Andy's Film Blog

Killing Them Softly

2013-06-20T00:32:00.000-04:00

In a 2008 New Orleans, still reeling from the effects of the flood and pounded again by the recently toppled economy, a low level gangster (Vince Curatola) and his two bungling associates (Scoot McNairy, Ben Mendelsohn) knock of a local card game run by another opportunistic lowlife (Ray Liotta). Called in to clean up the mess is Jackie Cogan (Brad Pitt), a cool as ice, slightly melancholic mob assassin. Andrew Dominik's "Killing Them Softly" opens with a pulse pounding robbery before settling down for a measured, talky, and brutal film not unlike his "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford", which also featured Pitt and a similarly beautiful palette of saturated colors. Pitt has great presence, delivering another memorable performance, although two key sequences, both involving intimidation speeches set in bars, simply do not work. The second of which is a culmination of the 2008 election sound blurbs heard throughout the film, and delivered in the form of a tired monologue involving Thomas Jefferson's slave ownership and how America is not the great collective as that year's presidential victor purported it to be. On other fronts, it is very welcomed to see James Gandolfini as a one of Pitt's colleagues, who is essentially playing another version of Tony Soprano-depressed, personally engaging, quick tempered,--all and all a hot mess. It is also nice to see Gandolfini's TV costar Curatola in a fine supporting role, and nice work is also given by Richard Jenkins, Liotta, and McNairy. "Killing Them Softly" is based on a 1974 novel by George V. Higgins entitled Cogan's Trade, published in 1974, and the film clearly wants to be set in that era. Instead, Dominik fights that urge to incorporate unnecessary, obvious, and forced comment on present day corporate America which is to the detriment of his otherwise excellent film.

The scene with Pitt and Gandolfini begins at 00:50

Much Ado About Nothing

2013-06-20T00:01:00.000-04:00

Two adjutants return home from a decisive battle, with one aiming to woo their commanding officer's daughter and the other his niece. Both see their attempts at love thwarted, the former from external treachery and the latter from his own stubbornness. If ever a filmmaker was needed to craft a modernized Shakespeare comedy, that man would certainly be Joss Wheedon, director of The Avengers and Cabin in the Woods and creator of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series. It's hard to view Wheedon's adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing (or was that the alternate title for Avengers) with anything other than cynicism or attempt to add more legitimacy to his career (not that it even needs legitimizing in the first place). The film is an ultra low budget treatment, shot in black and white mostly at one location, with a cast reciting Shakespeare's original dialogue that seems they have no experience in doing so. The film is dull for much of the way through, but does pick up towards the end, which has entirely to do with the source material and little to do with the cast and crew. With Much Ado, one gets the sense of a director riding high after his recent film successes and inviting his friends over to celebrate by making a movie

The Great Gatsby

2013-06-19T00:01:00.000-04:00

Sometimes you write off a movie without even seeing it, or even with knowing very little about the production. That's what happened with me when I heard Baz Luhrmann would be reteaming with Leonardo DiCaprio to film F.Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, I book I hold dearly, and when I saw the high octane trailers with Jay-Z and Kanye West on the soundtrack my resolve against the film was reinforced. But today I finally caved in and went to see the film and found myself pleasantly surprised. Yes the film is bloated, glitzy, and overlong, and the hip hop soundtrack truly is an abomination, but I never expected Luhrmann, in all his ostentation, to show a reverence to the source material. There are some changes to the structure: many have griped about Nick Carraway telling the story while recovering in a sanitarium, but I think it solves the fundamental problem regarding the narration. The film language used to convey Fitzgerald's ideas are also handled quite well and often I was brought back to those vivid images and scenes: the green light, the all-seeing eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg, the valley of the ashes, Gatsby churlishly waited for Daisy to arrive for their tea date, and so on. DiCaprio is quite good in the title role, but the biggest surprise for me was Tobey Maguire, who I thought was wrong for the part of Nick but actually suits the role quite nicely. Carey Mulligan was also the right choice for Daisy and I though Joel Edgerton, though correctly cast, was too much in playing the brutish Tom Buchanan, sporting an unnatural American accent. Again the film is overlong and many scenes play out longer than they should and I found myself appreciating the quieter moments. All and all, it's an entertaining film that despite its flourishes and a few misgivings, does the novel well.

Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse

2013-06-18T00:01:00.000-04:00

Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now is a nightmarish fever dream that details one man's descent into madness in a chaotic, irrational environment and in many ways so was the making of the film. In Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse, George Hickenlooper and Fax Bahr, in collaboration with Coppola's wife Eleanor (who provides narration from her on-set diary and secretly recorded video footage) document the tumultuous shoot on location in Philippines. From its massive delays and overages (which its director covered out of pocket), constant on-set headaches, a problematic cast (with issues ranging from rampant drug use to uncooperative stars--the outtakes with Marlon Brando are hilarious--the firing of Harvey Keitel after a few weeks, and a couple heart attacks for his replacement Martin Sheen) and coupled by the fact that Coppola seems to be apparently losing his mind. What makes this intimate, fascinating documentary all the more intriguing is that amid all this chaos, Coppola was able to fashion only one of the greatest war films of all time.

Apocalypse Now

2013-06-17T00:01:00.000-04:00

While beginning to come apart at the seems in his hotel room in Saigon, an Army Captain (Martin Sheen) receives specific and top secret orders: travel up the Nung River into Cambodia and assassinate a respected Colonel (Marlon Brando) who has gone off the reservation and established himself as an idol of the local people. Apocalypse Now, Francis Ford Coppola's nightmarish vision of the Vietnam War, is a vivid and brooding look at a descent into madness. Working from Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, Coppola along with screenwriter John Milius concoct a haunting episodic film featuring unprecedented photography from Vittorio Storaro, indelible performances from Sheen, Brando, and Robert Duvall (plus an outrageous one from Dennis Hopper as a drugged out photojournalist), and that is perhaps as grabbing and particular as any other ever made. On a side note, I watched the Redux version released in 2001 which features mostly unnecessary footage, including an interlude on a downed helicopter with several Playboy models and an extended scene at a French plantation. These additions make the film drag and I think you'd be better off viewing the film in its initial format.

Man of Steel

2013-06-16T11:50:00.000-04:00

As an unstable Krypton crumbles and is under attacked by the rebel commander General Zod (Michael Shannon), Jor-El and Lara (Russell Crowe and Ayelet Zurer) have just performed the first natural birth in eons. After encoding their son with their people's DNA, the hope for their race's survival, they set him on a course for Earth. There the boy is taken in by a genial smalltown Kansas couple (Diane Lane and Kevin Costner), saves some people, struggles with his unique ability, goes on a walkabout journey to discover his origins, meets a plucky, ambitious reporter (Amy Adams), etc. etc., before Zod's impending return. Zach Snyder's Man of Steel is a wooden film, made in the director's usual glossy and uninspired format, that seems like it is headed in the right direction and than goes way, way, way over the top in its second half. The story comes from Christopher Nolan (who also oversaw the project) and David S. Goyer, and they too share much of the blame for a clunky screenplay which features what feels like throwaway material or retreads from their Batman movies. Star Henry Cavill does seem right for the lead but they choose to totally sidestep the comic aspects of his character (I hated the Daily Planet angle here) and although Amy Adams is one of the best working actresses right now and Hollywood, and her performance is good here, I couldn't help but think that she is wrong for the part. Another misstep is concerning Michael Shannon, an actor of ferocious intensity, who again seems rightly cast but is severely underused. The paternal roles are well cast in the movie, Crowe is very good but perhaps figures in the film for too long and Costner is excellent as Jonathan Kent. I never thought I'd say this, but this movie made me somewhat appreciate Bryan Singer's lackluster 2006 misfire. At least that movie had a reverence for the early Christopher Reeves films. Here, Snyder doesn't know whether he wants to do a Chris Nolan movie, a Star Wars sequel (this is probably an audition) or his own ostentatious take, but Richard Donner and Richard Lester seem the furthest inspiration from his mind. I don't think the point is to remake those classic films but when your vision is so long, loud, bland, and even boring, than maybe it should be.

