Weekly Review 49: AFFLICTED, DELIVER, ANOTHER, PRINCESS, BLOOD, HOMEFRONT

July 29, 2014 by Matt Oakes Posted in Weekly Review Tagged Afflicted, Another Earth, Blood Simple, Deliver Us From Evil, Homefront, Princess Bride, Reviews, Weekly Review

It’s been a good month since I’ve posted a Weekly Review, betraying its namesake once again, so I have a hefty pile to pour on you. This week (read: month) took me through some familiar territory in an old classic, saw some decent recent horror movies and a pair of debuts from indie directors, one of which you’ll most certainly know. But let’s waste no more words, for it is time for Weekly Review.

Afflicted (2014)

If not wholly inventive in its take on the found footage horror genre, Afflicted turns a familiar movie monster trope into something new and entirely addictive. Derek and Clif are two best friends who embark on a journey across the world and happen upon a femme fatale who changes their trip and their lives. In a way, Afflicted is the horror equivalent of Chronicle with enough immersive effects to impress and a taut and unpredictable storyline to guide you through. And though it doesn’t go any place that could quite be labeled new, it’s a lot of fun getting to the end and that certainly scores some duckets for this guy. (B-)

Deliver Us From Evil (2014)

Scott Derrickson didn’t set out to reinvent the wheel with Deliver Us From Evil, an eerie tale of possession and exorcism, but he works the components that he has going for him with craft and care, making for one of 2014’s more unsettling horror movies, if not one of its scariest. Adding Eric Bana to the mix gives Derrickson’s fright fest much needed legitimacy, the only issue is that the saga draws on a little long and sags in the second act. But enough cat crucifixions and snappy bones can right any wrong and by the time the third act rolls around and that final exorcism takes the stage, you must commend Derrickson for not sparing the gory details. Shaved clean and soulless, baddie Sean Harris is pure id and his final freak out moments may need to be watched through your fingers. (C+)

Another Earth (2011)

Having just seen and enjoyed Mike Cahill‘s sophomore effort, I Origins, I decided it was due time to take a peek at his debut, which had scored so highly amongst 2011’s Sundance crowd. Luckily a friend and fellow critic had a copy to lend out, so I got to watching it without my customary timetable which involves drawn out months of putting it off. Thanks Nick. The product, while decidedly more amateur than I Origins, is equally provocative; it’s a tidy look at two people after their lives collide. Picking up the pieces seems impossible, especially when added to the metaphysical crisis that is the discovery of another earth that seemingly mirrors ours. It’s compelling in a philosophical sense and Brit Marling‘s hollowed out performance keeps you silently stunned throughout. (B)

Princess Bride (1987)

One of the best bad movies of all time, Princess Bride is all tongue and no cheek. It’s a brilliantly simple satire that works against incredible odds. The performances are hammy past the point of marrow, the sets drab and cheap-looking. Even that ROUS looks like a man crawling on all fours. But how simply unforgettable is this storybook classic from start to finish? Who cannot quote alongside Inigo Montoya as he monologues about avenging his father? Who can’t picture the Pit of Despair, the Cliffs of Insanity or the Fire Swamp? Who can’t mimic Peter Cook’s marble-mouthed wedding vows? There’s so much unforgettable about this movie that it’s a picture book of highlights, scene after scene. This is sarcasm at its most childish and wonderfully wanton. “To the pain.” (A+)

Blood Simple (1984)

As I’ve been working my way through the Coen Bros oeuvre, I’ve finally made it to their debut feature, which I’ve owned on Blu-Ray for a good while now. I’ll admit that I approached it with modicum of trepidation, not wanting to be disappointed with something that I expected to be not amongst their top shelf, but boy was I wrong. It starts out a touch talky but as it drifts into the second act, it’s as visually arresting as anything the auteur bros have done since, all without help from Roger Deakins. Their tale of lust and revenge takes us to the darkly comic corners they come celebrate later in their career, making this a proper starting mark for the twisted siblings to launch from. (B+)

Homefront (2013)

An 80s-style shoot-em-up revenge story with little new on the story-front but almost enough wham-bam flourish to justify a watch, Homefront represents the best a Jason Statham movie can be. Add to that the fact that James Franco slips into the character of a bayou meth outlaw named Gator and you can see the draw. Where it really fails to deviate from the course though is in the story department as director Gary Fleder brings nothing absolutely new to the table. Too bad. (C-)

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Weekly Review 48: BATMAN, RYAN, SPANGLISH, LIFE

July 6, 2014 by Matt Oakes Posted in Weekly Review Tagged Batman, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, Life Itself, Reviews, Spanglish, Weekly Review

Since I’ve been on vacation the past few weeks, I’ve had no opportunity to turn to the theater for new screenings. I did however have a chance to finally catch up with Neighbors, which Chris Bunker reviewed upon release but I kept missing. Though I found more to like than he did – I was quite fond of Seth Rogen and Rose Bryne and their considerable comic chemistry – the supporting cast leaves much to be desired and I’m just very much over Zac Efron being a thing. The guy has never proven an ability to act so can we just collectively get over putting him in movies? Thanks.

Additionally, I caught a showing of Deliver Us From Evil – which was a thoroughly moody and appropriately tense horror film – and a second watch of 22 Jump Street, this time with some friends.

