40 years ago on December 5, 1984, BEVERLY HILLS COP was released in theaters and earned $230 million in the United States, becoming the highest-grossing film in 1984. Eddie Murphy’s role as Axel Foley made him a box office star, Harold Faltermeyer composed the unforgettable theme song, “Axel F,” which became an radio hit, and the movie received nominations for Best Original Screenplay and Best Film Editing at the 57th Academy Awards.
From Producers Jerry Bruckheimer, Eddie Murphy, Chad Oman, and Director Mark Molloy, check out the new trailer for BEVERLY HILLS COP: AXEL F.
Detective Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) is back on the beat in Beverly Hills. After his daughter’s life is threatened, she (Taylour Paige) and Foley team up with a new partner (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and old pals Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) and John Taggart (John Ashton) to turn up the heat and uncover a conspiracy. Also returning is Paul Reiser (Aliens, Stranger Things) as Jeffrey Friedman and Bronson Pinchot (Perfect Strangers, Risky Business) as Serge.
As producer Jerry Bruckheimer (Top Gun: Maverick, The Rock) tells Tudum, “Eddie’s such an incredible artist. He can do drama, he can do comedy – he can do anything. And he’s the same Axel Foley. He’s still on the streets. He’s still doing what he does. Obviously with age you get wiser. But he still has the twinkle in his eye.”
Axel’s been back to Beverly Hills a few times since his first jaunt in 1984, but it’s changed just as much as he has. “Detroit is a much different city than Los Angeles and especially Beverly Hills,” Bruckheimer says. “He still has the same kind of wonderment at the things you see walking down Rodeo Drive.”
BEVERLY HILLS COP: AXEL F premieres July 3, only on Netflix.
The first trailer for BEVERLY HILLS COP: AXEL F has dropped today.
Detective Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) is back on the beat in Beverly Hills. After his daughter’s life is threatened, she (Taylour Paige) and Foley team up with a new partner (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and old pals Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) and John Taggart (John Ashton) to turn up the heat and uncover a conspiracy. Kevin Bacon plays Captain Cade Grant.
Does something magical happen when you create music? Many folks believe that. Perhaps a main proponent of that notion is Irish filmmaker John Carney. He’s illustrated that belief in a trilogy of beloved films: ONCE, BEGIN AGAIN, and SING STREET. And now he’s stretched that trilogy into a “quadrilogy” (perhaps calling them a quartet is more in line with the music themes) with his new film opening this weekend. But this tune-filled dramedy has a “hook” that is almost universal. Here the songs are in service of mending a family. It can’t completely repair this particular family, but it may just bring this single mother and her teenage son a tad closer, so at least they’re not spending their evenings screaming at one another. Adding to the tension is their “hand-to-mouth” existence, being part of the hard-working lower middle class of Ireland. That’s the setting for the story of this dup, hence the title FLORA AND SON.
When we first meet Flora (Eve Hewson), she’s charging into the local pub-turned-disco, at “full speed”, hand in hand with her best “gal pal”. Soon they’re splitting up on the dance floor in search of “after-hours companionship”. And when her “overnight guest” at her shabby apartment hears mention of her son, he practically bursts out the front door ala’ the Kool-Aid Man. Soon we meet that fourteen-year-old son Max (Oren Kinlan) when a local constable comes over to deliver a stern warning about his petty thievery. One more “pinch” and he’s in the “system”. When the “bobby” leaves, the two begin their regular “screamfest”. Flora is not getting any help from Max’s dad, Ian (Jack Reynor), a former rock bassist who’s now sharing a nicer pad with his wealthy new girlfriend, though Ian gets Max on most weekends. Hmm, Max has inherited his pop’s musical interests, though Max is more into rap and techno-pop. When Flora sees a beaten-up guitar sticking out of a dumpster, she grabs it, has it repaired, and gifts it to Max as a belated birthday present. And…he wants no part of it (cue another nasty “row”). But it grabs the interest of Flora, especially after seeing a singing competition sign outside a nearby bar. Now she’s got to learn to play it. After viewing countless video pitches for online lessons, she settles on a hunky, “mellow dude” from the States, Jeff (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). After an awkward first session, the two begin to connect through the “web”. Could this become more than a “teacher/student” rapport, even though he’s thousands of miles away? And what of Max? Could music mend the estranged mother/son bond? More importantly, could this shared passion keep Max on the “straight and narrow” and out of the detention facility?
