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Joe 'NARC' Carnahan's SMOKING ACES has been seen at its first test screening!
Hey folks, Harry here... Every now and again we get an advance review of a film. This time, it's an advance review of a film that isn't due for release till April 6th, 2007... and it sounds like the movie is fucking great! That doesn't hurt much, does it. Especially when I seem to be stuck in a sea of shitty summer slop. I just hope, that if this movie really is that far from coming out... that they take their time honing it - till Carnahan has it just the way he wants it - then they use that time left to build word on the film. Instead of doing undue tinkering on the film, use that time to get people buzzing. Cuz after these two reviews - I know I'm buzzing on this follow-up to NARC. Which was a fucking great film! Here ya go with a couple of lightly spoilerish reviews...
Hey guys, BC here. It's been awhile, work and such, not to mention a lack of invites I had any interest in seeing (I highly doubt they'd want my opinions on Nacho Libre, which honestly looks like the worst movie ever made). Anyway, I just got back from a test screening of Joe Carnahan's followup to NARC, which is called SMOKIN' ACES. Some spoilers follow, sort of unavoidable.
Film starts with 2 FBI agents (Ryan Reynolds and Ray Liotta) listening into phone conversations of some mob boss. The topic is Buddy "Aces" Israel, a mafia goon/vegas entertainer who has decided to turn state's evidence against the mafia family head, Sparazza. A hit has been ordered on Buddy for 1 million, which means every hit man in the world is going to come after him trying to collect. We are introduced to 7 different hitmen, all with their own quirks and backstories. Complicating matters, Buddy has holed up in a Lake Tahoe penthouse, skipping out on his bail in the process. So there are also 3 bail bondsmen (Ben Affleck, Peter Berg, Martin Henderson) trying to bring Israel back. So it's up to the 2 feds (and Andy Garcia as their superior) to bring Buddy back or else they don't have a case.
Now, there's nothing wrong with that setup, except the fact that this is all spooled out to us in 20 nonstop minutes of exposition. And I'm leaving out the histories of the different hit men, as well as some other information about an undercover fed, some other mafia guys, etc.
So once every character is introduced (complete with the ever annoying "character name" titles) and we are given a whole movies' worth of information at once, the actual movie begins, which is close to a realtime account of all these different teams and sides closing in on Buddy at the hotel. Needless to say, paths are crossed, some good guys are killed, some bad guys get away, etc. The whole thing ends in a bloody shooutout that one ups the similar one from True Romance by having it take place in 2 areas, before a somewhat telegraphed twist is revealed in Usual Suspects style montage of flashbacks.
The odd thing is you have a movie with all these pretty hilarious people (I didnt even mention Jason Bateman and Curtis Armstrong who show up as lawyers): Reynolds, Piven, Affleck (and YES, the man is quite funny, just listen to one of his commentaries for Pearl Harbor or Armageddon), and the screening invite even listed it as a comedy, and yet it's one of the darkest and even somewhat depressing movies i've seen in a while. Sure, there are funny parts (Bateman is hilarious, and Piven gets to be Piven in one scene before he gets coked out of his mind and spends the rest of the movie basically crying or looking dazed), and a completely bizarre and pointless subplot about a little kid who plays with nunchucks (reminiscent of the "PANCAKES!" kid in Cabin Fever but in this case, not funny in the slightest), but for the most part, its played straight and dark.
However I am not knocking on it, in fact i was a bit relieved. It would be fair to label the movie as a Tarantino wannabe, but not the popculture/everyone is hipper than everyone else way that stereotype usually brings to mind. Instead, it's the tight plotting/careful use of flashback/multiple stories colliding side of Tarantino, aka the interesting side, which is refreshing. In a way, it was actually brilliant casting, because you expect things to get funny and instead they just get darker and darker, and not in a comedic way. Reynolds is actually quite good as an FBI agent, and it's nice to see Piven get to do something other than be the slimy jerk and/or sarcastic friend. Most surprising was Alicia Keys, in what I believe is her film debut, as one of the hitmen. She's playing a role, not parlaying her popstar status into a glorified version of a music video character, as most pop stars do in their debuts (Aaliyah's ridiculous dance sequence in Romeo Must Die comes to mind). All of the acting is quite good across the board, and the heavy unloading at the beginning actually works once the film gets going because there are no obvious "main" characters and therefore when someone dies it isn't entirely expected. Only gripe here is a cameo late in the film. I despise cameos, especially when they come late in a film and you're fully into the story and suddenly taken out of it by the appearance by the star of a hit TV show (IMDb hasnt spoiled it yet, neither will I).
