Life Itself (8/10): A wonderful tribute to one of our generation's greatest film critics

“Look at a movie that a lot of people love and you'll find something profound no matter how silly the film may seem.”

Life Itself is a touching documentary directed by Steve James (Hoop Dreams and The Interrupters) about the life of the beloved film critic, Roger Ebert. The documentary is based on Ebert’s 2011 memoir of the same name, Life Itself, and it follows his journey as a young boy growing up in a small Illinois town, his education and early success as a print journalist, his struggle with alcoholism, his achievements at the Sun-Times as a film critic which garnered him a Pulitzer Prize, his marriage to Chaz, his collaboration with Siskel on their national televised show At the Movies with Siskel and Ebert, all the way to his long battle with cancer that claimed his life. You don’t have to know who Ebert was to be touched by the film because James does a fantastic job of capturing the key role he played in film criticism. On the one hand this documentary works as a memoir of a beloved man but it also works on its own as a solid research on the history of film criticism and how it has evolved from print to TV and now to the internet. The film never shies away from the criticism Ebert received for simplifying his reviews for the TV format and changing the way the game was played, but it does defend his passion for movies and the way he wanted to engage in a normal conversation with everyone about the importance of movies and how they impacted his life. His reviews helped many aspiring young directors to get noticed and there are some fascinating and touching testimonies from Martin Scorsese, Ramin Bahrani, Werner Herzog, and Ava DuVernay about how Ebert made a difference in their careers.

Personally, I was always interested in reading what Ebert had to say about the new films that were being released. When I watched a movie that I really liked, I wanted to know what Ebert thought about it. There were many films I would’ve never heard of if it weren’t for the positive reviews he gave some independent projects. Ebert was always my favorite critic once I began to feel passionate about movies as an art form and he introduced me to film criticism as well. If it weren’t for his TV show I probably wouldn’t have been interested in actually engaging in discussions about movies and how they influence our lives. I began watching him when he did the show with Richard Roeper (who unfortunaltey isn’t in this documentary), but I have watched many clips of his earlier show with Siskel. I don’t follow many celebrities on Twitter, but Ebert was one of the few I was always looking forward to reading. His dedication and love for film are beautifully captured in this documentary as he found refugee from his battle with cancer through watching and criticizing movies. The support he received from his loving wife is also very touching and Life Itself delivers several emotional moments. It is a documentary that every film lover should experience even if they don’t have a clue of who Ebert was. 

The highlights of Life Itself are without a doubt the scenes where Ebert and Siskel are together. These two rival critics had a huge ego and there is plenty of footage where you can actually see them fighting like two brothers would in real live. I am glad they decided to include those scenes because it does show the love hate relationship they and I think that was the ingredient that made the show so successful. The testimonies from Scorsese and DuVernay are also quite emotional because it showed what a great person Ebert was and how ahead of the curve he was in film criticism. The scenes where he is in the hospital are also solid and Ebert is not afraid of letting the audience see the effect that the cancer had on him. Despite it all he always kept an upbeat and humorous attitude towards life and the documentary does a good job at pointing out how much the movies and his family helped him through his battles. Life Itself is a great tribute to Ebert’s life and his film legacy. 

My Review: Jack Reacher (8/10)

¨There´s this guy, he´s a kind of cop, at least he used to be. He doesn’t care about proof, he doesn’t care about the law, he only cares about what´s right. He knows what I did. You can´t protect me. No one can.¨

Jack Reacher was one of those films I went into with very low expectations, but came out pleasantly surprised with how entertaining the movie really was. Tom Cruise isn’t one of my favorite actors, but I can honestly say that I prefer his mysterious, quiet, low key approach much more than his eccentric and talkative characters (like in Knight and Day). There is no denying his on screen charisma and he really doesn’t have to do much in order for you to root for him and that is why I find his quieter performances much more thrilling and engaging. Jack Reacher has it all: it´s action packed, it has thrills, mysteries, twists, and even some comedy. I was entertained much more than I thought I would be with this Tom Cruise vehicle. The screenplay was adapted by Academy Award winner, Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects) from Lee Child´s book One Shot. Although McQuarrie is known mostly for his work with screenplays, this is his second film as a director (the first being The Way of the Gun) and he does a great job with the action scenes here. I am not a big fan of car chases, I get tired of them very easily, but this film has one of the best vehicle chases I´ve seen since Ronin. The opening scene with the sniper point of view was also pretty gripping and inventive. I was really glad I got to see this film despite it not being groundbreaking or anything because it was entertaining. This mystery thriller worked really well thanks to some great comedic moments.

Jack Reacher (Tom Cruise) is a former military operative who has been living off the radar in the past year like a John Doe. He is the kind of person who can´t be found, but rather he finds you. The movie begins with a deadly sniper shooting five innocent victims in the middle of the city. The police identify the alleged murderer as Barr (Joseph Sikora), a former military officer who claims to be innocent. Detective Emerson (David Oyelowo) has a strong case against him, but all Barr says is ¨Get Jack Reacher.¨ Neither Emerson nor District Attorney Rodin (Richard Jenkins) know how to reach Reacher, but he shows up after hearing the news. He begins investigating the case after the defense attorney, Helen (Rosamund Pike), convinces him to look into the supposedly locked case. She believes like everyone else that Barr is guilty, but wants to save him from the death penalty. When Jack Reacher begins to investigate the case he finds some evidence that leads him to believe that Barr is innocent and that someone had a specific target in mind and wanted to make everything look like a random killing. While Jack begins digging deeper some men begin to follow him and try to scare him off, but Reacher is the sort of guy who always gets to the bottom of things.  

