McFarland, USA (7/10): A formulaic inspirational sports movie that stands out thanks to Costner's charisma

“So, do you guys get paid by the hour? -No, the field.”

McFarland, USA is the perfect opportunity to get to see Kevin Costner doing what he does best, which is inspirational sport movies. Once again he delivers a charismatic performance, this time as the coach of a cross country team from a poor school in McFarland, California. Costner has never been better than when he is playing a role in a sport movie (with the exception of the cold blooded murderer Mr. Brooks). He elevates a film that would otherwise be deemed as formulaic and predictable by bringing a lot of heart to the film and thus making it stand out from other inspirational Disney films. This is the classic fish out of water tale where a Caucasian coach is introduced to a struggling latino community. You could very easily predict what is going to happen, but somehow the film manages to make an emotional connection with the audience through carefully developed characters. The film isn’t interested in simply pointing out the accomplishments of these cross country runners, but rather focusing on who they are and how they relate with each other and their families. There are also some funny racial gags that can be expected as well. This is a feel good movie that is expertly directed by Niki Caro who has delivered some solid films in the past (Whale Rider and North Country). Caro is one of the many uprising female directors with a strong voice in Hollywood and someone who I will be looking forward to in the future. 

The film takes place in 1987 in a small California town with a predominantly latino community. Kevin Costner plays Jim White, a teacher who applies for a job at one of the schools here after having moved around from different schools for several incidents throughout his career. He is overqualified for the job, but White is running out of options. He moves to McFarland with his wife Cheryl (Maria Bello) and his two young daughters, Julie (Morgan Saylor) and Jamie (Elsie Fisher). At first they aren’t thrilled to be here feeling out of place, but soon the community welcomes them. Principal Camillo (Valente Rodriguez) allows Mr. White to start a cross country program in the school after he realizes that most of the kids are good runners. They basically get up at dawn to work in the crop fields and then run to the school and back again after they’re done. Despite not knowing anything about running, Mr. White (who his students call Blanco) uses his coaching abilities to get the best out of the natural born runners. The team consists of three brothers (Danny, David, and Damacio) who come from a very family oriented home. There is also Thomas (Carlos Pratts) whose father has just been released out of prison and  seems to have some issues at home. He is the most talented runner, but he feels like he should be spending his time at work helping his family instead of in practice. Cross country becomes a means for these kids to grow and stay out of trouble. The film focuses on their relationship with White and the rest of their families. 

McFarland starts off a bit slow, but once we are introduced to the runners the story picks up and becomes emotionally engaging. The kids have great chemistry with Kevin Costner and the tension comes mainly from getting permission by their families to practice rather than on external things. These kids come from low income families and have to work during early and late hours of the day at the crop fields before and after school. They have a hard lifestyle and once you see the film you won’t complain about your childhood. This inspirational sports movie is formulaic, but when the formula works as well as it does there is no need to change it. I was pleasantly surprised by this inspiring film and it is a shame it wasn’t seen by more people. Structurally it is very similar to Disney’s Million Dollar Arm, but McFarland has a lot more heart and the characters are more engaging. Kevin Costner’s charisma elevates the film, but the kids also deliver strong roles, especially Carlos Pratts who has several strong scenes here. 

My Review: Draft Day (6/10)

"How is it that the ultimate prize in the most macho sport invented is a piece of jewelry?"

Draft Day seems like a film aimed towards a specific target audience considering it takes place during one of the most important days for NFL fans. However, it actually spells out everything in such detail (Cleveland home of the Browns, and so on) that it seems its trying to attract audiences who aren't really familiar with the NFL draft or what it all means. Why they decided to take this approach I don't know. Perhaps they were aiming to attract Kevin Costner fans around the globe and hoping that the American Football theme wouldn't be too heavy handed. That explains why the screenwriters tried to introduce familiar dramatic elements such as giving Costner a love interest and having him go through the struggle of dealing with the loss of his father a few days ago. I wish they would have focused this exclusively to NFL fans and didn't spend so much time trying to spell out the rules of the league in order to attract a wider audience. I mean why go through all the trouble of acquiring the rights to use the NFL franchise players and names if you are later going to aim it towards a wider audience that may not know the difference. As a follower of the NFL I would have enjoyed it if they didn't spell everything out, but it was just a minor issue I had with this enjoyable film. Despite not liking the subplot surrounding Costner's character and his relationship with Jennifer Garner's Ali, I really enjoyed the premise revolving around the draft and the tension created as the clock was winding down and a decision had to be made. I think I'm just a bit biased towards sport movies, but I actually had a good time with this film despite all its major flaws. 

