Coram Deo ~

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Tag Archives: Jason Bateman


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My Review of AIR

Air, rated R
****

The enjoyable film, about the true story of Nike’s pursuit of Michael Jordan, was directed by Ben Affleck (Argo) and written by Alex Convery. Set in 1984, the film is about shoe company Nike and their fledgling basketball shoe division, which is doing so poorly that it may soon be shut down. Nike basketball shoes, with just 17% of the market, are a distant third place behind Adidas and Converse.
Rob Strasser, head of Nike’s basketball shoe division, played by Emmy winner Jason Bateman (Ozark), has a relatively small budget ($250,000), and he is working with his team to identify three lower tier players in the upcoming draft to divide the money up with. The top players are considered out of reach for Nike. But the slightly overweight sales person Sonny Vaccaro, played by Oscar winner Matt Damon (Good Will Hunting), who as part of his job goes to high school basketball tournaments and then adds a stop in Las Vegas, comes up with his own gamble that could put Nike basketball shoes on the map. His idea is to give their entire basketball shoe budget to Michael Jordan from North Carolina. Nike founder and CEO Phil Knight, played by two-time Oscar winner Ben Affleck (Good Will Hunting, Argo), thinks that is a crazy idea that the board will never go for. Strasser and Howard White, played by Chris Tucker (Rush Hour) try to discourage Sonny. In addition, Jordan, through his agent David Falk, played by Chris Messina has made it clear that he will be signing with Adidas. Continue reading →


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My Review of GAME NIGHT

Game Night, rated R
***

Game Night is a very funny adult comedy with a good cast, but has some content issues. The film is directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein who co-wrote Horrible Bosses and co-directed Vacation; it is written by Mark Perez.
Three-time Golden Globe nominee Jason Bateman (Arrested Development) plays Max. He is married to and very much in love with Annie, played by Oscar nominee Rachel McAdams (Spotlight). Bateman and McAdams have great screen chemistry. As a married couple they are so close, they often know what the other is thinking and finish each other’s thoughts. Their one issue is that thus far they have not been able to start a family. They love games, are very competitive, and host a regular game night at their home with friends. Those friends don’t include the strange neighbor and policeman Gary, played by Jesse Plemons, who wants to be invited to the game nights.
On this particular night, the game players are Ryan, played by Billy Magnussen (Into the Woods, The Big Short), a friend of Annie’s. Ryan brings a different date to each game night. On this night, his date is Sarah, played by Emmy nominee Sharon Horgan (Catastrophe). Kevin, played by Lamorne Morris (New Girl) is married to Michelle, played by Kylie Bunbury. Brooks, Max’s brother who has always been more successful than him, is played by Emmy winner Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Lights).
Brooks, always looking to one-up Max, invites the group to a special game night at his place. He promises that it will be the best game night they’ve ever had.

***SPOILER ALERT***
They won’t be playing a board game, but instead it will be a mystery night in which one of the players will be kidnapped and the rest will have to solve the crime.
As the players gather at the mansion he is renting, we see masked kidnappers take Brooks while the rest of the players look on enjoying their snacks, assuming it is all part of the game. But it turns out that these are real kidnappers who abduct him before the fake kidnappers can get there. It turns out that Brooks’ successful investing career wasn’t all that he made it out to be and now he is paying for it.  From there, we see one crazy development after another as Max and Annie work as a team to rescue Brooks.
*********************

The entertaining plot takes some interesting twists and turns and there are several laugh out loud moments. There are plenty of movie references and a car chase.
Content issues include a significant amount of adult language, some of it of a sexual nature, and many abuses of God’s and Jesus’s names. The film also contains a significant amount of violence.
Note of caution: The previews at our theater were pretty raunchy, so you might want to arrive 15 minutes late.
Game Night is a very funny well-acted film with a good cast. It contains some positive messages but also has some content concerns.  Themes include sibling rivalry, competition, marriage, children and sacrifice for others.


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Movie Review ~ The Gift

The GiftThe Gift, rated R
*** ½

This psychological thriller stars Jason Bateman as Simon and Rebecca Hall as his wife Robyn. They have just relocated from Chicago to Simon’s hometown in Southern California where Simon has accepted a promising new job with a security systems firm. They purchased a new home with a beautiful view as they hope to leave the sadness of Robyn’s miscarriage behind in Chicago and get a fresh new start. Robyn struggled with addiction to prescription medicine after the miscarriage and is fragile emotionally.

As the couple is shopping for their new home they run into Gordon, or ‘Gordo’, played by Joel Edgerton (The Great Gatsby), who also wrote and directed the film. Gordo and Simon went to high school together, but Simon doesn’t appear to remember him in an awkward scene. Gordo overhears the couple’s address in the store and shows up at their home uninvited when Simon is at work. Each time he shows up at their home he leaves a wrapped gift at the front door. Robyn is kind to him and invites him to have dinner with them. Gordo seems socially uncomfortable but returns the favor, inviting them to a dinner party at his home.

Jason becomes increasingly irritable around Gordo, and tells Robyn that they used to call Gordo “Weirdo” (the original working title of the film), in high school. He decides to set boundaries with Gordo, telling him he doesn’t want him to stop by their home any longer. That changes the relationship between Gordon and Simon.

But Robyn, still struggling with the effects of the miscarriage and the addiction to prescription medicine is afraid to be in the home by herself during the day. Her only friend is neighbor Lucy (Allison Tolman). Alone by herself during the day Robyn hears noises. Is someone in the house? Cinematographer Eduard Grau effectively gives us Robyn’s view of the hallways of the empty home as we sit on the edge of our seat waiting to see if someone is indeed in the house. And now their dog Bojangles (named after the song “Mr. Bojangles”), goes missing. What is going on?

As time goes on, Robyn suspects that Simon and Gordo have more of a history than Simon is telling her. What she finds out drives her further away from Simon. What else isn’t he telling her? Does she even really know him? And there seems to be little Simon won’t do to advance his career at his new firm.

The film is rated “R” for a significant amount of adult language, including the misuse/abuse of God’s and Jesus’ names several times. It features themes of fear, bullying and revenge. The Bible passage Psalm 7:14-15 plays a role in the film. Edgerton, Bateman and Hall are all excellent in their roles. Edgerton’s writing is sharp, and it’s hard to believe this is his first major film as a director.