Burnt

**Spoiler Alert**

Director: John Wells/Starring: Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Daniel Bruhl, Omar Sy, Emma Thompson, Uma Thurman, Alicia Vikander and Matthew Rhys

With a globally diverse and talented cast such as that in Burnt, one might expect the movie's success to be a foregone conclusion but unfortunately a movie's quality isn't solely determined by its actor's substantive talents. At the epicenter of the film's impressive actor roll call is Bradley Cooper, who brings a touch of glamour and impressive acting chops to the role. Too bad said talent, which includes seasoned writer Steven Knight (Pawn Sacrifice, Locke) and director John Wells (The Company Men), couldn't pull this film off. Part of the problem is the character of Adam Jones; a hot-shot chef with overpowering bravado, played by said Mr. Cooper. It isn't that I can't buy the idea of a world class chef being hounded by French drug dealers and rival chefs while seeing a psychiatrist and being chick flypaper. But I couldn't buy it. At least not in the way Wells and Knight conceive the character. Though the film is fun to watch, its flavor fades as fast as a Big Mac, rather than lingering like the gourmet cuisine prepared onscreen.

The lead character in question; Adam Jones, has recently arrived in London after having sabotaged his prestigious position as head chef in a Parisian restaurant and slumming in a New Orleans seafood joint, shucking oysters for a living. Fed up with his itinerant life and wasting his culinary talents, Jones settles in London, hoping to assemble a crack kitchen staff for his new restaurant venture. But isn't enough to open an acclaimed restaurant; Jones' arrogance and ambitions crave something more lofty: a 3 star rating from the venerable Michelin Guide.

Standing in his way are said drug dealers, who appear often to collect a sizable debt. Other obstacles are those he has essentially screwed over; who make up a considerable number. Among them is Tony (Daniel Bruhl), who runs a restaurant in a hotel owned by his father and whose Parisian restaurant was ruined by Jones' self-destructive behavior. Jones bullies Tony into letting him take over his floundering hotel restaurant. Funding for the restaurant is contingent on Jones staying sober and drug free, which is accomplished by his psychiatrist; Dr. Rosshilde (Emma Thompson), who administers regular blood tests while also dispensing on-the-fly advice and guidance.

All that remains is for Jones to recruit a team. The film's cinematic touchstone is a famous western, which Jones refers to when he says "I want a crew like The Magnificent Seven." How he goes about assembling them might remind one of the recruitment process in said film. His fame in culinary circles is enough to attract talent though another former colleague, Michel (Omar Sy), chases Jones through the streets and gets into a scuffle with him before agreeing to join his staff. Jones' history with Michel, like many of his former relationships, is fraught with betrayal. It comes to light that Jones once deliberately sabotaged Michel's own restaurant venture, which involved a dirty trick with the health inspector. Why Michel would agree to join Jones' staff becomes apparent later in the film. And of course where would a handsome lady's man chef be without a beautiful and talented she-chef to provide eye-candy and romance for the audience? A woman named Helene (Sienna Miller, teaming up with Cooper again); a talented chef in her own right, is aggressively pursued for Jones' kitchen and as we expect, becomes his love-target.

In Jones' mad pursuit of the 3 star Michelin rating, he becomes monstrous; throwing tantrums and humiliating everyone in his kitchen. Being the best means being a perfectionist and being so means being a SOB, which the staff quickly learns. Destroying dishes in a violent sweep of a counter, shouting in the faces of his colleagues like a drill sergeant; Jones pushes everyone, including Tony, who stands to inherit the hotel and the restaurant.

In trying to anticipate the Michelin operative's unannounced appearances, Tony informs the waitstaff about their tendencies, which generates tension and suspense.

And as Jones chases the ultimate restaurant prize, we know his past will rear its ugly head with drug dealers and a former colleague/now rival chef named Reece (Matthew Rhys) and a revelation about Tony and the film's twist; which involves Michel. We also know he'll have a crisis of self-doubt, where he falls off the wagon and makes a drunken fool of himself. It all seems programmed and mapped. Or as Jones says to Helene while they sit inside a Burger King: "the problem with the (Burger King) food is that it is consistent." Ditto for the screenplay.

