Hector and the Search for Happiness - Movie Review by Eric Forthun

Hector and the Search for Happiness  

Starring Simon Pegg, Rosamund Pike, Toni Collette, Stellan Skarsgård, and Christopher Plummer

Directed by Peter Chelsom

Rated R

Run Time: 114 minutes

Genre: Comedy/Drama

Opens September 26th

By Eric Forthun of Cinematic Shadows

Hector and the Search for Happiness is an optimistic, overlong slog that delivers moments of genuine happiness with a dash of cultural insensitivity and simplicity. As a comedy, its humor ranges from slapstick to character-driven to stereotypical, all sometimes within one scene. As a drama, its scenes are repetitive and follow formulaic notions of how relationships work and where conflict should arise. There’s a growing sense of an identity crisis for the film, eerily mirroring its protagonist, Hector (Simon Pegg). He’s a psychiatrist that seems to be tired of the monotony of his days: his wife, Clara (Rosamund Pike), always makes him the same kind of breakfast to start the morning; he encounters the same patients each day who increasingly complain about the same issues; and he lacks a social life and friends. He has always lived a safe, simple life, so he figures why not complicate things if that means finding himself along the way?

Hector decides to traverse the globe in order to find the secret to happiness, which he believes can be studied and found in particular ways. He logs various explanations throughout his trip, including some on his journey to China where he befriends Edward (Stellan Skarsgård). The film begins a globe-trotting phase where it briskly moves from one setting to the next, assigning an explanation to happiness through wealth and ways of living, amongst others. The story follows Hector as he talks with men at a monastery, travels to India to see their culture and meet with an old friend, and even heads to Los Angeles to meet up with a former flame of his, Agnes (Toni Collette). There is plenty of plot for the film to keep busy with, even if that means providing countless cultural stereotypes along the way. Every country that Hector visits becomes defined by its strange, unsettling nature to him, having foreign characters merely act as vehicles for Hector to develop himself.

The film combines genres and even subgenres of comedy, increasingly becoming disjointed besides some elements striking a strong cord. The slapstick comedy works due to Simon Pegg’s admittedly affecting performance. Pegg has always been a talented comedic actor with the ability to balance dramatic work effortlessly. Here, he makes the most of the material and elevates a grating script into something oddly sweet and touching at times. The best scenes occur on plane trips from country to country, with one in particular having Hector test the breakability of objects in first class after one glass seems indestructible. The problem with these scenes of irreverent, silly humor is that they do not align with the story’s tonally jarring editing. It’s difficult as an audience member to understand what message is being sent throughout most of the film, particularly as scenes change in the moment from touching to shocking to melancholic.

Appearances by Christopher Plummer and Toni Collette in the final act are welcome and inspired, with Rosamund Pike also providing a solid turn in an unfavorable role. Yet the story falls into the trap of spelling out every single one of its themes as if the audience could not fully comprehend the film’s message. It feels belittling, which is even more frustrating as the narrative works well emotionally with its characters. Critics have been bashing the filmas if it’s an uninspired atrocity of filmmaking, and that seems unfair. For every scene that works due to the charm of Pegg and the lightness of Chelsom’s direction, another scene counters with an uneven tone and unpleasant characterizations. Hector and the Search for Happiness has charm and occasional wit, but it’s bogged down by a haphazard tone and overly simplistic storytelling.

Good People - Movie Review by Eric Forthun

Good People  

Starring James Franco, Kate Hudson, Omar Sy, Anna Friel, and Tom Wilkinson

Directed by Henrik Ruben Genz

Rated R

Run Time: 90 minutes

Genre: Crime Thriller

Opens September 26th

By Eric Forthun of Cinematic Shadows

Good People starts with a promising opening scene. The camera observes men watching a group of people arriving at a nightclub during the day. They’re preparing to rob the place, and more specifically take down Khan (Omar Sy), a drug kingpin that sells liquid heroin. They enter the club with the camera holding in dashboard view from the car, with the audience only hearing the gunshots and seeing one of the men sprint into the car and another get killed in front of the windshield. The remaining man drives off with the money and the story begins. It’s a compelling, well-shot introduction that hints at far more innovative storytelling than delivered. Instead, the narrative picks up with Tom Wright (James Franco), a handyman that’s struggling to make a significant living while a house he received from a family member enters foreclosure. These are trying times.

Anna (Kate Hudson), Tom’s wife, is a school teacher that’s struggling to get pregnant. Her sister is facing a dire financial situation and the family just seems to be in disarray. Lo and behold, Tom and Anna discover their tenant living in their basement (bear with the story) has been dead for days and that he was part of the aforementioned robbery at the beginning of the film. They find the money, an investigation begins, and they become entangled in the web of crime. The title refers to the two main characters that are decidedly good people, but do they remain good after they steal the money and must resort to deplorable actions in order to overcome their troubles? The couple are at the center of John Halden’s (Tom Wilkinson) investigation, who has been tracking Khan for years and isn’t as respected as he should be. He realizes that the opportunity could arise for them to work together and take down this man once and for all.

Crime thrillers need to instill themselves with a sense of urgency and inventiveness in order to be distinguishable from the norm. Good People decides that it needs the contrivances of the genre in order to tell its narrative, allowing the second half to fall into predictably bland territory. The story is thin and doesn’t provide much past the initial set-up, while characters are given ten minutes at the beginning to develop so that the rest of the film can move briskly. I could make a commercial about how thinly scripted the film is and frame the ad just like those paper towel ones to show how much better it can be. The film admittedly embraces its absurdities as it grows toward a remarkably violent, bloody conclusion that turns into a cat-and-mouse game within the foreclosed house. There’s a Saw-like feel to the kills and how callous the murders are, particularly when the central characters get brought into the mix.

The performances are committed and Hudson shines in a role that barely scratches at her potential as an actress. She has always struck me as a talented woman on screen that chooses empty roles, but every time she gets a semblance of development she makes an impression. Franco mostly looks bored with his work while Sy is delegated to strange, foreign villain that the story doesn’t need to develop. Wilkinson is the best performance of the bunch because he’s always wonderful; here, he elevates the minor material. Despite these shortcomings, there’s nothing exceptionally bad about Good People, which might hurt it even more. Running 81 minutes with very little momentum also shows the emaciated and confused nature of the narrative, particularly with the conclusion yielding a cheesy joke reminiscent of a heartwarming indie. The film unfortunately runs its course quickly and never finds its own style.

Kelly and Cal - Movie Review by Eric Forthun

Kelly & Cal  

Starring Juliette Lewis, Jonny Weston, Josh Hopkins, and Cybill Shepherd

Directed by Jen McGowan

Rated NR

Run Time: 107 minutes

Genre: Comedy/Drama

Opens September 26th

By Eric Forthun of Cinematic Shadows

Kelly (Juliette Lewis) is a punk-rocker whose life is changed by the birth of her son, while Cal (Jonny Weston) is a young man paralyzed after a declaration of love goes horribly wrong. Together they form a strong, compelling friendship that drives Kelly & Cal past conventional, independent film tropes and into something far more engaging. The film often elaborates on its main characters and their day-to-day trappings, particularly through Kelly's monotony. She mostly tends to her baby and deals with the constant struggles of new motherhood: her husband hasn't had sex with her in six months, she can't sleep because the baby cries nonstop, and she can't socialize since she's mostly shacked up and taking care of the household. It's not the life she's accustomed to or the one she particularly wanted, considering she used to perform in a '90s punk rock group with her girlfriends.

Her life's been turned upside down and her everyday actions are repetitive and overwhelmingly boring, so when she meets Cal, her life changes quite a bit. He's an eccentric, charming, slightly abrasive young man that doesn't have a set career path after he became paralyzed. He thinks that Kelly is "hot," as he so sweetly puts it, and that she needs to socialize more but cannot find success amongst the mommy groups. Cal ends up listening to Kelly's music, reminiscing with her about their pasts, and developing strong feelings for the much older woman. Kelly's husband, Josh (Josh Hopkins), is always caught up at work and Cal slyly convinces Kelly that he could be cheating on her. This leads to a harsh divide in the household while Kelly struggles to understand what her feelings are; she loves Cal as a person and begins to realize that her life is in a vastly different place than his.

The characters are eccentric and the performances elevate the material to something wholly unique. It's rare to see a female lead character as raw as Kelly, with Lewis bringing her usual charm and effervescence to the role when it is required. She has been one of the most consistent actresses in the business, mostly delegated to supporting roles and shining most recently in the ensemble piece August: Osage County. She allows Kelly to be seen in her most intimate places: getting examined at the doctor's office post-birth, topless through her bedroom window, and broken down and weak on the couch while her son cries. The voyeuristic approach to her makes Jen McGowan's impressive direction shine all the more, since it allows us to see Kelly for who she is and everything that she is feeling. That's also a testament to the strong characterizations within Amy Lowe Starbin's script.

