3.9
-- AMERICAN
SNIPER, Clint Eastwood
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
Based on the true story of American Navy Seal Chris Kyle (Bradley
Cooper) who performed four tours of duty, killing over 200 terrorists
in Iraq -- 116 confirmed, including Islamic terrorist torturer
the 'butcher,' this brave gifted sniper known as the Legend
led his men into convoys, rooftop shootings, door busting ops,
and on the ground reconnaissance maneuvers that the movie puts
before us -- with more dramatic impact than a bomb dropping
on the silver screen. Kyle's total commitment to God and country
-- those are his words -- is scrupulously conveyed in a gripping
film that creates its effects through meticulous attention to
tactical details. My heart was racing in so many scenes. The
film shows the grueling training Kyle underwent, the technique
of a sure-shot sniper and the hideous snap-second decisions
soldiers must make. This film powerfully convinced me that the
soldiers who give their lives in the name of freedom were totally
justified in their allegiance to the flag. The film also shows
Kyle's suffering through PTS depression after the war and his
recovery. He ended up assisting veterans, and sadly met his
own demise right on American soil; he was killed by a veteran
he was trying to help recover from depression. Bradley Cooper
is indescribably brilliant in the role; the man is already a
veteran actor. Clint Eastwood is a directing genius -- as this
unforgettable movie attest to.
2.4
-- INTO THE WOODS, Rob Marshall
[reviewed by Nancy Snipper]
Though the singing is great, the accents are inconsistent --
half the cast is English; the other half American. The lyric
is superb; Stephen Sondheim is a genius, but the film fails
to convince that having four Brothers Grimm fairytales converge
into a forest weaves a winning tale -- despite the exuberance
of its musical genre and the cast's performances. I did not
come out whistling one melody, so no song is particularly catchy.
The stories include: Cinderella, Rapunzel, Jack and the Bean
Stock and Little Red Riding Hood. Best singers/actors by far
are Meryl Streep as the witch, Emily Blunt s as the childless
wife of Mr. Baker, Anna Kendrick as Cinderella, Daniel Huttlestone
as Jack (memorable in Les
Misérables), Tracey Ullman as Jack's mother and Johnny Depp
as the wolf. Chris Pine as the prince is hilarious in his campy
posturing. The cast looks like they had fun doing this film,
and the energy levels were terrific. A dark film with a bit
of racy and scary plot turns that seems to get lost; you can't
see the forest for the trees in this convoluted Disney musical
that decidedly is not a fantasy for young kids.
2.4
-- FELIX AND
MEIRA, Maxime Giroux
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
Felix
(Martin Dubreuil) meets Meira (Hadas Yaron), and pursues her
with great passion. The only issue is she a Hassidic Jew with
a husband -- well-played by Luzer Twersky who is a miserably
boring, highly possessive man. The film slowly develops how
Meira slowly falls for Felix, sheds her wig and leaves her husband,
grabbing her child to run away with Félix to Venice. But will
she really be able to live as a secular? It is a well-crafted
film that shows the stifling life of a young, shy Hassidic woman
who can't accept the life of her claustrophobic community. Some
are meant to spread their wings; others to have them clipped
every day.
3.6
-- WINTER SLEEP, Nuri Bilge
Ceylan
[reviewed
by Andrew Hlavacek]
Winner of the Palme d’Or at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, Winter
Sleep is Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s latest film set in the windswept
‘steppes’ and sandstone formations of Cappadocia in central
Anatolia, where inhabitants had carved out entire cities in
in rock. Former actor Aydin (Haluk Bilginer) is proprietor of
a picturesque, somewhat isolated, hotel carved into a hillside.
Though one of the local elite, and owner of various properties,
he prefers to leave business matters to his hotel manager, Hidayet
(Aybert Pekcan), and occupy himself with more intellectual matters
such as writing weekly columns in the local paper. His only
other companions during the slow winter months are a few hardy
tourists, his recently divorced sister Necla (Demet Akbag) and
young wife Nihal (Melisa Sözen). A confrontation he witnesses
between a tenant and Hidayet leaves him grasping for his moral
compass and retreating to the sanctum of his study to write
an article about the necessity for propriety, cleanliness and
conscience. As wealthy patriarch, Aydin is seemingly respected
while also nearly absent in the community. He styles himself
as beacon of morality and conscience and yet shows disdain for,
and disgust with, humanity. Wealth has granted him the freedom
to escape into his own system of banal morality, which he uses
to judge others. This same privilege allows his immediate family
to create their illusions and, in turn, judge him. Winter
Sleep is masterful but difficult; it lumbers -- perhaps
matching well the pace of its main protagonist who shuffles
about with a false sense of purpose -- and often stalls in scenes
of tense discussion, dripping with resentment and deliciously
cloaked in ulterior motive. Long shots and a static camera reveal
an extraordinarily detailed mise-en-scène that is a joy to experience
and fully justifies the film’s pacing. Exterior scenes of the
region’s beautiful vastness hauntingly mirror the bleakness
that we glimpse within. Be forewarned that Winter Sleep
is a heavily psychological film, whose central characters, albeit
brilliantly portrayed, may not be very likeable. Ceylan is,
however, non-judgmental in his treatment, allowing the audience
to fully engage with the film on a fundamental level, which
makes for an extremely touching, completely relatable experience
despite the gulf of culture, time and space.
