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Starring: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Aaron Paul, Nick Offerman You may like this if you liked: Half Nelson (Ryan Fleck, 2006), Rachel Getting Married (Jonathan Demme, 2008), Flight (Robert Zemeckis, 2012) Married couple Kate (Winstead) and Charlie (Paul) live a happily … Continue reading
Starring: Keri Russell, Josh Hamilton, Dakota Goyo
You may like this if you like: Insidious (James Wan, 2012), Sinister (Scott Derrickson, 2012), Signs (M. Night Shyamalan, 2002)
The Barret family is your usual nuclear family with two children. Due to the father’s (Josh Hamilton) recent redundancy they are struggling to pay the bills while their two sons experience the usual problems of childhood. Meanwhile a serious of increasingly disturbing and inexplicable incidents occur in their house, leading to each member having blackouts and acting in a way beyond recognition. Further investigation into these events and a meeting with an apparent ‘expert’ (J.K. Simmons) suggest the cause of these events may be due to a horrifying and extra terrestrial force they will never understand.
It seems that these days the horror genre is something of a close knit fraternity. Every poster of every film seems to mention that it has something to do with individuals that had something to with other horror films. In this case it is apparently the producer of Paranormal Activity and Insidious. Unfortunately there is often an air of familiarity in all these films as they seem to use the same (admittedly safe) clichés and gimmicks. Dark Skies is no exception, being very textbook as it carefully seems to tick off those horror cliché boxes. However, despite the very workmanlike approach I personally found Dark Skies to be a perfectly watchable, well made, well acted and overall solid, if overly familiar, genre piece.
Personally what I felt worked best about Dark Skies is the four characters. Not only does this family face the same relatable problems in life many us do such as economic hardship, but I found that I genuinely cared for them. All four turn in excellent performances and their characters are developed well enough for us to really like them. Indeed, Dark Skies is quite a slow burner allowing us to know our protagonists and the shocks are few at first but gradually increase.
As for the shocks, there are some very effective moments. Though there may be some similarities to Paranormal Activity, Dark Skies is thankfully not found footage and there is genuine tension. Helped by the solid performances, there is a good atmosphere and the scene with birds continuing to fly into the windows is a particularly effective stand out scene. I did genuinely find myself sharing the confusion and intrigue of the Barret family.
As the plot develops and clichés are ticked off Dark Skies is solid more than ever genuinely creepy, but a consistently watchable film nevertheless. The ending may annoy some and it is best not to ask too many questions as quite frankly, there is no attempt at any answers which for me prevents this film from ever being anymore than a solid 5/10.
Dark Skies is a very watchable, well acted, solid horror film. The slow pace allows effective character development and though it may not necessarily make you jump out of your seat, it never gets boring.
5/10
Starring: Jason Statham, Jennifer Lopez, Nick Nolte
You may like this if you like: Ransom (Ron Howard, 1996), The Mechanic (Simon West, 2011), Faster (George Tillman Jr., 2010)
Parker (Statham of course) is a thief with a moral code (!). After joining a criminal gang for a heist in which they steal $1 million. An innocent person is killed in the heist (which of course upsets him) and the gang leader (Michael Chiklis) insists they all use the money for a much larger multimillion dollar heist. Wanting no part of it, Parker refuses and is subsequently left for dead by the gang. After a motorist finds him and takes him to a hospital, Parker escapes the hospital and, yes you guessed it, swears vengeance against the gang that left him for dead. The gang’s planned multimillion dollar heist is in San Antonio and Parker tracks them down buying a house there posing as a wealthy Texan, complete with dodgy accent and Stetson. With the help of a local realtor (Lopez), he carefully plans his revenge.
I apologise if that synopsis was boring and generic, trust me the film is even more so.
As soon as Statham declares that he “does not hurt or steal from those that do not deserve it”, it is obvious that this film is desperate for us to like the entitled protagonist. Despite this apparent ‘moral code’, he is still ultimately a thief and a criminal. It is this obvious desperation that immediately suggests that Parker is a poorly made and poorly written film. Unfortunately it is, and worse. Just to clarify, I like Jason Statham and often thoroughly enjoy his films. Though no Lawrence Olivier, he has found his niche and does what he does extremely well. However, for me Parker has to to go down as one of his poorest films of recent times.
Though I am unlikely to ever watch a Statham film for the strong plot (which naturally this film does not have), some decent action would be nice. Statham is absolutely fine, but given very little decent material to work with. He gets the occasional cheesy line which he of course delivers with aplomb, but he predominantly gets very little decent fight sequences or cheesy one liners (both his specialty) to get his meaty chops into. At just under two hours this film is at least 30 minutes too long with so many overlong and quite frankly boring scenes that should have been removed.