At home, I caught up with a few releases from 2014, an old classic and a movie on Netflix that I sounded agreeable to my mom. So join me as we plow through this latest installment of the internet’s most inconsistent weekly segment: Weekly Review.

Batman (1989)

Tim Burton‘s Batman is likely the movie that you could trace all this superhero mania back to, and for good reason. Michael Keaton‘s Caped Crusader might not growl like Bale but he’s got the aloof playboy of Bruce Wayne down pat and makes for a charmed if not entirely complex iteration of the best comic book hero out there. And no matter how brightly Heath Ledger’s star shined as the Joker, it will always be Jack Nicholson who did it first and a re-watch of Burton’s Bat proves why so many thought ol’ Jack couldn’t be topped. His maniacal strange may not reach the heights of Jack Torrence but he’s tapped into something equally primal and outlandishly, devilishly haywire. Burton’s scenery and set design look as gothic and ruthless as a Hollywood set could be (even though they stand out as props more than ever) regardless of whether they appear a bit silly in the eyes of 2014. Nonetheless, this original take on the Dark Knight is still the best outside Nolan’s oeuvre. (B-)

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014)

Jack Ryan is perhaps Tom Clancy’s most lasting icon; his pencil-pushing Jason Bourne, his analytical Indiana, his American James Bond. He’s been played by the likes of Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford and Ben Affleck, making Chris Pine‘s portrayal Ryan’s fifth outing on the silver screen. But instead of reigniting a franchise that’s always had a knack for fits and starts, Shadow Recruit puts the kabbash on our desire to see further iterations like a pail of sea water over already dying coals. Pine is fine as Ryan but does little to add depth or layers to a character that we already have a strong sense of. Instead of deepening our involvement with Clancy’s superhero, Kenneth Branagh (who inexplicably doubles as the film’s Russian villain) has merely presented another one-and-done action hero ready to be whisked under the mat and forgotten about. There’s nothing new here, nothing exciting and worse yet, Shadow Recruit features one of the worst performances of the year courtesy of Keira Knightley, who has just as much trouble keeping an accent straight as she does keeping a straight face. For shame. (D+)

Spanglish (2004)

Overwrought, sentimental and told in voice over, Spanglish is a perfect example of a strong concept undone by a sappy hand. Nevertheless, a strong trickle of feminist ideals populate this mostly family-friendly outing that sees a Spanish nanny adapt to upper-class Americana with all their private schools and Xanax whilst trying to maintain an identity as a Hispanic woman. With a second round of editing and some thoughtful script touch ups, Spanglish could have been a lot stronger but it tends towards melodrama in all the wrong places, overshadowing the strong message at the film’s core. Adam Sandler does ditch his usual shtick to try to act, but if you’re really looking for proof of his thespian ability, you ought to look elsewhere – Punch Drunk Love being your best bet. (C)

Life Itself (2014)

Steve James‘ Life Itself is a stirring documentary about the man behind the most famous film critic in the world: Roger Ebert. Documenting Ebert’s final months, we see a man who was challenged by his own ambition, who saw road blocks as doorways and would never back down from a fight – especially if it was about a movie he was passionate about. Old friends and colleagues come out to pass along stories of Ebert as do consummate directors – most notable a starry eyed Martin Scorsese – and the result paints a picture of a man fully passionate and fully human. If there is one film to reaffirm the meaning of film criticism, that seeks to define the inimitable bliss of true cinema, that holds a mirror at the world and asks us to seek out foreign – even dissenting – opinions, this is it. (B)

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Weekly Review 48: MEMORIES, DEAD, STAKELAND

June 21, 2014 by Matt Oakes Posted in Weekly Review Tagged Day of the Dead, Memories of Murder, Reviews, Stakeland, Weekly Review

We’re back this week for Weekly Review in a week that’s admittedly all about TV. Game of Thrones wrapped up with a rather cinematic finale but felt a touch disappointing after the omission of a certain cliffhanger. But the real triumph is found in FX’s Fargo, which for all the many, many ways it could have failed miserably, has turned into perhaps the greatest mini-series event of all time. It’s a dark monument to long-form storytelling; 10 hours of rollicking perfection. If I were to assign a grade to the entire season, it would without a doubt be an A+. The acting from Martin Freeman, Allison Tomlan, Keith Carradine has been simply incredible and Billy Bob Thornton deserves every award there is for his menacing portrayal of the almost Biblical Lorne Malvo. If you haven’t yet seen the show, I implore you to do so.

Aside from that, this week held very few screenings for me aside from Clint Eastwood‘s Jersey Boys, which I thought was mildly amusing but mostly dull. I deliberately skipped out on Think Like a Man Too, probably because I watched About Last Night last week and was totally turned off by the genre. Obvious Child also screened but since I got a chance to catch that at SIFF (and thoroughly enjoyed it, you may recall), I skipped out on a second viewing.

And considering that it was pretty rainy all week, I was in a bit of a horror mood, as you’ll notice from the selection below. So have fun and dive into another installment of Weekly Review. Remember, feel free to add suggestions or requests for me to add to the list.

