Bullet Train

Bullet Train

Posted on August 2, 2022 at 9:57 am

B +
Lowest Recommended Age: Mature High Schooler
MPAA Rating: Rated R for strong and bloody violence, pervasive language, and brief sexuality
Profanity: Very strong language
Violence/ Scariness: Constant very graphic peril and violence with spurting blood and many murders, guns, knives, poison, fire, crash, snake
Diversity Issues: None
Date Released to Theaters: August 5, 2022

Copyright 2022 Sony
The Japanese bullet train goes 200 miles per hour. Its namesake movie goes even faster. On the train is a briefcase stuffed with millions of dollars and a passenger list that includes an assortment of thieves and assassins and the kidnapped son of a crime kingpin called White Death. Action fans will understand that the over-the-top violence is exaggerated as an R-rated version of Looney Tunes, expertly crafted and often hilarious.

Brad Pitt is sensational as an all-purposes soldier of fortune trying to find something simpler and less violent than his previous jobs. His handler, Maria, tells him this is just the job for him. All he has to do is get on the train, grab the briefcase, and get off. She gives him the code name Ladybug. This is either to cheer him up or add some snark because he insists he is unlucky (as he steps into a puddle) and in Japan the ladybug is a symbol of good luck. Or both. Either way, that is the only name we know for him, an emotionally exhausted man described by another character as looking like every homeless white guy, trying to do better without having decided what better means.

At the train station he opens a locker to pick up the equipment Maria has left for him, but he decides to leave the gun behind. And he boards the train, reciting therapeutic mantras to remind himself to stay calm, determined to “put peace into the world” while all he has too do is steal a briefcase. The trick, though, is that it already belongs to someone to whom it is also valuable, and several other people who are equally experienced in smash and grab, emphasis on the smash, would also like to have it, too. There are assassins from all over, a veritable It’s a Small World of assassins.

I really want to avoid spoilers here, so I will not disclose the superstars who show up in small, funny cameos (you will probably recognize the voice of the Oscar-winner on the other side of the phone calls with Ladybug), the actor we don’t see without a mask until the last act, or some of the funniest twists. I’ll just say that stuntman-turned director David Leitch (“John Wick,” “Atomic Blonde”) is as good as it gets in fight scenes and these are a blast, and that there are some well-chosen needle drop songs on the soundtrack. The bullet train setting is also a lot of fun, with a quiet car, a car for families with young children, and a bar car, and stops of only one minute at each station.

I will, however, take a moment to discuss Brad Pitt, who shows once again that he never brings less than the best to every role. No one is better at precisely calibrating his own movie star charisma and here he plays off of it to hilarious effect. The acting in the stunt scenes is as important as the punches. As we have seen in Tarantino and some other films, countering shocking, graphic, brutality with transgressive but workmanlike casualness can be very funny. The entire cast is excellent, including Brian Tyree Henry and Aaron Taylor-Johnson as “the twins,” the assassins delivering (or trying to) the White Death’s son (Logan Lerman channeling Jared Leto) and the briefcase full of ransom money, Bad Bunny as a Mexican drug cartel operative, and Hiroyuki Sanada, Zazie Beetz as characters I won’t spoil.

Buckle up, everyone. This is what they’re talking about when they use the term “wild ride.”

Parents should know that this movie is non-stop action with guns, knives, poison, fire, a deadly snake, crashes, and many brutal and grisly deaths and disturbing and graphic images. A child is badly injured (but survives). Characters are hired assassins and crime kingpins and their henchmen. They use very strong language. There is a brief scene of nudity and sex.

Family discussion: Who are we rooting for in this story and how can you tell? What do you think of the Thomas the Tank Engine approach to classifying humanity? Why don’t we ever learn their real names?

If you like this, try: the book by Kotaro Isaka, the “John Wick” series, “Kill Bill,” “Boss Mode,” and “Shoot ’em Up” You might also enjoy a less violent film involving a crime and a train, “$” with Warren Beatty and Goldie Hawn.