Tom Cruise may have found yet another franchise in Jack Reacher as his character is very likeable by remaining very quiet, mysterious, calm, but at the same time very tough. He is the sort of guy who seems to always be in control and in cool. There are also some very interesting performances here from Robert Duvall, Alexia Fast, Jai Courtney, and the great director Werner Herzog who have a supporting role. Duvall brings some comedic relief and has great chemistry with Cruise, while Herzog and Courtney create some interesting villains. The film runs a bit long and there is some problem with the pacing of the film at times, but the great action scenes make up for it. Jack Reacher has some very smart one liners and always answers with some sort of quick remark, which were the comedic highlight of the film. There is a bathroom scene that feels a bit off from the rest of the movie, and the action here is sort of cartoonish but it was also another one of the funniest moments of the film. Despite not being a huge Tom Cruise fan I really did enjoy this film and recommend it.  

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My Review: Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (5/10)

¨What the hell are those iguanas doing on my coffee table? ¨

(5/10) Werner Herzog directs a different version of the 1992 film that starred Harvey Keitel as the bad lieutenant. This time around that role is played by Nicolas Cage and the action takes place in New Orleans several months after hurricane Katrina. Werner Herzog directed one of my favorite movies of 2006, Rescue Dawn, in which Christian Bale played a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War. Because of that my expectations for this film were high. Herzog also directed the Oscar nominated documentary Grizzly Man and several other German films; and he has received a lot of praise for this film although it didn`t fulfill my expectations. The screenplay, which was written by William Finkelstein, is decent and it focuses on Nicolas Cage`s character during the entire film, leaving the rest of the characters in a secondary position. The key ingredient in this film is Cage`s performance. This is definitely one of his best roles in a long time. He plays an eccentric character and Cage is always at his best when he has to play this type of role. Eva Mendes is a great actress, but her role was minor in this film; as was pretty much every other actor in the movie. Val Kilmer only has a couple of lines and I think we see him more in the trailers than in the actual movie. Nicolas Cage is the one who steals the show and his performance is terrific, but I got tired of the plot after the first twenty minutes and the movie seemed to drag from that point on. The only positive thing about Bad Lieutenant is Nicolas Cage; and hopefully he will continue to accept more roles like the one he played in this film.

Nicolas Cage is Terence McDonagh, a corrupt cop who constantly breaks the law in order to get what he wants. We are introduced to him shortly after hurricane Katrina and we see him saving a prisoner from drowning in his cell. Terence seems to be a good cop and he even receives an honorary medal for his service. Later he is at the hospital because he`s suffering from back pains and the doctor prescribes him Vicodin in order to control his pain. The movie suddenly jumps to six months after the disaster and we are introduced to a different version of Terence who seems to be suffering from drug and gambling addiction. He does whatever it takes in order to get his hands on some cocaine and even tries to bribe players in order to win some gambling money. It is during this addiction that he has to solve a murder case in which a group of Senegalese immigrants have been brutally killed over some drug scandal. Terence is probably not the right man for the job as he is probably guiltier than most criminals. The movie follows Terence everywhere he goes while investigating the murder. We are introduced to his girlfriend, who is actually a prostitute named Frankie (Eva Mendes) and she is also a junkie like him. Eva Mendes does a good job, but her character is not that important in the film (which is true for every other character other than the one played by Cage). Val Kilmer plays another corrupt cop named Stevie Pruit that works with Terence in some cases. Big Fate, played by Xzibit, is the prime suspect in the murder case and Terence actually uses him to get some more drugs and money. Terence is buried in debt and actually has to hide his girlfriend at his parent`s house in order to protect her from the collectors. His mother, Genevieve (Jennifer Coolidge from American Pie), is an alcoholic and his father Pat is played by Tom Bower. As the movie progresses Terence seems to get buried deeper and deeper in his drug, gambling, and sex addiction.

Bad Lieutenant might have resurrected Nicolas Cage`s career as we are reminded of some of his earlier works when he played more eccentric characters, but the movie just didn`t work for me. The hallucination scenes with the iguanas and the dancing souls were too bizarre and rather distracting although you do get a good sense of how Cage`s character was feeling. I didn`t like the way the movie ended either because everything seemed to work out just perfectly when it seemed impossible to get out of such a hole. I actually thought it was all another illusion that Terence was going through. The movie is dark and it has some entertaining parts thanks to Cage, but it just didn`t work for me. I found myself kind of bored after the first twenty minutes and was waiting for the movie to get somewhere. Perhaps I just had too many high expectations for this Herzog film because I enjoyed Red Dawn so much. One thing is for sure, the movie might not be so good, but Cage`s performance is great as he plays this antihero. I would recommend this movie for his performance alone, although if you are in to dark movies you probably would enjoy this because Terence is really a bad lieutenant