Memories of Murder (2005)

Through Bong Joon-ho‘s spectacles, the world is a grim canvas for violence, full of painful misgivings and poorly constructed, often faulty systems. Memories of Murder looks back at the dictatorship-defined 1980s of South Korea and an unsolved mass murder case polluted by torture, assumptions, and a corrupt system as a pair of detectives attempt to trudge through the mire and find truth. Murder is about morals going where the sun don’t shine and the corruptive souls of those with a gun and a badge. Though the frays are rarely invisible, Bong’s message shines loud and clear in this captivating, cleanly made sophomore feature. (B)

Day of the Dead (1985)

George Romero‘s third addition to his Dead series is an oddly thoughtful account of the humanity left behind in the apocalypse’s wake. It’s never actually scary and has an unexpectedly slim amount of Z-day encounters, but makes up for frights with some dial-moving FX – including some killer zombie slayings – and smooth monster movie ideology. No less, it’s still a significant addition to the oeuvre of horror movies, even when it does feel slight – especially considering the collective 30 year gap on either sides of other installments. But the domesticated zombie Bub is pretty much enough to glide by on, amiright? (C+)

Stakeland (2010)

After interviewing Jim Mickles for a second time, I thought it pertinent to catch up on some of his earlier filmography and let’s just say the man has made great leaps and bounds since this earlier work. Stakeland – a post-apocalyptic, vampire road trip movie – is not a bad film so much as it is derivative and without much visual personality. It falls in line with the aesthetic palette you see of direct to Redbox projects yet still contains some of the disturbing flair that Mickles has since expanded upon. To get the gist of it, imagine Zombieland without the humor. (C-)

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Weekly Review 47: ONCE, MARS!, FILTH, 2 DAYS, ABOUT

June 17, 2014 by Matt Oakes Posted in Weekly Review Tagged 2 Days in Paris, About Last Night, Filth, Mars Attacks!, Once, Reviews, Weekly Review

I know, I know, it’s been a while since I’ve visited this list but with SIFForty stuffing my mouth full of films like I’m Takeru Kobayashi at a hot dog eating contest, I didn’t have time to do anything outside of the magical land of the international film festival. But now that that’s over and done with for the year and I don’t feel the pressure of consuming screener after screener, we’ll return to the most irregular regular segment we’ve got here at Silver Screen Riot: Weekly Review.

Last week was quite honestly one of the best weeks of cinema of the past year with screenings of How to Train Your Dragon 2, Snowpiercer, 22 Jump Street and The Rover all clogging up my cinema pipes with their epic awesomeness. Seriously, not a miss amongst them. As for at home watches, there wasn’t much that I was bowled over by, save for an effort from the always lovely (but always grumpy) Julie Delpy.

Once (2006)

After seeing Once land amongst the 17 Most Universally Agreed Upon Movies of the past 11 years, I felt that I had to check it out. And for all the singing of songs, blushing indie charm, belted powerful ballads, and intentionally miffed emotional connections, I just have to admit that it wasn’t my bad. It’s not a movie so much as a mix tape of sappy love songs caught on lo-fi footage and bustled out for the masses. Had there been more of a story and less of, uh, singing, I think this really could have worked for me but as is, I quickly found myself bored and ready for the crooning to reach a caesura before I had a seizura.

C

Mars Attacks! (1996)

A gleefully ridiculous genre take on 1950s B-movies, Mars Attacks! is as absurd as having an exclamation point at the tail end of your title but packs just the right amount of senseless fun to engage us for its running time. From Jack Nicholson inexplicably pulling double duty as two completely unrelated characters to Pierce Brosnan getting probed by aliens, Tim Burton corrals an eclectic group together, giving us a strange view of how the end of the world would affect difference peoples and classes. But that cone-headed alien’s trot all but makes up for other misgivings.

C+

Filth (2014)

As powerful as James McAvoy‘s performance in Filth is, Jon S. Baird‘s film of the same name is nothing short of a tonal nightmare that – like McAvoy’s character – doesn’t know what it wants, or needs, to be. Danny Boyle knew how to take on Irvine Welsh (Trainspotting) and his ironically black material but Baird gets things jumbled up quickly. It’s like he’s failed to properly parse the elements from each other; he’s mixed his reds in with his whites and ended up with a big heap of pink. Things only really start to heat up in the third act and when they do, they admittedly lean towards greatness, but without a solid foundation to rely on, even a finale this painful ends up feeling soggy and soft.

C-

2 Days in Paris (2007)

A smart subjugation of the romantic comedy genre, 2 Days in Paris sees Julie Delpy stepping into frequent collaborator Richard Linklater‘s shoes and approaching her film with his style of close quarters, unadulterated, matured grit. As her high maintenance American boyfriend, Adam Goldberg brings just the right measure of NYC chupatz to his fish-on-the-line routine, his increasing irk with her many encounters with exes is jealousy-ridden and yet sympathetic. Goldberg’s rocky relationship with Delpy – his bonafide meshugenah – drips the truth of a weathered relationship.

B+

About Last Night (2014)

A lazy, customary, cliched rom-com whose only twists and turns are that it takes exactly the twists and turns we expect it to make up this rom-com of rom-coms. Every once in a long while, Kevin Hart will crack a joke worth laughing at but About Last Night is a largely joyless affair, another tired relationship reckoning that’ll have you glad you don’t date anyone resembling these cardboard characters or deal with their laugh-tracked, sitcom problems. When Hart is your best asset, you can smell trouble a brewing and this is a movie where three out of four characters and unthinkably noxious. For my money, I’d rather spend two hours doing laundry than with these characters.