She’s the first name in the title and really the first person on screen, so I’ll start off singing (not as nicely as the leads do) the praises of Ms. Hewson as the delightfully shocking, sometimes abrasive, and always unpredictable Flora. She provides the pulsing beat to this story as we watch her fighting the courts, her friends, her ex, and her own inner insecurities. Hewson perfectly captures Flora’s “take no prisoners’ stance, but she also shows us how this “tough mama” tries to onceal her worries and concerns, especially for “and son”. I’ll get to him in a moment since Hewson’s strongest scene partner may be that “laid-back” charmer, Mr. Gordon-Levitt. Denied physical interaction, JGL’s Jeff communicates with his crooning and through his questioning eyes. Jeff’s struggling to keep a “professional distance”, though we seem him letting his guard down as this Irish “wild card” draws him in, and, somehow, becomes his teacher. And now to Max, who starts off an a smarmy punk, but Kinlan gives him a sad vulnerability. whether yearning to fit in with the “lads” or impress the local “video vixen”.Max has an emdearing awkwardness which offsets his boasting rap lyrics (which are truly hysterical). And proving that the “apple doesn’t fall far from the tree”, his equally talented pop Ian also scores lots of laughs thanks to the warm, comedic turn by Reynor (so good in Carney’s SING STREET). We’re set up to dislike him as a “deadbeat dad”, but we soon see that Ian is trying to “step up”, and is eventually drawn back into his boy’s life via music (Reynor’s face as he hears Max’s song mix is priceless).
Oh, I forgot to mention that this smart script is also from director Carney. He deftly balances the scenes showing the joy of musical creation with some hilarious exchanges. and plenty of heart-breaking drama. At the story’s onset, it appears that Max will not find his way and will soon be crushed by society. We can see how Flora becomes his lifeline by never giving up or giving in. Plus we get to witness her renewed joy and happiness. Though she’s inspired by that contest money, the music becomes the oxygen invigorating her. Carney makes that part of the tale come alive using a clever visual trick to break through the laptop screen to forge an intimate connection between Flora and Jeff. And though everything’s not neatly wrapped up by the sweet finale, we’re left with hope for all the principals. Sure, it’s another charming ode to melody from Mr. Carney, but it’s also a wondrous story of a fractured family who can learn a new way to harmonize. To put it simply, FLORA AND SON truly hits all the right notes.
3.5 Out of 4
FLORA AND SON is now playing at select theatres and screens exclusively in the St. Louis area at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinemas. It also streams exclusively on AppleTV+ beginning on Friday, September 29, 2023
We Are Movie Geeks is giving you tickets to an evening celebrating the upcoming Apple Original Film FLORA AND SON where you and a guest will be treated to a live musical performance by The Irish Aires followed by a special screening of the film. FLORA AND SON in theaters and streaming on Apple TV+ September 29.
Visit the link below FOR YOUR CHANCE TO SNAG TICKETS while supplies last! Concessions will be provided to those that attend.
As the Summer box office slowly begins to cool off, it may be time for another entry in one of Hollywood’s most lucrative franchises. Now, we’ve got to wait a few more weeks for the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe installment, the much-anticipated BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER. Oh, but you’re very close as this new film is from another ‘branch” of this huge studio “Redwood”. Nope, not that “galaxy far, far away” either. This springs from the fountain that helped form the Disney dynasty. You see, when the MCU began its climb to multiplex majesty, other studios combed their libraries to cultivate their own “multiverse” (Universal hit with those Fast and Furious flicks along with Gru and his Minions, while their classic monsters, well, languish in their crypt). Around 2016, the “mouse house” realized they had another series “in the vault” as they began a string of live-action (though with lotsa’ CGI wizardry) remakes of their animated feature films. Sure, they’ve been hit-and-miss, but they’re now going way, way back to the second classic, as they “slap a new coat of digital paint” on the “toy who wants to be a boy”, PINOCCHIO.
