New OJ Simpson Documentary Gives the Bigger Picture
Posted on June 10, 2016 at 3:51 pm
Premiering tomorrow on ABC and then continuing on ESPN, the documentary series “OJ Simpson: Made in America” is for people who watched the “American Crime Story” series about Simpson’s murder trial, for people who remember his career as a football superstar and television personality, for those who remember the 1995 trial for the murder of his ex-wife and her friend and his acquittal, and for those who read current headlines about the injustices of our legal system, with lenience for the white and wealthy and disproportionate police brutality and punishment for the poor and non-white.
Practically every moment of its seven-and-a-half-hour running time is thought-provoking, astonishing, sobering, hilarious, tragic, and sometimes all of those at once….Basically, O.J. Simpson: Made in America is about almost everything that has mattered in this country over the last 50 years. “We talk about O.J. as though the story is O.J.,” says journalist Celia Farber, one of the many sources who speak directly to camera throughout. “The story is O.J. and us.”
The first “Now You See Me” was a deliciously entertaining heist film with “the Four Horsemen,” a team of magicians, engaged in a diabolically clever combination of misdirection and triple-cons for the purpose of revenge, Robin Hood reparations, and showmanship. We know what that means for part 2 — the Empire strikes back, and it is a popcorn pleasure. The Horsemen stole from billionaire Arthur Tressler (Michael Caine) and framed the magician turned debunker Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman) so he ended up in prison.
At the end of the last film, the surprise twist revealed FBI agent Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo) as the brains behind the operation. As this one opens, the FBI, with Deputy Director Natalie Austin (Sanaa Lathan) in charge, does not know and thinks Rhodes is still looking for three of the Horsemen. They believe Jack Wilder, played by Dave Franco, was killed. They’re wrong about both. Rhodes is working with the Horsemen, including Wilder. But there is a new member of the group: Lula (Lizzy Caplan, replacing Isla Fisher). And they immediately run into a snag involving someone who knows a bit about magic in the movies: Daniel Radcliffe as Walter Mabry, a mysterious, mega-wealthy guy who wants the Horsemen to steal something for him. It’s the usual MacGuffin — some sort of computer thing that would give him access to everything/control of everything blah blah, and it’s locked away in a place with the kind of crazy security reserved for heist movies. All the world’s biggest, richest baddies are after it, and so the Horsemen have to find a way to get in there before one of them gets it.
The first movie had sensational performance showpieces. This one is more “Mission: Impossible” (the television series, not the Tom Cruise movies) until the final scene. But it keeps the sly twists coming, using all the magicians’ favorite ruses, from misdirection to an almost-balletic slight of hand. Just like “The Avengers,” it is a lot of fun to see each of the Horsemen use their skills — mentalist Merritt McKinney (Woody Harrelson), lock wizard Wilder, card master Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg). We learned in the first film that McKinney’s brother stole all his money and disappeared; it turns out he was an identical twin brother, and he shows up, played by Harrelson with hair that looks like that awful perm Mike Brady had in the last season of “The Brady Bunch.”
It has all the twists and reveals and surprises we were hoping for, including one saucy switch that is not about magic, just social conventions that have not caught up to reality, some very old school means of communication, and a touch of movie magic in giving us a glimpse of one character’s past with some CGI that looks a little more realistic than the “work” that has ruined so many Hollywood faces. Director Jon M. Chu (the “Step Up” movies) has a superb sense of space and movement, giving the story exuberance and flair. It’s a fitting encore and I hope we will see them all again in part 3.
Parents should know that this film includes some strong language, and some action-style peril and violence.
Family discussion: Would you want to be selected by The Eye? Which magic trick would you like to be able to master?