The third act of the film falls apart when it attempts to go for big, melodramatic moments. It is a cliché of the genre to have the film's major conflict handled in a public, loud way, and sure enough Kelly & Cal stages its moment in an art gallery. The art even testifies to what just happened and what will happen. The set-up is poorly constructed and off-putting, particularly due to the subtleties of the rest of the feature. When supporting characters get emphasized and feel underdeveloped, too, the film falls into its own contrivances. Kelly and Cal are the focal points of the film, and rightfully so. They are engaging, likable characters played by intelligent actors, with Weston also giving heart and texture to Cal's crippled emotional and physical self. These are characters that face real challenges and appear unlike other protagonists from mainstream films; they have a harsh reality. Kelly & Cal, then, feels original and involved, even if its conclusion doesn't fully mesh with its build up.

Believe Me - Movie Review by Eric Forthun

Believe Me  

Starring Alex Russell, Zachary Knighton, Johanna Brady, Max Adler, and Christopher McDonald

Directed by Will Bakke

Rated PG-13

Run Time: 93 minutes

Genre: Comedy/Drama

Opens September 26th

By Eric Forthun of Cinematic Shadows

Films that aim to tackle religion comedically and from multiple viewpoints often lose themselves on their journey. Believe Me, unfortunately, falls into that trap of being aggressively against religion while simultaneously crafting kind, likable characters within religion. That makes for an uncomfortable dichotomy that grows from the central characters conning religious believers for personal gain. While atheists may revel in the susceptibility of religious characters to believe anything, the film presents the college seniors at the heart of the film as arrogant, self-involved pricks. Not exactly the best dynamic. The film focuses on Sam (Alex Russell), a student that loses his scholarship for the semester after realizing that he has yet to pay for summer classes, leading to financial ruin. He can think of no alternatives or solutions, considering dropping out of school rather than find a way to make money.

And then it clicks. He sees the success that churches have with raising money for mission trips and good causes, discovering that in a conversation with a church-going girl that details how it's difficult to track money when accrued like that. He figures they can do one fundraiser for helping kids in Africa (as if that already wasn't a clichéd, privileged concept) and pocket almost all of the money. But afterwards, they are approached by members of one of the biggest religious groups in the United States to go on tour across the country. Most of Sam's friends are reluctant, with Pierce (Miles Fisher) standing opposed only until he finds out that money is involved. Tyler (Sinqua Walls) thinks it's immoral but doesn't want to lose his friends, while Baker (Max Adler) plays along because he's there for the ride. Sam's also driven by his lust for one of the organization's leaders, Callie (Johanna Braddy), who unfortunately is tied to Gabriel (Zachary Knighton), a musician that leads the church's band.

The film is sprinkled with comedic supporting actors, with Nick Offerman shining terrifically as Sam's financial/academic advisor. His solemn advice on life is hilariously delivered and oddly misplaced in a film that doesn't carry the same style of humor. Christopher McDonald plays the organization's leader that wants them to be the best they can; he's an honorable, decent man that never fits the stereotype of a comedic fool within religion. It's a relief considering much of the film acts as a group therapy session for bashing religion and the gullibility of its members. I'm not a religious man myself, and I didn't disagree with many of the things that the main characters preach about religion. But when the faith within the film itself isn't mean-spirited and isn't harming anyone, then why is it something to mock? It undermines the film's focal argument by insisting that these characters are committing corrupt actions but that they are justified due to the fallibility of religion.

Believe Me doesn't say all that much about religion itself. There's a surprisingly intimate scene late in the film between Sam and Callie, discussing the nature of his business and just how malevolent and awful he is. It's rare these days to see films address their antiheroes with such candor, yet in doing so reminds us of just how unlikable the protagonists are. There's nothing particularly charming about their actions because most of the film involves them wallowing in the money they've stolen from good individuals. Religious characters are treated as the level-minded, guilt-free individuals, another compelling characterization due to the way that cinema traditionally lambasts religion. Yet the narrative never works with Believe Me's message, particularly when the story gets familiarly messy and has every character discover everything about everyone. There's a certain intrigue behind the film's portrayal of religion, but the story falls flat and uses malice as its lead voice.

The Maze Runner - Movie Review by Monte Yazzie

The Maze Runner  

Dir: Wes Ball

Starring: Dylan O’Brien, Ami Ameen, Ki Hong Lee, Blake Cooper, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Will Poulter, and Kaya Scodelario

Rated PG-13

113 Minutes

By Monte Yazzie of The Coda Films

“Never go beyond the walls”. A rule inherently made to be broken by the young men confined behind massive, mechanical walls in director Wes Ball’s adaptation of James Dashner’s young adult novel “The Maze Runner”. A plethora of films featuring youth in peril in a dystopian future, most based off beloved novels, have saturated the cinema recently. Most of these films are featuring the usual derivative storytelling accompanied by decent enough acting, unfortunately because these kinds of stories are becoming so common nothing feels surprising. “The Maze Runner” falls into some of these pitfalls, however with great performances from supporting roles and a plot that unabashedly keeps the viewer in the dark until the end; the film sustains a sensation of intrigue amidst the confusion.

Waking up in an elevator with a group of young men standing intimidatingly over top of him, Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) is imprisoned in a constructed maze. Inside the maze is a community of young men primitively surviving, each of them arriving in the same mysterious way as Thomas. They have organized their own society with rules and responsibilities that each person abides to, and everyday a specific group of members known as “runners” navigate the maze in hopes of finding a way out. Though every night the maze closes and monstrous animals called Grievers arrive to ward off exploration. Thomas’ impulsive actions throws discourse into the population, but the sudden arrival of a young woman who recognizes Thomas changes everything.

Imbued with tones similar to “The Lord of the Flies”, the narrative provides some interesting surface level examinations on brotherhood, maturity, and group mentality influenced by fear and survival. While this in-depth character and narrative development doesn’t continue long enough to get into the more thought-provoking material involving the motivations of these young men, it does offer an attention grabbing introduction. Unfortunately the suspense of the claustrophobic atmosphere is lost once the film transitions into the rolling mystery, which regrettably goes nowhere and instead fills the plot with more damaging questions than satisfying answers. For those that have read the book, the film may have a slightly different appeal, but for those coming in cold, the film feels like a prolonged sequel setup.

Still, the performances from the cast are quite good. In the lead Dylan O’Brien is effective though somewhat overshadowed by the supporting cast. Two in particular offer great contrasts for the group. Ami Ameen plays community leader Alby with concern and control, the figure of positive leadership for the young men. While Will Poulter playing villain hides the inner fear he is feeling with an outward menace that lashes out whenever he gets scared. This comes to characterize his ambitions as his fear gains full control of his emotions. Unfortunately some improbable motivations from the characters and strained dialog moments interrupt the performances, allowing the flaws within the narrative to show through.

Amidst good performances and some skilled techniques that attempt to add depth to the narrative and build tension within certain scenes, “The Maze Runner” eventually leaves the audience in a place of confusion where only a sequel could remedy the messy plot and satisfy the many pending questions being asked in the end.

Monte’s Rating

3.00 out of 5.00

This Is Where I Leave You - Movie Review by Eric Forthun

This is Where I Leave You  

Starring Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, Jane Fonda, Adam Driver, Rose Byrne, and Corey Stoll

Directed by Shawn Levy

Rated R

Run Time: 103 minutes

Genre: Comedy/Drama

Opens September 19th

By Eric Forthun of Cinematic Shadows

This is Where I Leave You stands amongst those films that have a tremendous ensemble cast but never strive for anything more than safe storytelling choices and contrivances. The film comes from Shawn Levy, a traditionally studio-oriented filmmaker that doesn't have a distinct style so much as a distinct knack for making money through highly commercial films (i.e., the Night at the Museum franchise, Date Night, Real Steel). This latest effort gets a release after premiering at the Toronto Film Festival, which is a fitting choice considering the crowd-pleasing nature of the narrative. The story is sweeping and often operatic when it involves characters facing the plight of dealing with their father's death, yet the film's comedy is the thorn in its side. The humor derives not from characters or even well-defined situations, but rather snappy one-liners that feel as insincere and clichéd as if they were copied and pasted from other better comedies.

