Tag: Ben Foster

New & Old Twofer – ‘Hal’ and ‘Coming Home’

Hal

Directed by Amy Scott
Interviewees: Allison Anders, Judd Apatow, Rosanna Arquette, Beau Bridges, Jeff Bridges, Lisa Cholodenko, Caleb Deschanel, Pablo Ferro, Jane Fonda, Louis Gossett Jr., Lee Grant, Grif Griffis, Norman Jewison, Robert C. Jones, Adam McKay, Charles Mulvehill, Alexander Payne, David O. Russell, Cat Stevens, Robert Towne, Jon Voight, Haskell Wexler, Jeff Wexler, and Ben Foster as the voice of Hal Ashby
Soundtrack: Heather McIntosh

Most people know the influential American directors of the Seventies: Spielberg, Coppola, Lumet, Lucas, Friedkin, Altman, Kubrick, Scorsese, even Brian De Palma is finally getting some due, but Hal Ashby tends to get overlooked; and, to be sure, his films don’t necessarily have the same level of name recognition as the others, but, make no mistake, the filmmakers of today know his work.

I wasn’t a total newbie to Ashby, the old dope-smoking, music-loving beatnik-turned-master auteur, before seeing this documentary.  I’d seen a couple of his directorial efforts (The Last Detail and Being There) in my lifetime; and I’d seen a couple of his editorial collaborations with Norman Jewison (The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming! and In The Heat of the Night, which he won the Best Editing Oscar for), but it’s fair to say I was relatively unfamiliar with the man himself.

He was born to humble means in Ogden, Utah (though never a Mormon), made his way to Hollywood, and worked on films for William Wyler and George Stevens (among others) before meeting Norman Jewison, who essentially gave him a promotion to editor in the late-Sixties before finally striking out on his own as a full-fledged director.

As a documentary, I found Hal entertaining, it’s definitely much more slickly made than others in the genre, but at the same time I was expecting more content.  To put it another way, I’m not sure it goes much deeper than its trailer (which is also basically the introduction to the film).  It’s still a fun ride, and certainly a good primer for the uninitiated, and I don’t want to downplay the labor of love aspect, but, I struggle to give it a theatrical recommendation.

Rating: ★★★½ (out of five)

 

Coming Home

Original Release Date: February 15, 1978
Directed by Hal Ashby
Written by Waldo Salt and Robert C. Jones (screenplay), Nancy Dowd (story)
Cast: Jane Fonda, Jon Voight, Bruce Dern, Penelope Milford, Robert Carradine, Robert Ginty, Mary Gregory, Kathleen Miller, Beeson Carroll, Willie Tyler, Lou Carello, Charles Cyphers, Olivia Cole, Tresa Hughes, Bruce French, Jonathan Banks, Marc McClure

I know Coming Home got a whole bunch of awards season love at the time, and it’s a fine film, and I’m not even mad about its politics (after all, I love All Quiet on the Western Front), but, forty years on, it seems clear that much of the love was politically motivated (it’s not even the best Hal Ashby movie I’ve seen), which is nothing new, it still happens, and that’s all I’ll say about that.

It’s a heavy film, to be sure, and (something I feel like I’ve been saying a lot lately) on the whole it might be more interesting than good, but it’s worth a watch if only for the strong performances (especially Jon Voight) and unconventional use of music.  We’ve become accustomed to “needle-drop” movies that use portions of songs, usually cutting in time to the music, but Coming Home utilizes licensed songs more like John Carpenter uses his score, like “wallpaper”.  I honestly can’t think of another movie that does this and it made for quite the unique experience.

Still, there’s something missing that I can’t quite put my finger on.  Perhaps it’s because the story and characterization are over-simplistic in places, and, personally, I wish the movie established itself more as the period piece it is, but, ultimately, it does get its message across, and there’s something to be said for that.

Rating: ★★★½ (out of five)

Movie Review – ‘Hell or High Water’ – Lords of the Plains

Directed by David Mackenzie
Written by Taylor Sheridan
Cast: Chris Pine, Ben Foster, Jeff Bridges, Gil Birmingham, Dale Dickey, Buck Taylor, Katy Mixon, Kevin Rankin
Soundtrack: Nick Cave & Warren Ellis

West Texas is poor, banks are bad, and Shiner Bock and Lone Star Beer are good (not to mention Pabst Blue Ribbon).

I don’t think it’s cliché to say we don’t really get major films like ‘Hell or High Water’ much anymore.  You know, a movie with an original script, a few big name actors to carry the load, a budget that’s more than a few dollars but less than a hundred million, and a compelling story rather than a series of scenes leading from one schlock action set piece to the next.

It’ll inevitably be compared to ‘No Country for Old Men‘, which is fair, given that they’re set in the same general vicinity and both center around cash, but I’d call ‘High Water’ less surreal than your typical Coen Brothers affair, and more forthright with its sense of humor (plus, it’s not based on a book).

Much of ‘Hell or High Water’ is straightforward, including the plot.  A pair of brothers, Toby and Tanner (Chris Pine and Ben Foster), start robbing banks in order to raise enough money to wrangle control of their mama’s land back from the bank, and it’s up to Texas Rangers Marcus and Alberto (Jeff Bridges and Gil Birmingham) to put a stop to it.

It might seem small time in comparison to other heist films, but part of what makes ‘Hell or High Water’ so fascinating is that it does feel down-to-earth and quite plausible.  Yes, it’s entertaining and it’ll make you laugh, but it doesn’t rely on a whole lot of flash; just a tightly written story and some top notch performances.  If you really want to be critical, you might say Jeff Bridges is just doing a rehash of his “Rooster Cogburn” from ‘True Grit‘, but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and say they are distinct characters, plus the interplay between him and Gil Birmingham is fantastic.

As far as our brothers go, Chris Pine and Ben Foster really dig in as a couple of poor cowpokes with their eyes on a prize.  Outlaws they may be, but they’re still very much the heart of the movie, and the tension of whether they’ll get away with it or not is very much set in the nature of who they are individually.

If I have one legitimate criticism of the film, it’s that some little bits of dialogue are muffled by the thick accents (which I don’t normally struggle with), but I guess it comes with the territory.

Other than that, I don’t want to say much more.  Like ‘The Nice Guys‘ and ‘Hunt for the Wilderpeople‘, ‘Hell or High Water’ seems bound to be in the top 5 of 2016.  It’s definitely slower-paced than usual, so be prepared for that, but I’d never call it boring.  There’s too much tension for things to ever fall flat.

This is one you don’t want to miss.

Rating: ★★★★½

P.S.
Shades of ‘Breaking Bad’?  Absolutely.