ashley-s-ireland Reviews

Ace in the Hole (1951)

High on morals, low on plot twists

[7/10 · 20 October 2023]

I liked the first half, but it needed to find another gear in the last third. The plot kinda gives you exactly what you expect, after a very nice setup. I think a more modern reworking of this would, once Tatum knows that Leo might die, he (Tatum) would go in himself and try to get him out. Then you'd have some actual action and tension - would he get injured? Would Leo be the one to escape? The fight with the wife feels slightly contrived to create a situation where Tatum is injured.

The premise is a bit contrived - only Tatum risks going in. If there were so many people there, others might also try. That could be another twist - people see how easy it is to get in, try to save Leo, or discover that Tatum faked the need for the slow drilling approach.

Unusual in this day and age to think of the journalist as the bad guy.

Miss Sloane (2016)

Good subject and plot but leans a little too heavily on the template of the West Wing

[8/10 · 25 March 2022]

This could have been a West Wing episode (if it wasn't for Mandyville ;) ). I nearly gave up on this early on. Too much dialog, too much spechifying, Miss Sloane interrupting everything to sound super-smart. Glad I persevered as it wrapped up nicely, if somewhat predictably.

Lobbying is a difficult topic to portray but one that absolutely deserves more scrutiny, so the motivation of the movie is very laudable and I disagree with anyone who considers this implausible. In terms of feminism, I think the movie does a decent job of making the lone-troubled-genius character female, but slightly over-does how often she gets all the good lines. To make Chastain's character look smart, sometimes it makes those around her implausibly dumb. Yes, she's a jerk though-out most of the movie, but it was clear to see that she was going to have some sort of arc where she sees that. The "dark night of the soul" phase, where everything looks to be going wrong for her, is a tad predictable and it would be nice if she did more to reach out to people later.