The film centers on the aftermath of a family coming together for their father's funeral, primarily looking at four grown siblings: Judd Altman (Jason Bateman), a radio show producer that finds out his wife, Quinn (Abigail Spencer), is cheating on him with his boss, Wade (Dax Shepard); Wendy (Tina Fey), who has multiple children with a husband that's absent and misses her former love, Horry (Timothy Olyphant); Phillip (Adam Driver), the oddball that comes to the funeral engaged to his therapist, Tracy (Connie Britton); and Paul (Corey Stoll), the level-headed one of the bunch that's married to Alice (Kathryn Hahn), an old flame of Judd's. Their mother, Hillary (Jane Fonda), gathers them together to practice Shiva, a Jewish tradition of staying together for seven days after a family member's death. This brings all of the chaos into one household and makes for an eventful week.

Each storyline gets about ten minutes of development. While that could be effective if there were subtlety within the film, This is Where I Leave You allows itself to paint broad pictures of potentially complex characters. There is depth within each of these creations, particularly Judd. Bateman provides a terrifically nuanced performance due to the hard-nosed drama coming from his life, particularly when he gets back to town and interacts with a homegrown girl played by Rose Byrne. The first scene of the film showcases Bateman's acting talents and the possibility of the film being moving: he discovers his wife cheating on him and the camera juxtaposes his image with a mirror of himself sitting in the dark. Then he blows out the candles on his wife's birthday cake and walks out the door, signifying him blowing out the flame of his love and moving forward. It's a strikingly beautiful scene, but every scene after is filled with on-the-nose emotional cues and dialogue that never meshes with the strength of certain characters.

The supporting performances are strong yet most remain insubstantial in terms of their arcs. Byrne is delegated to nothing more than an object for Judd to discover himself while characters like Alice and Horry get one defining characteristic and drive it home. It's frustrating considering the talent put on display here, with most of the actors attempting to elevate the material past its admittedly flimsy foundation. Jokes revolve around Fonda's character's boob job and most of the supposed laughs come from big proclamations coming at inopportune times during family gatherings. Not once did the comedic material strike me as sincere or grounded in any semblance of reality. The lines sound like they are being delivered by robots exchanging one-liners with one another. I love the cast in the film, and the strengths come from the dramatic elements of the stories. I engaged heavily with those. Yet much of the feature relies on trite, off-putting humor, leading to a middling, confused film.

The Maze Runner - Movie Review by Eric Forthun

The Maze Runner  

Starring Dylan O'Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Will Poulter, Aml Ameen, and Patricia Clarkson

Directed by Wes Ball

Rated PG-13

Run Time: 113 minutes

Genre: Action/Sci-Fi

Opens September 19th

By Eric Forthun of Cinematic Shadows

How can newly released young-adult dystopias set themselves apart from the rest of the pack? The Maze Runner doesn't do anything particularly exciting or innovative past its admittedly promising concept, but the male-driven narrative will undoubtedly draw in a wider audience than many of the recent adaptations of popular teenage novels. The film picks up in an immediately claustrophobic and stressful moment: Thomas (Dylan O'Brien) wakes up in a steel-caged elevator that's climbing at a rapid pace. He doesn't remember anything about himself and is surrounded by various barrels and crates, labelled with the letters "WCKD." When the doors open above him, the sun is shining, faces greet him, and he runs for his life when given the chance. Only then does he notice that there is no escape: surrounding him and the other inhabitants are impossibly high walls that form a maze around them. The maze changes, the gates only open for a limited time, and many boys have been trapped or killed within its walls.

Thomas has a curiosity that the others do not share. Alby (Aml Ameen), the group's leader, tries to test his ability as a "runner," a term used for the people that attempt to map out the maze while the gates are open. Thomas wants to find the quickest way to escape and doesn't understand how everyone could be okay with not remembering anything about their past. One of these boys accepting of their circumstances is Gally (Will Poulter), someone who doesn't take kindly to Thomas's unwanted exploring and the mistrust and displeasure he brings the group. This leads to more people being attacked by the nightmarish Grievers, unseen creatures that inhabit the maze, while a mysterious girl (Kaya Scodelario) arrives in the monthly elevator delivery with a strange note that changes the game altogether. Why have all of these boys been trapped in the affectionately titled "The Glade," and is there any chance at escape?

That question is a fascinating one, primarily because the film builds tension through the mystery of its visuals. The maze is enthralling and portrayed terrifyingly. There's a telling scene as a character gets stung by a Griever, returning to camp but posing a threat to everyone there. As a society, they decide that the person must be banished; the only way that can happen, then, is by forcing him into the maze as the gates close. No one has ever survived a night, and that won't happen here. It's a harrowing exploration of adolescents as they handle adult situations, even if the story starts to grow repetitive. What grows particularly frustrating as well is the growth of clichés as the story develops further. The final half hour is chock full of every predictable element of young adult novels, whether that be a young character as a martyr of innocence or an enigmatic leader that might be good but also could totally be evil. It's just too simple and formulaic.

The conclusion lost me. It's incredibly difficult to translate dense novels to film, especially when they are surrounded by mystery that might need characterizations to pop but cannot be delivered through dialogue. There are probably two or three films worth of material that are revealed in the increasingly drawn out conclusion, as the characters find out the answer behind the maze, amongst many other things. The characters are thin due to their lack of knowledge about themselves so the actors do not have much to work with; that lends itself to bland, interchangeable performances, outside of O'Brien in the lead. He's a strong presence that provides a young anchor for the film. There are structural problems, certainly, most of which go unnoticed since the film begs questions throughout. Yet the lack of conclusion surrounding many central problems leaves the story too open for a sequel. The Maze Runner is a promising, ambitious film, but it's also frustrating and incomprehensibly dense.

The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby - Movie Review by Eric Forthun

The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby  

Starring James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain, Viola Davis, Bill Hader, Isabelle Huppert, and William Hurt

Directed by Ned Benson

Rated R

Run Time: 122 minutes

Genre: Drama

Opens September 19th

By Eric Forthun of Cinematic Shadows

The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby started as two separate films with the subtitles "Him" and "Her." Each film stood as their own narratives with both lovers separated after their marriage begins to fall apart. The director and writer, Ned Benson, realized that the two would need to be combined in order to make a marketable, releasable feature, thus creating "Them," the theatrical version of the romance. Condensing a four-hour romantic tale into two hours must have been extraordinary difficult given the circumstances of the narrative, with both actors spending a lot of time apart and only sharing select scenes with one another. Yet the result is a remarkably affecting tale of love lost under the most dire circumstances, and the struggles that come with a long-term romance disrupted by tragedy. While the film at times falls into conventional trappings and broad strokes, the romance works tremendously when built by the drama of the two terrific leads.

Conor Ludlow (James McAvoy) and Eleanor Rigby (Jessica Chastain) once had a blissful marriage, surrounded by a strong group of friends and family. Yet their life together fell apart at the loss of their child, forcing them to reconsider how their marriage can survive when the passion seems to be lost. Eleanor leaves Conor and attempts to kill herself, not succeeding and moving in with her parents, Mary (Isabelle Huppert) and Julian (William Hurt). Her mom is from France and likes to drink wine while her father works at a university and wants Eleanor to get back to school. Maybe that'll set her life back on track and help her find happiness. She enrolls in a class taught by Professor Friedman (Viola Davis), who has an older son and connects with Eleanor's passion. Conor runs a struggling bar and works with his best friend, Stuart (Bill Hader), a chef that wants to help Conor become less...unfriendly. Eleanor and Conor, in their separation, have grown apart from the other people that they love.

There's a delicacy to the film's portrayal of love and loss. In the film's opening moments, a long take looks at the back-and-forth banter between the two lovers when they were happy. The camera quietly observes, silently letting their actions and words speak for their characters. Moments later, both characters are seen separated and battered by self-inflicted injuries. They are literally hurt by being apart. The film shines when it puts ideas on screen in that low-key way, particularly due to the exemplary cast on hand. The supporting players like Hurt and Davis are given plenty to chew, with the latter in particular using complaints about her son to emphasize the loneliness Eleanor feels at the loss of her only child. There's a harsh scene where Friedman complains about kids and how they won't care about you after they leave home, and she asks Eleanor if she has any children. She responds yes, if only to hide the fact that she misses her son and that Friedman has no excuse to complain about a living child.

