A Brilliant Young Mind - Movie Review by Michael Clawson

A Brilliant Young Mind  

Starring: Asa Butterfield, Eddie Marsan, Rafe Spall, Sally Hawkins, Martin McCann, Christina Low, Alexa Davies

Director: Morgan Matthews

Release Date: 09/25/15

By Michael Clawson  of Terminal Volume

It’s entirely possible that the world’s most brilliant mind is in the body of a child. And also imprisoned behind a veil of paralyzing awkwardness.

In A Brilliant Young Mind we’re introduced to a number of worthy candidates, all of whom are trying to out-awkward each other with cold facts, debilitating shyness and enough social tics they could be charted into “trigonometric identities,” or whatever that is.

Nathan (Asa Butterfield) is one of these young people. The British lad sees the world in geometry, algebra and calculus. He’s by all estimates a genius, yet he can barely function in the real world. When his mother orders take-out if the fish sticks and chips aren’t positioned symmetrically and in prime numbers then he flips out.

He’s guided by teacher Martin Humphreys (Rafe Spall, son of Timothy), who suggests he participate in a mathematics olympiad for the most brilliant young pupils. Nathan takes the test, passes and soon finds himself in Taiwan studying with other mathletes his age. He gets a crude wake-up when his fried prawns are delivered in an eight-count container … so close to a prime number, but yet not.

The film dips into darker territory as the characters open up and reveal their even more fragile cores. One boy, Luke, is likely autistic, which leads to bullying even in these nerdy circles. A Chinese student that Nathan is paired with is harassed because her uncle is the director of the team. Nathan’s issue is just communicating on a basic level. He mumbles, recoils at the lightest touch and his eyes reveal sparkles of brilliant pain. This wounded kid is thrown into a new culture and he remarkably thrives, which breaks the heart of his mother (Sally Hawkins), who can’t seem to understand why he’ll open up to everyone but her.

Of course, the film all boils down to the math olympiad, but then it’s not that simple. It’s written with care and truth, and no “big game” sports climax will ever solve all the issues swirling around in this layered and pristinely textured script by James Graham. There is some cliche, including a “surprise car crash” still in the clamshell packaging and a race to the train station to get the girl, but even those conventions are given new spins, fresh perspectives.

The math is dense and confusing, and is barely explained outside of one sequence in which Nathan turns a card trick into a binary matrix. In other scenes the equations are just glossed over in broad strokes. I knew it was complex stuff, though, because the math problems had more letters than numbers, and brackets within brackets within brackets. “If truth is beauty and beauty is truth, then surely mathematics is the most beautiful thing in the world,” says an olympiad leader played by the great Eddie Marsan. I’ll take your word for it.

Although the surface of this coming-of-age story is rather blandly paced and acted, there are deeper currents of emotional agony that are running through this film. Scratch but a tiny bit down and it opens some terrifying places related to love, family, success and acceptance. But in the end, like math, it has an inherent beauty to all of it.

Interview with Oren Moverman, director of Time Out of Mind by Jeff Mitchell

Interview – Oren Moverman, director “Time Out of Mind” By Jeff Mitchell

In director Oren Moverman’s latest film, “Time Out of Mind”, the camera follows the painful life of a homeless man named George (played by Richard Gere).   Moverman  - who also wrote and directed “The Messenger” (2009) and “Rampart” (2011) - provides the audience a front row seat to George’s difficult daily existence on the streets and in the shelters of New York City, and his film offers an eye-opening, big screen experience on the plight of the homeless.    The Phoenix Film Festival spoke to Mr. Moverman about “Time Out of Mind”, and we had a thoughtful conversation about George’s state of mind, some key learnings about homelessness and how the general public actually ignored Richard Gere during the filming because he played a homeless person.  “Time Out of Mind” opens on Sept. 25.

PFF: Even though George (Gere) is surrounded by life in every direction in New York City, he is an isolated individual.  Isolation is probably a common occurrence for the homeless in any city, but does NYC bring a different dynamic?

OM: I think it does.  Generally, isolation is at the root of a lot of problems in life and definitely for homeless people.  New York is quite an overwhelming city in terms of the mass volume of humanity in your face all the time.  The more people there are, the more alone you can be.  When you have so many people (in one place), then they (simply) do not see each other.  So, I think the state of homelessness - that kind of isolation - leads to deprivation of very basic needs.  The lack of eye contact or human contact just makes the problem worse for sure. 

PFF: Wherever George went – whether he was in a shelter or on the street – he hardly ever had silence.   Was silence as important to him as finding something to eat or a place to sleep?

OM:  Yes. When you think of silence, the first thing that comes to mind is peacefulness.  There’s no rest for him in this movie.  He is constantly bombarded by the sounds of the city that just keep going.  All of these stories (conversations of thousands of people) are happening around him – and (the impact of the noise) is very much a reflection of his mental state.  He cannot get to a place of privacy, silence and a quiet mind.  It’s actually quite turbulent.    

PFF:  Why do you suppose George kept refusing medical care even though he clearly needed it?  Is it because he was singularly focused on the basics first? 

OM:  Yea, there’s something “off” about him.  We don’t call it by name, but there is definitely something off about him.   He struggles with even the idea of existence.   He doesn’t allow himself to be called homeless until very late in the movie.  He doesn’t want to acknowledge his state in life.   In his mind, he’s living the life he was living before, but now he’s gotten off track a little bit.  He doesn’t have a lot of self-knowledge and understanding of what can make his life better, so he is just wrestling with that.  I think all that’s on his mind are very basic needs like food, shelter, warmth, a place to be, a place to rest, and everything else just falls by the wayside. 

PFF:  I was shocked to discover Kyra Sedgwick and Ben Vereen played George’s “friends”, because they were unrecognizable to me, especially Sedgwick.    On the other hand, Gere was easily identifiable.  When Gere was on the street and in character, did people recognize him during the filming?  

OM:  That was our biggest worry:  Are we going to get away with putting Richard Gere in this environment.  We tested it.  What we discovered – when we hid the camera, because we didn’t want the camera in people’s faces to give away the fact that we’re shooting a movie - is they didn’t recognize him at all because they didn’t look at him.   It was a very deliberate, very understandable, very human, and a very New York approach.  Urban dwellers would just walk past this homeless guy, and maybe someone would pay attention and maybe someone would give something, but ultimately no one looked him in the eye.   It wasn’t as if he was unrecognizable as Richard Gere.  He was unrecognizable as a movie star, for sure.   He was unrecognizable in his clothes because that’s not how you would expect to see Richard Gere.  The fact that no one looked him in the eye, it was a lesson for us when someone in that position becomes quite invisible to the people around him.   He did get recognized twice in Grand Central Terminal when two people walked by him and said, “Hello”.  It wasn’t sort of “Oh my God, it’s a movie star.  Let me take a picture.”  It was more like, “Hey, he looks like Richard Gere. It looks like he is having a hard time.” 

PFF: Did you interview homeless people - either prior to shooting or during the filming – and what did you learn about the plight of the homeless?

OM: A lot, actually.  The whole movie is based on conversations with homeless people and the people who work in the shelters.  For me, it was a huge education on a personal level where I’ve learned about all of these stories, and I saw things that were next to me for many years, but I never really noticed.  It changed my perspective, and it changed my outlook and my engagement with homeless people.   I do think that the acknowledgement and the engagement (of the homeless) is a short step in dealing with this problem.  I’ve learned how to engage with people who are in this situation and listen to what they need.

PFF:  I really liked how you filmed George behind glass or behind a guarded gate(s).  He seemingly was on the outside looking in, and when he was inside a shelter, at times, it felt like a prison.    Coming away from this experience, are there any solutions to grant these individuals their dignity back?

OM:  Absolutely.  The truth of the matter is we know that homelessness could be ended.  We know the key to the solution is to support housing.   We know we have to come together and provide people with housing.  Not only housing, but support services that deal with the problems of homelessness which are mental illness, domestic abuse and HIV.  All of these things are key issues that contribute to homelessness on top of housing.   We have programs around the country, and the best example of this is what’s happening with veterans.   We are on the road to dealing with the homelessness problem in the veterans’ community.  That was one issue that Republicans and Democrats could agree upon and provide what’s known as “housing first” programs where people get vouchers.  (Once) they have their own space, their own mailbox and their own dignity, then they can start dealing with other problems to get them reintegrated back into society.  To have a place that is your own is the key to that, and it just takes political will, which really is the difficult part. 

(Photos courtesy of IFC Films)

Black Mass - Movie Review by Monte Yazzie

Black Mass  

Director: Scott Cooper

Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Johnny Depp, Dakota Johnson, Juno Temple, Joel Edgerton, Kevin Bacon, Sienna Miller, Adam Scott, Corey Stoll, Jesse Plemons and Rory Cochrane

Release Date: 09/18/15

by Monte Yazzie

In the 1970’s and 1980’s James “Whitey” Bulger was one of the most notorious criminals in Boston, running an organization known as the Winter Hill Gang. Bulger operated in all manners of criminal activity but the most unusual of his dealings was with the Federal Bureau of Investigation as an informant. Over the course of his infamous tenure Bulger brought drugs into his beloved South Boston neighborhood and murdered many who defied him. Director Scott Cooper brings this gangster story to life in “Black Mass”, a gritty and hard-edged crime film that mostly succeeds because of the exceptional performance of Johnny Depp who is mesmerizing and intimidating in the lead role.