D

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Weekly Review 46: NOWHERE, ICHI, HOW I, ROBOCOP

May 18, 2014 by Matt Oakes Posted in Weekly Review Tagged How I Live Now, Ichi The Killer, Reviews, Robocop, The Man from Nowhere, Weekly Review

It’s been a busy few weeks with SIFF starting and all. So far, I’ve caught 16 screenings at SIFF, all of which are summed up in glorious 75ish word recaps. At this point in the game, The Skeleton Twins, In Order of Disappearance, The Double, Starred Up and The Trip to Italy are the best new films I’ve caught at the festival so be sure to secure tickets to at least one of those if you’re in the area. I also got downtown to one big – some might say monstrous – screening: Godzilla, which I quite enjoyed. As for watching non-festival things in my spare time, I haven’t had a lot of opportunities in the past few weeks so things are sparse. Nonetheless, let us journey down the path of…Weekly Review.

THE MAN FROM NOWHERE (2010)

Another home run from the camp of South Korean cinema, The Man from Nowhere is a powerful parable on duty and family. Be it blood-born relations or artificially constructed circles, family is a reason to live, to fight, to survive and Lee Jeong-beom‘s film gets to the heart of how these connections guide our lives. Rife with powerful explosions of violence amongst the meaningful relationships it forges along the way, The Man from Nowhere navigates a curvy line between high drama and guff-less action spectacles.

A-

ICHI THE KILLER (2001)

Violent for the sake of violence, this Takashi Miike film takes psychosis a little too seriously, delivering a film that revels in its many bloodbaths – like a kid with rain boots in a crimson puddle – but ends up too tangled in entrails to satisfy. Maybe I’m at fault for getting the time lines confused but the trail is often unintentionally confusing and Miike’s blood-soaked touch leaves little to root for. With no heroes to speak of and an entirely evil ethos, Ichi the Killer is more snuff than cinema.

C-

HOW I LIVE NOW (2013)

Somewhere in How I Live Now a great film is trapped but it’s so repressed and hidden that it seems to have forgotten that it even exists at all. The film follows a small band of family who must stick together as WWIII breaks out in England. The sweeping cinematography is often stunning but polluted with Saoirse Ronan‘s pernicious monologuing. Even though it’s adapted from a novel, the fact that they plunged a hormone-throbbing teenager into the midst of an otherwise fascinating world event nearly ruins the entire affair. Her angsty outbursts makes us wish her amongst the piles of dead and robs us of any wistful emotional climaxes the film expects to impart.

D+

ROBOCOP (1987)

Having seen the reboot before this original “one that started it all”, I will say that I was more than a smidge let down by Robocop. Like a fan-fic of “What if the T800 had worked with the Detroit police?” this B-movie doesn’t really play around with the more interesting ideas of what makes a man a man? The effects though (aside from that very sophomoric robot chicken drone thing) are certainly appreciated, with all its over-the-top squib-bursting from many chests (many, many, many, many chests). It’s hard to parse my expectations of greatness from my overall disappointment but I can hardly come down on this with too heavy a gavel (for fear of internet pariahship) so a C it is.

C

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Weekly Review 45: DEVIL, PARANORMAL, DIVING, WOLVES

April 27, 2014 by Matt Oakes Posted in Weekly Review Tagged Big Bad Wolves, I Saw the Devil, Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones, Reviews, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Weekly Review

A relatively light week at the theaters in which I saw Chef (review to follow), Paul Walker‘s last completed project Brick Mansions (buhuh) and a half-way decent horror movie that’s failed to make much of an impression at the box office, The Quiet Ones. Aside from those you’ll find below, I also revistied The Amazing Spiderman at home to prepare for the screening this week and will briefly say that aside from the the smart casting of Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone, it really has very little to offer. The screwball plotline, Glasgow-grinnin’ Lizard and henious score alone are enough to retire this to the anals of the unnecessary (and thank God that Denis Leary‘s character is dead). Oh and I also quickly became obsessed with Comedy Central‘s Review, a brilliant comedy series in which Andrew Daly plays a man that reviews not food, books or movies but life experiences. Definitely check it out.

I SAW THE DEVIL (2010)

A deliciously devious tale of revenge, Kim Jee-woon‘s I Saw the Devil shows South Korea for the bold cinescape it truly is. Kaleidoscopically epic, hopelessly violent and ruthlessly vengeful to a fault, this two-and-a-half revenge saga tells the tale of a special ops agent, Kim Soo-hyeon (Byung-hun Lee) who seeks retribution against the twisted serial killer (Mik-sik Choi of Oldboy) who raped and decapitated his pregnant wife. As he becomes a bona fide hunter of the criminally lecherous, Kim loses himself in a battle with his own soul. The blood drips bright stripes of red, complimenting the engrossing, challenging and yet playful story from Hoon-jung Park. With each new South Korean film I encounter, I get more and more addicted. Next up: The Man from Nowhere, New World andThe Good, The Bad and the Weird.

A-

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: THE MARKED ONES (2014)

There’s not much to say about this newest installment/first spin-off of the Paranormal Activity camp aside from mentioning the fact that if you’ve liked/put up with the earlier installments, this is just more of the same. It fleshes out some of the mythology but in no concrete or truly satisfying way. It’s like the ending of a lesser Lost episode that just leaves you with more questions than answers. There are moments where it seemed like director Christopher Landon dared to go in a whole new direction (the Chronicle-esque subplot was easily the film’s best moments) but eventually turned into your standard, if not subpar, PA movie.

