Out in Theaters: ‘BLACK MASS’

September 17, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Adam Scott, Benedict Cumberbatch, Black Mass, Corey Stoll, Dakota Johnson, David Harbour, Jesse Plemons, Jez Butterworth, Joel Edgerton, Johnny Depp, Julianne Nicholson, Juno Temple, Kevin Bacon, Mark Mallouk, Out in Theaters, Peter Sarsgaard, Reviews, Scott Cooper Leave a comment

Black Mass is a stage upon which Johnny Depp has revived his career, and little more. As the film’s malevolent heavy and famed criminal overlord “Whitey” Bulger, Deep is borderline excellent, brooding and prowling around the screen like a silverback gorilla. On the streets, he’s equally guerrilla, taking down his enemies as well as former-confidantes-turned-rat in maelstroms of cold-shelled slugs. And though Deeps is admirable as the callous and cold Jimmy Bulger, the film itself overwhelmingly replicates its star’s unenviable personality traits in its cinematic aura, resulting in a film that’s even more callous and cold than the iconic gangster at its center. Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘EVEREST’

September 16, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Baltasar Kormákur, Best of 2015, Dario Marianelli, Emily Watson, Everest, Jake Gyllenhaal, Jason Clarke, John Hawkes, Josh Brolin, Keira Knightley, Michael Kelly, Naoko Mori, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Robin Wright, Salvatore Totino, Sam Worthington, Simon Beaufoy, William Nicholson 1 Comment

Human beings simply aren’t built to function at the cruising altitude of a 747. At 29,000 feet, you body is literally dying. Lack of oxygen becomes a toxic, poisoning the brain and forcing your body to shut down non-vital organs. At such heights, it’s near impossible to breathe without a tank of O. Beholding Everest on a proper IMAX screen, I too found myself gasping for air. It’s literally breathtaking. Read More

Hardcore Trailer for ‘HARDCORE’

September 15, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Trailers Tagged Hardcore, Ilya Naishuller, Sharlto Copley, Trailer Leave a comment

Like The Raid redefined modern martial arts movie, Hardcore seeks to redefine what a POV action movie can be. Russian director Ilya Naishuller, who earned internet stardom for his band’s, Biting Elbow, music video “Bad Motherfucker” (which attracted almost 30 million Youtube views), sought out to make a full-length feature in the same style and with the help of a successful Indiegogo campaign has just unleashed Hardcore unto (mostly) cheering TIFF audiences. Read More

TIFF ’15 Review: ‘MAGALLANES’

September 14, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Festival Coverage, Festival Reviews Tagged Bruno Odar, Federico Luppi, Magallanes, Magaly Solier, Reviews, Salvador del Solar, TIFF, TIFF 2015 Leave a comment

Primary Peruvian exports include non-monetary gold powder, cooper ores, concentrates, cathodes and non-crude oil. You can now add to the list supremely compelling cinema as Magallanes, the product of first-time Peruvian director Salvador del Solar, is a true festival stunner. Soaked in a gleeful amount of real world suspense and intensified by rich dramatic character work from its apt principal cast, the slow-but-steady-building drama-thriller is a certifiable symphony of hard-won victories – both from a narrative and practical standpoint. Read More

DVD Review: ‘THE SEVEN FIVE’

September 14, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Blu-Ray/DVD Reviews Tagged DVD Reviews, The Seven Five, Tiller Russell Leave a comment

Synopsis: “In the late 1980s and early ‘90s Brooklyn, New York was the murder capital of America and ground zero for the crack cocaine epidemic. One man, Michael Dowd, led his crew on a rampage through the streets of East New York, robbing dope dealers at gunpoint, burglarizing homes and becoming involved in the biggest drug ring the city had seen. That man, and his cronies, were all police officers. Labeled “The Dirtiest Cop Ever,” Dowd turned his department’s 75th precinct into a hotbed of corruption, both protecting and robbing drug dealers while lining his own pockets to the pointing of busting with cash and drugs. His arrest in 1992 led to the largest police corruption scandal in NYC history.” Read More

TIFF ’15 Review: ‘DER NACHTMAHR’ (The Nightmare)

