Tag: Anthony Mackie

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021) s01e06 – One World, One People

Turns out forty-five minutes is the just right length for a Falcon and the Winter Soldier, even if Sebastian Stan gets startlingly little to do in the final episode of a show where his character’s name is in the title. Stan ends the series with less of a character arc than either extremely shallow villain Erin Kellyman or murderous Captain America Wyatt Russell (it’s really bad but I think Chris Pratt’s better than Russell, who manages to be worse with less than dialogue than with more here).

A lot of the episode is Anthony Mackie’s, which is fine and good and maybe even great, if it wasn’t all a bunch of respectability politics for the Black guy in the end and failing upward for the white one. No real spoilers but let’s just say there’s a Don Cheadle-sized hole in the episode, which seems to be more about setting up casting in subsequent Disney+ Marvel shows than resolving anything for the protagonists.

There’s a bunch of action; most of it’s really bland superpeople fighting in cities at night stuff—though I guess there are some cool flying sequences—before there’s a big warehouse fight section. The warehouse fight section, which involves a reveal I called last episode, is fairly bad. I was actually expecting it to be good—director Kari Skogland did what I thought was a Welles homage a couple episodes ago but I think it must’ve been a mistake. The action directing this episode wouldn’t fly on an Arrowverse show.

Good acting from Mackie, which is all that matters (mostly because no one else has enough dialogue for it to matter), and it’s nice to see Carl Lumbly but the resolution on him is peculiar.

Everything about the show, however, ends up being a cop out. There’s no significant character development—the entire cast (so Daniel Brühl, Adepero Oduye, Emily VanCamp, even Julia-Louis Dreyfus) pops up in the epilogue to remind viewers they were on the show (in Oduye’s case) and they can return for future MCU ventures (everyone else).

Last episode I thought Falcon and the Winter Soldier would’ve worked better as a movie, but not anymore; not with such a nothing finish.

There’s some cool technology special effects (who doesn’t want to see Iron Man-tech but from Wakanda) but it’s barely in it and doesn’t get a good showcase because Skogland’s really bad at the action scenes here.

Again, no spoilers, but there is no Poe and Finn get girlfriends at the last minute—even though there’s a threat—but there’s also no real resolve to Stan and Mackie’s character relationship arc because Stan’s not in the episode enough for them to do one. He and Mackie have like two and a half scenes together and I’m being generous counting one of them. The half is because there’s no dialogue just music for a montage. And the generous one is one of the boring action scenes.

Falcon and the Winter Soldier seems to be promising something more interesting will be coming for everyone involved—except Oduye (oh, wait, I don’t think she gets any dialogue here)—which is never a great way to end five hours and forty-five minutes.

Stay for the end credits if you want a whiff of a “surprise.” No wonder they ran WandaVision first.

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021) s01e05 – Truth

A couple things real quick. First, given how much this episode’s opening resolve of the cliffhanger feels like the actual dramatic beat—and is a brutal (in a good way) fight scene—it really seems like the best version of “Falcon and the Winter Soldier” is a two and a half hour movie and not a six hour limited series. Especially given how badly the Erin Kellyman arc goes this episode. There was no reason to spend so much time on it just for her to do a Batman & Robin villain team-up arc. Though I suppose there’s a potential twist with one of her allies (for next time, because after the opening action, there’s no more action this episode).

Second, Wyatt Russell is a rather bad actor. Admittedly, if he were any better the show might all of a sudden be making a lot of statements about what it means to be a United States soldier out in the world, but, wow, he’s bad here. He seems to have learned tough guy acting from watching his dad in Tango & Cash.

On to the actual episode, which has Anthony Mackie going to Carl Lumbly’s house to have a heart-to-heart about what it means to be a Black Captain America. It’s an all right scene, mostly because Lumbly’s great and Mackie works well with him, but there’s no actual character development to the sequence. It’s just to give Mackie a reason to go back to the U.S. (also because the MCU has “Star Trek” teleporter technology to get the cast around the globe—most of the present action, if they weren’t cheating, would be people on airplanes).

