Flawless (2007)

Michael Caine   - Mr. Hobbs
Demi Moore      - Laura Quinn

Michael Radford, director
Edward Anderson, screenwriter

Flawless is a revenge, heist movie.

Set in 1960’s London, Flawless stars Michael Caine as the near-retirement maintenance man at the London Diamond Corporation. Demi Moore is the brilliant, American IVY Leaguer who has eschewed marriage and family to pursue executive-level responsibilities. But she is routinely overlooked for promotion in favor of men who are less deserving and qualified. At first these disappointments fuel her resolve to fight on until she can succeed in her goal to attain a position in the company’s elite executive circle. But the film shows us lots of quick scenes of Quinn alone at home, smoking somewhat despondently, and basically killing time until she can show up at work early (again) only to stay late (again.)

So, we know early in the film that Quinn is facing a kind of injustice, and that she has been plowing tirelessly in a barren field. How long will she last? In fact, the movie begins in the present with Quinn as a much older woman meeting for an interview with a female journalist who is working up a story on the role of woman leaders in business. Early in their meeting Quinn produces an enormous diamond presumably stolen from the London Diamond Corporation. And thus begins the flashback and the movie.

The role of Mr. Hobbs unfolds more slowly. Once Quinn’s plight has been established, Mr. Hoobs informs her about the company’s plan to terminate her. He has overheard this news in a “fly on the wall” sort of way. “It’s amazing what people will say to one another in the presence of the maintenance man,” he tells Quinn.

But, Hobbs says, he has a plan. His plan will balance the scales. Of course, it’s a plan to steal some diamonds. What’s his angle, Quinn asks. Hobbs demurs and pleads his need for retirement security. So, they begin to execute his plan. The key to gaining access to the state of the art safe is having the combination code which Hobbs had conveniently discovered on a type of post-it note one night while cleaning under the CEO’s desk. It’s a simple three digit code like those used for most any right/left/right combination lock. I thought this has to be the dumbest CEO in the history of the world.

In any event, for some reason Hobbs didn’t act on this information at that time so now he must enlist Quinn’s assistance since, as he tells her, the code must have been changed by now she will have to help him discover the new code. He assumes the new code will now be at the home desk of the CEO since it is no longer at his office desk. Fortunately, there is an office party coming up at this home. So, voila, we now see why Hobbs has pursued Quinn’s assistance. Hobbs needs her on board so she can find the new code when she is at the party.

So, in a mini-heist version, Quinn recovers the new code. This all at least makes sense, but still it’s contrived. Hobbs assumption about the whereabouts of the new code is especially gratuitous and silly. But now that they have the code it would seem to be a proverbial piece of cake except the company has just installed brand new security cameras. Quinn panics and despairs. Hobbs holds her steady and encourages her to reveal her observation about the cameras’ blindspot which they deduce can be exploited to gain access to the safe. (I wondered why there was not an alarm on the safe door or at least a camera that records the inside of the safe. How much did they spend on this security system? But I digress.)

At this point, there’s not much more for Quinn to do but look nervous. The action has switched to Hobbs and we watch him gain access to the safe. We watch the camera security guard utterly fail in his duty to, you know, actually watch the monitor.

Fortunately, there is a bit of a twist from this point. And here is where the film redeems itself for me. Up until now it’s been a nice-looking film; well-acted; characters playing recognizable roles. The “female facing the glass ceiling” angle was compelling although I was a little annoyed at the stock portrayal of the corrupt corporate type. And, as I mentioned, there are obvious leaps and contrivances.

Anyway, the film brought to my mind a couple of questions

1. How should we expect justice to be accomplished?
2. Do our actions in the service of justice actually cause even more injustice? And if so, what are we supposed to do?

The film doesn’t seek to answer these questions. I’m not even sure it seeks to ask them. It ends with the revelation that Quinn, at the end of her life, 40 years in a kind of self-imposed exile from her previous life has spent these 40 years distributing the money Hobbs gained through this heist to all kinds of worthy causes.

The film does specifically ask: Are you a giver or a taker? I would say Hobbs and Quinn were both, and aren’t we all.

Here is a (more or less) complete list of the movies I watched in 2008. I was surprised to count 65 movies on the list, and I may have missed a few. I admit my first thought is, “that’s a lot of time I could’ve spent doing something else.”

Let’s see, it’s about 130 hours, and it really is more because there were about 12 movies I started and didn’t finish for various reasons. So, add another 6 hours. Then there’s the transportation time to and from the theater, although most of these were DVDs. Then there’s the fact that some of these are multi-disk series. So, let’s call it an even 150 hours.