On the subject of removal, that would be the best course of action for Jennifer Lopez’s character. Her character adds nothing but a name on the poster and a scene in her underwear which is naturally in the trailer. Her character is completely pointless and the entire subplot involving her financial difficulties adds nothing and makes Parker a predominantly boring and laborious experience.
The plot is generic, which is basically to be expected, as well as completely forgivable if there was some decent action. Apart from one particularly brutal bathroom fight scene, the (sparse) action sequences are pretty boring. The final shootout provides very little intensity or excitement either, leading to ultimately sighing in the relief that this film is over.
Parker had the potential to be another mindless and enjoyable Statham action flick, but is ultimately overlong and very boring. Maybe it is time for another Crank or Transporter film to recharge his batteries?
4/10
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Starring: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Paddy Considine You may like this if you like: Shaun of the Dead (Edgar Wright, 2004), The Watch (Akiva Schaffer, 2012), This is the End (Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen, 2013) Twenty years after attempting … Continue reading
Starring: Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon, Tim Roth
You may like this if you liked: Margin Call (J.C. Chandor, 2011), Contraband (Baltasar Kormákur, 2012), Broken City (Allen Hughes, 2013)
Robert Miller (Gere) is a multi millionaire married hedge-funder whose life seems perfect. However, beneath the surface lie dark secrets. He has had to commit fraudulent dealings in order to try and sell his ailing company and is also having an affair with a younger business client (Laetitia Casta). Due to a tragic turn of events he is forced to take increasingly drastic action to prevent those around him including his wife (Sarandon) and daughter (Brit Marling), as well as a suspicious cop (Roth) from uncovering his secrets and destroying everything he has achieved as well as his reputation.
Richard Gere has not done a decent film for a while (Movie 43 anyone?), however he is perfectly suited for the lead role in what I thought was a slickly made, extremely watchable and enjoyable morality tale. Though perhaps it is a slightly formulaic plot there are enough decent twists and turns to keep it plodding along nicely.
Despite Miller in theory not being a particularly likeable character in isolation, Gere’s natural charm and charisma, as well as a committed turn add depth and make him genuinely compelling. I did not necessarily want him to pull through and come out smelling of roses, but was compelled as to how he was going to go about it. It is more the characters around him that are innocently being taking down with Miller that we care about. His wife, daughter and Jimmy Grant (Nate Parker) who is the down-on-his-luck son of a former late colleague all get innocently dragged into Miller’s web of deceit and it threatens to ruin their lives too. One of the motivations behind Miller’s actions is to prevent this from happening to those around him and for me this was one of the reasons he remained.
The supporting cast predominantly give great turns. Sarandon and Roth both give subtle, effective and seemingly effortless authority to their roles. However the one disappointment for me was Brit Marling; in what is a pivotal role within the narrative she fails to inject any life into a very important character. Her performance is very flat and wooden, and does definitely harm the film’s overall involvement and edge.
Whereas some films may start off with intrigue and gradually peter out; Arbitrage remains consistent throughout. However consistent in that it plods along nicely but yet never truly grips or intrigues which for me stops this from being anymore than a 6/10. Though this serves well as an allegorical piece, it scratches the surface but could have dug deeper at times. To this films credit is that I found the ending impressive. It thankfully avoids clunky clichés or stupidly dramatic violent scenes for an ending that is subtle, surprising and appropriate to the overall tone.
Arbitrage is a very well made and predominantly well acted thriller that entertains throughout. Though always watchable but never truly gripping, there are enough twists and a well written ending to keep things ticking over nicely.
6/10
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Starring: Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi Genre: Crash bang wallop action/Adventure/Sci-Fi/Expensive Power Rangers Plot? Well, giant monstrous creatures known as Kaiju start rising from some kind of space portal in the Pacific Ocean (no, me neither) and decimating cities, … Continue reading
Starring: Elijah Wood, Nora Arnezeder, Genevieve Alexandra
You may like this if you liked: Maniac (William Lustig, 1980), Mr. Brooks (Bruce A. Evans, 2007), Peeping Tom (Michael Powell, 1960)
Frank (Wood) is the socially awkward owner of a mannequin shop. He beautifully restores mannequins with passion and skill, oh and at night he is a serial killer stalking the streets for women. Once he has killed his victims he scalps them, keeping their hair and placing it on one of his mannequins. One morning a French art student (Arnezeder) takes an interest into his antique mannequins, wanting to use them for an exhibition. The two of them strike a bond and a seemingly mutual interest which only serves to increase Frank’s deadly obsessions.
So here we have yet another horror remake, sorry, I mean ‘reimagining’. I have not seen the original but from seeing interviews with the director he came out with the usual spiel about keeping the spirit of the original but adding his own vision to it blah, blah, blah…
Well I have definitely seen much, much worse and Maniac is an effectively entertaining, gory and more than a little psychologically messed up film. What is a little different is that the entire film is shot from Frank’s point of view. Though this provides a different and very effective element it is nowhere near as mind-blowing as the director seems to genuinely believe it is.