After Mackie sees Lumbly, he goes back to sister Adepero Oduye’s to resolve that story arc from the first episode. It’s very much “fix the house to fix the relationship” stuff, albeit very amusing once Sebastian Stan shows up to help. Oduye gets to do a bit of emotional labor for Mackie and she’s good, but she never gets to have much fun in the series. Outside grinning at Stan, who turns on the charm to flirt with his new best friend’s sister.

There’s a way too fast resolution to Daniel Brühl’s arc, but he’s just going back into the guest star drawer until the MCU needs him again and he didn’t really have any character development so it’s not too much of a loss. He does manage more subtext in a single take than pretty much anyone else this episode but still… outside Russell, it’s because no one else gets quite the material.

Though Mackie and Stan do get to have a heart-to-heart, which isn’t anywhere near as well-written as it ought to be—credited writer Dalan Musson seems to know what scenes he needs, just not how to write them—before Stan goes off so Mackie can have a Rocky training montage (sadly, even though the episode’s got Henry Jackman’s best music in the series to date, the episode whiffs on a perfect Gonna Fly Now sequence).

Even with the lackadaisical pacing and repetitive exposition dumps, it’s maybe the best episode. Best or second best. Presumably they’ll be able to wrap everything up next time with a big fight in New York City.

Of course, if Michael K. Williams comes back as his Incredible Hulk character it’ll be the best show ever. Kidding. But one can hope.

There is a big fun cameo from Julia Louis-Dreyfus as a shadow villain, presumably setting up future appearances. Though Louis-Dreyfus then does take part in the show’s continued shitting on Gabrielle Byndloss (as Russell’s wife), who’s only there to remind us even though Russell certainly seems to be a white supremacist, he does have a Black best friend and a multicultural wife so he couldn’t possibly be… could he?

Anyway. It’s not impossible next episode will be good, though it’s very unlikely it’ll be good enough to make the first half of the series worth it. Mackie, Stan, and Kellyman deserve better from the franchise, while the audience deserves an apology for the Russell casting.

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021) s01e04 – The Whole World is Watching

Lots and lots of action this episode. None of it particularly special until then end, when director Kari Skogland brings some Orson Welles suspense to it before completely eschewing said suspense, but it’s sort of enough. Especially since the episode goes for a very big, very consequential soft but bloody cliffhanger (which I think is straight out of the comics).

After a flashback, the episode starts with “Falcon and the Winter Soldier” still being the Daniel Brühl show. I wonder if they can somehow swing it to make Brühl Doctor Doom… while he’s great at Zemo (seriously, how can “Alienist” not get the same level of exposition dumping majesty as here—or even really hint at it), but Zemo’s presumably got a limited franchise lifespan. Because not only is the new Captain America—a better than ever before but still not as good as anyone else with more than three lines in the episode Wyatt Russell (Clé Bennett deserves an Emmy for holding up their scenes together)—on Brühl’s trail, the warriors from Black Panther want him for Captain America 3 crimes. Florence Kasumba plays the warrior who gets to talk.

She’s really good but with almost nothing to do (acting-wise, there’s a great fight scene). The opening flashback is her and Sebastian Stan; they’re “give them a spin-off” great together.

Though once Brühl steps out, it’s not Stan’s episode. It’s finally Anthony Mackie’s episode. Yes, he has to share too much of it with Russell and there’s a narratively suspect but obvious and inevitable threat to Mackie’s sister, Adepero Oduye. I guess the lighting’s at least good (courtesy cinematographer P.J. Dillon).

But there’s an actual “let’s try to talk it out” moment with Mackie and main villain until next episode or maybe last Erin Kellyman. Kellyman does really well in the scenes opposite Mackie. Though her master plan is pretty silly. Unfortunately, “Falcon and Winter Soldier” doesn’t really have its scale right, not to mention its narrative distance. Because right after Skogland’s excellent action suspense sequence, there’s the chance to scale it up and do something great. And the show doesn’t. It manages to be effective, but of course it’s effective, it’s the reveal of the villain the show’s been hinting at since episode one, with blood-soaked iconography. If it weren’t effective, there’d be a problem.