Audiences may be startled (the first of many in this flick) as the company logo theme song, an instrumental snippet of “When You Wish Upon a Star”, is suddenly given lyrics by a bug. Jiminy Cricket (voice of Joseph Gordon-Levitt) actually, who begins his narration with a peak at his “past self”, clad in raggedy clothes and seeking food and warmth. . He spots just the sanctuary, a tiny little shop with its lights still on. Inside is the place’s grey-haired owner, Geppetto (Tom Hanks), who turns away a potential customer, insisting that his ornate hand-crafted clocks are not for sale. As his disgruntled wannabe’ patron leaves, Geppetto returns to his “passion project”, a wooden marionette fashioned after his late son, which he dubs Pinocchio. His pets, the cat Figaro and the “water baby” Cleo aren’t that impressed. As the old cobbler drifts off to sleep, he makes a wish that the puppet would be a “flesh n’ blood” boy, which is heard by Jiminy as he drifts off. Ah, but that wish is also heard by the Blue Fairy (Cynthia Erivo) who awakens Jiminy when she instills life (and a voice) in Pinocchio (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth). As the fairy departs in a showing of glowing blue specks of dust, Geppetto also opens his eyes to meet his new “son”. After several hours of questions from the lad, Geppetto decides that school will best give him knowledge (and let the old fellow rest). Jiminy (assuming his new duty as the boy’s “conscience”) is separated from him as “Honest John” the fox (Keegan Michael Key) and his mute feline sidekick, tell the naive boy that his future is “on the stage”. Pinocchio resists but is swayed when the school doesn’t accept him (“No puppets!!”) and he joins the traveling wagon of the cruel Stromboli (Guiseppe Battiston). With the help of a sympathetic performer, Fabiana (Kyanne Lamaya) Pinocchio escapes, only to be scooped up by the glowering Coachman (Luke Evans) on the way back to the shop. An adventure on Pleasure Island with new pal Lampwick (Lewin Lloyd) eventually leads to the sea where Geppetto is scouring the seas in a tiny boat, searching for his “son”. But will they all become victims of the savage sea beast, Monstro?!
The production is an interesting mix of vocal performances mixed with the latest high-tech motion capture and “un-digitally enhanced” actors. Most prominent in the latter category is the always compelling Mr. Hanks who deftly balances sentimentality with his often “snarky’ talk show persona, which we didn’t get in recent dramas like ELVIS and NEWS OF THE WORLD. Hanks forgoes a heavy middle-European accent and gives his line-readings the slightest “lilt” to give the clockmaker an endearing charm, much like a beloved grandpa’ who tells tales of coming “over on the big boat”.Best of all he conveys the longing of a parent who has somehow endured the worst loss of all. Erivo projects an ethereal beauty as the Blue Fairy and truly delivers goosebumps with her take on the classic’s most celebrated tune. Lamaya also displays her musical talents in an original song as the protective puppeteer who smiles despite her challenges. Another actor lending his pipes to another new tune is Evans, who intimidates and dominates as the growling sinister Coachman. Essaying another formidable menace is Battistorm who combines his threats toward the wooden boy with a half-sloshed sneer, his anger only adding to his no-doubt constant hangover. The other great sneer is provided by Lloyd as the aggressively friendly Lampwick, who seems to relish taking the smaller Pinocchio under his wing and leading him astray. As for the vocal talents, Gordon-Levitt makes the plucky cricket a truly charming rascal, more than up to the challenge of steering the lad down the right path. And that’s despite the energetic cajoling of Key as the flamboyant “Honest John”, who seems to be having a blast with “An Actor’s Life for Me”. Oh, and there’s a new character, Sofia the very helpful seagull, given a raspy tone by the great Lorraine Braco. Oops, almost forgot the lead, Ainsworth who makes us care about the innocent wooden kid. much like “real boys” is equally exasperating and sweet (with almost no “syrup”).
