Movie Review: Inequality for All (2013)

by Tony Dayoub

Whether it's Fox News or MSNBC, if you watch cable news, you've seen Robert Reich before. The 4'10" economics expert is a frequent guest pundit on political talk shows. Currently a Professor of Public Policy at UC Berkeley and famed for his tenure as Bill Clinton's labor secretary, Reich also comes across as a bit of a showman in Inequality for All. This is not entirely a bad thing as the new documentary demonstrates. Sometimes it takes someone with a sense of the theatrical to explain our fractured economy in a way the layman can understand.

Movie Review: Lee Daniels' The Butler (2013)

by Tony Dayoub

You can divide audiences for historical movies into a few categories. Of course, there are those that view them simply as entertainment the way they view all other films. There are people like me, who hope to uncover something new, i.e. Lincoln reframed much of what I knew about my favorite president through the lens of today's politics. Then there are those who simply want what they already believe to be validated by such a movie. It's hard to figure out who Lee Daniels is talking to with Lee Daniels' The Butler (the last time I'll be referring to it by its full, unwieldy and legally imposed title). On the one hand, The Butler is eminently watchable, moving along at a very nimble pace that should appeal to both young audiences ignorant of civil rights history and older audiences wanting to re-experience the history the turbulent times they lived through in a nutshell. But I'm not certain that Daniels is aiming for either constituency.

Movie Review: Hating Breitbart (2013)

by Tony Dayoub

Masquerading as a fair and balanced documentary, Hating Breitbart is actually a tribute to the late Andrew Breitbart, self-anointed provocateur of the right. Designed to expand the myth about the professional conservative troll rather than examine what's behind it, Andrew Marcus's ostensible exposé is aimed straight at the collective heart of the same partisan audience that refuses to buy into any reportage that isn't accompanied by the imprimatur of Fox News. And like that network's segments, Hating Breitbart is cut together in a deceptive way that only seems to inform while really just proselytizing.

Slumming It Lumet-Style in Broken City

by Tony Dayoub

Private detective Billy Taggart (Mark Wahlberg) is a brittle shell encasing a multitude of failings. Jealous, obsessive and paranoid, he tells his soon to be ex-wife Natalie (Natalie Martinez), an actress on the verge of overnight success, that she can't fool him. "I'm a detective. You couldn't if you tried." So, into the mix that makes up Taggart, you can also add a certain measure of arrogance characteristic of some who "uphold" the law. Taggart's hubris is a strong indicator that he is headed for a big fall. With such a perfect noir set-up, why then does Broken City feel so prosaic?

TV Review: Game Change

by Tony Dayoub

Premiering this Saturday, Game Change is an HBO adaptation of the bestselling book by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin covering the 2008 U.S. election race. Rather than try to tackle the entire tome, which looked at the presidential race from nearly every angle on both sides of the aisle, the film wisely narrows its focus to one of politics' most interesting chapters (the book's last 113 pages, essentially): the rise of Sarah Palin from Alaskan governor to—as CNN commentator Jack Cafferty put it—Republican leader "one 72-year-old's heartbeat away from being President of the United States." Writer Danny Strong and director Jay Roach take much the same approach they did with HBO's Recount, the story behind the even more controversial election of 2000. Mixing found footage gathered from cable news with CGI-enhanced images blending real-life figures like Joe Biden and actors like Julianne Moore and Ed Harris, the filmmakers dramatize the events that unfolded behind-the-scenes of John McCain's campaign.

Movie Review: Potiche (2010)

by Tony Dayoub

It's 1970s France and Suzanne Pujol (Catherine Deneuve) is content. Her husband Robert (Fabrice Luchini) is the director of her late father's umbrella factory. He's having some trouble with striking workers, but that's okay because Robert avoids sharing his troubles with her. Instead, he dumps his problems on his secretary (and mistress), Nadège (Karin Viard). Daughter Joëlle (Judith Godrèche) belittles Suzanne for being a simple potiche—a trophy wife—confessing she is about to ask for a divorce from her own freeloading husband. And son Laurent (Jérémie Rénier) is a student still undecided about his plans for the future. No one is happy, least of all Suzanne, but she's content. Nobody's perfect, right? This is the way life should be. And at least she's happy enough that when she goes for a jog in the morning, the forest animals are attracted to her cheerfulness, surrounding her and serenading her with their soft chirps and purrs like they would Sleeping Beauty. Wait... say what?