It’s the best episode of the series so far. But it might just be the first once with any real tension. Not to mention the fight scene with the Panther warriors is unproblematically entertaining, at least until the show suggests the real reason Russell starts to crack is because a Black female warrior beat him up. The episode says a lot about Captain America as an icon you’d think no one would want to verbalize, actually. It’s intentional enough it seems like foreshadowing for a cop out finish. Though the show cops out on so much what’s one more thing.

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021) s01e03 – Power Broker

This episode feels the most like an overlong section of a movie, as heroes Sebastian Stan and Anthony Mackie have to break bad guy Daniel Brühl out of prison so Brühl can help them. The show’s quick about the breakout, then slow about everything else. Including having multiple expository dumps for supporting cast members to give them something to do—otherwise new Captain America and fascist thug Wyatt Russell (sidekick Clé Bennett is starting to notice him breaking under the stress) and hippie revolutionary Erin Kellyman (who goes from feeding refugees to mass murder faster than a Thanos snap) wouldn’t have anything to do this episode.

Of course, while Mackie and Stan are in the episode the entire time, they’re just there to give Brühl someone to out act. Show’s called “Falcon and the Winter Soldier” (admittedly, Stan gets a whole bunch more than Mackie here) but it’s the Brühl hour, with asides to also returning to the franchise Emily VanCamp.

The boys have to go to a lawless twenty-first century pirate’s paradise, Madripoor (from the X-Men comics, but they don’t spend the entire episode pretending Hugh Jackman’s going to show up at least), where they find VanCamp’s been living since her last outing (Captain America 3, also where Brühl showed up).

There’s a lot of action for VanCamp, there’s a very happening party, there’s Brühl lecturing Mackie about what it means to be a Black man in America, there’s a surprise guest star at the end. It’s fine. Nothing about it seems like they needed to make a six episode series. The episode’s got a couple action beats you could keep, the rest is just filler and promise of eventual (not this episode or maybe even this season) “payoff.”

Director Kari Skogland does well with all the action, but really she just sets the shot and lets Brühl walk through the scene and away with the show. If he was always going to be this compelling a guest star, they should’ve brought him in earlier. He and VanCamp bring a decisiveness the show’s been lacking. Not to fault Mackie or Stan, of course; it’s the script. Derek Kolstad’s script very definitely centers on Brühl, centers on VanCamp. It’s like “Falcon and the Winter Soldier” is trying to prove the case Mackie and Stan shouldn’t have their own show, let alone movie.

Maybe it’ll change next episode.

Again, whatever, it’s fine. But it’s also pretty lazy.

Also, there’s a very strange, very pointless supervillain mask moment; it’s pointless in the narrative, it’s pointless for the character, really doesn’t belong. It’s just for the trailers. Actually, there are a number of made-for-the-trailer shots this episode. But they usually aren’t pointless. “Falcon and the Winter Soldier” is overly verbose as is, the show doesn’t need to add any more padding.

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021) s01e02 – The Star-Spangled Man

So I don’t think the new Captain America (Wyatt Russell) is going to be a Neo-Nazi. Though I don’t think his supporting cast of BIPOC friends and loved ones is going to make it through the series because he’s going to need a inciting incident somewhere near episode four or five to send him on a confrontation path with the heroes because right now he’s just a bland, blond, blue-eyed do-gooder. Albeit one working for the GRC (Global Rebuilding Council) and the U.S. government.

“Falcon and Winter Soldier” obviously has a story bible on the deal with the GRC, which has countries trying to revert back to pre-Snap social structures, but they’re just peppering it into conversation.

They should’ve done Jamie Lee Curtis speaking over a wire-frame map.

Anyway.

This episode’s a lot better than the first one. Russell’s fine. Cle Bennett comes in as his partner, which had me remembering them from the comic; at least they don’t call him Bucky but “Battlestar” comes off goofier than it ever did in the comics.

Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan get some of their bicker banter going and it’s magic, whether them just going off one another or during an action scene or during the silly but fun impromptu therapy session with Amy Aquino.

There’s good action direction—albeit kind of boring Bond-ish action set pieces—from Kari Skogland this outing. No more kills for Mackie or flashback ones for Stan. Not sure when we’ll get to restart the body counter (though Russell’s clearly gonna start popping combatants soon enough and not just when they’re heat-visioning tourists). It’s kind of nice not to have one.