After thirteen years away from “mo-cap”, Robert Zemeckis returns to deftly balance the mix of techniques. He gets the best of the cast, no matter the method or form. I mentioned earlier about these “live make-overs” being hit and miss, Well, put this in the first division, closer to THE JUNGLE BOOK and MULAN than Burton’s depressing DUMBO or THE LION KING. Of course the original is “darned-near-perfection” (I’ll admit to it being my fave of Walt’s legacy), so the “blueprint” is impeccable. The film’s artists have skillfully given a nice gleam to the 1800s town from the cobblestone streets to the quaint shops (especially Geppetto’s), while also doing a nice “twist” on the familiar, particularly with the revamp of Pleasure Island, recalling a certain theme park. But the most pleasant surprise is the script’s wit and humor (by Zemeckis and Chris Weitz) as it takes a playful jab at the whole genre, and its main producer. I was astounded to find myself laughing out a lot at several clever gags and wordplay. I only have a few “qualms” with this “re-imagining”. Though it might not have meshed with the “overall look” I had wished that Key could have had a specialty prosthetic make-up as the Fox (much as Rick Baker’s work on THE GRINCH), so we could see his wonderful facial expressions fully. And the new songs don’t quite measure up to those unforgettable 1940 standards (one of those is sorely missed here). But my biggest “beef” is the fact that we won’t be able to see these amazing visuals projected on a big Imax screen. Or “up-converted to 3D, since a few scenes look like they may have been planned for it). Oh well, it’s a shame that this one’s getting punished for the last couple of “underperforming” redos. Still, it’s certainly worth your time since it’s a film that has something for the whole family, although the “left turn” taken in the story’s final moments may inspire lots of animated (sorry) discussions (I’m sure it’ll inspire a cable TV news channel debate or two). Sure, it won’t “wipe out” the memories of that 40s still-gorgeous gem, but it’s nice to see there’s lots of magic in PINOCCHIO. And that’s with “no strings attached”.
The global celebration of Disney+ Day will return on Thursday, September 8, 2022, leading into D23 Expo: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event presented by Visa in Anaheim, CA.
In celebration, the streaming service will host special experiences for fans and subscribers, and will premiere new content from its marquee brands, including the return of the beloved Disney franchise in the all-new live action “Pinocchio” on Disney+ Day, September 8.
Here’s your first look at the teaser trailer and poster for the film, starring Tom Hanks, Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, Cynthia Erivo, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Keegan-Michael Key, Lorraine Bracco and Luke Evans.
In addition to “Pinocchio,” Disney+ will announce more Disney+ Day premieres from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and National Geographic in the coming months.
Academy Award® winner Robert Zemeckis directs this live action retelling of the beloved tale of a wooden puppet who embarks on a thrilling adventure to become a real boy. Tom Hanks stars as Geppetto, the wood carver who builds and treats Pinocchio (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) as if he were his own son. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is Jiminy Cricket, who serves as Pinocchio’s guide as well as his “conscience”; Academy Award® nominee Cynthia Erivo is the Blue Fairy; Keegan-Michael Key is “Honest” John; Academy Award® nominee Lorraine Bracco is Sofia the Seagull, a new character, and Luke Evans is The Coachman. Also in the cast are Kyanne Lamaya as Fabiana (and her marionette Sabina), Giuseppe Battiston as Señor Stromboli and Lewin Lloyd as Lampwick.
Robert Zemeckis, Derek Hogue, Andrew Miano, Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz are the film’s producers, with Jackie Levine, Jack Rapke, Alexandra Derbyshire and Jeremy Johns the executive producers.
Coming to Netflix on August 14 is PROJECT POWER. The film is directed by Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost (CATFISH, VIRAL and NERVE).
What would you risk for five minutes of pure power? On the streets of New Orleans, word begins to spread about a mysterious new pill that unlocks superpowers unique to each user. The catch: You don’t know what will happen until you take it. While some develop bulletproof skin, invisibility, and super strength, others exhibit a deadlier reaction. But when the pill escalates crime within the city to dangerous levels, a local cop (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) teams with a teenage dealer (Dominique Fishback) and a former soldier fueled by a secret vendetta (Jamie Foxx) to fight power with power and risk taking the pill in order to track down and stop the group responsible for creating it.
