Capsule Review (minor spoilers)

The Old Man & The Gun is the last film Robert Redford has said he will act in. At 82, he puts in a great performance as Forrest Tucker (not the actor from F Troop), a bank robber who is very polite and gentlemanly. It is based on a true story that was written up in The New Yorker magazine.

The cast is superb, and there are several standouts, most notably Sissy Spacek as Jewel, a woman he befriends when her pickup breaks down. There is palpable chemistry between her and Redford, and it sustains a very interesting story.

This is the first film from the Fall session of the Arthouse Film Festival. It’s a low key, but tense film, with some comedy mixed in. I highly recommend this film, and I suspect it will do well at the box office when it goes into a wider distribution at the end of this week (last week in September). I have seen ZERO advertising for it, so I suspect that it will prosper via word of mouth.

Standard Review

When I say Low Key,  it plays like Mr. Tucker’s personality – very cool and not excitable. It takes place in 1981, a time when there were no cell phones, no Internet, and pay phones. It was shot on Super 16MM film stock, which is rare these days. It gives the film a grainy-ness that a film from that time would have. You see a lot of closeups of Redford and Spacek, lines and all. It does help the mood. The soundtrack has some songs of the times, but the incidental music has a big of a jazzy feel to it.

This is a career criminal at the top of his game. He’s done this hundreds of times, with his co-conspirators – Teddy (Danny Glover) and Waller (Tom Waits). Nobody panics, no one gets hurt, and the escapes are properly planned.

Redford and Spacek are the core of the film, but all the supporting players have their moments, too. Its runtime is only 1 hour 33 minutes, but it feels like a much longer film because it takes its time and doesn’t really feel rushed.

This has probably become one of my favorite films of the year, so far. Definitely a contender.

Capsule Summary (minimal spoilers):

Peppermint is a revenge story. Riley North (Jennifer Garner) loses her husband and daughter under tragic circumstances, and after disappearing, has returned to find those responsible.

It’s a violent film, with an R rating.  It’s reminiscent of the sort of action that made Garner famous on the TV show Alias, and she has not lost her touch. The action is good and intense at times, but there’s more to it.  The story behind the main plot is well told, and interesting in its own regard. It’s a story that is more focused, and better than I expected it to be.

I recommend it, if that’s your sort of thing.

Standard Review (with minor plot spoilers):

When I heard the basic premise, my immediate thought was that it was a gender-swapped version of Death Wish. To some extent, it is, but the revenge is definitely more focused on the specific perps. Her husband Chris (Jeff Hephner) has a friend who tries to be a wheel man in a robbery, but backs out. The consequences are big, so the hit was put out on him. Riley survives, and identifies her attackers. Unfortunately, the trial does not go as planned and they are let go. That’s when the movie kicks into high gear.

There’s a bit of a subplot involving the policework of trying to track her down, and it’s reasonable.  There’s a missing ‘montage’, but it’s explained away, for the most part. The stuntwork is pretty good too, and, generally plausible. There was one case of “just how many bullets are in that clip”, but it doesn’t go on for too long.

Capsule Summary (minimal spoilers):

Operation: Finale takes place after World War II. It tells the tale of a group of Mossad operatives who may have located a Nazi War Criminal hiding out in Argentina. Peter Malkin (Oscar Isaac) leads the team as they plan to capture the suspect.

It’s an international thriller, based on the true story. It works reasonably well, and is decently acted. It plays more like a TV drama than a big-screen feature film. The suspect is an excellent actor, but almost seems miscast for this particular role. Overall, it’s a decent effort, but doesn’t draw you in. Sure, there are tense moments, and the subject matter does come into play, so there is an emotional impact, but it’s not enough for me to recommend it, except perhaps as a rental.

Not really much else to say, here, so I won’t go into more detail.