Though the villains—the millennial gang known as the Flag Smashers (sure, Jan), who got used to eating avocado toast without xenophobia during the Blip (so post-Snap, pre-I’m Iron Man)—are eighties missing the point bad.

For comic readers, there’s a very big surprise inclusion, involving phenomenal guest star Carl Lumbly, and there’s a chance the show might do something with it. It’s a big door to open without going through.

However… the show got renewed for a second season, which sort of spoils whether or not they’re resolving Who Will Wield the Shield? in the next four episodes.

But it’s a lot better than before. Mackie and Stan are so fun together, though Stan gets all the character work; last episode feels like a tacked-on beginning to give Mackie some extra scenes at this point.

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021) s01e01 – New World Order

So, when this episode started, I thought the thing to discuss would be the very obvious Pentagon underwriting of the script. Falcon (Anthony Mackie) is now working for the Air Force… he’s going into sovereign nations and killing people. Yes, it’s a rescue mission but he’s there as an unregulated super-weapon for the U.S. military. He kills like ten plus. Far more than Sebastian Stan will (even though he’s supposed to be the irredeemable assassin).

Also it’s Disney. It’s a Disney show with a headshot in the first five minutes, then the hero killing a bunch of bad guys. Now, they’re French and white so it could be a lot worse, but still. Wow.

Only the body count and militarism is just the beginning. Because since the Blip, when all the people returned in Avengers: Endgame, America has gotten a lot more racist. It’s just a plot point. Let’s make the MCU more like 2021 United States by having Neo-Nazis all over. There’s also the implication the racism started during post-Infinity War, pre-Endgame, based on some subtext from Mackie’s sister, Adepero Oduye. She didn’t get Thanos-ed and had to take care of the family’s fishing business. She tries telling Mackie what happened while he was gone but he doesn’t want to hear so the viewer doesn’t either. Mackie’s got a seemingly toxic, controlling relationship with Oduye, which no doubt will get resolved after she and her children get taken hostage later in the series because of course they will.

They may even get taken hostage by a Neo-Nazi Captain America, which is going to have some amazing optics. I may be mixing up my Marvel Comics arcs, but it’s far from impossible.

Then there’s Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan). He’s got a pardon for being a brainwashed Russian cyborg but he’s got to go to therapist Amy Aquino, who wants him to make amends. Sometimes making amends is doing some fun kind of spy stuff to root out corruption, sometimes making amends is the most tragic thing you can imagine for a couple characters and seemingly will just serve to traumatize Stan over and over again.

Don Cheadle shows up for a cameo. Given the story’s about the U.S. Government screwing Mackie over because he’s Black and Black people can’t be inspiring Americans, it’ll be interesting to see what happens with Cheadle still working for them.

What else… Danny Ramirez is Mackie’s sidekick in the Air Force, who’ll probably Red Shirt at some point. No one else shows up.

Okay performance from Mackie, who’s playing a way too naive character for what the show seems to be going for; Stan’s really good. It’s kind of unfair how much better than Mackie, like they should’ve adjusted and compensated. Also Stan gets top-billing, which is a big diss to Mackie, who’s clearly the protagonist.

Kari Skogland’s direction is fine, but much closer to middling than okay.

“Falcon and the Winter Soldier” is off to a very rough start and it’s hard to believe they’re not going to cop out on all the stuff they’re introducing. But even if they don’t cop out, they won’t be able to properly address it.

Like George Clooney said (regarding a potential adaptation of Garth Ennis’s MAX Fury comic), “Who would want to watch that?”

Million Dollar Baby (2004, Clint Eastwood)

Million Dollar Baby has a somewhat significant plot twist. Well, it actually has a couple of them. And neither comes with much foreshadowing. A little in Paul Haggis’s script, which director Eastwood visualizes appropriately, but they’re in the background. The film has its larger than life story to worry about–Clint Eastwood as a stogy old boxing trainer taking on a female boxer, played by Hilary Swank. Except she’s not a kid. She’s a grown woman.