Like many well-cast films that falter, the actors give us something to admire when the story fails. Sienna Miller, who shares terrific, onscreen chemistry with Cooper, keeps the audience interested in her character when it's clear she has few places to take it. The same can be said for Daniel Bruhl; who I always find fascinating. I wanted to see Emma Thompson onscreen more but she makes do with the bone she's thrown.

We see the kitchen staff tend to the tiny details of food preparation, which is fine but the food doesn't stimulate one's taste buds, the way it does in films like Babette's Feast or Big Night. The food looks fit to frame but frankly, not to eat. Or maybe haute cuisine is out place on a multiplex screen?

I left the film; not with an appetite but disappointed that the story seemed so mechanical. It was watchable and an effective time-killer but it left me cold. Do all the chefs on T.V. have Adam Jones' problems? Did Julia Childs? I hope not. But after watching Burnt, you might feel cooking is a violent, degrading experience whose only reward are stars in a guidebook. What a pity.

American Sniper

**Spoiler Alert**

Director: Clint Eastwood/Starring: Bradley Cooper and Sienna Miller

Based on the book: American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History , Clint Eastwood's American Sniper is an intense, pulse-quickening drama detailing the life and war experiences of legendary Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle, who was credited with over a 150 kills during his four tours of duty in Iraq.

Though we've seen many films about the Iraq war in recent years, including Kathryn Bigelo's excellent Hurt Locker, Eastwood's film claims its own distinction by offering us a biopic about a man dedicated to his deadly craft; who, like many who fought in Iraq, was scarred by the experience.

The film fritters little time immersing us in the action as we see an American tank with soldiers in tow entering a rubble-strewn town square. Straddled on a rooftop overlooking the scene is sniper Chris Kyle (Bradley Cooper) with a spotter at his side. As he scans the square for possible threats, he sees a woman hand a child an explosive device. Hesitant to fire his rifle at the child, he receives consent from command to proceed at his own discretion. Unsure of the child's intent but concerned for the safety of the soldiers below, his finger begins to tighten on the trigger. The scene is a very effective opening sequence and it lays the dramatic groundwork for the combat we see later. Will he pull the trigger knowing he could, as his spotter warns, face a prison term in Leavenworth for an illegal killing? Eastwood knows enough, with his exquisite storytelling instincts, to defer the outcome.

How did Kyle become a skilled purveyor of death? A flashback shows him on a hunting trip as a child; his father at his side. Chris brings down a buck with his rifle, which leaves his father beaming with pride. After Chris carelessly drops his gun, his father offers advice about caring for his weapon.

Another scene from his childhood shows Chris delivering a vicious beating to a bully after his younger brother Jeff is bloodied in the schoolyard. Later, as the family is gathered at the table for a meal, his father lectures his sons about protecting one's own family after seeing Jeff's bruised face.

The film cuts to Chris as an adult, leading a rough and tumble life in the rodeo as a bronco-buster. After he returns home with Jeff (Keir O'Donnell), he finds his girlfriend in bed with another man. He forcefully evicts the man while his girlfriend angrily cites his constant absence as her reason for her infidelity. Shortly thereafter, he ejects her from the house too. Her complaints about Chris not being around carries some foreshadowing, for which we see why later in the film.

After watching a T.V. news report about a terrorist attack directed at Americans in Kenya, Chris' outrage and patriotic fervor move him to visit a local Navy recruiter, who suggests he test for the elite SEALS. Intrigued by the challenge, which requires almost superhuman physical and psychological stamina, Chris signs on. A sequence follows where we see he and other hopefuls endure torturous physical tests but he emerges from the ordeal a Navy SEAL. Immediately following, we see him on a firing range receiving specialized training as a sniper.

Hanging with the other SEALS at a local watering hole, Chris meets a beautiful woman named Taya Renae (Sienna Miller). Though Taya resists Chris at first, she warms to him, and before long, the two marry.