Mid-August debut is perfect and one to add to your queue. Netflix has been very successful with the release of such recent films as OLD GUARD, EXTRACTION, and EUROVISION
Did you know that Paranormal Activity 3 was helmed by Joost and Schulman and that it was their first horror film, with the follow-up Paranormal Activity 4?
Joseph Gordon-Levitt as co-pilot Tobias Ellis in the drama/thriller 7500. Courtesy of Amazon Studios
7500 is the code that airlines use for a hijacking, and hijacking is the subject of Amazon’s drama/thriller 7500. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Tobias Ellis, a young American co-pilot working for a German airline, who on a Berlin to Paris flight is confronted with tough choices when hijackers storm the cockpit, and stab the more experienced German pilot. 7500 is streaming on Amazon Prime, starting June 18, 2020.
With the German pilot Michael (Carlo
Kitzlinger) disabled, the inexperienced Tobias must take charge of
the situation. To make matters more tense, Tobias’ German-Turkish
fiancee Gokce (German actress Aylin Tezel) is a flight attendant on
the plane. The one advantage Tobias has is that the four hijackers
have no guns and are armed only with improvised knives made from
broken glass.
The whole film takes place in the
confined space of the cockpit of the plane, apart from a brief
introduction in the airport before take off. That confined-space
technique puts 7500 in the same category as other dramatic thrillers
as PHONE BOOTH and Hitchcock’s classics DIAL M FOR MURDER, ROPE and
LIFEBOAT. The plot draws elements from some real- life terrorism
events, not all of them hijackings, contributing a sense of realism.
The restricted physical space is actually an asset in this case,
heightening the tension. The film uses the single-space concept
fairly well but it does not break new ground or add anything
creatively to a concept that is itself a gimmick of sorts.
However, the film’s greatest strength is Joseph Gordon-Levitt, whose strong central performance keeps the audience on edge and involved. His performance is the main appeal of this drama/thriller, but it is supplemented by creative camerawork by director of photography Sebastian Thaler, who uses the low-light typical of cockpits to create shadowy, tension-filled images and an eerie other-worldly, contemplative tone in some moments.
Still, director Patrick Vollrath never
fully takes advantage of either the thriller potential of the film’s
concept or its talented lead actor. The problem is the under-cooked
script, which has a few problems. A glaring example is when both
Tobias and the pilot Michael are stabbed. It takes Tobias a long time
to tend to the pilot’s wounds, or even look at them, which one would
expect to be a higher priority once he has tied up the unconscious
hijacker he subdued. Instead, Tobias repeatedly just asks the German
pilot if he is OK, even though we can see he is bleeding. It is one
of a number of blips that mar the drama, detracting from the story
and nice performances.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt does a fine job
with the role, although it does not demand as much from him as some
other roles he has played, giving him less opportunity to really
stretch his considerable dramatic muscles. While Gordon-Levitt does
his usual good job, the nature of the story often limits what he can
do. The character he plays, Tobias, is soft-spoken, unlike the
talkative, outgoing experienced pilot played by German actor Carlo
Kitzlinger, who is quickly out of commission. Pilots are trained to
remain calm in emergencies anyway, which Gordon-Levitt conveys
admirably, but the plot has him frequently alone in the cockpit and
reacting to what he can see on the small black-and-white video screen
that allows pilots to see what is happening just outside the cockpit
door,. The combination leaves Gordon-Levitt little room dramatically
in which to work.
The major focus is on Gordon-Levitt and
the rest of the cast are in supporting roles that are mostly lightly
sketched out. One of the larger of these supporting role is Vedat
(young Austrian actor Omid Memar), the youngest of the hijackers, who
spends many tense minutes in the cramped cockpit space with the
co-pilot. Omid Memar, who was 18-years-old when hired, does a nice
job with the role, tapping into the fears and doubts of the teen-aged
character and exploring the motives of the hijackers on some level.