James Bulger (Johnny Depp) is a loyal son of the South Boston neighborhood he grew up in, a man who amongst his unsavory actions takes time to look after an elderly woman, compassionately care for his sick child, and boast about the importance of friendship and family. William Bulger (Benedict Cumberbatch) is a Massachusetts politician and brother to James; in one instance William talks about cleaning up the streets of Boston only to turn a blind eye to his brothers negative behavior. The Bulger’s childhood friend John Connolly (Joel Edgerton) has set himself up nicely with the FBI, trading freedom for James in exchange for information about the local mob operating in Boston.

The film is framed with a narrative that begins in an interrogation room, with James’ former accomplices spilling information about their boss. From this point the film jumps around with different characters, moving the story from point to point based on questions asked of them during the interrogation. Cooper directs the film, which is based off the book of the same title, with style and characteristics similar to other crime films that have come before it, think “Goodfellas” or “The Departed” as examples. Using these films as a reference for style immediately places the viewer in a familiar position, in a sense working to quickly establish the environment and understand that danger and a double-cross aren’t far away. While the storytelling design works initially, once the film breaks away from James’ composition and begins to focus on the alliance with the FBI or a pointless journey to Florida that serves as a side note to the extending reach of Winter Hill Gang, the narrative begins to fall apart.

The character of James "Whitey" Bulger is treated initial as a sort of local hero, a sharp-as-nails tough guy with a blue-eyed stare and ambiguous smirk who spouts tough guy talk as good as the best of these kind of characters. Johnny Depp is simply impressive, one of the strongest performances from him in recent years. There is no underlying comedy, no humorous gesture to break the tension, just pure, unadulterated intimidation. Depp for most of the film speaks in a soft whisper, allowing his eyes to do the most meaningful communication.

Everest - Movie Review by Monte Yazzie

Everest  

Director: Baltasar Kormákur

Starring: Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin, John Hawkes, Emily Watson, Sam Worthington, Keira Knightley, Robin Wright, and Jake Gyllenhaal

There are many things in nature that display the inadequacy of humans, still the daunting Mt. Everest seems to be on a completely different level altogether. Just thinking about the massive size of a mountain that sits five and half miles above sea level is amazing. So why would anyone want to climb this mountain that consistently takes the lives of the people that try to conquer it? In director Baltasar Kormákur’s action/adventure film “Everest” the answer is simply “because it’s there”. With impressive technical flair and a cast of fantastic actors, “Everest” is in a great position to meet the expectations of finally making a superior film about the immense mountain. Unfortunately, a disconnection in the narrative with the characters makes the film lack some of the emotion substance associated with the real events that the story is based on.

Rob Hall (Jason Clarke) is a guide for an adventure company that takes paying climbers to the summit of Everest.  In the spring of 1996 Hall brought a group of experienced climbers to Everest. Along for the journey was a mailman named Doug Hansen (John Hawkes) who unsuccessfully attempted the ascent once before, a well-to-do first timer from Texas named Beck Weathers (Josh Brolin), a woman named Yasuko Namba (Naoko Mori) who had climbed six of the seven highest summits in the world, and another veteran climber guiding his own group named Scott Fischer (Jake Gyllenhaal). Challenged by inclement weather conditions and overpopulation along the paths on the mountain, the doomed expedition took the lives of eight people.

“Everest” is visually striking, it’s breathtaking at times how good much of the computer generated effects look. The camera hovers, glides, and swoops all around the climbers throughout many of the treacherous scaling montages in the film. The composition of many different scenes does a great job of displaying the vast scale of Everest by showing miniscule dots of people moving gradually up the side of the mountain. It’s a perspective that works to establish the risks of the challenge, making the scenes feel far more dangerous than they otherwise might look. It’s all technically well achieved, but special effects are just one of the elements that help make this film come to life, unfortunately there is something missing.

The narrative builds this expedition up Everest the same way a sports movie would show how the team comes together to win the championship. While all the climbers may not get along, the journey requires them to work together as a team, to support one another in order to stay alive. Initially the group dynamics work to display a camaraderie that reaches beyond the obvious gender and racial divides that many films like this fall into portraying, instead “Everest” composes these ambitious people as a unique breed of thrill seekers who understand each other completely without actually having to explain the complicated reasons. The line, “because it’s there”, means something wholly unique to them, something only they can understand. Unfortunately this quality is only barely examined and once the trudge up the mountain begins it completely disappears amidst the wind and snow making the tragic events have far less of a emotional component as it should have. This is unfortunate because the exceptionally talented cast could have easily made a better narrative, displaying the complicated mindset of these kinds of athletes and the relationship they have to the challenge that could kill them, resonate with more emotion.

“Everest” is a beautiful film to watch, one that portrays the intimidating and daunting nature of one of the world’s most amazing natural wonders. Unfortunately the complicated character elements that motivate humans to conquer this feat are missing, making “Everest” a success in style but a disappointment in substance.

Monte’s Rating

3.25 out of 5.00

Everest - Movie Review by Michael Clawson

Everest  

Director: Baltasar Kormakur

Starring: Jason Clarke, Jake Gyllenhaal, Keira Knightley, Josh Brolin, John Hawkes

by Michael Clawson of Terminal Volume

Nothing in the world feels as helpless as watching people suffer within an arm’s reach of safety. You can see them, you can hear them, you can almost reach out and touch them, but they might as well be on the moon. Help will not come. Only death.

Everest does not sugar-coat this cold — bone-rattlingly cold — reality, but it does dress it up a bit with adrenaline-fueled adventure that comes with climbing to the highest point in the world. Mount Everest, at 29,029 feet high, is the gold standard for pushing the human body to its most extreme potential. The summit is so high it shares an altitude with a cruising 747 jet. The air is so thin that the human body slowly fails as it gasps for oxygen. The edges are steep enough that one false step and a climber will never be seen again, their bodies are consumed by the mountain and its icy pores.

Why go then? That’s what reporter and author Jon Krakauer asks a group of climbers who’ve paid five figures to joust with nature on Everest’s slopes. “Because it’s there,” they all laugh, stealing George Mallory’s famous line about the deadly peak, a peak that killed many climbers, including George Mallory. Baltasar Kormákur’s Everest features Krakauer, author of the book Into Thin Air, but largely focuses on Rob Hall (Jason Clarke), a dedicated and skilled climber who guides “climbing tourists” up Everest during the month or so of good weather that creates a window of opportunity over a collapsing glacier field, over a rocky plain, across a knife’s edge, up a vertical step of rock and onto the summit of the world’s highest mountain.

It’s no easy feat. The cold is relentless, the air is dangerously thin, the physical stamina required is second to none, and the weather is violent and unpredictable. All totaled up, everything is deadly, but nothing more than a climber’s own body, which slowly betrays its own muscles and nerves with every step. Humans weren’t made for these conditions, so it’s Rob Hall’s job to guide everyone up and down the mountain before their bodies fail them. And they pay him $65,000 for the privilege.

Hall, here played with a gentle warmth and crucial demeanor by Jason Clarke, is the star of this ensemble mountaineering adventure and he’s joined by his clients Beck Weathers (Josh Brolin) and Doug Hansen (John Hawkes), his base camp leader Helen Wilton (Emily Watson), Krakauer (Michael Kelly) and a colleague with another company Scott Fischer (Jake Gyllehaal), as well as many other characters all portraying actual climbers and sherpas.

The film does not skimp on details, and routinely shows climbing in an authentic light, from the slow acclimatization process that is required for climbers to maximize the thin air on Everest to the tediously slow pace the climbers take as they lumber up the mountain. This is not Cliffhanger, or even that mixed cheese plate Vertical Limit. Everest, using much of Krakauer’s fact-checked text, and his personal observations, treats the events of the 1996 climbing season with delicate reverence.

As Hall and his company, Adventure Consultants, creep up the mountain, everything seems to be going well. The Everest newbies are struggling, but not dangerously so. As they prepare for a big ascent day, everything seems almost perfect until a rapidly moving storm sweeps up and over the mountain essentially stopping the expedition in its tracks after a successful summit attempt. The serenity of the snow and the mountains is suddenly gone, and the climbers are left stranded in deadly conditions. Hall and Hansen are highest up, and have a long way to go with little oxygen left. Below them Fischer, Weathers and others claw through the white-out conditions.

If you’re like me you’ll start getting very anxious in your seat during the second half of this film. These men are in mortal danger, and yet they shamble along with their coats open, their hands ungloved and their feet stumbling over rocks and patches of ice. Some men can’t even stand, and they slump down in their tracks to fall into a numbing sleep. You want to scream at them, “Hurry! Your life depends on it.” The thin air plays tricks on their bodies. Their muscles can only move so fast, and their brains flicker on and off from a severe lack of oxygen. Everest is killing them slowly, and there is nothing they can do except descend, if only they could stand and walk. Some men fall off the mountain, which a non-climber can understand and fear, but this slow death is worse — sinister and cruel.

