Man with No Past, Co-Starring Jon Voight

This man of mystery has a wicked case of déjà vu. Ironically, he also amnesia. He doesn’t know who or what he is, but he is weirdly drawn to people who seem to recognize him, albeit vagely. Apparently, he fights for the innocent and just against those his nemesis leads astray, in morality plays that repeat over time, in different eras, throughout James Bamford’s Man with No Past, which is now available on VOD.

Ryder is not quite sure what he is doing in our world and his visions of fighting the same cast of characters in ancient Rome, the Middle Ages, and National Socialist Germany only confuse him more. Yet, he recognizes Morgan, a pro bono attorney who works out of her god-mother Shelly’s bar, but she is too grounded for past-life déjà vu. However, Shelly can tell he is something, because she has the shine.

This time around, the Jon Voight character is Paul Sanborn, a powerful Trump-ish developer, whom the Mephistophelean Mr. Soach has once again led astray. Before, past Sanborn executed innocents in Germany and forced them into gladiatorial games in Rome, all for the sake of maintaining “order,” which is also ironic, since Soach’s name is an anagram for Chaos. This time he intends to clear his old working-class neighborhood to make way for his legacy-enshrining development. To overcome the opposition of a difficult city councilman, Soach convinces Voight to target the politician’s young daughter.

This is an oddball film that layers an unlikely metaphysical genre story over a grungy VOD action movie, sort of like Timothy Woodward Jr.’s Checkmate, but the execution is far superior, because how could it not be? There is just no sugar-coating the cheap look of the historical scenes. However, the entire cast plays it straight with the utmost earnestness.

Adam Woodward is clearly most comfortably playing strong, silent types, so a role like Ryder suits his skill set. Conversely, Marton Csokas appears almost inspired by Steven Paul’s script as he hisses, preens, and generally chews the scenery as Soach. Charlotte Weston also brings some upbeat charm playing Shelly, which often gives the moody film a welcome lift.

Shadow Land, Starring Jon Voight

How do ex-presidents like to spend their days? George W. Bush took up painting. Obama posts wordy tweets that try to obscure the compounding damage his foreign policy did to our national security (remember when he mockingly dismissed Romney’s concerns about Putin, quipping “the 1980s called, they want their foreign policy back?” It doesn’t sound so funny today, does it?). Painting is more productive. Maybe former President Robert Wainwright can take it up if he isn’t going crazy and he survives the shadowy assassin he suspects has been watching his ranch from the property line in James Bamford’s Shadow Land, which releases tomorrow on VOD.

President Wainwright has not been sleeping well. He has nightmares every night and suffers from that unnerving feeling that he is being watched. Of course, he still has a full Secret Service protection detail, but nobody expects any trouble at the Shadow Land ranch, not even the super-diligent Agent Nathan Malone. However, Agent Brett Cahill and his sports betting problem inspire less confidence.

Concerned for the former President, his former chief of staff calls in his former analyst, Dr. Elliot Davrow, who technically was not missing. He was just teaching at a regional state college. Sadly, Wainwright’s beloved wife Eleanor died while he was in office. Dr. Davrow helped him get past it, but at the time, he lost sight of some of the fallout from a military action in Astovia.

What the heck is Astovia? Presumably, it is the same Belarus-ish rat-hole that tried to kidnap President Edwards in Bamford’s Air Force One Down. So, does that mean this film is part of the Astoviaverse? Regardless, Shadow Land is not nearly as successful as its predecessor, despite the credibility Jon Voight brings as the former president.

The Painter, Co-Starring Jon Voight

Peter Barrett was raised to be a super-hearing man of action, sort of like a Daredevil with sight. How did he use those powers? That became a point of contention for the CIA assassin, who resigned after an assignment inadvertently led to the death of his unborn daughter. He is therefore quite surprised when the daughter he thought never lived comes looking for his help in Kimani Ray Smith’s The Painter, which opens tomorrow in theaters.

After the tragic death of his own parents, Barrett was adopted by CIA bigwig Henry Byrne, who sponsored the cutting-edge treatment. The young’s boy’s overwhelmingly sensitive hearing was driving him insane, but Byrne helped him learn to filter and harness it. Naturally, his powerful hearing gives him an edge in the field. No uncocking of a gun goes without his notice. Unfortunately, some wires got crossed in the agency, when Byrne sent Barrett to kill the asset his wife Elena had turned. Tragically, the pregnant “El” was shot in the crossfire.

Unfortunately, the bullet also killed their relationship. Subsequently, Barrett retired to Oregon, largely withdrawing from life, except for his work as a painter—a fine artist, rather than a house-painter. He is skeptical when his surprise daughter turns up on his doorstep, but the agency hit squad following her forces him to revert to his old ways.

Compared to The Painter, The Bricklayer is the second coming of John Wick. Renny Harlin’s film also presents a more nuanced perspective on the CIA. It is not all good, but it is not all bad either. In contrast, screenwriter Brian Buccellato portrays the Agency as irredeemably evil, through and through. The Painter is an example of why American films are so frustratingly shortsighted. In effect, they serve as anti-American propaganda in the international market. Why wouldn’t foreign nations think the U.S. is evil when filmmakers like Smith and Buccellato tell them so. In contrast, Chinese propaganda films celebrate the CCP and the PLA, while concurring with films like The Painter, with regards to the CIA.

Unfortunately, the action sequences in The Painter are not even close to be being sufficiently impressive to compensate. It is mostly just standard issue shootouts, punctuated by shots of Barrett perking up his ears like a dog.

Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy

If the Hollywood industrial complex will stealth-censor The French Connection, how long will it be before they remove the “problematic” parts from Midnight Cowboy? Don’t immediately dismiss the notion. After all, Popeye Doyle’s censored racist comments were intended as the opposite of an endorsement—and the French Connection won more Oscar’s than John Schlesinger’s X-rated best picture winner. Instead of pondering this question, Nancy Buirski’s interview subjects spend a lot of time talking about the Vietnam war and the cultural climate of the late 1960s in the awkwardly titled Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy (it is also missing a serial comma), which opens tomorrow in New York.

According to the talking heads, the era of Midnight Cowboy was the best of times and the worst of times. The film faithfully captured the gritty, sleazy desperation of New York City when it was literally teetering on the brink of financial collapse. Yet, it was greenlighted at a time when the studios were giving talented young filmmakers virtual carte blanche, provided they work within reasonable budget constraints.

It was also a time when major studio films were including increasing explicit sexual content. Midnight Cowboy was also one of the first films to depict homosexuality, in dangerous underground encounters that make Jon Voigt’s Joe Buck character freak out in rather homophobic ways. Apparently, this was all made possible by the Vietnam protest movement, which Desperate Souls etc. etc. discusses almost as much as Schlesinger’s film. It also clearly pre-supposes the audience only shares the New Left’s perspective, showing no affinity for the experiences of veterans, their families, or the Vietnamese boat people, who desperately fled for their lives after the fall of Saigon.

Perhaps more “problematic” is the uncritical discussion of screenwriter Waldo Salt’s blacklisting during the McCarthy Era. The Blacklist was an ugly practice, yet we know with certainty from the Venona decryptions, the CPUSA (which Salt had joined) worked hand-and-glove with the KGB and NKVD. Are you happy Putin has threatened Ukraine with nuclear weapons? Then thank former CPUSA party members, like Harry Gold and Julius Rosenberg, who revealed the secrets of the atom bomb to Stalin.

Frankly, the only interesting sequences in Desperate Souls are Jon Voigt’s interview segments discussing his involvement with the counter-culture at the time, given his current standing as Hollywood’s most outspoken Trump supporter. You could say he always was a rebel.

Mercy, Co-Starring Jon Voight

Dr. Michelle Miller’s military background serves her well in Mercy’s emergency room. She is very experienced treating bullet wounds. She is also highly trained in handling firearms, which will come in handy when a Die Hard-like situation breaks out in her hospital. Of course, her son is rattling around the halls someplace, to further raise the stakes in Tony Dean Smith’s Mercy, which opens today in select theaters.

Miller barely survived the bomb that killed her husband, while they were serving together in Afghanistan. Now, she raises her soccer-crazy son Bobby as a single mother, when she isn’t pulling bullets out of patients at Mercy Hospital. Someone really wanted to kill her latest. They even used exploding rounds, one of which goes off in the operating theater. Rather awkwardly, he happens to be Ryan Quinn, the heir apparent of the Quinn crime family, who was in Federal custody, when his brother Sean tried to kill him.

Old man Patrick Quinn has no idea his reckless older son is making a power play. Initially, he only came to Mercy to visit his injured son, as a concerned father. However, Sean’s violently erratic and paranoid behavior sets off a chain of events that results in a hostage situation. The Irish mob patriarch is not at all pleased with this turn of events and neither is Miller, who is one of the only hospital staffers still at liberty within the building.

Obviously, this all sounds very familiar, but it is greatly elevated by Jon Voight’s performance as old school Patrick Quinn, who definitely still believes there are things that should be out-of-bounds for gangsters, like holding an entire hospital hostage. Voight lays on the blarney accent thickly, but that is all part of the charm of his scenery-chewing. When he is on-screen, Mercy is never boring.

Leah Gibson is also a pretty solid VOD-action lead. She certainly looks like she trained for this film. Jonathan Rhys Meyers uses the same trowel as Voight to apply his Irish accent, but his unhinged twitchiness further energizes what is now a run-of-the-mill storyline. Mercy is probably his best film since Yakuza Princess and his best performance since Damascus Cover.

Ray Donovan: The Movie

Ray Donovan's business handling other people’s trouble (as a “fixer’). For him, it is a really bad idea to mix business with family, but his thuggish father Mickey Donovan constantly puts him in that awkward position. The son intends to have it out with his loose cannon father, perhaps permanently David Hollander’s Ray Donovan: The Movie, the feature conclusion to the reasonably long-running series, which premieres tomorrow on Showtime.

If you never watched the series, Hollander’s opening montage is more likely to confuse than to illuminate. The crux of the deal is things have gotten really bad between Donovan and his father, but they are still family. Mickey Donovan made off to his old South Boston stomping grounds with a briefcase full of stolen bearer bonds, so Ray chased off after him. To do what, even he is not exactly sure.

The truth is the actual plot of The Movie is pretty light and straightforward. However, the flashbacks to the formative moments of their father-son relationship should give Ray Donovan fans some Rosebud-style closure. Hollander, the former showrunner, had anticipated a final season to wrap up all the subplots, but a new corporate regime surprisingly axed the series. Remembering the importance of franchise content, they subsequently put the movie into the works. It definitely feels like a cut-and-paste job from the final series outline, but the cast remains fully committed and all kinds of colorful.

Indeed, it is easy to see why Liev (scourge of spellcheckers) Schreiber and Jon Voight had fans so thoroughly hooked. As the title character, Schreiber broods so hard you could use his forehead for Korean barbeque, while Voight is absolutely electric and also strangely sad as the older but none-the-wiser father. Bill Heck perfectly struts through the film as the younger but still erratic flashback Mickey. Eddie Marsan is also quite poignant as Donovan’s Parkinson’s-afflicted brother Terry, but the script by Hollander and Schreiber never gives him much to do.