Movie Nation

A trio of films go into wide release today — a ghost story getting decent reviews, a retro Arnold Schwarzenegger shoot’em up earning better reviews (not from me, the peasants) and a poorly reviewed Mark Wahlberg/Russell Crowe thriller that I figure is going to have a hard time doing big business in this environment.

Judging from feedback — traffic to my reviews — I’d say “Mama” should be the box office winner, come Sunday night. “The Last Stand” should keep it close. They’re kind of appealing to the same male fanboy base, so that makes it interesting.

Box Office Mojo calls it “Mama” around $17/”Zero Dark Thirty” just behind, “Last Stand” $14 million. That’s low. “Last Stand” could crack $20. It’s a real crowd pleaser.

Box Office Guru figures “Mama” will crack $20, with “Broken City” doing $18, “Last Stand” just behind it and “Zero Dark Thirty” in the middle of that second-third place race.

People seem to have forgiven Arnold Schwarzenegger, the movie star who probably taught Madonna all she knows about reinvention.

Every time I’ve interviewed the guy, I’ve been struck by how “on message” he is — a politician before he became a real politician. Refuses to talk about anything but his movie, occasional moments of reflection on his career, how great America and Hollywood have been to him. Upbeat, not hearing the criticism of the violence in his movies, his alleged steroid use in his earlier days, the creepy “real” Arnold who came through in that infamous “Pumping Iron” documentary that he tried to suppress. Publicists step in if there’s a question he doesn’t like. He manages his image/message like nobody I’ve ever seen.

He’s transforming himself back into a movie star, he hopes — saying the rights things about the police, gun control, etc. Having basked in his presence a few times, I don’t believe a word of it.

You see it in the reviews, too. Very forgiving.

Russell Crowe, though, cannot get a break. His diva years are perhaps behind him, but there’s a general distaste for him that transcends his acting. He’s good, time and again. But you see that in reviews, too. No slack for him.

Thus “Broken City” probably won’t bust out and be another Mark Wahlberg Martin Luther King weekend winner for him.

I also smell a little directorial favoritism at work here. The color palette of “Last Stand” is distinct, and despite the fact that there’s little novelty to what’s in those images — a striking car chase through, well, you’ll see — critics just LOVE Kim Jee-woon. I loved “I Saw the Devil” as much as anyone, but no cornball sidekick/catch-phrase shoot’em up can compare with the suspense and action of that. 

Critics and fanboys (maybe critics pandering to fanboys) just love Guillermo del Toro. He produced and his handprints are all over “Mama.” A Good ghost story, and even with its shortcomings, it gets a Guillermo pass.

The opposite it true with Allen Hughes. Critically derided for years — “Book of Eli” was a recent credit — he does a decent job with “Broken City.” But the movie got beaten up.

Should be an intriguing box office race, thanks to all of that.

Matthew Fox is the aide tasked with finding out to what degree Japan’s Emperor Hirohito was an active participant/knowing dupe in Japan’s war of aggression in the Pacific. Rape of Nanjing, attack on Pearl Harbor, savage treatment of POWs, civilians enslaved.

What did he know and when did he know it?

Tommy Lee Jones brings authority and ego, but none of the patrician majesty Big Mac had. But Gregory Peck’s MacArthur was a humorless stiff (more the script than Peck, I thought).

“Emperor” is a Roadside Attractions release.

Veteran producer Edward R. Pressman is no stranger to tragic scandal. He was the producer of “The Crowe,” and I recall him getting pretty choked up when we talked about the confluence of events that led to Brandon Lee’s accidental death on that Wilmington, N.C. set.

Now he’s producing a movie about the Penn State scandal. Set in “Happy Valley,” that’s going to be the title. And they’ve landed Oscar winner Al Pacino as the combative, diminutive Italian-American coach Joe Paterno, a hero for decades, Emperor of the University, untouchable. And when he got old and took his eyes off the ball, an assistant brought his whole world crashing down.

Pacino’s track record in recent years has been spotty. So has that of his director, “Dressed to Kill” maestro Brian DePalma. But that’s some major talent to throw at a true story that rocked the sports world, and the nation.

As he approaches his 60s, Liam Neeson is more in demand for action films than he’s ever been. “Run All Night” is a script he’s signed onto. Now Deadline.com reports that he may reunite with his “Unknown” director, Jaume Collet-Serra, for that project.

As I mentioned in my review of “Gangster Squad” last week, the screenplay was plainly built around classic Western conventions — one Western film in particular.