What’s even worse is the small army of rested climbers who are held at bay by the storm, unable to ascend further than they already have because they lack oxygen, strength or the willpower to sacrifice themselves. In some cases, climbers are left on the mountain to die because they can easily slow down healthy climbers or pull them off the mountain. And even when climbers do die, their bodies are left right on the trails, because hauling them down is a risk all by itself. At one point, no one can get to two climbers, and all the base camp can do is put one climber’s wife on the radio to say goodbye as he drifts into eternity.

The facts of the 1996 climbing disaster on Everest are widely known, and have been documented in a number of ways, including the IMAX movie led by David Breshears, who returns as consultant, second unit director and Everest cinematographer for this film. This is an old story, but it’s given fresh new examination here with Kormákur’s brilliant filmed movie. It’s well acted, marvelously paced, as accurate as any historical movie can hope to be, and the cinematography is simply gorgeous. Some of the shots look like IMAX stills, with sherpas hauling goods over tiny bridges stretched across valleys, oxen cresting ridges against the backdrop of the Himalayas, and of Everest reaching into the starry heavens.

This is an incredible movie, one about heroism and its devastating limits in a place like Everest. The rules on that rock are absolutely absurd. And failure to comply to them usually results in fatalities. Yet every year people line up to risk everything and make the trek upward. Everest makes the joke that they do it “because it’s there,” but the film also makes a point to address another answer as to why people climb it — “because it’s magnificent.”

Everest - Movie Review by Jeff Mitchell

“’Everest’ aims high and reaches impressive cinematic heights”  

Director: Baltasar Kormakur

Starring: Jason Clarke, Jake Gyllenhaal, Keira Knightley, Josh Brolin, John Hawkes

I do not enjoy hiking.   There, I said it.   As someone who has lived in the beautiful topography of the Sonoran desert for over 18 years, I probably just made a sacrilegious statement.   Certainly, I do recognize Arizona’s surrounding natural beauty.  When taking the occasional hike, I appreciate my time in the great outdoors, but I am partial to the comfortable confines of the great indoors.    A thermostat marking 71 degrees in the winter and 78 in the summer, the smell of hot coffee, a strong Wi-Fi signal, and a comfortable couch are my strong preferences, and therefore – for me - watching a group of 30 and 40-somethings attempting to ascend to the very top of Mount Everest – 29,000 feet high – seems like trying to build a ladder to Mars.  In other words, it is an incomprehensible task.

In director Baltasar Kormakur’s “Everest”, he leads an all-star cast on this monumental journey and gives the audience a look at this unique test of will and endurance.     Climbing Everest is nothing new, as Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay first ascended to the top in 1953, but the film is set in 1996 where Rob Hall (Jason Clarke) attempts to lead a group of eager climbers to the top as well.   Rob has reached Everest’s peak before.  In fact, it is in his job description as the lead expert of Adventure Consultants.   Rob is perfect for this gig.  He is experienced, keenly aware of the brutal elements, possesses a “can-do” attitude, cares about his clients’ well-being, and calls it quits when a goal is out of reach.    He is also a devoted husband with an expected wife (Keira Knightley) waiting for his safe return.   Jan (Knightley) has a right to be concerned, because climbing Everest is obviously dangerous, and Kormakur provides stunning sequences after more stunning sequences when presenting the imposing mountain in all its glory.

Using helicopters or drones – or both – the camera swoops, rises, dives, and pans across thousands of feet of rock and snow.   One particular shot floats over and looks down upon a group of climbers on a narrow walking bridge (with bright, smiling faces looking up), as the sunshine-filled base - with a rich forest of lush green trees - stirs wonder and positive feelings.

Contrast this with later sequences of beastly grayish/blackish granite and metamorphic rock, and snow ripping sideways in the form of ice chips or grave projectiles.   We also see avalanches suddenly tumble without a hint of a reason, but we cannot see the invisible mountain air.  The air is most deadly element.    At a height in which 727s routinely travel, the mountain is surrounded by air exempt of adequate oxygen levels, and the climbers suffer due to the lack of O2 and the inhuman cold.

Now, these climbers are battle-tested and literally weathered prior to this bold ascent, but – quite frankly – it is difficult to keep track of them all.   The film rightly focuses on a select few:  Beck (Josh Brolin), Doug (John Hawkes) and Scott (Jake Gyllenhaal).    Beck and Doug paid thousands of dollars for this experience and are trying to conquer Everest for the first time.   On the other hand, Scott is a free-spirited guide – with a drink and an “it’s not the altitude, it’s the attitude” persona in tow.   The film feels somewhat like “Twister” (1996) in the beginning, as many adrenaline junkies bond with one another prior to facing one of nature’s most daunting spectacles.

“Everest” could have taken a sophomoric turn – like “Twister” - and only relied on special effects and the landscape to flex its cinematic muscle.   This movie’s special effects do bring several jaw-dropping moments, but the film is anything but CGI-driven.  At its very core, “Everest” - based on a true story - is a moving, human drama.   Credit the setting for providing a backdrop of major concern, but credit the actors like Clarke, Hawkes, Brolin, Gyllenhaal, Knightley, Sam Worthington, and Emily Watson for delivering convincing performances which leave our hearts in our throats.   After experiencing 2 hours and 1 minute of “Everest” in an IMAX theatre, the bravado of these climbers left me utterly amazed, exhausted and bit overwhelmed.  Maybe, I’ll venture out to hike Camelback Mountain again in 2016, or perhaps 2017.   (3.5/4 stars)

Sleeping with Other People - Movie Review by Michael Clawson

Sleeping with Other People  

Director: Leslye Headland

Cast: Alison Brie, Amanda Peet, Natasha Lyonne, Adam Scott, Jason Sudeikis, Marc Blucas, Andrea Savage, Jason Mantzoukas, Katherine Waterson, Adam Brody

Release Date: 09/18/15

by Michael Clawson of Terminal Volume

Sleeping With Other People is a soul-crushing void of raunch, flimsy paper-thin comedy and dialogue written by a sixth grader who likes to snicker at the entries for “penis” and “vagina” in Webster’s Dictionary. It’s about people who are having lots of sex, although I left wondering if anyone involved with the movie had actually participated in the act or if they had just learned of the practice from cheap porno and a dial-up connection.

I will gladly sit through edgy, or vulgar, or filth as long as there is something that anchors everything into place. This is just random word association with sex flashcards, and delivered with dialogue so mundane that two mechanics discussing radiator repair would be downright erotic in comparison. It’s the kind of movie where the two stars are introduced by her complimenting his porn, and him complimenting her panties. Classy.

She is Lainey (Alison Brie) and he is Jake (Jason Sudeikis). They meet in college and lose their virginity to each other. Fast forward 12 years and they meet at a sex addiction support group, which is really where all the nymphomaniacs go to get ideas (Billy Eichner’s here doing a routine that would funny in any movie but this one). Lainey’s boyfriend has just broken up with her, and her side-guy, a dorky gynecologist, refuses to leave his wife. Jake drifts from one sexual encounter to another, a boat bobbing in the current. “Hey,” they figure, “let’s be benefit-free friends to keep each other company during our miserable descents into nowhere.” They even have a safe word, “mousetrap,” to signal when the sexual tension is overwhelming.

Yeesh, this movie just doesn’t stop blabbing. So much dialogue, it feels like it never stops. Not just dialogue either, but then narration, pop-up text messages, phone calls, all of it made up of grown adults internalizing their sexual failures until they eventually glitch out and have to reboot in safe mode. And all of it explicit in one way or another. At one point they talk about their favorite sex positions in front of a TV salesman, who smiles and nods like it’s the most normal thing in the universe. The film really lost me in an early scene, when Jake’s business partner turns to Lainey as asks, “Are you the one who made my friend a slut, or was it his father who molested him?” Yikes, it’s so bad it stings.

The wheels really come off when Sudeikis, who’s unable to hide complete and utter embarrassment at this point, takes an empty tea jar, jams his fingers inside and instructs his female costar where all the landmarks are in her most intimate place. And the detail he goes into is enough to make Larry Flynt gag. Poor Brie, she’s watching this poor jar and wishing a truck would crash through the set and drag her off the studio lot. She was on Mad Men, damn it, and this is so far beneath her it’s subterranean.

The logical path here is telegraphed in the opening scenes: of course these two wayward souls must fall in love, “mousetrap” or not. Getting to that point is so agonizing that even people who fetishize agony are searching, clawing, scraping for their safewords.

The Visit - Movie Review by Monte Yazzie

The Visit                    

Director: M. Night Shyamalan

Starring: Olivia DeJonge, Ed Oxenbould, Deanna Dunagan, Peter McRobbie, and Kathryn Hahn

94 Minutes

Universal Pictures

“The Visit” is a modern day spin of a grim fairy tale; you might call it “Hansel and Gretel” the documentary. Director M. Night Shyamalan returns with another frightening tale where children are placed in the center of complicated, sometimes perilous, situations; a theme utilized most prominently in his films “The Sixth Sense” and “Signs”. It’s a common story in horror films, a topic that can heighten the moments of tension and terror if used properly. Shyamalan, a director whose films have been a mix of accomplishment and disappointment, crafts an effective horror film with “The Visit”, a scaled down success of simple and strategic storytelling heavy on the “creepy” factor.

