American Hustle Movie Review

2014 has arrived and my first movie review of the year is a 2013 release, a movie that I was hoping could make my final top 10 list of the year. But, has American Hustle done enough to make that list?

 

Yes it has. This is one of my favourite movies of the entire year. The events of American Hustle are difficult to explain in a plot synopsis, but it is loosely based on a true story. American Hustle kicks in to gear from scene 1 with an on-screen sentence that pokes fun at Hollywood for making movies about true events. Immediately, I was liking what I was seeing and from then on it didn't disappoint.

The plot revolves around a group of con men who work together to con innocent people via a money lending scheme. However, when they are caught by an ambitious FBI agent, they are conned into working with him, and his goal is to catch the mayor of New Jersey accepting bribes to revitalize gambling in Atlantic City. Obviously, numerous other things happen in the plot, various twists happen resulting in a lively and energetic movie that never ceases to entertain throughout it's 138 minute runtime.

The success of this movie and the main reason why it is so riveting is the script. Every single line is written with great care and the result is dialogue between characters which is nothing less than enthralling to listen to. This is the sort of movie where in order to understand the ins and outs of the plot, you need to listen carefully to every bit of dialogue that escapes these character's mouths. Trust me when I say that this is an incredibly easy thing to do because each character is so interesting. Interesting and funny. This movie could be hysterical at times which left me howling with laughter.

The 5 main characters are people you can really invest in because they are so well fleshed out as well as remarkably interesting. You understand every single characters motivations and they are acted so well by one of the best ensemble casts of the year.

Combining his stars from The Fighter (2010) and Silver Linings Playbook (2012), David O'Russell could begin to make this movie great through their talent shown in their performances. Christian Bale, the master of changing his body and commitment to a role, is unrecognisable and astonishing as Irving Rosenfeld, an experienced con artist. Amy Adams produces the best work of her career portraying Sydney Prosser, Bale's business partner and love interest. Jeremy Renner puts in a good performance as the crooked yet good-willed mayor Carmine Polito as well.

One of the biggest complaints about American Hustle from critics is that this is more of a parade for these various actors and is just a showcase for their talent. I couldn't disagree more. American Hustle is directed and edited confidently by David O'Russell who is simply utilising the incredible talent he has in front of him.

Other actors who disappear into their roles include Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence. The talented Cooper brilliantly sells his character, an ambitious yet emotionally unstable agent and Jennifer Lawrence is hilarious as Irving's insane wife, I didn't find her over-the-top one bit.

This movie's soundtrack choices are both relevant and inspired, plus work well with the makeup and costume design in order to re create a believable and realistic environment which oozes style and screams the 1970s.

Written, acted and directed expertly, American Hustle was a movie that never had a dull moment. From the get go it was fascinating and entertaining to behold. I can't wait to see it again to see how all of the pieces of the plot fit together. I left American Hustle in a trance, it did such a good job at producing entertainment that allowed me to be sucked into this environment, I could seriously sit and watch those characters interact all day:


Rating - A+


1 sentence summary - Confidently directed and cleverly written, this movie is non stop entertainment with fascinating characters!


I seriously have no problems with it it's fantastic. I want to go and see it again and I can't wait to put this one on my final top 10 movies list of the year. It'll definitely be there.

Thanks for reading,
Matt

Out of the Furnace Movie Review

This movie is probably worth seeing for the cast alone to be honest. However, there is more to Scott Cooper's drama than that....

Out of the Furnace is directed by Scott Cooper and tells the story of a man named Russell Baze. Baze works in a steel mill and is very much down in his luck. Practically everything  in his life that could go wrong does go wrong for him in Out of the Furnace; he is part of a car accident which puts him in jail, he loses his girlfriend plus misses his father's funeral while serving jail time. On top of all that, he has to deal with his younger brother Rodney who winds himself into trouble with a drug lord.

This movie does have some excellent things going for it but overall Out of the Furnace just didn't entirely click with me.

However, the acting and the performances are all fantastic from an all star cast. Christian Bale excels as the lead character Russell, a damaged steel-mill worker who experiences a lot of misfortune. As usual, Bale's committed performance sells the character allowing us audience members to route for the guy.

Zoe Saldana, Willem Dafoe and Forest Whitaker all put in great performances, further proving that the talent is spread across the entire cast.

Casey Affleck is also terrific in the movie as Russell's brother Rodney. Affleck contributes to the movie by playing brilliantly an Iraq War veteran attempting to adjust to normal life after the traumatic things he's experienced. Out of the Furnace also does a good job at showing just how damaging life can be, especially for returning war vets.

Woody Harrelson is great as the villain. He is intimidating and has such an evil screen presence about him. The acting from him is great. However, his character is also a little bit on the over dramatic side, he was a bit cartoony.

As said before the acting is absolutely amazing. For me Out of the Furnace isn't as good as it could be due to a few issues with the screenplay. While the actual dialogue is good, the script tries to be more metaphorically heavy-handed than it deserves to be.

Also, there are a few scenes in the movie that do feel a little out of place. The final shot of the movie didn't really make sense in that they didn't fit with the tone of the movie's thrilling final act. Also, the very first scene was also unnecessary in that the only reason it was put in was to illustrate just how evil Woody Harrelson's character is. The plot explains that and that particular scene isn't needed at all.

I also had a few issues with the movie's pacing. The build up his very patient and as a result, slow. If they had trimmed the movie by say 15 minutes I probably wouldn't have a problem with Out of the Furnace's length.

The directing from Scott Cooper's is patient and works well with the quiet and dramatic tone of the movie. Camera placement is very carefully done and Cooper and the technical team behind him do brilliantly at making Out of the Furnace a good looking movie.

To summarise it is a bit of a mixed bag. The acting and directing is good from all the talent involve but other problems with pacing and the writing mean that as a drama Out of the Furnace just doesn't really work for me. It isn't a bad movie though:


Rating - C+


1 sentence summary - A human drama that doesn't quite work on all levels, despite some excellent acting performances!


Can't wait to see how Christian Bale does in American Hustle, one of my most anticipated movies at the moment.

Thanks for reading,
Matt