Smokin' Aces

Smokin’ Aces

4 Stars

It’s almost Valentine’s Day and that means a slew of “chick flicks” will be released for girlfriends to drag their unsuspecting boyfriends to. But after you see a cheesy romantic flick, she owes you, and you can take her to “Smokin’ Aces”, the definition of a badass guy flick.

Buddy “Aces” Israel (Jeremy Piven) is a strung out Las Vegas showman and wannabe mobster. As he’s about squeal on the Mafioso who helped him with his frame, a $1 million bounty is put on his head, and oddly his heart. A huge cache of colorful characters decide to cash in, including bondsman Jack Dupree (Ben Affleck), crazy neo-Nazi brothers called The Tremors, and Georgia Sykes (Alicia Keys), posing as one of Israel’s many hired prostitutes. Meanwhile, FBI agents Carruthers and Messner (Ray Liotta and Ryan Reynolds) are charged with making sure Israel testifies as planned.

It’s violent, it’s bloody, it’s stylish and it’s sheer entertainment. Writer/director Joe Carnahan marks his return after a nearly five year absence since his debut with the fantastic “Narc”. He comes on with a visual style that seems like a restrained Tony Scott, which is good, as Scott tends to go overboard on a regular basis. Carnahan orchestrates a gritty, no holds barred crime action flick with plenty of laughs and plenty of heart. Not to mention one of the best twist endings in recent years. Unfortunately, he started to show his hand on the ending a bit too soon, leaving the audience to contemplate it before the major revelation at the end.

Piven (“Entourage”) as the conflicted, opportunistic and coked up Israel gives what could have been an Oscar worthy performance, but “Aces” just isn’t that kind of movie. Reynolds (“Van Wilder”) also gives a noteworthy performance as the cocky turned devastated FBI agent. His character runs the full range of emotions in this film, and Reynolds handles them all spot on. Even Affleck turned in a decent, yet brief, performance. I’m just curious as to how much longer Andy Garcia is going to keep doing an Al Pacino impression.

But beyond the stars, it’s the entire cast that makes this flick work. If even just one was off, it would have come down like a house of cards. But they all work together with Swiss watch-like efficiency that it can’t help but be just pure fun times.

Despite the good time I was having in the theatre, I couldn’t help but get the feeling I had seen this all before. He drew influence from the work of Quentin Tarantino, Tony Scott and Guy Ritchie. All had perfected that sort of big, ensemble, bombastic crime comedy/drama with “Reservoir Dogs”, “True Romance” and “Snatch” (respectively), and Carnahan took a page from each one of those films to craft his film. This doesn’t detract from the ability to enjoy his flick, or the fact that it is good in its own right, not by any stretch of the imagination. It just feels that in the 16 years since Tarantino came out with “Reservoir Dogs”, it would be high time for a reinvention of the genre.

The Queen

The Queen

4.5 Stars

Slow in pace but beautifully realized, “The Queen” paints a portrait of one of the most devastating events in modern British history, and how it affected the two most important people in the country, Queen Elizabeth II and freshly elected Prime Minister Tony Blair.

On August 31, 1997, Princess Diana, ex-wife of Prince Charles, heir apparent to the throne, was killed in an auto accident in Paris. “The Queen” concerns itself with the events between Blair and the Queen in the week between Di’s death and her funeral a week later.

What director Stephen Frears (“High Fidelity”) has shown us is the look from the inside. In 1997, it was easy for the British public, and indeed the world to stand from the outside looking in, judging the Royal family’s handling of the death of Princess Diana. But what we don’t get while we’re our own high horse is what Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Charles and the rest of the family was actually going through. And this film shows a considerable amount personal grief over Di’s death, and personal conflict between their duty to the people, and their need to personally grieve.

Peter Morgan’s (“The Last King of Scotland”) screenplay is powerfully effective, if slow moving. But it shouldn’t be faulted for being slow moving. It’s more of a mournful, thoughtful piece about the people involved, than it is about plot development. It’s a plot we’re all familiar with, so it focuses all of its energy on telling the story, then developing it.

Helen Mirren (“Gosford Park”) recently won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Academy Award for her powerhouse performance as Queen Elizabeth II, and she is certainly worthy of all the accolades she is receiving. She handled the quiet, solemnity of her character with the proper amount of grace one would expect of the Queen. What marks a standout performance for me is if I can imagine anyone else in that role, and I couldn’t. She was perfect. Vegas odds makers have even stopped taking bets on the “Best Actress” category for this year’s Oscars, as they consider her to be a shoe-in.

The rest of the cast is simply magnificent. Michael Sheen (“Kingdom of Heaven”) was superb as the conflicted, opportunistic and eventually sympathetic Tony Blair. In the past 10 years, Blair has made some political missteps, in the eyes of his countrymen, and those must be overlooked to properly appreciate his character in this film. This was the Tony Blair of 1997, just five months into his first term, not the Tony Blair of 2003 who made the unpopular decision of backing President Bush in Iraq. Sheen did a fantastic job of portraying the rookie Prime Minister, and at times outshines Mirren, though unfortunately isn’t getting quite the same notice as she is.

James Cromwell (“L.A. Confidential”) as the bullheaded Prince Philip (Elizabeth’s husband) was a great dynamic for the soft spoken Queen. And Alex Jennings (“The Four Feathers”) was pitch-perfect as the shy, wishy-washy Prince Charles.

I can’t recommend “The Queen” for everyone. It’s not for everyone. It’s distinctly a British film. There’s so much in the film concerning British politics, culture and society that would just confuse those who aren’t familiar with it. It would be perfect for a more worldly crowd. It is, however, a beautifully made film with some of the finest performances of the year and would love to see it take home an Oscar or two.