Even so, the script does not offer enough to really give any
character great depth. Kitzlinger as the older pilot also does a nice
job, although his role and others in the cast have limited screen
time.
The script is the major limit of the
film, despite its talented lead actor. At the start, the film sets up
complex relationships and hints at interesting backstories but never
really draws on them. Some of what happens in the film are simply
dumb, such as the delay in tending to the injured pilot, which
undermines the ability of the audience to buy-in to what happening to
the characters on screen. In other moments, the script is much
better, and would be best described as uneven rather than bad. The
basic concept is good and that unevenness hints that this could have
been a much stronger film, making better use of the wealth of talent
Joseph Gordon-Levitt brings.
7500 is a well-made dramatic thriller
with a better cast than script, using a single-space concept which
could work in its favor but which is not fully exploited. It is a
nice showcase for Joseph Gordon-Levitt but it could have been a much
stronger one. 7500, in English with some German and Turkish with
English subtitles, is available VOD on Amazon Prime starting June 18.
Depending on your point-of-view, Edward Snowden is a hero or a traitor. When whistle-blower Snowden leaked documents to the public, through the Guardian newspaper, that exposed the United States government’s massive surveillance and data collection on own citizens, the news exploded around the world, sparked outrage among the American people (either that their government was spying on them or that Snowden revealed it), and sent Snowden on the run and into hiding.
Hero or villain, few would deny that what Edward Snowden did is a worthy subject for a serious film. It even sounds like the subject might be a good fit for director Oliver Stone, a filmmaker famous for his affinity for conspiracy theories and for his libertarian-to-liberal views. But anyone expecting a very liberal slant to this film will be surprised, as Stone takes an even-handed approach, offering some of the arguments on both sides. The problem with Stone’s SNOWDEN is not bias but that there are not enough of those discussions and they lack the needed depth. This is an important subject,one that strikes at the heart of what it means to be a free country, one that deserves a big discussion in a big serious drama. Stone’s SNOWDEN is not a bad film as much as a disappointing one.
It does offer a little insight into who Edward Snowden is and why is made this fateful choice. Stone starts his film with Snowden (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) meeting with journalists Laura Poitras (Melissa Leo), Glenn Greenwald (Zachary Quinto) and Ewen MacAskill (Tom Wilkinson) as he discusses on camera what is in the documents he is giving them. The film then shifts back and forth between that event and the earlier points in Snowden’s life that led to his decision. Snowden was inspired by 9/11 to join the Army but his military career was cut short in training by a shattered leg. The serious, patriotic young man next applies to the CIA. The interviewer tells him his lack of a high school diploma ordinary would scratch him from consideration but these are not ordinary times post-9/11 and Snowden is a brilliant computer programmer with the remarkable skills needed for the modern battlefield in cyberspace. Training for the CIA further reveals Snowden computer gifts and brings him under the wing of Corbin O’Brian (Rhys Ifans). At the same time, the politically-conservative Snowden meets and later falls for liberal, creative Lindsay Mills (Shailene Woodley).
Snowden had previously been the subject of an excellent documentary CITIZENFOUR by Laura Poitras, one of the journalists Snowden contacted and who is played by Melissa Leo in Stone’s film. For some, that excellent documentary may seem enough. Still there is a segment of the film-going public who never see documentaries and the subject is big enough to warrant a dramatic narrative film speak to that other audience. It would not be the first time a subject or person has been covered in both. There were several documentaries about the sub-prime mortgage crisis and Wall Street crash that sparked the Great Recession before THE BIG SHORT told it so well in narrative form.
Stone’s film unfolds much like a political thriller, building tension as Snowden uncovers the kind of work the CIA and NSA are doing and his growing both ethical unease and personal paranoia. Restless after being assigned to desk work at a post in Switzerland, Snowden works his way into a field assignment, which puts him in contact with an NSA program secretly collecting unprecedented amounts of information on, well, everyone. NSA tech employee Gabriel (Ben Schnetzer) casually describes how the system works, and how it is all approved by the FISA court, which he calls a rubber stamp. The discovery of what seems to be an unconstitutional surveillance program leaves Snowden uneasy, and the way the field agent uses that information even more so. By the time Snowden is posted to Hawaii, now as a private contractor for the NSA, the forces the drive his decision are well underway.
