BITE-SIZED: A Bronx Tale (Robert DeNiro, 1993)

Calogero (Francis Capra and Lillo Brancato, Jr.) is a young Italian American boy growing up in the Bronx during the sixties.

After he covers for a murder on his front stoop, Calogero becomes the favourite of local mobster Sonny (Chazz Palimentari).

As he grows up, Calogero finds himself torn between the worldviews of Sonny and his hardworking dad Lorenzo (DeNiro).

Based on the autobiographical one-man show by Chazz Palminteri, Robert DeNiro’s directorial debut is a fine coming-of-age film.

There is a version of this movie where it is a simple binary, as  Calogero (or C as Sonny calls him) moves between his two father figures.

But Palminteri's nuanced script and the cast's performances feel so well-drawn that those kinds of easy divides are harder to make.

Sonny offers the youngster his philosophy on treating people just well enough that they remain loyal. On a deeper level, he gives Calogero unvarnished honesty. 

Lorenzo is internal and closed off. He loves his son, but he does not know how to express it.

Sonny is blunt and to the point. He has no patience for hypocrisy. He also gives Calogero confidence to not follow what society regards as the right choices. 

When Calogero is unsure whether he should ask Jane (Taral Hicks), a black girl in his school, out on a date, Sonny lets him borrow his car. It is an interesting juxtaposition to Lorenzo, who shoots him down.

In their own ways, each adult complements what Calogero needs to grow up.

It also means the movie is riddled with more organic tension, beyond the obvious threat Sonny represents.

Because of how much time the film spends investing in these duelling relationships, it becomes a genuine conflict.

Anchored by the unvarnished performances of young leads Capra and Brancato, Jr., A Bronx Tale is a fine coming-of-age drama.

BITE-SIZED: Motherless Brooklyn (Edward Norton, 2019)

 New York, the 1950s.

After his mentor is murdered, private detective Lionel Essrog (Edward Norton) wants to know who was responsible.

A trail of clues lead Lionel straight to the top of the city’s shadowy power structure, Moses Randolph (Alec Baldwin).

This movie is made up of things I usually take as warning signs:

It is a passion project.

It is over two hours long.

It is directed by an actor who plays a character with an impairment.

These qualifiers usually put me off. And yet…

I kind of love this movie.

I have not read the book this movie is based on, and I am not that interested in reading it. Mostly because the elements that I most gravitated to - the period setting and Randolph Moses character - are not in the book.

Apparently Edward Norton came up with the idea to reset the action to the fifties, and combine the book’s premise with the story of Robert Moses, the inspiration for Randolph, who was the master builder/municipal dictator of New York City. 

A few years ago, I read Fear City, the account of New York’s transformation in the mid-seventies to the place it is today, where the city’s modest welfare state was replaced by an environment that centred the city’s financial elites.

While it is fictional, because the New York this movie takes place in no longer exists, it adds another dimension to the movie.

And while the movie was long, it never feels that baggy. I would have to watch it again, but the bigger canvas does allow for more world-building.

The mystery is fine - the film shows its hand by trying to build up Randolph early, so the final twist is somewhat easy to spot.

The movie wants to be like Chinatown, in terms of showing the sordid underbelly that underpins the city’s expansion. 

The real-life Robert Moses famously used his powers to segregate the city (the famous example is building low bridges over parkways so that poorer residents - including black people and other communities - would not be able to take buses to access parks and beaches). Norton uses this context as the basis for the film’s central mystery, and Lionel’s friendship with Laura Rose (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), a local black activist.

In the lead, Norton goes to town with various tics and other physicality. Maybe it is because I knew he was playing a character with an impairment, I was ready for his shtick.

While there is a sense of Oscar thirst to the performance, he is not as big of a caricature as I expected. As the movie progresses, Norton dials back on the tics, and I began to wonder whether the movie would have worked without his character conceit - while it is a key aspect of the book, on the evidence of this adaptation, it feels like a hat on a hat.

The cast is solid. Baldwin brings a thuggish authority as the main heavy, Mbatha-Raw and Willem Dafoe are good in their roles, and Bruce Willis - in one of his most recent appearances, brings a weary charm as Lionel’s mentor.

Motherless Brooklyn feels like a sturdy, weighty drama from a few decades ago. It has a capable cast, a meaty period setting and a familiar genre structure. It is a bit long, and Norton’s performance is - something, but overall, it is worth a look.

BITE-SIZED: Westworld (Michael Crichton, 1973)

In the future, Delos is the dream vacation destination - if you ever wanted to be a bandit in the old west or romance a princess in a castle, Delos is the place for you.

Encompassing three different period environments populated by human-looking robots, Delos offers an immersive experience you will never forget.

Peter (Richard Benjamin) and John (James Brolin) are old friends who take a vacation in Westworld. 

While they settle in, trouble is brewing in the bowels of Delos.

A virus is spreading through the machines, causing them to override their programming and start attacking the guests.

Peter soon finds himself the target of the Gunslinger (Yul Brynner), an unstoppable killing machine who will not stop until he is dead. 

It is ironic that Westworld has become famous as the basis for the expansive TV series, because one of the joys of the original movie is how succinct it is.

Shot on a small budget and cut to the bone, Westworld’s brevity is one of its strengths.

Even the limited use of music adds to the unsettling vibe.

Vibe is the key word with this film.

The acting is okay, and the production values are stock, but it adds to the film’s sense of atmosphere.

Despite its high concept, Westworld is marked by its lack of flash - the style is deliberately straightforward and designed to evoke western cliches. 