C-

THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY (2007)

Somber and brave, much like the film’s subject, The Diving Bell and The Butterfly takes the perspective of Jean-Dominique Bauby who suffered a massive stroke that resulted in a rare case of “locked-in syndrome”. If the name “locked in syndrome” sounds kinda shitty, you don’t know the half of it. Bauby didn’t lost any mental acuity but became so deeply paralyzed that he became unable to speak or move – that is, all but his left eye. With only the power of blinking, Bauby learns to communicate through long-winded sessions with a caring therapist. Julian Schnabel’s film charters the many lives he touched and how he went on to write a touching memoir, all through opening and closing his one bloodshot eye. More similar in tone and style to The Sessions than My Left Foot (and glisteningly ripe for a parody title of My Left Eye) The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is a deeply soulful and philosophical venture that explores what it means to be human in wonderfully simplistic terms yet it never quite offers the caliber of showmanship, in front of or behind the camera, to muster up the tears – or emotional gut punching – you might expect it to elicit.

B

BIG BAD WOLVES (2014)

Quentin Tarantino named this Israeli thriller/black comedy the best film of 2013, earning it a place on many a movie buff’s radar. Perhaps the expectation of greatness and Tarantino’s stamp of approval led to my ultimate disappointment with the film but I’d like to think that it has more to do with quality issues than my going into it with preconceived notions. The story is certainly one that would catch Tarantino’s eye: a teacher framed for raping and murdering little girls is kidnapped and tortured by a victim’s father and a roguish detective. But the film runs aground a slew of narrative issues and is saddled with mostly poor performances from the Israeli crew, most notably from Rotem Keinan who plays “is he or isn’t he?” rapist/murderer Dror. Watching a man’s fingers gets smashed to bits by a hammer or his sternal charred by a blow torch should be torture to watch but Keinan always looks like a man who’s stubbed his toe. It just didn’t work for me. There’s enough intrigue and tension to keep affairs interesting throughout but it’s certainly not a film that I would run out to recommend to anyone unless they’re dying of curiosity.

C

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Weekly Review 44: CHEAP, ESCAPE, GATTACA, BARTON, DRUG, JESUS

April 13, 2014 by Matt Oakes Posted in Weekly Review Tagged Barton Fink, Cheap Thrills, Drug War, Escape From Tomorrow, Gattaca, Jesus Camp, Reviews, Weekly Review

I’ve realized that for every movie I cross off my To Watch list, I add three more. The sad reality: I’ll never watch all the movies. Nevertheless, I can try. In theaters this week, I caught Oculus and Dom Hemingway but skipped screenings of Heaven is for Real, Neighbors and Draft Day. As is, I’ll still have another chance to see Neighbors before it hits theaters and although it’s getting fairly high praise, I’m still not sold that it’ll be anything better than slightly entertaining. At home, I had a chance to hack through a few more films that I’ve had sitting on my list, including the earlier Fast and Furious movies (I’ve finally seen them all now) and another viewing of the joyous 12 Years a Slave.

You won’t find those included here though as there’s really nothing to say about them other than they exist. 2 Fast 2 Furious isn’t as embarrassing as the name suggests, Tokyo Drift is an absolute nightmare and the near “here we go again” Fast and Furious come noticeably shy of the seduction of the last few installments. Somehow, the Rock really changes the dynamic for the best (didn’t ever expect to say that one.) Anyways, onward to some films to discuss in more detail.

DRUG WAR (2012)

A certifiable thrill ride through the Hong-Kong underworld, this tasty piece of Chinese cinema lines up just the right amount of standoffs, fireworks and nail-biting tension and snuffs it up clean. Drug War follows a captured meth manufacturer who flips sides and helps the police take down the top dogs of his former organization over a period of 24-hours. Though Chinese film hardly makes much of a splash overseas (financially or culturally), this is one of the finest examples of Chinese filmmaking from the past 20 years. It’s China via Tarantino Bay, a one-way trip from Hong Kong to LA. Irresistibly balls-to-the-walls, Drug War charges 100 miles an hour until the brooding, bruising final moment.

B+

BARTON FINK (1991)

One of the more contained Coen Bros films, Barton Fink explores the creative process while confronting Judaism, New York angst and a dastardly murder. Far be it for anyone to call one of John Turturro‘s roles “normal” but this is probably the closet we get to having him playing a straight character. Cranked up on his own instinctual discontent and self-loathing ways, he’s a vessel for the Coen bros to voice their own insecurities. Hollywood’s a bitch, their film screams. It’s where creativity comes to die. Thankfully, the Coen Bros, unlike Fink, don’t bend over and take the proverbial sacking of the studio system. It’s films like this, even though it’s not their greatest work, that make us thankful that these sardonic siblings exist.

B

CHEAP THRILLS (2014)

Fear Factor left behind the rule book in E.L. Katz‘s ultra-violent parody on American economic desperation that mixes murky morality with a heavy twist of sadism. Pat Healy puts in a monstrous performance as the film’s lead, a man on his last financial leg who runs into old buddy Vince the same night he meets a man with deep pockets set to change his life… if he’s willing to go the distance. Unlike anything else, Cheap Thrills is an unrelenting descent into the depths of how low humanity will go for money. Whether it involves fisticuffs, B&E, sex, or even auto-cannibalism, Katz’s film asks, “What is your limit?” Anchored by rock solid performances all around and a general sense of happily suspended disbelief, Cheap Thrills is over-the-top alright but in the very best of ways.

