Last Vegas

MPAA/Content  PG-13 [AC, AL, MV]

Distributor  CBS Films [2013]

Technical  HD  2.35:1

Genres  COM DRA

Runtime 104 mins.

Country  USA

Budget  $28M

 

CAST

Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Kline, Mary Steenburgen, Jerry Ferrara, Romany Malco, Roger Bart, Joanna Gleason, Michael Ealy & Bre Blair; cameos by 50 Cent & Redfoo

 

CREDITS

Director: Jon Turteltaub; Screenwriters: Dan Fogelman; Producers: Amy Baer, Joseph Drake & Lawrence Mark; Director Of Photography: David Hennings; Production Designer: David J. Bomba; Editor: David Rennie; Costume Designer: Dayna Pink; Music Composer: Mark Mothersbaugh

 

THE SYNOPSIS

Brooklyn, NY; the 1950s.  Billy, Paddy, Archie & Sam are rambunctious kids and best friends known as The Flatbush Four.  Modern day: spread across the country with lives of their own, The Flatbush Four are no more.

Billy (Douglas) is a successful Malibu lawyer who proposes to his young girlfriend Lisa (Blair).  Retired blue collar Paddy (De Niro) is a cranky widower who refuses to leave his Brooklyn home.  Twice-divorced retired Air Force man Archie (Freeman), recovering from a mild stroke, lives with his overprotective son and his family in Englewood, NJ.  Accountant Sam (Kline) and his wife Miriam (Gleason) live in a retirement community in Naples, Florida—though Sam really hates it.

Billy calls Archie and Sam to announce the news—and the men decide to celebrate in Las Vegas as gift to Billy for his lifelong generosity to them.  They trick Paddy into coming—as he stopped talking to Billy years ago for not coming to his wife’s funeral.  After some bickering, a cease-fire is declared and they head off to their modest hotel—which is closed for renovations.

Billy has his assistant book them into the luxurious ARIA—which Archie pays for after winning $100k at the blackjack tables!  A penthouse suite and personal host Lonnie (Malco) are given to the guys and their Vegas vacation begins.  Along the way, they befriend a drag queen performer named Maurice (Bart) and a former tax attorney-turned-lounge singer named Diana (Steenburgen)—who takes a liking to both Paddy and Billy.

The Flatbush Four’s swanky penthouse pad becomes Ground Zero for Vegas partying, where the men reconnect; Paddy pimp-slaps a young turk (Ferrrara) into indentured servitude; Lonnie comes to respect his elder charges; Archie parties like there’s no tomorrow while Sam puts the moves on hot young chicks (after Miriam encourages him pre-trip, of course).  Paddy and Billy’s problems will get resolved too.  But will Billy go through his wedding to the much younger Lisa—or is Diana the one for him?

 

THE CRITIQUE

LAST VEGAS, an amusing—but harmless—Baby Boomer comedy, wants to be the raunchier Hangover Series’ granduncle…but merely comes off as raunchy-lite (and please hold the salt).  If anything, the movie can at least boast that all five of its principal actors are Oscar^®-winners.  That’s something, right?

Written by Dan Fogelberg (Cars, Fred Claus, The Guilt Trip), the screenplay manages to project (just about) every human emotion while maintaining a feckless, status quo veneer.  The comedy is about four aging Baby Boomers who make one last go of the new/young/modern Vegas—it has heart…but where are its balls?  Writing a more ribald tale to secure an R-rating would have made this movie more fun and rowdy.

And yes: a re-imagining of The Hangover (2009) for the Post-WWII crowd may not have been original—but it would have had the balls needed to pull it off.  Remember, Baby Boomers can still lay claim to the greatest bachelor party movie of the 20^th Century: Bachelor Party (1984).  Now that was a funny, funny movie.

At least LAST VEGAS is helmed with a sure hand by veteran director Jon Turteltaub (3 Ninjas, Phenomenon, Instinct, The Kid, National Treasure series)—whose movies I rather enjoy.  His work may not stand out—screaming AUTEUR! AUTEUR! AUTEUR! from the top of the Luxor pyramid—but being a steady hand amidst this distinguished cast cannot hurt either.  Under Turteltaub’s stewardship, the movie exhibits gloss, class and heart.

The game cast gives the characters some energy and individuality.  I am a fan of each actor’s talents & filmographies and can say that each has their moment or two during the course of this movie.  Any limitations in characterization (and there are some) are purely based on how they were written.  I must say that the standouts in this one (aside from the gold-bling cast) are Roger Bart (as a drag queen) and young Jerry Ferrara—holding his own against De Niro and company.

