Focus Features recently send us over stills for Gus Van Sant's latest film "Promise Land". The film reunites Van Sant with his "Good Will Hunting" star Matt Damon. The film also co-stars John Krasinski, Frances McDormand, Rosemarie DeWitt, Scoot McNairy, Titus Welliver, Hal Holbrook.

"Promise Land" opens in select theaters on December 28th, 2012 and in theaters nationwide January 4th, 2013!

Plot Synopsis:

Promised Land is the new contemporary drama directed by Gus Van Sant (Good Will Hunting, Milk). Matt Damon plays Steve Butler, an ace corporate salesman who is sent along with his partner, Sue Thomason (Frances McDormand), to close a key rural town in his company's expansion plans. With the town having been hit hard by the economic decline of recent years, the two outsiders see the local citizens as likely to accept their company's offer, for drilling rights to their properties, as much-needed relief. What seems like an easy job for the duo becomes complicated by the objection of a respected schoolteacher (Hal Holbrook) with support from a grassroots campaign led by another man (John Krasinski), as well as the interest of a local woman (Rosemarie DeWitt). Promised Land explores America at the crossroads where big business and the strength of small-town community converge.

Universal Pictures announced today that the Matt Damon, Emily Blunt thriller "The Adjustment Bureau" will be hitting Blu- Ray and DVD shelves on June 21st.

Press Release:

A rising politician finds himself caught up in a pulse-pounding, mind-bending conspiracy in The Adjustment Bureau, the acclaimed film coming to Blu-rayTM Combo Pack and DVD on June 21, 2011 from Universal Studios Home Entertainment. Academy Award® winner Matt Damon (the Bourne series, True Grit) and Golden Globe® winner Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada, The Wolfman) are the star-crossed lovers chased by mysterious forces that threaten to destroy their futures unless they abandon one another. Deleted and extended scenes, filmmaker commentary and exclusive bonus features offer behind-the-scenes looks at the making of the film. Plus, for a limited time only, the Blu-ray™ Combo Pack of The Adjustment Bureau includes a downloadable digital copy of the film that can be viewed anytime, anywhere, on an array of digital devices.

Written for the screen by George Nolfi (Ocean’s 12, The Bourne Ultimatum) who also makes his directorial debut, The Adjustment Bureau is based on the short story “Adjustment Team,” by visionary writer Philip K. Dick (Total Recall, Minority Report, Blade Runner). The Adjustment Bureau also stars Anthony Mackie (The Hurt Locker, Eagle Eye), John Slattery (“Mad Men,” Iron Man 2), Michael Kelly (Changeling, Dawn of the Dead) and Terence Stamp (Wanted, Valkyrie).

BONUS FEATURES AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY ON BLU-RAY™ COMBO PACK:

THE LABYRINTH OF DOORS: INTERACTIVE MAP OF NEW YORK – Explore the bustling metropolis of New York City as only a member of the Bureau can: using the intricate network of portals to leap from location to location. Each location will trigger a short video pod, either with a behind-the-scenes look at that location with cast and crew or a scene from the film that took place there.

BD-LIVE™—Access the BD-Live™ Center through your Internet-connected player to get even more content, watch the latest trailers and more.

pocket BLU™: The groundbreaking pocket BLU™ app uses iPhone®, iPod® touch, Android™, PC and Macintosh to work seamlessly with a network-connected Blu-ray™ player. Also available on the iPad®, owners can enjoy a new, enhanced edition of pocket BLU™ made especially to take advantage of the tablet's larger screen and high resolution display. Consumers will be able to browse through a library of Blu-ray™ content and watch entertaining extras on-the-go in a way that's bigger and better than ever before. pocket BLU™ offers advanced features such as:

Advanced Remote Control: A sleek, elegant new way to operate your Blu-ray™ player. Users can navigate through menus, playback and BD-Live™ functions with ease.

Video Timeline: Users can easily bring up the video timeline, allowing them to instantly access any point in the film.

Mobile-To-Go: Users can unlock a selection of bonus content with their Blu-ray™ discs to save to their device or to stream from anywhere there is a Wi-Fi network, enabling them to enjoy content on the go, anytime, anywhere.
Browse Titles: Users will have access to a complete list of pocket BLU™-enabled titles available and coming to Blu-ray™ Hi-Def. They can view free previews and see what additional content is available to unlock on their device.

Keyboard: Entering data is fast and easy with your device’s intuitive keyboard.

uHEAR™: Never miss another line of dialogue with this innovative feature that instantly skips back a few seconds on your Blu-ray™ disc and turns on the subtitles for the section you couldn’t hear!

MY MOVIES™: Consumers can rent a variety of Universal favorites such as Meet the Parents, Fast & Furious, Mamma Mia!, Coraline, Knocked Up, The 40-Year-Old-Virgin, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, or Role Models for $2.99 each, to instantly stream via BD-Live™, the pocket BLU™ app or on the web at UniversalHiDef.com

BONUS FEATURES AVAILABLE ON BOTH DVD AND BLU-RAY™ COMBO PACK:

DELETED AND EXTENDED SCENES

LEAPING THROUGH NEW YORK – An inside look at how the production team filmed David Norris’ (Matt Damon) race to the courthouse, featuring interviews with Damon, director George Nolfi, special effects coordinator Mark Russell and producers Michael Hackett and Chris Moore.

