American Made

Movie: American Made
Starring: Tom Cruise, Domhnall Gleeson
Writer: Gary Spinelli
Director: Doug Liman
Rated: R

On September 29, I returned to Cinema Arts Theatre for a 9:45 a.m. showing of American Made. This is movie number seven in my ongoing MoviePass journey, bringing the price down to $1.42 per outing. Not too shabby!

To be completely honest, I am not a huge Tom Cruise fan. He has been in numerous amazing and iconic movies, but his presence alone is not enough to get me into the theater--sometimes just the opposite. When I saw American Made was certified 87% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, however, I decided to abandon my plan to see the Kingsman sequel and check this out instead.

It was a good decision. In this stranger-than-fiction true story set in the late 1970s to mid-1980s, Tom Cruise is perfect as Barry Seal, a bored pilot for TWA who graduates from cigar smuggling to drug running with a little help from the CIA. Seal doesn't tell his wife that he's quitting his safe, secure pilot job to do reconnaissance flights over Nicaragua while taking gunfire from the Sandinistas, and while he enjoys the work, patriotism isn't paying the bills. When Pablo Escobar and his partners in what would eventually become the Medellin Cartel make him an offer, he agrees to smuggle cocaine into the U.S.

At every turn, Seal faces impossible situations and law enforcement roadblocks that would seem impossible to overcome. Even he is surprised when he's still in business as the Carter administration makes way for President Reagan, and the CIA finds new uses for his illicit business connections.

American Made is frequently hilarious and action packed, yet the story is ultimately tragic. You can feel Seal's fate catching up with him even as he's stuffing duffel bags full of cash in every available space in his home. In other circumstances, Seal could have been a successful entrepreneur or a genuine hero. Instead, he was a drug smuggler, a gun runner, and most of all a pawn, sacrificed in a game with ever-changing players, rules, and goals. 

Brad's Status

Movie: Brad's Status
Starring: Ben Stiller, Austin Abrams
Writer/Director: Mike White
Rated: R

On September 26, I returned to Cinema Arts Theatre to see Brad's Status. This is my sixth MoviePass movie, bringing the per movie price down to $1.66. My goal at this point is to make it to 10 movies before the month is up, making every movie a dollar movie--it's definitely within reach!

The plot of Brad's Status is simple: 47-year-old Brad Sloan (Stiller) takes his son Troy (Abrams) to visit colleges on the East Coast, including Harvard and Tufts. Brad is neurotic to say the least, an insomniac bundle of anxiety given to comparing his accomplishments to those of his old college friends. It doesn't help that these old friends are now a millionaire hedge fund manager, a start-up tycoon, and a famous political writer and pundit, respectively.

Still, by all objective criteria Brad is doing great. He and his wife Melanie (Jenna Fischer) are happily married. They live in a nice house in Sacramento, where she works for the government and he runs his own non-profit. Their son Troy is healthy, intelligent, musically gifted, and to all appearances much more well-adjusted than his father. (And if he seems familiar, that may be because he played the ill-fated Ron on The Walking Dead.)

Yet Brad lies awake at night thinking about how other people perceive him, how little respect he gets, how few opportunities remain open to him. Something about taking his son on a journey to choose one from many possible futures triggers Brad big time, and as his anxiety spirals he manages to publicly embarrass Troy in ways only a parent can. It's painful to watch.

When he spills his guts to Ananya (Shazi Raja), an idealistic young student at Harvard, she gives voice to what could presumably be the primary complaint about this movie: Brad's status anxiety is self-absorbed and self-centered, the type of grievance only a privileged white male has the luxury to indulge in. In other words, a first-world problem. Her critique is a fair one, but expressed with the brutal honesty of a twenty-something with her whole life ahead of her. From the standpoint of middle age, it's possible to understand and pity Brad, to have some compassion for his regrets, even if you don't necessarily share his fears.

I enjoyed this movie despite its often cringe-worthy moments and Brad's internal monologue of neurosis. Brad still has the capacity to experience profound emotions, to be moved by beauty. As it turns out, even a 47-year-old still has a little life left in him.

The Battle of the Sexes

Movie: The Battle of the Sexes

Starring: Emma Stone, Steve Carell

Writer: Simon Beaufoy

Director: Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris

Rated: PG-13

On September 25, I returned to the Angelika Film Center for The Battle of the Sexes. Given my propensity for early morning showings, this was the first movie I'd seen with more than a handful of other people in the audience. For those keeping track, this was my fifth MoviePass movie, bringing my average ticket cost down to less than $2. Woohoo!

The titular Battle of the Sexes refers to a legendary 1973 tennis match between women's tennis champion Billie Jean King (Emma Stone) and men's tennis Hall of Famer Bobby Riggs (Steve Carell.) While the trailers for this movie emphasize the comic antics of 55-year-old Riggs, a hustler and showman more interested in making a buck than defending male chauvinism, the heart of the story is Billie Jean King and her fight to demand equal pay and respect for women players while also coming to terms with her own sexuality.