Production values for this modestly-budgeted $28 million movie are solid across the board.  LAST VEGAS was shot in and around Las Vegas (of course) & Atlanta, GA—which stood in for Brooklyn, NY; Englewood, NJ; Naples, FL; and (amazingly) Malibu, CA.  Kudos to veteran Production Designer David J. Bomba (Secondhand Lions, Walk The Line, Race To Witch Mountain) for also recreating the ARIA Resort & Casino interiors including the centerpiece SkySuite penthouse room where the boys stay.

LAST VEGAS features glossy HD-widescreen lensing by veteran cinematographer David Hennings (Blue Crush, You Again, Horrible Bosses)—capturing the colorful Vegas settings using the versatile ARRI^® ALEXA camera system.  The camerawork is abetted by a smooth cutting schema courtesy of veteran editor David Rennie (The Kid, Race To Witch Mountain, You Again, 22 Jump Street) and music by DEVO’s own Mark Mothersbaugh (Rushmore, The Life Aquatic With Steven Zissou, 21 Jump Street, 22 Jump Street).

 

THE BOTTOM LINE 

Playing very much like The Hangover Series’ randy-but-cuddly-but-toothless granduncle, LAST VEGAS entertains yet fails to live up to the advertising hype.  Still, the game cast, solid technical facets and seductive Vegas setting sell themselves very easily.  I can proudly say that this is a Sin City movie that even my mother can watch…when she gets back from Atlantic City, that is.

 

 

 

 

IMDB:                    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1204975/

Wikipedia:             http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Vegas

Official Site:          http://www.lastvegasmovie.com

Escape Plan

MPAA/Content R [AC, AL, SV]

Distributor Summit Entertainment

Technical HD 2.35:1

Genres ACT THR

Runtime 115 mins.

Country USA

Budget $50M

 

CAST

Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jim Caviezel, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Vinnie Jones, Faran Tahir, Vincent D’Onofrio, Amy Ryan, Catriona Balfe & Sam Neill

 

CREDITS 

Director: Mikael Håfström; Screenwriters: Miles Chapman & Arnell Jesko; Producers: Robbie Brenner, Mark Canton, Remington Chase & Randall Emmett; Director Of Photography: Brendan Glavin; Production Designer: Barry Chusid; Editor: Elliot Greenberg; Costume Designer: Lizz Wolf; Music Composer: Alex Heffes

 

THE SYNOPSIS

Ray Breslin (Stallone) is a former prosecutor-turned-security expert who specializes in testing the reliability of maximum-security prisons as well as redesigning them after he’s escaped.  After one such job, he and his partner Lester Clark (D’Onofrio) are approached by CIA Agent Jessica Miller (Balfe) with a new job: to infiltrate the most secure and state-of-the-art prison in the world known as “The Tomb” as an international terrorist known as Anthony Portos.

Against the advice of his colleagues Abigail (Ryan) and Hush (Jackson), Lester convinces Ray to take the gig.  Soon, he’s kidnapped, drugged and finds himself trapped in “The Tomb”—where inmates (the worst of the worst) are held in glass cubes within a massive structure.  The guards, armed to the teeth, wear black masks.  Even scarier is the martinet warden, Willard Hobbes (Caviezel) and his henchman security chief Drake (Jones)…both of whom take an immediate dislike to Ray—especially when he claims to be a security plant for the CIA.

In fact, the only allies Ray can make is opportunistic Austrian baddie Emil Rottmayer (Schwarzenegger), sympathetic prison physician Dr. Kyrie (Neill)—and after a few beatings, devout Muslim Javed (Tahir).  The men spend their time figuring out how to escape while Warden Hobbes and Drake play their sadistic games on the inmates.  Turns out The Tomb is really an oil tanker cruising around the Atlantic Ocean and that Ray was set up by someone who wants to keep him there for the rest of his life.  Breakout and payback is a bitch!

 

THE CRITIQUE

When I was a rambunctious, wide-eyed lad growing up in the 1980s (when music was good, gasoline was cheap, Reagan ran the show and fast food actually tasted good), the two biggest action stars were Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger (henceforth to be known as S&S in this review).  I had always fantasized that S&S would someday join up in a slam-bang action flick together—and man would the fireworks fly!!

(Of course, I then started to fantasize about hot, naked women when I hit the age of 14—but that’s a different story…)

Anyway, it took many years, one food chain (Planet Hollywood), a few more Rockys, a governorship and two Expendables movies—but my non-naked chicks fantasy has finally come to pass: S&S headline the prison sub-genre action flick called ESCAPE PLAN.  While not the end-all, be-all genre flick I had hoped for in my wayward youth, the movie formerly known as The Tomb is serviceable and entertaining at the least.

