Seven Gunslingers And One Good Cause

Back in 1960, The Magnificent Seven hit theatres, a remake of a Japanese film, Seven Samurai, with a group of unlikely heroes coming to the aid of those in need. The American western was marked as a classic early on, with Yul Brynner leading a group of gunmen and fighters against a brutal bandit and his gang. That film spawned several sequels and a more recent television series. These days director Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, King Arthur) has brought the concept back to the big screen in a new western with strong character actors and a nasty antagonist.

In the West of the years after the Civil War, industrialist Bartholomew Bogue (Peter Sarsgaard) has his sights set on a small town. The townspeople call for help, and the call is heeded. Bounty hunter Sam Chisholm (Denzel Washington) enlists a group with various talents- gambler Josh Farraday (Chris Pratt), gunman Goodnight Robicheaux (Ethan Hawke), tracker Jack Horne (Vincent D’Onofrio), outlaw Vasquez (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), assassin Billy Rocks (Byung-hun Lee), and Comanche warrior Red Harvest (Martin Sensmeier).

The film’s been in development for years on end- at times there were rumours of Kevin Costner, Morgan Freeman, Matt Damon, and Tom Cruise attached at one time or another, the last of those actors being a horrific choice, so fortunately that didn’t happen. The screenplay by Nic Pizzolatto and Richard Wenk revisits the idea of a disparate group coming to serve a better cause, and blends in themes of standing up to tyranny and terror, certainly things that resonate in this current day. While the script features clear differences between the protagonists and antagonist, with a strong ethical line the former do not cross, the story also touches on something that wasn’t addressed in classic Westerns- that there was a rich diversity of society in the West, with black cowboys, Asian immigrants, and outspoken women. Beyond that, the story doesn’t really build on what’s come before, though it does entertain.

Fuqua himself has a fondness for Westerns, and it shows in the way he directs this. A good part of his past work goes into the urban thriller or drama sort of category, such as Training Day, The Equalizer, Olympus Has Fallen, or Brooklyn’s Finest, but there are exceptions, such as the war drama Tears of The Sun and his take on the Arthurian legend in King Arthur. A Western is a new concept for him, but he handles it well, particularly in terms of action set pieces and use of the land as a character in and of its own right. Which is surprising, when you learn that a good part of the filming was done around Louisiana, with more in New Mexico. While the latter state is definitely Western country, the former doesn’t seem to fit that mold, and yet the film feels set in the West.

There’s a lot to the details, small and large, that I liked, that gave the film more of an authentic touch. The actors come across as if they’ve been in the saddle for a long while, with the accompanying dust for good measure- that’s what cowboy boot camp will do for you. Each of the Seven- as well as other members of the cast- have their own distinctive look, a nod to makeup and costuming that serves the story well. Sets feel drawn right out of the past, with dusty towns and shops and windswept landscapes letting you think you’ve dropped in on the latter half of the 19^th century.

Usually with a film, one of the last things completed is the music score, done after editing is finished. That’s not the case with this film, though. James Horner was brought in to compose the score early on- and he composed music for it before his accidental death in 2015. This represents the final of Horner’s posthumous scores since then- with additional music composed and the complete work orchestrated by Horner’s producer Simon Franglen. It’s a fitting finale for the composer, true to Western tradition and his own style as a composer.

The cast are all well chosen, starting with the antagonist. Sarsgaard is an actor who can disappear into a role- he’s been in films as diverse as Jarhead, K-19 The Widowmaker, The Man In The Iron Mask, Kinsey, and Flightplan. The last project I’ve seen him in was the unfortunate Green Lantern, but that wasn’t his fault. Here he plays the ruthless Bogue, a man driven by greed, callous and disregarding of anyone but himself, a cruel and heartless man, thoroughly corrupt. There’s nothing at all to like about the character, but Sarsgaard makes him compelling to watch.

Haley Bennett appears as Emma Cullen, one of the townspeople who bring in the Seven. The character is a widow, having had lost her husband in a horrible way, which gives her all the more reason to want some serious payback. The story gives her a good deal to do- she’s not the typical Western damsel in distress, but a strong minded person with opinions and reserves of strength all her own, and before the film is done, one might have called the film The Magnificent Eight.