3.9
-- THE WRECKING
CREW, Donny Todesco
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
A
superb documentary on the vitality of American bands and their
development and a hidden truth. The title is the name of all
the key instrumentalists - those famous studio session guys
who were in the fabulous 50s 60s music scene of rock and roll
who played on everyone's album. They were there for the Beach
Boys, The Monkeys, the Mamas and Papas, Herb Alpert, Dave Brubeck
and Herb Alpert, Rickie Nelson, John Denver and more iconic
names that tilted the world on a several new axes. Interviews
with behind the scenes producers and musicians make this doc
not just a great music fest with name-label dropper: Capitol
Records, Liberty Records, Dick Clarke and Jimmy Webb, Hal Blaine,
but it also puts a historical eye and ear onto techniques of
recording, how tracks were laid and musicians got their fame,
particularly in new York inside the Brillo building wall. Then
the LA scene exploded. New York produced a rougher sound and
rolled behind the big surfing wave that hit California. One
big horror secret is the fact that all the musicians in the
band The Associations never played a note on their albums. It
was the studio guys who made the music happen on the vinyl spun
out. Never were their names put on the albums. All producers
signal out Beach Boy, Brian Wilson as a genius. Guitar god Tommy
Tedesco, Glen Campbell before his singing, guitarist Al Casey
and drummer, Earl Palmer, bassist, Carol Kaye were part of the
Wrecking Crew. The film also features stars such as Cher, The
Crystals, Sam Cooke, Phil Specter's Righteous Brothers, and
more. The New Orleans scene is explored, and the beat goes on.
This is a highly important film that features a detailed chronicle
of our favourite music from rock, pop to big band music and
beyond. The Wrecking Crew era ended when bands began to play
their own instruments vibrantly and writing darn good songs.
Buffalo Springfield AKA Crosby, Stills and Nash are a perfect
pioneering example of this. The music is unbeatable in this
must-see film.
3.4
-- TWO DAYS,
ONE NIGHT (DEUX JOURS, UNE NUIT), Jean-Pierre
& Luc Dardenne
[reviewed
by Andrew Hlavacek]
Sandra (Marion Cotillard) embarks on a humiliating mission to
try and save her job at a solar panel factory. The director
has decided that an employee must be fired or the whole team
loses their lucrative bonuses. Under pressure from supervisor
Jean-Marc (Olivier Gourmet) they vote on a Friday to keep their
bonuses and let Sandra -- recently returned from sick leave
-- go. Due to the intervention of a friend, Sandra has the weekend
to confront and plea with her colleagues to go against their
obvious self-interest. The Dardenne brothers explore a class
under threat of extinction by austerity. Though this background
is important in understanding the tragic motivations of Sandra’s
co-workers, the film focuses most keenly on the profound interactions
of human beings caught up in their own lives. In utter absence
of the type of moral dichotomy with which North American audiences
are too often coddled, Deux
jours, une nuit, holds steady in its unflinching view of
human frailty and the crucial little victories that lie at the
actual core of potential happiness -- one sadly overshadowed
by artificially lofty self-expectations.
2.0
-- TWO DAYS,
ONE NIGHT (DUEX JOURS, UNE NUIT), Jean-Pierre
& Luc Dardenne
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
Sandrine
(Marion Cotillard) has stopped working due to clinical depression,
and her illness intensifies when she is told that there will
be a second vote after the weekend regarding the choice to reinstate
her -- but only if the majority of the 16 workers are willing
to forgo the 1000 Euro bonus they've been earning by working
overtime to make up for her last hours. Sandrine visits eleven
of the workers to plead with them to reinstate her -- to not
believe the lie told by their boss that if they vote for her,
one of them will get fired in her place. However, when the vote
arrives it's a deadlock. Sandrine however is told she can come
back as they will not renew the contract of one of the workers.
