In 2006, Abramoff, who, by many accounts, was one of the most powerful men in Washington, pled guilty to defrauding four American Indian tribes of tens of millions of dollars, and to illegal dealings with SunCruz Casinos. His indictment led to a widespread corruption investigation that resulted in the convictions of top White House officials, U.S. Representative Bob Ney, and nine other lobbyists and Congressional aides, shaking the right-wing establishment to its core.  And George Hickenlooper’s “Casino Jack” aims to tell the tale.

Spacey charges into the role full force, attacking the essence and nuances of his character with all the voracity and gusto with which Abramoff himself laid waste to the idea of ethics in politics.  After twice winning Hollywood’s most coveted acting award, Spacey stepped out of the public eye in order to run the storied Old Vic theatre in London.  It took Abramoff’s charmingly duplicitous personality to lure the Oscar-winner back to the big screen.  Spacey’s performance is one of his best, and he’ll probably get some awards attention at the end of the year, but the film around him isn’t strong enough to put him over the top for his third Oscar.

Hickenlooper’s direction is uneven, leading to tonal inconsistencies in a film that clanks more than sings.  There is however, one service “Casino Jack” provides that makes it a must-see.    In grade school, American children learn that Thanksgiving is a special day commemorating a bountiful harvest and the peaceful relationship that developed between European settlers and Native Americans in the New World.   Conveniently omitted are the details, like the genocide and enslavement of the latter that made is possible for us to celebrate the holiday in our big comfy houses that sit on their land.   Likewise, many young school children are shown School House Rock’s “I’m Just a Bill,” a catchy, informative cartoon outlining the fascinating process by which a bill becomes a law in American government. The real value in “Casino Jack” is that it exposes the real Thanksgiving story behind this process. Our political system is fundamentally corrupt. Legislation is often nothing more than a bargaining chip. The wealthy have more freedoms than the poor, and aim to keep it that way. Special interest groups dictate the Congressional agenda.  And so on.  In that context, maybe we should be thanking Abramoff for inadvertently exposing the illegitimacy of our legislative system.

Beyond that, “Casino Jack” offers little that a careful reading of Abramoff’s Wikipedia page couldn’t.  And if you followed the case closely as it unfolded in the news, there’s not much here that you didn’t know already.  There are certainly worse ways to spend an evening at the movies.  Then again, there are also a lot better.  Try Alex Gibney’s thrilling documentary, “Casino Jack and the United States of Money” for a far more engaging take on the same material.

Director: Grant Heslov
Writer: Peter Straughan
Studio: Overture Films
Cast: George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Kevin Spacey

Release: November 6, 2009

It is the near future and Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell), a sort of corporate engineer/astronaut is nearing the end of a grueling three-year stint as the sole manager of a space station on the far side of the Moon.  His employer, Lunar Industries, harvests the Helium-3 embedded in the moon from solar winds billions of years ago to use in controlled nuclear fusion that remedies the effects of earth’s depleted resources.  His only companionship comes in the form of the HAL 9000′s distant cousin, Gerty (voiced by Kevin Spacey), a nearly sentient supercomputer that operates the station’s mechanical and electrical systems.

With only two weeks left on his assignment things turn south.  Sam, utterly exhausted and yearning for his wife and child at home, begins to notice a series of very subtle, almost fleeting irregularities manifested as glitches in a video transmission or oddities in Gerty’s demeanor.  Are these just the effects of an aging system or full-blown paranoid delusions–or something else entirely?  The mysterious cause of these aberrations, and their surprisingly portentous implications are at the core of “Moon.”

Jones and his writer, Nathan Parker, overtly pay homage to genre classics with a grab-bag of sci-fi tropes.  Everything from the realistically utilitarian set design to the weighty questions of humanity’s ultimate place in the universe hearken back to the days when science fiction meant something more than just Autobots vs. Decepticons.  The fingerprints of sci-fi luminaries like Ridley Scott, James Cameron, Terry Gilliam, Douglas Trumbull, Peter Hyams, and Stanley Kubrick can be readily seen in the composition and themes of “Moon.”  But, rather than simply rehash decades-old ideas and concepts, Jones reassembles the proven elements of a tired genre into a modern vehicle equipped to fulfill its long-forgotten prime directive.

Lending meaning and characterization to the ambitious ideas of “Moon” is the dynamic Sam Rockwell who’s powerhouse performance, if delivered by a more well-known star, would surely garner an Oscar nod.  Effortlessly slipping through the gamut of human emotions, Rockwell has a knack for finding and exploiting the truth in every triumph and every demoralizing setback. After a string of shining supporting roles in films like “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,” “Snow Days,” and “Frost/Nixon” it’s about time one of Hollywood’s unique talents is finally getting his due.

“Moon” is a flawed labor of love that fails to delve as deep into the outer reaches of mankind’s cosmic potential as it could have, but lends hope to the possibility that cinema may someday get there.

The film rights to Phillips’ forthcoming memoir have also been acquired and will the studio in bring the Maersk Alabama Captain’s amazing story to the silver screen.

Michael DeLuca, Kevin Spacey, Dana Brunetti and Scott Rudin have already been named to handle producing duties.

The film will reportedly recount the events that made headlines all over the world including Phillips surrendering himself to the pirates who hijacked his ship in exchange for the safety of his crew, the showdown with Navy sharp-shooters, and President Obama’s role in ensuring Phillips came home alive.