If you like this, try: the original film and “The Sting”
Rated R for violence, sexuality, nudity, language and brief drug use
Profanity:
Very strong, crude, and explicit language
Alcohol/ Drugs:
Drinking, smoking, drugs
Violence/ Scariness:
Extensive graphic violence, guns, explosions, fighting, falls, many characters injured and killed, grisly images
Diversity Issues:
None
Date Released to Theaters:
May 20, 2016
Date Released to DVD:
August 22, 2016
Amazon.com ASIN:
B01F5ZY596
Copyright 2016 Warner BrothersShane Black at his best lives in the sweet spot he pretty much mapped out himself in his 20’s when he wrote the screenplay for “Lethal Weapon.” He figured out that hard-boiled action could be both exciting and funny. His characters have no illusions and few scruples, but in the tradition of loner anti-heroes from westerns to films noir, they have their own set of ethics. They do not like authority and they do not always obey the rules but they will represent the interests of their clients against corruption and bullies.
Black’s mismatched and yet perfectly yin-yang characters have included a “too old for this” cop paired with a wild younger one in “Lethal Weapon,” a cop and a thief-turned-accidental-actor in “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang,” and now a small-time private detective and single dad named Holland March (Ryan Gosling) and a muscle-for-hire guy named Jackson Healy (Russell Crowe). Healy, hired by a pretty young woman named Amelia (Margaret Qualley) to dissuade the men who are looking for her, goes to March’s home to punch him in the nose and break his arm. “We’re going to play a game. Shut up unless you’re me.”
March has been hired by a woman who says that her niece, porn star Misty Mountains (Murielle Telio), reported killed in an automobile accident, is still alive. March was looking for Amelia because he thinks she may have information about Misty. Healy is almost clinical in his communication with March. “Give me your left arm,” he says, not unkindly. “When you’re talking to your doctor, tell him you have a spiral fracture.”
But soon Healy himself is visited by some tough guys who rough him up for being in touch with Amelia. They even kill his fish. So he goes back to March to ask him to help find Amelia, and that leads them into a pervasive, murky mess of corruption, betrayal, pornography, a wild party, the Detroit auto industry, and a hit-man named John Boy (a “Waltons” reference, played by Matt Bomer), with many excellent 1970’s songs on the soundtrack.
Black is a master of the deadpan wisecrack that nails the essence of character, setting, and story, and Crowe and Gosling deliver with snap and relish. “There’s whores and stuff here,” says March’s young daughter, played by the marvelously poised Angourie Rice as Holly, the closest thing the story has to a grown-up with a conscience.” March, the sometimes hapless father who loves her dearly, is quick with a paternal correction. “Don’t stay ‘and stuff.'”
The mix of wit, slapstick, and mayhem has some dead-on period detail and some shrewd commentary on contemporary issues. Gosling’s comic timing is pure pleasure, especially in a gem of a scene where he juggles a lit cigarette, a magazine, and a gun, with his pants down. Crowe is fine, too, especially in his interactions with Rice. With any luck, they’ll be back for as many sequels as “Lethal Weapon.”
Parents should know that this film features extensive violence including mayhem, auto accidents, and guns, characters injured and killed, grisly and disturbing images, nudity, very explicit sexual references including pornography, very strong and crude language, smoking, drinking, drugs, and much of this is witnessed by a child.
Family discussion: How would this story be different if it took place today? What was the point of the Nixon story?
If you like this, try: “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” from the same co-writer/director and “Get Shorty”
Television Takes On Two of the Biggest Crime Stories of the Past 25 Years
Posted on February 3, 2016 at 11:02 am
Oscar-winner Richard Dreyfuss stars in the story of one of the biggest financial frauds of all time, Bernie Madoff’s $65 billion Ponzi scheme, with Blythe Danner as his wife.
People who want to know more should watch the documentary “Chasing Madoff.”
Robert De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer will appear in another Madoff movie, “The Wizard of Lies,” directed by Barry Levinson.
And Oscar-winner Cuba Gooding, Jr. stars as O.J. Simpson in the story of his criminal trial for the murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ronald Goldman.
The cast includes John Travolta as defense attorney Robert Shapiro, Courtney B. Vance as Johnny Cochran, David Schwimmer as Simpson friend Robert Kardashian, Selma Blair as Kris Kardashian, Connie Britton as Nicole Simpson’s friend, Faye Resnick, and Evan Handler as Alan Dershowitz.