Movie Review: Fair Game (2010)

by Tony Dayoub

Any depressed Democrats still weepy over yesterday's election results by week's end can get a lift watching Doug Liman's liberal feel-good movie, Fair Game, which opens this Friday. While nowhere near a propaganda piece as a film I reviewed back in March, Green Zone (coincidentally directed by Liman's successor in the Bourne series, Paul Greengrass), it still has tinges of simplistic "Leftie good, Rightie bad" sentiments which do a disservice to what, based on the facts alone, should be a rather simple open-and-shut indictment of the Bush Administration and the cloud of malfeasance which hung over their entry into the Iraq War.

NYFF10 Movie Reviews: Inside Job (2010) and Boxing Gym

by Tony Dayoub

Two vastly different documentaries impressed me at yesterday's press screenings. Each in their own way, Inside Job and Boxing Gym take subjects we already think we know about and make them more accessible to the viewer, and isn't that what the best of such films do?

Blu-ray Review: Invictus (2009)

by Tony Dayoub

Widely dismissed as a sketchy biopic of Nelson Mandela, Clint Eastwood's Invictus is actually a better than average sports film which only uses Mandela's new age of reconciliation in South Africa as a backdrop. Ironically, between its original theatrical release and its home release yesterday (on Blu-ray, DVD, On Demand, and for Download) the issues surrounding apartheid and reconciliation have once again come to the fore in that country.

Movie Review: Invictus (2009)

by Tony Dayoub

Outside of the racial turmoil that still embroils South Africa in Clint Eastwood's Invictus stand Madiba, one-time South African activist and former president of that country, Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman); and Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon), captain of the South African Springboks, the national rugby union team that won the World Cup in 1995—kindred spirits in their respect for the power of sports to unite people of all colors, creeds, and social classes. The politics and personalities that Eastwood (Gran Torino) introduces in the first third of the film, the details of life in post-apartheid South Africa that populate its second third, all seem to revolve around Mandela at first. But Eastwood, whose attempts at structural unconventionality often backfire as his movies wrap up in the last third, creates a satisfying sports film by using the preceding details to set-up an emotional release in a climactic rugby sequence led by Damon's Pienaar.


Invictus begins with Mandela taking office, all too conscious of residual racism on both sides of the South African divide even as he seems to blithely pursue his goal of racial harmony. He sees the strife even within his own staff, Eastwood illustrating it a little too earnestly in the internal discord between Madiba's black and white bodyguards (their chief played with scene-stealing charisma by Tony Kgoroge—who nearly reframes the film's cast hierarchy as a third lead). Springbok captain Pienaar sees the effects of Mandela's changes played out in his own home, where his father has little hesitation in criticizing the disappearance of apartheid in front of the family's black servant. And he is all too aware of the disdain the blacks have for the Springbok team and their colors, remnants of South Africa's former white dominance. They openly deride the team at their rugby tournaments. But Pienaar knows that Chester Williams (McNeil Hendricks) the team's only black player is accepted by his teammates without reluctance. So he knows the potential for reconciliation exists and understands why Mandela meets with him, inspires him to push his teammates to their maximum as South Africa hosts the 1995 World Cup. And it is here, where Eastwood's (nearly too) straightforward style and the grand nobility of the movie's themes collide giving us a powerful release in the third act's climactic rugby game.