Stone is excellent as King, conveying the will and focus that made her a champion athlete as well as the conflicting emotions King feels as her attraction to another woman, hairstylist Marilyn Barnett (Andrea Riseborough), threatens her marriage and potentially her game. King is initially reluctant to play Riggs in what she knows is more sideshow than athletic competition. Ultimately, though, King recognizes she is the only one who can publicly defeat Riggs and put to rest once and for all the idea that men are inherently superior.

Carell is so likable it's easy to forgive Riggs for his sexist shenanigans. Riggs is an inveterate gambler, an addiction that leads his wife, his primary source of financial support, to kick him out of the house. King recognizes that Riggs is not her real opponent; Jack Kramer (Bill Pullman), head of the US Lawn Tennis Association, truly believes that women are worth less than men, while Riggs is just interested in putting on a spectacular show and making money.

The Battle of the Sexes is a must-see for fans of Emma Stone and Steve Carell (personally I love them both), and a fascinating reminder of how far we've come for those of us who weren't around to see it in person.

Maudie

Movie: Maudie
Starring: Sally Hawkins, Ethan Hawke
Writer: Sherry White
Director: Aisling Walsh
Rated: PG-13

On September 20, I returned to Cinema Arts Theatre to see Maudie. Unbeknownst to me, Wednesdays are senior discount days at the theater, so even the early morning showing was fairly well attended by retirees. At the counter, I asked for one ticket and, to my bemusement, the young woman asked me if that would be a senior ticket. "Not yet," I said, wondering if she'd just said that because of the poor lighting in the lobby and the fact that I was surrounded by elderly movie-goers, or if I really did look a good 15 years older than my actual age.

Anyway.

Maudie is based on the life of Canadian folk artist Maud Lewis, and while it is not my usual choice of cinematic fare, I was intrigued by the idea that art could be such a driving force in someone's life that even the most difficult circumstances couldn't suppress her will to create.

Maud Lewis was born in 1903 in Nova Scotia and suffered from rheumatoid arthritis from an early age. The movie opens on Maud (Sally Hawkins) as a young woman staying with her rigid and humorless Aunt Ida, where she learns that her brother has sold the family home without her knowledge. Maud's family believes she is incapable of caring for herself. She sets out to prove them wrong by answering an ad posted by a reclusive and seriously antisocial fish peddler named Everett (Ethan Hawke).

This isn't a sweetly sentimental love story, but a depiction of resilience in the face of adversity. Everett is not kind or gentle, and his house is a tiny shack. I should note that I normally have an irrational dislike of Ethan Hawke dating back to the 1994 movie Reality Bites in which he played insufferable jerk Troy Dyer. Even with this bias, I have to admit Hawke does an extraordinary job humanizing a very unsympathetic character. Hawke brings to life the pain and loneliness of a man without even the most basic social skills, but it is still hard to watch the way he treats Maud.

Yet it is Maud's irrepressible optimism and her delight in painting that ultimately set the tone for their lives together. She livens up their tiny house with her bright and cheerful paintings of birds and flowers, catching the attention of one of Everett's customers and leading to Maud's eventual commercial success as an artist. Hawkins masterfully conveys Maud's gradually deteriorating physical condition, while showing how her inner strength never fails her. That is the most remarkable takeaway from this sometimes painful movie: all Maud Lewis needed to be happy was a little paint and the time to create her art.

For more on Maud's story, check out this article on NPR. 

The Hitman's Bodyguard

Movie: The Hitman's Bodyguard
Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Ryan Reynolds
Writer: Tom O'Connor
Director: Patrick Hughes
Rated: R

On September 19, I headed to Cinemark Fairfax Corner for my third MoviePass excursion. I hadn't been to this theater in a while, and was pleasantly surprised to discover they had remodeled in the interim. I think I may have enjoyed this movie about 20% more than I otherwise would have just because I watched it in a new, super comfortable reclining lounger.

It is easy to imagine the pitch for this movie: Ryan Reynolds is the bodyguard and Samuel L. Jackson is the hitman! And the hitman needs a bodyguard. I'd say almost anyone reading this already knows whether they will enjoy watching this movie. Do you delight in Ryan Reynolds and his charming smart-ass banter? Do you bask in the warm glow of Samuel L. Jackson's irate profanity-laced tirades? If so, you will definitely be entertained.

The premise is this: Michael Bryce (Reynolds) is a successful executive bodyguard at the top of his game when disaster strikes. In greatly reduced circumstances, he gets a call from his ex, Amelia (Daredevil's Elodie Yung), a detective with Interpol, asking for his help. She has been tasked with transporting a hitman named Darius Kincaid (Jackson) from London to The Hague so he can testify against a deposed dictator (Gary Oldman) on trial for crimes against humanity, but Interpol has been compromised and only an outsider can be trusted.

Over the top violence; foot, moped, car, and boat chases through European scenery; hilarious dialogue; and, of course, hitman-bodyguard bonding ensue. Bryce is an uptight perfectionist control freak while Kincaid believes in living in the moment, an odd couple combination that's been done a thousand times, but it's genuine good fun to watch Reynolds and Jackson play off each other. In no way does it rise to the level of Jackson's classic conversations as Jules with John Travolta's Vincent in Pulp Fiction, but it's still pretty funny. Salma Hayek also appears to be enjoying herself as Kincaid's wife Sonia, who shares a lot of his vocabulary preferences.

