News & Views of Phillips Since 1976
Sunday December 21st 2025

Stand Up Guys

Stand Up Guys

Stand Up Guys

Stand Up Guys (2013)

** 1/2

Al Pacino as Valentine “Val”Â 

Christopher Walken as Doc 

Alan Arkin as Richard Hirsch 

Julianna Margulies as Nina Hirsch 

Mark Margolis as Claphands 

Katheryn Winnick as Oxana 

Vanessa Ferlito as Sylvia 

Addison Timlin as Alex 

Lucy Punch as Wendy

A first time for Al Pacino, Christopher Walken, and Alan Arkin  appearing  in the same movie.  At moments these three geezers muster some funny stuff but all-in-all “Stand Up Guys” is amateurish, in turn, lays at the feet of screenwriter Noah Haidle and perhaps at Director Fisher Stevens feet as well.  The Viagra jokes are excessive and the repeats at the brothel are tedious.

Val (Al Pacino) has just ended   28 year sentence in prison meeting long-time pal Doc (Christopher Walken) outside the prison gate.  Val”'s been imprisoned for refusing to snitch on one of his criminal associates.  Val and Doc re-unite with another old friend Hirsch (Alan Arkin) stealing a car riding wildly on the freeways like teenage boys.

Their days of glory are gone as they tell their stories of successes, un-successes, and excesses.  Val wants to party, after all, he hasn”'t done that in 28 years.  Doc reluctantly upholds Val”'s wishes and find a nightclub with a clientele barely half their age. … Read the rest “Stand Up Guys”

March 2013 Spirit of Phillips

march-2013-Spirit-of-Phillips

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Look Back Forward Beyond

By Peter Molenaar

Amid the raging turbulence of the early 1970s, the dropped-out guru peddled his book:  BE HERE NOW.  The ancient mysticism did so readily combine with the chemistry of the period.  We were happy to inhale the tear gas.  However, this reliance upon sensory inputs proved to be inadequate.

Luckily, as was later discovered, everything exists in motion owing to the interpenetration of opposing forces.  To know the essence of a thing, one must reveal by analysis the main contradiction within it.  Yes, APPEARANCES CAN BE DECEIVING, especially the appearance of permanence.

One example:

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