor, the big problem is that it’s not captured on screen in the best way possible. One major issue is the lack of a strong protagonist; this may have been done to help add to the mystery, but it left me grasping for connection. It’s one thing for a story to have twists and turns, but if you’re not really connecting to a character (or captivated by an interesting performance), then you’re not going to feel it when things move.

Also, what would be seen as a strength in many movies is actually a weakness in ‘The Gift’, in that it gets right into it. The initial meeting between the two former schoolmates happens in the first five minutes, the first gift happens in the fist ten, and within the first fifteen minutes ol’ Gordo is knocking on the door of the house. I think a little more build up with just our main couple would have better served the movie, and maybe helped bring more impact to what comes later.

Thematically, ‘The Gift’ covers quite a bit, such as the oft-encountered awkwardness of basic human interaction, running from the past vs. confronting it, fear of repeating negative events, and the nature of responsibility over our own lives and others’. While these aspects help give the film some depth, it wasn’t enough to keep the movie from falling flat for me.

Overall, ‘The Gift’ is simple and effective, with a small and competent cast, and a lot to appreciate from a general story perspective. Unfortunately, while there are plenty of twists you don’t see coming, there’s a lot of predictability in other areas, which tempers the thrills.

It’s not a bad movie by any stretch, just don’t expect a game-changer.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Movie Review – ‘Southpaw’ – I AM PREDICTABLE

Southpaw

Directed by Antoine Fuqua
Written by Kurt Sutter
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rachel McAdams, Oona Laurence, Forest Whitaker, 50 Cent, Naomie Harris, Beau Knapp
Soundtrack: James Horner (God rest him)

What a disappointing week.

First, the USMNT gets knocked out of the Gold Cup by Jamaica, and now I have to talk about this movie.

Let me say this first: if, for some reason, you have not seen the trailer for ‘Southpaw’, but still want to see it, do it; you have my blessing, but do not, not, not watch the trailer before paying to see it.

Because, for whatever reason, the people marketing this film decided to put all of us moviegoers in a Catch 22. They wanted to draw us in by capturing our attention with the trailer, but, unfortunately, seeing this movie after seeing the trailer is a largely futile, and, dare I say, boring experience. I hate using the word ‘boring’. I like to think my attention span is better than the vast majority of people out there, but ‘Southpaw’ forced my hand on this.

I hope I’m making myself clear here.

I desperately wanted to like this movie, I really did, and it almost, kind of, sort of won me over in the end, but not enough to recommend it; because right off the bat I spent more than 55% of the running time feeling my buttocks go numb, because no matter how hard the movie tried to grab me by the heartstrings, it just couldn’t, because I almost always knew what came next, because the trailer had already told me.

And it really is a waste, because, by and large, ‘Southpaw’ is well done. It’s competently shot, the performances are pretty good all around, and they did a great job of getting the real world of pay-per-view boxing (including HBO’s Jim Lampley and Roy Jones, Jr.) into the film, but there’s nothing special enough to transcend the predictability of the script. To be sure, it starts to get better in the second half, and eventually it did tug on my heartstrings, but it took way too long to get there, and for that reason I can’t recommend people seeing this theatrically if they’ve already seen the trailer.

The production values are certainly better than most direct-to-video garbage out there, but, unfortunately, ‘Southpaw’ is barely worth a rental.

Rating: ★★½ out of five

P.S.
Despite being a movie about a boxer, I would not call this a “sports movie”. It’s more of a straight drama that happens to be about an athlete. Just to be clear.