That would be “The Magnificent Seven,” which of course was based on “The Seven Samurai,” but was also a major benefactor/contributor to Old West film iconography.

Josh Brolin is the John Wayne/Yul Bryner gunman beyond corruption, Ryan Goslin is Steve McQueen, Michael Pena is oh, Horst Bucholtz.

The dead give away in “Gangster Squad” is the presence of a switchblade specialist on “the team” — James Coburn, then, Anthony Mackie, now.

“The Last Stand” similarly borrows from classic Westerns, at least in structure and character “types.” I see a lot of the Howard Hawks/John Wayne Westerns “Rio Bravo” and “Rio Lobo,” with a hint of “El Dorado” — though we’re missing the alcoholic (of the first and last films).

There’s the man alone, prepared to face his fate standing up to the bad guy by himself, but helped by assorted male and female sidekicks. The Duke, or The Terminator.

There’s “The Kid,” as in “You aren’t READY, kid” (Zach Gilford), the coward who turns out not to be (Luis Guzman).

And the grizzled gun nut.  Jack Elam in “Rio Lobo,” Johnny Knoxville here.

Seen both films? Tell me I’ve got it wrong.

It’s a filthy place, this “Broken City.” Even the people called “good guys” have their dark side, their dirty secrets, their tragic flaws.

And the “bad guys?” They’re all over the New York papers, all over New York cable news – a mayor who plays hardball, a guy running against him who’s not above crawling in the mud, a police commissioner too quick to make ethical compromises.

“Broken City” begins with a cop, ably played by Mark Wahlberg, on trial for a shooting that may not be as cut-and-dried as he maintains. The mayor (Russell Crowe) slaps him on the back, says “I like having my picture taken with heroes.” But he and the police chief (Jeffrey Wright) end Billy Taggart’s career, no matter what the judge says.

Cut to seven years later, Billy’s a private detective – skulking in alleys, photographing cheating spouses. He’s got a hot actress wife (Natalie Martinez), and his work has made him the jealous type. He’s got a lot of bills and a bad temper.

At least he’s on the wagon.

That’s the moment his old pal, the mayor, calls. Find out who’s sleeping with my wife, His Honor says. Do it before Election Day, next week. The can-do mayor is in a two-fisted race with a city councilman (Barry Pepper). The last thing he needs is for word that his wife ( Catherine Zeta-Jones) is cuckolding him to get out.
But once Billy has done his job and gotten the incriminating photos things turn even dicier. The adulterer turns up dead and Billy wonders if he’s been set up. His life unravels even as he and his perky assistant (Alona Tal) unravel the layers of deceit surrounding this case.

Director Allen Hughes (“The Book of Eli”) hides the secrets well and stages a good fight and chase. But what’s most entertaining about Brian Tucker’s script is the lived-in feel it has. The ex-cop is all rough-edges, intolerant at times, ill-tempered. And funny. His assistant calls something “Wondrous.”

“Wondrous?! Did they teach you that at DeVry?”

Politicians treat slander with the cavalier disregard of those used to an “any means necessary” style of campaigning.

“It won’t stick. But it’ll smudge.”

Working class cops and their working class mayor have homophobic streaks. Wright plays his police chief turned police commissioner with simmering resentment that feels righteous, but suspect. Crowe gives his guy a working class background that makes him menacing, even when he’s glad-handing supporters.

Jones has a decent part to play as well, a woman challenging the private eye on what he thinks he knows.

“Do you believe in love?”

“I believe in loving the one you’re with.”

“What are you, stupid or Catholic?”

There’s a lot of background to pack into every character, and Tucker sets up each character as a paragon of right, only to pull a rug from under them.

“Broken City” doesn’t have a compelling narrative to pull it along. Wahlberg, playing well within his comfort zone, dials back the fearsome, aiming for funny some of the time. But it’s a hallmark of this slightly-better-than-average thriller that it is missing some of the requisite thrills. And that Wahlberg blows his best one-liner.

This mayor is “dangerous,” he’s warned. Naah, Billy replies.“He only knows people that kill people.” Emphasize the “KNOWS” and the line sings.

MPAA Rating: R for pervasive language, some sexual content and violence

Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Russell Crowe, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Jeffrey Wright, Barry Pepper, Natalie Martinez

Credits: Directed by Allen Hughes, written by Brian Tucker. A 20^th Century Fox release.

Running time: 1:49