The Godfather Trilogy

2013-06-15T00:01:00.000-04:00

The saga of the Corleone crime family and their struggle to hold on from power and their fall from grace, as the sins of the father are passed on to his favorite son and the latter loses his soul. What more can be said about The Godfather films that hasn't already been said? Francis Ford Coppola's first two installments, made in collaboration with the source author Mario Puzo, are some of the finest examples of modern storytelling and moviemaking that we have. From the plot subtleties to the iconic performances (Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Robert De Niro) to Gordon Willis' breathtaking photography and Nino Rota's unforgettable score and even the somewhat unsung supporting performances (John Cazale, Richard Castellano, John Marley, Michael Gazzo, Lee Strasberg). Then there is the dreadful Part III, a film I was ready to defend, until realizing how poorly realized it is upon a recent viewing. Here Coppola does every he seemed to be trying to avoid doing in the earlier films, and presents a horrible screenplay with godawful acting, which is abetted somewhat by good direction, yet is still a black eye on an otherwise exceptional and unsurpassable series.

The Day Carl Sandburg Died

2013-06-14T00:01:00.000-04:00

Carl Sandburg was born on a farm to Swedish parents in a small town in Illinois and worked a series of jobs as a laborer throughout the midwest, honing his craft as a writer while engaging with the many common folks he met, before becoming a journalist for the Chicago Daily News. Soon he would become a voice for the Second City and the working man, and he would become internationally known for his poetry, an expansive anthology on Abraham Lincoln, and his folk singing. The Day Carl Sandburg Died is an excellent biography and nonfiction presentation which both informatively tells his life story, with affectionate commentary from Pete Seeger and Studs Terkel among others, and weaves much of his expressive and often haunting poetry.

I Wish

2013-06-13T00:04:00.001-04:00

Two brothers, separated by divorce, receive a beacon of hope that their parents will reunite when they learn that newly constructed bullet train will connect their two villages. I Wish is a well made film that tells a sweet story, and although I was admittedly distracted when I watched, I simply could not connect with it. For such an unstructured, low plot, family film, there is no need to drag it out to a running length of almost two hours and ten minutes, and this movie continually tried my patience and will certainly have younger viewers pulling their hair out.

Strange Days

2013-06-12T00:01:00.000-04:00

It is the last day of the 20th Century and a crime ridden Los Angeles is about to erupt with news that the police department is implicit in the death of a megastar musician/activist. Into this mix is thrown Lenny (Ralph Fiennes), a washed up ex-cop turned hustler who pushes the latest cyber technology: a sensory device that allows the user to voyeuristically experience other people's deepest and darkest sensations. Kathryn Bigelow's Strange Days is an overly ambitious film with a protracted denouement, a foreseeable major plot twist, and awful dialogue from her former husband James Cameron and Jay Cocks. It features some incredible action sequence, Fiennes is great as usual, and he receives great support from Angela Bassett. In the end however, the film tries to do much and becomes muddled and mind numbing.

Game of Thrones

2013-06-11T00:09:00.000-04:00

It is difficult to review television without giving away something of the plot. Tread lightly if you haven't seen the series in its entirety.

Season 3

As the inhabitants of King’s Landing recover from the their costly victory at the Battle of Blackwater and Stannis and his few remaining followers lick their wounds on a remote island, war parties led by Rob Stark and Daenerys Targaryen continue their arduous march on the capital. I wanted to keep this short and sweet after feeling the ire from panning another highly popular show, but season three represents an even steeper decline for this beloved series and, even in the “Golden Age of Television” as many have dubbed it, provides further evidence of the difficulties of sustaining an extended serial, even one based on extensive source material. You can almost picture George R.R. Martin and the HBO execs sitting at their round table brainstorming their smoke and mirrors tactics saying, “You know, we could just go through with a long, boring, protracted season where things wind up basically where they started, so long as we kill off a few major players in the end, we’ll still have ‘em hooked.”

Season 2

As three challengers to the throne march upon King's Landing, an unexpected foe lays siege on Winterfell, causing more turmoil and heartache to the already beset Stark family. Tyrion has his hands full as Hand of the King in dealing with his treacherous sister and malevolent nephew. Daenerys, her dragons, and dwindling tribesman remain stranded across the Narrow Sea and Jon Snow begins his tour beyond the Wall as the dreaded Winter finally arrives. Following the spectacular first season of Game of Thrones, the followup series, while still maintaining a high level of interest, meanders and goes in circles for many of its story lines, and ones which were the top draw in season one (ie Daenerys, Jon Snow and the Wall, Rob Stark and his army) now seem to have lost their way and are stuck in standstill for virtually this entire round. Also, following the exit of Sean Bean, the show does not have a lead actor to anchor itself around and while Peter Dinklage (who went from Best Supporting Actor Emmy Winner to first billed in the credits) is excellent, he is not a leading man. I was still engaged with this season. The court intrigue and Arya's storyline worked best for me but the show seemed only interested in its primary story, which was made evident in the climactic Battle of Blackwater episode. "Game of Thrones" is a vast drama, and about as in depth as anything you can expect from television that still nonetheless needs to iron out its storytelling kinks.

