Reel Critics: ‘U.N.C.L.E.’ is fun but recycled
“The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” is the movie version of the Cold War 1960s TV show, amplifying the retro look and feel of the original.
The plot borrows from similar shows of the era like “Mission Impossible” and “I Spy,” but the format really pays homage to the early James Bond movies.
Square-jawed Henry Cavill (“Man of Steel”) plays CIA super spy Napoleon Solo. Impeccably dressed and with a suave manner, Solo gains access to the high-society circles of Europe. But Cavill’s wooden acting will never supplant Sean Connery’s performance as an international man of mystery.
Solo teams up with roughneck Soviet spy Illya Kuryakin, well played by a buffed Armie Hammer. Lovely Alicia Vikander (“Ex Machina”) steals the show as the hot secret agent working as a mechanic in East Berlin. The opening sequence is a great piece of intrigue and crazy chase scenes.
The movie has plenty of pop and fizzle. It’s updated with whiz-bang 21st century special effects and a dynamite sound track. The craft involved is worthy of attention, but the spy thriller formula is one that’s been done many times before.
—John Depko
*
‘Compton’ tells powerful story
“Straight Outta Compton” takes the tale of NWA and reminds us with some good acting that the groundbreaking rap group’s story is still relevant.
Dr. Dre (Corey Hawkins), MC Ren (Aldis Hodge), DJ Yella (Neil Brown, Jr.) and Ice Cube (O’Shea Jackson Jr.) are close friends and sideline performers in small clubs. They get the idea to make their own label and with some funding from Eazy-E (outstanding newcomer Jason Mitchell), Ruthless Records is born.
I’m not a big rap fan, but this film made me see the powerful, angry poetry of it, especially in Ice Cube’s lyrics about the everyday life of gangs, including the guns, girls and police.
Like so many rags-to-riches stories, there is a dark side. There are thugs and opportunists (including Paul Giamatti as a manager who’s not all he seems), and the party lifestyle takes a deadly toll.
“Compton” is an engrossing chronicle of some legendary talents. It is funny, frightening and surprisingly poignant.
*
‘The End of Tour’ is thoughtful piece
David Foster Wallace, fresh off the publication of his novel “Infinite Jest,” agrees to be interviewed by ambitious Rolling Stone reporter David Lipsky. Their conversations over five days on an Indiana and Minnesota press circuit make for an unusual, thoughtful movie.
We’re told in the beginning that Wallace committed suicide at age 46, so the movie is tinged with a melancholy that has us looking throughout for clues to his demise.
Comedy actor and writer Jason Segel is unexpectedly brilliant as Wallace. He is by turns charming, vulnerable, vain and wonderfully geeky.
Jesse Eisenberg’s tight, quick delivery as Lipsky is the perfect counterpoint to Wallace’s slow musings. They discuss the trappings of fame, peer expectations, loneliness and more. Wallace makes an eerily prescient statement about technology becoming an addiction.
“The End of the Tour” resonates with the guarded interactions between these two men that were, for Lipsky, “the best conversations of my life.”
—Susanne Perez
JOHN DEPKO is a retired senior investigator for the Orange County public defender’s office. He lives in Costa Mesa and works as a licensed private investigator. SUSANNE PEREZ lives in Costa Mesa and is an executive assistant for a company in Irvine.