September 11, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Festival Coverage, Festival Reviews Tagged Akiz, Carolyn Genzkow, Der Nachtmahr, Festival Reviews, Reviews, The Nightmare, TIFF 2015, Toronto International Film Festival 1 Comment

If you wiggle a pencil fast enough, it appears soft. Rubbery. Made of flesh. It’s only when you reach out and touch the pencil that you realize it’s made of hard wood. In a film, we cannot reach out, we cannot exert force or physical contact, so we rely on cues that the filmmaker plants within the picture; clues that help us distinguish the realm of the real from that of the imaginary. Der Nachtmahr (The Nightmare) is an exercise in distinguishing the real from the imagined through the lens of what is essentially ET’s aborted fetus. Read More

Talking With Leslye Headland of ‘SLEEPING WITH OTHER PEOPLE’

September 11, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Interviews Tagged Interviews, Leslye Headland, Sleeping With Other People Leave a comment

Lesyle Headland couldn’t give a lumpy shit what bad things you have to say about female directors and she won’t stop herself from telling you so. The verbose talent provided some nasty good times when we sat down to discuss her latest film, the truly hysterical Sleeping With Other People [review here]. Leslye proved not only the most crass interview we’ve sat down to but also one of the most candid. We talk being a female director in a male world (with lion and lioness allegories), the film’s infamous bottle scene, her favorite scene that she cut from the film, casting Jason Sudeikis and Alison Brie, crying on set, the misnomer of improvisation, the shift from Bachelorette , movie references and what you would find in her ~~VHS~~ Blu-Ray player. Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘SLEEPING WITH OTHER PEOPLE’

September 11, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Adam Scott, Alison Brie, Jason Mantzoukas, Jason Sudeikis, Lesyle Headland, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Sleeping With Other People 4 Comments

*This is a reprint of our 2015 Sundance review

Leslye Headland arrived on the cinematic scene in a roundabout kind of way. Her debut film Bachelorette divided audiences – Reelview’s James Berardinelli gave it zero stars and labeled it “the worst movie of 2012” (we gave it a soaring review) – though it’s gone on to achieve a quiet cult status. Originally written as a screenplay then adapted for the stage, her raunchy theatrical production was discovered, altered back into movie form and green lit with an inspired cast (Kirsten Dunst, Lizzy Caplan, Isla Fisher, Rebel Wilson.) The outcome was a lewd female Hangover bursting with genuine laughs. In 2013, Headland got back on the horse for a new project, one that she just described as “When Harry Met Sally with assholes.” And so came Sleeping With Other People, a satirically formulaic though gravely side-splitting whooper. Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘THE VISIT’

September 10, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Deanna Dunagan, Ed Oxenbould, Kathryn Hahn, M. Night Shyamalan, Olivia DeJonge, Out in Theaters, Peter McRobbie, Reviews, The Visit 2 Comments

I could spend the bulk of this review talking about the precipitous rise and fall of M. Night Shyamalan. I could praise The Sixth Sense and Unbroken, give small credit to Signs and even portions of The Village and bury later “horror” duds like Lady in the Water and The Happening. I could extend a wilted rose towards the cinematic sharts that were The Last Airbender and After Earth but what’s the fun in that? After all, we’re no longer celebrating a funeral so much as a man’s comeback, because make no mistake The Visit is a comeback and a pretty damn entertaining one at that. Read More

Bumbershoot 2015: 1 Reel Short Film Festival Reviews

September 9, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Festival Reviews Tagged 1 Reel Short Film Festival, Bumbershoot 2015, Submarine Sandwich, The Chicken, Unleaded, Walls, World of Tomorrow 21 Comments

Seattle was in shape to party this Labor Day weekend and the fiercest of lightning storms proved unable to stop the rabid fun at Bumbershoot 2015. Though this year’s lineup seemed short on musical prowess (excluding Cake who absolutely blew the top off their set) and big name comedians, their carefully curated One Reel Short Film Festival arrived in tip-top shape, bringing together a pantheon of shorts spanning both the globe and a bevy of genres. As is customary of our coverage, we’ve carefully curated the scoop on Bumbershoot’s 1 Reel Short Film Festival, weighing which shorts demand to be seen down the line in preparation for Oscar season and best of lists and which you can ultimately skip. Read More