The game sequence is where Eastwood closes the circle on all the dramatic tension he has been setting up. Madiba's bodyguards finally seem to be working together well enough to be attuned to their chief's concern that the rugby match is the perfect place for an assassination attempt. A black child that the film has been following for some time—too poor to get into the game—loiters near the stadium's police presence to listen to the match as it plays out over the radio. Pienaar rallies his players to withstand the expected rout by New Zealand's All-Blacks (in a film full of nice moments, Eastwood uses one to include the All-Blacks' traditional Maori war dance used to intimidate opponents before international matches). He then pays off what little knowledge the viewer has accumulated about the confounding game of rugby to unfurl a sports sequence—strike that—an action sequence that is never once confusing; devoid of the close-up quick cutting that usually leaves today's audiences unsure of what just happened. One never loses the grip on the stadium or playing field's geography as Eastwood follows up on all the parallel plot developments.

Meanwhile, Mandela presides over the game from his private box, a messianic presence not unlike Freeman's portrayal of God in Bruce Almighty. Many are mistaking Eastwood's Invictus to be a sort of biopic, a look at a critical moment in the life of Madiba. It's no wonder considering the scenery-chewing perfomance by Freeman, who acts like he took Mandela's assertion that only he could play the leader a little too seriously. Freeman's performance is writ so large on the screen, that it almost eclipses the key central development on which the film hinges.

The only time one gets a true sense of the man behind the public persona is when Pienaar visits Mandela's prison cell at Robben Island, where he spent a good deal of his sentence after he was arrested for his activism. Damon really sells the impact of Mandela's movement on his generation of Afrikaners. The deference he exudes in Freeman's presence gives way to a stirring cocktail of regret, contempt, guilt, and respect in the scene where Pienaar stretches his arms across the length and breadth of the tiny cell measuring the small space while acknowledging the grandeur of the spirit that resided within its walls.

No, the performance at the center of Invictus is actually a quiet but visceral one by Damon as Pienaar. Pienaar is, after all, the character most affected by the changes in South Africa after Mandela helps bring an end to apartheid and ascends to the presidency. Within the story, Mandela is simply the agent of change that advances the story. So those maligning Invictus for its simplistic depiction of Madiba are failing to comprehend why this film works. At its heart, this sports drama is inspired by Mandela rather than about him.

Pasolini Retrospective - La rabbia di Pasolini (2008) at NYFF09's Views From the Avant Garde

by Tony Dayoub



While shooting his sequence for RoGoPaG (1963)—"La ricotta," which featured Orson Welles—Director Pier Paolo Pasolini created a Marxist film out of found footage called La rabbia (The Rage) (1963). A restored simulation (more on that shortly) screened last night as the 47th New York Film Festival's opener for its 13th annual Views from the Avant Garde series, running this weekend. While experimental films have never really been my bag (last night's moviegoers wondering who was intermittently snoring at the Walter Reade theater need look no further... it was me), the story behind the scenes is quite interesting.

The Year 2000: Counting Down The Zeroes - Before Night Falls (Julian Schnabel)

