Non-Stop

Grade: B

*This review was originally published on The Film Experience.

In the opening scene of NON-STOP, federal air marshal Bill Marks is sitting in his car in the parking lot of the New York airport before he enters the building to take his flight. As he fidgets with his phone, making one last call before departing, he turns the radio on. The radio voices just happen to be discussing the issue of airport security in the post 9/11 world. Fast forward to ninety minutes later when the mystery of the film is solved and the dead and alive are separated and the television is on. The newscaster, mic in hand, looks us straight in the eyes and, under the guise of national news, explains what we have just witnessed. She clarifies the twists of the film with sincerity and merrily wraps up by tying everything with a bow. As the title suggests, subtlety is not Non-Stop’s strongest suit, but it is precisely the combination of ridiculous and grandiose that makes it such an enthralling experience.

Liam Neeson, in the latest episode of the subtextual franchise which reinvents him as America’s unlikelies action star, stars as Bill Marks (that name!) an air marshal who has been assigned to a New York to London flight. Also on the plane: Jen Summers (Julianne Moore) a seemingly nervous woman intent on finding a window seat – she ends up in the one next to agent Marks, a school teacher named Bowen (Scoot McNairy), an NYPD officer named Austin (Corey Stoll), Michelle Dockery and Lupita Nyong’o as flight attendants, and a seven year old girl called Becca, whose first interaction with Marks screams "Emotional Subplot!" thousands of miles ahead of its destination.

In an introductory conversation between Jen and Bill, it transpires that she is sheepish about revealing her occupation and he suffers from avophobia. Immediately afterwards, Marks receives a message on his secured, government provided cell phone. The message indicates that every 20 minutes, a passenger is going to be killed on the plane unless $150m is transferred to a certain bank account. Though this seems like an improbable plan given the closed environment of the plane, the first victim loses his life before Marks’s timer goes off exactly at 20 minutes. Marks tries to keep this hidden from the passengers, but subsequent accidents make this impossible. Meanwhile, he tries to convince his supervisors that the threats must not be taken lightly, but the only passenger they become suspicious of is the only man who legally carried a gun on the plane: Federal Marshal Marks.

A ludicrously contrived plot, yes, but the twists are perfectly worked out. For a narrative that hinges entirely on how the mystery is solved, rather than where the film ends, the writers avoid every possible pitfall. This isn’t to say that there aren’t any holes in its logic since it's a slice of Swiss cheese throughout. Yet, Non-Stop is successful because it stops just short of taking itself seriously while delivering an edge of your seat whodunit. The trick is in understanding that none of this could happen in the real world, but embracing it wholeheartedly, balls to the wall.

On Julianne Moore's Performance in Boogie Nights

"If the definition of an ensemble cast entails that the characters get roughly the same screen time and have equal importance in driving the narrative, then Boogie Nights (Paul Thomas Anderson’s greatest film to date) is the epitome of an ensemble film. Its cast has no shortage of strong performances, memorable characters or silver screen stars. Yet, it is Julianne Moore’s Amber “the foxiest bitch in the world” Waves who still manages to steal the show, for her presence on the screen is so radiant, so lively, that I can only see the others as they relate to her; and in her absence she’s constantly lingering in my mind. Moore’s performance is an unimpeachable example of nuance in expressivity. Her character is the emotional anchor for everybody else in the film. She’s the mother that Wahlberg and Graham never had, the one and only woman for Reynolds, the ultimate object of desire for everyone who sees her on tape, the one everybody goes to when they want something done. Yet, inside her there’s something badly and irrevocably broken. Moore makes a fine line of this grave emotional chasm. The beauty of her performance is the subtlety she brings to the role even though she’s wearing her heart on her sleeve. Not that she is any less impressive in the extremes, like her deadpan delivery of “This is a giant cock” or her sobbing scene after the court rules against her in a custody battle. But it’s the more delicate moments that make this one of my favourite performances of all time."

*Julianne Moore's performance in Boogie Nights was voted the best of the nineties in Andrew's 90s Showdown. As a contributor to his series, I selected the performance as the number one of the decade in my original top ten list and wrote the blurb above during the voting. I'm happy to see I'm not at all alone in my admiration for her work.

Essential Performances of the 90s: Part 2

You may remember my first involvement in Encore Entertainment's poll of the best performances of the 1990s which was a battle between Homayoun Ershadi of Taste of Cherry and Kate Winslet of Titanic. Ershadi came out the victor. If you didn't vote then, now is the best chance to make your voice heard on the second battle I'm covering. This time I'm making a case for Vincent Cassel in La Haine against one of my favourite performances of all time - and arguably my favourite of that entire decade - by Julianne Moore in Boogie Nights. You can vote here.

The cast of Boogie Nights is surprised that you haven't voted yet!

Most Anticipated Films of 2012

It feels appropriate to start 2012 by writing about the films I’m most looking forward to in this new year. I should have probably waited until I was finished watching everything from 2011 but such is my enthusiasm for these titles, I couldn’t wait to get them out.

There are a few films I’ve had to leave off this list that nevertheless sound very intriguing. Pedro Almodovar who returned to top form with The Skin I Live In will be back with Mina, a biopic about an Italian singer and we all know a biopic in his hands won’t just be any biopic. Michael Haneke’s new film called Amour will most likely screen at Cannes and though early word – that I don’t remember where I’ve first heard – has not been especially positive, we’re still talking about Haneke and every one of his films is an event. Ruben Fleischer’s Gangster Squad looks intriguing and his Zombieland was tons of fun, plus, Hollywood’s new ‘it’ boy Ryan Gosling stars so it’s a must-see.

Park Chan Wook’s Stoker will bring the crazy in Oldboy together with Nicole Kidman; the only reason it missed out on the list is the current cultural vampire overload but I know I’ll be first in line when it comes out anyway. Pixar’s new film Brave is likely to be a return to their better days after the disaster that was the financially motivated, conceptually inept Cars 2. Finally, Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises is a film I’ll surely watch on opening night for obvious reasons but I’d be lying if I said the hype has gotten me that excited about it.

With that out of the way, here’s a list of my top dozen most anticipated films of 2011:

12. What Maisie Knew
David Siegel and Scott McGehee, the co-directors of this film, have made astonishing art films like Suture and The Deep End in the past so we know we can trust them behind the camera. If you haven’t seen those films or are not particularly keen on watching them, you probably want to that Maisie features Julianne Moore as an aging rock star who plays the mother of the titular character in the process of a messy divorce from her husband. Any Julianne Moore film has a spot on a list like this for me. Maisie is no exception.

11. Moonrise Kingdom
After his seminal film The Royal Tenenbaums in 2001, Wes Anderson’s works always underwhelmed me until he finally won me over again with the richly designed, charming and hilarious Fantastic Mr. Fox. Moonrise Kingdom brings together an eclectic mix of terrific thespians like Tilda Swinton, Bill Murray and Frances McDormand along with stars like Bruce Willis (he’s still a star, right?), Edward Norton, Jason Schwartzman and Harvey Keitel. IMDB describes the story as such: “A pair of lovers flees their New England town, which causes a local search party to fan out and find them.” The Material sounds right up Anderson’s alley.