Category Archives: Michael Caine

2020 Films, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Action, Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas, John David Washington, Kenneth Branagh, Michael Caine, Robert Pattinson, Science Fiction

Tenet-2020

Leave a comment

Tenet-2020

Director-Christopher Nolan

Starring-John David Washington, Robert Pattinson

Scott’s Review #1,149

Reviewed June 4, 2021

Grade: C

For those film lovers craving a plot that serves as a weaving puzzle that can never be figured out Tenet (2020) is highly recommended. Others who crave a more defined and linear story and character development will be disappointed by the film. Tenet is a visuals only experience as I tuned in and out of the actual plot points after realizing they intersect past present and future elements.

I did try from the outset to understand but ended up falling flat.

One’s enjoyment will depend on your cinematic desires and expectations.

I skew much more towards a good story with excellent acting and an emotional reaction to the project. I’m not as focused on brilliant CGI or dazzling visuals as some but I recognize that Tenet has these elements.

However, I’m not sure I agree with the film’s Oscar win for Best Visual Effects or nomination for Best Production design- thank goodness the terrific Mank (2020) won the latter award.

I’ll try to summarize the plot. A secret agent simply named the Protagonist (John David Washington) embarks on a dangerous, time-bending mission to prevent the start of World War III. The villainous Andrei Sator (Kenneth Branaugh) is a Russian oligarch who communicates with the future and is intent on destroying the world. His wife, Kat Barton (Elizabeth Debicki) despises her husband and aligns with the Protagonist to stop him. They fall in love.

Along for the ride are an arms dealer, Priya Singh (Dimple Kapadia), and Robert Pattinson plays the Protagonist’s handler who may or may not be trusted.

Let’s start with the positives. Tenet gets off to a terrific start with a scene at the Kyiv opera house in Ukraine. Though silly, the invasion of the theater and massive sleeping effect of the theater attendees and performers is like a domino effect. The scene is fast and exciting. Later, a daring car chase featuring a car speeding down a highway in reverse gear is pretty exciting. Add a character bound and tied in the passenger seat with no driver and no way to get out provides a cool James Bond moment.

Another positive is the luscious locales like Estonia, Oslo, Norway, London, and the Amalfi coast.

That’s where the fun ends.

I have to admit that I expected more from Christopher Nolan, who wrote and directed the project. The man has churned out superlative efforts like The Dark Knight (2008) and Dunkirk (2017), but Tenet will not rank among his finest moments.

To that end, it’s a Nolan film. Sound and visuals are his trademarks and the bombastic, booming score is tight and familiar. The mixing of loud, techy, thundering beats is commonplace but sadly does little for the film. They almost become annoying.

The cast is seasoned and capable. With Washington, Pattinson, Branaugh, and Debicki onboard there is a talent to be found. Even Michael Caine is cast in one wasteful scene. Nonetheless, the actors drift through their scenes looking perplexed and stiff. Probably because they didn’t know what the hell was going on in the scenes.

Just like the viewer.

The dialogue is an issue because it’s not written well. Why would Kat want to kill a man who is already dying of terminal cancer? Why not wait out his demise? And the time travel was lost on me from the first sequence. I simply didn’t care.

The most laugh-out-loud line occurs when Kat exclaims to the Protagonist, “I just knew you’d have a backup plan. Wait, you do have a backup plan, right?” With juicy dialogue like this, it’s a wonder Tenet didn’t receive a Best Screenplay nomination. I jest, of course.

Little nitpicky items like the Protagonist and Kat having zero chemistry even though an interracial romance had so much potential are disappointing.

I can’t say I’d recommend Tenet (2020), but I can provide details of what you can expect from the experience. Some cool visual moments can’t overcome the lack of any storyline and the viewer will become lost in the tired moments. By the final sequence, I thought I had watched a generic episode of a network television series like NCIS.

Ouch.

Oscar Nominations: Best Visual Effects (won), Best Production Design

2017 Films, Action, Barry Keoghan, Christopher Nolan, Cillian Murphy, Emma Thomas, Fionn Whitehead, Harry Styles, Kenneth Branagh, Mark Rylance, Michael Caine, Tom Glynn-Carney, Tom Hardy, War

Dunkirk-2017

Leave a comment

Dunkirk-2017

Director Christopher Nolan

Starring Fionn Whitehead, Tom Hardy

Scott’s Review #666

Reviewed July 24, 2017

Grade: A

Of the hundreds of war films made over the years, most have a similar style, with either a clear patriotic slant or a questioning/message-type nature.