Seeing Before Night Falls (2000) again for the first time in 8 years, I am struck by how timely it still is. With a new administration in the White House far more open in its foreign policy, Cuba is one country that is benefiting from the America's reengagement in the world of diplomacy. The Congressional Black Caucus even sent a few representatives this past week to sniff out its new leader, Raul Castro, and investigate if there is enough cause to consider building bridges between the U.S. and Cuba. As the son of Cuban immigrants myself, I've always had a somewhat more complicated view of the internal realities in Cuba. Director Julian Schnabel captures my own feelings on the subject and presents a story that is somehow both realistic and surreal, political and poetic; a story of a small, beautiful island on the decline under the weight of corruption, yet fiercely surviving because of the powerful will of its creatively spirited people. Writer Reinaldo Arenas (Javier Bardem) is a homosexual who comes of age at the same time as Fidel Castro's revolution comes to fruition. While Arenas at first supports the revolution because of the change it seems to bring, he quickly comes to realize that the new regime is far more oppressive than he first thought. Dissent is not welcome. And the creative community is targeted for its position in society, ideally suited in fomenting dissent among Cuba's free-spirited population. Homosexuals are also targeted for "rehabilitation", placing Arenas in the sights of the island's oppressors. We follow Arenas through his travails in Cuba's prison system, and his eventual exile from the island, ending up in New York where he lives in poverty until his death of AIDS. But Arena's will is never diminished by his troubles, and his story's arc serves as a metaphor for that of Cuba itself. Schnabel (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), a renowned painter himself, has always specialized in telling the story of artists facing personal adversity, whether real (Basquiat) or imagined (Lou Reed's Berlin). This frees him to use creative license in depicting the story of Before Night Falls. For instance, Arenas isn't always the most reliable narrator. His romantic childhood as told to an interviewer late in the film flies in the face of the impoverished childhood we observed earlier in the movie. We begin to realize that Arenas' art - and in fact, Cuba's - thrives as a result of its existence under oppression. For whether its the poverty that ruled the island before the revolution, or the regime that ruled after, Arenas and his fellow Cubans used the resulting climate as an incentive to create transcendent paintings, literature, music and dance. There are details I relate to, having family that experienced the 1959 Revolution firsthand. In an early scene on the island, Arenas seems to be eating hard-boiled eggs and broccoli because that is all he can afford. We later see him eating the same in New York, where he has freedom of choice, but has perhaps become institutionalized into eating this after his years under Castro. Arenas is often being observed by shadowy government informants, a fact of life in Cuba. Once in New York, he extols the virtues of baby food by pointing out how simple it is to eat for a writer since it can be eaten right out of the jar, a tall tale used to cover up his embarrassment that it is also a cheap source of nutrition for the penniless author. Schnabel shows us how the Cuban people have survived through times of great political repression by continuing to indulge their creative spirit. And though there are many opposed to lifting America's economic embargo against Cuba, I believe that once it is lifted it will allow a subtle shift to occur. No longer will the United States be seen as aiding in the punishment of Cuba's economically depressed people. It will be seen as contributing to the dialogue among its artistic community, as democracy begins its slow invasion into the island and pushes new sources of ideas to the forefront of the Cuban consciousness. Only then will the Cuban people have a chance to escape the oppression of their daily lives that they have grown accustomed to. This post was first published at Film for the Soul for its continuing series on the best movies of the 2000s, Counting Down the Zeroes, on 4/14/09.

Movie Review: Milk - A Capraesque Biopic by Director Van Sant

Who would've thought it? The maverick eminence grise of independent cinema, Gus Van Sant, brings us a pretty conventional biopic in Milk. Long attached to a film biography, in one form or another, of the martyred San Francisco City supervisor Harvey Milk, Van Sant has finally been able to direct this ambitious project. Starring as Milk is Sean Penn (Mystic River), a perfect piece of casting, in my opinion. But with the stars finally aligned for the production to go forward, why did the usually unpredictable Van Sant decide to play it straight? The film covers Milk's rise to political office in 70's San Francisco, where he became the state's first openly gay elected public official. A mildly closeted New Yorker, he slowly makes the transition to out-and-proud as a result of the prevailing countercultural influence, and his involvement with Scott Smith (James Franco), the film posits. But his entry into the political arena, and the attendant public attention, alienates Smith. A subsequent depressive boyfriend, Jack Lira (Diego Luna), is so distraught at having to share Milk with the increasingly powerful LGBT political movement that he soon hangs himself. Yet, as messy as his personal life was, Milk's political life (save for an alarming amount of death threats) continued to unfold relatively successfully, with Milk spearheading a campaign against the Briggs Initiative or Proposition 6. Proposition 6 would have required the firing of any teacher known to be gay or support gay causes. Winning the campaign, and political allies such as Mayor George Moscone (Victor Garber), proved to be something Milk was a natural at. Fellow supervisor Dan White (Josh Brolin), a lone conservative on a board of liberals, became embroiled in controversy after resigning his post as supervisor, and then trying to regain his job back. Blaming Milk and Moscone for ostracizing him from the board, he shot and killed them in November, 1978. The performances are all over the map. Penn perfectly captures Milk's congenial spirit that endeared him to so many. This may be Penn's most likable role since Spicoli in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Brolin (W.) is also excellent at conveying the paranoia, and perhaps repressed homosexuality, that drives White to commit his brutal crimes. Others like Luna (Y tu mamá también), and Emile Hirsch (Speed Racer) as fellow activist Cleve Jones, are way over the top. Their flamboyance in their respective roles borders on offensive caricature. Franco (Pineapple Express), however, brings an earnest sensitivity to his role that should help display some of the versatility and range this underrated actor is capable of. Van Sant's film often plays like a gay Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. the director opts to use traditional narrative techniques like montages and pop music to advance his story in a relatively trite manner. Stock shots found in political films are rehashed here again, with Harvey's small frame often dwarfed even further in shots accentuating the grandiose halls of the surrounding city hall. This is no doubt to identify Milk as the Capraesque little man fighting against the entrenched establishment. It would not be exaggerating to propose that this may be Van Sant's most mainstream picture since Finding Forrester. Milk has now become a rallying point for the LGBT community with the passing of California's Proposition 8. The irony is that it has been rumored that Focus Features chose to hold the film's release back until after the elections to avoid polarizing audiences against it. So though it may be disappointing, it is not entirely surprising that the usually avant-garde Van Sant chose a rather orthodox biopic format to tell the story of the flamboyantly controversial Harvey Milk. The film is not bad. Watch it garner a number of nominations in the upcoming awards season. But it definitely lacks the distinctive impact that Milk has had even after his death.