After watching news footage of the 9/11 attack, Chris' soldierly resolve is strengthened and in spite of Taya's anxiety, he is later shipped off to Iraq.

We return to the moment where Chris rests on an Iraqi rooftop, watching the child and mother handle a deadly explosive. The scene's hair-raising intensity marks the beginning of Chris' harrowing and often frightening four-tour service in Iraq.

Eastwood paces the story and the action masterfully; slowly building suspense with a first-person account of combat and all its extremes, which threaten the body and try the mind. We're never but an arm's length from Chris as he mans a sniper's nest or when he follows or leads ground troops in their operations, which involve perilous searches of Iraqi homes.

During his first tour, Chris learns of two dangerous antagonists who prove to be the ground soldier's bane; one, a highly skilled Syrian sniper named Mustafa (Sammy Sheik); formerly an Olympic gold medalist marksman and a brutal, sadistic warlord nicknamed The Butcher, whose capture is given the highest priority. Mustafa serves as Chris' arch-enemy and the film's principal villain. Both enemies prove to be slippery and elusive and their elimination provides the film (and maybe Chris) with a quest of sorts, which gives the story a nervy energy.

No less tense are the home-front scenes, as Chris' deployments begin to abrade his marriage. Complicating his relationship is his prolonged absence from his children and his wife, who he seldom sees.

The theme of protection introduced earlier in the film is restated, as Taya recognizes Chris' motive for returning to combat is borne of a brotherly, protective feeling he has for the troops as that he once showed for his brother.

It isn't long before the tours begin to take their toll on Chris' mental health and behavior, which don't escape Taya's notice. The film handles the home-front anxieties and PTSD quite effectively. We get a sense of the effects of combat stress when certain sounds, like a neighborhood lawnmower, draw Chris' attention for reasons we can immediately identify. We also feel Taya's frustration as her repeated attempts to fathom Chris' emotional state prove fruitless. But in spite of marital problems and frequent absences, the irresistible pull of combat and duty beckon Chris. The audience is also aware of the lingering threat Mustafa and The Butcher pose to the ground troops.

The combat scenes are brilliantly directed. Though it is reasonable to expect audiences to experience fatigue from so many films and documentaries about the experiences of American soldiers in Iraq, Eastwood demonstrates that the subject has yet to be exhausted. This is achieved by Eastwood's maestro-like command of the material and some outstanding editing by long-time Eastwood collaborator Joel Cox and co-editor Gary Roach.

Bradley Cooper is exceptional, more so when we consider he isn't the most obvious choice for the role of a Navy SEAL sniper. His performance stretches his boundaries as an actor, which leads me to believe he is up to any dramatic challenge. I must say Sienna Miller has the tougher task of making the home-front as gripping as the battle scenes. Though the anxious-wife-at-home is a staple of most American soldiers-in-Iraq dramas, she manages to make her lonely suffering compelling, particularly in one scene where she overhears the sounds of combat while talking to Chris on a cellphone.

Aside from one character questioning the war's meaning, the film avoids the morality of the War, which makes sense. The story is about a deadly sniper and Navy SEALS are usually the last to question our nations motives for waging war. As for Chris' moral response to his 150 kills, we hear him say to a therapist that god will judge him for his actions.

As Chris' reluctantly wears the mantle of hero for his unheard of kill count and for saving the lives of many soldiers, the horrors of war finally weigh on him. And the protective, god-like care for the troops that motivated him in his tours, is re-purposed in peace time, as he finds so many who have returned from the war--many worse off than he--need his help.

The ending is a shock; its cruel irony would seem so contrived if it weren't true.

American Sniper is a terrific film. I wasn't surprised to discover that it has resonance, and even day or two after seeing it, it still occupies my mind.

At 84, Eastwood shows not a mote of mellow in his storytelling. It is almost unheard of for a director of his maturity to stay relevant but here he is in 2014, doing the unexpected; making one film about Franki Valli and the Four Seasons and another about a famous sniper. He may well stay relevant into his 90s'. It's quite possible.

For now, we have this marvelous film to behold.