The robots all play familiar western archetypes - the old inn keeper, the taciturn sheriff, the sly madam.

The key reason for the film’s success is Yul Brynner as the Gunfighter. 

A dry run for Ah-nuld’s performance as the Terminator, Brynner plays off his established persona from The Magnificent Seven.

With his stock, clipped dialogue, deliberate motion and unflinching stare, he is an uncanny, terrifying presence.

He is so effective that even when the movie turns into a foot-chase through Delos, the tension remains high. 

The third act of the movie is maybe a little too neat but as a concept and a vibe, Westworld is worth checking out.

It is unsurprising Michael Crichton recycled the basic premise for Jurassic Park.

Juice (Ernst Dickerson, 1992)

Roland Bishop (Tupac Shakur), Quincy "Q" Powell (Omar Epps), Raheem Porter (Khalil Kain), and Eric "Steel" Thurman (Jermaine 'Huggy' Hopkins) are four best friends living in New York City.

They regularly skip school to hang out. 

While they think of themselves as a gang, Bishop is more obsessed with gaining ‘juice’ - power and status - on the streets.

When he gets his hands on a gun, Bishop finally has the juice - and he will not let anyone get in his way, even his best friends…

A tight little thriller, Juice is more stripped down than similar movies - Boyz n the Hood and Menace II Society are more concerned with context and backstory. Those films want to tell character stories set in specific locales with systemic critiques.

This film feels a little more like a genre piece, and even makes direct acknowledgement within the text - in an early scene Bishop watches James Cagney in White Heat, setting up his eventual rise and fall.

The characters are set up in medis res, getting ready for the day - very efficient in terms of setting up each character, their personality and family. 

Instead of school, they wander the streets getting up to minor scraps.

The movie feels like an overt morality play - these kids are so obsessed with being gangsters that they get destroyed by it.

With a supernatural twist, it could almost be a horror short. 

In the lead roles, Omar Epps and Tupac Shakur are terrific, particularly in terms of how they convey so much with their eyes.

The boys never want to come off weak in front of each other, and Epps in particular is great at communicating Q’s growing helplessness.

Initially Bishop is a wildcard obsessed with getting more power. Shakur brings high energy and physicality to these early scenes - it always feels like Bishop is trying to peacock himself into appearing more tough.

When the character gets a gun, it’s like he has found the missing piece he always needed, and Shakur goes smaller. He no longer needs to project. 

My favourite example of this shift is when Bishop is cornered on the street by his former bullies, and his friends abandon him.

As Q and Steel walk away, there is a cut to a closeup of Shakur’s face, staring completely dead-eyed out of frame. It is as if he has moved forward in time, past the current threat, and is now focused on vengeance. Terrifying.

Debut director Ernst Dickerson got his start lensing Spike Lee’s early films and John Sayles’ Brother From Another Planet. 

Juice looks great but is also very well-directed - my favourite scene in the film is during Raheem’s funeral. 

The scene is rich with tension, as Q and Steel are on the look-out for Bishop (Raheem’s killer).

Dickerson has the camera behind Epps as he hugs Raheem’s mother.

As he steps back, Raheem’s mother looks over his shoulder and Bishop is revealed stepping past Q to hug her.

The way it is staged, it initially looks like Shakur is about to attack him.

Making it even better, Shakur does not even acknowledge Epps. 

Simply through blocking, Dickerson conveys the mind games Bishop is playing on his former friends.

As Bishop’s campaign of terror escalates, the movie turns into a horror movie during the third act - there is a shot where Bishop emerges from the darkness behind Q like Michael Myers in Halloween.

Dickerson had previous form in creating urban dread - he lensed 1987's Enemy Territory, about an apartment complex of residents trying to escape a vicious gang led by Candyman's Tony Todd.

The ending is a little bit of a letdown - Bishop slips out of Q’s grip and falls off a building. In the original ending, Bishop was supposed to hear the sirens and let go, which feels more appropriate to the character.

While the released version is a wet paper towel, the final shot is haunting - a close up of Epps staring blankly into space while the sounds of his friends echo though his mind.

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BITE-SIZED: Thirteen Days (Roger Donaldson, 2000)

A look at the Kennedy White House’s response to the Cuban Missile crisis in October 1963, Thirteen Days is a solid historical drama, boosted by some terrific performances.

While the biggest name in the movie is Kevin Costner, Thirteen Days is a real team effort.

Whenever an actor takes on a recognisable historical figure like JFK, it often feels like a facsimile - all the attention is on approximating the person’s most recognisable external characteristics. 

Eschewing makeup and the familiar accent, Bruce Greenwood might not look or sound like JFK, but he works for the movie. He brings a flinty intelligence and sense of authority that anchors the ensemble.

Steven Culp feels like a closer match for Robert Kennedy, but he never feels like a facsimile.  

Thirteen Days was directed by New Zealand/Australian filmmaker Roger Donaldson, famous for films as varied as Smash Palace, No Way Out and Cocktail.

There is a sturdy craftsmanship to the direction that ensures the various administration machinations are easy to follow.

Released at the end of the nineties, Thirteen Days now feels like a warning.

One of the key layers of tension is the disconnect between the military brass and the civilians responsible for overseeing their actions. The most suspenseful scenes is McNamara trying to pull an admiral away from escalating the standoff with the Soviet convoy.

It always feels like the institutions meant to protect the state are the ones most agitating for action.

Thirteen Days ends up as a tribute to calm heads in tense times, but it is hard not to read Kennedy's struggles as a temporary (and geographically limited) deviation from American escalation.

A fine drama on its own merits, Thirteen Days is worth a look.