DESTINED TO BE – The Adjustment Bureau provided Matt Damon with his first opportunity to play a true romantic lead in a feature film. Co-star Emily Blunt, director George Nolfi and Damon himself reflect on this new role for the star and the relationship between David Norris and Blunt’s character, Elise Sellas.

BECOMING ELISE – A look at Emily Blunt’s dance training for the role of Elise. Blunt, Matt Damon, George Nolfi and Blunt’s dance choreographer discuss her transformation from slender actress to well-muscled athlete.

FEATURE COMMENTARY WITH WRITER AND DIRECTOR GEORGE NOLFI


SYNOPSIS
On the brink of winning a U.S. Senate seat, charismatic politician David Norris (Matt Damon) meets Elise Sellas (Emily Blunt), a woman unlike any he’s ever known. As he realizes he’s falling madly in love with the beautiful, contemporary ballet dancer, strangers conspire to keep the two apart. David learns he is up against the men of the Adjustment Bureau, who will do everything in their considerable power to prevent the pair from spending the rest of their lives together. In the face of overwhelming odds, he must decide whether to accept his predetermined path and let her go…or defy Fate and risk everything to be with the woman he loves.

Watching the Coen Brothers’ version of “True Grit,” it suddenly occurred to me that I read the book back in my sophomore year of high school. Can’t believe I forgot all about that. Usually I remember every book that was assigned to me whether it was good or positively sucked. From “To Kill A Mockingbird” to… Ok, enough of that. Watching this take on the Charles Portis book brought it all back, including the fact that Mattie didn’t cry over her father’s dead body. She was like,

“Put a lid on it.”

Damn! She seemed cold as ice, hell bent on pursuing her father’s killer no matter what. But she is also a human being endowed with an undying sense of purpose, determined to find fairness in a world that seems devoid of it. Now everyone remembers Rooster Cogburn more than any other character in “True Grit” because John “The Duke” Wayne portrayed him in the 1969 movie (which won him his only Oscar). But the novel is really all about Mattie Ross, not the easiest person to get along with, but hard not to admire. It’s her story more than it ever was Cogburn’s, and the Coen brothers understand this completely.

Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, and Josh Brolin may have top billing, but the weight of “True Grit” rests on the soft shoulders of 14-year old newcomer Hailee Steinfeld. Her astonishing performance brings Mattie Ross right off the written pages of Portis’ book and to vivid life. That was not the case when Kim Darby portrayed her opposite The Duke in 1969. Our sophomore English class watched some but not all of the original, and once we saw her cry in a way Mattie Ross never would have, we knew that one liberty too many was taken with the source material. I guess having a character appear stronger willed than one played by John Wayne seemed unthinkable at the time. I don’t want to take away from Darby though as she later gave a truly unforgettable performance as John Cusack’s hopelessly bizarre mother in “Better Off Dead.”

But seriously, Hailee is a revelation here as Mattie, and the movie would have completely failed were she not as fantastic as she is here. Seeing her stroll into the town with her no-nonsense attitude and wise beyond her years, she sells the character perfectly and has us eager to follow her every step as she pursues Tom Chaney before he escapes the hand of justice for good. Her eyes show a willful determination that I never doubted from the start, and any sadness she shows is somehow restrained. Hailee takes a character that is not altogether likable and makes her one of the most compelling characters I have seen in any film this year. She doesn’t so much play the character as much as she inhabits the role. Now how many other 14-year old actors can pull off a performance like that?

As the story goes, Mattie ends up trying to procure the services of Rooster Cogburn because she believes that he possesses “true grit,” someone who has courage, fearlessness, and guts. As played by Jeff “The Dude” Bridges, making the 2010 holiday season his with this and “Tron: Legacy,” Rooster is a drunken lout who never appears to be fit for his line of work, but his sense of duty does manage to keep him sane in an increasingly violent world. The relationship he has with Mattie is not one based on kindness, and he as soon as leave her in the dust than bring her along. But something about Mattie’s dogged determination, illustrated by her riding her horse across a river while keeping her head above water, wins the whiskey loving Marshall over.

I’m not going to bother comparing The Duke and The Dude because frankly I don’t have the energy. John Wayne made his mark in one film after another, and Jeff Bridges’ performance works in that he never tries to outdo what Wayne did. Like any smart actor, he simply makes the character his own. His Rooster Cogburn threatens to be every bit as inebriated as Val Kilmer was when he played Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone’s “The Doors.” From the start, I was almost afraid that Bridges might turn the character into a parody of sorts, perhaps rely too much on his “Big Lebowski” performance to get him through the day. But that never was the case nor should I ever have suspected it to be. Jeff remains as always one of the best actors we have, and his Rooster Cogburn is a wonderfully complex character who, despite his grungy appearance, still knows the Indian territory like the back of his hand.