She opts out, and forgoes her job so that the worker will stay
on. The film is all about Sandrine' s decent into deep depression
and the process of buckling up or under while having to confront
all the workers by visiting their houses and asking them to
vote for her. The scenes become very repetitive, and even improbable.
When she takes a full batch of Xanax out of despair, she finds
out that there is one worker who will turn the odds in her favour.
She ends up at the hospital; but how implausible that the next
evening she's out listening to music with her supportive hubby
in the car and having a grand time. Don't they usually give
therapy to someone who has just tried to kill themselves with
an overdose? Marion Cotillard does a fine acting job, but the
film is doomed as much as her job is. Boring, the setting in
the town of Liege, Belgium made it all the duller. Ironic that
Sandrine works in a small solar panel factory that, nonetheless,
failed to shed a single ray of sunshine on this depressing and
extremely boring film. There was no subplot; it could have benefited
from one.
2.0
-- THE GAMBLER,
Rupert Wyatt
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
English
lit professor, Jim Bennett (Mark Wahlberg) has a voracious appetite
-- for compulsive gambling. He’s a terrible professor who creates
classes aimed to shock and insult his students, except for one
girl whom he claims is a genius. (Yes, he ends up with her).
Jim’s serious case of depression becomes a bore to watch and
understand, particularly since he was born with a silver spoon
in his chip-happy hands. He owes over $160,000 to one casino
owner and a loan shark (John Goodman who basically steals the
entire movie). Jim involves two students who are superb athletes
in a clandestine bet-on-a-basketball match to out win his predators
out for payback. He orchestrates a shaky plan in order to pay
back the two bad guys. In the end, the money goes to the two
students as the good professor planned it. It’s a crazy plot
whose irony cannot rescue the improbable dialogue of pretentious
dribble (and the basket ball game hasn’t even begun when things
run foul). It is badly acted, stagnant and poorly scripted.
I would not place my bets on this movie unless you like seeing
Mark Wahlberg naked from the waist up. Professor Bennett it
seems really does want to go naked as he casts off his old life
and starts anew; he does run off into the dingy part of the
city to claim his real winning -- the girl. The film superficially
digs beneath a man obsessed with gaining high victory in anything
he engages in regardless of the vice involved. It is worth watching
this film if only for Jessica Lange who plays Jim’s mother;
she was spectacular in her acting.
1.7
-- CORNER GAS,
Brent Butt
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
Corner
Gas, the bar, the diner and the hotel -- owned and run by Brent
-- is in serious trouble. The mayor of Dog River where this
one-street town lives has made a bad investment in Detroit,
so there's no more money left for Dog River. Electricity and
gas have been cut, and everyone is scheming to make their own
money. There are bad vibes going all around; friendships are
wrenched apart by misunderstandings and selfishness. No one
wants to chip in to help Brent out to save the town, except
bossy Lacey, Brent's main secret squeeze. She rallies the town
to motivate them into entering the Quaintest Town contest, fix
up the town and make an impression on the reporter about to
arrive. But everything goes wrong, including a run-away horse,
a fire, a flower throwing fight and all kinds of mayhem just
as the reporter pull up. She cans the town as a Quaintest Town
contest contestant, but instead writes a much better story about
how the town is now about to give every dollar and muscle to
Dog River to bring it back on its feet. She has been present
when the folks have a final meeting in Bret's bar. They make
a firm final pledge of support. A silly story but the gags and
characters are funny. I would can the song at the end. I was
never a fan of the TV series, as it all seemed far too hokey,
and this movie is an inane caricature of the series.
3.3--
BIG EYES, Tim
Burton
[reviewed
by Andrew Hlavacek]
Written by noted biopic specialists Scott Alexander and Larry
Karaszewski (Man
on the Moon, The People vs. Larry Flint), Big Eyes
recounts the life of painter Margaret Keane (Amy Adams) and
her second husband Walter Keane (Christoph Waltz) whose marketing
genius propelled her work to international renown -- by claiming
her work as his own. Years go by. Walter sells, Margaret paints.
Walter, slowly engulfed by megalomania, reaps the rewards of
super-stardom while Margaret’s conscience takes her to the breaking
point. The tightly woven script inspired long-time Margaret
Keane fan Tim Burton to direct the film, which marks a decided
visual and thematic departure from his usually darker projects.