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The In Between

The In Between

Posted on February 11, 2022 at 12:30 am

B
Lowest Recommended Age: Middle School
MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for sexual content, brief strong language, and some thematic material
Profanity: Brief strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs: Reference to a drunk driver and alcohol abuse
Violence/ Scariness: Fatal car accident, sad death, scenes in hospital
Diversity Issues: None
Date Released to Theaters: February 11, 2022

Copyright 2021 Paramount
Should a movie have a happy ending? We may guess that the teenage couple who debate this critical question in their very first conversation are destined for each other. We may guess which category this film falls in from the opening scene, a fatal car accident. We will see the story unfold back and forth between that night and 102 days earlier, so we can see how they met and fell in love and the events that led up to and followed the crash.

They meet when Skylar (Kyle Allen of “A Map of Tiny Perfect Things”) and Tessa (Joey King of “The Kissing Booth” movies) are entire audience for a French film called “Betty Blue.” Tessa is about to leave when she realizes that there are no subtitles. But he takes the seat next to her and offers to translate as he has seen it before and he speaks French.

They debate the value of a happy ending. As we will learn, Skylar has two loving parents he admires and is close to. He is an outstanding student and athlete and has been accepted at Brown. He believes in happy endings because the world has treated him kindly. Tessa, who lives with people who are not her parents and would rather interact with the world behind a camera, has experienced loss and she is determined to make sure she never risks feeling pain again. She cannot help falling in love with him, but cannot bring herself to say the words that come more easily to him.

Like “Ghost” and “Truly Madly Deeply,” this is a story of love and loss. Tessa is just fine at a remove from other people, taking photos and not talking to the adults she lives with. But Skylar is irresistible. Impossibly so, like beyond perfect, handsome, humble, funny, smart, and one hundred percent devoted and supportive even when she is challenging. But that’s almost okay because Allen has a lot of charm and carries it lightly and because it is depicting the heightened emotions of teenage first love. We can accept that we are seeing him through Tessa’s eyes.

King is transitioning smoothly into more grown-up roles and she is very appealing here, especially as we see Tessa’s relationship with Skylar evolve. We can see how desperately she wants to find connection and allow herself to be loved, even as it terrifies her. The movie is about 20 minutes too long, but so sweet it is hard to hold that against it.

Parents should know that this movie includes discussion of family loss, abandonment, and dysfunction including a mentally unstable parent, foster care, and divorce, brief strong language, and a teen sexual situation.

Family discussion: How do you decide when to protect yourself and when to make yourself vulnerable? Why was it important for Tessa to hear her own words?

If you like this, try: “Every Day,” “Before I Fell,” and, also starring Kyle Allen, “A Map of Tiny Perfect Things”

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Wish I Was Here

Posted on July 20, 2014 at 7:21 pm

My intention was to review Zach Braff’s new film without mentioning the controversy he stirred up in funding it via Kickstarter.  My view was that what mattered was the movie itself, and the kerfluffle over how it was all paid for was beside the point.  But it turns out that it is the point.  “Scrubs” star Braff says that despite the success of the first film he wrote, directed, and starred in, Garden State, not one studio was willing to give him the money for this follow-up.  So, he went to crowd-funding as a way to give him artistic freedom.  To those who said that crowd-funding should not be used by wealthy celebrities, he correctly pointed out that no one who objected had to send any money.  Many people did want to support the project.  He asked for $2 million. He raised $3,105,473 from 46,520 people.

That’s a good thing for making sure he got to realize his very individual artistic vision.  I’m just not sure whether we would not have been better off with a studio persuading him to make this film, as the suits in Hollywood like to say, “more relatable.”wishiwashere The script, written by Braff and his brother, is kind of a mess. Of course, life is kind of a mess, too, and movies don’t all have to be rigidly linear or consistent in tone. But this one does not come across as intentionally messy to reflect the rich tapestry of life. It comes across as undercooked and self-indulgent. Maybe I should say Kickstarter-enabled.

In “Garden State,” Braff played a struggling young actor named Andrew Largeman who returns to New Jersey for his mother’s funeral, decides to go off of his mood-numbing meds originally prescribed by his disapproving, remote father, meets the warm and loving and completely adorable Natalie Portman, and learns to begin to feel his feelings.

While not formally a sequel, in this film Braff plays a struggling less-young actor named Aiden Bloom married to a warm, loving, and completely adorable Sarah (Kate Hudson), and struggling with his remote, disapproving father, Gabe (Mandy Patinkin).