The heart of the film is Chastain, who breathes tremendous life into her role and has the more dramatically ripe story. Her and McAvoy mirror one another often throughout the film due to their characters going through similar struggles, but Eleanor deals more sensitively with her issues while Conor externalizes most of his. The tragedy underlying the story only rarely emerges; a scene in particular where Conor talks with his restauranteur father (Ciarán Hinds) about their pasts and where their love and happiness went is mesmerizing and tragic. When the film generalizes love, which occasionally emerges in father-daughter conversations, the story aims too broad and misses its mark. But the performances shine through in the film's final half hour, with two gut-wrenchingly beautiful and haunting scenes delivered back-to-back. Benson's film is propelled by Chastain's magnetic, overwhelmingly effective performance, one of the year's best. Despite its occasional mishaps, The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby is a gorgeously intimate study of a struggling romance.

Tusk - Movie Review by Eric Forthun

Tusk  

Starring Justin Long, Michael Parks, Haley Joel Osment, Genesis Rodriguez, and Guy Lapointe

Directed by Kevin Smith

Rated R

Run Time: 102 minutes

Genre: Horror

Opens September 19th

By Eric Forthun of Cinematic Shadows

Kevin Smith is one of the most divisive filmmakers in the business, a writer-director that stands by his work and doesn't let others get in the way. I'm a fan of some of his films but not all: I really enjoy Dogma and Zack and Miri Make a Porno, I cannot stand Cop Out or Red State, and his other efforts don't particularly connect with me. His films are the strongest when he deals with familiar themes and genres and tackles them with ferocity and scorn. Tusk, his new horror feature, is brilliantly demented and biting, showing a reinvigoration that the filmmaker hasn't seen in years. He takes a well-worn atmosphere and re-creates a truly unsettling premise, uniquely combining elements from horror classics like Misery and repulsive recent efforts like The Human Centipede. The film descends into madness after its set-up and becomes a perverted vision of humanism, one that will remain unforgettable.

The story follows Wallace Bryton (Justin Long), an immature podcaster that resorts to mean jokes for cheap laughs and cheats on his girlfriend. He works with his long-time friend, Teddy (Haley Joel Osment), on their show called the Not-See Party, with the title screaming a tasteful affair. They seek out an interview with a YouTube sensation that embarrassed himself, so Wallace travels to Canada in search of this man for a prized interview to mock him to death. Unfortunately for them, the kid is unavailable to interview, leaving Wallace lost and unfulfilled. Only then does he discover an ad in the bathroom that leads him to the home of Howard Howe (Michael Parks). Howard is an old, feeble man that accommodates Wallace and tells him memories from his past. He has extravagant stories that detail the brutality of man, his incredibly dark and tragic backstory, and his affinity for God's greatest creation: the walrus.

Things end up turning sour when Wallace is drugged and forcibly put into one of Howard's experiments. He's not as feeble and simple as he seemed. Teddy and Wallace's girlfriend, Ally (Genesis Rodriguez), search for him and uncover darker secrets about Howard while Wallace realizes the endgame of his transformation. Smith's vision for the film is one of his most confident. The camera moves lyrically and waxes across a scene to build maximum tension; long takes appear often and heighten the unsettling nature of many of the settings. The camera often lingers on Howard's face as he tells lavishly detailed stories about his war-torn past and why he loves walruses and hates men as much as he does. There's a certain way that Smith approaches these stories that speaks truth about storytelling: the magnetic power it can have over the listener and the way that it can contort a person's perception of reality. Howard is undeniably crazy and Parks sells the performance with his usually insane charisma.

The writing, like many of Smith's films, uses the first half to set up the far-fetched premise by grounding the story in reality and characters. The second half becomes unchained and chaotic in every facet, yet the story remains shockingly sound. The introduction of Guy Lapointe (played by an actor named "Guy Lapointe," an unrecognizable superstar in cameo form) has the story drift into Tarantino-esque eccentricity and violence, but the narrative remains compelling. The performances all-around are committed, particularly from Long as he makes a horrible person into an oddly sympathetic embodiment of humanity. The ending packs a punch due to his portrayal of Wallace. Smith hates podcasters and likes the idea of Canadians, and his bite cuts through scenes to ensure the audience understands that. Tusk is one of the more singular visions I have seen in 2014, a film that satisfies horror fans while managing to deliver a solemn, effective conclusion.

Interview with the team behind The Guest by Michael Clawson

by Michael Clawson of Terminal Volume

The Guest chugs along like you know what’s going to happen. It knows you know. And it’s still one step ahead of you.

The film — directed by the You’re Next up-and-coming duo of director Adam Wingard and writer Simon Barrett — starts as a thriller so basic that it could be shrink-wrapped and sold at a Walmart in the clearance section. An Afghanistan combat veteran shows up at the house of a dead Marine buddy, whose family welcomes him in and lets him stay over, borrow the car and prepare dinner with their sharpened cutlery. But the veteran, David (played with a psychotic gaze by Downton Abbey nobleman Dan Stevens), is not who, or what, he says he is. And then people start dying.

“There’s a couple of abrupt tonal shifts …” screenwriter Barrett said during a recent stop through the Valley to promote the film. “One thing we were really trying to play with a lot was the idea of experimenting with character likability, and obviously I’m primarily referring to Dan Stevens’ character — you just love him and he’s so entertaining. We treat him seriously as a character, and his behavior and his reactions are consistent, and at a certain point, that becomes a darker thing.”

Stevens’ David, whose thousand-yard-stare requires a gun permit in a handful of states, slowly unr

avels, though the film has a sinister sense of humor that collects his unspooling psyche into bundles of dark comedy. The film ends in a Halloween maze with David as the haunted attraction’s resident ghoul, the monster that stalks the guests. Before that, though, David mops the floor with some brazen cosmo-drinking high school kids, he blackmails the school principal, and obliterates the male competition at a house party when his muscle come in lugging the remaining kegs. David is a murderous madman, but he has his charm, an aspect of the movie that is twistedly delightful, but one that audiences might have a hard time swallowing.

“We did a similar thing with You’re Next, where the movie got increasingly comedic as it went along, and climaxed with this kind of absurdist monologue,” director Wingard said. “You’re Next was a gradual progression. The Guest was much more of a 90-degree turn … As a viewer, that’s the kind of stuff I enjoy and find fun: when a movie pulls the rug out from under you, as long as it’s grounded in a reality with characters that make sense.”

I would argue that the David character makes little to no sense. He spends much of the movie helping people to only kill them in the last act. His motives are frail and without much justification. And the terrifying thriller he’s crafting is yanked from him in a military twist that deflates the The Guest’s more robust possibilities. But David somehow still works, if only because Stevens’ is so kinetically malevolent that he outshines the material. (Stevens was on the press tour, but sidelined by an illness and unable to speak with the press.)

“[Stevens] just kind of personified what you really want out of a mysterious character like this,” Wingard said. “He has to earn the characters’ trust to integrate himself into the family’s lives. So we wanted an actor that the audience already trusted to begin with. Their association with him is the polite, mild-mannered Matthew Crawley [from Downton Abbey], and so that association is what we’re kind of playing with.”

Wingard continues: “… Ultimately what we’re playing with is creating a character that we want to conflict the audience. We want to throw the notion of a hero or a villain out the door, and all you should be focusing on is ‘are you being entertained by this guy?’ Dan had all those aspects to him. He’s a very intelligent guy, he got the sense of humor of the script, and we already knew he could act.”

It was their first time working with Stevens, although Barrett and Wingard are frequent collaborators. Frequent enough that I ask them if they’re sick of each other yet.

“I would say the key to our creative process is that we actually know when to give each other a lot of space,” Barret said. “Like when Adam is editing, I stay completely out of the editing room, so that I can then bring objectivity to his first cut. Adam’s first cuts tend to be more polished than a lot of people’s final cuts … But that’s about two months that I just stay out of his way while he works, and generally I’ll take advantage of that time by writing. That’s one of the good things about our partnership — we’re doubly productive. When I’m writing a script, I tend to not show Adam any pages until I have a final draft, and I try to surprise him with the story and characters.”

Wingard agrees that the they function well together and apart: “We tend to not really just hang out on a casual basis that much, even though for awhile we lived literally next door to each other. When you’re shooting a movie, you’re around each other every day, and then you go on these press tours … so it’s not like we’re starving to hang out.”

To see these two hang out behind the camera, check out The Guest, which opened Wednesday.