Also along for the ride in “True Grit” is Matt Damon, and it’s beginning to feel like he is in every other movie being released today. As much as I like Damon, I was afraid he might stick out like a sore thumb as Texas Ranger LaBeouf. But he makes his character a wonderfully engaging one even as he keeps coming and going throughout the story. Seeing LaBeouf get his ass handed to him by Mattie Ross is a major highlight, only if to see the shocked expression on Damon’s face when he realizes he truly got suckered by a 14-year old.

Josh Brolin, who previously worked with the Coens in “No Country For Old Men,” has better luck here with the western genre than he did with “Jonah Hex.” He makes Tom Chaney not just a simple one-dimensional villain as his crime was motivated more out of jealousy and fear more than anything else. Even he can’t completely intimidate Mattie, and that’s not just because she has the law on her side. She has the strong resolve and moral fortitude he seriously lacks, and his life has lost its sense of purpose. Brolin manages to convey all this in the limited time he has onscreen.

Another guy I was happy to see here, as he fits perfectly into any western he’s ever done, is Barry Pepper. As “Lucky” Ned Pepper (no relation I’m sure), he gives us a nasty outlaw that is far from the ones that were overly glamorized or exploited. “Lucky” Ned is a vicious guy who will not allow anyone to undo his authority anymore than he appears willing to brush his teeth; man they look hideous! Another sign I need to make a dentist appointment in this lifetime. Having survived “Saving Private Ryan” (in a matter of speaking) and “Battlefield Earth” (that’s saying a lot), Pepper is starting to look more and more like one of our most underrated actors. He always seems to be coming in just right under the radar.

The main difference between the 2010 and 1969 movies is in the wild, wild west is portrayed. The 1969 movie was more about watching John Wayne blow away the bad guy just as he did in every movie before and after it (even the one where he played Genghis Khan). But the 2010 version portrays the world it inhabits much more realistically, treating violence as a brutal and very vicious thing. This one is more akin to “Unforgiven” than to “Rio Bravo.” Violence is a way of life for all these characters, and it defines the way they see the world around them. We also see how it affects their souls as the specter of death hangs over their every move. There’s no attempt to sweeten up the narrative or make it the action shoot ‘em up western many of us grew up watching. Any attempt to make that kind of a film in recent years has ended up looking profoundly stupid (“Texas Rangers” anyone?).

Still, Joel & Ethan Coen have succeeded in making one of their most accessible movies to date for the mainstream audiences of today. They also managed to do it without compromising themselves as artists, as this film sees them getting the widest audience they ever had before. They continue to employ their regular collaborators who never fail them like cinematographer Roger Deakins, editor Roderick Jaynes, and their longtime film composer Carter Burwell who contributes another in a long line of great movie scores for these two.

If there was any problem I had with this “True Grit,” it was in the way it ended. We see one character many years later in their life, and the effect is disorienting. It was the same thing that happened at the start and the end of Frank Darabont’s “The Green Mile,” and it just took me out of the moment. The effect wasn’t too bad in this one, but I was hoping to see the actor who played said character get more of a proper send off.

Remaking a movie like “True Grit” seems like the last thing they would ever do, but I believe them when they say they never saw this as a remake. They stayed very true to the source material and even made the language Charles Portis scribbled down seem very much alive and sharp witted. Whether or not you value John Wayne’s take on Rooster more than this one, you have to give the Coens credit for staying true to a book written back in 1968.

Oscar will surely be bestowing nominations on this picture, but here’s hoping that Hailee Steinfeld gets one as well. She should be considered for Best Actress, but with all the stars being billed over her, the Academy will just relegate her to the Supporting Actress category.

That’ll be the day!

***½ out of ****

The Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA) announced today that renowned actor and philanthropist Matt Damon will be presented with the fourth annual Joel Siegel Award at the 16th annual Critics’ Choice Movie Awards. The ceremony will air live on VH1 on Friday, January 14 at 9:00 PM ET/PT.

Given annually, this special award pays homage to beloved “Good Morning America” film critic and BFCA member Joel Siegel, who lost his long struggle with cancer in June, 2007.

Matt Damon has long held a special place in the hearts of the BFCA membership. He won his first two Critics’ Choice Awards 13 years ago, when he burst on the screen as the star and co-writer of “Good Will Hunting.” He has gone on to receive five more nominations, including last year for his work in “Invictus.” Damon is a worldwide box office superstar, thanks to such smash hits as “Saving Private Ryan” and the “Bourne” and “Ocean’s” series. This year, he played crucial roles in two films being honored at the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards, as the Texas Ranger LaBoeuf in the Best Picture nominee “True Grit” and as the voice of the Best Documentary Feature nominee “Inside Job,” as well as starring in Clint Eastwood’s “Hereafter” and Paul Greengrass’ “Green Zone.”