The film is at its strongest when it shows us how this system of surveillance grew, slowly and organically, more like the frog in the beaker where the temperature is slowly rising than by a group of people abruptly just deciding to violate the law. Much of the film is presented in a straight-forward manner, lacking the kind of cinematic flare of some of the director’s earlier films. Near the film’s end, the real Snowden appears, in a return to more of that signature style.
The disappointing part of Stone’s film is that while is does have some examination of the right or wrong of Snowden’s actions, bit on his inner motivations and how a basically conservative guy who join the CIA reached this decision, it does not have enough of that. Which way one sees it might depend on whether one sees the War on Terror as the same as WWII or the Civil War (when such Constitutionally questionable things happened) or whether it was more like the Cold War or the Vietnam War, a proxy war in the former. One thing those who remember the Cold War will likely found chilling about Snowden’s revelations was the oft-made statement that the difference between free countries like the U.S. and communist ones like the Soviet Union (Russia) was that our government didn’t spy on its people. Edward Snowden proved that point of pride was no longer the truth.
The film spends a quite a bit of time on Snowden’s romantic life, perhaps trying to build drama but also humanizing the central figure. Once the patriotic if naive Snowden, who is nicknamed “Snow White” by a more jaded fellow programmer, realizes what his government is actually doing, a level of paranoia sets in. Well, not paranoia, because they really are watching him and listening to his conversations, just as they are everyone else. The film sometimes suffers from an uneven pace, with parts of the story that could have been dealt with briskly sometimes dragged out, although other critical moments are handled with nicely-built tension.
SNOWDEN does boast a strong cast, and a few noteworthy performances. Joseph Gordon-Levitt does not much resemble Edward Snowden but he does a nice job portraying him, capturing mannerisms and some of the evolution in his thinking on his work. Nicholas Cage is surprisingly effective in a restrained performance as a CIA engineer now relegated to teaching, in a small but memorable part. Ifans is brilliantly as O’Brien, a smooth character shifting between warmth as someone who is fond of Snowden, and creepy as someone enamored of his protege’s remarkable skills but ethically blind to what kind of work they are doing. Disappointingly, Shailene Woodley is given too little to do as Snowden’s girlfriend.
SNOWDEN is a missed opportunity, a subject that might have been better in the hands of a different director, regardless of Stone’s considerable talent. The lack of focus on discussion around Snowden’s actions and their implications, right or wrong, or of people’s right to know in a democratic country, gets too little attention. The biggest problem the film faces is assumptions. It is likely audiences will decide to see Stone’s film or not based on how they feel about Edward Snowden himself, and less on the merits of Stone’s film itself. Those who see Snowden as a traitor may assume Stone will present a simple admiring view of him. Those who believe Snowden is a whistle-blowing hero may be disappointed the film does not have the in-depth discussion of CITIZENFOUR or more detail on the technology itself.
Here’s a first look at the intense new trailer for SNOWDEN, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Shailene Woodley. This trailer debuted during the movie’s Comic-Con Panel, which also marked Academy Award-winning director Oliver Stone’s very first Comic-Con appearance.
Academy Award®-winning director Oliver Stone, who brought Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July, Wall Street and JFK to the big screen, tackles the most important and fascinating true story of the 21st century.
Snowden, the politically-charged, pulse-pounding thriller starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Shailene Woodley, reveals the incredible untold personal story of Edward Snowden, the polarizing figure who exposed shocking illegal surveillance activities by the NSA and became one of the most wanted men in the world. He is considered a hero by some, and a traitor by others.
No matter which you believe, the epic story of why he did it, who he left behind, and how he pulled it off makes for one of the most compelling films of the year.
Technology experts are covering their webcams and cell phone cameras to protect their privacy. Are you being watched? Add a bandage to your photo and take a stand to protect your privacy and freedom.