Kevin Costner comes through in his role as his character has to come to a crossroad in his professional and personal life in less than 24 hours. His charisma comes through and saves a premise that may turn viewers off. With a stronger subplot this film could have been great, but it was just too generic and predictable. Jennifer Garner's character had no depth and she could have been given a stronger role. The film basically relies on Costner's lead performance and he manages to make this movie enjoyable enough for a mild recommendation. The few attempts at comedy involving the intern (played by Griffin Newman) also failed. Draft Day may not rank amongst director Ivan Reitman's best work, but it is an improvement from his recent films. Don't get me wrong, this isn't the football version of Moneyball, it isn't even close, but it's still a small enjoyable film and an opportunity for Kevin Costner fans to see him shine again in a sport film (with which he's had success in the past). Reitman overuses some technical shots at times, like the split screens which had a novel feel to them at first but he repeats them over and over again. The build up surrounding the events of the draft is very intriguing, but the subplot involving the family drama is what pulls Draft Day down. 

My Review: 3 Days to Kill (4/10)

"The wolf is the most dangerous terrorist this world has ever faced. Only you can stop him."

Despite not having a great tracking record, there have been a few of McG's movies that I shamelessly found slightly entertaining. 3 Days to Kill began with some promise and I was enjoying Kevin Costner's lead action role, but that feeling didn't last too long once the action scenes and comedy became repetitive. Luc Besson has directed some of my favorite films, but as a screenwriter he hasn't had much success with his latest films. I do have to admit he is trying something different by mixing genres, which partially worked for me in The Family, but it fell flat in 3 Days to Kill. The screenplay was weak, Costner's character kept on having ridiculous blackouts during every climactic scene, the father daughter relationship problems that tried to play out as a comedy were repetitive, and the villains never felt menacing. The only positive thing about 3 Days to Kill were the action scenes and Kevin Costner's star power. It's what he have come to expect from Luc Besson over the past years, some strong actions scenes but poorly written dialogues. 3 Days to Kill feels might have been directed by McG, but it feels much more like a lesser Besson film. 

3 Days to Kill opens with a scene at the CIA headquarters where Agent Vivi (Amber Heard) is given an assignment to hunt down a terrorist known as The Wolf (Richard Sammel). No one has actually seen him before, but his associate, The Albino (Tomas Lemarquis) is supposedly going to meet up with him at an international hotel. They also mention to Vivi that they have an agent on the ground named Ethan (Kevin Costner) whose only mission is to take down The Albino. The film then focuses on Ethan as he is getting the job done, but all of a sudden one of the agents is compromised and things get out of control. Ethan saves the day but just as he is about to capture his target he suffers a blackout and wakes up in a hospital where he is told that he has cancer and only a few months to live. He decides to spend his last months in Paris where his ex-wife, Tina (Connie Nielsen), and his teenage daughter, Zooey (Hailee Steinfeld) live. He always had trouble balancing work with family and that eventually led to him  losing them, but with only a few months to live he wants to make amends. Right after he arrives in Paris, Vivi shows up with an experimental drug that could save his life with the only condition that he finish the job by hunting down The Wolf and The Albino. In order to spend more time with his family, he accepts, but balancing out work and family proves to be a very difficult task.

I was glad that Kevin Costner got a lead action role and I thought he was pretty solid despite the weak character he was given. He might not be as menacing as Liam Neeson, but he is very charismatic. He had a smaller action role at the beginning of the year in Jack Ryan where he was also solid. Amber Heard gave a strange performance, but she looked great nonetheless. The cast was quite solid with Hailee Steinfeld also delivering, but my major issue had to do with the repetitive storyline and the way the final third of the film played out. 

My Review: Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (7/10)

"You're not just an analyst anymore, you're operational now."

The most famous and beloved CIA analyst, Jack Ryan, is back for the fifth time although now it's Chris Pine's turn to interpret the hero Tom Clancy first made famous in his novels. Pine brings a fresh and charismatic presence to his character's reboot. By no means is Shadow Recruit groundbreaking or memorable, but it still is a lot of fun and engaging. I was actually surprised I enjoyed it so much considering January releases are usually weak, but knowing that Kenneth Branagh was behind the camera did give me some hope. Jack Ryan slowly builds the tension and ends with a thrilling and gripping 30 minutes. There are many weak and cliched moments, but for the most part I was entertained. The supporting cast was also strong and Branagh played a decent villain, but my favorite performance was Kevin Costner's. The film's major flaws have to do with the way the plot was developed since there were many scenes where two characters are explaining the situation going on to each other and it's evident the scenes were only included so the audience could understand what was going on. But beside those forced scenes, this thriller managed to keep me entertained and I thought Pine was a convincing Jack Ryan.

We are introduced to Jack Ryan (Chris Pine) while he's studying at London School of Economics, but after the 9/11 attacks he decides to enlist and serve in Afghanistan as a Marine. During a routine mission his helicopter gets shot down and he's critically injured. As he undergoes rehab he meets Dr. Cathy Muller (Keira Knightley) and the two begin a relationship. Jack also attracts the attention of CIA agent Thomas Harper (Kevin Costner) who decides to recruit Jack for his ability to recognize complex patterns. Harper convinces Jack to return to school and complete his Ph. D so he can become a broker in Wall Street and work undercover as a compliance officer looking for suspect financial transactions. Ryan discovers some suspicious activity involving a Russian organization through a fund controlled by Viktor Cheverin (Kenneth Branagh). For this reason Ryan travels to Moscow to investigate Cheverin's company and upon his arrival he isn't greeted too well. This is where the action and espionage games begin.