“Matt personifies the values celebrated by the Joel Siegel Award,” says BFCA President Joey Berlin. “Among his many charitable endeavors, Matt’s work as co-founder of Water.org has inspired us to honor him. The profound mission of Water.org is to help bring a day when everyone on the planet can take a safe drink of water. Matt is also a founder of Not On Our Watch, which focuses global attention and resources to stop and prevent mass atrocities. He helps fight AIDS and poverty as a supporter of the ONE Campaign. He is also an ambassador for ONEXONE, a non-profit foundation committed to supporting, preserving and improving the lives of children at home in the United States and around the world, and a spokesperson for Feeding America, this country’s largest hunger-relief organization. Clearly Matt understands, as Joel did, that the true value of celebrity is as an enhanced platform to do good works for others.”

Counting down to the live premiere of the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards, VH1 and MTV will air the 16th Annual Critics’ Choice Movie Awards Red Carpet Pre-Show live on Friday, January 14 at 8:30 PM ET/PT. Covering the excitement of the celebrity arrivals on the red carpet will be co-hosts Tim Kash and La La Vazquez. The pre-show will also be available on CriticsChoice.VH1.com.

It was the teaming of Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass that made me almost completely forget that “Green Zone” was yet another movie about our current war in Iraq. I find myself, as well as many others I know, avoiding this subject at the movies because we spend so much of our days thinking about what goes on over there, and of how we want this war to be over with already. But this director and actor were major forces behind some of the most exciting action movies of the past decade with “The Bourne Supremacy” and “The Bourne Ultimatum,” Furthermore, the composer of the Bourne trilogy, John Powell, is on board as well to give the movie an even bigger kinetic kick. We all appear to agree on that the reason for being at war in Iraq, that Saddam having a stockpile of weapons of mass destruction (WMD’s) was a lie, but that doesn’t begin to tell us the whole story.

“Green Zone” is said to have been inspired by the non-fiction 2006 book “Imperial Life in the Emerald City” by journalist Rajiv Chandrasekaran, but the end credits spell out that the movie is actually a work of fiction. Still, while it is not exactly “based on a true story” (thank god they didn’t use that mantra for this one), “Green Zone” still feels like one of the more logical and honest commentaries about our current mess of a war in the Middle East.

Matt Damon stars as Army Chief warrant officer Roy Miller, and we see him with his unit as they investigate a warehouse believed to contain WMD’s inside. Turns out that it doesn’t, and we quickly find that this is not the first time Miller and his men have come up empty. As a result, Miller begins to seriously doubt the intelligence reports that have been provided to the troops from a “reliable” but anonymous source. Endlessly curious about why he and every other military officer are not finding any weapons, and with the odds of finding them becoming as bad as getting the winning Lotto number, Miller starts his own little investigation into the matter. At the same time, forces around him continue to try and contain a potentially combustible situation that may soon become possible to control in the slightest.

Could this film be seen as “The Bourne Conspiracy”? Well, almost. Like Jason Bourne, Roy Miller is searching for the truth. Jason was looking for his true identity, and Roy is looking to find the truth about WMD’s so that the American armed forces can seize them before Saddam and his top officials do more damage. Neither one ends up being completed satisfied with the answers they get.

It’s no wonder that Greengrass chose to work again with Damon on this film. Ever since “The Bourne Identity,” we have had no real problems in accepting the “Good Will Hunting” actor as an action hero (we were much more dubious about it back then). What makes him perfect for these kinds of roles is that Damon never descends into some clichéd portrayal of a soldier who thinks he’s all badass. Roy Miller is a down to earth kind of guy who is sincere in his quest to keep America safe from enemies foreign and domestice. Never does he try to be a hero or show off how macho he is; Miller is just a guy doing the job he enlisted to perform.

What I really liked about “Green Zone” among other things is how it shows how the Iraq war is a complete mess even while we go into the movie theater already knowing this. I mean, how much do we really know about what’s going on over there anyway? We can’t believe everything we read in the paper, and while we think we are experts on the war and the military, something usually comes along to remind us that we are not even close to understanding what’s really happening.

You have the soldiers coming up empty, you have the CIA knowing that they will come up empty and not sure why, and you have special intelligence who knows far more than they are willing to let their own military be aware of. In the midst of all this, you have investigative reporters writing articles on Saddam having started up weapons programs again even though they have never been told who the source of this news is. They have to take the word of an official who ends up leading them around in circles. No wonder America is in such a political rut right now; everyone is trying to cover their ass and stay ahead of the blame game. Granted, the movie takes place in Baghdad around the beginning of the invasion in 2003, but a lot of the problems shown here are just as bad today.

Now there are a lot of people out there who have already been calling this movie “anti-American” and “anti-war,” but I couldn’t agree with that sentiment any less. Most of the recent movies dealing with war are more respectful to the troops than people bother to realize. As for those who assume that it is appallingly “anti-American” as it shows Roy Miller going rogue against his superiors (particularly Greg Kinnear’s character) in getting the information he wants. I wonder if those same critics had a problem when Jack Bauer does the same thing on “24.”

