Vice (2018)

Score: 4 / 5

From the awesome writer/director of The Big Short (and lots of other things I refuse to watch), here comes a more somber, more understandable, and more ballsy second feature destined to score well in awards season.

Vice tells the story of Dick Cheney, from his troubled youth through his turns in the political spotlight -- or, rather, in the wings. The notoriously enigmatic Cheney is played by the no less enigmatic Christian Bale, an unexpected match made in heaven made believable by Bale's chameleonic performance. He grumbles and glares through the film, whether as an alcoholic Yale dropout or as (arguably) the most powerful vice president in U.S. history. Cheney's personal life is dramatized here -- for better or worse -- but something about it rings hauntingly true. This is not the Machiavellian tragedy of House of Cards, but it's damn close and all the more haunting because it really happened.

And while the story is a more conventional biopic than The Big Short, embracing dramedy in its depiction of real people and real moments in history, it features a few of the performative devices that made that previous film so memorable. This story is narrated by Kurt, an apparently fictional veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, who ends up providing Cheney's replacement heart at the end, in March 2012. It's this kind of dark irony that burns brightest here, not eliciting loud laughs but content with making the audience squirm. Who (or what) is really the object of humor here?

Further, unlike The Big Short, which required our fairly detailed knowledge about the housing crisis and complicated economic vocabulary, Vice works by inviting us into the private life of one of our most mysterious leaders. Whether true or not, we sit engrossed in seeing the man tick. We can view the film as a family tragedy, as Lynne Cheney (a magnificent Amy Adams) struggles to keep her power-mad husband and daughters together, one of whom is lesbian (Alison Pill) and the other who denounces same-sex marriage in her own power bid. We can view the film as an homage to a man who successfully played the system time and again, desperate for power and taking crisis after crisis as opportunities for personal gain. We can view the film as a hilarious portrait of a man doomed to love nothing so much as power and the damaging effect it has on the world that allowed him to take. Think that's too much? Check out the not-quite-explicit ways the film paints Cheney as indirectly responsible for the polarizing of American politics, the corruption of Trump's America, and of course the birth of ISIS.

Maybe I'm just not smart enough, but I had trouble figuring out when to laugh, groan, or shudder. Tonally the film felt fairly specific, but my limited knowledge (and awe at the lead players' performances) wasn't able to fully grasp the plodding pace or weighty themes. I expected a rollicking comedy and got a more intense biopic, which is lovely but of a decidedly different genre. The narrative devices and playfulness here are notably hostile, and I couldn't help but feel that the hostility was partly aimed at the audience. An amazing achievement, but one you really have to be prepared for.

Pawn Sacrifice (2015)

Score: 3.5 / 5

I've never been much of a Tobey Maguire fan, but this is one movie where all his little (or not so little) "isms" pay off in an effective manner. In Pawn Sacrifice, he plays Bobby Fischer, World Chess Champion and controversial public figure during the Cold War, with boiling energy and furious resolve. In fact, I was able to watch him so attentively precisely because he plays a character so distinctly unlikeable. In turns pathetic and maddening, Maguire spins a web of paranoia so convincing, it's almost hard to see that it's him and not the filmmakers at all.

And I admire Edward Zwick, but this is not one of his better films. Balanced between drama and thriller, it's too intimate to be Big Picture and too funny to be thrilling. Its rather ostentatious title suggested that this might be this year's The Imitation Game, subtle and harsh with an eye to poignancy. Rather, it feels like a knockoff of that film, but this time with more American silliness and an obnoxious protagonist. Not a good trade. On the other hand, Maguire is playing by a different set of rules, apparently taking his hint from Black Swan or last year's Whiplash in his single-minded stab at weighty character acting. Not that he hasn't tried that before.

Mad props must be given to his co-stars, however, who marvelously parry his every word with generosity and humility. Michael Stuhlbarg and Peter Sarsgaard wonderfully support the action and the pathos of each scene, while Liev Schreiber looms in opposition to Maguire's mania. It's not a showcase for anyone but Maguire, though, who does what we can with his unstable character in volcanic eruptions of high-pitched yells and popped-out veins.

Zwick does manage to succeed in one way The Imitation Game failed: the action of his lead characters and the tone of the film are reflected wonderfully in the "footage" of the period. We see the mobs, hear the music, and get a good look at both American paranoia and European anxiety as they interact with our characters. I think this device works better here because it's presented as media, which it is, and the media already play a large part in this story. Zwick makes it work, and as someone who had no idea about the chess world or Fischer's apparently famed existence, I certainly benefitted from it.

One more thought. I mentioned Whiplash earlier, and that hints at something else I find curious about Pawn Sacrifice. Whereas the former film effectively educates the audience on the world it presents -- that is, even if you knew precious little about music, the film is not difficult to understand in musical terms -- the latter does not. In fact, there is little dialogue describing the game, and even less screen time devoted to depicting the nuances of play. Rather, I think Zwick tries to use chess as a not-so-subtle metaphor for the psychological war between nations during the Cold War and the various subterfuges and feints involved. Taken further, I wonder if he is trying to make a statement about the war, perhaps trivializing the global drama into a single board game that is taken far out of context, disguised in rich trappings, and played by mentally ill divas.

But that might be giving him too much credit. I think this movie is more face-value than that.

IMDb: Pawn Sacrifice