The Guest - Movie Review by Eric Forthun

The Guest  

Starring Dan Stevens, Maika Monroe, Brendan Meyer, Sheila Kelley, and Lance Reddick

Directed by Adam Wingard

Rated R

Run Time: 99 minutes

Genre: Thriller

Opens September 17th

By Eric Forthun of Cinematic Shadows

The Guest is insanely inventive and gleefully manic, a madly energetic psychological thriller with pizazz and spunk. The film is built on a simple premise: a man arrives as a guest in someone's home but doesn't seem to be who he says he is. The story turns out to be much more grandiose and funny than that set-up insinuates, however, allowing the characters to appropriately embrace the absurdity and humor that would derive from such a tense, hostile situation. The titular visitor is David (Dan Stevens), a recently discharged soldier returning from Iraw to his hometown. He doesn't have a place to stay so he hopes that going to the Peterson family's house won't be too much trouble. Their son passed away during the war months ago, and David served with him. Maybe he'll be able to bridge that mourning period for the family and help them through their suffering.

The Peterson family has an interesting group of members that all take kindly to David: the mother (Sheila Kelley) likes David because he's telling her all about her son and she can live through his experiences; the father (Leland Orser) is struggling to move up in his workplace and likes to have a buddy with whom he can drink and talk sports; the daughter, Anna (Maika Monroe), begins to crush on him after he joins her for a party and seems to be the coolest cat in the room; and the son, Luke (Brendan Meyer), likes him because David kicks the asses of his bullies and gives him sound advice for future situations. The problem with all of them growing high on David? He's not who he seems to be. That's the central struggle at the heart of the film, with something clearly wrong with David through his lies and vicious anger issues. When the military gets involved and a unit led by Carver (Lance Reddick) begins to enter their town to investigate, things escalate quickly.

Director Adam Wingard and writer Simon Barrett have now paired for two excellently subversive romps on well-worn genres. Their previous effort, You're Next, is a hilarious and viciously told horror entry, proving that the genre can indeed be sparked with new life when taken differently down a familiar path. The Guest plays on many of the same strings: the story is straight out of '80s B-movie heaven, with the mysterious man with a particular set of skills creating a hostile force in a family unit. But David is seemingly superhuman for much of the film, able to withstand excessive amounts of alcohol, drugs, and violence with pretty rapid recovery. It's funny to see how calmly he handles situations since it resembles a charming, handsome robot destroying everything in his path. Dan Stevens sells the role perfectly and commits wholly, giving David a likable edge that goes crazy in the final half hour.

The story grows too nonsensical during its conclusion, tying together loose ends with seemingly bigger questions. Yet it remains engaging because of the performances and the self-aware nature of its narrative. One of the best scenes in the film involves an ode to a scene earlier, when the patriarch of the Peterson family complains that his boss is going to give a higher-up position to someone else when he deserves it more. Later, he comes home with a somber face and tells the family that his boss apparently committed suicide. It's all somber until he tacks on at the end that the bright side is that he's going to get promoted. The film plays these horrible actions for laughs because a self-conscious story needs a bit of humor to feel original. The Guest is sporadically comparable to efforts like The Stepfather and Jacob's Ladder, two serious films from vastly different genres that get at the idea of an unwelcome invader and military experiments, respectively. Yet instead of paying homage, the story sticks up a big middle finger to those stories and tells its own twisted narrative.

The Drop - Movie Review by Monte Yazzie

The Drop  

Dir: Michaël R. Roskam

Starring: Tom Hardy, James Gandolfini, Noomi Rapace, Matthias Schoenaerts, and John Ortiz

Rated R

106 Minutes

By Monte Yazzie - TheCodaFilms.com

The moment the familiar voice-over narration introduces “The Drop”, it’s obvious what kind of film will follow. A quiet man, a lonely woman, tough guy gangsters, and a dive bar establish the setup for director Michaël R. Roskam’s crime film. While the majority of the film is a mere cutout of other better films, the performances are terrific. “The Drop” marks the final film for James Gandolfini who died last June. Gandolfini brings the flair and intimidation of one of his most memorable characters to this role. Roskam’s film suffers from uneven and clichéd storytelling but is elevated by stellar performances.

Bob (Tom Hardy) pours drinks at a local blue-collar bar named after the owner Marv (James Gandolfini). At one point in the past Marv was a feared man, but his days of control have been taken over by a group of Chechen mobsters who run the Brooklyn neighborhood and utilize the bar for their dealings. Bob unintentionally gains the attention of a woman named Nadia (Noomi Rapace) after he finds an abused dog in her trashcan. Bob, forced into caring for the puppy, gains unwanted and dangerous attention from Nadia’s past. After a robbery at the bar, Bob and Marv are strong-armed by the mob into repaying the stolen money.

Screenwriter Dennis Lehane adapts one of his short stories entitled “Animal Rescue”. Lehane’s work isn’t new to the big screen; a few of his adaptations include “Gone Baby Gone” and “Mystic River”. “The Drop” unfortunately doesn’t come close to the quality of the aforementioned films. Lehane stretches the narrative to the extent of losing the mystery and stifling any built tension, though his characters are crafted well enough to mask some of the flaws within the story. Every character is branded with a dark past with equally dark sins that continue to define their existence. Kindhearted Bob rescues the hurt dog unknowingly walking into the path a sociopathic loner who forces Bob to confront the fears of his past. Time, specifically in regards to the past, is a key element intertwined into every characters motivation here.

The performances are great. Tom Hardy is exceptional as a man whose actions speak louder than the few words he mutters. Nothing surprises him, even when the gruesome gift of a severed limb shows up, Bob’s methodical handling of the situation displays more about his character than him explaining with some overlong monologue. James Gandolfini is threatening and apprehensive, a man who is first to talk but never the first to get his hands dirty. Gandolfini’s emotional duality starts subtly but exaggerates as the situation slips further out of his control.

“The Drop” can be rather messy and unsurprising from a narrative standpoint, but the measured performances from the group of exceptional actors keeps the film worthwhile to watch. Hardy again demonstrates his developing skill while Gandolfini offers one final display of his impressive talent that will be sorely missed.

Monte’s Rating / 3.25 out of 5.00

The Drop - Movie Review by Eric Forthun

The Drop  

Starring Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace, James Gandolfini, Matthias Schoenaerts, and John Ortiz

Directed by Michaël R. Roskam

Rated R

Run Time: 106 minutes

Genre: Drama/Crime

Opens September 12th

By Eric Forthun of Cinematic Shadows

Tom Hardy and the late James Gandolfini deliver excellent performances in The Drop, a cutthroat thriller that feels like a narrative unsure of its tone and how to handle its supporting characters. The film shines when it allows those two actors to occupy the screen at once. They are dynamic, versatile forces, the latter of which is sorely missed, particularly when he plays ruthless men connected with the mob. Unfortunately, much of the film's underlying elements never mesh with the appropriately compact narrative: the underutilized female character (yes, the entire film has a single one) and the ethnic villains feel like tacked-on additions that don't work with the layered male leads. It's unfortunate considering the enigmas that Hardy and Gandolfini play, both given room to breathe and create life in their roles. Enough of the film is suspenseful and compelling to work through those kinks, yet it prevents The Drop from achieving loftier goals.

The story centers on Bob Saginowski (Tom Hardy), a Brooklyn native that works at Cousin Marv's Bar. The Marv (James Gandolfini) from which the bar gets its name made a mistake down the line and no longer owns his establishment, but still runs the day-to-day operations alongside Bob, who acts as a bartender and responsible manager of the joint. Their bar occasionally functions as a place for "drops," where mob members drop off money to be put in a safe located underneath the hardwood until the end of the night, when it is then delivered directly to the mob and business moves along as usual. One night, a robbery goes awry that leads to the loss of $5,000, sparking an investigation that ultimately becomes cumbersome for everyone involved. Detective Torres (John Ortiz) involves himself with the criminal study and notices something is wrong but cannot pinpoint what exactly.

Then there is concern surrounding an abused puppy that Bob discovers when walking home from work. The puppy was placed in a garbage can outside of Nadia's (Noomi Rapace) home; she treats Bob as an unwelcome visitor but ultimately they start a friendship vicariously through the dog. The original owner of the little pit bull, Eric Deeds (Matthias Schoenaerts), is a psychopath ex-boyfriend of Nadia's that torments Bob in his pursuit of his animal. The film remains consistently busy with its plot but never feels bloated, primarily because all of the problems stem from a select few characters. Bob stands within almost all of the film's conflict, and Hardy puts on a magnetic performance that towers over the film and its effectiveness. He provides Bob with a kindness and a secret looming underneath his calm demeanor; he attends church everyday and cares for the dog passionately, signs that point to a good man, but nothing is as it seems.