If anything, a lot of the recent war movies and have been more anti-mercenary than anything else. Be it “Green Zone,” “The Hurt Locker,” or even “Rambo,” mercenaries are shown stepping all over the soldiers if they have to, and we have since come to know that they make about twice of what the average working class soldier gets paid each year. The soldiers in these films have been presented as far more prepared and much more patriotic in their commitment to protecting our country. With the mercenaries, you get the impression that they wouldn’t even be fighting in the war if they weren’t making close to six figures. In comparison, the troops of the armed forces come off looking much better. Now if that isn’t pro-troop, then I don’t know what is.

It should also go without saying that there is a complexity to both the American and Iraqi characters throughout the film. You figure everyone would be on the same team regardless of what side they are on, but you come to see all the infighting that is tearing each side apart as they delude themselves into believing they are winning. One of the most pivotal characters in “Green Zone” is Freddy, an Iraqi who Miller befriends and who later becomes his translator. Hollywood has often been accused of presenting Middle Eastern characters as nothing more than terrorists, but Freddy is not like that. In his own way, Freddy wants to help his country, and he risks his own life to try to help the Americans while not necessarily welcoming them to where he lives. Freddy ends up becoming the symbol of those Iraqis who feel wronged by their leaders, and of how infuriated they are about the endless damage that they constantly leave in their horrific wake. From a distance, it becomes clear that both sides are confused and become almost completely unsure of what to believe.

In some ways, you could also say that “Green Zone” is a criticism of American military involvement in other countries, but director Greengrass doesn’t necessarily hit you over the head with that. Still, during the scene where Miller comes face to face with General Al-Rawi (Yigal Naor gives the role a good menacing quality), Miller comes to learn the truth of why military forces are really in Iraq. Al-Rawi is one of the bad guys, but he is also a victim of being in the position he is in. In other words, Al-Rawi is going to take a fall only because the US government wants Saddam. While he may have told the truth about WMD’s, he was confessing to a political opportunist with deaf ears.

When Al-Rawi asks Roy Miller if he thinks American forces can seriously change anything in Iraq, I was quickly reminded of a similar scene in Ridley Scott’s “Black Hawk Down” where a helicopter pilot is being held by Somalia warlords who end up question the military’s involvement in their country:

“Do you think if you get General Aidid, we will simply put down our weapons and adopt American democracy? That the killing will stop? We know this. Without victory, there will be no peace. There will always be killing, see? This is how things are in our world.”

Once again, American foreign policy is rendered almost useless as the troops deal with unfamiliar territory. It doesn’t matter if technology has advanced so much over the years, our soldiers are still strangers in a foreign land. After all these years, do we really still believe we can change the tide of things?

Throughout his career, Paul Greengrass has never been afraid of backing down from topics that feel very touchy. With “Bloody Sunday,” he captured the horrible events of January 20, 1972 when British soldiers clashed with Northern Ireland protestors who were fighting for their freedom. But perhaps the best example of Greengrass dealing with uncomfortable subjects was when he made “United 93” which dealt with the events of September 11^th and of how the passengers on that fateful flight were the first to deal with a post-World Trade Center world. Some thought it was too soon for a 9/11 movie (myself included), but Greengrass succeeded in making an incredibly powerful movie that honored the lives of those who perished while fighting to take control of the hijacked plane, and it proved to be as brilliant as it was emotionally draining.

Any other director making an Iraq war movie would probably have me running in the other direction to “Cop Out” or “Alice In Wonderland” (two movies I should have seen already), but not Greengrass. With “Green Zone,” he defies those who think that film should just be an escape and not a forum for national conversation. It’s an action movie that is designed to be as thrilling as it is enlightening. His aim is not to show how America divided itself from the rest of the world with this invasion, but of how it created sharp and highly sensitive divisions in America itself.

In addition to Matt Damon, there are several other actors who bring their considerable acting talents to “Green Zone.” Brendan Gleeson is perfectly cast as Martin Brown, the CIA Baghdad bureau chief who has seen it all. Still, he is trying to cut through the BS that is hindering his efforts of controlling the situation in Iraq. Amy Ryan (so damn good in “Gone Baby Gone”) is excellent as Wall Street Journal foreign correspondent Lawrie Dayne. Her character has written many articles regarding weapons programs being continued in Saddam’s regime, but we see her doubt the source that has given her what she thought was reliable information. Most reporters in movies these days are despicable, but Ryan makes this one empathetic as she comes to discover the truth while it contradicts all she has reported. The always reliable Greg Kinnear is well cast as Clark Poundstone, a member of Pentagon Special Intelligence who knows far more than he lets on.

It’s no secret that these characters are based on real people, but of course the names have been changed to protect the guilty.

“Green Zone” isn’t quite as viscerally exciting as the Jason Bourne movies, and it won’t go down as the definitive Iraq war movie (“The Hurt Locker” holds that distinctive honor), but it is still edge of your seat entertainment from a director who doesn’t even try to hold his camera in one place for very long. But not to worry, Greengrass films the action in a way that doesn’t make it all that hard to tell what’s going on. It also has that adrenaline racing score by composer John Powell which I am hoping to find on CD for far less than its $15.99 retail price.