Aiden and his father have agreed that if Gabe will pay the grandchildren’s private school tuition, he can pick the school. So, even though Aiden is not an observant Jew, his children go to an Orthodox yeshiva school. He is frustrated that his daughter Grace (Joey King) has become very devout. And he is even more frustrated when Gabe tells him that he will not be able to pay the tuition any longer because he needs the money for some experimental cancer treatment. “So much bad news all at once,” Aiden says, learning that his children will have to leave school and his father may be dying in the same moment.

Aiden unsuccessfully tries to persuade the school’s principal, an aged rabbi, to give the children a scholarship. Because Aiden is not trying to get a job to support his family, and because they would have to take money from other families who are in need, the rabbi says no, firmly but not unkindly. Aiden haplessly starts to homeschool his children as Sarah struggles with an obnoxious co-worker who insists on making highly sexual and completely inappropriate comments.  She gets no help from her boss, who tells her to lighten up.

Aiden also has a brother, Noah (Josh Gad), a brilliant near-recluse who lives in a trailer.  He has genius-level analytic skills but toddler-level interpersonal skills.

There are moments in this film that are pure, inspired, and clearly the work of an exceptional filmmaker.  Too many of the best of them recall even better versions of themselves in “Garden State.”  And too many other moments are spoiled by an unwillingness to trust the audience.  The portrayal of Judaism borders on the grotesque (rebbe on a Segway — funny; rebbe on a Segway he can’t maneuver — not).  Braff as writer and director makes the mistake we see too often: Jewish actors and filmmakers who portray Jews feel that they have to ACT Jewish so they go painfully over the top.  The way Aiden and Sarah handle their daughter’s wish to be more religious is insensitive and unrealistic.  The way she chooses to demonstrate her faith is inappropriate for a young girl and makes no sense.  Until a moment late in the film when a quiet conversation with a sympathetic young rabbi, the portrayal of the Jewish community is unremittingly negative.  And Aiden is not as endearing as his director/portrayer apparently think.

It is a second quiet conversation that makes up for a lot of the missteps along the way.  Kate Hudson speaks to a man in a hospital bed, and it is touching and moving. There are some striking images and some choice performances, especially Jim Parsons (who had a similar role in “Garden State,” also in a wild get-up) as another aspiring actor.  And, as with “Garden State,” the music on the soundtrack is beautifully curated.

If Braff decides to go back to Kickstarter for #3, I might sign up.  Until then, I’ll think of this as a transitional film and hope that Braff will learn from it that sometimes when people say no it’s for a good reason.

Parents should know that this film includes very strong language, some crude, some used by children, explicit sexual references and situations, pornography and workplace sexual harassment, and drinking.

Family discussion:  How did Noah and Aiden respond differently to Gabe’s parenting?  Was Sarah right to support Aiden?

If you like this, try: “Garden State” and “Scrubs”

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Comedy Drama

White House Down

Posted on June 27, 2013 at 6:00 pm

white-house-down-posterWhen the White House gets attacked, who better than SMA (Sexiest Man Alive) Channing Tatum and Django Unchained Jamie Foxx to save the day? And who better to blow stuff up than Roland Emmerich, who has his characters cheekily observe right at the beginning that the White House was already exploded by the aliens in his film “Independence Day?”

Like “Olympus Has Fallen” just months ago, this is essentially “Die Hard” in the White House, not that there’s anything wrong with that.  “Olympus” was R-rated, had Gerard Butler as a discredited member of the Secret Service who is the only one who can save the day, and Aaron Eckert as the President.  “White House Down” is PG-13, has Tatum as Cale, just turned down for a Secret Service job (in a process that is completely imaginary) and on a White House tour with his daughter (even more hilariously imaginary).  Let’s just stipulate that if you want to be in the Secret Service it takes more than a ten minute job interview even with Maggie Gyllenhaal giving you the third degree.  And, in case anyone is not clear on this, let me say that White House tours are not conducted by low-key history lovers, they do not go anywhere near the residence or the West Wing, the President doesn’t stop by to chat with the tourists, and you can be sure that if someone needs to use the bathroom, they never, ever, ever tell them to just run on along downstairs and meet up with the group afterward.

But what the heck, we just want to get to the bang bang, so as Cale’s daughter, Emily (Joey King) goes off to the bathroom, after intercepting the President (Foxx) for an impromptu interview for her YouTube channel, the bad guys attack.  And the equivalent of Hans Gruber (I don’t want to deprive you of the ten seconds it will take to figure out who it is) has everything planned perfectly and the goons and techies to carry it all out — except they did not know they’d have to deal with SMA Tatum, who has to save the President, democracy, and his daughter and (spoiler alert) is up to the task.