To be completely honest, this is not a movie I would have seen in theaters if it weren't for MoviePass. Because it was essentially free (well, technically $3.32 but less with each additional movie I see), I went to the movies and had a great time. Under other circumstances, I probably would have waited for it to show up on HBO Now or Netflix.

Logan Lucky

Movie: Logan Lucky
Starring: Channing Tatum, Adam Driver
Writer: Rebecca Blunt
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Rated: PG-13

On September 18, I ventured out for my second MoviePass excursion. With this movie, even though it was another early bird special, I officially made back my initial $9.95 investment. This time I headed for Angelika Film Center and once again the MoviePass worked like a charm.

I mainly wanted to see Logan Lucky because I'd heard comparisons between this heist movie and director Steven Soderbergh's Ocean's Eleven (in fact, even in the movie, they refer to the caper as "Ocean's 7-11"). The comparisons are apt, but this version has way more camo.

Jimmy Logan, played by a bearded and burly Channing Tatum, is fired from his underground construction job beneath a NASCAR race course in Charlotte, North Carolina when someone from HR spots his limp and decides he's a liability. With not much else in the way of prospects, Jimmy heads home to West Virginia to enlist the help of his one-armed bartender brother Clyde and hairstylist sister Mellie (Riley Keough) and embark on a plan to rob NASCAR. They can't do it alone, of course; the Logan brothers turn to incarcerated explosives expert Joe Bang (played with pugnacious hillbilly charm by--surprise!--Daniel Craig) who insists on involving his two idiot brothers.

Clyde gamely goes along with Jimmy's intricate plan, even though he is convinced that the Logan family is cursed. Even someone who didn't believe in such things might question the wisdom of a plan that hinges on breaking Joe Bang out of prison and returning him on the same day without anyone noticing. Fortunately, the warden (Dwight Yoakam) is an idiot, so that helps.

Once I officially suspended my sense of disbelief, this movie was a hoot and a half. Jimmy's pageant-participant daughter Sadie (Farrah Mackenzie) is a scene stealer and the true motivation for everything he does. Jimmy is smarter than the world or his ex-wife (played with a sneer by Katie Holmes) give him credit for, but there are a lot of moving parts to his plan. It would be spoiling things to say whether he and his co-conspirators succeed, but it sure is a wild ride while it lasts.

Wind River

Movie: Wind River
Starring: Kelsey Asbille, Jeremy Renner
Writer / Director: Taylor Sheridan
Rated: R

On September 14, I chose Wind River to kick off my MoviePass adventure, heading to an early morning showing at Cinema Arts Theatre. After logging into the MoviePass app on my phone, I activated my newly arrived card, selected the movie showing, and headed into the theater to buy my ticket. The theater employee at the ticket window recognized my bright red MoviePass and asked me what I thought of it. Since it worked when he ran up the transaction, I said it was great so far!

Wind River is an intense, violent, and heart-breaking movie about the rape and murder of a young Native American woman. Jeremy Renner plays Cory Lambert, a hunter employed by the Fish and Wildlife Service to cull predators that pose a threat to livestock in the area. While tracking a mountain lion, Lambert finds the body. He calls the crime into the local authorities, but the reservation has little in the way of resources to solve major crimes. The FBI sends a young, inexperienced agent, Jane Banner (played by Elizabeth Olsen), in from Las Vegas to assess the situation, but it's immediately apparent that she's in over her head. She turns to Lambert for help, hoping his tracking skills and local knowledge will help her solve a case that may otherwise fall through the cracks.

The deadly Wyoming winter looms over every effort to solve the crime, and as an outsider, Jane stumbles into situations for which she has no context. The overwhelming sense of despair and hopelessness on the reservation, the foregone conclusion that no help can be expected, weighs heavily as it becomes clear that this is not the first time tragedy has struck this community.

Wind River deals with parental grief and sexual violence, making it hard to watch in parts, but it never resorts to sensationalism or cheap sentimentality. Renner gives a subtly brilliant performance as Lambert, whose ties to the case go deep, and Gil Birmingham is powerfully affecting as the murdered woman's grieving father. This is not a perfect movie, and the resolution may not satisfy all viewers, but it is not one I'll easily forget.

Along for the Ride

In mid-August, I heard about a new deal for movie lovers: for $9.95 a month, any movie fan could get a MoviePass valid for one movie ticket a day at a wide range of theaters. This sounded, frankly, too good to be true, but I signed up immediately. It took a while for my MoviePass to arrive--about a month--but once it got here I wasted no time.

I love movies, and for the moment at least, I have free time most weekday mornings. It is now my mission in life to see as many movies as possible before MoviePass either goes out of business or raises the rates beyond my willingness to pay.

This is the story of my journey. Welcome to Movie Passenger.

(Please note that this blog has no affiliation with MoviePass whatsoever, but if you want to check it out, you can see more here.)