Movie Review: Frost/Nixon - Performances Sharpen after Transition from Stage to Screen

Strong performances continue to clutter up American cinema in 2008. Three strong contenders emerge from Ron Howard's latest film, Frost/Nixon. Written by Peter Morgan (The Queen), the movie is based on his play which debuted in London's West End. The original London cast returns, with Frank Langella (Superman Returns) in his Tony award-winning role as disgraced former president Richard Nixon, and Michael Sheen (The Queen) as famed TV host David Frost. The film depicts the behind-the-scenes events surrounding Nixon's 1977 television interview with Frost. In obtaining an interview with the former president, talk show host Frost saw an opportunity for fame and glory. The embattled Frost was losing ground in his fight to keep himself on the air in Australia and Britain after already having lost a broadcast in New York. This would be a chance to regain relevance in his industry. For Nixon, it would be an opportunity to rehabilitate his reputation after the Watergate debacle, submitting himself to an interviewer that in all likelihood would refrain from hard-hitting questions. Langella and Sheen prove to be evenly matched onscreen, even if their characters don't seem to be at first glance. Langella's Nixon is crafty, hiding a keen intellect underneath a deceptive mask of age and lumbering physical non-agility. Before one interview session, he innocently makes small talk with Frost. Just as the floor director counts down to camera rolling, Nixon slips in a question to Frost in order to unsettle him, "You have a pleasant evening last night? You do any fornicating?" But Sheen's Frost is not as overmatched as everybody thinks. After agreeing to avoid any questions on Watergate until their fourth session, he leads into their first conversation with the question, "Why didn't you burn the tapes?" Though only slightly ruffling Nixon's feathers with his impatience, the incident seems to encapsulate Frost's showmanship. This quality is later demonstrated to be invaluable in preserving the attention focused on the interviews, as he deals with criticism from the journalistic establishment for his lack of credibility, and wrestles with raising financing for the endeavor. Yet despite the larger than life characters that front the film, its emotional heart is Sam Rockwell's interpretation of James Reston. One of Frost's researchers, it is Reston who seems to inspire Frost to reach beyond just the banal anecdotes that, as Reston puts it, would fascinate a "talk show host." Reston believes it is their job to give Nixon the "trial he never had." Rockwell (Choke) is explosive in this small role which essentially serves as Frost's conscience, and I predict an Oscar nomination in his near future. The most surprising achievement director Ron Howard (A Beautiful Mind) accomplishes is staying out of the way of his actors. Instead, he focuses on broadening the play to cinematic scale. Some of it doesn't work, like an annoying framing device where some of the peripheral players in the drama relate the story from the future. In this case, I'm unaware if this was a device used in the play, but it seems to be a pretentious attempt to inject a false historical grandeur to the proceedings. Some of it does, like shooting at expansive locations in California and curiously, tightening the frame with frequent closeups, revealing nuance that would be difficult to see onstage. Perhaps it is Howard's own experience as an actor that serves him best in this film, trusting his cast to act the heck out of their parts. Frost/Nixon is easy to recommend. It transcends its stage roots to become a quite gripping example of the power of performance, and how filmmaking can hone it to an even sharper degree than the theater can. Frost/Nixon is in limited release.

