Out in Theaters: ‘ROOM’

October 30, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters, Uncategorized Tagged Brie Larson, Emma Donoghue, Ethan Tobman, Jacob Tremblay, Lenny Abrahamson, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Room, Sean Bridgers, Stephen Rennicks 1 Comment

In the crippling solitude of a padlocked garden shed, Ma (Brie Larson) and Jack (Jacob Tremblay) bestow meaning unto mundanity. Just as Max’s world is fire and blood, their world is bondage and fantasy. Each item in their life’s limited pantry becomes a proper noun. There’s Bucket, Melty Spoon, Chair 1 and Chair 2. There’s Wardrobe in which Jack sleeps, when Old Nick comes. And of course, there’s Room. Ma, unable to yet explain to her recently 5-year old son that their life is one of mere captivity, spins a wild yarn about all life existing in Room. Everything outside of Room (Jack learns of the outside world via a janky television set) is make believe. Up until now, this fiction has been their salvation, providing an insular bubble wrap for the horrific situation in which they’ve found themselves. But as the tides turn with their captor, Ma and Jack must find the fortitude to free themselves or risk spending the rest of their existence in a 100-square foot space. Or worse. Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘OUR BRAND IS CRISIS’

October 29, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Ann Dowd, Anthony Mackie, Billy Bob Thornton, David Gordon Green, Joaqium de Almeida, Our Brand is Crisis, Out in Theaters, Peter Straughan, Reviews, Sandra Bullock, Scoot McNairy Leave a comment

David Gordon Green is as hit-and-miss a director as they come. He is also about as prolific as they come. Our Brand is Crisis is Green’s fourth film over the last three year period, coming on the heels of 2014’s widely panned Manglehorn starring Al Pacino. In 2013, Green saw two films open, the highly regarded backwoods drama Joe, starring a Nicholas Cage at the top of his game, and the off-beat buddy comedy Prince Avalanche. Even as a relative Green fan, I hated Prince Avalanche, citing its ill-fitting petulance and overwhelming sense of idiotic indecency as sources of extreme personal annoyance, but found Joe to be thoughtful and dramatically rich (if not excessively dour). Not to mention, it featured Cage’s best performance in years. Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘THE KEEPING ROOM’

October 28, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Brit Marling, Daniel Barber, Hailee Steinfeld, Julia Hart, Kyle Soller, Muna Otaru, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Sam Worthington, The Keeping Room 1 Comment

“What if we were men?” The last utterance of Daniel Barber‘s female-led The Keeping Room is very much in line with the film’s desire to flip 19th century farmland femininity on its head. I won’t spoil the context of that statement with any more information but it wouldn’t hurt to keep the phrase front and center while watching the film because in many ways the Civil War-era thriller is about that very philosophical metamorphosis. Barber’s film feels Kafkaesque in terms of its characters transformation, here from female to “male” rather than human to bug. Whatever that parallel may imply. Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘EXPERIMENTER’

October 27, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Experimenter, Michael Almereyda, Out in Theaters, Peter Sarsgaard, Reviews, Winona Ryder Leave a comment

For years, people questioned the ethics of Stanley Milgram’s infamous obedience experiments calling into question the intentional emotional distress inflicted upon the unknowing test subjects. Questionable though his tactics may have been, the fact that in 2015 every Psychology 101 class across the country is schooled in the teachings of Milgrim shows the lasting effects of his research. The film Experimenter, on the other hand, graphs the life of the controversial social scientist in a drearily scientific manner and will be forgotten moments after watching it. For all the intrigue and controversy surrounding Stanley Milgram, director/producer/writer Michael Almereyda is unable to conceive of a single moment of drama in his punishingly procedural biopic. Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: THE GHOST DIMENSION’

October 23, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Brit Shaw, Chris J. Murray, Dan Gill, Gregory Plotkin, Horror, Ivy George, Out in Theaters, Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension, Reviews Leave a comment

By and large the same product albeit in slightly different packaging, Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension manages a suitable end for the found footage phenomenon that took the world by storm. In tying the many disparate series elements into one cohesive mythology, this sixth Paranormal Activity has given meaning and context to all those that came after the first. In that regard, first time director Gregory Plotkin fifth sequel is one of the series strongest entries. Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘THE LAST WITCH HUNTER’