The Drop gels masterfully, particularly when Hardy and Gandolfini occupy a scene together. Gandolfini brings his traditionally strong persona to a man working with the mob but allows Marv to become his own maniacal creation. Director Michaël R. Roskam works well in getting strong performances from his male characters, with Schoenaerts also delivering an impressive supporting turn. The film is often framed appropriately but utilizes awkward camera tricks in close-ups and blurry effects. The film's biggest offense, however, comes from delegating Rapace to such a graceless, bland role as Nadia, creating a cardboard character with no distinct characteristics outside of how the men define her. It's frustrating considering her known talents. Tonally the film becomes wonky in its conclusion since it employs comedy that creates an awkward dynamic. Regardless of those missteps, The Drop remains an enjoyable, surprising character study with impressive performances.

Dolphin Tale 2 - Movie Review by Eric Forthun

Dolphin Tale 2  

Starring Nathan Gamble, Harry Connick Jr., Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd, and Kris Kristofferson

Directed by Charles Martin Smith

Rated PG

Run Time: 107 minutes

Genre: Family Drama

Opens September 12th

By Eric Forthun of Cinematic Shadows

When Dolphin Tale was released back in 2011, the based-on-a-true-story film got generally favorable reviews that led to a moderate box office success. It was a modestly budgeted film that made almost $100 million worldwide, triggering immediate production on a sequel. I wasn’t a particular fan of the first entry, since I thought it was exploitative and simplistic in its approach to wounded animals and made the audience feel bad rather than care about the people at the heart of the story. More of the same ensues in Dolphin Tale 2, only that it feels cheaper, more rudimentary, and aggressively dumber than its predecessor. As a children’s film, it delivers occasional chuckles from the silly actions of the animals, but for parents it’s a mind-numbingly repetitive and basic children’s story without a semblance of how narrative momentum works. The made-for-television feel only accents how thin and cardboard-like the story and characters are.

The film tells the story of Sawyer (Nathan Gamble), a boy who works at the aquarium that features Winter, the dolphin from the first film. Sawyer works with Dr. Clay Haskett (Harry Connick Jr.) and his daughter, Hazel (Cozi Zuehlsdorff), both of whom want the best for the animals and hope to make Winter happy. But when her longtime companion in sanctuary dies, she becomes depressed and aggressive, retaliating against the trainers and appearing unhinged. Because dolphins must have a companion and they seemingly cannot find another to go along with Winter, the USDA (not the one that monitors meat products, mind you) threatens to move Winter to another aquarium in 30 days if a replacement is not found. Sawyer’s also been offered a position to go on a Boston whale program for 12 weeks through the city’s university, an opportunity for him to advance his education. But that would mean leaving his post, which further complicates matters.

Having a kid as the protagonist and heart of the film makes for a woefully underdeveloped emotional core. Gamble isn’t a terrible actor, but when he’s given cheesy lines to deliver during every exchange, it feels forced and insincere. If anyone has an allergy to milk products, they might want to avoid the film due to all of the cheese coming from the story and characters. Nonetheless, the narrative does have some merits: the advocation of releasing animals back into the wild if they are self-sufficient is a strong message, and the address of animals in captivity still being wild represents a cautionary, important declaration. Yet the film never takes chances and plays the story safe, particularly during laborious montages that should sum up a scene in thirty seconds but last four to five minutes. The editing for the film wants to bring together every character reaction and leave nothing to the imagination. It’s exhausting.

Director Charles Martin Smith gives the film a woefully melodramatic feel, creating hyper-drama from scenes that should be underplayed. A musical score dominates every dramatic moment in the film, telling the audience to FEEL rather than feel. There’s also a dreadfully induced product placement scene in the middle of the film, with a MUG Root Beer can in every shot that a character speaks, only for them to end the scene by saying, “Thanks for the root beer.” Shots of Pepsi products later in the film only accent the amount of money the company must have spent to obviously advertise. It’s frustrating that there’s probably a strong story somewhere within all of this mess; maybe a tale of companionship and loneliness for animals in captivity and the way we, as humans, must protect them only when necessary. Dolphin Tale 2 doesn’t concern itself with that, only reminding audiences that some children’s films have the feel of ABC Family or Disney Channel rather than Disney or Pixar.

The Last of Robin Hood - Movie Review by Michael Clawson

The Last of Robin Hood

Starring Dakota Fanning, Kevin Kline and Susan Sarandon

Directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland

From Killer Films and Lifetime Films

Rated R

94 minutes

by Michael Clawson of Terminal Volume

Even at 50 years old, actor Errol Flynn was known as a ruthless playboy with a ravishing appetite for pretty young things. So when the Captain Blood star makes a phone call to 15-year-old’s house, the mother has every right to slam the receiver down and march upstairs to ground her daughter. But this mother is smitten.

And that’s how quick a teenager is allowed to date and sleep with an aging Hollywood star in The Last of Robin Hood. Fame, it seems, goes a long way in smoothing out the wrinkles of social norms, and creased faces.

Not that this dilemma is all Flynn’s fault. Beverly Aandland (Dakota Fanning) did show up to a Hollywood movie set with a fake birth certificate saying she was 18. And she never mentioned her age, even though Flynn had his suspicions she was young — too young. Later when he finds out how old she is, he doesn’t recoil or jump out the dating pool, but manipulates Beverly’s mother, a rotten piece of work named Florence (Susan Sarandon), who justifies the pimping out of her daughter in the name of her career. “This is how all the young starlets get roles,” she says convincing no one but herself.

The Last of Robin Hood is told from the point of view of Beverly, who wasn’t raped on her first date with Errol Flynn, though it came very close. When Flynn turns up the next day, he’s head over heels for her and charms her into a relationship that lasts until his death two years later from alcohol and drug abuse. As Beverly begins to learn about Errol, she’s just as smitten as her mother, who accompanies the couple everywhere they go to divert unseemly rumors and gossip magazines. Beverly reminds Errol of a “little sprite … a wood nymph,” so he calls her Woodsy, which is not a flattering nickname when yelled across rooms at parties.

Flynn is played by Kevin Kline, an actor who also dated (and married) a much-younger starlet — though Phoebe Cates was very much a legal adult when they began dating. Comparison images reveal similarities yet Kline’s version of Flynn is not as dashing as Jude Law’s swashbucklin lothario from The Aviator. Kline does a commendable job, except he’s just not given much to work work around. Flynn could command a room and seduce women with ease, but the script writes him as a hollow shell of want and need. The frustration that Flynn was experiencing as his career faded was likely immense, but the The Last of Robin Hood seems more concerned with tacky spectacle — wooden canes to illustrate his deteriorating health, hidden flasks to show his alcohol dependence, and barely a mention of his communist flop, Cuban Rebel Girls, which Beverly starred in. Even a scene with Max Casella as a young Stanley Kubrick casting Lolita could not put Flynn’s career into perspective.

Fanning, like Kline, seems to struggle with the script, which is as knotty and floatable as her nickname. Dialogue is terribly written, and occasionally terribly acted, and much of the lightweight staging and tempo give the impression of a Lifetime TV movie. I wasn’t surprised to see Lifetime Films produced it — it just looks cheap. I will say this for Fanning, she does convey the innocence of and frailty of a 15 year old. Her whisper-thin frame and her childlike voice give credibility to her character’s age, even as Fanning pushes closer to 21 years old.

Sarandon, though, is a mess. Her performance is all over the place, except where it needs to be. And her mother character’s motivations are all over the place. By the end of the film I wasn’t sure if she really wanted Beverly to succeed, wanted a free ride or was herself in love with Errol Flynn. When Florence tells Beverly’s father about Flynn’s advances, the dad flips. “Errol Flynn is a walking penis,” he shouts. I liked this guy, and I wanted other characters that smart.

In the end, though, the Lifetime audience will love this. Everyone else, not so much.

Innocence - Movie Review by Eric Forthun

Innocence  

Starring Sophie Curtis, Kelly Reilly, Graham Phillips, Linus Roache, and Sarah Sutherland

Directed by Hilary Brougher

Rated PG-13

Run Time: 96 minutes

Genre: Romance/Horror

Opens September 5th

By Eric Forthun of Cinematic Shadows

When did films with teenage leads become so woefully simplistic and nonsensical? Innocence falls into the excessive batch of supernatural young adult films that doesn’t develop characters, fails to tell a consistent narrative, and underutilizes talented actors in supporting roles. The film opens with a tragedy as most of these stories do, with Beckett Warner (Sophie Curtis) spending time with her mother and father on the beach. While surfing, her mother goes underneath a wave and never comes back. A family gathering quickly turns into a mournful afternoon. To escape the tragedy, her father, Miles (Linus Roache), and Beckett move to Riverdale and she becomes enrolled in the exclusive Hamilton Preparatory School. Here, the colors of the film shift to dark, ominous blacks and grays, signifying that something is wrong with Beckett’s developing education.

