Live by Night (2016) Review

rating: ****

the story: A Boston gangster is relocated to Tampa and finds unexpected complications in establishing himself.

review: Gangster movies are about as old as Hollywood itself, so well-established that it’s become increasingly difficult for new entries to find any real appreciation. It’s just assumed that everything’s already been seen and done, and if not, The Sopranos was too big a recent phenomenon to worry about what the movies might be doing, too. I think Sopranos spent a little too much time glorifying gangsters, the way Goodfellas did, the exact opposite of how human Donnie Brasco made them, the last time a movie made an impression.

Live by Night opts for an entirely new route. It actually makes gangsters potentially moral authorities.

Yeah. Based on the middle act of a historical trilogy from Dennis Lehane, Hollywood’s favorite author in the first decade of the millennium, Ben Affleck’s adaptation posits an Irish immigrant cleaning up a white supremacist scene by uniting all the undesirables under his empire. He has a black girlfriend (Zoe Saldana), his nemesis is a phony Christian proselytizer (Elle Fanning) and his biggest ally is her police chief father (Chris Cooper). He also wants to replace booze (about to become legal again) with gambling, when no one else sees the wisdom in it.

Like The Godfather, this is a story that doesn’t really dwell on whether or not the basic premise of gangsters is justifiable, but rather whether there is any semblance of honor in what they do. So we follow Affleck around as a hero. His enemies are the viewer’s enemies. His ideas are ideas we can get behind. 

So it’s interesting. Of course, the cast is pretty interesting. Brendan Gleeson’s also in it, Titus Welliver, guys who’re natural fits for this kind of movie. Clark Gregg is there, too, Sienna Miller. Fanning continues to be an inexplicably mature youthful screen presence, in perhaps one of her best roles. Affleck himself never goes out of his way to put the spotlight on himself. If anything, he’s finally found a role that allows him to be the star but also the casual screen presence that saw his best early material (Good Will Hunting, Shakespeare in Love), which often found him in supporting roles.

This is the sort of movie that doesn’t feel like it should be a big deal. But perhaps is for that very reason. It leaves a better impression that way. By not trying to be so impressive, it is. In an era bereft with flashy material, large and small, it’s a welcome digression.

Stardust (2007)

rating: ***

the story: A young man seeks to win the heart of a beautiful woman by seeking a falling star.

review: The idea of new cult movies seems to have fallen by the wayside in recent years, possibly because the MCU Avengers cycle has effectively made geek cinema mainstream in just about every iteration imaginable.  But Stardust is about as liable a contender as anything that's been released in the last fifteen years, in large part to a cast that has kept on giving, and a writer and a director whose legacies keep expanding.

The cast.  Oh, the cast!  You've got Charlie Cox as the lead character, Tristan.  Cox eventually found another spotlight in the Netflix series Daredevil.  Henry Cavill, in a much smaller role as Tristan's romantic rival (in Tristan's imagination, anyway, insofar as Tristan ever really had a chance), is perhaps the biggest easter egg in the movie, nearly unrecognizable as a fop with blond hair.  He would, of course, later take on the role of Superman.  Ian McKellen, at this point only a few years removed from his career-defining role as Gandalf in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy, is narrator.  Mark Strong, who would become a much better recognized supporting actor across a dizzying array of films, plays a would-be king.  Rupert Everett is in there, unrecognizable.  Ricky Gervais is easier to spot.  Claire Danes is the falling star.  Michelle Pfeiffer is the witch who wishes to be young again.  Sienna Miller is the girl Tristan thought he deserved (an oddly low key role, considering this was Miller's heyday).  Peter O'Toole, looking surprisingly frail, is in there.  And Robert De Niro.

Ah, De Niro.  This was the period where De Niro was finally coming to grips with his father.  Robert De Niro, the most famous tough guy of modern cinema, was the son of a gay man.  He'd directed The Good Shepherd (2006), a kind of allegorical film about his father, and then appeared in Stardust as a pirate who is secretly gay.  The gay aspects of the character are kind of parody, but the role is unexpected for De Niro, so seeing him this way is itself kind of reason enough to see Stardust.  I suspect part of the cult appeal for it comes from the LGBTQ community.

The writer of the book from which Stardust is derived is Neil Gaiman, who also wrote the epic Sandman comic book series.  Stardust was his first major screen adaptation.  The director is Matthew Vaughn, whose geeks credentials have expanded since. 

The results aren't as magical as all that.  You'd want a contender for The Princess Bride, but it just isn't there.  The presence of all those stars is just about enough compensation, though, with De Niro leading the pack.  McKellen sets the tone with his storybook narration.  Princess Bride is a storybook that spirals hilariously out of control.  Stardust remains storybook.  But it's still a good modern storybook.  Few enough elements compete with De Niro.  One is the collection of dead brothers.  The other is the goat who becomes a man (somewhat unconvincingly).  There's also Strong's undead duel with Tristan.  If there had been more of that, there'd be a better chance at truly comparing the results to Princess Bride.

Not that there has to be a comparison.  As its own thing, Stardust lightly sparkles.  And then, again, you see yourself drawn to all those stars...