Yes, this is “Die Hard in the White House,” again, but Tatum has that rare Bruce Willis combination of self-deprecating charm and physical confidence to make this a popcorn pleasure. And the wild leaps of imagination are not as funny or gripping as the too-true elements like the jurisdictional squabbling in the face of attack. I don’t think we will ever unselfconsciously enjoy the massive destruction of iconic symbols of our democracy (I even winced hard seeing it in the pre-9/11 “Independence Day” and skip that part when it’s on TV). I don’t think we should. But Tatum and Foxx and Emmerich remind us that what the symbols stand for: courage, integrity, optimism to the point of irrationality, and, of course, summer popcorn movies.

Parents should know that this film has constant peril and violence, with many characters injured and killed, chases, explosions, guns, missiles, grenades, crashes, massive destruction of historic landmarks, and assassinations. Characters use strong language (s-words, one f-word) and there is a mild sexual reference.

Family discussion: Can we enjoy the fictional destruction of iconic landmarks in an era of terrorism? There are several different kinds of bad guys in this movie — which is the worst and why? Which surprised you the most?

If you like this, try: “Die Hard,” “Under Siege,” and “Air Force One”

It’s niftily done, a satisfying popcorn pleasure, largely due to Tatum and Foxx, who, like Bruce Willis, have just the charm and physicality to carry off the action sequences and the banter.

 

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Interview: Joey King of “Oz the Great and Powerful”

Posted on June 10, 2013 at 8:00 am

I loved Joey King in “Beezus and Ramona” and very much enjoyed her performance as China Girl and the girl in the wheelchair in “Oz the Great and Powerful,” which is out on DVD and Blu-Ray this week.  She talked to me about walking on the Yellow Brick Road and what it was like to play a girl made out of porcelain.

You played two different but parallel characters in this film.  How did you work on that?

I thought it was really cool that I got to play two different characters that were connected, like the original “Wizard of Oz,” where there was a connection between the characters in Kansas and the characters in Oz.  Sam was so great.  He really wanted me to bring my own perspective, flair, and personality to the roles.  Wheelchair girl was a little more vulnerable and sad and you don’t see much of her.  With China Girl, I didn’t want her just to be this delicate, fragile little creature.  I wanted her to have some sass and feistiness about her.  When you’re fragile like that, you need a little bit of that spice!

Did you get to work with the other actors or were you alone when you recorded your performance?china-girl-joey-king-jpg_005256

Zach Braff and me were in this little booth together and we got to read lines together and have the cameras on our faces so they could use that in the animation. But we got to be on the set and interact with the other actors more than you’d think, getting to act with them and too them.  They used motion capture to film our faces and get our reactions.  So we could be on set a lot of the time.  Sam really wanted us to interact with each other so we could get a nice clean performance.

The set looked really magical on screen.  What was it like in person?

Of course there is that blue screen and green screen part of it but they built so much of it.  The Emerald City set was amazing, the Yellow Brick Road, Porcelain Town, the forest — it was so beautiful and magical.  It was amazing — the castle!  I can’t even describe how beautiful it was.  Oh, my gosh, me and my mom got so excited when we walked on the Yellow Brick Road.  I was so privileged to be a part of that.

If you could bring one piece of the set home with you, what would it be?

At the end of the shoot, everyone got a little piece of the Yellow Brick Road, engraved with “Oz the Great and Powerful,” so that was really nice!

What made you decide that you wanted to act?

I was four when I started.  My older sisters were in acting and of course I wanted to be just like them!  We put on plays together and I did commercials.  It’s what I want to do for the rest of my life and I’ve always wanted to do it.  It’s my passion!

What was the biggest challenge?

To convey what the character is feeling  and the emotions through the voice alone.  You have to show the character is confused or scared or happy through your voice instead of with your face and body.

What’s the best advice you got about acting?

Never get it get to your head and always stay humble.  Don’t get discouraged from all the rejection.  You have to keep going and pursue your dreams.

And what do you want people to talk about when they see this movie?

The importance of friendship and staying close to people.  Family really matters — Oz creates his own family in this story.  And I want people to think it’s the most magical thing they’ve ever seen!

 

 

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