When moving, she runs into Tobey Crawford (Graham Phillips), a young man with the face of a lost puppy and the emotional range of a brick wall. Tobey and Beckett fall in love because…well, that kind of thing doesn’t need an explanation, does it? The characters just need to meet cute, which in this case involves Beckett encountering some strange ghost in a closet before turning around to see Tobey. Outside of that romance, though, Beckett begins to feel exhausted and sickly in the school, leading to a meeting with the nurse, Pamela (Kelly Reilly). She wants to help and prescribes Beckett some pills, and also decides to start dating Beckett’s father because he’s lonely and the story needs conflict. Characters join in loving embraces as if they are robotic beings with no semblance of emotion. The story demands that since it underlies the whole “something is really wrong with this place” vibe. Explanations are pushed to the side in the wake of shock value and completely incidental discoveries.

My favorite discovery probably lies in Beckett entering a house that was seemingly left unlocked, only to trip over a vacuum and hit against a mirror. In doing so, a picture falls out from behind the mirror that explains everything. Whenever I have a secret and I want to hide it from people, I usually tuck it away behind a tangible object that needs a simple nudge to expose the whole plan. Innocence uses many of these devices to tell the story as quickly and inanely as possible. Another grating element that the film employs is random jump scares; horror needs to be built on atmosphere, tension, characters, and post-production content like editing and sound design. What the audience sees here, however, are jarring, aggressive cuts to grayed-out girls that seem to be haunting the school grounds. How is it scary when it’s just meant to jolt the viewer?

The acting from the two young leads is woefully bad, with Curtis and Phillips attempting to make material out of their characters when there’s simply nothing within the film. These characters have no single defining characteristics. That’s not an exaggeration, either. Beckett’s mom died and she’s seeing ghosts. Tobey is supposed to look cute to please teenage girls that may see the film. It’s also striking how primitive the storytelling becomes in the final half hour, relying on ridiculous supernatural lore that never makes sense with the main narrative. Kelly Reilly, a terrific supporting actress that has shined in films like Flight and Calvary, is wasted here as a mysterious woman that has secrets but never feels like a tangible creation on screen. I suppose that’s my biggest problem with the film. Director Hilary Brougher shows promise in the film’s opening moments with utilizing screen space, but her film falls apart under the emptiness of its content. There’s nothing behind the characters, their actions, the plot, or the setting. Innocence cannot draw the audience in because it doesn’t have a story to tell.

The November Man - Movie Review by Michael Clawson

The November Man

Starring Pierce Brosnan, Luke Bracey, Bill Smitrovich, Olga Kurylenko and Will Patton

Directed by Roger Donaldson

Rated R

108 minutes

by Michael Clawson of Terminal Volume

The November Man is about as clumsy as spy movies get.

The dopiness starts almost immediately, when the lead spy puts on the suit of America’s top diplomat and no one knows the difference. There’s even a parade for the diplomat because apparently that’s what people in other countries do for American ambassadors — wildly attended events with huge receiving lines and lots of waving flags. And then, during the little parade, no one notices that the diplomat is not the diplomat, but in fact a CIA agent with noticeably different physical characteristics.

Yeesh, this movie goes on like this, every worthless piece of it. The CIA agent’s home computer boots to the CIA login page with a massive spinning logo, because that’s completely subtle for a spy working in another country. When a call is being traced a nerdy tech guy stands next to the phone prancing, presumably with a full bladder, and doing the “keep him on the line as long as you can” motion and holding, I kid you not, a wi-fi router up to the phone. In the same scene, spy agents arrive to an operation in a caravan of noisy dirtbikes, and then the lead spy makes a V with his fingers, points at his eyes and says, “I want eyes on him.” How did the other agents not chuckle at him a little? “Boss, we can hear you fine. Hand signals not necessary.”

The film stars Pierce Brosnan, a former James Bond, so really there is no excuse for this behavior. Yes, Brosnan’s Bond films had some flagrant spy stupidity — the invisible spy car, outrunning glacier tsunamis with parasails, and bagpipe guns — but the movies were always meant to be a little tongue-in-cheek and silly. But never idiotic, not like this heap.

Brosnan plays Devereaux, a retired CIA operative who is re-activated by his former chief, a man who is so secretive that he never bothers to tell anyone that he has brought an old spy into the case he’s working. This causes mayhem later when Devereaux turns up to rescue a female agent and everyone at the CIA is like, “Who’s this guy?” One agent, a young Jon Bon Jovi lookalike, can only manage to say, “Whose car is that she got into?” but his acting is so limited that it sounds more like, “Whose car. Is that she. Got. Into?” Siri has better diction.

Eventually it’s obvious that Devereaux is being set up, but I’m not sure that was the villain’s plan all along. It’s an accidental setup. In any case, Devereaux tracks down Alice (Olga Kurylenko, a former Bond girl), who has information on a Russian general in line to become president. The general did some bad things in Serbia, where much of the movie takes place and where a flexible hitwoman is sent to dispose of everyone. We know she’s flexible because she checks into her hotel room and promptly does the splits on the floor. Because why not? Her splits move is made more hilarious later when she’s delayed by a dying man’s final grasp for her foot. All that flexibility and she’s held up by the weakest trip move on the planet. (It should also be noted that the dying man is a reporter who works for the New York Times, yet he calls his voice recorder a dictaphone just like your grandpa.)

Anyway, The November Man is just cruising along with Devereaux murdering everyone and stumbling into action scenes, until eventually he has to settle an old score with Jon Bon Jovi (Luke Bracey). This is done by Devereaux getting drunk, slipping into Bon Jovi’s apartment and holding a gun to his civilian girlfriend’s head and then severing her femoral artery to prove a point that agent’s shouldn’t date while on duty. This poor girl, did she know what she was getting into when her agent received November Man.

Women aren’t treated well here. They’re all held hostage at one point, or appear naked in strip clubs. Late in the movie, Kurylenko has to disguise herself as a hooker (in the shortest miniskirt ever filmed) to get what she wants from the evil general. But the low point of female objectification comes during an interrogation scene involving a creepy old man being questioned by a young female agent. The first thing out of his mouth: “Show me your tits.” The audience laughed at this line, not because it was funny, but because it was comically awful. And sorta embarrassing to witness.

I want to like Brosnan, but his performance is all over the place — at times he’s a cool spy guy, but it never lasts as he descends into drunken rampages. He’s trying to move past his James Bond years, and I don’t blame him, but I think he accomplished that already with 2005’s wonderful hitman dark-comedy The Matador. And not only is November Man redundant to his anti-Bond plans, but it’s all kinds of bad.

It’s directed by Roger Donaldson, who's made some noteworthy spy movies before, including the Pentagon thriller No Way Out. He’s also worked with Brosnan before, in Dante’s Peak, a movie that, when mentioning Donaldson-Brosnan pairings, can now be called “the good one.”

The Trip to Italy - Movie Review by Michael Clawson

The Trip to Italy  

Starring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon

Directed by Michael Winterbottom

From IFC Films

Not rated

108 minutes

by Michael Clawson of Terminal Volume

The Trip to Italy is a travelogue with Michael Caine, Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, but without all the aggravation of, you know, Michael Caine, Robert De Niro and Al Pacino. Actors, yes; travel guides, no.

In their place are Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, best friends playing themselves in what can only loosely be described as a film. It’s more food channel globe-trotting. Think of an Anthony Bourdain reality show, but with Batman impersonations. Yes, Coogan and Brydon are prone to impersonations, including several from the Batman franchise, from which they do muffled Tom Hardys and half a dozen varieties of Michael Caine. The two actors share conversations in other men’s voices, and to them it’s just natural and fluid. In the middle of their impersonations they dine on glorious Italian feasts, peer out over gorgeous vistas and cozy up in hotel rooms that are likely more expensive for one night than most people’s homes for a month.

Fine food, impersonations and fancy locations. This is generally the ebb and flow The Trip to Italy, which is a sequel to 2010’s The Trip, both of which are culled from episodes of the BBC show, also called The Trip. There is not much plot, other than what is established in the dialogue: Steve misses his son and communicates frequently with him, and Rob has a family back at home that would be dismayed at his vacation activities. Food is eaten, scenes are taken in, hotel beds are crashed into, and then it all starts again the next day as the two men bop through Italy for a newspaper article about food and travel.

