Tag Archives: Frank Grillo

2002 Films, Action, Crime Thriller, Guy Films, Science Fiction, Thriller

Minority Report-2002

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Minority Report-2002

Director Steven Spielberg

Starring Tom Cruise

Scott’s Review #1,318

Reviewed November 27, 2022

Grade: B+

If you study his body of film work, the fascinating thing about acclaimed director Steven Spielberg is the growth and groundbreaking cross-genre categorization of many of his films.

Traversing blockbuster popcorn films like Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and E.T. the Extra-terrestrial (1982) to heavy drama with the 1993 masterpiece Schindler’s List, the man can do it all.

With 2002’s Minority Report, he bravely delves into science-fiction territory with a crime thriller and action tint.

The film is tough to follow and mostly reminds me of Inception (2010), a Christopher Nolan film influenced by it.

Despite its cerebral tone, Minority Report is a fascinating study of futuristic crime-fighting styles with enough twists and turns to keep you engaged.

It turned out well, though I confess that at times I had no real idea what was going on plot-wise.

The casting of Tom Cruise is a major win. Who better to carry a film like this, except maybe Bruce Willis, though Cruise is a better actor. Nonetheless, he is believable as a crime chief with a slick edge and a wicked smile.

Unsure whether to trust him, he remains at the heart of the film’s success.

Based on a story by science fiction writer Philip K. Dick, ‘Minority Report’ contains a perfect premise to bring to the big screen.

Set in Washington, D.C. in 2054, police are now intelligent enough to utilize psychic technology to arrest and convict murderers before they commit their crimes.

The setup is fabulous and rife with possibilities.

Cruise plays Chief John Anderton, the head of this Precrime unit, and is himself accused of the future murder of a man he hasn’t even met.

Following an audit, it is predicted that in thirty-six hours, Anderton will kill a man who is a stranger to Anderton. Anderton flees, prompting a search led by a searcher (Colin Farrell).

It is revealed that Anderton joined the Precrime program after his son was kidnapped and never found. He is depressed, withdrawn, and addicted to hard drugs, and his wife Lara (Kathryn Morris) has since left him.

But is this all a setup, and are others involved in the conspiracy?

The plot goes way off the rails in terms of explanation or logic, but the fun is in trying to put the never-ending puzzle pieces together. Truthfully, after a while, I simply gave up and enjoyed the visual eye candy and terrific futuristic style.

I rarely am a proponent of visuals over storytelling, but the intelligence of the sequences and the thrilling nature of the acting assured me there was something there.

I just wasn’t completely getting it.

Since Spielberg directs it, I was confident that the complexities I was being served were not shit. I was comforted by this knowledge, and my enjoyment escalated.

Enough props can’t be given for Cruise’s dynamic performance, heightened by the coldness and harshness of the film’s overall tone.

Many of Spielberg’s films are heartwarming, but that was not the case in Minority Report (2002), and I liked it even more for that reason.

Spielberg gets another win by suckering me into a cinematic world that he can magically create. This time with perplexities and perhaps even some influence from the Matrix (1999) movies.

Oscar Nominations: Best Sound Editing

2012 Films, Action, Drama, Political Thriller, Thriller, War

Zero Dark Thirty-2012

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Zero Dark Thirty-2012

Director Kathryn Bigelow

Starring Jessica Chastain

Scott’s Review #1,133

Reviewed April 14, 2021

Grade: A-

Director Kathryn Bigelow, not far removed from her Oscar win for The Hurt Locker (2008), returns with a similar style of film centered on war and, more specifically, the emotional toll and psychological effects of not just battlefields but also dangerous missions.

The main character faces many conflicts, and the viewer inevitably does too.

Zero Dark Thirty (2012) is unique in the genre for having a woman in the lead role, and star Jessica Chastain is front and center and terrific.

She is calm, restrained, and in control. She is tough to rattle and a powerful, inspirational character to admire.

Chastain exudes cool in the face of danger.

Chastain does have a brilliant emotional scene at the end of the film. Her character, Maya, boards a military transport back to the U.S. as the sole passenger. She is asked where she wants to go and begins to cry. The emotion finally gets the better of her, as it would to anyone.

The film isn’t all Chastain’s to brag about, and there is little wrong with it.

Beautifully directed, Bigelow layers her film with enough tension and magnificence to enshroud the moral questions viewers will ask, specifically about torture.

It’s somewhat fictionalized, and in fact, Chastain’s character is made up, but Zero Dark Thirty is a gem nonetheless.

But we also know the events happened.

The film starts incredibly well and immediately grabs the viewer’s attention with a brilliant first scene.

Amidst a dark screen and soundtrack of actual calls made to the 911 operator from inside the World Trade Center Towers on 9/11, the scene is about as powerful an opening as a film can have and bravely sets the stage for what follows.

These include many scenes of Arab detainees being interrogated (that is, tortured) for information about Al Qaeda. Is this justified or unnecessary abuse?

The viewer is immediately saddened, in tears, and conflicted about whether the torture is justified, having just heard the 911 calls.

I know I was.

From there, the viewer also hears a summary that puts the pieces of the first scene together.

After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Osama bin Laden becomes one of the most wanted men on the planet. The worldwide search for the terrorist leader occupies the resources and attention of two U.S. presidential administrations.

This is the crux of the film and the story told.

Ultimately, a dedicated female operative (Chastain) proves instrumental in finally locating bin Laden. In May 2011, Navy SEALs launched a nighttime strike, killing bin Laden in his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

We all know this, but troubling is the use of torture. I keep coming back to this point.