Regardless, most have a certain blueprint—from the story to the visuals to the direction—and rarely stray from it.

The genre is not my favorite, as machismo is usually overdone, and too many films turn into standard “guy films” or “good guys versus the bad guys.”

Finally, along comes a film like Dunkirk (2017)that gives the stale genre a swift kick.

The story is both simple and historical.

In 1940, Nazi Germany, having successfully invaded France, pushed thousands of French and British soldiers to a seaside town named Dunkirk.

With slim hopes of rescue or survival, the soldiers are sitting ducks for the raid of German fighter planes, which drop bombs both on the soldiers and rescue ships.

In parallel stories, a kindly British civilian (Mark Rylance) and his son sail to Dunkirk to help rescue the soldiers, and two British fighter pilots chase the German fighter planes, attempting to thwart their deadly intentions.

One will immediately be struck by the film’s pacing, which is nonstop action from start to finish. The action, combined with very little dialogue and an eerie musical score, is what makes the film feel unique and fresh.

Directed by Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight, 2008 and Inception, 2010), critics herald this film as his most remarkable work yet- I tend to agree.

Scenes involving such differing musical scores as screechy violins mixed with thunderous, heavy beats shake up the film and keep the audience on their toes as to what is coming next.

An interesting facet of the film, and certainly done on purpose, is that the characters’ backstories are not revealed- we know very little about them.  Do they have families? Are they married? This is a beautiful decision by the screenwriters and by Nolan.

For instance, the first scenes involve a disheveled private named Tommy (Fionn Whitehead).  Panicked, he runs through the streets in pursuit of the beach, where he meets a fellow soldier named Gibson, who is burying another soldier in the sand.

Together, they find a wounded soldier and carry him to a departing ship. The men never speak but communicate through their eyes and gestures—it is a powerful series of scenes.

Another positive to Dunkirk is the anonymity of the enemy. The German soldiers are never shown. We see many scenes of fighter planes overhead, pummeling the soldiers with bombs and pulsating gunfire in various scenes. Still, the mystique of the enemy troops is a constant throughout the film.

The faceless component of the villains adds terror and haunting uncertainty.  In this way, the film adds to the audience’s confusion about where the enemy may be at any given moment.

The visuals and the vastness of the oceanside beach are at the forefront throughout the entire film, which is one hour and forty-six minutes, relatively brief for a war film. It elicits both beauty and a terrible gloominess.

Scenes of the vastness of the beach peppered with thousands of cold and hungry men are both pathetic and powerful.

The best scenes occur on Mr. Dawson’s  (Rylance) mariner boat. Aided by his son Peter and Peter’s frightened schoolmate, the trio heads for dangerous Dunkirk to help rescue, but en route, he picks up a shell-shocked soldier determined to stay as far away from Dunkirk as possible.

This leads to compelling drama and deep characterization of all the central characters.

Many list 1998’s Saving Private Ryan as the best film in the modern war genre, but Dunkirk may very well rival that film in intensity and musical effectiveness. Dunkirk (2017) also contains shockingly little bloodshed or dismembered soldiers—it does not need this to tell a powerful story.

The film is sometimes emotional and intense, but it never lets go of its audience from the very first frame—it is a war film for the history books and a lesson in film creativity and thoughtfulness.

Oscar Nominations: 3 wins-Best Picture, Best Director-Christopher Nolan, Best Original Score, Best Sound Editing (won), Best Sound Mixing (won), Best Production Design, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing (won)

2010 Films, Christopher Nolan, Cillian Murphy, Elliot Page, Emma Thomas, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ken Watanabe, Leonardo DiCaprio, Lukas Haas, Marion Cotillard, Michael Caine, Science Fiction, Thriller, Tom Berenger, Tom Hardy

Inception-2010

Leave a comment

Inception-2010

Director Christopher Nolan

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen Page

Scott’s Review #558

Reviewed December 22, 2016

Grade: A-

Inception (2010) is the type of film that will leave you astounded, baffled, confused, bewildered, and many other adjectives. To put it more simply, this film needs to be pondered after the fact.

This is a high compliment as it is tough to remember such a complex (in a good way!), savory film.

Inception is visionary and meant to be processed.

