BEFORE: The numbers get kind of crazy sometimes, you'd think that the biggest, highest-paid actors would appear in more films, but that's not always the case. If you compare the number of films that Tom Cruise has been in, overall, against the IMDB profile of a character actor or a notable voice-actor, the resumé of the big star would pale in comparison, at least in terms of numbers. This might be my only film this year with Matthew McConaughey in it (to be fair, I did do a big marathon of them in late 2015) but the character actors will have him beat in 2018. This will be the third film in Movie Year 10 for Bill Camp, who carries over from "Hostiles", the fourth for Adam LeFevre, and the fifth for Toby Kebbell. This is why I love totaling up the stats at the end of the year, it's a great equalizer that gives some under-appreciated talents a chance to shine.
From here I've got something of a choice, two roads sort of diverge based on this film's cast list, and it affects which summer 2018 blockbuster I go to see next. But as you might have guessed, I've already made my choice.
THE PLOT: Kenny Wells, a prospector desperate for a lucky break, teams up with a similarly eager geologist and sets off on a journey to find gold in the uncharted jungle of Indonesia.
AFTER: This one sort of mirrors the journey seen in "American Made", which also reflects the American Dream again. How does one strike it rich, starting from nothing, and build up a business of questionable legality, to the point where his problem becomes having too much money? In this case, the speculation about digging for gold fuels the rise of a company that gets traded on the Stock Exchange, which itself is founded on investor speculation, and then speculation about the speculation, to the point where you might start to wonder if there's any THERE there, or if the business is just a snake eating its own tail. Which leads me back to thinking that "The Producers" is still the most brilliant film ever made not just about show business, but all business.
This is based on a true story, but don't look it up before-hand, unless you want to spoil the ending. The names have been changed here, and some other details, but the main story components stayed the same. A guy has that "gut feeling" about where gold might be in Indonesia, and hooks up with a geologist who feels the same way. They go into business 50/50 and start raising money for the mining operations. The mine struggles at first, but eventually some of the samples are positive, and once they crunch the numbers to extrapolate how much gold there might be at this location, more investors want in, and they're off to the races.
Then that question comes back - how much money is enough? When's the right time to quit? At what point does anyone realize that the desire for gold has basically turned them into a character from "Treasure of the Sierra Madre", where they're super paranoid about even their own business partners?
McConaughey's really the only bright light here, he's said in interviews that this was his favorite role to play, despite the bad hair and the necessity of gaining 45 pounds to play Kenny Wells. But stick around for the interesting cover versions of "Spill the Wine" and "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)" that appear on the soundtrack. If you like that sort of thing.
Also starring Matthew McConaughey (last heard in "Sing"), Edgar Ramirez (last seen in "The Girl on the Train"), Bryce Dallas Howard (last seen in "Jurassic World"), Joshua Harto (last seen in "Bridge of Spies"), Timothy Simons (last seen in "Inherent Vice"), Michael Landes (last seen in "Last Chance Harvey"), Corey Stoll (last seen in "North Country"), Stacy Keach (last seen in "Truth"), Bruce Greenwood (last seen in "Kodachrome"), Toby Kebbell (last heard in "War for the Planet of the Apes"), Matthew Rhys (last seen in "The Post"), Rachael Taylor, Macon Blair (last seen in "The Florida Project"), Adam LeFevre (last seen in "Fair Game"), Frank Wood (last heard in "Isle of Dogs"), Bhavesh Patel, Patrick Duggan, Craig T. Nelson (last seen in "Get Hard"), Jackamoe Buzzell (last seen in "Hell or High Water"), Dylan Kenin (ditto), Jirayu Tantrakul, Vic Browder (last seen in "The Magnificent Seven"), Ben Whitehair, Stafford Douglas (also carrying over from "Hostiles").
RATING: 5 out of 10 core samples
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