Another key scene that comes to mind from this movie is when Roy Miller goes out to investigate a lead, and Kinnear’s character ends up cutting him off and cancelling his transfer to Brown’s CIA team. As he walks inside the CIA headquarters in Baghdad, he tells Miller,

“You shouldn’t have been playing on the wrong team.”

It makes me wonder, when was the last time all of us Americans were on the same team?

***½ out of ****

"This film is based on real events, but not everything you'll see is real, some are a fabrication.”

“So there.”

Right there, the opening title sets up the giddy tone of Steven Soderbergh’s “The Informant!” Based on Kurt Eichenwald’s 2000 non-fiction book of the same name, it tells the tale of Mark Whitacre, a bio-chemist at Archer Daniels Midland (ADM). When Whitacre informs his bosses that one of the competitors is extorting from them, the FBI becomes involved and seeks his cooperation. But Whitacre later lets it slip to FBI agent Brian Shepard (Scott Bakula) that ADM is actually involved in a multi-national price-fixing conspiracy over Lysine, a food additive. Soon after, Whitacre becomes a whistle blower for the FBI, gathering copious amounts of information to blow the company’s illegal dealings wide open. But in the process, it turns out Whitacre actually knows more than he’s telling anybody, and it is eventually revealed that he has been embezzling millions of dollars from the company. From there, he goes from being a star witness to a corporate pariah.

“The Informant!” is not just your typical corporate corruption film in which the main characters are on a mission to uncover the truth and expose wrongdoings. The movie is really about getting to the truth of who Mark Whitacre is. As the movie goes on, we find that he is not only being dishonest to everyone around him, but to himself as well. Mark ends up being diagnosed with bi-polar disorder which makes clear how far his mental health has unraveled. Soderbergh gets us to trust Whitacre along with Damon, and the rest of the movie involves us getting deeper into his psyche. Whitacre doesn’t just deceive his employees, he deceives the audience watching the movie as well.

Much has been said about Matt Damon going all De Niro on this role by having put on a good 30 pounds and a mustache to play Whitacre. But he more than succeeds in bringing an everyman quality to this role which is not at all easy with a star like him, known for his good looks (the term actor fits him better anyway). It certainly sets his character apart from Jason Bourne, who Whitacre is clearly not (he does liken himself to James Bond though). Damon has never had a role like this before, and it should be considered as further proof that he is a better actor than many give him credit for.

Soderbergh’s decision to give the movie a comic tone is an interesting choice, and it is a reminder that he is still one of the most unpredictable film directors working today. This is his second film that he has released this year, having earlier given us his indie experiment with Sash Grey, “The Girlfriend Experience.” While this one was done on a bigger budget, my understanding is that he shot almost as fast (30 days was the length of the shoot from what I have been told), probably because the studio wasn’t sure if people would see it or not. Looking more closely at the script, this could have been Soderbergh’s “Michael Clayton,” but they both have taken this story (the kind we see in the papers everyday) and made it into something a little different. While the tone is a bit inconsistent throughout, and you are not sure of how amusing the film is meant to be, that may be the point of it all.

The humor throughout this movie is very dry, and it sticks in your throat for good reason. Whereas everyone here looks like they are having a blast with the material, you have to remind yourself once in awhile that “The Informant!” is based on a true story, and that Whitacre’s conviction ended up giving a sentence three times longer than those he exposed. This may be one of those movies that thwarts expectations as it has been promoted and advertised as a full out comedy. It is not meant to be a laugh a minute comedy like “Airplane!”

When all is said and done, “The Informant!” really belongs to Matt Damon as much as it does to Steven Soderbergh. As Mark Whitacre, Damon never looks like he is just acting or simply doing an impersonation of the real Whitacre. This is also clearly not a performance that stopped at the physical appearance (Damon gaining all that weight), but one which really gets into the inner trappings of this bio-chemist’s mind. From start to finish, we keep hearing Damon’s narration about the little things he knows and what he makes of people around him. I somehow figured that this would all lead to a big realization at the film’s climax, but it really illustrates the deteriorating state of Mark Whitacre’s mind. Damon actually makes you empathize with this even while he comes across as a Bernie Madoff in training.

While Damon looks like he had the time of his life here, he must have exercised like crazy to get all that excess weight off. But really, has there ever been another movie where you have seen a high ranking corporate employee so overeager to rat out his colleagues? In any other movie, this guy would be cracking under the stress and pressure of having to where a wire at the very least. “The Informant!” does cover the 3 years Whitacre worked with the FBI, and he did indeed crack under the pressure, but it makes it look like he had a certain glee about it for the most part, and that’s even while it was all downhill from there for him.