In going with a rather diverse cast, Fuqua made a wise choice as opposed to just going with seven white guys, some of whom would fade into each other (this was more problematic in the original film’s sequels). Byung-hun Lee is a South Korean actor whose American work includes Red 2 and Terminator Genisys. His character’s name doesn’t reflect the character’s ethnicity, but is one of those easily overlooked aspects of Western history- plenty of people from around the world sought opportunities in the West. Billy Rocks, as he’s known, is someone not to be crossed, and very good at what he does. Manuel Garcia-Rulfo is well cast as Vasquez, the Mexican outlaw and bandit. The character is a tenacious gunfighter, one who has nothing to lose. Martin Sensmeier’s Native roots actually come from up north in Alaska, but he plays the Comanche warrior Red Harvest with authority and strength.

Vincent D’Onofrio is one of those character actors who can be good in pretty much anything he does, hence he’ll never run out of work. The actor plays the tracker Horne, a shambling wreck of a man who provides some of the humour of the film. He gives the character a gruff, rough and tumble sensibility, and a down to earth personality. Like his counterparts, Horne is not the sort of person you want to get on the bad side of.

Ethan Hawke has worked with Fuqua before, on Training Day and Brooklyn’s Finest. His character, Robicheaux, is a former Confederate veteran, haunted by his past, a broken man in some ways. He’s also deadly at what he does- namely sharpshooting- and driven by the ghosts of what’s come before him. It makes for a compelling performance as the character finds himself drawn into fighting for the right cause.

Chris Pratt gets the bulk of the movie’s charm as Farraday, the gambler handy in a gun fight. He’s a smooth talker and sly trickster, and in many ways is occupying the same position as Steve McQueen in the original film. Smooth talker though he might be, he’s a calm head in a fight, and the actor plays to those qualities through the film. It’s a role with humour to it as well, something that the actor is particularly gifted at.

How do you follow up Yul Brynner in the original film and its first sequel? By bringing in a lead actor with that level of personal fortitude and strength. Fuqua had worked with Denzel Washington on Training Day and The Equalizer, and wanted him for this role. Fortunately Washington agreed, and this marks the actor’s first time in a Western. Washington brings the strong sense of moral authority, gravity, courage, and calm leadership that the character requires. It’s easy to see why people follow this man’s lead, and Washington gives Chisholm the right touch of conviction in the way he plays him.

While The Magnificent Seven doesn’t chart that much in the way of new ground for Westerns (aside from nodding to the diversity that was actually out there in the West), it’s an entertaining film, with clear cut villains and heroes, laid back charm, and thrilling action, feeling very much drawn out of the West. The actors bring the right amount of gravity, humour, and depth to their performances, and the film suits the Western genre quite well indeed.

A Fear Of Flying Might Be A Bad Thing

Phobia Group Regresses; Airline Deeply Apologetic

Los Angeles (AP) American Airlines has been left with proverbial egg on their faces this week- not for pilot error, mechanical problems, or running horribly behind schedule, but for in flight entertainment on a flight between Los Angeles and Sydney, Australia. A flight on Friday travelled across the Pacific in a flight lasting over eighteen hours- a long haul by most standards, but typical for such a journey. Problems for this flight revolved around the choices made for in flight movies.

“Usually we have different choices for in flight movies,” Jessica Montgomery, a spokesperson for the airline told reporters. “You know, light fluffy romantic comedies. That’s about the only thing Kate Hudson does, and we keep her in heavy rotation on our flights. We’re still investigating who might have been responsible for the selection on this flight, but rest assured, movies featuring plane crashes and turbulent mid-air disasters are not standard entertainment on our flights.”

However it came about, AA Flight 70’s movie selection were all films that in one way or another featured plane crashes, tense suspension on board flights, or some variation meant to unnerve passengers who might not like to fly. Alive, Die Hard 2: Die Harder, Flight, Con Air, Air Force One, Escape From New York, Flight Of The Phoenix, Snakes On A Plane, and Cast Away were the flight’s list of movies. On a normal flight, this might be problematic enough, but Flight 70 had on board a group of passengers who were graduating from a series of classes meant to calm their fear of flying.

Callie Hart, the facilitator of the group, was still fuming three days after the flight. “Months of work, down the drain. I had twenty people who for years had experienced crippling fear at the idea of even getting off the ground and being up in a plane for hours on end. Every single one of them wanted to conquer that fear, so they joined my class. We’d meet weekly, do a whole series of mental exercises to get them past their fears, even started getting them onto short flights in Cessnas as a way to work through the phobia. All of them did well through classes and exercises and talking through the fear, all of them were feeling good and had made good progress. The trip to Australia was supposed to be their way of showing that fear would never control them again.”

