Holiday Movie Review Roundup: Grace Is Gone, Lions for Lambs, The Mist

Today, three movies dealing with politics and Iraq. Oh, and two of them star my "twins"!

GRACE IS GONE (B-)

Written and directed by James C. Strouse (writer of Steve Buscemi's similarly low-key but far superior Lonesome Jim), Grace is Gone tackles a huge subject in the smallest way possible. John Cusack's wife dies in Iraq. He takes his two young daughters (both wonderfully played) on a road trip and tries to summon the courage to tell them about the tragedy. That's the movie. And at the risk of sounding callous, it's not enough for a movie. I understand that people are dying in Iraq, and that is terrible. I understand that those who die have families and that it is an extreme strain on those families. But how is dragging out telling your kids some bad news for an hour and a half an interesting story? 

If it were a great character study, awesome, but it isn't that either. Cusack wears doofy glasses and a few extra pounds, but they can't help him disappear into the character. It is always obvious that he is Acting (with a capital "A"), and he never really nails what should be a slam-dunk role for him.

It's a reasonably entertaining (if that's the right word) film, and yet the movie is just an 85 minute emotional tease, then 5 minutes of the money shot (with tears the desired ejaculate, though I didn't come), then the credits. It's something like emotional pornography, and, like porn, it left me feeling more than a little empty inside. 

LIONS FOR LAMBS (B)

Grace is Gone is an Iraq movie that barely mentions Iraq. Lions for Lambs is an Iraq movie that screams Iraq, again and again. Grace is Gone ultimately doesn't try to do enough, Lions for Lambs tries to do a bit too much. Matthew Michael Carnahan's script for Lambs is heavily influenced by Aaron Sorkin (good Aaron Sorkin, thankfully), so naturally there's a lot of speechifying and chest-beating and schmaltz. Carnahan also wrote The Kingdom, another of this year's lackluster Iraq dramas, and Lambs is certainly more successful, if only because it knows what it wants to say.

Unfortunately, it kind of wants to say everything. If this were a documentary, I'd praise it for being fair and balanced. But it isn't, and I wish it had more of a point of view instead of just presenting all sides and saying "So...?". The movie rotates between three segments. In the first, Meryl Streep plays a journalist interviewing a Republican Senator (Tom Cruise -- in full condescending douchebag Magnolia mode, which always brings out his strongest work). In the second, Robert Redford (who also directed) plays a professor talking with a student who is not realizing his full potential. In the third, two of Redford's old students (Derek Luke and Michael Pena) do battle in Afghanistan.

The acting is sharpest in the Streep/Cruise segment. The Redford/student segment is the most effective -- its points about the political laziness of our generation feel very fresh, true, and well thought out. The third segment ultimately goes nowhere. The whole thing is a bit wishy-washy, and a bit of a mess, but it's frequently pretty smart, it's wonderfully short (under 90 minutes!), and even though it can't quite decide what it wants you to think -- at least it wants you to think.

THE MIST (A)

Who would have thunk that the best political movie of the three (and perhaps 2007) is the one with the tentacles and giant bugs? 

Stephen King, who wrote the short story the film is based on, is the greatest horror writer of all time (really), and Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile) is one of a few filmmakers (Rob Reiner in his prime would be another) who knows how to do King. They are served by an outstanding cast. Thomas Jane does a fine job of playing a man who wants to be a hero, but also doesn't want to scare his young son. Marcia Gay Harden gives one of her best performances playing a real loon, a frightening representation of religion gone wrong. For once, Harden dials down the hysterics, and her work is all the more chilling for it. Everyone else, right down to the smallest role, is terrific. There's a great cast of character actors on board, a whole lot of "Oh, that guy! I love that guy!" folks are in this movie.

The setup is fairly simple -- a bunch of people in a small town lock themselves in a grocery store, because there's a mist a-brewin'. But as a terrified townsperson yells on his way into the store, covered in blood -- "There's something in the mist!" There's lots of things, really! And thank God the movie doesn't waste a lot of time trying to explain the hows and whys. "There's something in the mist!" That's all you need to know. Now just hold on and have a blast.

First and foremost, The Mist is a massively entertaining horror movie. It's so much fun, the characters and relationships are extremely well drawn, and it's fucking scary. When the gang is about to take a trip to the pharmacy -- get ready to cover your eyes. The film, and that pharmacy sequence in particular, is a masterful mixture of suspense and gross-out. The movie reminded me of one of my very favorite horror films -- John Carpenter's remake of The Thing (a movie which gets a visual shout-out early in The Mist, for those paying close attention). It's got that same Thing recipe, which is just perfect for horror: take characters you love, put them in a claustrophobic situation, ratchet up the tension, and add in equal dollops of big scares, disgusting moments, dry humor, and human drama. And the humans in this story, as in The Thing, are just as scary as the monsters. 

You can take The Mist at face value and have one hell of a time. But if you dig deeper, you'll be greatly rewarded and disturbed. At first everyone thinks the Harden character is nuts, but as the situation in the store gets worse, more and more people are swayed by her religious conviction. She becomes their ruler, even though some in the store don't share her self-righteous beliefs. So when she starts making "Christian" life altering/risking/taking decisions for everyone, based on her faith alone -- that's pretty messed up, no? The film shows how vulnerable people can be when they're scared, how they'll believe anything, especially when it's shrouded in religious furor. Sound familiar? And it surely can't be coincidence that the first person she encourages the crowd to offer up for sacrifice is a soldier, one who was only doing his job. Hits pretty close to home. And there's more, much more, if you want to look for it. If you don't want to think politics in a monster movie, have fun being scared! It's a win-win!

All that and -- for my money -- one of the greatest movie endings in recent years. Many of you will not feel that way, but you will have strong feelings one way or the other, and that's awesome.

***Special note for discussion of The Mist in the comments -- if you're going to spoil something, anything, slap a big ALL CAPS SPOILER ALERT in front of your comment so people know not to read it. You might hate something about the film, but don't ruin it for others. Thanks!  

tags: grace is gone  john cusack  lions  for  lambs  robert redford  meryl streep  tom cruise  the mist  stephen king  frank darabont  movies  movie reviews  

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