October 22, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Breck Eisner, Burk Sharpless, Cory Goodman, Elijah Wood, Mat Sazama, Michael Caine, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Rose Leslie, The Last Witch Hunter, Vin Diesel Leave a comment

Turns out when you take Vin Diesel out from behind the steering wheel, he’s still rocking cruise control. His latest starring vehicle, The Last Witch Hunter, pays homage to the muscle-bound actor’s IRL passion for D&D. No, not designated driving but Dungeons and Dragons (the actor has openly express his passion for the tabletop role-playing game). Like a faltering dungeon master, Diesel is as one-dimensional and underwhelming as a bag of old Cheetos. Playing a Norseman destined to keep the peace between witches and the human race, Diesel does nothing to differentiate this performance from any of his other recent ones, and how could he? The man is as wooden as Groot, as mechanical as the Iron Giant, as audibly indecipherable as Dominic Toretto’s meat and potatoes growl-slur. It seems you can take the Dom out of the movie but you can’t take the Dom out of Vin Diesel. Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘I SMILE BACK’

October 22, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Adam Salky, I Smile Back, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Sarah Silverman 52 Comments

That Sarah Silverman had the gall to break out of her irreverent comic persona for a melancholic melodrama as jet black as I Smile Back is impressive in and of itself. That the film itself is resoundingly potent and her performance amongst the strongest of the year is nothing short of a shocker. Hers is what many would refer to as a “breakout” role, were Silverman not already close being to a household name. Nonetheless, the performance front and center of I Smile Back is evidence enough that Silverman needs more dramatic roles and she needs them now. Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘BEASTS OF NO NATION’

October 15, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Abraham Attah, Beasts of No Nation, Cary Fukunaga, Dan Romer, Idris Elba, Netflix, Out in Theaters, Reviews Leave a comment

War films have never been as great as they were from the late-70s to the mid-80s. There was an esthetic richness to them, a vast sense of moral disorientation that defined them. Surfers catching waves neck deep in the shit, soldier’s squeezing the triggers of pistols squared at their heads, combatants throwing their arms up in defeat. That iconography sticks for a reason. In the era of 9/11, there have been some excellent war films, but like the wars themselves, the weapons, scenery and tone have changed. Beasts of No Nation is a heavyhearted throwback to the great war epics of the Vietnam generation and tells the sorrowful saga of a child soldier’s dark transformation. Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘CRIMSON PEAK’

October 15, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Charlie Hunnam, Crimson Peak, Guillermo del Toro, Horror, Jessica Chastain, Jim Beaver, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Tom Hiddleston 1 Comment

Only in a Guillermo del Toro yarn would the setting – a decrepit Victorian estate housing buried, but not forgotten, secrets – literally drip blood. His is the humor of a tongue buried deeply in a cheek, almost to the point of popping through to the other side. It’s not actually blood that is dripping but there’s no mistaking what the globular rouge streaks running down the wallpaper is supposed to resemble. In the world of Crimson Peak, it is but red clay that sullies the interior of the far flung mansion from which the title takes its name. The house is literally sinking in it. As the winter snow decorates the earth around this distinctly haunted house, it grows blood red from the clay beneath. So it’ll likely catch you off guard to hear that for a movie ostensibly soaked in blood, Crimson Peak is actually pretty restrained. Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘STEVE JOBS’

October 14, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Aaron Sorkin, Daniel Pemberton, Danny Boyle, Elliot Graham, Jeff Daniels, Kate Winslet, Michael Fassbender, Michael Stuhlbarg, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Seth Rogen, Steve Jobs 2 Comments

A sweetly sour punch of cinematic vitality, Steve Jobs is alive, it’s kinetic and it’s an intellectual kick to the shins. With a soaring foundation in Aaron Sorkin’s lively script, the dramatic biography hums along in real time, deconstructing the mythology of a recently controversial figure, the eponymous Steve Jobs, as he navigates his way to the top of the personal computer heap. From top to bottom, no detail has been spared as Danny Boyle’s signature aesthetic doddlings add a certain touch of magical realism to the affair while Michael Fassbender’s award-worthy central performance grounds the film in a degree of stone-washed, near-robotic cynicism. It’s an odd marriage of misanthropic megalomania and surprisingly salty sentiment that works for almost every minute of its run time. Read More