Parker

ACTION / ADVENTURE. SUSPENSE / THRILLER

Hard Man To Kill

★ ★ ★ out of 5 | Movie - DVD - Rental

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Rated: R Language throughout, brief sexual content, brief nudity, and strong violence.
Release Date: January 25, 2013
Runtime: 1 hour 58 minutes

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Director: Taylor Hackford
Writers: John J. McLaughlin, from the novel "Flashfire" by Donald E. Westlake written as Richard Stark
Cast: Jason Statham, Jennifer Lopez, Michael Chiklis, Wendell Pierce, Clifton Collins Jr., Bobby Cannavale, Patti LuPone, Carlos Carrasco, Micah A. Hauptman, Emma Booth, Nick Nolte, Daniel Bernhardt

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SYNOPSIS: A thief with a unique code of professional ethics is double-crossed by his crew and left for dead. Assuming a new disguise and forming an unlikely alliance with a woman on the inside, he looks to hijack the score of the crew's latest heist.

REVIEW: Ray and Proof of Life short director Taylor Hackford takes on the honorable thief Parker with the help from Black Swan and Hitchcock screenwriter John J. McLaughlin from the novel "Flashfire" by Donald E. Westlake writing under his pseudonym Richard Stark.

Parker (Jason Statham, Safe) and four others set a plan in motion to rob the ticket sales for the Ohio state fair. Although the plan is carried out and the team gets away with the loot, Parker is forced to choose whether to invest his fifth of the take to a larger scheme with the others or face execution. When he tries to just take his cut, Melander (Michael Chiklis,>High School) and the others draw down on Parker, shooting him and leaving him for dead. But Parker doesn't die... And vows to hunt down the men who did not live up to their end of the contract. Hunting the men across the region from Ohio to Louisiana to Florida, Parker poses as a Texas oilman and enlists the help of realtor Leslie Rodgers (Jennifer Lopez,What to Expect When You're Expecting) to ferret out where Melander and the others are hiding out in order to carry out their next score. All Parker wants is to balance the books concerning the agreement of the contract, and will stop at nothing to rights those wrongs.

Jason Statham is, in my opinion, an underrated action star. He has strung together a number of low cost franchise hits like Crank and The Transporter, as well as ensemble hits like The Italian Job and The Bank Job. Statham's rugged good looks and chiseled body are made better by his ability to carry out some great action sequences. And true to his history Statham does deliver on that point. A certain scene with a botched up "room service" to Parker's hotel room is probably the best action moment of the film. Parker and Melander's stand off is probably the second.

Parker is based on the novel "Flashfire" by Richard Stark. Jason Statham has the opportunity to turn this single film into another franchise. Unfortunately Jason Statham's presence in this film doesn't have the bite that it could have. Tom Cruise took Jack Reacher and made it into something different than the book and intriguing enough to spawn possible sequels. Whether it was the adaptation of the novel or the direction, Parker just doesn't seem to fully come together.

All the pieces were there. From independent contractor Melander, to his established team of crooks including driver Carlson (Wendell Pierce, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2), demo expert Ross (Clifton Collins, The Event), and Chicago mob boss relative August Hardwich (Micah A. Hauptman, A Bag of Hammers), Parker has to contend with some legitimate baddies. Throw when a hired assassin Kroll (Daniel Bernhardt, Creature) contracted out of Chicago to off Parker after-the-fact and you got some good elements. Add in a beautiful damsel in the form of Jennifer Lopez, whose character Leslie is desperate on all fronts, and you have even more intrigue. The problem is Jennifer Lopez' Leslie is too desperate to quick and Michael Chiklis' Melander and his gang seem to be a little over their heads in their ability to plan and execute all but the simplest of heists. Add in some weird voice over work for both Hurley (Nick Nolte, Gangster Squad) and general crowd conversation and you get just as many distractions as you get anticipation.

Some of the film blazes by pretty quick, especially the opening scene with the original heist that Parker is a part of. But as more pieces fall onto the board, and Jennifer Lopez is introduced, things slow down just a little too much and the pace falls off. Jennifer Lopez's characters back story is interesting but not to the point of being all that critical to the film. When she opens up to her client Parker during one of their house tours it just seems a little to forced and static. When Parker finally hunts down his quarry, the pace of the story speeds up to a reasonable speed again.

Parker has its strengths, and its weaknesses. Jason Statham carries himself with his usual charm and action presence, and Chiklis and the other baddies are antagonizing enough. The story, though, does not live up to expectations. Parker takes a lot of abuse, but the audience suffers a little bit, too.

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High School

Whut?

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Rated: R  Some nudity, all involving teens, pervasive drugs and language and crude and sexual content
Release Date: June 1, 2012
Runtime:  1 hr 40 mins

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Director: John Stalberg, Jr.
Writers: Erik Linthorst, John Stalberg Jr., Stephen Susco
Cast:  Adrien Brody, Michael Chiklis, Colin Hanks, Matt Bush, Sean Marquette, Adhir Kalyan, Michael Vartan, Curtis Armstrong, Yeardley Smith

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SYNOPSIS: When valedictorian Henry take a hit of marijuana with former friend Travis in a fit of uncertainty and panic, he freaks out when he hears that the school principal has scheduled a school-wide drug screening the next day. To save his future, he must work with Travis to concoct and carry out a daring scheme to get the entire student body and faculty high.