Becca (Olivia DeJonge) and Tyler (Ed Oxenbould) are siblings who are preparing to meet their estranged grandparents for the first time. Becca is an inquisitive and budding filmmaker, hoping to make this first-time meeting into a documentary. Tyler does what younger brothers do best…annoy their older sisters, though Tyler will occasionally break out into a rapping freestyle to add insult to injury. Becca and Tyler’s Mom (Kathryn Hahn) is a single parent who left her family as a teenager under secretive circumstances. The kids arrive in a cozy small town, greeted by Nana (Deanna Dunagan) and Pop Pop (Peter McRobbie) at the train station. The two eager grandparents are loving and caring, if a little absent minded. However, once the sun goes down everything changes.

Shyamalan has always been good at building his characters; with “The Visit” he takes a natural approach to establishing the relationship between the siblings and the connection with their lone parent. The journey for these children to meet their grandparents is partly a way for them to understand their mother, who comes off a bit disheartened by her life thus far, and to come to terms with the emotional distress caused by the abandonment of their father, a decision that has left damaging emotional impressions on the children. Shyamalan touches on these aspects with very minimal direct referencing, an attribute to the tightly composed narrative and the abilities of the young actors playing these roles. This early development creates an essential investment with the characters, one that Shyamalan manipulates as soon as the strange and unusual begins to happen at Nana and Pop Pop’s house. While not necessarily scary, though the annoyingly forced jump scares try to evoke this feeling, it’s the unusual behavior of the grandparents that becomes unnerving. Nana chasing the kids in a creepy crawling position while whispering “I’m gonna get ya” is one memorable instance.

The film builds to a great climax before the inevitable reveal of the mystery arrives, a defining quality that has followed Shyamalan throughout his career. It’s neither disappointing nor satisfying here, which is a good thing because the ending simply works to accommodate the structure of the story that has been told.

“The Visit” plays like a campfire tale while finding inspiration from a bunch of different horror films. Ploys like an old, dark house, wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing monsters, and the hand-held horror techniques are some of the genre characteristics that are utilized by Shyamalan. While some of time this works other times it falls into familiar trappings, still “The Visit” is effectively strange enough to keep one watching until the end.

Monte’s Rating

3.25 out of 5.00

The Visit - Movie Review by Jeff Mitchell

“Call ‘The Visit’ a bona fide comeback for M. Night”  

Writer/Director:  M. Night Shyamalan

Starring: Deanna Dunagan, Peter McRobbie, Olivia DeJonge, Ed Oxenbould, Kathryn Hahn

“Don’t call it a comeback.  I’ve been here for years.”

Twenty-five years ago, LL Cool J bellowed these lyrics in the rap classic, “Mama Said Knock You Out”, and for writer/director M. Night Shyamalan, he has “been here for years” (since 1999’s “The Sixth Sense”) as well, but is in desperate need of a comeback film.   He has not captured cinematic or box office magic since 2002’s “Signs”, and although he admirably takes risks with his pictures, Shyamalan has recently stumbled with “The Happening” (2008), “The Last Airbender” (2010) and the truly unfortunate “After Earth” (2013).    Quite frankly, any reasonable individual would recognize his next good film as his comeback.   I am happy to report “The Visit” is very good and, indeed, that film.

Like most of his movies, this one takes place in Pennsylvania.  In the tiny community of Masonville, PA, Pop Pop (Peter McRobbie) and Nana (Deanna Dunagan) live in a large farmhouse amongst gray skies, large leafless trees and smallish drifts of harden snow.   Their surroundings are typical of any rural northeastern community in the beginning or ending of winter, and with an occasional, shrilling wind, Masonville feels like the Headless Horseman should be chasing Ichabod Crane at any given moment.

Now, the residents of this “Sleeping Hollow Ranch” are named Pop Pop and Nana, because their grandkids affectionately address them by those titles.  Teenagers Becca (Olivia DeJonge) and Tyler (Ed Oxenbould) are visiting their grandparents – who they never met - for a week, while their mom (Kathyrn Hahn) takes a much needed cruise with her boyfriend.   Their mom has not spoken to her parents since she left home at 19, so her children have been estranged from Pop Pop and Nana by proxy.

With two video cameras in tow – and a surprising knowledge of filmmaking and various terms like “narrative character” and “visual tension” – Becca and Tyler decide to film their family reunion week as a documentary with all the excitement and wide-eyed innocence which only kids can muster.   Unfortunately, the bloom falls off this bloodline rose when the teens discover Pop Pop and Nana demonstrate very disturbing and dangerous behaviors.   I’ll refrain from giving way lots of examples, but I’ll just mention one:

After pulling out an empty tray from the oven, Nana asks Becca, “Would you mind getting inside the oven to clean it?”

This eerie moment is only the tip of the utterly creepy iceberg as Shyamalan’s new movie is not a thriller, but a pure horror film.  With his expert use of visual storytelling – by using techniques like the aforementioned visual tension - he delivers a highly effective, hair-raising tale.  This is literally the case, as the hair on my arms stood up on end about a half-dozen times.

The film delivers plenty of scares, because Shyamalan develops a clear sense of place. It is a helpless and near-hopeless one.  This isolated farm with no cellular service houses two unfamiliar and unstable individuals, and Becca and Tyler attempt to bond with their grandparents while they simultaneously are very troubled by them.  Even though they could “escape” by running through miles of open fields, Shyamalan does a masterful job of presenting a setting for emotional entrapment and directly transmitting it to the audience.   The kids do not simply leave, because their highly weird grandparents are still family, and as viewers, we completely feel the pull from these invisible chains.

To gain some reprieve from this demonstrative pull, the film volleys between high suspense and a surprising amount of comedy.   Although the lighter moments offer many loud belly laughs, the screenplay’s – seemingly – dozens of jokey flashes do feel a bit much.  More than a few times, I wanted less playfulness and more subdued spookiness.  Tyler also prides himself as a 13 year-old rap artist, but his rhymes bring a high cheesiness-factor, and worse yet, they feel dated.   Perhaps Tyler showing off bad poetry slam skills would have been a better comedic choice, but either way, I would have preferred less hijinks.

I also question two other creative choices:  the misplaced musical number towards the end of the film and the inclusion of multiple ending scenes.   Both decisions certainly took away from an otherwise captivating closing act.

These are narrative hiccups, but when looking at the entire picture, “The Visit” offers a very entertaining, smart and deep dive into horror.   I have a feeling – after seeing this movie - millions of parents might pause for a moment before leaving the kids with the grandparents.   After feeling pulled by invisible chains for 94 minutes, it would be difficult to blame them.  Just remember, it is only a movie, a bona fide comeback movie which knocked me out. (3/4 stars)

A Walk in the Woods - Movie Review by Jeff Mitchell

 “’A Walk in the Woods’ is a light, fun and satisfying journey” Director:  Ken Kwapis

Starring:  Robert Redford, Nick Nolte, Emma Thompson, Mary Steenburgen

“Writers retire by drinking ourselves to death or blowing our brains out.”

For aging – but accomplished - writer Bill Bryson (Robert Redford), he sarcastically says this line during a local TV interview when the reporter notes the author has not written a book in four years.  Thankfully, after a quick introduction to the man, neither of the aforementioned means to retirement seem the least bit plausible.   He lives a happy New Hampshire existence in a big house with his beautiful wife (Emma Thompson) and lovely grandkids close by.   On the other hand, after spending time at a funeral and pondering the next big idea, Bill feels stuck in neutral during his “golden years”.   For reasons Bill cannot even explain, he – a man in his 70s – suddenly decides to hike the Appalachian Trail, 2,100 miles from Georgia to Maine.

While his wife, Catherine (Thompson), believes he lost his mind, Bill simply states, “It’s just something I feel I have to do.”

Fortunately for the movie audience, we are grateful Bill has this near-impossible itch to scratch, as director Ken Kwapis brings Bill Bryson’s book – with a title of the same name – to life on the big screen.    Although reminders of working and permanent retirement are in the forefront and back of Bill’s mind, this film is anything but grim.   “A Walk in the Woods” is a light and fun story.  It stages the traditional road picture in the setting of a legendary countryside trail with the equally legendary Redford guiding us through warm and comedic themes.     Kwapis captures many stunning views and looks of swooping and rolling valleys amongst the smaller moments of simple woodsy strolls, and all in the heart of Americana.     This film uses a similar, scenic-adventure narrative as a pair of recent movies, 2010’s “The Way” and 2014’s “Land Ho!”   These earlier movies seem to do a better job at capturing more “aha” moments than “A Walk in the Woods”, but admittedly, it is probably due to the 2010 and 2014 films are set in Europe.  Seeing the Spanish coastline and wild Icelandic topography stirs – at least to this moviegoer - more curiosity and awe because of their alien natures.

On the comedic-side, Bill’s “frenemy” from four decades ago tags along on this monumental hike for slapstick moments and verbal banter.   Stephen (Nick Nolte) is – predictably – Bill’s polar opposite.  With a lifetime of alcoholism and arrested development, the years have not been kind to Stephen.    Very out-of-shape (both mentally and physically), his hair knotted in an unkempt mess and his face looking like it will explode from exhaustion, Stephen does not give the impression that he can hike one quarter of a mile, let alone 2,100.   In fact, both men stop to catch their breath after their first (uphill) quarter of a mile, while the movie audience laughs and wonders:  Will this film run five hours because of rest breaks?