I think what I like most about the film, besides the riveting pacing, action sequences, and psychological appeal, is the controversy that surrounds it.

The fact that it ruffled feathers at the CIA and in Congress about whether the info was leaked to the filmmakers makes me think that at least some of it is based on facts, despite what other reviewers (likely with a strong political bias) might claim to the contrary.

But as a political junkie, that’s just my belief.

The film’s reproduction of enhanced interrogation techniques is brutal. Some critics, in light of the interrogations being depicted as gaining reliable, useful, and accurate information, considered the scenes pro-torture propaganda.

Acting CIA director Michael Morell felt the film created the false impression that torture was key to finding bin Laden. Others described it as an anti-torture exposure of interrogation practices.

I guess we may never know the truth. But the film compels and provokes feeling.

Bigelow is at the top of her game with Zero Dark Thirty (2012), crafting a genre film (the war one) too often told through a masculine “us versus them” mentality and leaving behind the fascinating nuances that can make the genre a more interesting and less one-note.

The masterful director does just that and makes us think, ponder, and squirm uneasily.

Oscar Nominations: 1 win-Best Picture, Best Actress-Jessica Chastain, Best Original Screenplay, Best Sound Editing (won), Best Film Editing

2014 Films, Thriller

The Purge: Anarchy-2014

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The Purge: Anarchy-2014

Director James DeMonaco

Starring Frank Grillo

Scott’s Review #466

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Reviewed August 16, 2016

Grade: B

As a fan of the original The Purge (2013), a creative, fresh modern horror film with a distinct message, I did not expect the sequel to match expectations nor to be as powerful as the original.

I was right on both counts.

As a stand-alone film, though, it is a decent flick, having almost nothing to do with the original, save for the same premise.

I hesitate to call The Purge: Anarchy a horror film as it contains little blood, gore, or true horror elements- it is much more of a thriller.

The premise is simple- the Government sanctioned holiday of March 21st has come around again, meaning twelve hours of sanctioned mayhem, where murder, rape, and assault are all allowed without punishment to the criminals, and no police or rescue teams are available.

The period is 2023, though I am unsure why this is relevant since nothing distinguishes the year from the current year, 2016, in the story.

Several protagonists fearfully hunker down for a night of safety in their dwellings, but circumstances force them onto the streets.

A mother and her teen daughter, a young couple, and a vigilante are the characters. The backstories of these folks are not all that important or relevant to the film. They form a group and bond with each other.

Whereas the original kept the audience in one house, The Purge: Anarchy does anything but. As the group commences, the streets of Los Angeles serve as the backdrop for the action as they endlessly traverse the dark and mainly deserted streets, hiding in garbage dumpsters, tunnels, and other sources of protection.

The vigilante, who is revealed to be an off-duty police officer, has the motivation, as his son was killed one year ago today, not as a result of the Purge, but by a drunk driver. The police officer seeks revenge via the freedom the annual Purge allows him.

The film is purely plot-driven and little character development exists, however, the group is mostly likable, especially the mother and daughter.

Interestingly, the filmmakers feature multiple races and ethnic groups, giving it a dose of diversity, which gets big kudos from me.

I could not help but draw comparisons to the popular television series The Walking Dead (2010-2022), at several points of the film, as the group, brandishing weapons, continuously encounters thugs and enemies of every kind as they wander the streets.

A creative twist to The Purge: Anarchy involves a group of Anti-Purgers, all black, who have a following of people supporting them against the government’s protocol of allowing an annual purging.

It is made clear that the main victims of the purge holiday are the poor and the sick.

Correlating with this, our group finds themselves kidnapped and taken to a lavish party where wealthy folks arrange a night of champagne and hunting as the victims are lured to their deaths as the onlookers cheer and feast in celebration.

Think of an Oscar party with gruesome results.

The Purge: Anarchy (2014) is a fun, Saturday night popcorn film worth pondering. Would society succumb to a fetish such as the annual purge if the government condoned it?

Undoubtedly the film must have been influenced by the popularity of The Hunger Games (2012-2023) in tone and theme.

It is a decent film, no more no less.

2012 Films, Action, Crime Drama, Drama, Los Angeles, Thriller

End of Watch-2012

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End of Watch-2012

Director David Ayer

Starring Jake Gyllenhaal

Scott’s Review #447

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Reviewed July 8, 2016

Grade: B+

End of Watch (2012) impressed me much more than I was expecting. I expected a safe, by-the-numbers buddy/action movie, since the previews promoted it as such.

It was worlds better than that and threw me for a loop, in a good way.

The film stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña as two detectives patrolling the streets of grizzled central Los Angeles, which are riddled with drug and gang violence.

The viewer is brought along for the ride as we see a day in the life, if you will, of their cop beat.

The one knock I’ll give the film is the implausibility factor of a cop videotaping everything. This seems silly and unrealistic.

Wouldn’t he be incredibly distracted? That said, some of the filmings were amazing, including the opening sequence.

The film has a realistic grittiness, and the Los Angeles locale is very effective.

End of Watch (2012) feels painstakingly real, isn’t always happy, and the dynamic between Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña is evident; their friendship feels real.

The movie feels like a day in the life of an LA cop, sparing no edgy detail, and it doesn’t gloss over the lifestyle as many cop films do.

Independent Spirit Award Nominations: Best Supporting Male-Michael Peña, Best Cinematography