Foxcatcher

**Spoiler Alert**

Director: Bennett Miller/Starring: Channing Tatum, Steve Carell, Mark Ruffalo, Sienna Miller and Vanessa Redgrave

I wish I hadn't known about the John du Pont story before seeing Bennett Miller's extraordinary new film Foxcatcher. I followed the developments in the local paper in the mid 1990s'; finding the story compelling for many reasons. But though I knew how the story on the screen would play out, it didn't detract from the experience nor did it make the film any less powerful.

I also found Miller's Moneyball to be equally absorbing but his new film has catapulted him into the dizzying heights of creative brilliance. If that sounds like fulsome praise, then I suggest you see the film for yourselves.

The du Pont family fortune was made substantial by arms manufacturing and its chemical industries, which allowed them to pursue excellence in equestrian sports, for which they were renown.

For reasons explicable only to John du Pont, he developed an obsessive interest in Olympic and world class wrestling. By providing wrestlers with a training facility in which to pursue a world championship or gold medal, he probably felt (as we see in the film) he could attain and experience a vicarious victory; one that might challenge the family's equestrian achievements--at least in his mind.

When the story begins in the mid to late 80s', we meet the two 1984 Olympic gold medalist brothers whose lives became entwined with John du Pont's; older brother David Schultz (Mark Ruffalo), and his younger brother Mark (Channing Tatum). We see the brothers training; grappling on a mat and trying to maneuver with arms and hands to execute moves. Mark's demeanor; angry and brooding, contrasts sharply with his older brother David's, which is more gregarious. Miller lets the camera rest on the two brothers as they exchange throws. The scene plays for awhile as we get some sense of the brothers passionate commitment to the sport and their competitive spirit. Mark eventually draws blood from his brother's nose when he upper-cuts him with his head. Rather than grouse, David merely wipes his nose then resumes practice.

Channing Tatum affects an under-bite, which gives him a neanderthalic appearance and lends his anger extra intensity. We don't understand the origins of his anger but we know years of wrestling have hardly served as a coolant.

One day, as Mark kills time alone in his very modest apartment, he receives a call from one of John du Pont's assistants, who suggest Mark visit the wealthy industrialist on his estate in Pennsylvania. With all travel expenses paid, Mark agrees. Arriving by helicopter, Mark discovers the du Pont estate is located near historic Valley Forge, which we soon learn plays a mythic role in John's life.

The first meeting between John and Mark is very odd. John is phlegmatic and reserved as he watches Mark with the eyes of a carnivorous bird observing its prey. John even mentions his nickname is "Golden Eagle" and suggests to the bewildered wrestler that he go bird-watching on his estate but not without presenting him a book on birding, which he happened to write.

But we learn John's interest in Mark has little to do with birds. With patriotic fervor, he tells Mark that he and his brother Dave should have been better recognized by the country for their achievements in the Olympics. Shortly thereafter, John leads Mark to a building which on the inside is an impressive gym tailored specifically for wrestlers. Stunned and pleased, Mark is further awed by John's offer to allow Olympic hopefuls to train on the Foxcatcher grounds. He also offers Mark a $25,000 salary and the use of a chalet as his residence on the estate.

Also intrigued by Mark's brother David, John deploys the young wrestler as an emissary to lure his brother to Foxcatcher. David asks Mark the very pertinent question: "What does he get out of this?" The deceptively simple question proves to be more complicated than John's "contribution to America" explanation.

Unable to convince his brother to join him at Foxcatcher, John and Mark develop a friendly relationship and become closer as training begins in earnest. In the relationship that blossoms, Mark accompanies John on an inspection of a military vehicle of DuPont industries' design, only to watch him angrily demand a .50 caliber machine gun for the armored carrier. He then sees John slap the clipboard out of the military contractor's hand. We, like Mark, get a taste of John's violent temper, which seems all the more shocking coming from someone so seemingly unflappable and kind.

