THE ICEMAN Review

by matthew goldberg

[This is a re-post of my review from the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival.  The Iceman opens today in limited release.]

The Iceman is a hitman movie. It’s about a hitman and nothing else. Director and co-writer Ariel Vromen takes no chances on his film based on the life of mob enforcer Richard Kuklinski. The movie paints a two-dimensional character, and then wants credit for not making him one-dimensional. There’s more effort put into developing the characters’ era-appropriate facial hair than developing the story into anything more than a description of Kuklinski’s actions. Only Michael Shannon‘s overpowering screen presence stops The Iceman from being the driest crime drama in recent memory.

Richard Kuklinski (Shannon) was always a violent murderer. Mobster Roy Demeo (Ray Liotta) just gave Kuklinski a way to use his inherent tendencies to make some money. The story then plays like a recreation of real events from 1964 to 1982 rather than something resembling a dramatic arc. Kuklinski is fundamentally the same at the beginning of the movie as he is at the end of the movie. He was a killer with a code and a very short temper. Only his external circumstances changed, and not to the extent where he was forced to seriously reexamine his life.

But The Iceman wants us to believe Kuklinski is a compelling figure because even though he may have killed over 100 people during his career as a hitman, he also loved his family. This is not a mind-blowing concept. We’ve all seen gangster movies, and the notion of a sociopath who loves his family isn’t some startling revelation. The only difference between Kuklinski and these fictional felons is a body count. And that number should be meaningless. Is a hitman who kills twenty people a better person than a hitman who kills twenty-one people? Making Kuklinski a steadfast family man almost makes the character less interesting because we know that all of his actions will revolve around the preservation of his family.

Anything that feels special about the character comes from Shannon. What’s most impressive about Shannon’s performance is we’ve seen him play this kind of character before. Michael Shannon just knows how to play horrifying people. I’ve never met Michael Shannon, and he may be the nicest guy in the world, but you take one look at his face and you instantly believe that he’s capable of murder. It’s a testament to the actor’s sheer charisma that he can take a familiar character, and make him feel fresh. On the page, there’s nothing original about Kuklinski, but in Shannon’s hands, the hitman feels like a giant of mafia history.

And yet there’s no denying how safe The Iceman feels. Vromen found a shocking real-life criminal, but didn’t uncover anything compelling about Kuklinski. We never learn why Kuklinski is worthy of a movie as opposed to any other real-life hitman. Vromen doesn’t even play up Kuklinski’s prolific body count, nor does the director seem particularly impressed with how Kuklinski earned his nickname “The Iceman” (he froze the bodies of his victims so the cops wouldn’t be able to tell the time of death). With no insight into Kuklinski, his crimes, or the place of the hitman in modern American crime fiction, Vromen has simply made a movie that allows Michael Shannon to terrify the audience. But with an actor like Shannon, that’s almost good enough.

Rating: C

"Black & White" Review: INTERRACIAL LOVE ON ACID

Movie: "BLACK & WHITE"

(Limited Release)

Rated: R

Running Time: 137 minutes

Director: Michael Ray

Cast: Ben Forest, Juliana Aiden Martinez, Peter Hart, Anna Lakomy, Alexandra Bailey, Anna Fikhman.

- By Steve Wanegrow

 Does two plus hours of unlikeable characters doing unlikeable things to one another, all shot and edited like a rap video, sound like a good time at the movies to you? If so, then "Black & White" is for you. If not, then save your money. This independent release from first time filmmaker Michael Ray is very ambitious, very long, and very schizophrenic. Unsure if it's a drama, a romance, a comedy, or some weird combination of the three, all one walks away from this picture thinking is: Are white women really worth all the trouble? According to this story...yes.

"Black & White" places us in New York 2013, a city full of narcissists, career driven young adults, and people doing whatever it takes to get ahead. Every character seems to have some chip on their shoulder and their own unique perspective on why they are still single. Our main character is an African American businessman named Will (Ben Forest) who has a rather unhealthy obsession with white women. He starts most mornings with hot sex involving a beautiful white female named Amy (Anna Fikhman). After each session he pays her. She clearly isn't your normal booty call. But he tells people she is his bisexual ex-girlfriend. He then heads to his job, where he flirts with his leggy blonde co-worker Katherine (Anna Lakomy from Discovery Channel TV show "Deadly Sins"). Once in a while he will have dinner at a fancy restaurant with a cute and busty brunette named Stacey (Alexandra Bailey) who can never seem to show up on time. All seems well right? Um, wrong.