During taped meetings, he looks straight into the tiny cameras the FBI installed in the lamps, utterly annoying the agents he is working with. Later, he goes out of his way to almost completely exposing himself as he tries to fix the taping device inserted into his briefcase while in an important meeting. While walking through his office, Whitacre even goes out of his to narrate the tapes to indicate who he is talking to and also dictates what area of the building he is in. I’m surprised that those who worked with him on this price fixing case didn’t suffer serious heart attacks from all the unintentional stress he put them under. Whitacre always looks like he is just one step away from completely ruining the case.

I also have to say that for the life of me, I cannot remember the last time there was a character that inspired so many dead or befuddled stares from other people. It’s like every single character he comes into contact with has at least two or three moments where they look at Mark Whitacre with their jaws hanging down almost all the way to the floor. Have you ever seen another movie where so many characters look like they are about to say:

“Excuse me? Would you mind repeating that? YOU WHAT??!!”

The two actors who end up giving Whitacre the most jaw dropping glares throughout “The Informant!” are Scott Bakula and Joel McHale. Both play off of Damon perfectly, and their expressions mirror our own as we come to discover the secrets of Whitacre’s ways at the same time they do. Bakula, still around long after “Quantum Leap” and the last Star Trek television spin-off “Enterprise,” gives us a coolly collected FBI agent instead of the intense and easily aggravated ones we see in these movies. But not to worry, he does lose his temper eventually. Joel McHale, who is now starring on the NBC comedy series “Community,” is even drier here than Bakula. At the movie’s end, he still cannot figure out if Whitacre has been completely on the level with him. Then again, Whitacre probably can’t figure that out either. I remember saying that if you believe in a lie so much, it eventually becomes the truth, and that is the biggest affliction of all for Mark Whitacre.

The seriousness of the story is also offset by the wonderfully breezy music score by Marvin Hamlisch. It treats the goings on as a bizarre farce that goes further out of the hand than anyone could have imagined…and then it gets even more bizarre before the movie ends. Even as the situation becomes increasingly serious with the walls closing in on Damon’s character, Hamlisch’s score remains surprisingly upbeat throughout. Along with the retro opening credits, it’s almost like Soderbergh was trying to give the film a 70’s look even though it takes place in the 90’s.

Damon is also given strong support by the rest of the cast which includes some stand up comics like the great Rick Overton as Terry Wilson (he seriously has some of the movie’s lines and delivers them with sharp comic precision), and Tom Wilson as Mark Cheviron. Still, you can never get Wilson’s work as Biff from the “Back To The Future” movies out of your head. You also get to see the Smothers Brothers in different scenes, and it feels like it has been too long since I last saw them in anything.

Also really good in this movie is Melanie Lynskey (“Away We Go”) who plays Whitacre’s wife, Ginger. She knows only to a certain extent of her husband’s illegal dealings yet feels as powerless as he does to stop it all. Ginger never comes across as your typical trophy wife of a corporate employee, and that makes Melanie’s performance seem all the more original than what I have seen before.

So while it’s not quite a great movie, “The Informant!” does have a lot going for it, and it is very inventive in how it presents this morally corrupted yet well meaning character. Whitacre may think he’s like Tom Cruise’s character in “The Firm,” he is nowhere as lucky as him. Soderbergh continues to be one of the best directors working in film today, and Damon continues to get better as an actor with each film he does.

SO THERE!

***½ out of ****

"Hey look, I'm sorry I dragged you away from whatever-gay-serial-killers-who-ride-horses-and-like-to-play-golf-touchy-feely-picture you're supposed to be doing this week."
-- Ben Affleck from Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back

"Well, sir, going home! "
-- Driver from Lawrence Of Arabia

"What do you call assassins who accuse assassins?"
-- Colonel Walter E. Kurtz from Apocalypse Now


"My last two films have tanked. If you screw this up I'm really in trouble. I'm really counting on you now."

And so this is how Matt Damon put himself in the hands of director, Doug Liman, for 2002's The Bourne Identity-- a film that arrived in the 2002 summer of half baked ideas and good intentions. Doug Liman would score a home run against action king John Woo on the same day of release as Windtalkers which drags out into its beaten state. It was a massive upset on that bewildering June day. It never dawned on me that Matt Damon would ever want to play a character like Jason Bourne. The Robert Ludlum character had been played by Richard Chamberlain in an ABC Television mini series back in 1988. Matt Damon is not your Father's Jason Bourne. Here I thought Tom Ripley or Will Hunting would be the characters he would be remembered for and very good characters at that, but by the time The Bourne Supremacy came out in 2004, there was no mistaking it-- Matt Damon is Jason Bourne. He slides into the role with each outing as smoothly as Jeremy Irons fits perfectly into his suit in Betrayal. The Bourne Identity had arrived and it set into a motion a series events that can be felt today. Doug Liman brought his hip style which he had honed while making Swingers and Go with an incredible cast that featured Clive Owen, Brian Cox, Julia Stiles, Franka Potente and Chris Cooper. Most of all, it let the James Bond films know that there was a new kid in town. Die Another Day would open later that year and no doubt Jason Bourne had rocked the boat. Let us hope the newest installment, The Bourne Ultimatum will remind Barbara Broccoli not to ruin the goodwill created by Casino Royale. Barbara, under no circumstances, turn Daniel Craig into a lame Roger Moore wannabe. Right now, the ball is in her court to continue the raw tone of last year's Casino Royale.

