Film Review: "Lawless"

No wonder Cannes didn't warm to John Hillcoat's latest, beyond the simple feeling that it's cut from the crop of Sundance. "Lawless" is the anti-gangster film, at least in that the confident and macho persona that most characters of this film take on is more of a smokescreen for some honestly pathetic human weakness. Don't let the "true story" prestige fool you, as this is much more an adaptation of a novel than it is the story of the Bondurant brothers. Shia Labeouf's commemorative narration gives assurances of that from the beginning, and calls to mind another narrator propelled feature from a year ago, "The Help".

That unlikely feature would go on to Oscar glory, which is more than can be expected from "Lawless". That's not to say that Hillcoat's latest is lacking in comparison. In fact quite the opposite, in much the same way as films like "Drive" and "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" were too genre oriented for the Academy's taste. Hillcoat and writer Nick Cave (who also scores the film) are not intent on thrusting the audience into the world of prohibition-era in a rural landscape. This isn't conventionally a history lesson, which would probably pin the film's more exciting inclinations and rob it of a degree of intensity.

For Your Anticipation: Is This Some Kind of Date?

Michael Bay, oh how we've so missed you. Or how I so have, because I'm apparently still the only soul alive who finds some mindless enjoyment from Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. I'm sorry, but I'd sit through that one 12 times before sitting down for Green Lantern, Cars 2, X-Men: First Class, or Super 8 again. I greet the third film as an old friend returning to the fold, with some stylish spectacle wrapped around illogical plot manipulations. Michael Bay seems to have done quite a bit to make the latest one mildly legitimate, casting Alan Tudyk, Frances McDormand, and John Malkovich in roles that could've gone to lesser men. I'm excited to see this in all its 3D stench. Take it for what it is.

Theatrical Trailer: Transformers: Dark of the Moon

I've said it before, and I'm surprised that nobody has called me crazy yet, but I really enjoyed Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. The facilitating problem with the first film, in my opinion, was that it took itself too seriously. That's a problem that Michael Bay has. It's not that his ideas are ridiculous as much as it is how he executes them. Revenge of the Fallen didn't take anything seriously, and as such, it was a lot more fun. So now we get to Dark of the Moon, which doesn't look to have that same ridiculous attitude. In fact, it looks rather serious. Regardless of whether there's any good characters or material, the visuals in this one are spectacular. It further validates my previous suggestion that the film is worth it in 3D. I'm looking forward to it out of a pure sense of, "Wow! That's cool!"

Transformers 3 Dark Of The Moon Theatrical Trailer from Michael Bay Dot Com on Vimeo.

For Your Acknowledgement: Please... No... Sorry

Well, of the three films releasing today, the one with probably the best chance of success is Oliver Stone's Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. I know that the first film was probably great, but I'm not going to go through the effort to actually see it. The same applies to this film, as it pushes Shia Labeouf at his whiny best. His acting in this scene is mumbling that's even less coherent than the incomplete sentences of the Twilight series.