 The problem for Will, is NONE of these women care about him. At all. His prostitute friend Amy refuses to kiss him on the lips. Even when they say goodbye. Katherine has no idea Will has a thing for her and he is terrified of telling her he is crazy about her. And Stacey is more concerned with checking her text messages and spouting her outrageous theories on love (she coldly proclaims "Being close is overrated. Everyone is either with someone they can trust but don't find all that hot, or someone they find hot but know they can't trust" at one point) than actually getting to know the man sitting in front of her. It is clear to the audience that Will has no chance of a real relationship with any of these women and the only one that is sleeping with him is doing it for the money. This fact is clear to everyone, well everyone except Will.

Will's best friend is a struggling comedian and drug addict named Matt (Peter Hart) who seems to be going nowhere in life yet loves to critique others (we all have friends like that right?) and thinks he knows everything. Early on in the film when Will tells Matt he is struggling to make any ground with these women, Matt suggests a ploy of lies (something many of the characters in this film do) in order to force the girl who truly cares about Will to reveal herself. Only problem is; the plan is completely stupid. But Will (who we can already tell isn't the brightest bulb in the box) buys into it totally. While the two actors have a great chemistry and Matt's one liners provide some of the film's funniest moments, you just don't buy their friendship as worthwhile. Both build themselves up with lies in order to impress the other. Will tells Matt that Amy is his booty call ex-girlfriend when she is really a hooker. Matt tells Will he has a big comedy showcase coming up and has quit cocaine, when the truth is he is getting high every night and has not performed stand up in months since he is too fucked up to write any new material. Both want the other to think they have everything under control, but both will end up succumbing to their respective addictions.

 It is needless to say Matt's advice goes terribly wrong when implemented by Will and this is when the film takes a turn for the better. After a crazy nightmare where Will's exes try to kill him, he encounters his polar opposite. Early in the film we see a brief scene of another character not involved in Will's life named Tessa (Juliana Aiden Martinez) dealing with her own issues. She is a single mom with money problems and an abusive ex-boyfriend who is constantly in and out of her life. After he beats her up in the alleyway of her apartment her character disappears from the film leaving you wondering, "what the hell was that all about?" Once she returns to the film you realize what the filmmaker is setting up. Both characters are drowning in their own sea of self confusion. Tessa is a white girl who acts "black". Will is a black guy who acts "white". They are strangely perfect for each other yet also all wrong for each other. Despite the silly way they are introduced to each other (I don't think I'd ask someone out on a date after they just tried to rob me, but hey that's just me) from the moment they start to bond you are rooting for them to be together. This is due in large part to the acting of Martinez who fills Tessa with much range. Her character is dark, enigmatic, damaged, funny, sensual, and unpredictable, all at the same time. She is used to fending for herself but sick of it at the same time. In Will she sees the guy she has perhaps been waiting for. But do they have enough in common to sustain a real relationship? And can she truly give up her old ways?

 I do not want to spoil where the film goes from here but it thankfully gets stronger as it heads towards it's shocking finale. While the first half of the movie is full of our main character aimlessly throwing himself at heartless women, the second half is a real romance between two people who aren't even aware of how badly they need each other. When things inevitably go wrong (as they always do in films like this) you wonder how it will be fixed. Some may not be pleased with the route the film takes, others may find it refreshing. I liked the idea behind what was done but not how it was executed.

It would be impossible to review this film without mentioning the visuals. The movie is shot unlike any film I have ever seen. There are little segments between scenes or even lines that seem to come from nowhere. Characters flashing on screen, falling down in slow motion, silhouettes of actors in front of white backgrounds acting out certain gestures, etc. A character is crying and we see a giant CGI tear drop fall into a pool of water. A character is getting high and we see prescription pill bottles fall to the ground in slow motion in front of a blank background. The director also uses very strange and new camera techniques to weave us in and out of scenes. Helicopter shots float us across the Manhattan skyline and make New York seem like an ominous character in the film, stifling the characters and their dreams. The music soundtrack is also very prominent in the film as well. Almost every 10 or 15 minutes there is some sort of music video type montage that pushes the story forward. It is all quite intriguing, but much of it completely unnecessary.