I must admit I haven't seen Narc yet, though I am definitely more interested in doing so now. The brief amount of action makes me wonder what Carnahan could have done with MI3. His script is tight, and although I was initially annoyed with the nonstop barrage of exposition at the beginning, once the film gets going you'll realize it was for the best, as slowly dealing out the exposition would have killed the pace. Bizarrely, someone on IMDb who went to a previous test said the film was like Saw and Seven, so either the film has been completely re-edited or the guy is just an idiot, as it is nothing like those (one hitman is known to torture his victims, but thats about 30 seconds of the movie?), and it seemed pretty tight to me, no obvious re-editing or gaps in the storytelling.
Anyway, it's not coming out till 2007, but it looked finished to me other than the temp score, which for the most part worked perfectly despite being recognizable (Thin Red Line for example). Fans of Snatch and other crime ensembles should enjoy it, provided they have the patience to deal with the opening in order to get to the satisfactory payoff. I just hope Universal is smart enough not to use what little funny stuff it has and try to market it as a comedy to appeal to the actors' usual audiences.
BC
God damn that sounds fucking great. Watch out for heavier spoilers here...
Hello Harry
First time writing in, but I just saw a screening in Burbank of ?Smokin? Aces? and wanted to give you a little scoop on it.
First of all, when this comes out, the marketing folks may have you believe that this is a Ben Affleck flick. And this will usually send millions of discerning moviegoers into a fit of rage. He?s in it. But for, like, ten minutes. And he is just one small part of a pretty massive cast. So, no, this isn?t an Affleck movie. This is Joe Carnahan?s movie. Actually, more appropriately, this is a Tony Scott movie.
Years ago, Carnahan was billed as the next big thing after ?Narc? got some good attention. I dug that movie, but have since forgotten it except for brief images of a husky Ray Liotta beating the shit out of Jason Patric. After that, though, he seemed to drop off of the map (except as the initial pick to direct ?MI:3?). So, it?s pretty interesting to see where he has chosen to go with his next big movie.
He wrote and directed this
and it seems like he did so after repeatedly watching ?True Romance? and ?Domino? for a few months, throwing in ?The Big Lebowski? for some occasional yucks. Tons of grimy characters populate this film and their storylines are rapidly intercut for two hours. Contract killers, mob bosses, bail bondsmen, nihilistic neo-nazis, coked-up entertainers, and, of course, the Feds all cross paths in a fast-paced race to get to a mob informant who is holed up in a Lake Tahoe casino.
Here?s the rundown on the cast & story:
Jeremy Piven (in a coked-up, less-sympathetic version of Ari Gold) is Buddy ?Aces? Israel, a Vegas magician who got close to the mob and is about to rat them out. Ryan Reynolds (finally, toning it down and acquitting himself, probably, the best of the whole cast) and Ray Liotta (awesome as always) are the FBI agents who are working with Andy Garcia (with an indecipherable and inconsistent accent) to get him to the safety of the witness protection program. The problem is that the mob has put a $1 million pricetag on his head and every hitman/woman (including Alicia Keys, who is looking quite deliciously full-bodied), as well as lowlife bail bondsmen (Affleck, Peter Berg, and the main guy from ?Torque?), is after that bounty. In the meantime, ?Aces? is spiraling down into a cocaine haze that doesn?t do wonders for him valuing his own life.
Now, the downside to intercutting about 7 storylines is that I inevitably had my favorite characters who were swept off the screen more rapidly than I?d like. Carnahan throws in tons of style (though not as distractlingly as Scott has done in several cases). And there?s enough story (with a required unique twist). But his focus is really with each character he puts in the screen. When he did this in moments that seemed despite the story, I found myself getting a little peeved, but, in my post-screening chats, all of the little character moments that seemed to be complete non-sequiters were the bits that we were recounting the most. Especially, the two scenes with the fucking brilliant Jason Bateman and two other scenes with an ADD-riddled, one-eyed kid who is quite fond of his ghetto kung-fu skills.