A-

ESCAPE FROM TOMORROW (2013)

A subversive project shot guerrilla-style in the manicured “paradise” of Disneyland tries to spin a nightmare out of regulated happiness, but ends up nightmarish for all the wrong reasons. From the drooping special effects to the unbearably written and acted characters – lead by an incessantly nagging wife/mother and her drunken hubbie with rapey eyes for a pair of Parisian tweens – there’s so much to turn you off that it’s hard not to turn the movie off itself. The fact that it all adds up to pretty much nothing doesn’t help either. A failed experiment that hardly justifies the risk.

D

JESUS CAMP (2006)

Captivating and horrifying in equal measure, Jesus Camp is the epitome of Christianity gone wrong. Not to bring my views on religion into the mix, but the situations depicted in this documentary are exactly the reason why any kind of full blown commitment to an ideal can be absolutely terrifying. Hearing children talk about “the enemy” (Muslims) or crying out in tongues is surely provocative footage and works like a crowbar to unsettle an audience, even if the edit is a little too much of a one-sided portrayal to really gleam much other than shock and awe. Like the Westboro Baptists, surely this sect is the exception rather than the rule. It’s still a scary reality and one that deserved to be put under the microscope for one hot minute. In the end, it’s hard to walk away from this not thinking, “Fuck Becky Fisher. Fuck Fred Phelps. Fuck Jim Jones.” The fact that the documentary lead to the closure of this particular brainwashing camp though is more than enough to legitimize its existence as a potent exposé with surprising real-world application.

B-

GATTACA (1997)

Gattaca may be dated but the racial analogies are still as pertinent and timely as ever. Ethan Hawke plays a natural born child in an age of gene manipulation that churns out genetically superior children. Since the technology exists to shape a fetus into their most perfect possible self, those born of natural causes are considered lesser and forced to take on the underling roles in society. Its thinly veiled take on eugenics and racial inequality may be too on-the-nose but it’s an incredibly thoughtful and risky sci-fi film, especially considering it was released the same year that Starship Troopers and Batman & Robin were trolling the box office. Add to that provocative performances from Hawke and Uma Thurman and a wonderful turn from Jude Law and you have a keeper. Minus points to House Gattaca though for brazen use of shameful voiceover. New Zealand director Andrew Niccol has gone to make such smut as The Host and In Time, making this the sure pinnacle of his creative spirit. It’s just a shame that after such a victory, he would pump out work that makes us question whether he himself is an “in-valid” after all.

B

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Weekly Review 43: LIVES, CRONOS, FAST, VALKYRIE, SOMEWHERE, BICYCLE, INEQUALITY

March 23, 2014 by Matt Oakes Posted in Weekly Review Tagged Bicycle Thieves, Cronos, Inequality for All, Reviews, Somewhere, The Fast and the Furious, The Lives of Others, Valkyrie, Weekly Review

They’ve been longer hiatuses from Weekly Review in the past but I admit that it’s been a while since I’ve posted about what I’ve been watching from home. Busy with SXSW and the many, many, many reviews to come pouring out of that, I honestly didn’t have a ton of time over the past month to watch much at home. There were a few here and there (accounted for in this list) but it wasn’t until this week that I really felt like I had much to talk about in the segment to follow. In addition to the films mentioned below, I also re-watched The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and my opinion on it hasn’t really changed since the first time I saw it, for better or for worse, and The Fly, which still continues to be one of my favorite horror movies and a shining example of why practical effects will always be scarier than anything CGI.

I dipped into the theater just once (to my relief, there were no press screenings all week) to catch up on a film that I missed whilst in Austin, Enemy, which Chris reviewed for the site. I absolutely loved it and it’s easily one of my favorite films of the entire year, especially if you only account for stuff in theaters and not just in the film fest circuit. I can’t get Enemy out of my head and that’s exactly the kind of movie I want to see more of.

In other news, I also decided I couldn’t wait and watched Nymphomaniac: Part 2 on VOD with a bottle of vino. Whether that was a good call or not, I can’t really say but look for a full review of that sometime next week. Other than that, I got into a bucket of classics, so take a trip down memory lane with me to visit a bunch of first time watches that have been lingering on my to watch list for far too long.

THE LIVES OF OTHER (2006)

Sitting high on IMDB’s top 250, Das Leben der Anderen takes a hard look at a frequently unexplored chapter of German facism. In the ideological cell of the eastern block, before sledgehammers were taken to the Berlin wall, Ulrich Muhe plays a government agent known for his no-nonsense enforcement of party-friendly ideology. Everything soon changes when he heads up an investigation into a local artist and begins to sympathize with what was once his opposition. It’s a moving and informative picture chalked with a fog-laden, almost nightmarish landscape and moral claustrophobia. Muhe is a revelation, putting forth a man swimming through the tumult of changing tides. As a character study and pseudo-biography both, The Lives of Others is not to be missed.

A-

CRONOS (1993)

Diving deeper into Guillermo del Toro‘s filmography, I found Cronos to be a wonderfully crafted little yarn that shows a different side of Toro. Working in elements of body horror and sci-fi iconography, this film feels more Cronenberg-esque than much of his later work: a contained picture of hubris, a tight story of man vs. mythos. Foreign film offers the chance to see frameworks that just wouldn’t fly on American soil so it’s nice to Toro flex that muscle. From having an older gentleman as the center piece – a true rarity for Hollywood genre flicks – to the mysterious scoops of mythology, this is classic new-age Spanish cinema.