The acting in the film left much to be desired. Our lead is great at being humorous and is given many moments to do so, but when asked to be serious or emote, it does not seem to work. Most of the females are relegated to eye candy with the exception of Martinez who is wonderful but one wishes she was used more. She is doing her best here to bring weight to the story but the director's attention seems to be focused more on editing tricks, pimping the soundtrack, and reminding the viewer that Lakomy's Katherine character is apparently every boy's wet dream. While Katherine is clearly the girl Will pines for, Tessa is the girl he needs. Will cannot see this though since Tessa displays all the behavior he probably abhors in African American women to begin with. Hart is very memorable as the best friend and has all the mannerisms of a cokehead down (all the way down to the random sniffles and constantly losing his frame of thought). The actor who plays the father of Tessa's daughter also gave a spirited and realistic portrayal of a wanna be gangster rapper who abandons his responsibilities as a father. Martinez is given the film's most powerful scenes because she can handle them and she knocks them out of the park. I only wish we got to see more of her but since this is Will's story, we only see enough of her until Will realizes his dream isn't to be with a white girl who loves black men, but a white girl that normally ignores them. That is his ultimate downfall.

 At 2 hours and 17 minutes (and it feels alot longer) "Black & White" is in desperate need of an editor, and a conscience. As I said at the beginning, it is hard to root for ANY of these characters to find love since none of them are all that likable. No one is honest. Everyone is inherently selfish. And only when confronted with the truth do they try to make some big excuse for their reckless actions. Maybe this is some sort of grand commentary on the dating scene in New York for 20 somethings (regardless of race) but there should at least be one good sensible person in a film with almost a dozen characters. I couldn't find one.

Ultimately I do not know if this film will be remembered as a movie even about interracial love. That to me is just used as a smoke screen. Personally I think this movie is about what happens when you pigeon hole yourself into a corner and create this perfect "type", this dream guy/girl you think is waiting for you that will make all your problems go away. So many characters in the film could be happy if they just saw what was right in front of them but instead they choose to delude themselves into thinking they deserve something better. Something more. Sadly I came up with that all on my own. The filmmaker here leaves a lot of the philosophical analyzation up to you since after the "shocker" ending things just sort of ...well "stop". The film then cuts to another music video montage reprise of all the characters. This type of ending is usually a powerful one when you actually care about the people on screen. Here it's more of a visual high school yearbook photo collage of all the kids you hated and hope to never see again. 

Chronicle star Michael B. Jordan to join FANTASTIC FOUR?

The casting machine is starting to gear up for Josh Trank‘s upcoming reboot of Fantastic Four.  Yesterday, we reported that Girls star Allison Williams was on the short list to presumably play Sue Storm/Invisible Woman in the film.  Today, we have even more exciting Fantastic Four news as The Wrap is reporting that Michael B. Jordan is being considered for the role of Johnny Storm/Human Torch.  Jordan previously played a super-powered individual in Trank’s Chronicle, and the actor has received rave notices for his heartbreaking performance in the award-winning film, Fruitvale (now titled “Fruitvale Station“).

Hit the jump for more. Fantastic Four is set to open on March 6, 2015.

According to The Wrap, “Jordan has had multiple meetings at Fox within the last week,” and his “chances depend on whether or not he has chemistry with the other actors up for the highly-anticipated movie, according to one insider.”  As I wrote back in March when reporting about the Forest Whitaker-produced Richard Pryor biopic, Jordan is on the verge of breaking through, and his asking price could rise if Fruitvale Station finds the same kind success with mainstream audiences as it found at Sundance.  It would still probably be something affordable for a blockbuster feature like Fantastic Four, but what the studio wants is moderate visibility without breaking the bank, especially when there are four leads.

Of course, the real noteworthy item here is that Jordan is black and in the comics Johnny Storm is white.  This fact will undoubtedly infuriate geeks who are racist and/or horribly OCD.  There’s nothing in the comics that forces the character to be white (the Fantastic Four have been around for over 50 years, but I don’t think his origin has ever been retconned to bringing him over on the Mayflower).  Furthermore, while Johnny and Sue are siblings, the world wouldn’t end if one was adopted or they were half-siblings or if (gasp) Fox decides to cast a black actress to play Sue Storm instead of Allison Williams.  The studio may ultimately decide to play it safe and cast a white actor for Human Torch, and obviously the role should go to whoever is best at the part.  But as we’ve seen with Chronicleand Sundance audiences have seen with Fruitvale, Jordan should be more than up to the task, and the only question should be how well he’ll play off the other actors.

IRON MAN 3 Review

- Matthew Goldberg

There are almost as many concepts floating around in Iron Man 3 as there are suits of armor.  The only difference is that the armors have a clearly defined purpose.  In an attempt to bring Tony Stark back to basics, his latest outing is a strangely bloated affair that still manages to be an incredibly fun thanks to the hilarious comedy and exhilarating action.  Without question, it’s the funniest and most exciting of the trilogy, but it’s also surrounded by a host of underdeveloped ideas relating to notions of desperation, augmentation, and obfuscation, not to mention the aftershock of The Avengers.  Like riding in one of the Iron Man suits, it’s a bumpy but highly enjoyable ride.

Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) can’t sleep.  He’s haunted by the overwhelming events in New York that sent him through an intergalactic portal, and so he spends his nights building new suits of armor.  His latest is the Mark XLII, an armor that can be controlled telepathically, and a foreboding symbol of an armor that is as unpredictable as its controller.  It also becomes his only defense when the terrorist The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) attacks, and Tony is forced to go on the run and find a way to retaliate.  Desperate, broken, and determined to protect his girlfriend Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), our hero must content with fiery, regenerating soldiers who are powered by a genetic enhancement known as “Extremis”, which has been developed by the malevolent scientist Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce).

The core of the story is to show Tony Stark’s true superpower as a genius inventor.  His armor has always been an extension of that power.  What makes him a superhero is combining the two, but he’s still a hero without the armor.  It’s a similar point to when Peter Parker loses his powers in Spider-Man 2 except Spider-Man’s powers came from transformation whereas Iron Man is augmentation.  Surrounded by the Extremis soldiers, there’s a notion of how power can corrupt, but like most of the ideas in the movie, it’s never fully developed.

Early in the picture, when the Mandarin is creating mysterious attacks in the Middle East using bombs but with no evidence of bomb casings, Rhodes (Don Cheadle) tells Tony that it’s “An American problem, not a superhero problem,” even though the task of stopping the attacks falls to the Iron Patriot (formerly War Machine but now with a red-white-and-blue paint job).  So is Iron Man now separate from America?  Rhodes said “Iron Patriot” tested better in focus groups, and dog tags are found at the site of an Extremis attack, so is the movie commenting about the optics of war?

The movie doesn’t require some deep commentary, but it still raises these issues, and then can’t do anything with them because they’re either left by the wayside or never fully articulated.  Characters will drop out of the film for long stretches, and other characters have nebulous motives that seem deep—such as finding true character in times of desperation—but never coalesce because surrounding forces, like the Extremis soldiers, never seem to have a clear purpose other than to serve as foes that are almost as faceless as the drones in Iron Man 2.

But whereas that movie seems far more concerned with Tony refining his power source in between being forced inside the developing Avengers plotline, Iron Man 3 always keeps its primary focus on Tony Stark’s journey.  Even though supporting characters provide a shaky orbit around the protagonist,Iron Man 3 is about asking the question of what it means to be “Iron Man” and then letting the humor and emotion spring from there.

This focus allows director and co-writer Shane Black to take his time, and while he does branch out into overall threat of the Mandarin’s plans and the Extremis soldiers, the real danger comes from Tony Stark trying to save the day without the armor that has come to define him.  Obviously, Tony Stark is a “hero”, but Black and Downey have no reservations when it comes to indulging the character’s lovable narcissism.  Black has always been a master of dialogue, and the wise-cracks, comic pauses, and set-ups/pay-offs provide big laughs throughout the picture.

What’s more surprising is how well Black handles the action.  His only other film, the phenomenal Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang was a character-driven narrative that only cost $15 million.  That film’s finale hints at how well Black knows how to put together an action scene, but it’s still not enough to prepare his fans for the spectacular job he does with his first blockbuster gig.  Working with an amazing sound team, editors Peter S. Elliot and Jeffrey Ford, and Oscar-winning cinematographer John Toll, Black has made Iron Man more impressive than ever (and it would still impress without the 3D).  The character takes a serious beating throughout the picture, and the versatility of the piecemeal Mark XLII provides terrific action and comedy in equal measure.

Furthermore, Black never gets overeager to put action at the forefront or use it as a crutch.  It takes 40 minutes to get to the first big set piece, and when it finally arrives, it’s absolutely worth the wait.  But after the collapsing debris, death-defying escapes, and various pyrotechnics, the film returns to its main focus: Tony Stark in the wilderness.  The strength of Downey’s character-defining performance and Black’s emphasis on getting to the heart of his Tony Stark’s heroism is what keeps the film intact.  Without those central pieces, every jumbled element would fall into a slog of confused plotting and muddled motives.

Iron Man was about Tony Stark taking his new lease on life to right the wrongs of his careless past. Iron Man 2 isn’t really about Tony Stark but about where Iron Man fits into a larger world and how he can keep a grip on that power.  Iron Man 3 finishes out the trilogy by breaking down the character, and showing that while he may be surrounded by colorful armors, supporting characters, and half-developed ideas, he’s never dwarfed by them.  Iron Man doesn’t get dwarfed by distractions.  He blasts through them.

Rating: B