Even though the overall story arc and individual funny and heartwarming sequences lean towards a predictable bend, the writing of the individual conversations and tongue-and-cheek exchanges are spot-on, quick-witted and highly entertaining.   Redford and Nolte bring acres of charisma to the screen and deliver their “close quarters” interchanges with impeccable timing and to riotous effect.   Some of their environmental pitfalls occasionally do feel forced and bit engineered, but much of the joy of this movie is watching two longtime experts in front of the camera navigate through sticky circumstances.   Not unlike “Grumpy Old Men” (1993) with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, the entire film carries an enjoyable feel.   In Redford’s and Nolte’s golden years, their characters may or may not make their entire 2,100 mile journey, but their performances will bring lots of smiles to your face and provide a bounce in your step.  (3/4 stars)

The Transporter Refueled - Review by Monte Yazzie

The Transporter Refueled  

Director: Camille Delamarre

Starring: Ed Skrein, Ray Stevenson, Loan Chabanol, Gabriella Wright, and Tatiana Pajkovic

95 Minutes

Relativity Europacorp

There may be a new driver but the fourth film in the rebooted “Transporter” series still focuses on high-speed car chases and fist-fighting extravagance. Gone is Jason Statham, the star of the first three films in the franchise, replaced by the deadpan, whispery voiced Ed Skrein who viewers may recognize from a small part in the “Game of Thrones” television show. Director Camille Delamarre, who last year helmed the parkour action film “Brick Mansions”, doesn’t bring anything new to the fledgling franchise but instead caters to the most fundamental elements of action movie making, car chase, gunfight, fistfight, explosion, repeat; a method that worked much better with Jason Statham in the drivers seat.

A gorgeous Audi sits in a dark parking structure, spotlighted as if it was a showroom. A group of men gaze at the shining beauty, readying to take it as their own. Out of the shadows a lone man in a perfectly tailored suit disrupts the theft. It ends with one man standing alone with his car. Frank Martin (Ed Skrein) is a very particular, professional driver that operates a business by a specific set of rules. Frank is hired by a beautiful woman (Loan Chabanol) to assist in the robbery of a Russian crime lord who has been running a prostitution ring in France.

Regardless of what the trailer for “The Transporter Refueled” may imply, there is a narrative at work underneath the car chases and fistfights. A desperate woman out for revenge with the help of a quiet tough guy, sound familiar? Here it’s the women imprisoned into a life of prostitution by a Russian bad-guy archetype, heavy accent and all, who are seeking revenge through an overly elaborate and often absurd scheme. The plot just floats around from scene to scene, making an appearance between action set pieces to make the viewer remember why the characters are dodging bullets, wearing disguises, and chasing after speeding jets. Jason Statham’s charisma and screen presence, along with the composition of the fight scenes, had a factor in masking these narrative flaws in the first three films; here they are harshly apparent.

While Ed Skrein plays the role completely straightforward even displaying a decent physical performance during fight scenes, the narrative undercuts all the characters by giving them terrible dialog and illogical decision-making. Making the most of a character that is utilized as a plot device, Ray Stevenson plays Frank’s father with a lighthearted and sometimes comedic approach.

“The Transporter Refueled” wants to be an aggressively charged, adrenaline pumping action film but instead offers rehashed actions scenes that were done better in other films, that's a problem for a film that looks to provide 95 minutes of mindless entertainment. Without Jason Statham a key piece of what made these films appealing is missing and all that remains is the transport without the Transporter. This ultimately keeps the film stuck in neutral, revving its engine with nowhere to go.

Monte’s Rating / 1.50 out of 5.00

Learning to Drive - Movie Review by Jeff Mitchell

“’Learning to Drive’ never quite moves out of the slow lane”  

Director:  Isabel Coixet

Starring: Ben Kingsley, Patricia Clarkson, Grace Gummer, Jake Weber, Sarita Choudhury, Samantha Bee, John Hodgman

Run Time: 90 min

Release Date: 08/28/15

A few decades ago on a stressful July morning in Upstate New York, a kind - and somewhat blind and apathetic - soul ignored my obvious mistakes and gave me a passing grade on my driver’s test.    As a 16-year-old kid with the sudden sensation of obvious freedom and a driver’s license in hand, I knew the exciting prospects of adulthood were just around the nearest corner.

My experience is a typical blueprint for most people, but in the romantic comedy “Learning to Drive”, Wendy (Patricia Clarkson) - a smart and successful book critic in her 50s – never earned her license.   A lifelong New Yorker, she relies on taxis, buses and the subway to get from here to there, but most of all, she depends on her husband of 21 years for transportation as well.   Unfortunately, Ted (Jake Weber) cheats on her and wants a divorce, and an emotionally bruised and vulnerable Wendy is now learning how to fend for herself in life and turns to a driving instructor, Darwan (Ben Kingsley), to fend for herself on paved roadways.

With two exceptional lead actors, Clarkson and Kingsley, front and center in a very character-driven story - and with a definite indie look-and-feel - “Learning to Drive” has all the potential to charm and connect with an audience wanting to see two people bond via friendship or romance.  Regrettably, the movie does not reach its potential.

With Wendy’s shaken confidence and Darwan’s gentle persona, they are two likable characters who are easy to support, and their driving lesson scenes are the film’s most endearing.  Wendy is vastly unsure of herself behind the wheel, but also carries 21 years (consisting of three “seven-year itches”) of baggage.  This makes learning how to drive difficult for Wendy, and many well-timed comedic moments play off this dynamic.

For instance, when Wendy becomes frustrated, Darwan - in the most deadpan of tones - says, “I think it’s time to discuss road rage.”

Darwan, a Sikh with political asylum from India, runs his life in a deadpan state as well.  A caring person with a razor sharp intellect, but not well-versed in social graces or affairs of the heart, he carries empathy for Wendy - and other stronger emotions - just beneath the surface.   Not unlike a best friend who does not know how to say “I’m sorry” or a middle-aged father who cannot articulate “I love you”, Darwan has difficulty verbalizing his feelings.  Thankfully, his left-brain skillset stand tall, and the words “Seatbelt first” and “The driver’s biggest problem is everyone else” flow effortlessly.

On the other hand, with Wendy’s exposed state, her cynicism-quotient runs higher than an air-conditioning technician on a sizzling 4^th of July weekend.    Clarkson is effective in drawing sympathy to Wendy’s plight, and her efforts help attract a nice on-screen human connection to Kingsley’s Darwan.

All in all, many effective and rich scenes bring some entertaining individual moments.   The problem is the picture’s overall story arc just feels too lightweight.   Wendy’s struggle behind the wheel is supposedly real, but after a while, it does not feel realistic.   After a several lessons, the driving scenes become repetitive.   As an audience member, after about 60 movie minutes, I felt impatient with Wendy’s lack of progress on the road.   Certainly, Wendy is a capable person and should be able to drive on bridges or obey traffic signs after seemingly weeks of instructions, however her improvement is slow.

In turn, the movie moves slowly, and an 85-minute film seems like two hours.  Since it nudges at a “Road Under Construction” pace, the singular plot point to bring these two characters together feels forced and manufactured.   Wendy and Darwan are continually affable, so we play along, but we secretly wish for a story with denser material.   The aforementioned individual moments do not ultimately add up to a satisfying movie experience.   In fact, while fully expecting to see the film’s ultimate functional payoff (Wendy’s specific driving goal), I came away feeling a bit cheated.    “Learning to Drive” is a fairly pleasant ride, but you will not leave the theatre feeling like you just passed your driver’s test.   (2/4 stars)

Turbo Kid - Movie Review by Monte Yazzie

Turbo Kid  

Director: François Simard, Anouk Whissell and Yoann-Karl Whissel

Starring: Munro Chambers, Laurence Leboeuf, Michael Ironside, Edwin Wright, Aaron Jeffery and Romano Orzar

Release Date: 08/28/15

Some call it a guilty pleasure while others, like myself, wholeheartedly defend the action, science fiction, and horror films of the 1980’s. The heroes were larger than life, the science fiction combined numerous genres, and the horror films relied on practical special effects. Looking back at those films it’s easy to identify the recognizable aesthetic pieces; the music, the costume, the composition of the action scenes; you can feel the 80’s permeate every frame. “Turbo Kid”, from the directing team of François Simard, Anouk Whissell and Yoann-Karl Whissel, is an homage to all the era specific qualities you’d see from a science fiction, action, and horror film combined into one. The fact that this film gets nearly everything in tune with the 1980’s is remarkable; the fact that it is also has an earnest and humorous story is an unexpected plus.

The year is 1997 and the world has crumbled. The Kid (Munro Chambers) rides around the dystopian wasteland on his BMX bike, looking for remnants of the past but also for the precious commodity of water. The Kid meets a wayward and strange girl named Apple (Laurence Laboeuf) who begins to follow and journey around with him. The water is controlled by a tyrant named Zeus (Michael Ironside) who, along with his henchmen, brutally murders anyone who gets in the way of his quest for power. The Kid, while being chased, discovers the costume and high tech weaponry of his favorite comic book hero Turbo Rider; the suit gives The Kid special powers to fight back against Zeus.