While I?m not sure if Carnahan has truly found his own style just yet, he seems to be learning from his own set of favorite directors and has crafted a really solid version of their work. Where he does excel is with the comic interactions between mismatched characters and with some of the most brutal gunfights I?ve seen in a while (Ray Liotta?s battle in an elevator was an absolute highlight). He also manages to tie up the many loose ends that this kind of movie could have
with a staggering body count of ?name? actors.
If you use this, call me Oxberger.
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+ Expand All
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'Cept Affleck
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Affleck's in it for only ten minutes. Been looking forward to the new Carnahan movie since Narc came out. Blood Guts Bullets and Octane helped tide me over. Joe knows how to write funny dialogue and stage a action scene. Shit, can't wait til next year.
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If this is half as good as NARC then we are all in for a treat.
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waitaminute! You mean this isn't a movie about Gambit??? Damn you Hollywood! You fucking cock-tease!!!
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in a matter of months, after $$$ is confirmed . . I loved Narc, good flick, TV did a great job. I trust AK because she is!
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Starring Javier Bardem. I want it. NOW!
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After Narc and his BMW short film, i'm looking forward to this one.
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which always helps.
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Yeah, sounds a bit like Snatch or Lock Stock, or Domino. First 20 mins 'Here are the characters. This is the set-up.' Literally spelled out to the audience. It's a pity that most filmmakers cannot do this with any subtlety or charm. I think the Cohens could, before they turned shit...
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Did he just suggest I listen to the Pearl Harbor commentary? Really?
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"nacho libre looks like the worst movie in history." nacho libre looks funny like hell. and i've seen the trailer 3 times in the theater by now, and each time it's gotten a lot of laughs from the audience, so i must not be alone.
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?what is wrong with AICN? ?why does everything have ?s around it? ?see isnt this annoying?
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you'd think thered be a few worthy names there. ah well, this sounds kinda lame.
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other than alicia keys and the girl from hustle and flow (i think that was her anyway) the hitmen were all nonames.
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This sounds retarded.
10 years too late to piggy back on real noir.
Narc was WAY over rated.
It's shameful that some writers/directors gain noteriety by just not sucking as badly as others. -
Didn't he give the big Fuck U to MI3?
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Does anyone remember that arcade game from the early '90's called NARC? The one with the 'Pit Fighter' digitized photo graphics where you fought various drug dealers and associated hoodlums, some of which threw giant, digitized drug-filled syringes at you? WHY ON EARTH WOULD THEY WASTE THEIR SYRINGES LIKE THAT? Bullets are probably much cheaper than syringes, and are more aerodynamic and deadly! Also, there were some hoes in the game. I believe they could be 'felt up' at some point.
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Yeah, the Cruise jumped the couch for the dude when he saw Narc and drafted him to do MI3. He then left the set after 'artistic differences' with Mr Cruise. i.e. he didn't want to joing the Super Happy Fun Adventure Gang.
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summer slop' you so eloquantly mentioned.
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People are still trying to make knock-off Tarantino things in 2006?
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Could Narc have been any more by the numbers?
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Jennifer Garner?
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Granted there were some cliche broadstroke characters but by the end i thought it played out nicely and Ray Liotta and Jason Patrick ere great in it. A huge jump up from Blood Guts Bullets Octane thats for damn sure. The next couple of flicksfrom carnahan should be very tellin on what we can expect from him in the future.
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But she won an Oscar pretending she has a dick! That's what actors do, they PRETEND. Oh Piven. Sounds fucking awesome.
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I hate the Tarantino knockoff term. What the fuck has Tarantino ever done but rip off others? I'm not even knocking Tarantino, just saying. It would be like people comlaining about Green Day riffs getting ripped off.
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Also about Nacho Libre I went to a screening of it, sure people laugh in the trailer but no one not even myself was laughing during the movie. Kids might like it but over all it's pretty much one of the worst movies made in a while.
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Funny and brutal for sure, but this aint no action movie.
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Carnahan made a poopie.
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