Movie Review: Wild Horse Nine

Posted on by • Posted in Drama • Tagged , , , , • Leave a comment

In the new movie “Wild Horse Nine,” two CIA operatives, Chris (John Malkovich) and Lee (Sam Rockwell), travel in 1973 to vacation on Easter Island, an Island about 2200 miles west of Chile’s coast. One of the reasons why Chris and Lee go to Easter Island is to see the “big heads.”, which are a series of about 900 giant heads carved from volcanic rock, constructed between 1250 and 1300 AD by the Rapa Nui people, the Polynesian inhabitants of Easter Island. The statues honored ancestors and protected their communities. The Rapa Nui believed their ancestors could provide spiritual protection and power, called mana.

While this big head story is the backdrop of this film, the real reason Chris and Lee are on Easter Island is that Chris is dying of what is probably lung cancer, and the CIA was involved in trying to undermine Chile’s democratically elected socialist president, Salvador Allende, and the military coup that brought General Augusto Pinochet to power on September 11, 1973. Surprisingly, with all of this going on, this movie was too slow and too boring for a large percentage of its runtime. There is witty and sometimes funny dialogue between Chris and Lee but not enough to try and figure out what was the point of these two hours?

Chris and Lee run into two young women from Chile who were unaware of the huge events that would be unfolding in Chile in the next few days. Steve Buscemi, plays MJ, the CIA bureau chief in Santiago, Chile, who is also a Heroin addict. Buscemi is very good and funny in his role, with some of the best scenes in this movie.

Wild Horse Nine is another one of these “let’s be different at all costs” movies that was too strange and unfortunately too boring for me to recommend. The Rotten Tomatoes rating is a way too high 94%, with my rating at 75% and a recommendation only for the biggest fans of Steve Buscemi, John Malkovich, and Sam Rockwell.

Movie Review: Jimmy

Posted on by • Posted in Biography • Tagged , , , , , • Leave a comment

In the history of the movie industry, Jimmy Stewart (1908-1997) is arguably the most beloved and respected lead actor of all time. From his 80 films to his popular appearances on The Johnny Carson Show and his poetry readings, there is no doubt of Jimmy Stewart’s popularity as an actor. At the peak of Stewart’s fame, after winning an Academy Award, Stewart insisted on serving his country, facing the high probability of death and leaving behind a very lucrative movie career that, when he returned from the war, had no guarantee of continuing.

Jimmy Stewart flew twenty highly dangerous bombing missions over Germany during World War II and one more over Vietnam in 1966. Stewart retired from the Air Force in 1968 with the rank of Brigadier General.

The new movie “Jimmy” is mostly about Jimmy Stewart’s career in the Air Force during World War II, with additional stories about his love life and his return to Hollywood after the war, when he no longer had an acting career. What saved Jimmy Stewart’s career in Hollywood was his personal favorite movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life”, which was released in 1946, written and directed by Frank Capra.

The actor who played Jimmy Stewart is KJ Apa, with actor Max Casella as Frank Capra. Both were very good in their roles, with Apa closely mastering Stewart’s well-known and very often humorous way of talking. The best parts of this film were the many scenes of Stewart as the leader of his crew and how close the world was to losing Stewart during so many close calls during World War II. Imagine movies without Jimmy Stewart and “It’s a Wonderful Life” without Jimmy Stewart as the star. The flaws in this movie are that there are too many moments where the story moves too slowly, with too many scenes that seem more like filler than necessary.

Probably due to the slow-moving parts of this film, the Rotten Tomatoes rating for this movie is a too-low 64%, with my rating a solid 75% and a recommendation to see this well-done biography of Jimmy Stewart.

Movie Review: The Only Living Pickpocket in New York

Posted on by • Posted in Drama • Tagged , • Leave a comment

One cannot help but wonder, while watching “The Only Pickpocket in New York”, about the mind of any person who has been a professional pickpocket anywhere in the world. In order to be successful in stealing a watch, wallet, or any number of other valuable possessions from another person, you have to practice for many hours in order to pull off taking the item without them noticing, and then quietly escaping. The next risk is them noticing too soon that they were robbed as you are trying to sneak away and then being chased down and physically beaten or even shot.

Then, if you get away with the stolen items, fencing them while risking being arrested and years of jail time. You also realize while watching this film that people like this have no feelings of empathy for their victims, possibly causing them great hardship, not to mention canceling credit cards and getting a new driver’s license.

The premise of this story is that the pickpocket Harry (John Turturro), robbed a young man who is connected to the Mob, who then tracked down Harry with cameras that were lining the street at the time of the robbery.

Harry is also living with his wife, who is incapacitated with unresponsive wakefulness syndrome, which is also known as a vegetative state, and Harry is also estranged from his daughter, Kelly (Tatiana Maslany), due to his many years of not living with the family and his criminal history.

One of the best parts of this very well-made movie is Harry’s traveling to many different locations in New York City, to several boroughs, trying to sell his stolen items and then going to the fence to try and get this one item, “a USB card,” back. Harry visits his friend Ben (Steve Buscemi) to sell the items he received from a victim connected to the mob, and after this scene, Harry’s life becomes a desperate attempt to undo and repair the huge mistake he made. The many scenes of Harry traveling through the complex streets of New York City, visiting small shops, were impressive.

Harry also visits his friend in the police department, Detective Warren, played by Giancarlo Esposito, as we realize that these two have a long history, including the many times Warren has arrested Harry over the years.

At the end of this movie, there is a highly unexpected appearance of Jamie Lee Curtis as the mob boss Moira, which, for me, did not seem to fit into the flow of this movie and was more of an attempt to be different, or to surprise the audience, rather than being consistent with the story.

The Rotten Tomatoes rating for this movie is extremely high at 97%, with my rating of 90% and a big recommendation.