The scenes of the men chatting are intercut with B-roll of locals walking through their city squares, little European cars rumbling up cobbled streets, and of line cooks tossing sizzling vegetables and sous chefs plating elaborate appetizers. This could all be very pretentious and boring if not for Steve and Rob’s contradictory interests: there they are in the pinnacle of luxury talking about Bane’s facemask from the The Dark Knight Rises. Had they gone to opera one of them would have brought a whoopie cushion along.

The impersonations, it must be said, are very good. Their Michael Caine voices have been heard before, but they never get old. Not only can they do Caine, but they can do him from a variety of eras — from the Italians Jobs’ shouting to the Dark Knight’s weepiness. They also do convincing versions of Anthony Hopkins, Woody Allen, Hugh Grant, Roger Moore and Sean Connery, and yes, Pacio and De Niro. Much of the dialogue is disposable, though several lines are worth keeping. In one scene, Steve comments about a women, “She has a lovely gait.” Rob adds: “It’s probably padlocked.” At one point they put in Jagged Little Pill by Alanis Morissette so they can croon nostalgia through the Italian countryside.

If you saw the first Trip, or enjoy the TV series, then you know what you’re walking into. If not, then The Trip to Italy might be a hard sale. Too little happens, and what does happen is repeated from scene to scene. The locations are amazing, and the food will turn your stomach into a big hungry knot, but the film doesn’t have much to offer other than Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, both of whom are likable guys.

But here’s the thing about vacations: no matter how much you like your travel companions, you eventually get sick of them. That’s the case with your every family vacation ever, and also with The Trip to Italy.

The Trip to Italy - Movie Review by Eric Forthun

The Trip to Italy  

Starring Steve Coogan, Rob Brydon, Rosie Fellner, and Claire Keelan

Directed by Michael Winterbottom

Not Rated

Run Time: 108 minutes

Genre: Comedy/Drama

Opens August 29th

By Eric Forthun of Cinematic Shadows

The Trip to Italy is a more incisive, spontaneous film than the first entry from 2011. Much like its predecessor, the film was cut from a series of episodes from the British television show into a feature-length theatrical release. Both films feel episodic and highly improvised due to the nature of the filmmaking itself and the terrific comedic actors on screen, Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon. They elevate this sequel to more sweeping, personal heights. The comedy feels more ripe since it is less reliant on immature conversations but rather allegories about the characters’ lives and the acceptance of growing up past their sophomoric, babbling comedy. The comedy doesn’t always work, as is inherent with improvisational humor in a structured setting, but the final half hour adds a level of poignancy and artistry to the storytelling that makes the comedy tragically insightful. These are flawed characters who use their comedy to escape their depressing personal struggles.

The story is simple: two men, Steve and Rob (playing versions of themselves), travel to Italy for six meals in six different places. They visit restaurants in Liguria, Tuscany, Rome, Amalfi, and Capri, along with side adventures to the ruins of Pompeii and the Roman catacombs. What’s striking about the film is that the premise should rely heavily on the food itself, yet the characters always put that on the back burner. The structure is similar to the first in that the scenes show the chefs preparing the food while cutting between the conversation in the dining room, and there’s a a certain twist on those elements from the first time around. The Trip established Steve as a promiscuous, rambunctious sort that didn’t have the level of success and recognition as Rob, making him a more bitter and inherently more lonely man. This narrative, however, focuses on Rob’s utter inability to sustain his marriage and using his impressions to escape the sad state of his own reality. The story allows harkens back to his personal turmoil and uses that to fuel conversations at lunch.

Buddy comedies don’t usually frame themselves as character studies but rather narratives filled with eccentric characters butting heads with one another. The Trip to Italy shatters that with its independent storytelling leanings, opening and closing with shots of the same character each capturing a transformation. Steve feels like the center of the story due to those bookends despite his career not progressing as rapidly as Rob’s. The latter gets the opportunity to audition for a role in a Michael Mann film over in the States; he constantly describes it as the lead despite knowing that he dies halfway through and acts as the mob’s accountant. But hey, he can brag about it if he wants. Nonetheless, this fuels Steve’s jealousy alongside Rob’s supposedly successful, happy marriage. My, how things have changed from the first film, with Rob now struggling to maintain a connection with his wife long-distance while she is busy taking care of the kids. He also cheats on her with a young woman that finds him hilarious, so naturally things are a little rough.

Impressions remain the focal point of the comedy and both actors bring their best voices. The dueling Michael Caines return, where the characters now talk about his work in The Dark Knight Rises and constantly argue that the other simply isn’t doing it right. There are also little glimpses of Dustin Hoffman, Woody Allen, Christian Bale, and Tom Hardy (as Bane, of course). While those are the main attractions for laughs, the film shines when it allows the characters to make observational humor, like a genius interaction at Pompeii discussing a man trapped in a glass box. In those tiny moments the film feels like a strangely brilliant beast. Coogan and Brydon bring a conversational nature to the film with their natural exchanges, reacting wholeheartedly to the other’s offbeat, unwritten jokes. These characters are sad and lonely for most of the film’s duration even if that never emerges at the surface. The final ten minutes are quietly, methodically biting, proving that The Trip to Italy is a comedy that feels light until it delivers a gut-punch of a conclusion.

As Above, So Below - Movie Review by Eric Forthun

As Above, So Below  

Starring Perdita Weeks, Ben Feldman, Edwin Hodge, and François Civil

Directed by John Erick Dowdle

Rated R

Run Time: 93 minutes

Genre: Horror/Thriller

Opens August 29th

By Eric Forthun of Cinematic Shadows

I often insist that found footage horror films serve no justifiable purpose in the cinematic landscape. They are generic, plodding, dull, jump scare-heavy features that have derivative characters doing nonsensical things. As Above, So Below follows that familiar formula but delivers on atmosphere and balls-to-the-wall craziness that so few horror films aim for nowadays. The characters even serve a purpose within the convolutedly plotted story as it aims to be more than base-level scares! The horror. But a far too packed conclusion with too many loose ends alongside a soft message for its protagonists leaves the film with a sour taste in the viewer’s mouth. The story opens with Scarlett (Perdita Weeks), an adventurous, intelligent girl sneaking into Iran to navigate caves that are about to be collapsed underneath the city’s infrastructure. There, she discovers a supposedly lost language map that can lead her to a magical stone that will act as a supreme source of power through alchemy and medical wonder.

Her journey needs some guidance, though, so she draws upon her old friend, George (Ben Feldman), to decipher where exactly these maps lead. Sure enough, they belong to a place in the Paris catacombs, a 200-mile stretch that holds over six million deceased citizens underneath the city itself. Various parts of the catacombs have collapsed and some areas have secret tunnels that no one has ever discovered. Until now, since they know exactly where to look. A young local, Papillon (François Civil), guides these rambunctious fellows through the catacombs and leads them through various rough spots, only for things to go south quickly. Inner demons emerge as characters begin to battle claustrophobia, the troubles of their past, and the growing unrest as they continue to go lower and lower. They see what has haunted them all of these years as they sift through caverns and ever-increasing holes. It’s as if they are descending into Hell.

The film deserves credit where credit is due. The story, however convoluted and contrived it becomes in the final act, remains engaging and entertainingly confusing during its course. Loose ends feel like they are constantly being addressed and the lore is dense and sprawling. The problem remains within the premise of the filmmaking itself: why, oh why, does the film need to be in found footage format? What does it possibly add? The first thirty minutes are hackneyed, awful filmmaking in terms of its direction and look. The film is inappropriately framed and doesn’t rely on any cinematic stylings, nor does it feel more personal due to its connection with the characters. Instead, it feels like the shoddy, cheap way to go when making a horror film in today’s age. While films like The Descent have handled this kind of narrative more thrillingly and not relied on the gimmicks of the filmmaking style, here the presentation feels insincere to the audience and like a knock-off rather than an original idea.

Claustrophobia does play an important part in the film’s effectiveness. Most characters have cameras pinned to their headlights except for Benji (Edwin Hodge), who carries a handheld that he usually places in front of him when navigating through spaces. A brilliantly staged scene has him being the last of the pack going through a tight spot and getting stuck; instead of shifting the camera, director John Erick Dowdle lingers and lets the uncomfortable sense of hopelessness grow. The film truly creates an unnerving feeling with an emphasis on closed walls and other visually demonstrative cues of unrest. Yet the story itself becomes incomprehensible and overblown in its explanations. The narrative doesn’t make much sense with too much mixed Egyptian/Parisian/personal mythology to prevent thematic coherence or narrative sense from occurring. As Above, So Below is exciting when it avoids horror conventions, but more often than not it falls on those crutches and never walks on its own.