***

Season 1

A long and brutal winter is approaching the kingdom of Westeros and treachery is afoul as the Hand of the King has been murdered. Surrounded by the cunning and powerful family of his duplicitous wife, King Robert Baratheon sends for his old friend and battle mate Eddard Stark to take up the position of the deceased and be unwillingly hurled into the deadly title scheme. The HBO adaptation of the George R.R. Martin novels is an excellent entry in the fantasy genre, simultaneously telling an involving, intelligent, violent, but grounded other worldly tale. Filmed throughout Northern Ireland and Scotland, as well as in parts of Morocco, the series features the most stunning visuals to be found in any television series. Its epic cast of mostly British players is uniformly excellent and if forced to select a handful as my favorite I would chose Iain Glen as a courageous exiled knight, Emilia Clarke as his queen and charge, samely exiled, Peter Dinklage as a witty and underestimated dwarf, and Sean Bean as the noble, sullen Eddard Stark. "Game of Thrones" is wonderfully engaging entertainment that isn't afraid to break the "rules" of television and has characterization and intelligence to match its harsh tone and violence.

*** 1/2

Flirting with Disaster

2013-06-10T00:01:00.000-04:00

After the birth of his first child, a New Yorker (Ben Stiller) undergoes an identity crisis and feels the need to go on a search for his birth parents, much to the dismay of his adoptive guardians (George Segal and Mary Tyler Moore) and his patient wife (Patricia Arquette). After an inquest with many false leads and additions to their growing caravan, which also includes a sexy social worker (Tea Leoni) and two gay federal agents (Richard Jenkins and Josh Brolin), he finally arrives at the home of his birth parents (Alan Alda and Lily Tomlin), two drug dealing hippies living out in the Arizona desert. Flirting with Disaster was David O. Russell's second feature, a farcical comedy with mixed results. It feels ways over-the-top at times and is funny in spurts (Glenn Fitzgerald is a hoot as Stiller's new found brother) and I appreciated the film most for the comic sensibilities of its veteran cast members.

Testament

2013-06-09T00:01:00.000-04:00

It is a normal day for the Wetherly family, as the father (William Devane) is off at work, their daughter is at school, and the mother (Jane Alexander) is at home watching their youngest, who is happily watching Sesame Street when the signal is lost and a blinding white light encompasses their entire field of vision, the result of a nuclear bomb having touchdowned in the nearby metropolis. Now with the father completely off the grid, the mother must face the increasingly dire effects of nuclear fallout and shelter her family while guiding them to what will certainly be a doomed fate. Testament is a realistic drama, miles away from the mind numbing disaster films viewers of today have grown accustomed to. While offering a likely, horrific scenario, the film lays in on awfully thick thick with a pretentious screenplay and a severely misguided performance from Alexander, who did receive an Academy Award nomination for her work.

Inventing David Geffen

2013-06-08T00:01:00.000-04:00

Inventing David Geffen tells the story of a poor kid from Brooklyn who moved to L.A., got a job in the mail room at a prominent talent agency, and feigned his way as an agent. Soon he was on his way to being a multimedia tycoon and political filmmaker, fostering the likes of Jackson Browne and Joni Mitchell, producing films and Broadway shows, cofounding Dreamworks entertainment, and being a major backer for Barack Obama's presidential election. This American Masters entry is a fascinating success story and profile of an incredibly ambitious man, whom most of his friends describe as either assured, difficult, generous, or completely focused. It is very well made and features excellent footage, and in addition to the many celebrities who appear, Geffen himself is interviewed throughout and provides an above board commentary on his life.