Movie Trailer: Oliver Stone's W.

by Tony Dayoub



Here's the trailer for Oliver Stone's new movie W., about the George W. Bush presidency, coming this fall.


The all-star cast includes Josh Brolin (No Country For Old Men) as "Dubya", Richard Dreyfuss (Mr. Holland's Opus) as Dick Cheney, and other luminaries you'll recognize. But I'll let you see for yourself, as that's part of the trailer's charm.

The movie is set for an October 17 release.

Click on the picture above to be redirected to YouTube for a look at the trailer.

DVD Review: The Deal - Political Drama Not Exactly a Prequel to The Queen

by Tony Dayoub

The Deal is an interesting exploration of the rivalry between Britain's current Prime Minister, Gordon Brown (David Morrissey), and the former one, Tony Blair (Michael Sheen). Produced in 2003, for British Television, it was first aired in the U.S. last year, on HBO. This probably wouldn't have even happened, had it not been produced by the same creative team as the popular film starring Helen Mirren, The Queen (2006). Like that one, it is written by Peter Morgan (The Last King of Scotland), directed by Stephen Frears (Dangerous Liaisons), and it has the same actor playing Blair. So one can choose to view it as a prequel, though their storylines are not really tightly connected. Still it should be of interest to fans of that movie, and observers of British politics.


Brown and Blair came up the Labour Party ranks together, their association starting in 1983. Though ostensibly peers, Brown had the benefit of being involved with the opposition party since he was handing out leaflets in his teens. Blair, though born in working class Scotland like Brown, had a more privileged upbringing. Brown took Blair under his wing, and together the odd couple became a popular pair within the party. Both showed potential to be the leader of the newest generation in their organization, and perhaps the best chance at wresting Britain away from the Thatcherite Conservative party.

However, though Brown's experience made it seem he would be destined to take the reins, Blair quickly surpassed him in popularity. As we all know, it was Blair that became PM first. This film reveals the deal the two made leading to the fateful decision as to who would best be qualified to lead the party and eventually Britain itself.

In "A Conversation with Director Stephen Frears", a special feature in the new DVD, the director opines that the movie would be hard to follow for anyone outside Britain, so he hadn't dreamed of releasing it in the U.S. Indeed, the intricacies of British politics can be a bit alien to Americans unfamiliar with the parliamentary form of government. But Frears and Morgan keep it simple. They simply present the information in a mixture of dramatic recreations and documentary footage, and allow the viewer to sort it all out. So even those with little knowledge of British politics can understand what is essentially a story about a talented, hard-boiled leader having his position usurped by a slick, but less experienced, newcomer.

The actors capture the essence of the two politicians with different degrees of success. Morrissey is captivating as the rough Brown, imbuing the character with a code of honor that he valiantly holds onto despite his friends' betrayals. Sheen is not as effective playing Blair's arc from fresh-faced party neophyte to slick, underhanded candidate. Of course, one has the benefit of seeing where he takes this role in the follow-up, The Queen. In that movie, he underplays the more cruelly ambitious aspects of Blair's personality. But in this one, a fair interpretation of the man eludes him, and he chooses to lapse into a subtle villainy rather than a more even-handed portrayal.

Those expecting a character study like The Queen should let go of that notion. The Queen centered around a very specific moment in time known to many around the world, the death of Diana, and the monarchy's response to it. The Deal is more of a political expose, and one's enjoyment hinges on their interest in such stories.

The Deal will be available on DVD this upcoming Tuesday.

Still provided courtesy of Genius Products and The Weinstein Company.