The sleazy synth soundtrack, desolate Los Angeles setting and Wood’s blue eyed stare all prove very effective in what is an entertaining, trashy 89 minutes. Due to the POV nature all Wood has to do is provide a voice over and occasionally look into the mirror. Though he may lack genuine sinister substance, the blue eyed stare is very effective just like in Sin City.
Attempts at getting into Frank’s psyche hit and miss, sometimes providing an annoying distraction, but the final scene is disturbingly effective. Though of course Maniac never intends to be a serious attempt at understanding the mind and obsessions of a serial killer and keeps things suitably trashy and nasty. Oh and of course there is gore, quite a lot of it, but as it is all shown from Frank’s POV this is very visually effective but never genuinely sinister or scary.
Maniac is a trashy, sleazy, immensely enjoyable gore fest. More gory fun than genuinely scary, but effective visuals, music and setting provide an extremely watchable but overall forgettable experience.
6/10
Starring: Tim Roth, Cillian Murphy, Eloise Laurence
You may like this if you liked: Wonderland (Michael Winterbottom, 1999), Magnolia (Paul Thomas Anderson, 1999), Gypo (Jan Dunn, 2005)
A story of the intertwining lives of the residents of a North London cul-de-sac told through the eyes of an 11 year old called Skunk (Laurence). After witnessing one of her neighbours, widower and father of three girls Bob (Rory Kinnear) brutally attack a younger mentally ill neighbour called Rick (Robert Emms) it has repercussions for both their families and Skunk’s, including her father (Roth) and teacher (Murphy).
Based on a novel, Broken is certainly nothing new but it is a raw, honest, involving albeit slightly contrived low key gritty Brit drama. The melodrama and network narrative approach do lead to an increasingly contrived TV drama feel to proceedings which unfortunately immediately hampers Broken from being a depiction of the struggles of everyday life as powerful as for example, Micheal Winterbottom’s Wonderland.
However, story aside it is how this film deals with its characters that makes it so engrossing. These are all very real characters that we all know, who are simply trying to make the best of what they have in life. Every character is depicted with raw honesty and Broken shows with genuine emotional involvement that no character is ever black and white. Many of these characters do things, that if looked at in isolation are easy to criticise but then when taken into context are understandable as that particular character is doing what they personally think is the right thing to do. This is personified perfectly by the character of Bob, played flawlessly by Rory Kinnear. No one is perfect; we are all flawed and sometimes act on impulse and do things we later regret but at the time we thought were the right thing to do.
As Broken is told predominantly through the eyes of Skunk, it also serves well as a coming of age drama. She is trying to understand the world around her and this experience is depicted very effectively. As the main protagonist, her character arc provides an emotionally effective centre of which the plot developments take place. In what is her first film role, Eloise Lawrence gives an excellent performance as Skunk. Tim Roth and Cillian Murphy may possibly be the main reason many will see this film, and they provide emotional substance in their roles, but the entire cast is excellent.
Broken is a very raw, honest and watchable little Brit drama with excellent performances, effectively naturalistic dialogue and brutally honest character depictions. However the extremely contrived and clichéd nature of the narrative developments, as well as a very pointless scene towards the end make Broken often feel like a ponderous British soap opera.
7/10
Starring: Gemma Arterton, Saoirse Ronan, Caleb Landry Jones
You may like this if you like: Interview with the Vampire (Neil Jordan, 1994), Dorian Gray (Oliver Parker, 2009), Twilight (Catherine Hardwicke, 2008)
Two mysterious women, a stripper/prostitute by the name of Clara (Arterton) and her younger sister Eleanor (Ronan) seek refuge in a rundown coastal town. Unknown to any of the residents they are both two hundred year old vampires that have been on the run from the male dominated and slightly stupidly named ‘Pointed Nails of Justice’. The main reason for this is that Clara committed a crime by both becoming a vampire herself and then making Eleanor become one too. After meeting hapless guest house owner Noel (Daniel Mays), the ruthless Clara moves in, turning the guest house (called Byzantium) into a brothel while the more morally conflicted Eleanor starts a romance with leukaemia sufferer Frank (Landry Jones). Due to Eleanor’s conflicted and confused feelings of morality what follows are revelations that may have deadly consequences for many.
This is Twilight for grownups apparently according to one review I saw. Well, due to that horrible franchise and the plethora of mainstream vampire films that exist Neil Jordan’s third film of that subject blatantly tries its hardest to distance itself from these as much as it can. Though perhaps there was such a focus on this that Jordan forgot about everything else. For example, one of the key elements is that these bloodsuckers kill solely with a protruding finger nail. They also seem to have no problem with sunlight. Though this is admittedly different, how they kill is irrelevant without a good story that contains interesting characters.