Chris Pine is a very charismatic actor; he proved it during the Star Trek reboot, and now he has done the same thing with Jack Ryan. He's also starred in other entertaining action films like Unstoppable alongside Denzel Washington holding up his own. Here he delivers once again playing a very convincing Jack Ryan. I actually enjoyed him more than Ben Affleck who played the same character, and despite not reaching the high standard set by Harrison Ford, I still thought he was great. Branagh is also a pretty bankable director and I enjoyed what he brought to this film. Jack Ryan may be a forgettable film, but one that manages to entertain you while you're at it.

My Review: Man of Steel (7/10)

¨You just have to decide what kind of man you want to grow up to be, Clark. Whoever that man is, he´s going to change the world.¨

There is no doubt in my mind that Man of Steel is a far more superior movie than its predecessor: Superman Returns. The franchise has gotten a positive reboot with director Zack Snyder at the helm and Christopher Nolan as one of the producers. I know this isn’t a perfect film, I thought it had several flaws, but compared to Superman Returns this is a masterpiece. What surprises me is that even though most critics acknowledge the fact that this is a superior film, in Rotten Tomatoes this film was only recommended by 57% of critics, compared to the 75% that recommended Superman Returns. For those of us who have seen both movies we know that is a tremendous flaw and most critics would agree that they gave too much anticipated love to Superman Returns which was a really mediocre movie. I can understand why they disliked this film because I think the film suffers from an action overdose. There is just way too much action in this film and it grows repetitive and tiresome. Snyder goes overboard with the action sequences and there is just way too much destruction that goes unaccounted for. I mean the entire city of Metropolis gets completely destroyed in this film and there are far too many 9/11 references here. That is the major issue I had with this film. Other than that I thought the movie had a great cast. Henry Cavill made for an exciting and near perfect Superman, Amy Adams nailed her role as Lois Lane, and Michael Shannon was a convincing villain as General Zod. Besides the cast, I also thought the flashback scenes involving the young Clark Kent were the strongest moments of the film. It was those quiet moments that I enjoyed more than all the loud action scenes in which Clark Kent was struggling to find his new identity. Those scenes worked really well for me and I thought Kevin Costner and Diane Lane were wonderful playing his Earth parents. I wasn’t a big fan of the opening sequence in Krypton, but thought Russell Crowe also was convincing as Jor-El.

The film opens in Krypton where we see Jor-El (Russell Crowe) help his wife give birth to his son, Kal-El, the first natural birth in the planet in a long time. The planet is at the verge of being extinct and Jor-El finds hope in his son, although General Zod (Michael Shannon) has different plans for his people. Despite Zod´s efforts to stop Jor-El, he manages to send his son to Earth where he can survive. At Earth he is adopted by Jonathan (Kevin Costner) and Martha (Diane Lane) who find him in their field in Kansas. The film centers on Clark (Henry Cavill) as he struggles to find meaning and purpose for his life. With the help of his parents he begins to deal with his powers, but is reminded that he should use these abilities as little as possible because the world isn’t prepared for someone like him. The scenes involving Clark´s childhood and his upbringing with his parents is told through a series of flashbacks as we see a much more mature Clark searching for the meaning of his existence in one place after another. He finally finds some answers when an ancient craft from Krypton is located on Earth and that is when he also runs into journalist, Louis Lane (Amy Adams) who discovers Clark isn’t a regular human being. His secret life is shattered when General Zod makes a theatrical entrance in his spaceship along with his crew and asks mankind to surrender the alien. Of course Zod has other intentions for the planet and doesn’t really settle for Kal-El. This is where the battle and destruction on Earth begins, and Clark Kent ironically remains the only hope for mankind.

Man of Steel delivers and fans of blockbuster action films will love this film. I thought the action sequences suffered from too much overload and repetitiveness. The scenes are extremely exaggerated and they grew tiresome after a while. I loved most of the film, but the last 45 minutes took a toll on me and made me enjoy this film less and less. That doesn’t mean I didn’t like this and of course I would rather sit through this than watch Superman Returns again (a film that critics seem to have enjoyed more). The problem is that after so many great superhero films, Man of Steel does fall short to other films like The Dark Knight or even Iron Man. It is probably at the same level as Thor, but I wouldn’t say this is a great superhero film because it is inferior to the bar that the Batman franchise set. I even think Iron Man 3 was a better movie than this, but Man of Steel did have its moments and I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of people really like this blockbuster film considering the excellent cast and the wonderful performance from Henry Cavill as the new Superman.

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