The Maiden Heist: Grade B

B
The Maiden Heist (2009)

Christopher Walken, Morgan Freeman, William H. Macy, Marcia Gay Harden. Director Peter Hewitt

The three men are long time security guards at a Boston art museum and each has a favorite work of art that has become an obsession. When all three of those pieces are to be traded to a museum in Denmark, they are devastated, and decide to steal them, replacing them with fakes. They do that, and that’s the movie. Along the way there are complications of course, but what makes the film enjoyable is the great performances by seasoned actors, and some witty writing. Macy especially hams it up to hilarious effect. Walken is his usual droll self. He is much funnier in some of the deleted and blooper scenes, but the director kept him dialed down. Freeman is just fun to watch. Harden, as Walken’s character’s wife, has fun with a stereotypical ditzy wife, very enjoyable to watch. This is a lightweight, really, throw-away caper movie, with visual and narrative elements from Space Cowboys, The Thomas Crowne Affair, Entrapment, The Italian Job, and others. It is not a satire of the heist genre, just a silly romp worth an hour and a half for fun.

The Bank Job: Grade C

C
The Bank Job (2008)

Jason Statham, Saffron Burrows, David Suchet; Director Roger Donaldson

In 1970’s London, a group of amateur thieves (headed by Statham) is recruited by an old thief acquaintance (Burrows) to rob the safe-deposit boxes of a bank “while the alarms are being repaired.” In fact she works for the government, which wants to recover embarrassing pictures of royalty held in the bank by a blackmailer, but the government wants deniability, thus the ruse. All this is told to us in the first few minutes of the movie, robbing the story of any dramatic tension. We watch the team dig a tunnel under the bank vault with zero suspense. There is nothing interesting to see. The robbery goes without a hitch and they get away. The government agents learn that the pictures have not been recovered and millions of dollars are gone, but they manage to track down the thieves without much trouble. In a last minute twist involving cops on the take, the pictures are turned over to the government but the thieves are allowed to keep their money. None of this is very interesting and the story would strain credulity except it is supposedly based on a true event. That doesn’t make it a good movie though. Except for the lack of computers and cell phones, the film does not have a period feel. Acting is adequate although there is no chemistry among the players. The filmmakers apparently forgot they were doing a movie and thought it was a documentary, and the compromised result is completely flat.

Flawless: Grade B

Alas, this gem of a movie is flawed. Moore gives an outstanding performance as an executive in 1960 London, working for a DeBeers-like diamond supplier. She looks terrific in the period costumes and reacts with subtlety and depth when she is repeatedly passed over for promotions. Caine is a rascally janitor who, because of his unrestricted access to the building, knows all about her, her career and its frustrations. He suggests that they remove a thermos full of diamonds from the vault, retire happily, the company never the wiser. He counts on her frustration and desire for revenge. The heist goes well, with enough tension to keep us on edge, secret motives are revealed, and some unexpected twists surface. We are satisfied, as we were in The Thomas Crowne Affair, when these anti-heroes get away with it.

Or we would be satisfied if it weren't for a wrong-headed set of before and after scenes obviously tacked on later. In the opening scene, a reporter interviews an aged Moore, newly free after 30 years in prison. What that means is never explained, but it contradicts the story to be told and turns it into an emotionally distant flashback. The closing scene of the movie is Moore telling the reporter that she never heard from Caine after the heist. These scenes don’t make any sense, are unnecessary, and spoil the perfection of the movie. The opener was probably added to foil (falsely, it turns out) easy plot predictions, then the opener needed the closer. Very bad choice.

Otherwise, though, photography is clean and bright, directing and editing are good, sets and costumes are perfection. Paul Desmond’s clarinet solo from “Take Five” sets the mood. The feminist theme blends well into the story, giving the tired heist genre a lift. All the actors give strong performances. This could have been a sophisticated heist movie, until somebody realized there were no guns, explosives or car chases, so added a stupid red herring instead. You have to wonder how such poor decisions get through.

Ocean's Thirteen: Grade D

D
Ocean’s Thirteen (2007)
George Cloony, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Elliot Gould, Bernie Mac, Al Pacino, Don Cheadle, Casey Affleck, Carl Reiner, Ellen Barkin, Andy Garcia, Larry Paine. Director Steven Soderbergh.

In this sequel, the gang is out to destroy Pacino’s Las Vegas casino/hotel because he tried to kill their buddy Elliot Gould. The plan is as silly as the script. They will rig the slots, tables, and wheel to break the bank of the casino, but the goal is revenge, so they will also assure that the hotel gets a bad review and that Pacino’s diamond collection is stolen. That should really annoy him. Seems that it would have been easier just to kill Pacino, but then there would be no excuse for this elaborate Mission Impossible scenario. To insert the rigging, the boys need to circumvent the security computer. Cutting the power is out of the question because that was done in Ocean’s Twelve, so instead, they get a giant boring machine that tunnels through rock and shakes the hotel’s foundations to simulate an earthquake. Great plan. Sensible! The acting is negligible despite all the star power. Pacino and Barkin were especially disappointing because we know they are capable of much more. Extremely high production values, good photography, and good music keep you watching, but with no story and no acting, that’s not enough to make the movie succeed.

The Lookout: Grade C

C

The Lookout (2007)

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jeff Daniels, Matthew Goode. Writer-Director Scott Frank

A high school student (Gordon-Levitt) suffers severe head injury in a stupid car crash in which several of his friends were killed. We come upon him 2 years later in rehabilitation classes trying to improve his memory, speech, and social skills. It is a realistic and sensitive portrayal of recovery from moderately severe brain injury but extremely slow moving and repetitive. The first 45 minutes of the film could have been conveyed in a few lines of dialog. The character’s blind roommate is Daniels, who leavens the depressive tone with sarcasm, but otherwise is a vague and undeveloped character. Finally the protagonist meets a cute stripper in a bar and the story begins. She seems to care for him, but as soon as he has sex with her, she is written out of the story without a trace, her entire presence reduced to the role of an ashtray. The hero, meanwhile, is a night janitor at a rural bank in Kansas. Some bad guys led by Goode manipulate him into helping rob the bank. The heist goes bad and the movie ends where it began, a young man with brain damage trying to make his way in life. It’s like a tedious documentary about living with brain trauma, with a bank heist thrown in for excitement. The documentary is boring and the bank heist is stereotypical, so the whole thing adds up to a question mark. Strong acting by Gordon-Levitt and Goode make the film watchable.

The Aura: Grade A

A

The Aura (2005)

Ricardo Darin, others. Writer, Director: Fabien Bielinsky. (Spanish, subtitled).

This Argentine story is mostly a psychological thriller, very well written, acted, directed and photographed. A couple of taxidermist buddies decide to go hunting (how ironic is that?). They get separated, and the quiet, extremely introverted, epileptic one stumbles onto a plan for an armored car robbery, after which the hunting theme continues metaphorically. The good part of the story is how the main character insinuates his way into the plot without really knowing what’s going on. The bad part is 2 hours and 13 minutes of length. I was never bored, but the pace is far too slow for a typical American audience. Every scene served a story purpose, but there were too many themes overall. I enjoyed the complexity and the careful setup however. The ending was slightly unsatisfying, psychologically questionable, but artistically correct. Original and enjoyable.