The film opens without cast title cards. Immediately, it’s very smooth. Eastwood has a gym, Morgan Freeman runs it for him. There are assorted goings-on at the gym involving the guys training there. It’s a great supporting cast at the gym–Jay Baruchel, Mike Colter, Anthony Mackie–but the gym is initially just where Eastwood hangs out, not where he interacts. So instead Freeman is telling him the goings-on, which does fantastic setup for their relationship throughout the film. Only when Swank arrives does Eastwood get forced to participate and only after prodding from Freeman.

It’s great character development, funny, sweet, sincere. Eastwood’s very careful not to push too hard on any emotional buttons. He makes sure the actors’ emotions are authentic and doesn’t lay it on with the filmmaking. Tom Stern shoots Million Dollar Baby with crispness for the daytime scenes and sharpness with the nighttime. It works as to how the performances come across, how Joel Cox edits them. If it weren’t for how well Haggis’s script works, especially how it integrates Freeman’s narration, Million Dollar Baby might just be one of film’s finest melodramas. Well, if Eastwood–who does a lot in Million Dollar Baby as an actor and a director–wanted to make a melodrama.

He doesn’t though. Instead, he makes this strangely small, while still big, character study of three people and a location and shared experiences. Most of the film takes place in the gym. It’s the touchstone for the characters and the audience. Eastwood and Haggis never wax on about the hopes and dreams of the boxers at the gym–or even Swank’s. It’s not a meditation on the sport of boxing. It’s this devastating human condition piece, with characters revealing depths the entire length of the film, both through scripted dialogue and the actors’ performances. All of the acting is great; Swank is the best, but Eastwood’s the most surprising. You never once get the feeling Eastwood ever has an idea of what he’s going to say to Swank.

Freeman is great too, in the film’s most “of course” sort of way. He gets to be a bit of a mystery and has some fun with it. He narrates and he’s never untrustworthy or anything, he just isn’t telling his own story and it turns out–thanks to Freeman and Haggis–it adds to the film.

Eastwood also did the music, which is sort of unsurprising and also fantastic. The music is perfect. It’s such a strange film, this gentle American Dream rumination, celebration, and condemnation. It’s always sincere, never cynical, never defeatist, but never hopeful either. Eastwood’s filmmaking is focused character study. The music is restrained and minimal.

So many different things are going on in the film at any moment–whether it’s Swank’s Rocky story, Eastwood’s aging one, Freeman’s supporting mostly wry one, Eastwood and Haggis rely heavily on that Freeman narration. He never disappoints. Million Dollar Baby is kind of a love letter; all of a sudden I’m wondering how the script was written with the narration or if it was cut together later.

Eastwood, Swank, and Freeman don’t reinvent the melodrama; they just perfect the melodramatic character study. Ably assisted by Haggis, Stern, and Cox. Million Dollar Baby is phenomenal.

4/4★★★★

CREDITS

Directed by Clint Eastwood; screenplay by Paul Haggis, based on stories by F.X. Toole; director of photography, Tom Stern; edited by Joel Cox; music by Eastwood; production designer, Henry Bumstead; produced by Eastwood, Haggis, Tom Rosenberg, and Albert S. Ruddy; released by Warner Bros.

Starring Clint Eastwood (Frankie Dunn), Hilary Swank (Maggie Fitzgerald), Morgan Freeman (Eddie Scrap-Iron Dupris), Brían F. O’Byrne (Father Horvak), Jay Baruchel (Danger Barch), Anthony Mackie (Shawrelle Berry), Mike Colter (Big Willie Little), Lucia Rijker (Billie “The Blue Bear” Osterman), and Margo Martindale (Earline Fitzgerald).

THIS POST IS PART OF THE PLAY TO THE WHISTLE BLOGATHON HOSTED BY KIRA OF FILM AND TV 101 AND JOSH OF REFFING MOVIES.

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Captain America: Civil War (2016, Anthony Russo and Joe Russo)

I wasn’t aware it was possible, but go-to Marvel superhero movie composer Henry Jackman is actually getting worse as he does more of these movies. His score for Captain America: Civil War is laughable, which is too bad, because if the film hit the thematic beats Jackman failed to achieve? Well, it wouldn’t fix the script, but it would definitely make the film flow a bit better.