The Manchurian Candidate

2013-06-07T00:01:00.000-04:00

In this remake of John Frankenheimer's exemplary 1962 original, not much has changed: Denzel takes over for Sinatra, the commies are now terrorists funded by a shadowy global economic group, and Raymond Shaw still has mommie issues in the worst way. Jonathan Demme's The Manchurian Candidate calls to mind an obvious question and one he should have answered the first time he did a disservice to a class with The Truth About Charlie which is why remake a classic, especially one like Franenheimer's which may have been as perfect as any movie has been? Watching this film (which is well made to its credit) I couldn't help measuring it up to the original: Liev Shreiber is no Laurence Harvey, Kimblerly Elise is a horrid replacement for Janet Leigh, and even Meryl Streep can't match Angela Lansbury's icy malevolence. I did find Denzel's work to be solid. I am not sure if Demme drew from the original screenplay, from Richard Condon's novel, or went off on his own tangent, but more is explained but even less is gained. Demme is a an excellent filmmaker who has made some great works in several genres (Silence of the Lambs, Stop Making Sense, Rachel Getting Married) when he has not spent his time trying to fix pristine classics.

The Fly

2013-06-06T12:20:00.001-04:00

After meeting at a convention, a magazine journalist (Geena Davis) goes home with a scientist (Jeff Goldblum) to get the scoop on his top secret invention which carriers Earth shattering potentials: a teleportation machine that can disassemble living particles from one place before reassembling them in another. After demonstrating his creation on a live baboon, he becomes amorous with his new reporter friend. Soon, convinced of his triumph and carried away by his own zeal, he sends himself through the transporter, not realizing he is being accompanied on his journey by a housefly. The Fly is gruesome yet intelligent and involving science fiction from David Cronenberg, which features great special effects, an uncompromising ending, fine work from Davis, and a typically obnoxious, but serviceable performance from Goldblum. I also really liked John Getz (Blood Simple) who plays Davis' editor/on again, off again boyfriend.

My Dinner with Andre

2013-06-05T13:13:00.000-04:00

"IT'S JUST TWO GUYS HAVING DINNER!!!"

That's the obvious and understandable reaction upon seeing the film, or hearing about it, and it's true. My Dinner with Andre tells the story of two old friend catching up for an extended meal at a ritzy restaurant. On a cold, New York night, a cynical, depressed playwright (Wallace Shawn) meets with his director friend (Andre Gregory), where he tells him of his recent world travels while the two engage in vivid and lengthy philosophical discussions. Shawn and Gregory, who are essentially playing themselves, also wrote the screenplay and paint an evocative picture in this imaginative film, adeptly directed by Louis Malle, where there is more than meets the eye.

Deadfall

2013-06-04T12:15:00.001-04:00

After becoming unusually taken by the video below, I was drawn even closer to the flame when I decided to watch the dreadful Deadfall, a ponderously horrid debacle that figures prominently in the clip reel ("WELL VIVRE LA FUCKIN' FRANCE MAN!!!") that is even worse than one would initially presume. It stars Nicholas Cage in a performance that is out of control even by his standards, was funded by his uncle Francis Ford Coppola, and directed by his brother Christopher Coppola, presumably to pay off gambling debts. The likes of James Coburn, Charlie Sheen, and Peter Fonda are also part of this godforsaken nightmare which does carry camp value when Cage is present but turns into a total slog upon his swift exit.

The Dead Zone

2013-06-03T11:28:00.001-04:00

A teacher in rural Maine (Christopher Walken) learns that, upon physical contact, he can not only only see the subject's future but alter it's outcome. After helping the local sheriff (Tom Skerrit) search for a serial killer minimizing the damage of a tragic ice rink accident, he is put to the ultimate test when he meets a shifty, ambitious U.S. Senate candidate (Martin Sheen) and sees a vision of nuclear holocaust. David Cronenberg's The Dead Zone, working from Stephen King's novel, is an example of master filmmaking drawn from an exceedingly silly screenplay, which makes the film all the more enjoyable because it is played with such seriousness (I was also given all the more amusement upon realizing it was the inspiration for South Park's "Cartman's Incredible Gift" episode). Walken is excellent in what you would call a prototypical performance and the supporting cast is likewise great including Skerrit, Herbert Lom, and Sheen, in particular.

