Body of Lies (**)

Anyone else get the feeling Warner Bros. brass threw a board meeting and just decided to say, "Let's take a couple box office names, I don't know, say Leonardo DiCaprio and team him up with Russell Crowe maybe. Yeah! And let's throw them in a pressure cooker script written by, hmmm... how about that guy that wrote "The Departed"? I like it, I like it! Oh, I know and let's get Ridley freakin' Scott to direct it! It can't possibly go wrong." Ok, I admit it... that's not fair. The truth is, the film is entertaining and I didn't hate it, I just didn't love it and especially when you take into account that with said names attached it better be damn good. It wasn't, it was ok. Maybe my own expectations let me down as expectations inevitably do but even that being said it's hard for me to say anything more flattering than the film was just ok, and just ok isn't good enough with the likes of DiCaprio, Crowe, Scott and "The Departed" scribe, William Monahan. The more willing you are to suspend your disbelief the more you will like the film, hence, my critique.

Now that I got that off my chest I feel a surprising amount of relief, as if I just blasphemed. Here's the good news and I'll gladly admit my admiration for Leonardo DiCaprio. I firmly believe he is one of the finest actors of his generation. He has proven time and time again, with his consistency and willingness to dive head first into character, his ability to carry a film and it is reflected in his Box Office star power. Hardly his finest work but still this film is no different as he is his rock solid self playing CIA operative, Roger Ferris, who is working in Jordan searching for terrorists. Despite working solo locally anyway, Ferris still somehow manages to get suspiciously close to the film's version of Osama Bin Laden, Al-Saleem (Alon Aboutboul). All the Intelligence gathered by Ferris is reported back to his Boss, Ed Hoffman, played casually by a plump Russell Crowe, who is sitting comfortably back in Langley, Virginia. It's almost comical as Ferris struggles through brutal beatings, explosions, gun fire and even rabid dogs between Jordan and a couple other countries while simultaneously Hoffman strolls through life with his ear piece in, wearing a bath robe searching for leftovers in his fridge or grocery shopping with the only problem seeming to be playing Mr. Mom as he takes his kids to their Soccer game.

The more Ferris learns, the more dangerous things become as he concocts an entire Alliance simply by smooth talking and arranging things and people to look as if they are what and who he says they are. The deeper he goes the more the tension mounts and Ferris finds himself looking to the dapper and no nonsense Hani Salaam, the Chief of Jordanian Intelligence, for help, even though he can hardly trust Salaam himself not to mention what Salaam would do to him for his own dishonesty. Oh, what a tangled web we weave. Mack Strong plays Salaam brilliantly as he teeters between mad man and nobility and the scenes between him and Leo are by far the best scenes of the film.

In an ironic twist, Ferris, who has managed to avoid Medical attention after all the explosions and beatings he narrowly survives he is forced to go for rabies shots after suffering a dog bite on his calf. Of course, this is where he meets the object of his affection in his nurse, Aisha (Golshifteh Farahani). Predictably, this relationship comes back to haunt him later as he now has feelings for someone other than himself.

It would have been nice to see more of DiCaprio and Crowe on screen together as they are really only in 3 or 4 small scenes together despite the entire script having them on their cell phones with one another. It appeared as if Crowe just cashed this one in, there just wasn't much to him and I suppose that to may have been by design as the Yang to Leo's Ying. I could have also done without seeing Leo survive the most unlikely of explosions, car accidents, beatings and narrowly being riddled by gunfire. At the end of the day you have an action movie cut more from the cloth of "Commando" than "The Departed." I suppose that's a bit harsh as well, but who gives a shit, nobody's reading this anyway.

The Visitor (**1/2)

Richard Jenkins gives an Oscar worthy performance as the gentle and soft spoken, grief-stricken Professor Walter Vale in this small but powerful film written and Directed by Tom McCarthy, the busy character actor who has the same credits for 2003's critically acclaimed "The Station Agent".

Walter, mid-50's and recently widowed, makes his home in Connecticut but has a 2nd apartment in New York where he travels for a business conference to present a paper he is no deservedly credited for writing. Upon his arrival into his apartment he is quickly surprised to realize that a young couple has made it their home. As it turns out, a mistake made by a mutual scheming acquaintance trying to make a buck, which has now created this uncomfortable situation. Walter generously offers his place to stay for the night to Syrian, Tarek (Haaz Sleiman) and his girlfriend Zainab (Danai Gurira), from Senegal. The immigrant couple makes a modest living as she sells homemade jewelry while he plays the African drums, which catches the eye of the music loving Walter, his late wife was a renowned pianist. Tarek's charm and infectious personality warms Walter up to him enough to take drum lessons despite the skeptical yet respectful Zainab. As each strum on the drum pounds the greater the admiration for one another grows.

On the surface, it's a simple story of an unlikely friendship formed due to the unfortunate circumstances they find themselves in. What lies beneath is a very deep heart tugging relationship that hits you from many different angles between the dynamics of boyfriend to girlfriend, brother to brother, friend to friend, Mother to Son once Tarek's mother (Hiam Abbass, who gives a truthful and moving performance) from Michigan enters the piece, Daughter-in-Law to Mother-in-Law and any other combination of the aforementioned possible as the film delves deep into the harsh reality of a post 9/11 United States and it's struggles with illegal aliens and possible deportation. Emotions run deep regardless of what side of the fence you are on and regardless of the black and white views of the Government and illegal immigration, the story here isn't as much about rules and regulations is it is about being a human being and where the heart decides what is right or wrong.

In only his 2nd film Directing, MCarthy is already showing his admiration and ability to tap into human emotion, like most actors turned directors his films seem to be a magnificent character study with multiple layers of love, pain, grief, fear and courage. His screenplay is likely to get the attention of Academy voters and earn him a well deserved nomination, that is of course if enough eyeballs see it. It's a small art house film with a limited release and it's buzz will mostly be wrapped around a terrific performance by Jenkins but if enough word of mouth get around this is the very kind of film the Academy recognizes in the ever competitive Original Screenplay category.