Ralph's Movie Reviews: THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES

Friday, April 19, 2013

THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES

Drama

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS

Ryan Gosling: motorcycle stunt driver Luke Glanton

Eva Mendes: his former girlfriend Romina

Ben Mendelsohn: auto repair shop owner Robin

Mahershala Ali: Romina’s live-in boyfriend Kofi

Bradley Cooper: rookie Police Officer Avery Cross

Rose Byrne: his wife Jennifer

Ray Liotta: Detective Deluca

Emory Cohen: 17-year-old AJ Cross

Dane DeHaan: 17-year-old Jason Glanton

REVIEW

This ambitious undertaking begins well enough with entwined stories of a street-wise carnival star and an upcoming rookie police officer. Characterized by excellent performances although not a very original story it was satisfying enough until the on-screen title “15 years later” appeared.

From this point on the story is a muddled confusing affair with only the most tenuous link to what had proceeded before it. This “third act” serves only to extend the running time to well past two hours and twenty minutes for no discernable reason.

CLASSIFICATION

for language throughout, some violence, teen drug and alcohol use, a sexual reference.

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY

Jason purchases a used Hondo motorcycle for cash and gets no papers in return, no registration, no sale receipt, nothing. It simply does not happen that way.

P.S.

The title comes from the English translation of the Mohawk word for Schenectady (where these events took place) as “the place beyond the pine plains”.

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my ratings system

I've always thought that telling too much about a movie or warning someone about a "twist" at the end deprives the person the pleasure of seeing it as it unfolds, so I don’t do it. You may not always agree with my rating of course, but at least it is an unbiased opinion unlike some of the full time professional reviewers who are on the studio’s payroll.

A few movies you won’t see any review from me:

Scary movies: I’m the world’s biggest chicken and just hate getting the crap scared out of me. I can handle an unexpected door slam, that kind of thing, but a movie that keeps you on the edge of your seat…not for me. Sorry.
Movies geared to the young teen and pre-teen crowd with dialog comprising mostly of crude remarks, awful jokes and lots of rude, socially unacceptable body noises. "The Spy that Shagged Me" comes to mind. (I wonder if the kids know what the British verb to shag someone really means? They probably do; I bet you it’s the parents who haven’t a clue).
Sometimes Hollywood gets on a roll and they produce a series of movies that are all very much alike. For example movies about the CIA were very popular and so we had The Bourne Identity and Bad Company and The Sum of All Fears. They all had the same basic theme and it becomes repetitive. I will see some, but not all of them.

FYI this is my rating system:

0 stars = Terrible: so bad it’s not worth talking about; in fact, I’d pay you not to go
= Lousy: I actually got up and walked out before the end it was just that bad (no kidding)
= Not so good: thought about walking out but hung in just in case it got better (but it didn’t)
= A so-so good movie: I enjoyed it somewhat but wasn’t all that crazy about it
= A really good movie: I recommend seeing it
= An excellent movie you just got to see! I suggest you put it on your "To Do List" it’s that good.

some favourite websites

For those into it, Nitpickers at

has more movie mistakes than you could ever imagine. My contributions can be seen if you check out the Nitpickers Registry and click on the link Nitpickers Listed by Nitpicker Number, select the group 45,401 - 45,500 and drill down to number 45411. Although I have 56 nitpicks to my credit, some have almost 2,000. You wonder sometimes where they find the time to do it.