B

THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS (2001)

I was always under the impression that I was not a big fan of the original installment in what was to become one of the biggest international franchises going. It was only until I actually popped the disc in (a DVD in all its low resolution glory) that I realized that I had actually never seen The Fast and the Furious. What I got was not quite what I expected (and boy has Paul Walker‘s Brian changed from the eager puppy he once was). And even though it shamelessly scammed on Point Break to an almost embarrassing point, it properly sets the thematic footing for the sequels to come. Family first baby, family first.

C+

VALKYRIE (2008)

Bryan Singer‘s foray into historical drama didn’t quite turn out as he imagined it. First of all, casting Tom Cruise as a one-handed, eye-patched German is a hard enough sell on on paper but works even less in execution. As an admittedly big fan of Cruise’s work, this is not the role for him and he sticks out like a sore thumb the whole way through. And that’s kinda the whole issue with the film on a larger scale. It seems strange that Singer, an American filmmaker, would helm such an apologetic project from a distinctly German lens. About a gaggle of high ranking German officials attempts to assassinate Hitler, Valkyrie feels like a story that ought to have been told from a German auteur, not some Hollywood showboater.

C-

SOMEWHERE (2010)

Sophia Coppola only makes movies about rich and famous people bored with being rich and famous. But none (not even Lost in Translation) hit the nerve of ennui as much as Somewhere. It’s a film that drains the sweet out of the sweet life, that makes fame look more like a curse than a gift. Ironically, it’s Coppola’s style of noncommittal narrative structure that makes Somewhere as good a movie as it is but also holds it back from being great. There’s style spilling over and Coppola’s use of long shots often transcend the boredom she’s trying to encapsulate, posing scenes that feel inescapably real and human. Elle Fanning offers a breakout role as Steven Dorff‘s young, independent daughter, showing up the seasoned actor at his own game of woes.

B

BICYCLE THIEVES (1948)

Vittorio De Sica‘s story of Post WWII poverty in Italy is asset rich with atmosphere and tone. It captures a time and a place with untempered clarity, offering a father and son relationship that may ring a touch uncouth in modern times but is unapologetically true to the epoch it represents. As much a tone poem about a devastated economy as it is a unblinking condemnation of the governing parties of the time, Bicycle Thieves deals enough moralistic gray zones to make for an intriguing watch.

B+

INEQUALITY FOR ALL (2013)

A smartly laid out indictment of the wealth disparity problem in the US, Inequality for All is as heartbreaking as it is informative. With former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich leading the charge, this is a must-see documentary that will confirm your worst fears about modern America. More terrifying than the scariest of horror films, Reich lays out a dire situation where the middle class lays victim to an ideological genoice. It’s An Inconvenienter Truth, Rich Dude Nation. It should not be missed by any American.

A

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Weekly Review 42: ZONE, BROKEN, CAPE

March 2, 2014 by Matt Oakes Posted in Weekly Review Tagged Cape Fear, Reviews, The Broken Circle Breakdown, The Dead Zone, Weekly Review 1 Comment

This week brought a handful of screenings including the better than expected Non-Stop and Russian 3D epic Stalingrad, which likely won’t be seen by many Americans. I also caught an early press screening of The Raid 2 (holy hell is it good) but won’t be able to offer my full thoughts on that until I review for SXSW (where I might also have an opportunity to interview director Gareth Evans and star Iko Uwais so keep your eyes peeled for that). Chris saw Son of God and if you haven’t already, you’ll want to read his scathing review. Thank God, I did not attend that one. At home, I popped on a few comedies, re-watching This is the End (which didn’t hold up quite as well as I’d hope but was still enjoyable) and the always classic Borat. But rather than discuss those, let’s get into my thoughts on some first time watches.

THE DEAD ZONE (1983)

David Cronenberg tried his hand at this Steven King adaptation and proved he was no Kubrick. Paint by numbers and dull, this is more a showcase of when Christopher Walken‘s signature cadence goes wrong than anything else. Lacking in tension and anything defining of Cronenberg, this is filmed with the generic scope of a director for hire. When Emilio Estevez‘s character arrives on the scene, the affairs get a touch mire interesting but it’s too little, too late. More a chore than anything, this lame duck of a horror flick belongs back on the 80s shelf where it came from.

D

THE BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOWN (2013)

Powerfully acted love story gone wrong, The Broken Circle Breakdown is too glad to be the mayor of bummersville and for it is a bit of a burden to behold. Johan Heldenbergh and Veerle Baetens are both excellent in their leading roles and have to navigate some really harrowing waters. Watching them swirl around in love, conflict, grief and misunderstanding gives buckets of dramatic gravitas to the film and makes it a thematic cousin to the truly excellent Blue Valentine. But however difficult Valentine is, The Broken Circle Breakdown is twice as rough. Personally, I just can’t bear to watch a child wane at the hands of terminal cancer but that’s just me I guess. While I can’t discount the great performances, sensitive direction, and dollops of great folk music, I can only recommend this if you’re up for a certified downer.