Based on a play, Byzantium does have potential. The atmosphere of a decaying and slightly sleazy British seaside town (though filmed in Ireland) is very effective and the narrative does present some interesting themes. The ‘right’ of eternal life is only given to strong souls (and only men) and the motivations behind the two protagonist’s actions do provide potentially interesting character arcs. However for me it is all dealt with in a confused manor leaving characters that are sometimes very hard to care about and a story that is often genuinely quite contrived, overlong and boring. There sometimes seems to be less of a focus on the ‘vampire’ element as the word is used very sparingly and they seem to not necessarily have to drink blood to survive. They appear to be depicted as immortals, and that does present some potentially interesting ideas about being able to live forever and the potential character conflicts, but this potential for me was never truly realised. There is also some huge gender politics at play here in the vampire world, but once again these are just skirted over when they could have been covered in more interesting detail. This is particularity inconsistent considering what Gemma Arterton is ‘wearing’ throughout the film. There seems to be enough musings but never the depth necessary to make this film as involving as it should be.
A strong cast that also includes Tom Hollander, Sam Riley and Jonny Lee Miller all give good and effective performances but are not simply given the substance their performances deserve. As a film that is always played extremely serious, Byzantium lacks the slightly camp fun of Interview with the Vampire and due to the lack of substance and under developed themes does often verge on boring. That said there is enough claret drenched moments along with the good performances and effective atmosphere to keep things ticking over.
Effectively moody and well acted, Jordan’s vampire return has the foundations in place but a slightly contrived narrative and lack of emotional depth never realise the potential.
6/10
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Mark Ruffalo
You may like this if you like: The Prestige (Christopher Nolan, 2006), Trance (Danny Boyle, 2013), Ocean’s Eleven (Steven Soderbergh, 2001)
Well, for those that have not seen the trailer: Four small time magicians; A street magician (Eisenberg), a down-on-his-luck hypnotist (Harrelson), an escape artist (Isla Fisher) and a street wise pickpocket (Dave Franco) all individually receive a mysterious card summoning them to a mysterious address. One year later they are massively popular stage illusionists by the name of The Four Horsemen. Backed by a wealthy benefactor their final trick at a sold old show in Las Vegas is to transport a member of the audience instantaneously to a Paris bank and the money seemingly instantly transported back to Vegas into the audience. I cannot say much more, but hardened FBI agent Dylan Rhodes (Ruffalo) is sent on the case and as he investigates what follows is inevitable plot twists, red herrings, double crossings and an overall feeling of smugness from those making it as robbing the bank is just the prelude to the main trick.
The Prestige, The Illusionist err… Magicians. There have been a few films about magic in recent years and now it is over to Louis Leterrier (responsible for the first two Transporter films) to have a go. Leterrier was a wise choice as the action is slick, editing rapid and the pace always pretty frantic with some smugly delivered plot twist at every corner. Everyone is enjoying themselves from the wannabe Ocean’s style cast list (check that poster) to Leterrier obviously having a blast. This all helps to produce a very enjoyable and audaciously entertaining 115 minutes overall. This is a film that most definitely has the style, but due to both the subject matter and the style of the narrative there was always going to have to be some seriously good substance to hold it all together. This is for me what stopped Now You See Me from being more than quite simply just another entertaining but forgettable Hollywood trip.
Unfortunately Now You See Me is indeed a very forgettable experience that is nowhere near as clever as it thinks it is. It certainly matches Danny Boyle’s Trance for the audacious quantity of twists and turns but the quality is never there as I found many are a lot more predictable than this film seems to believe they are. As the twists and turns continue to pile on top of each other we are left with a complete narrative mess and an inevitable anti climax of a conclusion. The actual plot is genuinely quite weak in my view and therefore not strong enough to prevent itself from collapsing under the weight of all the twists and turns. Leterrier tries his damned hardest to keep things exciting and his efforts are admirable, but he can only make up for the glaring lack of substance and genuine surprise so much. It is also hard to produce a sense of magical wonder on screen when Leterrier lets blatant CGI and editing tricks do a lot of the work, but on the whole if you try not to think too much this is tremendous empty fun.
Slick, audacious, fun and most definitely misguidedly smug; Now You See consistently entertains but often under whelms.
6/10
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Dedicated to movie nerdom, nostalgia, and escape. In the late 90s, I worked at Blockbuster Video where they let me take home two free movies a day. I caught up on the classics and reviewed theatrical releases for Denver 'burbs newspapers and magazines. Today, while raising two young, beautiful daughters with my amazing wife, I look forward to anything rated R and not Bluey. Comments and dialogue encouraged!
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