REVIEW: John Stalberg, writer and director of High School and the 2005 Mr. Dramatic, he teams up on writing duties with Lemonade: Detroit writer Erik Linthorst and odd choice The Grudge and The Grudge 2 scribe Stephen Susco to attempt to create the next new stoner movie for a new generation, following in the foot steps of Dazed and Confused, Fast Highs at Ridgemont High, and Pineapple Express.

Soon to be high school senior valedictorian Henry Burke (Matt Bush, Adventureland) agonizes over every academic decision, desperate to be sure to be an attractive prospect for MIT. Former best friend current heavy stoner Travis Breaux (Sean Marquette, 13 Going on 30) takes it upon himself to hang with Henry to find out when and how their childhood friendship ended. Talking Henry into going back to a ramshackle tree house where they used to hang out and where they had hidden a 'time capsule' with all of their most treasured childhood knick knacks. Finding a joint, Travis tries to loosen Henry up by having him get baked on the joint. Meanwhile, tight-ass principal Gordon (Michael Chiklis, Eagle Eye) has had enough with stoners and miscreant behavior at his school under his rule. He decides to institute a school wide drug test the next day with the punishment of a positive urine sample being immediate expulsion. Hearing about this upcoming drug test on the news, Henry freaks out and spirals into a panic about his finals and the jeopardy of destroying his life's work with a few hits of a doobie. Travis concocts a plan to ruin the results of the drug test by stealing a potent synthetic drug called Keef from a genius, lawyer-turned-drug dealer Psycho Ed (Adrian Brody, Midnight in Paris), baking the powder into brownies to be used in place of the school moms' baked goods for the annual fundraiser sale on the day of finals and the drug tests. As the students and facility alike are enjoying the swapped batch of brownies, Travis and Henry must contend with the normally paranoid Principal Gordon, the enraged Psycho Ed, bad-tripping students and teachers, the looming drug test, and the questionable strength of their former friendship.

Stalberg and team take a more modern approach to their stoner movie. With the advent of a new millennium the importance and obsession of superior high school grades to cement a positive future is as much an addiction as the pungent smell and smooth ride of a superior grade of grass. The puckered posterior and moral rigidity of Henry stands polar opposite of Travis' free-wheeling and low-key existence, but both are fueled by their own addictive obsessions. There are usually cliques in these films - nerds, jocks, stuck up beauties, and of course stoners - but this time the focus seems to be on the highest aspirations and the highest inhalations.

Everyone is on top of their game, even in the film has been finished and shelved for some time. Adrien Brody shows again why he is an Oscar winner. His turn as the early graduating, law bar passing straight arrow whose marijuana and LSD laced adventure on vacation expands his mind to the opportunities of drug dealing and synthetic drug making as paranoid Psycho Ed is inspired and hilarious. Michael Chiklis' plays Principal Gordon as the overbearing and stuck up academic overlord like a man savoring the taste of every word before he utters it - something completely different from his The Shield role. Colin Hanks charms as he tries to placate and rebel against Gordon as assistant principal Brandon Ellis, using his Orange County conservatism and his substance abuse chops from Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny in combination. Matt Bush and Seam Marquette become an intriguing new odd couple as Henry and Travis, riffing off each other with typical new millennial teenage angst. Facility Yeardley Smith (New Year's Eve), Michael Vartan (Colombiana), and Curtis Armstrong (Buck Larson: Born to Be a Star) lend a hand with quirky brownie induced shenanigans.

>Following the formula of teenage high school movies - straight arrow student led astray by miscreant friend, putting them in a dilemma, and having to follow through with a hair-brained scheme against 'The Man' to get themselves out of trouble again (you know, the usual!) - John Stalberg, his creative writers, and the brilliant cast make for an absurd and hilarious adventure. On paper, some of the scenes are nowhere near as side-splitting as how they actually turned out. A shared hit of marijuana on a darkened smoky room with Psycho Ed and a frog in a terrarium ends with audience members chanting the same word over and over again, like a buzz-induced mantra. It hearkens back to a 'Who's on First' caliber sequence! When Travis tries to keep Psycho Ed distracted with a barrage of fronts (the Urban dictionary describes Fronting as 'Acting like you are more, or you have more than what really exists'), it continues on for just the right time for maximum laughs. I even realized later that Henry wasn't calling Travis 'Bro' because of a misguided sense of trying to fit into the stoner's group, because, in fact, that was how Travis Breaux's last name is pronounced. Genius!

What is teenage life without conflict! In High School, conflict abounds. Henry battles to keep his own future from deteriorating by schewing the drug tests. He and Travis battle against the iron-fisted rule of Principal Gordon. When Psycho Ed finds out that Henry and Travis stole his highly potent Keef, the pair must find a way to make amends or find full payment for the drug dealer and his slacker crew. And to top it off, rival valedictorian runner-up Sebastian Saleem (Adhir Kalyan, Rules of Engagement) figures out Travis and Henry's plan to bake the school with misdirected baked goods and looks to blow the whistle to Principal Gordon unless Henry promises to take a dive in his last final exam, thus giving Saleem the highest GPA and the title of top student. Is there even a way for Henry and Travis to pull off a win?

High School may be just another in a long line of teenage angst movies, but for me there was more than enough laughs and hi-jinks to carry the day. Filled with tear-inducing fun, multiple conflicts to overcome, and an eventual self-realization of a what a teenager should become, High School is worthy of a look, as long as you can hold your breath while racing through the smoke-filled rooms! And, by the way, can you tell me where the school office is? Are you kidding me? Whut!

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WORTH: Matinee, DVD, or Rental