Smashbomb

"Alex Guinness, to me is — forget De Niro, forget Pacino — he’s the man. Alec Guinness is such a quintessential English actor, but he’s also a brilliant actor. He’s just the best. And The Man in the White Suit is just such a beautiful, charming movie. It’s about a man who invents a suit that you don’t have to wash. It’s a whole movie about it! It’s something that some of the more flamboyant directors should think about remaking. [Laughs] It’s about this guy who invents this material that keeps white all the time. It’s directed by Alexander Mackendrick, a fellow Scot, and the opening title sequence is amazing. Mackendrick is a brilliant director. I just enjoy his work; I enjoy the pace of his work. I think he’s really overlooked. He did The Ladykillers and Whisky Galore, and The Sweet Smell of Success. A lot of really cool movies. Alec Guinness, to me — forget Star Wars and all that — he’s just the best. And to work with someone like Alexander Mackendrick, who really understood what a story meant…it’s funny, because on IMDB the movie is listed as sci-fi. It’s not sci-fi, that’s ridiculous! It’s actually a very nice tale, about inventing the thing that nobody wants. Like a car that doesn’t need petrol. The thing that people don’t want because of the money [the auto industry] could make off of you. If you say hey great, I’ve invented this car that doesn’t need petrol, and then there’s a silence, and then there’s a gunshot, and you’re dead. It’s that kind of thing."

Source

Kudos

Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated American Made (2017) in Movies

Jul 11, 2019

Biopics can be problematic in their attempt to retell history or use individual perspectives to inform their audience about events that many may already be familiar with. In American Made, Tom Cruise plays Barry Seal, a TWA pilot who is recruited by the CIA to fly reconnaissance missions in Central America. He soon finds himself at the center of drug trafficking, gun trafficking, and as a pawn of several different entities seeking to use his skills and expertise for their own purposes.

The film is ambitious in trying to tell serious historic events as a campy adventure in which Barry is care free despite the consequences of his actions. Nothing about the film seems right. It unfortunately, can make an audience feel uneasy cheering on a drug smuggler who is making inordinate amounts of money for some of the most dangerous individuals on the face of the earth.

A positive effect of the film is that it demonstrates to audiences the complexities of American Foreign policy, drug policy, and corruption that existed in the 1980s and that it shouldn’t be viewed with rose colored glasses. If anything, it may offer another perspective about the period that not too many people may be familiar with and create a desire in them to research more about the period and events.

American Made offers audiences a funny, introspective, personal account of one man’s experience working for the government and drug cartels that allows for a break from some of the more serious and dark portrayals that have typically been featured. Audiences will enjoy reminiscing about the 80s and think back to how complicated the period actually was.