“Turbo Kid” feels like “Road Warrior” with BMX bikes, it’s a stylistic endeavor filled with touches from the past but also subtle references to the films that the audience knows are being imitated. But even when elements are being satirized so precisely, like the over-the-top gore, 80’s synth rock soundtrack perfectly emulated by composer Le Matos, and deliberate filmmaking style that pulls and pushes with attention grabbing ferocity, there are also some nicely composed moments that separate this science fiction environment from others like it. The vast emptiness of the landscape is accomplished by a combination of photography styles, the chase scenes are comically rendered with bikes instead of flying vehicles or speeding cars, and the gore, wow the gore, is drenching by the buckets full. These little differences help keep “Turbo Kid” exciting instead of becoming derivative by resorting to repeated efforts of the style it is mimicking.

The narrative is filled with a consistent comedic tone, from situational humor, to a character that spouts intentionally verbose speeches, to cheesy one-liners, it’s laugh-out-loud funny at times. Unexpectedly there is also a pleasant charm that comes from the friendship between The Kid, who is a bit of a loner, and Apple, who is looking for a friend. They need each other more than they know. In a film that functions as a tribute, having this little character piece allows the viewer to invest more intently with the film.

It’s easy to say that this isn’t a film for everyone. The design feels low budget at times, the CGI can come off a little sloppy, and the gore will turn many away at first sight. Still, once "Turbo Kid" utilized a “Soylent Green” reference the smile never left my face for the remainder of the film. It’s pure fun, constantly energetic, and completely nostalgic, and if that’s not enough for you, Michael Ironside plays a villain named Zeus!!! That last line alone would have brought me to the theater.

Monte’s Rating

4.00 out of 5.00

No Escape - Movie Review by Monte Yazzie

No Escape  

Director: John Erick Dowdle

Starring: Owen Wilson, Lake Bell, Sahajak Boonthanakit, and Pierce Brosnan

Going to a foreign country shouldn’t be as terrifying as director John Erick Dowdle makes it in his unnerving action thriller “No Escape”. This isn’t the first time the theme of fear has been explored by the director; Dowdle’s last film, “As Above/So Below”, was a horror film about a group of young explorers who get trapped in the catacombs below Paris. Dowdle has made quite a career exploring terror, which doesn’t make it surprising that “No Escape” has a few anxious and unsettling moments. While the film utilizes good techniques to maintain a consistent level of apprehension, the story never comes close to reaching the same quality.

Jack (Owen Wilson) and Annie Dwyer (Lake Bell) are moving with their two young daughters to a foreign country. Jack has taken a job with a multinational water company as an engineer.  Trying to make the most of this unwanted situation, Jack and Annie put on brave faces for their children. On the plane ride The Dwyer’s meet a scruffy and scared man named Hammond (Pierce Brosnan) who ends up helping them to their hotel amidst their cultural confusion. Things take a turn for the worse as a violent political coup takes place in the unnamed country, leading the group of rebels to hunt and kill the people who are taking their water.

The film doesn’t take long in establishing The Dwyer’s situation before moving into an all out violent action film. Jack finds himself in the middle of a street confrontation between the rebels and police; things don’t end well for the police who are over powered. Jack weaves through the maze of shops and back alley passages, dodging knife and gun wielding rebels at every corner. Dowdle keeps the pacing frantic and the distress peaked by utilizing handheld techniques but also keeping the framing of the film tight, rarely giving the viewer perspective of the city and focusing on the expressions and movements of the actors. There is an anxiousness that is established by these techniques, a reflection of the title of the film.

Unfortunately the narrative is filled with action movie clichés. The character development during a particularly pivotal moment doesn’t make much sense or give much reasonable explanation, and the establishment of the group of antagonists is pushed aside by lame, dumbed down reasons in a blundering attempt to add a political angle to the situation. The violence that has overtaken this city, placing innocent residents in terrible peril, is focused by the narrative on The Dwyer family, never looking back at the hundreds of executed residents laying on the streets, many who were merely trying to stand up amidst the opposition.  The one character from this unspecified country is given a sliver of story, awkwardly placed as a Kenny Roger’s loving sidekick for Pierce Brosnan’s shady character.

The actors do a good job of looking terrified. Owen Wilson and Lake Bell portray the aspects of being a parent well, calming and motivating their two children at the most extreme ends of the emotional spectrum. “No Escape” maintains an anxious and action packed tone throughout, but unfortunately the clumsily pieced together and culturally misguided narrative turns this film into one long chase scene with nothing to say.

Monte’s Rating

 2.25 out of 5.00

Digging for Fire - Movie Review by Michael Clawson

Digging for Fire  

Director: Joe Swanberg

Starring: Jake Johnson, Rosemarie DeWitt, Orlando Bloom, Brie Larson, Sam Rockwell, Anna Kendrick, Mike Birbiglia, Sam Elliot, Judith Light and Ron Livingston

Release Date: 8/28/2015

Run Time: 85 min

Genre: Drama

by Michael Clawson of Terminal Volume

Digging for Fire spends 85 minutes scraping through the dirt and comes up with nothing but bloody fingernails and a deflated sense of purpose, disappointing rewards when compared to the fire in the title.

Joe Swanberg’s off-kilter romantic drama follows around housesitters Tim (Jake Johnson) and his wife Lee (Rosemarie DeWitt) as they camp out in a luxurious house up in what I’m assuming is the Hollywood Hills. While enjoying the house and its huge yards, Tim finds a rusted revolver and what looks to be a human bone in the vegetation on the property’s edge. It sparks his curiosity, and he slowly becomes obsessed with foraging through the dirt and discovering the soil’s buried mysteries.

Lee, bored with her husband’s meaningless discovery, takes their 3-year-old to her parents for the weekend, thus beginning their separate adventures in which they have one of those High Fidelity “what does it all mean?” moments. Tim has friends over, and a party soon sprouts from what was supposed to be a dinner with his bros, and Lee goes out drinking and starts picturing the tangents her life could be taking with just the tiniest of pushes.

And meanwhile, the hills beckon. Tim gets a shovel. He enlists help. They find a leather shoe, a bag of bones. At one point a neighbor comes over and seems to hint that something dark happened up there in those hills and maybe a young man shouldn’t invite those ghosts into his life. The bones and their metaphorical purpose might seem like the backbone of Digging for Fire, but it’s mostly just background noise to Tim and Lee’s diverging routes through the landscape of the film. What could have been macabre and gruesome, is instead subtle and comically underplayed.

What could have easily been a horror, instead turns into a series of drunken pool parties, coke-fueled joke riffings, mindless Uber rides, and conversation so pointless that the film seems to be aiming for wallpaper, audio-visual decoration for the thinnest and most high-minded excuse for a story. All of this is done with countless celebrities, who have little, if anything, to do. Anna Kendrick shows up to snort a row of blow and shimmy in her bra, Sam Elliott plays Lee’s father in one scene, Orlando Bloom is a hunky hero, Ron Livingston and Melanie Lynskey look dreadfully bored as a married couple, and even Sam Rockwell as an angry drunk can’t liven things up. I found a subplot with Johnson and Brie Johnson mildly interesting, but it doesn’t go anywhere or do anything. Like everything else in the movie, their scenes together are meant only as scale to the other relationships, a banana held up for comparison purposes.

I did enjoy Fire’s non-chalant pacing, which I felt was setting me up for a big payoff. The camera lingers on scenes of people chatting, slumping over bottles, writhing together in the pool. It all has a very voyeuristic feel to it, like we’re silent members of the parties. Unfortunately, there is no payoff. The bones go nowhere, nor does the revolver or the shoe. I kept thinking that something more supernatural or metaphysical were happening, especially when tim tries on the shoe and it fits perfectly.

But, when all was said and done, Digging for Fire was really interested in the catalyst that sets everything into motion. Whatever mystery that was up there in those hills, will die with this movie.

Mistress America - Movie Review by Eric Forthun

Mistress America  

Starring Lola Kirke, Greta Gerwig, Seth Barrish, Kathryn Erbe, Matthew Shear, and Heather Lind

Directed by Noah Baumbach

Rated R

Run Time: 84 minutes

Genre: Comedy

Opens August 21st

By Eric Forthun of Cinematic Shadows

Mistress America is Noah Baumbach's polarizing new feature about a college student discovering herself alongside her soon-to-be stepsister. The most striking element of the film is how similar it is both thematically and narratively to Baumbach's 2013 story, Frances Ha, which I loved. There, he navigated a world where a woman in her late twenties was unsure of her future in the world and could not seem to find the career she so desired. It was an aptly fitting story for a post-recession America, with a self-entitled woman finding herself at odds with a world that severely undervalued her talents as a post-graduate student. Baumbach's latest endeavor is co-written with both films' star, Greta Gerwig, who adds a delightfully acute female touch to the film. Yet it's a decidedly empty endeavor that only manages one truly great scene of slapstick; outside of that, it's simply a one-dimensional entry that makes most of its female characters grating without a semblance of its worldview. Baumbach's a talented director, undoubtedly, but it feels as if his directorial spark has begun to falter.