A highly intelligent film, of sorts, that will leave you thinking afterward. The story is immeasurably complex and will leave many completely confused, but just go with it.

In a nutshell, it tells the story of a man who intercepts people’s subconscious minds through dreams. Different layers of their minds are revealed as the film goes along. There are also virtual levels to each person’s mind- complex, yes.

The film reminds me quite a bit of The Matrix- but better.

The film has many twists and turns throughout and will keep the viewer both perplexed and fascinated. My only slight criticism is the dream sequences do not feel like dreams at all but are highly stylized action sequences.

Many props have been given for being so inventive, though.

Oscar Nominations: 4 wins-Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Sound Editing (won), Best Sound Mixing (won), Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography (won), Best Visual Effects (won)

2012 Films, Action, Alon Abutbul, Anne Hathaway, Ben Mendelsohn, Christian Bale, Christopher Nolan, Cillian Murphy, Emma Thomas, Gary Oldman, Glen Powell, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Juno Temple, Liam Neeson, Marion Cotillard, Matthew Modine, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Super Hero, Tom Hardy, William Devane

The Dark Knight Rises-2012

Leave a comment

The Dark Knight Rises-2012

Director Christopher Nolan

Starring Christian Bale, Tom Hardy

Scott’s Review #431

70213514

Reviewed June 23, 2016

Grade: C+

The Dark Knight Rises (2012) is a sequel to the exceptional The Dark Knight from 2008 and, unfortunately,  is a complete letdown, especially compared to that film.

Perhaps my expectations were too lofty- it is a sequel after all, and sequels, typically disappoint.

To be fair, the film looks great and has a fast-paced, modern feel- slick and action-packed. A summer popcorn film.

The story, though, is uninteresting- the villains are not compelling, which is a major miss in a film like this where the villains are crucial.

Tom Hardy as Bane is miscast. Anne Hathaway’s Catwoman is underdeveloped and one-dimensional. We never really know much about what makes these characters tick.

I did enjoy the twist at the end involving Marion Cotillard, which impressed me and I did not see coming throughout the story.

I might have rated The Dark Knight Rises even lower than a C+ had it not been for the group of top-notch actors appearing in the film.

Having loved the most recent Batman film, I expected more and received less.

2014 Films, Anne Hathaway, Casey Affleck, Christopher Nolan, David Oyelowo, Ellen Burstyn, Epic, Jessica Chastain, John Lithgow, Matt Damon, Matthew McConaughey, Michael Caine, Science Fiction, Timothée Chalamet, Topher Grace, Wes Bentley, William Devane

Interstellar-2014

Leave a comment

Interstellar-2014

Director Christopher Nolan

Starring Matthew McConaughey, Jessica Chastain

Scott’s Review #277

70305903

Reviewed September 25, 2015

Grade: B-

Interstellar (2014) is an interesting film to review.

Science-fiction/futuristic epic with a run time of nearly three hours and is complex and intricate. It is the latest offering by director Christopher Nolan.

I cannot say I loved the film, however, I did appreciate and marvel at the visual and technical aspects of it, which completely usurps the convoluted plot, made difficult to follow due to changing worlds and galaxies.

The film reminds me of Inception (2010) with an obvious homage to 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), the former directed by Nolan, but not quite as compelling from a story point of view as Inception was.

The complexities of different entities, worlds, and layers of worlds are featured and admittedly, mind-blowing, which is the weak part of the film.

Making the film arguably too intelligent, it loses the audience’s attention.

By too intelligent, I mean too complex. As I review the film, I see two halves-the story side and the visual side. In Interstellar, both are essential components and one fails and one marvels.

The story goes something like this. Matthew McConaughey plays Cooper, a widowed, former space expert stuck in a small town in the mid-west, where he begrudgingly runs a farm, living out an unsatisfying existence.

The Earth’s food and crops are slowly running out and the planet is dying. His two children, daughter Murphy and son Tom face a bleak world.

One day, a dust pattern with coordinates leads Cooper and Murphy to a secret NASA team intent on finding other worlds and attempting to save Earth. The team is led by Dr. Brand, a college professor, and science wizard, played by Michael Caine.

Cooper, naturally, is chosen to lead the venture, which could take him away from his family for years. He accepts much to Murphy’s chagrin. Once in outer space- assisted by Amelia Brand (Dr. Brand’s daughter), the team embarks on an endless mission leading them to different planets and one strange encounter with a rebel astronaut (played wastefully by Matt Damon).