There’s about 8765 hours in one year so I spent 1.7% of my time in 2008 watching movies.

Here are some other activities by way of comparison:

Sleeping: 31% (7.5 hours per day)
Working: 30% (50 hours per week)
Eating: 6% (1.5 hours per day)
Reading: 6% (1.5 hours per day)
Driving: 3% (45 minutes per day)
Church activities: 2% (3.5 hours per week)
Watching TV: 1.5% (3 hours per week)

Who knows what I did with the other 18.8% of my time. There’s cleaning, yard work, exercise, hanging out…

Here’s the movie list in the order I watched them:

No Reservations
August Rush
Dan in Real Life
Lost: Season 1
Lost: Season 2
Lost: Season 3
Charlie Wilson’s War
Live Free or Die Hard
Beowulf
Planet Earth (half of series)
Vacancy
Romper Stomper
American Gangster
The Chamber
The Water Horse
I Am Legend
No Country for Old Men
Cloverfield
National Treasure
Band of Brothers (entire series)
Juno
Apocalypto
Hollywoodland
Battlestar Galactica, Season One
Mr Brooks
Atonement
The Spiderwick Chronicles
Vantage Point
The Deep End
Gone Baby Gone
Eastern Promises
Once
Into the Wild
21
Stealing Sinatra
Forbidden Kingdom
Off the Map
Prince Caspian
The Outlaw Josey Wales
Iron Man
Just Like Heaven
Shaun of the Dead
Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead
Zodiac
There Will Be Blood
Glengarry Glen Ross
Unfaithful
Glory
The Black Book
Get Smart
Flannel Pjammas
Cool Hand Luke
L.A. Confidential
The Brood
Carnival of Souls
12 Angry Men (1957)
Madigan
Shock Waves
Sleuth (1972)
The Brood
Indy Jones and the Crystal Skull
Shock Waves
The Dark Knight
The Reader
Alien
Aliens

Here’s the list of movies I started but did not finish because I wasn’t “getting” it:

Little Miss Sunshine
Hot Fuzz (I have to give this a try again since I really liked Shaun of the Dead)
Perfume
Office Space (Okay, okay I’m a loser for not liking this movie. I will try again in 2009)
Crash (Cronenberg)
The Rock

Here’s the list of movies I started but didn’t finish because something came up:

A Room with a View (I’ve seen this before)
12 Angry Men (1997)
The Namesake
Sleuth (2007)
Vampyr (I sold this at my store before I could finish it; bummer as it probably won’t show up again soon.)
Enemy at the Gates

And, finally, here is the list of movies I watched in 2008 that I liked the best, and Apocalypto was my favorite:

Romper Stomper
No Country for Old Men
Cloverfield
Band of Brothers
Apocalypto
Atonement
Eastern Promises
Shaun of the Dead
Once
Off the Map
The Black Book
Cool Hand Luke
Carnival of Souls
12 Angry Men (1957)

We will be posting here regularly this year with news and comments about our bookstore, books and movies. And whatever else strikes us.

Over the next few days, I will be compiling a list of the books and movies I liked the best in 2008.

May the Lord bless you this year.

Scott

Our mega sale at Brightlight Books began with great success! With only two days remaining, we need everyone to come and see our great selection of books, VHS, and CD’s. Take advantage of the great prices.

Brightlight Books is having our biggest sale yet! We will have over 13,000 books.

Our sale will start on Thursday, 20th of November through the 22nd.

Greetings to all,

Our inventory continues to increase with a great selection of used and new books, dvd’s, and cd’s. Please come visit us and see our great prices. if you are visiting with us for the first time, on your way out you will receive a 20% discount card for your next visit. We look forward seeing you at Brightlight Books!

Brightlight Books will be hosting one of the largest Used Book Sale in Central Florida on April 10-12. The sale will be on our parking lot starting at 10AM this Thursday.

Our new sale is scheduled for April 10-12. Over 8,000 books.

Brightlight Books has just finished a sale of over 10,000 items. The sale drew a large amount of people from the community and from out of town as far as Daytona Beach. The immense success of the sale has led us to make plans for the new year. Continue to visit our blog for more information. Now that you know where we are located, please come back and visit our store for our great prices and quality items.

If you would like to be added to our new mailing list, please leave your name and e-mail on the comments’ section.

The parking lot was filled and the weather was pleasant. Our first day sale was a major success. The more than 8,000 books drew the attention of many from the community. All books were categorized in their particular genre making it simple and convenient for the customers. There are two days left for the sale (7th and 8th). Don’t miss out on the outstanding prices.

Prices range from $0.99 – $2.99