The film focuses on Tracy (Lola Kirke), an 18-year old college student who has thrown herself into courses that she wasn't necessarily prepared for. She's an educated girl but feels out-of-place in her small discussion classes, often falling asleep and finding that she could care less about what others have to say. She's a talented writer and befriends Tony (Matthew Shear), another writer who seems open to both finding a friend and a romantic interest very quickly into college. They exchange stories and, despite seeming invested in one another, ultimately go their separate ways as Tony starts a relationship with the compulsively suspecting Nicolette (Jasmine Cephas Jones). She's had many distrustful relationships in the past and believes that Tony probably still has feelings for Tracy; she'd be mostly right. Alas, Tracy finds out that her mother, Sheri (Kathryn Erbe), is about to marry a man and she'll gain a new stepsister, Brooke (Greta Gerwig), so she reaches out to her eclectic soon-to-be-relative and begins to find a new sense of purpose underneath Brooke's wing. What begins as learning from her stepsister's wisdom evolves into her realizing the delusion of intelligence that Brooke carries, and whether that is ultimately a bad thing considering the optimism that Brooke carries in every fiber of her being.

I've seen Mistress America twice, and discussed it once with an audience. There's still divisiveness within the viewing audience as to how likable these characters are, particularly as Tracy's story revolves around her finding her authorial voice behind Brooke's ideas about the world. She tears apart Brooke's life, steals her story, and does what many others have done to Brooke over the course of her life. Even though Brooke is far from the perfect human being, and spells that out too clearly in the film's overly wordy dialogue, she comes across as sympathetic in comparison to Tracy's overly manipulative, compulsively immature self. Lola Kirke is a star in the making though, with her child-like lisp adding perfectly to her character and her counter-action to Brooke's confident self. Gerwig is normally great and continues that trend here, even if her and Baumbach's writing is a bit subpar. Both of them do not seem to have a coherent idea surrounding the characters and their overarching message within the film, as both viewings left me wondering what the audience is to make of either character's trajectories. I simply think the stories are unfulfilling despite their bouts of surprising humor.

Those moments come often, though, most notably in a half-hour segment in the climax of the film that culminates in multiple scenes. With at least seven or eight characters getting speaking roles in these moments all set in the household of Brooke's ex-lover Dylan (Michael Chernus), the film begins to finds its tonal voice as the slapstick nature of the scene mixes well with the Woody Allen-esque dialogue. Yet the fundamental problem lies in how these characters come across as nagging and far too loud; they speak their emotions without any sense of subtlety and leave the audience with the growing sense that they think they understand these people. But they truly don't. And that's the problem. The performances are committed and I commend the effort given to making female characters exist outside of the confines of patriarchal society, but the film doesn't find many moments of inspired comedy. A bad exchange involving the term "retarded" and the aftermath of said scene in an uncomfortable bar exchange underlying the characters' unlikability. I simply could not connect with the two leads in Mistress America, despite Baumbach's admittedly funny direction and his lead Greta Gerwig's co-writing talents.

Hitman: Agent 47 - Movie Review by Jeff Mitchell

“’Hitman: Agent 47’ stands out for about 47 painful reasons”  

Director: Aleksander Bach

Writers:  Skip Woods, Michael Finch

Distributor:  20^th Century Fox

Release Date: 08/21/15

“Hitman:  Agent 47” – Movies and television have heaped countless piles of secret agents on the big and small screens over the past few decades, but very few individual characters truly stand out by their names alone.  Ethan Hunt and Jack Bauer come to mind right away.  Of course, James Bond is universally known as the most famous secret agent, and 007 is his alias.  Agent 99 is Maxwell Smart’s partner in the spy spoof “Get Smart”, and Agents J and K constantly try to scope out aliens in the “Men in Black” films.

Agent 47 – an enhanced human who is programmed with super strength, speed and intelligence - is featured in the popular video game “Hitman”, and he arrived in the movies in 2007 as well.  Now, in 2015, the infamous bald badass - this time played by Rupert Friend - is back in cineplexes everywhere to cause massive mayhem in “Hitman: Agent 47”.

Unfortunately, after watching this film, to me, 47 signified the number of movies from which it borrowed, not the agent himself.  Well, I am exaggerating just a little, but I noted specific plot points or action sequences which absolutely reminded me of memorable moments in “The Terminator”, “Halloween”, “Underworld”, “The Matrix”, any Tarantino film, and “Resident Evil”.    The first five mentions represent terrific movies, but “Resident Evil” is not one of those.   Regrettably for the audience, the tacky production values and overall disorganized vibe of “Hitman: Agent 47” seemed like a cinematic first cousin to the always unsatisfying and jumbled “Resident Evil” films.  (Note:  “Resident Evil” was first a video game as well.  Coincidence?)

The movie begins with a flashing montage of violent images and science fiction mischief as a narrator says statements like, “The history of man is defined by war,” and “In 1967, (blah blah blah) created the perfect killing machine.”   The audience basically now understands a secret program modified human beings to give them special powers.  They are called agents, and Agent 47 is one of them.

With a completely dispassionate persona – and garnering a black business suit with a red tie - this guy can walk into any military style compound and kill everyone one in sight with the efficiency of Taylor Swift selling out arenas on any random 10am Ticketmaster morning.    With the moves of Neo and Agent Smith from “The Matrix”, Agent 47 can dazzle a rabid action movie audience with sadistic gunplay, and he offers quite a few scenes which raise a communal “Ouch!” from the audience.

On the other hand, his creators left him void of emotion, and Friend certainly tries his best to zap all feeling from his character.  The result is the audience does not know what “makes him tick”, and after a short while, we do not rightly care.   From a soulless perspective, the movie spectators simply sit back and watch Agent 47’s business of snapping necks and plugging bullet holes in every baddie in Austria, Germany and Singapore, and business is a boomin’!

Through this violent haze, 47 and another agent-type named John Smith (Zachary Quinto) are simultaneously looking for a woman (Hannah Ware) who could be the key to starting or destroying a new agent program.   Quinto has some good moments, but Ware’s does not breathe any life into her character, and this leaves the audience with a pointless cat and mouse game.   On the other hand, director Aleksander Bach does take us to Singapore and delivers some spectacular views and set pieces in this beautiful tropical urban paradise.   In fact, some other action scenes offer great potential, but then the camera drops into slow motion, and would-be straight-up moments become over stylized, silly and tired.    At the end of the day, we have an unfeeling killing machine on a mission in which we do not have much interest.   That does not seem like a good formula for success.  Surprisingly, I am probably going to always remember Agent 47, but I’ll probably follow those thoughts with “Ouch!”  (1.5/4 stars)

American Ultra - Movie Review by Michael Clawson

American Ultra  

Director: Nima Nourizadeh

Starring: Kristen Stewart, Walton Goggins, Topher Grace, Jesse Eisenberg, Connie Britton

Runtime: 96 min

Rated: R

Release Date: 08/21/15

by Michael Clawson of Terminal Volume American Ultra is an ugly and soulless action-comedy with almost no comedy and enough action to render the plot gimmick of the point-blank headshot completely meaningless. It does do one thing right: it ends at a brisk, although still-too-long, 90 minutes.

I can’t say this spy ditty does much else right. All the things that make spy movies so endearing — spy gadgets, international travel, criminal intrigue, nefarious plots — never make an appearance here. Instead we get two grungy lovebirds in their podunk town as they get high and shoot people in the head, which caters to its two apparent demographics: ’90s-era stoners and John Wick fans. More on both those points later.

Mike Howell (Jesse Eisenberg) works at a convenience store that apparently stays open as a form of charity to Mike and his sad existence. The store gets about three customers a day, which allows lots of time for Mike to roll joints at the register and pilfer from the chip aisle. When a government agent comes in and says what is essentially “abracadabra,” Mike’s repressed past as a covert superspy comes racing back to him so he can defend himself from laughably awful assassins who can’t plant a bomb on Mike’s Buick in the dead of night without being spotted. After committing what he thinks is cold-blooded murder, Mike calls his girlfriend Phoebe (Kristen Stewart) who arrives to survey the damage her wimp of a boyfriend has unleashed on two super agents. Once she arrives, the local police department shows up and it sets off a violent night of gunplay, explosions, cleaver hackings and government infiltration.

Mike and Phoebe, as screwed up as they are, are kinda sweet together. Eisenberg and Stewart, forever defined by Facebook and Twilight, are unsympathetic protagonists in almost everything they’re in, yet here they somehow seem just right for each other, even as American Ultra photographs them without even a vague hint of glamour — Stewart is a trailer-park princess with gritty hair and cheap makeup, and Eisenberg spends so much of the movie with his face drenched in tears, blood, sweat and snot that a product placement from Kleenex would have been appropriate and appreciated. I often wondered if Eisenberg’s long shaggy hair was only meant to hide the face of the stunt performer during the action scenes, including in bridge shootouts, a grocery store massacre and a rumble in some kind of porn dungeon bathed in banks of blacklights. There’s also a scene of Mike ricocheting a bullet off a frying pan, which is a neat trick that the film puts in the trailer in case you wanted to watch something else this weekend. Ultra is filled with an array of smaller characters played by actors who have nothing to do and nowhere to go. Connie Britton (TV’s Nashville) has a phone glued to her ear; Tony Hale (HBO’s Veep) is on the other end of those calls with dead jokes and meaningless subplots. The great Walton Goggins spends much of the film wheezing maniacally as one of the hitmen tasked with eliminating Mike. Bill Pullman shows up to prove to the world he’s still acting, and that’s pretty much it. John Leguizamo has one sad line (“Wanna drop some acid and go to the titty bar?”) and then he’s removed from the movie as if he received a call, turned to the film and said, “Go on without me.” All these side characters are trumped by the still-infantile Topher Grace, here playing a government stooge with an ax to grind … apparently against us. His loud sequences have about three times more dialogue than is needed, all of which Grace chews on like it’s bubblegum made from a pair of yoga pants.

