Man on Film: American Hustle

Coming after The Fighter and Silver Linings Playbook in David O. Russell's body of work, it was hard to not have high expectations for American Hustle. As a result (and the subsequent innumerable accolades and nominations heaped upon it cannot help for those who have yet to see American Hustle), American Hustle was at least a little disappointing.

That isn't to say American Hustle wasn't good. It is just a victim of its high expectations.

In essence, American Hustle is an acting showcase. From the principal cast to supporting cast members like Robert DeNiro, Elisabeth Rohm, Michael Pena, Louis C.K., and the Boardwalk Empire cameo crew (Jack Huston and the inimitable Shea Whigham), this was an opportunity for actors to shine, regardless of their line count. And as Russell's films virtually guarantee, shine they do.

And while the supporting cast is rock solid, the principle cast is outstanding. Jeremy Renner gets to shine as a faithful family man and politician who actually wants to provide for his constituents. Bradley Cooper turns in a wonderfully complex role, imbuing Richie DiMaso with every bit of obsessiveness, self-pity, egotism, and volatility that it required. Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence are both fantastic and get to make themselves comfortable in these wildly unpredictable and wholly colorful roles. And Christian Bale? Holy shit. Once again, Bale shows that he belongs in that very short list of actors who turn in must-watch performances every damn time. He is brilliant once again, and his brilliance goes far past his physical commitment to the role. Bale disappears into the role of Irving Rosenfeld. He was given a role wrought with pathos, a duality of supreme confidence and insecurity that is thrilling to behold.

After all of this discussion of the stellar acting, it would be a disservice to those working behind the scenes to fail to talk about the production design, wardrobe, and art direction. The painstaking attention to detail that went into realizing the world of this film was obvious in every frame of the film. The uniformity in style and full realization of late-'70s New York/New Jersey is special.

As usual, David O. Russell has crafted a well-directed film. It is hard to argue with the performances or the mise-en-scene. The narrative, however, was just a little lacking in the oomph that his recent films have had. The story in American Hustle was fun but ultimately insubstantial. The richness of characters goes a long way towards helping to remedy this shortcoming, but American Hustle is not a movie that stays with you for more than an hour or so after you walk out of the theater. With a David O. Russell film, this is sort of something that I had come to expect.

Man on Film: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

There is no denying that the second installment in The Hunger Games series looks better than its predecessor; the fact that second film's budget was nearly twice that of the first is apparent from Catching Fire's onset. When you add the change in directors from Gary Ross (Pleasantville, Seabiscuit) to someone with a résumé that would at least suggest more comfortability in the genre, Francis Lawrence (Constantine--which, for all its flaws, looked good--and I Am Legend), the fact that the film looked better should come as little surprise to anyone. When grouped with the facts that Josh Hutcherson steps up his game (his performance in the first installment was more than a little lacking) and Wes Bentley is traded out for Philip Seymour Hoffman, and that Jennifer Lawrence, Donald Sutherland, Woody Harrelson, and Elizabeth Banks are as good as they were in The Hunger Games, it is not difficult to see how the product on the screen is going to be better than the one trotted out a year ago.

Unfortunately for the film Catching Fire, the source material is lacking in that it is basically just a bridge to the revolution. While one could certainly attempt to draw comparisons between The Empire Strikes Back and Catching Fire, the real reason that Empire was the best of the original Star Wars trilogy was that George Lucas's involvement was more limited than in the other two films. Where Catching Fire was darker (similarly) than the first film, the limitations of the original story hurt the film as a moviegoing experience. The primary shortcoming of Catching Fire is that with a few exceptions the viewer is taken along on Katniss's journey. This obviously makes sense for the most part. Unfortunately, nearly all of the action takes place outside of Katniss's purview, meaning nearly all of the deaths, large- and small-scale, happen off-screen. In other words because of the nature of the narrative, the bulk of the action happens out of frame. This. Is. A. Major. Problem.

When you combine that with a major anticlimax, you've got a film that just doesn't quite work. As a chapter in a longer series, perhaps one can move past the shortcomings inherent in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire; but when isolating the film on its own merits, it falls significantly short of where it could have gone.

Man on Film: Silver Linings Playbook

In spite of its grating name--a trait it shares with some of David O. Russell's other films, namely I Heart Huckabee's and Spanking the Monkey--Silver Linings Playbook stands out as one of the year's best films. This should come as no surprise, of course, as Three Kings, the aforementioned I Heart Huckabee's, and The Fighter were all amongst the best films released in the years they came out as well, but the fact remains that no matter the subject, David O. Russell's touch is a deft and sure one.

If you want an idea as to how good this film is, let us just start with the statement that David O. Russell restores hope in the form of the romantic comedy. After all, that's what Silver Linings Playbook is: a romantic comedy. Somehow, though, it doesn't fall into the trap that nearly every other film of the genre does, a trait that speaks to its director, who seems to be able to work within a genre while being entirely his own man each time out. Just as he did with The Fighter and Three Kings, Russell sets up shop in a genre only to make that genre his own.

Where Silver Linings Playbook sets itself apart is in having its romantic leads need each other to make them right. Pat Solitano (Bradley Cooper) had such emotional issues that he was institutionalized on orders of the court after beating the man with whom his wife was having an affair. Tiffany Maxwell (Jennifer Lawrence) took to feeding her widow's grief with an endless string of self-destructive sex. The two are wrecks, but in each other's company, even though it is on a platonic basis, they work and begin to piece their  shattered lives back together. Each character is broken but outspoken, giving Cooper and Lawrence roles full of opportunity. That Lawrence kills it is hardly a shock. She's clearly one of the most (if not the most) promising young actresses working. Hell, she's probably looking at her second Academy Award nomination at the age of 22. It's Cooper whose performance is revelatory. Whether of his own choosing or not, Cooper's talents have been wasted for nearly a decade (Midnight Meat Train notwithstanding, obviously). Here, the untapped potential fucking geysers without ceasing. Cooper is great, putting his name in the mix for a Best Actor nomination while making us remember why we--at least those of us who watched Alias when it was still good--had hope for him in the first place.

While Cooper and Lawrence are at the film's center, the supporting cast augments the leads well. Jacki Weaver, Chris Tucker, and Shea Whigham are all great in small roles, and Robert DeNiro actually gets to play a role he hasn't played before, hearkening back to a time in which he was a top-notch actor. It's like the audience gets a taste of 1976. It is so nice to see DeNiro playing a role that isn't beneath him for once. We have to go back to Ronin or The Score to find a film in which DeNiro's talents aren't squandered. If you give him The Score, that's still over a decade in which he has floundered in substandard roles. In Silver Linings Playbook, he gets a chance to flash brilliance once again. It's fucking glorious.

Really, though, it's David O. Russell's vision, his ability to hand-craft screenplays with cherry roles for his actors, that make Silver Linings Playbook the fantastic film that it is. It is imbued with a working-class charm and a genuinely loving respect for the downtrodden. As always, Russell actually treats his subjects (at least most of them) with respect, rather than sneering down at them from a lofty perch. And when all is said and done, you'll be hard-pressed to think of a movie that's made you feel better this year.