Bringing Paul Greengrass on to direct The Bourne Supremacy remains one of the great ideas in an industry where no one knows what will work at all. Greengrass brought his bag of tricks from Bloody Sunday and it paid off many times over. The pulse pounding car chase through Moscow remains one of my favorite action sequences of recent years. That sequence and the whole film stay with you long after you leave the theater. Greengrass does not give us much time to catch our breath as The Bourne Ultimatum picks up right after the events of the last film. Greengrass decided to use his break between films to make United 93. The man has lost none of his edge and he has a thing for making sure you never look at your watch during one of his films. The story of The Bourne Ultimatum is rather simple, Bourne is on a quest to unlock the secrets of his past. How did he become Jason Bourne? How did he become this perfect killing machine? While he is on this quest, he once again must dodge and do battle with an array of assassins. Throughout the film, Bourne has a recurring flashback that evolves throughout the course of the film-- a stunning homage to Charles Bronson's Harmonica's evolving flashback in Sergio Leone's Once Upon A Time In The West. It also brings to mind the way Alex Murphy's memory is recalled in Paul Verhoeven's Robocop. For the audience, it is that slow revelation that has been building up for the three Bourne films. We want to know who made Jason Bourne like this and why. What were the reasons? Valerie Plame never had to worry about these things like Jason Bourne. In the Bourne films, the CIA is an all powerful and all knowing intelligence agency. In the real world, they may not be as sharp as Hollywood has made them out to be. While in the films, they on top of their game. Tim Weiner's Legacy Of Ashes: The History Of The CIA is the antithesis of these films-- I wish my Dad would finish that book so I can read it next. His quest takes us to England where Guardian reporter, Simon Ross (Paddy Considine), has been writing articles about Bourne and the people who programmed him. Bourne needs to get a hold of Ross. While Bourne manages to find Ross, it is short-lived. Ross is taken out and Bourne must go home in every sense of the word.

Jason Bourne comes home for The Bourne Ultimatum and it is a day of reckoning for everyone involved. New York City has enough problems! David Strathairn's Noah Vosen is one of those bastard government agency types who could qualify as a true believer. He really believes in his mission. Vosen makes Cliff Robertson's Higgins in Three Days Of The Condor look like the Good Humor Man. Vosen is part of an unholy trinity of men who would like to eliminate Jason Bourne. Scott Glenn's Ezra Kramer and Albert Finney's Dr. Albert Hirsh make up the other members. It keeps them up at night knowing that he is still alive. Not everyone is out to get Bourne. He finds allies in Julia Stiles’ Nicky Parsons and Joan Allen's Pamela Landy. Both actresses give remarkable performances-- we expect nothing less from Joan Allen. She is a class act who has brought so much to these films. Allen's Landy is the good mother; she wants to bring Jason in under her terms; she wants to help him. Vosen and his band of assassins would like to do away with Bourne for good. Bourne’s survival would be the end of the ultra secret special ops program; careers would be destroyed. Throughout the film, Bourne manages to outwit and eliminate everyone that Vosen sends his way. Does Vosen know with whom he is dealing with? Once Bourne returns to America, the real fun starts. I did not know that NYPD police cruisers could endure that kind of action. The car chase through the streets of New York City has to be seen to be believed. You will be on the edge of your seat, Paul Greengrass gives us no time to rest. Jason Bourne versus every assassin in the world. The odds do not look too good for the assassins. As Bourne returns to his birthplace, we are treated to the torture of America's recent past. Dr. Albert Hirsch is America's dark side. He represents evil via both versions of The Manchurian Candidate. We have been waiting for the Hirsch/ Bourne confrontation for five years. It does not disappoint.

Matt Damon has said this will be his last film as Jason Bourne. While there are no more books by Robert Ludlum, Eric Lustbader has written two Jason Bourne books. I would love to see Matt Damon reconsider. On a side note, Lustbader is the perfect heir to continue the Ludlum tradition. I loved his Ninja books. For me, The Bourne films represent a great trilogy of fast paced heart pounding action films. They stay with you long after you leave the theater. Paul Greengrass continues his hand held dizzying camera work which heightens the intensity of this outing. Oliver Wood's cinematography is divine. Wood has made each film look incredible. Christopher Rouse comes back with his rapid fire editing skills that made United 93 and The Bourne Supremacy work so well. Greengrass is no fool; he knows a film like this comes together in the editing suite.

I will miss Jason Bourne. The films have been an enormous success on every level. Having said that, I would welcome a film adaptation of Robert Ludlum's The Matarese Circle and The Matarese Countdown. We have a whole generation of film makers who respect the source material. I am glad to see Robert Ludlum getting the cinematic respect he deserves. It is very nice to see a third film in a series be as excellent as this one. No third film curse with The Bourne Ultimatum. Jason Bourne forever!