Tag: Clint Eastwood

The Mule

Rated: MThe Mule

Directed by: Clint Eastwood

Screenplay by: Nick Schenk

Based on: “The Sinaloa Cartel’s 90-Year-Old Drug Mule” by Sam Dolnick

Produced by: Clint Eastwood, Tim Moore, Kristina Rivera, Jessica Meier, Dan Friedkin, Bradley Thomas

Starring: Clint Eastwood, Bradley Cooper, Laurence Fishburne, Michael Peña, Dianne Wiest, Andy Garcia.

More than anything, The Mule is a character-driven film, revolving around the audacity of ninety-year-old Earl Stone (Clint Eastwood – himself now 88 years-old) getting away with transporting millions of dollars of drugs loaded into the back of his pick-up for a cartel: ‘Maybe you enjoyed living in the moment a little too much.  That’s why you’re working for us,’ one of the bosses tells him.

Based on an article published in the New Yorker “The Sinaloa Cartel’s 90-Year-Old Drug Mule” by Sam Dolnick, Earl is doing well in 2005.  He’s a horticulturist winning trophies.  He’s missing his daughter’s wedding.  This is his life.

Fast forward twelve years and his business has fallen apart, like his marriage.  His daughter hasn’t spoken to him since he missed her wedding.

This is his life.

He’s broke.

So when he gets an opportunity to get out on the road again and get paid envelopes filled with cash at the other end, it’s easy money.

Earl fought in Korea.  Guns don’t scare him.  The cartel guys don’t scare him.  He’s a cranky, politically incorrect old codger who gets friendly with the cartel guys while he gets richer.

It’s a great role for Eastwood – quirky and certain, brave and a pain in the arse.  His character evolves as his family becomes more of a focus in his life, so there’s the family drama here as well.

And there’s some big names in supporting roles, Brad Cooper as DEA Agent Colin Bates when meeting Earl over coffee likes him, telling him, ‘you’ve lived so long you’ve lost your filter’.  There’s Michael Peña as fellow DEA Agent, Laurence Fishburne heads up the DEA and there’s Andy Garcia as the cartel King Pin – but all these big names are all in support of the legend that is Clint Eastwood, lead role and director.

I would have liked more of the criminal element, making more of the star-studded cast, but it’s really about the entertainment of the character, Earl, and his ability to get away with his crime as a drug mule because who’s going to believe a ninety-year-old gringo’s shifting drugs for a cartel?

The Mule is more drama than thriller (some-what disappointingly) but there’s some good humour here, delivered by one of the greats.

SULLY

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★☆ (3.8/5)Sully

Director/Producer: Clint Eastwood

Screenwriter: Todd Komarnicki

Based on the book written by: Chesley “SULLY” Sullenberger, Jeffrey Zaslow.

Director of Photography: Tom Stern

Composers: Christian Jacob and The Tierney Sutton Band

Starring: Tom Hanks, Aaron Eckhart; Laura Linney.

“I’ve got 40 years in the air, but in the end I’m gonna be judged on 208 seconds.”

SULLY is the story of the ‘Miracle on the Hudson’, where pilot, Captain Chesley ‘SULLY’ Sullenberger makes an emergency landing with 155 people on board onto the Hudson River in New York.

I remember hearing about the incident on the news back in 2009 and was amazed, along with the rest of the world, by the bravery of such a decision and the skill to actually land without a single soul lost.

But good deeds don’t go unpunished.

What I didn’t realise was the scrutiny Sully experienced by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the nightmares and distress experienced by the pilot, Sully, and his co-pilot Jeff Skiles (Aaron Eckhart).

SULLY was a brilliantly cast film with the resemblance to the real-life crew unmistakable. The lead role, Captain Sullenberger, played by Hanks, called for a calm character who showed honesty and strength, which Hanks, of course, plays very well.

But like the character, the film was also dry and calm, the control held firmly in the hands of director Clint Eastwood.

As Hanks states, ‘Sometimes you read something that is so stirring and at the same time so simple, such a perfect blend of behaviour and procedure.’

The film focuses on the aftermath and the technicalities undertaken for the emergency landing. And there was such restraint used that even the dramatic event of the landing also had an overriding feeling of calm. So the film felt a little too even for my taste. Certainly, no-one can accuse Eastwood of over-dramatising.

There was also the element that we all know what’s coming; how it’s all going to end. It was more about the fleshing out of the story.

I loved that the film makers recruited many of the people who were there that day to reenact what happened.

I just wasn’t blown away.

This is a story of a 40-year veteran who had seconds to make a life-or-death decision for 155 people. And he did his job. That’s the tone of the movie. A truthful re-telling without too many dramatics.

The story was played out with clever devices like dream sequences made real, personal perspectives from the passengers and flashbacks to build the suspense, but as stated before, we already know what’s going to happen.

If you’re interested in the story, this is a great film; if you’re looking for a lot of action, you’ll be disappointed.

I’m somewhere in-between: a solid movie but no real surprises.

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