The film is two and a half hours of action scenes every ten minutes or so. Unless the action scene goes on for longer than ten minutes, in which case it screws up the rhythm of subsequent scenes. But directors Russo keep it on schedule. Their job is getting this train ride to its conclusion and they do it. Their action direction is a bunch of sped-up fight scenes and they’re usually pretty boring. The opening one, with its strong performances from the way too big cast, could’ve been amazing with better direction. And the big superhero showdown is awesome for the most part, only… it doesn’t make much narrative sense as far as keeping the players in motion.

But there’s a lot quite good about Civil War. They blow the chance to give Robert Downey Jr. an actual character to play here, but they get pretty close on occasion. His scenes opposite Tom Holland are fantastic and Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely’s script does give Downey the opportunity for character development. The film just rejects it.

The real standout is Sebastian Stan, who never quite gets enough to do because there’s always another action scene for the Russo Brothers to get through–they have a really lame chase sequence, more is usually just more–but Stan is hypnotic. He also has great chemistry with ostensible lead Chris Evans (and Evans’s replacement sidekick, Anthony Mackie). Less action, more character; would’ve helped Civil War a lot. Especially since that way too big cast is often pretty good together.

Elizabeth Olsen is good, she and Paul Bettany are great together. Bettany’s got a bit of a crap part. So does Jeremy Renner, but Renner does get better material. Markus and McFeely–or maybe it was the Russo Brothers–seem to acknowledge they need to hit emotional beats and then they skip them. Paul Rudd’s fun, though his character’s pretty thinly written. William Hurt is embarrassing himself. Emily VanCamp gets the worst part in the movie. Seemingly intentionally.

As for the newcomers to the brand? Well, Holland’s great. He’s playing the Marvel Studios (sorry, Walt Disney) version of Spider-Man. Can’t wait for his movie. Chadwick Boseman’s fine as the Black Panther. It really ought to be his movie, but there’s so much pretending it’s Evan’s. Instead, Boseman’s basically Boba Fett. Sort of literally. Villain Daniel Brühl gets a terrible part (though still better than VanCamp) and not much opportunity to act.

Rather weak cinematography from Trent Opaloch, but otherwise Civil War is a completely competent outing.

There’s a lot of potential to this film and the filmmakers didn’t go for any of it. Instead, they went for a bunch of mediocre action scenes, one heck of a superhero battle (proving having ten superheroes fight on the big screen is an accomplishment in itself) and a really weak ending.

Evans and Downey both look exhausted throughout the film. Evans doesn’t get the material he (and the film) deserves, while Downey rejects the material. But until the denouement, it’s perfectly fine stuff.

And Sebastian Stan is truly phenomenal.

Freedomland (2006, Joe Roth)

I didn’t see Freedomland when it came out because I loved the novel and Richard Price adapting the novel or not, the movie’s cast and crew aren’t encouraging it. No movie directed by Joe Roth should inspire confidence, especially not one about racism. Freedomland is about racism. It’s about the really uncomfortable realities of racism. Not racist cops, but racist people. The film opens telling the viewer it takes place in 1999, which when the novel should have been adapted. Possibly even starring Samuel L. Jackson and Julianne Moore in the leads. Possibly with the entire supporting cast intact. But not with Joe Roth directing. Not directing it in Panavision aspect. Not with really slick photography from Anastas N. Michos and awful slick rapid fire editing from Nick Moore. Not with the James Newton Howard occasionally upbeat score. Not with sunny-time super-producer Scott Rudin apparently hunting down a Crash Oscar of his own. Because that Freedomland, this Freedomland, it refuses to call any white characters racist. It refuses to let the racist white cops be racist. It’s particularly mortifying and embarrassing because it’s all post-production neutering. It’s obviously shot Super 35 too, so they even cropped it to this nonsense.