Killer Joe

2013-06-02T10:32:00.001-04:00

After his product was stolen by his mother, a West Texas drug dealer (Emile Hirsch) decides to have her murdered, in collusion with his father (Thomas Haden Church) and stepmother (Gina Gershon) to collect on the considerable life insurance policy. Trading one creditor for another, he hires Joe (Matthew McConaughey), a police detective and contract killer who does not work on credit and develops a sick fixation on his patron's teenage sister (Juno Temple), whom he eventually takes as collateral. Killer Joe is a wickedly funny, pitch black film from William Friedkin who, working again with Bug screenwriter Tracy Letts from his stage play, proves he can make engrossing, offbeat films well into his seventies. The film contains some excellent crime elements and a knockout performance from McConaughey, while some good elements do get lost in an exceedingly trashy treatment, which includes the now notorious fried chicken assault sequence.

Oslo, August 31st

2013-06-01T00:01:00.000-04:00

A former magazine editor and drug addict is given a one day reprieve from his rehab facility to attend a job interview at a different publication. After exploding in contemptuous rage at the interview, he journeys around the Norwegian touching base with friends and family while flirting with old demons before returning home to the clinic. Oslo, August 31st is a talky, low-key, introspective film that works quite well early on but loses much of its effect somewhere along the line. It is very well filmed and Anders Danielsen Lie delivers an excellent leading performance.

The Odd Life of Timothy Green

2013-05-31T10:14:00.001-04:00

A couple (Joel Edgerton and Jennifer Garner) spin a fantastical yarn to a disbelieving social worker (Shohreh Aghdashloo) detailing how, after receiving the devastating news that they were unable to conceive, had their dreams fulfilled when their ideal, ephemeral child appeared on their front porch. Peter Hedges's The Odd Life of Timothy Green is a soppy movie from Walt Disney, made in the same vein as their older live-action films, and features silly story elements and one-dimensional characters. It is funny in parts however and has its heart in the right place.

The Third Man

2013-05-30T13:07:00.000-04:00

An American writer (Joseph Cotten), author of pulpy, dime store novels, travels to postwar Vienna upon learning of the death of his friend Harry Lime. There he becomes involved in the investigation of his mysterious death, meets his friends and a girlfriend (Alida Valli), and learns the disturbing truth behind his disappearance and the illicit black market doings of his childhood pal. Carol Reed's The Third Man is a darkly atmospheric, cynical, and brilliantly directed film ingeniously written by Graham Greene. Featuring fine performances from Cotten, Valli, Trevor Howard, and a diabolical Orson Welles, whom you can't help but question how deep his involvement was with this production, with its off-centered camera and high-angled shots which so perfectly capture a desperate city as well the dark and shadowy essences of Noir. This is about as unforgettable as a film can get, and scenes like Welles' famous entrance, the Ferris wheel & cuckoo clock speech segment, the chase through the sewers, and Valli's haunting closing walk down the elm tree lined lane are just a few of its highlights.

Sherman's March

2013-05-29T11:07:00.000-04:00

When depressed filmmaker Ross McElwee leaves New York to return home South to film a documentary retracing General Sherman's infamous March to the Sea, he becomes sidetracked upon his girlfriend leaving him, and the project quickly devolves into a profile of the former flames he seeks out. Sherman's March is exorbitant, overlong, and occasionally amusing (particularly in a running gag involving Burt Reynolds) film that may have played better if I could have seen it removed from the memories of today's self-indulgent documentarians who pollute the field, the likes of which McElwee surely inspired.

Behind the Candelabra

2013-05-28T10:26:00.002-04:00

Scott Thorson, a lonely animal trainer (Matt Damon) living at home with his foster parents picks up a man at a gay bar and attends a live performance by Liberace (Michael Douglas), the flamboyant, world renowned concert pianist who in 1977 and late into his career is still keeping his homosexual lifestyle a secret from his fans. When Scott gains access to his dressing room, the disparately aged men immediately embark on a bizarre and tumultuous relationship, ending in a public breakup and lawsuit, followed shortly by Liberace's death from AIDS complications in 1987. Behind the Candelabra is a competently made, often humorous and shocking film from Steven Soderbergh, which is said to be his last. It features brave performances from Douglas and Damon, and amusing supporting work from Dan Aykroyd and Rob Lowe, all of whom carry the film through its narrowly focused narrative.