'Stand Up Guys' not a standout

Without 'this' cast, it would be a mediocre time-waster. It would be easily dismissed and quickly forgotten. But director Fisher Stevens (the actor-turned-filmmaker) managed to get Al Pacino, Christopher Walken and Alan Arkin to headline his ensemble of aging gangsters. Pacino is 72, Walken is 69 and Arkin is 78. With these legendary dudes on duty, this otherwise dark and dingy movie has some geriatric electricity to turn the lights on.

The simple-minded story was penned by Noah Haidle, earning his first writing credit for a feature film. Stand Up Guys kicks off when retiree Walken, an amateur oil painter who specializes in exploding sunrises, picks up Pacino at a maximum security prison. Walken's pal has just served 28 years for a violent crime they were all involved in.

Mark Margolis as the psychotic thug Claphands -- wants Pacino dead anyway for past sins. Who is the designated triggerman? This is not hard to figure out and this plot twist is soon divulged to us. Stand Up Guys is not about suspense, it is about character development and banter.

The rest of the made-in-Hollywood movie takes place over the rest of the day, into the night, and onto the explosive events of the next morning. Along the way, the story is played as a buddy comedy and occasionally as a sappy melodrama about Walken's long-lost granddaughter and Arkin's devoted daughter (Julianna Margulies). Pacino's character has no family, so he is the wild one who brazenly indulges in drugs, booze, steak dinners and sleazy (if amusing) hookers. After all, 28 years is a long time.

Pacino chews up scenery like a troll. It is fun to watch. Arkin is sly and sarcastic. Nicely done. Walken sends up Walken, using that famously stilted voice to make a mockery of the thousands of actors who imitate him. Love the guy! Everyone else in the movie -- even those we come to like -- are just superficial types. The good people are too good to believe. The bad people are total a--holes who deserve to be punished.

Some are punished, especially thugs who sexually assault a young woman. Our anti-heroes wreak revenge on her behalf and establish their moral credentials with us, the audience. They may be criminals, but our old-school guys have ethics.

It should now be obvious that you do not go to this movie expecting an action classic. Stevens is a hack director when he is doing diction. This is not something in the league of Heat, Michael Mann's 1995 heist drama which sets Pacino up against Robert De Niro. Instead, use Walken's painting as a metaphor. In the movie, Walken is no Rembrandt -- and neither is Stand Up Guys. But his vivid yellow sunrises bring us a little cheer on a winter's night.

“I think the bills right here, conceptually, I agree with,” Sen. Smith said before adding that he questions whether a 2 percent tax could generate as much as the current system. “But I do appreciate their efforts about trying to get some discussion and debate for legitimate tax reform.”

The plan would affect everything that is sold, purchased and rented in New Mexico and eliminates the personal income tax, the corporate income tax, the compensating tax and nearly all of the state’s special sales taxes such as the vehicle excise tax and taxes on insurance premiums.

The few existing taxes that would remain would be the property tax, the gasoline tax and severance taxes — such as the ones on the oil and natural gas industries that supply nearly one-third of New Mexico’s total tax revenues.

Under the plan, local governments will be able to add up to a 1 percent gross receipts tax for the towns and cities.

“This basically goes to the true definition of a gross receipts tax, Rep. Taylor said. “For a long time we have talked about a broad-based tax with very low rates.”

Taylor says the plan would allow poorer New Mexicans to obtain tax refunds of up to 100 percent.

Sharer introduced the bill Thursday in the Senate and Taylor introduced a companion bill in the House of Representatives.

New Mexico has a complex tax structure that relies heavily on a gross receipts tax that has developed into a system filled with credits, exemptions, deductions and outright exceptions.