Instead, the fear of the aviophobic passengers came roaring back. Not only in terms of the movie choices featuring the worst possible material for people striving to put their fears behind them, but a peculiar glitch in the aircraft meant that the screens at each seat couldn’t be turned off. A flight attendant, speaking anonymously, sighed and mentioned the plotline behind Alive. “Imagine being in a plane, watching Flight 571 crashing in the Andes, and then watching Ethan Hawke eating the dead, and not being able to turn the monitors off. Even the passengers who didn’t have a problem with flying were queasy. Our class of phobic passengers were throwing up. I feel sorry for the maintenance crews who had to clean things up after we got to Sydney.”

“It was like taking a bunch of people who have a fear of heights, and making them watch Cliffhanger, Everest, or The Walk,” passenger Geoffrey Birch, who was not one of the group of phobia sufferers. “By the end of the flight, some of those people were outright catatonic. I saw one of them vowing that she would be applying for permanent residency in Australia, saying as long as she lives, she never steps off terra firma again.”

“Oops,” Montgomery told reporters after a couple of drinks at one of the bars at LaGuardia’s terminal. “Look, these things sometimes happen in international air travel. In flight entertainment have glitches, fear of flying groups choose the wrong flight entirely to cure themselves of their anxieties, and people end up throwing up all over the flight attendants. Which is sort of why I got out of the flight attendant job and became a spokesperson instead. That, and I hate the public, but everyone in the aviation industry hates the public. Wait... did I say that out loud?”

Director Michael Bay, busy in pre-production for a multitude of films, heard about the story and left a peculiar message on his Facebook page. “Wow! You know, this gives me an idea or two. About a heroic cop who doesn’t like flying and who ends up having to fly across the country to stop a terrorist bomber named Hans and reunite with his ex-wife. What do you think of the title Die Easy?”

The last word belongs to someone who quite literally doesn’t know when to shut up. Donald Trump, the recently confirmed (barring any tricks happening at the convention) Republican candidate for President, has continued to run his mouth off about anything and everything in recent days, using favoured media and stump speeches to spew his usual brand of Trump verbal excrement. Campaign staffers informed him of the incident, and he took to the matter in one of his speeches before a couple of thousand loyal (and stupid) Trumpites.

“You know what, folks? This wouldn’t happen if Trump Airlines was still in business,” he boasted. “Believe me, we knew how to run things. I had the best people, the most amazing planes in the business with me, and well, long story short, Trump Airlines isn’t around anymore, but that’s not my fault! No! You know whose fault it is? Hillary Clinton. I’ll tell you, it’s disgusting what that woman personally did to my company. Not as disgusting as what she does in the bathroom, let me tell you.”

Trump sneered before carrying on. “And let me tell you something else. So what if some sissy pants scared of flying liberals had a meltdown? Because I can promise, without knowing one thing about every single one of them, that they’re all left wing godless commie Muslim fascist black cowardly liberal Mexicans. They can’t handle gettin’ in a plane, they should just dig a hole and bury their heads in it. Just like I’m gonna bury the Democrats and Crooked Hillary in November. I’ll tell you, folks, when I’m done, you won’t recognize what’s left of this country.... hold on, did I say that out loud?”

How Long Can Two People Talk?

A different kind of film than the one I reviewed in my last post, and I might earn the wrath of Woody Allen and Nicholas Sparks for this one. Well, if they clone themselves five hundred times and I tie an arm around my back, it might be a fair fight.

“Think of this as time travel, from then, to now, to find out what you’re missing out on. See, what this really could be is a gigantic favor to both you and your future husband to find out you’re not missing out on anything. I’m just as big a loser as he is, totally unmotivated, totally boring, and, uh, you made the right choice, and you’re really happy.” ~ Jesse

“If there’s any kind of magic in this world, it must be in the attempt of understanding someone, sharing something. I know, it’s almost impossible to succeed, but... who cares, really? The answer must be in the attempt.” ~ Celine

"You know what the worst thing about somebody breaking up with you? It's when you remember how little you thought about the people you broke up with and you realize that's how little they're thinking of you. You know, you'd like to think you're both in all this pain, but they're just like, hey, I'm glad you're gone." ~ Jesse

"You know, I have this awful paranoid thought that feminism was mostly invented by men so they could like,  fool around a little more. You know, women, free your minds, free your bodies, sleep with me. We're all happy and free as long as I can fuck as much as I want." ~ Celine

“I feel like this is, uh, some dream world we’re in, y’know?” ~ Jesse 

“Yeah, it’s so weird. It’s like our time together is just ours. It’s our own creation. It must be like I’m in your dream, or you’re in mine, or something.” ~ Celine

In 1995, director Richard Linklater, who had earlier directed the films Slacker and Dazed And Confused, brought a new film to the big screen, a romantic drama set over a single night called Before Sunrise. It features a young couple meeting and spending a single night wandering through Vienna, getting to know each other, and letting the audience get to know them by extension. A story with minimalist plot, the tale is instead a character study with tremendously likable lead characters. It would lead later to two sequels with the characters in other cities, carrying on conversations at later points in their lives.