Years later (on earth anyway) Murphy and Tom (now grown and played by Jessica Chastain and Casey Affleck) assume their father Cooper is dead.

Critically, the story is way too much to comprehend. I let go of the story instead of focusing on the visual spectacle I was treated to.

The plot eventually meanders off track as the team traverses through a space wormhole created by an alien intelligence and travels fifty years without aging. Life has gone on over planet Earth. Some characters age, others do not.

To summarize, the story is convoluted and impossible to follow.

Speaking of the story side of Interstellar, the writing contains an irritating wholesomeness, especially in the early stages- pre-outer space.

McConaughey was given this tough, machismo side to him that screams of Hollywood traditionalism- almost like “I am a man- I save the family”. Haven’t we seen this too many times in film?

I also found the relationship between Cooper and his young daughter Murphy incredibly saccharine and screamed of Hollywood schmaltz.

McConaughey was given and succeeded in delivering, one great crying scene.

The visual aspect of Interstellar is a spectacle and much, much better than the story, especially during the final third of the film. The sheer grandeur is astounding. When the crew lands on Miller’s planet, an ocean world, a great tidal wave topples their space ship killing one of the team.

The massive look of the tidal wave is monumental in size and ferocity. Later, when the crew lands on an icy planet, the immense coldness and shape of the planet work perfectly and one feels like they are in outer space.

How inventive and creative is the scene where Cooper attempts to contact a character through a bookshelf. The scene is set up like a maze with different periods, colors, and shapes, seemingly blending is very impressive and artistic.

Visually speaking, Interstellar has some similarities to the 1968 epic 2001: A Space Odyssey. Grandiose, artistic, experimental, and epic along with the obvious space theme allow the two films to be compared.

However, where 2001: A Space Odyssey was about life and contains a clear and powerful message, I did not find the same with Interstellar. Instead, I did not find a message, only a confusing story, mixed with spectacular visuals.

Oscar Nominations: 1 win-Best Original Score, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Production Design, Best Visual Effects (won)

1980 Films, Angie Dickinson, Brian De Palma, Dennis Franz, Horror, Keith Gordon, Michael Caine, Nancy Allen, Scott's Top 100 Films, Scott's Top 20 Horror Films, William Finley

Dressed to Kill-1980

Leave a comment

Dressed to Kill-1980

Director Brian De Palma

Starring Angie Dickinson, Nancy Allen, Michael Caine

Top 100 Films #13    Top 20 Horror Films #5

Scott’s Review #164

60020714

Reviewed September 2, 2014

Grade: A

Dressed to Kill (1980) is Brian De Palma’s greatest work throughout his storied career.

Set in New York City the film is essentially divided into two halves.

The first half centers around Angie Dickinson, who plays a bored housewife named Kate. She is unhappy in her marriage and seeks therapy from a psychiatrist played by Michael Caine, to whom she makes sexual advances.

She is unfaithful to her husband yet is a kind, intelligent, cultured woman. She adores her son and loves her husband but is utterly unfulfilled with life.

Do we, the audience sympathize with her? Does she get what she deserves? Is she a victim? One powerful scene involves a wide-eyed little girl who cannot stop staring at Kate. Can she sense Kate’s shenanigans? Does she sense her conflict? Does Kate feel guilt?

Kate is a complex character and brilliantly played by Dickinson, who gives the character sexiness, softness, and appeal.

After a shocking event in a high-rise elevator rivaled only by the shower scene in Psycho (1960) in its surprise and terror, the remainder of the film belongs to Nancy Allen, who plays a prostitute named Liz, determined to solve a mystery to clear her name.

De Palma sets the dreamlike tone with a sizzling opening shower scene sure to make the prudish blush in its explicitness, which I found deliciously sexy.

A ten-minute museum sequence speaks volumes without dialogue as Kate has a cat-and-mouse flirtation with a stranger.

The brilliance of Dressed to Kill is its versatility and complexity and contains one surprise after another, from the elevator scene to the final reveal to the final stage itself.

It is part horror film part thriller and always stylish.

The film was not well regarded upon its release, but over the years has been respected due to its creativity and excellent mood. Many scenes are shot in slow motion adding an effect to them.

Dressed to Kill (1980) is simply brilliant on every level.