Going back to an earlier point, Nima Nourizadah’s juvenile film is largely geared to two subsets of viewers: people who still watch Half Baked on a weekly basis, and people are have fetishized bullets entering and exiting heads. With regards to the first point, the stoner comedy is a dead genre. With marijuana legal in more and more places, weed culture is quickly being diluted by regular users. Gone are the days of “rolling a fatty” under a Bob Marley banner while Snoop Dogg or Cypress Hill bang out of a boombox. Pot and its many forms are used by grandmas with glaucoma, kids with seizures, and lots of healthy people, too, including lawyers, dentists, blue-collar types, soccer moms, and yes, even undercover spies. Stoners like Mike certainly still exist, but they look like lost relics from a different time and place.

As for the other point, the violence is just a stale copycat of so many other gunplay movies out today, including John Wick which turned the headshot into a celestial communion to the Church of the Second Amendment. That film has its fans, and it’s getting a sequel, but let me ask a serious question: how many is too many headshots? American Ultra doesn’t give it a serious thought, and instead it just apes Wick’s action with less stylization and less irony. Skip American Ultra. It’s a dismal film pretending to be a slightly less dismal film.

Straight Outta Compton - Movie Review by Monte Yazzie

Straight Outta Compton  

Director: F. Gary Gray

Starring: O’Shea Jackson Jr., Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell, Neil Brown Jr., Aldis Hodge, and Paul Giamatti

In 1988 the rap group N.W.A. released one of the groundbreaking hip-hop albums of all time. “Straight Outta Compton” was an album peaked with hostility, desperation, frustration, and profanity laced defiance, a calling card to a Los Angeles community dealing with poverty, violence, and racial profiling. The group started as five talented unknown artists who progressed into a dominating force in hip-hop music; featuring the collective of Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Eazy-E, MC Ren, DJ Yella, and Arabian Prince. Director F. Gary Gray, known for “Friday” and “The Italian Job”, directs this biopic of the group’s rise to fame and their ultimate aggressive separation into individual artists. The result is an exceptional film that portrays the story of talented and disgruntled young men who utilized words to reflect the emotions and experiences of their world, a group that would transform hip-hop music.

Andre “Dr. Dre” Young (Corey Hawkins) is a DJ for a local club, supporting his girlfriend and child while living in his mother’s house. Dr. Dre is utilizing music as a means of escape, a tool to support his family. Dr. Dre is the creative force behind the music, crafting a sound built on the shoulders of classic soul and R&B records. The voice for his sound arrives behind the crafted lyrics of O’Shea “Ice Cube” Jackson (O’Shea Jackson Jr.), a young man who writes about the world outside his school bus or seen on the nightly news report with unabashed sincerity. Needing money to get the group off the ground, Dr. Dre enlists funding from a local drug dealer named Eric “Eazy-E” Wright, a charming hothead who could easily pull a gun as quick as he could make one crack a smile. These founding members, along with friends MC Ren (Aldis Hodge) and DJ Yella (Neil Brown Jr.) would become N.W.A., the most controversial group in rap music.

The film opens with Eric “Eazy-E” Wright (Jason Mitchell) standing toe-to-toe with a drug dealer in a house filled with narcotics, weapons, and the kind of tension that defines the best kind of confrontations in gangster films. In a blink, a Los Angeles tank barrels through the front door and Eazy-E darts through the house and out a window narrowly escaping a fate that would have derailed the future success waiting for him. It’s an action sequence that has all the flair of gritty crime films but it also serves as a representation of N.W.A.’s rise to fame; a rise that maneuvered over obstacles and beyond walls, narrowly evading the grasp of the people that wanted to stop them.

We’ve seen this story before, the peaks and valleys of a music group that succeeded beyond the boundaries set before them. In this regard “Straight Outta Compton” is completely familiar and predictable. However, in the talented hands of director F. Gary Gray the story turns into something immersive and compelling; an extensive historical account that touches on all the milestones but also features specific insights purposefully composed for fans that followed the story of the group and the individuals that would eventual find success of their own. While some scenes may come off a little contrived during more dramatic aspects, like an outburst by Ice Cube in the Priority Records offices, the atmosphere of the environments, attitude of the actors, and placement of the music is always spot on. There is a great scene during the early production of an Eazy-E song called “Boyz-N-The-Hood” where the group struggles to make the song come together, it’s a heartfelt and comedic scene that displays the friendship that drove these young men to take a risk.

“Straight Outta Compton” goes even further, exploring the lives of these men later in their career, showing Dr. Dre make the choice to align with Suge Knight, watching Ice Cube writing the script that would eventually become the movie “Friday”, and seeing Eazy-E’s health fail after contracting HIV. The film is somewhat overly meticulous with the history, fans will be delighted with some of the subtleties and surprises placed throughout while others not familiar may find these moments distracting.

The acting is surprisingly good. Paul Giamatti, the veteran of the young group of actors, makes manager Jerry Heller somewhat of a mystery and O'Shea Jackson Jr.'s striking resemblance to his father's smirk and smile will make you feel like you've been put in a time machine. There are moments when the script lingers within scenes, this is the only time that you will notice the 147 minute running time that otherwise progresses with exceptional pacing.

There is an undeniable essence to this film, which becomes evident when you realize that Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, and Eazy-E’s former wife Tomica Wright were heavily involved in the production. “Straight Outta Compton” is a film that rides on the shoulders of the giants that are still influencing rap music today.

Monte’s Rating

4.25 out of 5.00

Straight Outta Compton - Movie Review by Jeff Mitchell

“’Straight Outta Compton’ feels like a complete document of N.W.A’s reality” Director:  F. Gary Gray

Writers:  Jonathan Herman, Andrea Berloff

Distributor:  Universal Pictures

“Our art is a reflection of our reality.”

Ice Cube (O’Shea Jackson Jr., who is Ice Cube's son in real life), of the seminal rap band, N.W.A, utters these words in a press conference to defend his group’s “questionable-to-the-mainstream” lyrical content to a large collection of jumpy journalists.  His statement was exactly right, and director F. Gary Gray creates a glorious work of art of his own:  a completely captivating and Shakespearean story of five men from Compton, CA and their meteoric rise up the music charts in “Straight Outta Compton”.

In this 2 hour 27 minute chronicle, Gray introduces the audience to Ice Cube, Dr. Dre (Corey Hawkins), Eazy-E (Jason Mitchell), Dj Yella (Neil Brown Jr.), and MC Ren (Aldis Hodge) and their humble beginnings in a stressful environment in 1988 Compton.

Their reality was a place where gangs (like the Crenshaw Mafia) stop school buses and point guns at the heads of high school kids.

Their reality was a place where white police officers routinely provoke, harass and manhandle young black men for absolutely no reason.

Their reality, however, was also a place where Dr. Dre – sporting a stylish, opened buttoned Los Angeles Dodgers jersey – earns fifty dollars for DJing at a club.

Although his mom was not impressed, Dr. Dre proudly states, “It’s a start."

Dr. Dre’s talents are with writing music, and his friend Ice Cube is more than a bit of a poet.  Although music and lyrics are the basic ingredients for a song, they need money and studio time to actually make a record.

Enter Eazy-E.

With his business know-how, he helps build that magical studio time bridge.  Add Dj Yella and MC Ren, and the group is complete.  N.W.A is born on Ruthless Records, and their frank talk of crime, racism, injustice, and frustration strikes a chord (pardon the pun) in Los Angeles and soon, the nation.

Along the way, Gray does a very nice job of showing the camaraderie between the band members and the joy they experience while creating music inside the studio and during thunderous performances in arenas.  The arena shows are highly produced, and the power of the actors’ recreated performances brings chills.  With their live concert stage supporting a barbed-wire fence and huge letters “N.W.A” plastered in red, these five men make a statement to the movie theatre and on-screen audiences alike, and we feel it to our core.

These guys are very likable, and with the film’s very clear “us vs. the system” tone, this audience member really hoped bandmate harmony would remain strong.  On the other hand, life harmonies sometimes fall flat, and the film reveals the squabbles and issues which created serious problems.  Ironically, with ever-present racism surrounding the N.W.A members, treating one another with equality would be the obvious choice, but money can pull apart even the closest of friends.  We also see the band’s allies might not have their best interest in mind as well.

Trust becomes an issue everywhere, and that is an unfortunate - but very real message - in the film.  Gray’s movie also does a meticulous job of documenting N.W.A’s journey and does so with humor, growth, success, and conflict.

This is a landmark band, and the movie seems to include every small, but important step on their ride.  This is mostly positive, but the film also includes actors playing other rap artists during these small steps, and their bit cameos felt like a celebrity checklist.  The look-alike actors’ small appearances took me out of the narrative, while I wanted the real focus to continue on N.W.A.  That’s a small criticism, however, because walking out of the movie, I felt like I was treated to a complete, historical and fascinating document of this band and a clear picture of their reality.    (3.5/4 stars)