C+

CAPE FEAR (1991)

It’s certainly not Martin Scorsese‘s best but Cape Fear is as delightfully genre as Scorsese gets. Though it doesn’t have the wild twists and turns (or the madcap performances) of Shutter Island, it’s an incredibly watchable thriller worth seeing if just to catch Robert De Niro sporting a southern accent and casting maniacal glares and to witness Nick Nolte playing a straight man. Juliette Lewis earned an Academy Award nomination for her work here and it’s a great breakout role for an actress who never disappoints.

B-

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Weekly Review 41: NEVER, SOLARIS, BACKBONE, HUDSUCKER, MONSTERS, SUICIDE, KILLS, BEAUTY

February 23, 2014 by Matt Oakes Posted in Weekly Review Tagged Machete Kills, Monsters, Never Let Me Go, Reviews, Solaris, The Devil's Backbone, The Great Beauty, The Hudsucker Proxy, The Monuments Men, Weekly Review

I’m almost ashamed to admit how much media I’ve consumed in the past week. In addition to keeping up with recent episodes of True Detective (so good) and The Walking Dead, I polished off the most recent season of House of Cards…and that’s before any of the following movies. I only made one trip to the theater though for a screening of Pompeii on Tuesday and then again to the local second-run theater to catch a showing of The Great Beauty before it fights its way to the top of the foreign language films for next week’s Academy Awards.

NEVER LET ME GO (2010)

Well-acted drama with a sci-fi bent, Never Let Me Go deals with the impossibility of knowing your own fate. Keira Knightley, Carey Mulligan and Andrew Garfield each play clones raised to adulthood and then harvested for their organs, always aware that their end will come sooner rather than later and yet ever searching for a means to extent their short stint on earth. It’s occasionally powerful and offers all three of the actors a chance to stand in the spotlight but its shade is too relentlessly black and the absence of hope too primed to get its audience down.

C

SOLARIS (2002)

Dark and contemplative to a fault, this Steven Soderberg film deals in themes of humanity and society, guilt and hopelessness. George Clooney plays a troubled psychologist sent to a space station orbiting the eponymous, mysterious planet with strange powers, Solaris. In the furtherest reaches of human ambition, Solaris is manifest destiny to the Nth degree, it’s the extension of what we can achieve and at what cost. Sound vague? So is the film. As Clooney’s isolation is mimicked with the backdrop of the desolation of space, he encounters someone from his past that throws everything that he believes into the garbage disposal and turns it on high. It’s an eerie and unsettling film but never shakes the feeling that Soderberg is holding his hand back a little too far. We’re left too emotionally distant to feel the metaphysical welts he’s trying to deliver but good on Clooney for putting so much effort in.

C+

THE DEVIL’S BACKBONE (2001)

Guillermo del Toro made his name with horror dramas of this ilk and for good reason. The Devil’s Backbone is the perfect precursor for Toro’s later masterpiece Pan’s Labyrinth as both deal out horror in the confines of historically accurate, war torn landscapes. This time around, Toro sets his sights on the Spanish Civil War as he tracks Carlos, a 12-year old recent orphan, who encounters a child ghost. Toro is at his most atmospheric here, offering creepiness and tenderness in equal measure that all adds up to a rather intriguing feature.

B

THE HUDSUCKER PROXY (1994)

A slapstick farce of the absurdist bent, the Coen Bros channel Frank Kapra, reminding us of what makes satire satire and why Adam Sandler as Mr. Deeds is a completely futile effort. Biting lampoon of Corporate America at its most corruptible, the Coen Bros are on point moreso than not and deliver sidesplitting gawuffs in healthy dollops. The first twenty minutes or so are solid gold and it kind of peters out towards the middle but the kooky performance from Tim Robbins keeps it hustling along and keeps the laughs coming.

B

MONSTERS (2010)

A road trip adventure masquerading as a monster movie, Monsters is a razor sharp satire on border policy. Gareth Evans, the man responsible for the upcoming Godzilla film, directs with searing panache, putting the human drama at the forefront and letting the presence of “monsters” help to bring more gravitas to their spiritual venture rather than drive the action. It’s the kind of genre-defying film you don’t see coming and it’s well worth checking out if not just to acquaint yourself with Evans’ talent.

B+

MACHETE KILLS (2013)

On the wrong side of the satire fence, this grindhouse-born sardonic action flick is too heavy on exploitation and too light on payoff. Demian Bichir though almost singlehandedly makes it a must-see as his manic villain is a big standout in an otherwise star studded but phoning it in and hamming it up cast. While Robert Rodriquez‘s latest really tries to drive home the necessity of a sequel in which Machete kills again…in space, after this absolutely tanked at the box office (it made a hair over ten million on a twenty million dollar production budget) there’s a snowball’s chance in hell that Danny Trejo will ever wield a machete in full feature form again. Then again, that’s probably for the best.

C-

THE GREAT BEAUTY (2013)

Absolutely gorgeous cinematography frames what is sure to be this year’s Best Foreign Language Film Oscar winner. Lead Toni Servillo is fantastic as fading writer but mostly uppity socialite Jep and he’s the perfect guide to stroll around the offerings of Rome with. Surreal and ponderous, Paolo Sorrentino‘s film is the kind that makes us see the trees for the forest, that begs us to realize that life is happening all around us, not something waiting to happen. Best of all, he doesn’t spoon feed any conclusions to his audience but allows them the breathing room to weave their own message from. There’s a little flack in the last act but it doesn’t take away from the monumental impact of this absolute wonder.

A-

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