Though someone tried hard to give Jackson as much slack as the frame would allow. Moore’s performance is an unsalvageable train wreck. Roth can’t direct actors, but Freedomland’s cast doesn’t need for direction. They need for some kind of honesty, which just isn’t present in the filmmaking. They need verisimilitude and Roth doesn’t want to acknowledge it. It’s about a black cop (Jackson) suspecting a white woman (Moore), who works exclusively with black people in the projects–specifically black children–is lying about a black guy kidnapping her son. The point of Freedomland is it can’t be more about race if it tried. And Roth and Rudin reduce the film to a ball-less Hallmark movie. It’s unclear how responsible Price is for it, because some of the responsibility is definitely on him. The post-production can be responsible for the atrocious, offensive editing of a riot scene, but the film gets to that riot scene because of Price’s script, because of how he handles the characters. Freedomland is half-assed filmmaking from people who know better. Even Roth should know better. It’s why he shoots it Super 35, so he doesn’t have to commit to anything while actually directing the actors.

Jackson tries. It’s a good part. It’s a poorly written part in what’s a disastrous film, but it’s a good part. And he does try hard. He does fall into a lot of his acting tropes and he never manages any chemistry with Moore, but it’s an admirable performance.

Edie Falco’s great. It’s embarrassing watching Moore opposite Falco. Her part’s terrible, even just going off the script, but she’s great. While Roth’s direction screws up a lot of the part, Price’s script isn’t there for the character.

Good support from William Forsythe. Moore-levels of train wreck from Ron Eldard as her racist cop brother. He and Moore don’t really have any scenes together, which is good because some kind of singularity would occur if they actually had to act at each other under Roth’s incompetent direction. Aunjanue Ellis’s fine. Lots to do in a lame part. She does what she can. Same goes for Clarke Peters and Anthony Mackie.

LaTonya Richardson Jackson stands out; she gets actual chemistry off Jackson, which no one else in the film gets. It’s hard not to assume its because they’re married off screen.

Freedomland is hard to watch and not for any of the reasons it should be hard to watch. It’s opportunistic, insincere and overproduced. If it were well-acted, well-directed, well-anything, it might be interesting as a failure. Instead, it’s even worth a footnote. Except as one of Jackson’s stronger performances. And as one of Moore’s worst.

0/4ⓏⒺⓇⓄ

CREDITS

Directed by Joe Roth; screenplay by Richard Price, based on his novel; director of photography, Anastas N. Michos; edited by Nick Moore; music by James Newton Howard; production designer, David Wasco; produced by Scott Rudin; released by Columbia Pictures.

Starring Samuel L. Jackson (Council), Julianne Moore (Brenda), Edie Falco (Karen), William Forsythe (Boyle), Ron Eldard (Danny Martin), Aunjanue Ellis (Felicia), Clarke Peters (Reverend Longway), Anthony Mackie (Billy), Domenick Lombardozzi (Sullivan), Fly Williams III (Rafik), Dorian Missick (Jason) and Peter Friedman (Lt. Gold).

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Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014, Anthony Russo and Joe Russo)

Captain America: The Winter Soldier has a bunch of great, thoughtful scenes and many excellent–and some just better than normal–performances but it doesn’t add up to much. Those fine scenes don’t have enough separation from the very hurried plot to resonate on their own. What should be subplots turn out to be nothing but texture scenes or, more cynically, ones to tie into later big plot developments.

Directors Anthony Russo and Joe Russo do an adequate job with the film. Some of the action, particularly in the first half, is good. The big finale goes from way too hurried for the scenes with sidekicks Scarlett Johansson and Anthony Mackie to way too protracted with Chris Evans’s second big fight opposite Sebastian Stan. These scenes take place amid the film’s only enormous CGI sequence, which the directors don’t really know what to do with.

The acting is all good; even the weaker performances like Johansson’s are mostly all right. Evans and Mackie are fantastic. Screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely don’t have an honest relationship between any of the characters–Evans and Johansson, Evans and Mackie, Samuel L. Jackson and Robert Redford–but the actors make it all work.

Though Redford does look a little lost. He doesn’t chew the scenery as much as the role requires.

Nice supporting work from Frank Grillo too.

The Winter Soldier stays engaging throughout–even during the bloated third act. The film’s already got the viewers invested in the characters.

It’s too bad though, it should’ve been better.