We meet the pair, Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) on a train heading west through Austria. They strike up a conversation, and there’s a spark between them. Jesse’s getting off in Vienna for a flight back home to America the next day. Celine is on her way home to Paris. When they reach Vienna, Jesse makes a proposal- he wants to keep talking with her, asking her to join him in wandering Vienna for the night. She’s charmed by him, and agrees, and the pair step off the train. They take in the sights of Vienna, a city Celine has been in before, and keep up their conversation, learning more about each other, bantering and sparring, and sharing their dreams.

Linklater co-wrote the script with Kim Krizan, inspired by an encounter with a woman years earlier in which Linklater spent hours conversing long into the night. The script takes these two characters out of their usual element, both in a foreign country with the benefit of anonymity, and lets the two get to know each other through the course of the story. Apparently it was a quick script to write between the two at eleven days, but the characters are fully realized, given depth in their world views and personalities, and feel authentic. The tale is one of self discovery all while these characters get to know each other. They’re smart in different ways, have strong opinions, and engage each other with ideas in a way that’s compelling. I’m struck each time I see this film by how strong a difference there is to Woody Allen films, which are so often talkfests, but irritating (Woody Allen’s chronic whining neurotic personality wears out its welcome inside of a minute for me). These characters are appealing and thoughtful, and even when they have their own self-doubts, it never comes across as whining. Instead they come across as natural.

While the two leads are the only major characters (aside from transitory characters the pair encounter during the night), it can be said that Vienna itself is a character in the film, as the pair roam, visit places, and engage in the culture and night life of the city. Linklater filmed on location, taking full advantage of the beauty of the city, so the film is something of a travelogue as well. As the movie unfolds, we see a lot of Vienna in different ways. The directorial style still emphasizes the strong characterization, focusing on Celine and Jesse throughout. Aside from taking in Vienna’s beauty, Linklater’s style stays centered on his leads. That style reflects itself in how these characters relate early on- moments of shyness as they’re getting to know each other, most particularly in the glances they give each other in a listening booth.

Linklater apparently saw many actors before he chose his lead pair, and the way they did a reading of the script convinced him they were perfect for the roles. Julie Delpy has done most of her work in France, and she’s just right as Celine. The character is intelligent, warm, creative, matter of fact; she has strong opinions, is wise in her ways, and worries that she might come across as too obsessive- her remarks about worrying that an ex-boyfriend will end up meeting a bad end and she’d be the prime suspect reflect that in a funny way. Celine’s world view on many things is explored- feminism, rebellion, family, belief, and the nature of existence. She’s a fully formed woman, complete unto herself, which makes her all the more appealing.  

Ethan Hawke turned out to be ideal as Jesse, who’s romantic at heart and yet hides that under a veil of cynicism. There’s a sense of whimsy about him at times, a wry sense of humour, and self deprecation that’s refreshing. As cynical as he might initially come across as, there’s a sense of hope and optimism in the character. It takes awhile before these characters actually bring up the topic of their romantic situations and why they’re single, and I like Jesse’s honesty about his recent break-up; his remarks about how little one thinks of the person they’ve broken up with in the past ring true. His honesty about feeling like he’s coming across as if he has no idea what he’s talking about is also refreshing- all while Celine counters that in just the right way. There’s a dreamer in Jesse, a quality that we see strongly in Celine as well, and it makes them so very appealing to the audience.

Before Sunrise, like Before Sunset and Before Midnight after it, is an exploration of human nature between two characters, with time as a featured player. It’s a tremendously appealing romance as these two get to know each other. While Celine and Jesse are falling in love, the audience is all the while falling for both of them; we feel such a strong connection to these two, which makes the movie all the more satisfying. This movie is a critical and audience favourite, with characters who have such richly layered, grounded, authentic personalities. I love the spirit and the intelligence of the film, which is fresh no matter how many times one sees it. Considering how these days romantic movies tend to consist of endless tedious Nicholas Sparks adaptations (which, by the way, constitute cruel and unusual punishment- do your worst, Nicholas Sparks fans), this film is the right kind of romantic movie.