And we wonder, as David does, what really motivates John to provide so much for a sport his mother (Vanessa Redgrave) believes is "low." It's in the tension between John and his mother where the psychological footprints of his actions are laid bare. The mother's gallery of Equestrian trophies is suddenly sharing space with medals earned by John's Team Foxcatcher at an international competition. Like the sibling rivalry John perceives between Mark and David, we see a similar rivalry between he and his mother; one more subtle and just as fierce. After John sponsors a wrestling tournament in Phoenix for more mature men, he shows his mother his first place trophy, which she recognizes as the sham it is. We see that John has been scarred by his failure to please his mother.

But it isn't only a rivalry John shares with his mother. During a conversation, John relates his lonely childhood to Mark and an incident where he discovered his only friend was actually someone hired by his mother to fulfill the role. In a moment of commiseration, Mark divulges that he too had no friends growing up, which completes the empathetic bond the two men share.

Before John is finally able to draw David to Foxcatcher, we see him slowly become unhinged. He inexplicably (and ominously) visits--with gun in hand--the training facility where the wrestlers are waiting to begin practice. After briefly watching the wrestlers, he raises his gun and fires off a round, much to the shock and dismay of the team. Another incident follows soon after when John visits the wrestlers, who are gathered to watch T.V. at Mark's chalet. When John confronts him about the wrestlers inactivity, Mark mentions giving the group the morning off. What follows is hardly unexpected, as John slaps Mark. The relationship deteriorates soon after and with it, Mark's performance on the mat. After David moves to Foxcatcher to become part of the training regimen, Mark qualifies for the 1988 Seoul Olympics but only with difficulty. Complications arise at Foxcatcher when John's Svengali-like control of Mark is threatened by the brothers troubled but close relationship.

In one of the film's strange ironies, Mark tries to convince David to leave Foxcatcher to coach at BYU, only to be told his brother has no wish to leave.

Mark performs badly at the Seoul Olympics, losing in a first round rout. On his return to Foxcatcher, we see John watching Mark's moving van pull away from the chalet. What follows soon after seems almost tragically inevitable.

Even though I followed the story in the New York Times, I realized how little I knew about the interpersonal dynamics and John du Pont's frail psyche. The film concludes horrifically as we come to understand how one man's brittle self-image and feeble self-esteem could be the catalyst for a grisly, violent act.

In my recollection of the movie, I try to exercise objectivity by identifying the film's flaws but Foxcatcher is nigh perfect (in my estimation) and it easily challenges the year's best for cinematic excellence.

Steve Carell's performance has been heralded by considerable buzz, and I must say he lives up to it. Unrecognizable in his facial prosthetic, he quite simply vanishes; allowing an entity to inhabit his body. To watch Carell gaze stolidly over his upturned nose at those around him is enough to give one the creeps. Behind the veneer of calm seethes something dark and disturbed, which Carell captures expertly in his tour de force performance.

No less impressive are Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo. Tatum has been careful, at least in recent years, to guard his career from excessive second-rate Hollywood filmic incursions. Here he balances his physical performance with psychological nuance. His rage-induced mayhem inside a hotel room is powerful and self-destructive, which Tatum executes with emotional cogency.
Ruffalo is excellent as David and again shows what he can do with choice material. And for her brief appearance as John's mother, Jean du Pont, the ever-excellent Vanessa Redgrave is able to convey so much about a mother's disappointment for her son while also infantilizing him.

Miller maintains a somber mood throughout, which is made possible in part by the use of muted colors. Everything indoors and out seems monochromatic and devoid of life and joy. Like the monument to Valley Forge seen earlier in the film, the Foxcatcher grounds seem very much like a memorial rather than an estate, which is echoed in the colonial facade of the du Pont home.

The theme of class difference and its attendant mutual hostilities isn't lost on screenwriters E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman, who have imagined Mark and David to be pawns of a rich man's whims. For all of John's talk about America and his patriotism, and the pride he takes in discussing the sacrifices made by men at Valley Forge, he has few qualms about buying men he deems heroes while regarding them as a hobby.
Foxcatcher will no doubt be on many cinephile's and critics' year's best lists; a distinction it richly deserves. It is a resonant, cinematic achievement and another stop on Bennett Miller's artistic, upward spiral.