It is written by newbie scribes Miles Chapman (direct-to-video’s Road House 2: Last Call) and Arnell Jesko (the anagram nom-de-plume of one Jason Keller)—a playwright who has written Machine Gun Preacher & Mirror Mirror.  The screenplay is serviceable, yet lacks the machinations of better genre writing (such as Lethal Weapon) that could have elevated ESCAPE PLAN to the pantheon of great buddy action flicks.

Helmed with workman-like craft by Swedish director Mikael Håfström (Derailed, 1408, The Rite), the movie meets the genre requirements and comes off as slick, muscular, slick and even humorous in the right moments.  Guiding two action legends like S&S (one of whom is a director in his own right) takes a modicum of confidence and balls; Håfström delivers.

Though Stallone and Schwarzenegger are pushing 70, they still command the screen—creaky joints and all!  Even though these cats can collect Social Security and Medicare benefits, they still like throwing those (movie) punches and shooting up the (movie) sets.  Soon, they’ll be waving their canes around.  Regardless, I enjoy seeing S&S together—very much the action genre equivalent to the 1940s “Road To…” movies starring Bing Crosby & Bob Hope.

Mayhaps we’ll see S&S starring in the balls-to-the-wall remake of Road To Morocco—starring them and Angelina Jolie (in the Dorothy Lamour role) on a wacky jaunt through Marrakesh as they evade Eurotrash villains bent on stealing—wait; I’ll stop talking and start writing that winning screenplay myself right after I finish this review!  Ahh, the mind just reels…

Moving on, the supporting cast is fine, with Caviezel playing the heavy as a controlled Eric Roberts-type (excuse me, Eric F—kin Roberts!!) and soccer legend Vinnie Jones playing his usually amiable personality (seriously, the guy scares me).  Wasted in nothing roles are Sam Neill (one of my favorite actors) and Vincent D’Onofrio (another great one)—which I blame on the screenplay and the filmmakers for short-changing these terrific thespians out of what could have been more fleshed-out characterizations.

Production values for this $50 million (IMDB.com) production (shot in Louisana and in Morocco) are top shelf across the board.

The movie exhibits clean, glossy, HD-widescreen lensing by veteran cinematographer Brendan Galvin (Behind Enemy Lines, Immortals, Mirror Mirror) and courtesy of the popular ARRI ALEXA camera system.  The photography abets a crisp editing schema by horror genre editor Elliott Greenberg (Quarantine, Devil, Chronicle).  Both technical facets raise the movie’s quotient value, in my humble opinion.

Which leaves the intricate mise-en-scène shepherded by Production Designer Barry Chusid (Daredevil, The Day After Tomorrow, 2012).  The massive prison sets and multiple glass cells are the movie’s calling card.  Per the production notes, director Mikael Håfström came up with the original prison concept and worked with Chusid to realize it by utilizing the Michoud NASA facility (in New Orleans) where the Space Shuttle’s massive external fuel tanks were built.  Measuring 263-feet high and encompassing about 170,000 sq. feet, the prison set is the real star of ESCAPE PLAN.

Technical accolades notwithstanding, the movie works on some levels (breezy entertainment) yet falters on other, more intrinsic levels.  As aforementioned, the weak development of secondary characters (Neill, D’Onofrio) limits ESCAPE PLAN from joining the ranks of better dramatic prison films (Cool Hand Luke, Brubaker, Escape From Alcatraz, The Shawshank Redemption) and action prison flicks (Oliver Reed’s Sitting Traget, Stallone’s own Lock-Up, Van Damme’s Death Warrant)—where these movies excelled in the realization that the secondary characters (be they scary, ugly, swarthy or roguishly-charming) propped up the main characters themselves.  I liked Pakistani-American actor Farhan Tahir here as the militant Muslim-turned-ally (after a few beatings by S&S), as he was the closest thing to a character actor of yore—but again, limited in the role he was.

Still, ESCAPE PLAN merits a viewing based on S&S’s presence, if nothing else.  Now that I’m done here, I’ll just get started writing that S&S Road To… screenplay:

FADE IN:   EXT. MARRAKESH – DAY

 

THE BOTTOM LINE

Reminiscent (if not an exact facsimile) of macho ‘80s action flicks, ESCAPE PLAN pairs up two of the era’s alpha-male heroes with good (but not great) results.  The movie is simple, breezy entertainment courtesy of paint-by-numbers sailing by the filmmakers.  It just needed a bit more heft to become a contender in the pantheon of great buddy action flicks.

 

 

 

IMDB:                    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_Plan_(film)

Wikipedia:             http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1211956/

Official Site:          http://www.escapeplanmovie.com