Guy Ritchie's The Covenant

    

      Can't say the man doesn't have an ego putting his name above the title. Obviously it's a Guy Ritchie film. He co-wrote it, produced it and directed it. However, in this case I'll forgive the egotism as it's his best film to date.

      Forgoing his usual bombastic directing style, Mr. Ritchie shows great restraint to tell this harrowing tale of survival and the bond that grows between an American soldier and a native interpreter during the Afghanistan war.

      Jake Gyllenhaal, intense as ever, plays Sgt. John Kinley, who is seriously injured during a battle with the Taliban. Miles from his base and in Taliban controlled territory, his interpreter, Ahmed (played by Dar Salim) honors his promise to try to get Kinley back to his base. And that's not even the whole story.

       The film co-stars Antony Starr, Jonny Lee Miller and Emily Beecham.

       The battle scenes are intense and Christopher Benstead's score is a surprising and emotional choice during those moments. Mr. Ritchie handles the dramatic moments beautifully, ratcheting up the tension without overdoing it. What transpires later in the film is remarkable, in both it's suspense and heart.

       The coda at the end is heartbreaking. It will also leave you angered, which was obviously Mr. Ritchie's intent.

       

Renfield

  

     With a story by Robert Kirkman (of Walking Dead fame), you know to expect a lot of  violence and gore. This new horror comedy certainly has plenty of both but at it's core is a clever story that offers plenty of laughs and action as well.

      Nicholas Hoult stars as Renfield. Those familiar with the mythology will know that Renfield is the crazed bug eating servant of Count Dracula. In this updated version of the story, Renfield is tired of his co-dependency and tries to break free of Dracula's hold on him. At the same time he befriends a New Orleans cop, played by Awkwafina, trying to take down a local criminal organization.

       Nicolas Cage plays Count Dracula and he is clearly having a blast in the role. There is even a black & white homage to the 1931 original Bela Lugosi version of Dracula that is spot on. Mr. Cage does put his own spin on the character though and is a great deal of fun to watch.

       Mr. Hoult is just as committed to his role as Mr. Cage and shows great range as a co-dependent weakling turned action hero (with the help of eating copious amounts of bugs). The film also co-stars Ben Schwartz (perfectly cast) as the criminal son of Bellafrancesca Lobo, the crime lord, played by Shohreh Aghdashloo.

         It's definitely a crazy mix of horror, comedy and action but if you're looking for something really different, take a bite. Just don't mind all the blood.

Air

 

  

      Loosely fact-based drama detailing how Nike signed Michael Jordan to a contract that changed the company and the sports world forever.

    Directed by Ben Affleck, this fast-paced story puts a full court press on Nike executive Sonny Vaccaro and his pursuit of Mr. Jordan to sign an exclusive contract with Nike. Matt Damon is perfection as Sonny and Mr. Affleck, while directing, doubles down, playing the role of Phil Knight, the CEO of Nike and Sonny's boss.

     The film also stars Jason Bateman, Marlon Wayans, Chris Messina, Chris Tucker and as Mr. Jordan's mother, Viola Davis. While Michael Jordan is portrayed by Damian Delano Young, we only see him from the back in one particular scene. Mr. Affleck makes the choice to not focus on Mr. Jordan as a character as the film is really not about him and his image is really only shown on magazine covers and basketball video clips.

     Chris Messina plays David Falk; Mr. Jordan's agent and he has some of the juiciest scenes in the film. Of course, being the agent, he is portrayed as the "villain" of the piece, which was far from the truth, but it makes for good drama.

      The film takes other liberties with how the story actually occurred but the fictious parts all make for a better film. Backed by a strong script and a great '80's soundtrack, the film never misses a beat creating excitement and tension for the viewer, which in reality, was probably not all that exciting outside of the corporate world.

       It's fun to watch Mr. Affleck and Mr. Damon together again on screen and Ms. Davis hits a three pointer with another strong performance. Mr. Affleck keeps everything lively and thoroughly entertaining. You don't have to love basketball or even know a lot about Michael Jordan to enjoy the film. 

Spinning Gold

     

   

   This is a new docudrama based on the life and times of Neil Bogart, founder of Casablanca Records. It was written and directed by his son, Timothy Scott Bogart.

     Neil Bogart was a music industry legend, quickly rising through the business finding success first at Buddha Records with Gladys Knight & The Pips and The Isley Brothers. He later started Casablanca Records where he discovered Kiss, Donna Summer, the Village People and George Clinton's Parliament/Funkadelic.

      Rather than use archival footage, Mr. Bogart makes a bold choice reimaging those stars with many of today's artists. Wiz Khalifa plays as George Clinton, Jason Derulo plays as Ron Isley, Ledisi plays Gladys Knight, Pink Sweats plays Bill Withers, and Tayla Parx plays Donna Summers.

      Jeremy Jordan stars as Neil Bogart and he is terrific, truly inhabiting the spirit of the man. The film also stars Jason Issacs as Neil's father, Michelle Monaghan as his wife Beth, Jay Pharoah as Cecil Holmes, Dan Fogler as Buck Reingold, Peyton List as Nancy Weiss, Lyndsy Fonseca as Joyce Biawitz, Sebastian Maniscalco as Giorgio Moroder (terrible accent), Michael Ian Black as Bill lAucoin, Vincent Pastore as Big Joey, Casey Likes as Gene Simmons and Chris Redd as D.J. Frankie Crocker.

       According to Mr. Bogart, "the story is true, even the parts that aren't".  The music and insanity behind the "sex, drugs, and rock & roll" of the music business is well represented. The story itself, as directed by Mr. Bogart, is written with love for his father, faults and all. However, his personal subjectivity of his father works against him, bloating the film and creating tedious moments that an objective director would have handled better. The film runs two hours and seventeen minutes. A tighter two hour film would have definitely cut through the clutter.

        It's still a fascinating film that takes you behind the scenes of the stories of some of music's biggest stars and the man behind them. And the songs, ah the songs, faithfully recreated, are just wonderful.