Vintage

Bronson is essentially a biopic about a guy named Charles Bronson. Well that’s the name he goes by anyway. His real name is Michael Peterson and he’s notorious for being the most violent criminal in the British prison system. This film, by writer and director Nicolas Winding Refn, follows Peterson’s life as he builds that reputation in various institutions.

The main reason I knew anything about this movie is because Netflix has been pushing it pretty hard. For the last few months it has been prominent among the titles available for streaming that were recommended to me, so I figured I’d give it a try. After all, Refn directed the critically-acclaimed Drive, and Tom Hardy, who it seems has been in every movie - including Inception and the upcoming Dark Knight Rises - this past year or so, plays the title character. That combination of talent, I figured, made Bronson a worthwhile watch. And in the end I guess it was, although it could have been better.

 I say that because there was no real story line. No action rising to a climax. No change in character. Everything was static. From the very beginning of the film we know that Peterson, who, by the way, chose the name Charles Bronson as an alter ego of sorts for his days as an underground, bare-knuckle fighter, is crazy and violent. He gets in some fights as a child and keeps on fighting as he grows up. He tried to rob a bank and got put in jail where he repeatedly fights guards and other prisoners. Then he goes to the loony bin where he fights orderlies and other patients. By the end of the film, and after a few too many Tom Hardy dong shots, he’s no more or less crazy or violent.

I get what Refn is doing, though. Having seen Drive, it’s clear what style he’s going for; he’s trying to establish a directorial flair that is his and his alone. He’s not so much concerned about story as he is about being artistic. And that’s fine. That’s why Bronson wasn’t a total letdown. Much like Drive, Bronson has very little dialogue. There’s a lot of suspenseful silence and fancy camera work and lighting techniques backed by synth beats. The majority of the speaking, in fact, comes from soliloquies by Hardy. Every five or 10 minutes the film cuts to Hardy standing on stage, with his face painted in various ways, before a crowd of well-dressed theatergoers. Even these scenes are attempts to be artsy. The best example of which is when he’s explaining a conversation with a nurse at the mental hospital. Half of his face is unpainted and the other half is painted to look like a woman. Hardy turns back and forth, revealing the profile of whoever is talking, the male or the female.

Moments like that make this film all the more strange and therefore not for everyone. If you’re looking for a structured story, Bronson is not for you. But if you are interested in the art of filmmaking than it’s worth a watch. Refn has gained a lot of acclaim for Drive and is poised to become one of the better-known directors of the next decade. And Hardy is one of the more quickly up and coming actors. Why else would he be in every freaking movie? Throughout Bronson, the title character says how he always wanted to be famous. I guess now that there’s a movie about him he got what he wanted. His fame, however, looks like it will be far surpassed by that of the people who made the film. Overall it’s worth of a Queen rating. The British should appreciate that.

When did Liam Neeson become the best action star there is? I will take Neeson's frazzled, frenetic, yet-I-kick-major-ass when it comes down to it over your typical sculpted Vin Diesel action hero any day.  Why? I think because Neeson has an everyday type of guy appearance to him, it lends more to the action.  Like, "wow, look at this totally un-ripped dude out there beating some spy ass."  Call it the Gene Hackman cool guy factor.  Maybe the Bruce Willis cool guy factor.  I like heroes that remind me, of, well, me.  Nah, I can't even go that far.  Any of the dudes I just mentioned make me look like Fat Albert.

In Unknown, Neeson plays the lead guy who is on a trip to Germany with his wife (super hot psycho-bitch-player January Jones) , when one thing leads to another, he finds himself taxi that runs a ledge and is plummeting into an icy cold river.  He is saved by his super hot taxi driver (Diane Kruger).  He is out of it for a few days and then he decides to go to the conference and find his wife (much like any normal dude would do).  Problem is when he arrives at the hotel his wife doesn't remember anything about him. He is unknown to her. Did I mention she has a new husband with his name?

For a Coen Brothers movie, the violence in True Grit was pretty much non-violent, but in a good Unforgiven style of manner.  True Grit  features an impressive cast: Hailee Steinfeld as Mattie Ross and Jeff Bridges as U.S. Marshal Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn along with Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, and Barry Pepper. Jeff Bridges as Rooster Cogburn, a U.S. Marshall Gun-For-Hire, was iconic.  He was perhaps as iconic as a true icon that once holstered a six-shooter in this role.  Who was that?  Man, it was The Duke.  With a spot-on, Oscar-worthy performance,  Bridges not only served up justice to the coward Tom Chaney, a murderer of a little girl's dad, but to The Duke as well.

True Grit (2010) is a remake of an earlier well-known John Wayne effort of the same title  This version was as good as a western as I can remember in recent years.  Dare I say this western is probably the best of this decade, but the decade is only a year old or so...  Who knows what might come down the trail and shoot up the town between this year and another nine.

Hailee Steinfeld as Mattie Ross was beyond charming and endearing.  She struck a highly believable chord as a 14-year old kid who was smart and merely wanted to seek revenge on a dastardly man who murdered her father to bring balance to way things should be.  However, you got the sense, that deep within her, there was buried emotion, but the emotion never surfaced except for subtle yet exceptionally poignant moments when you could see surprise and wonder sprout up in her eyes. She had "true grit" to the end, and in my opinion, this is the true grit in which the title truly refers. 

Country Strong (2011) should be titled Country Wrong.  I don't buy this sappy stitch-together one bit.  It is cliched, campy, and frankly, boring.  It is not a terrible flick.  It was filmed in a competent manner.  It has likable stars, even real country stars like Tim McGraw, but there is not much country in Country Strong.  Instead there is campy.  Hell, the music is as good as half the country crap you will hear today (this is coming from a John Cash fan - not a country music hater). 

The plot involves Gweneth Paltrow as an alcoholic singer who is perhaps in the sunset of her career.  There is an up and coming starlet that tags along with them and throw into the mix a young stud who will eventually have the hots for both of them.  Tim McGraw is the Patlrow's stage manager who obviously has feelings for her, but pushes her for the glory of the road show.

So what were the flicks biggest transgressions?  Too vanilla.  Boring.  Too nice.  Even the assholes were good people.

You want to see a better country strong movie I would suggest Walk The Line (2005) and Crazy Heart (2009).  Going back in time, check out Coal Miner's Daughter (1980) or Tender Mercies (1983).  This flick wants to be mentioned in the same breath of those but only will succeed when mentioned in terms of how it doesn't even come close to any of them. I deal it a Jack.