Burton shows tremendous respect for the script, the film’s subjects
as well as the subject matter. While a lesser production team
could have steered the film’s characters into caricature, Burton’s
maintains an exquisite tension in Margaret’s strength and vulnerability
and Walter’s innocent charm and devilish scheming. Burton further
underscores this tension by creating a unique palette that so
richly evokes the era of the 50s and 60s and yet one that so
consciously flirts with visual artifice that it becomes a perfect
metaphor for artistic creation itself.
3.4
-- BIG EYES,
Tim Burton
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
Behind
every 'great' man is a woman, and nothing could be truer for
this film for theme and time period -- the late 1950s. Margaret
(Amy Adams) is a single mother who has moved to San Francisco
with her big-eyed daughter, Jane. Margaret paints her daughter
and embellishes the size of her eyes into big saucer-like haunting
orbs with a waif-like expression. One day while painting by
the harbour, Margaret meets Walter Keane (Christoph Waltz) who
seems to be a painter. He charms Margaret and recognizes her
talent so much so that he wants to claim it along with her.
He marries her. Walter is a genius salesman and PR mongrel who
knows how to get fame rolling for him along with notoriety and
dough. The only problem is he claims to be the painter behind
the big eyed girl. Margaret is aghast at his lie, but plays
along with him, for the money is something she can’t resist.
But her shame is obvious. Walter holes her up in the upstairs
attic to churn out lots of paintings, but soon all hell breaks
loose. A visit by Jehovah Witnesses causes her to come clean,
and she goes to court to proclaim her true talent as the painter
behind the eyes. The biopic is highly captivating; it’s almost
unreal to believe how such a diabolical man could get away with
his false persona and fool the public for ten years. Only in
America. He spawned posters that people rushed to pay for, along
with postcards, and all kinds of kitsch to keep his glory going.
Imagine how big his eyes must have been when he was found guilty
of fraud.
3.5--
FOXCATCHER, Bennett
Miller
[reviewed
by Andrew Hlavacek]
From its opening scenes Bennett Miller creates an atmosphere
of impending doom in Foxcatcher,
based on the tragic true story of John E. du Pont’s obsession
with the world of wrestling and its elite sibling duo, the Schultz
brothers. Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo star as Mark and Dave
Schultz, gold medalists at the 1984 Olympic Games. While Dave,
a truly gifted coach, has settled into family life, Olympic
glory has been less kind to younger brother Mark, who struggles
to find meaning in daily existence. He is thus pulled into the
orbit of John E. du Pont (Steve Carell), the eccentric heir
to the du Pont family fortune. Philanthropist, noted ornithologist
and self-proclaimed coach, harbouring a twisted patriotism only
tolerated in the obscenely wealthy, John offers Mark an opportunity
to train well out from his brother’s shadow as part of his private
team Foxcatcher. We sense early on that, for John, the need
to be a role model is part of an emotional Gordian knot at whose
centre stands disapproving mother Jean (portrayed by Vanessa
Redgrave). As John manipulates Mark into an ever closer relationship
-- aided by alcohol and cocaine -- Mark loses the anchor of
family love as well as the psychological compass that wrestling
provides. Bennett’s direction is impeccable in its depiction
of the isolation and frustrated desires of both, the ultra-wealthy,
as well as the elite-level athletes involved in disciplines
all but ignored in America. Moreover, Foxcatcher is
a bugle-call that heralds the arrival to maturity of two generations
of actors whose nuanced and restrained performances make the
film soar.
1.8
-- HONEYMOON,
Leigh Janiak
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
Two young honeymooners, Bea and Paul, have taken to the wife's
parents' cabin to enjoy their blissful new life as a married
couple. But everything sweet, sexy and loving turns into sour,
weird and awful. Is this a bad case of cabin fever or just a
bad story? The sci-fi suspense film has Bea going from making
pancakes to sleepwalking, profusely bleeding from her private
parts, and soon, transforming into a complete weirdo wife; her
skin turns into a web-like texture. Something is coming after
the two of them according to Bea, so she hides Paul by tying
him in the boat to the anchor and dumping him overboard. We
never find out what the creepies is going on. The acting by
Rose Lesley and Harry Treadaway was intense and believable,
but it seems the script got lost on the dirt road one really
dark night, and so the climax never resolved itself.
3.1--
IL CAPITAL UMANO (HUMAN CAPITAL),
Paolo Virzi
[reviewed
by Andrew Hlavacek]
Paolo Virzi adapts Stephen Amidon’s novel Human
Capital to suit Italian political and social realities in
a drama whose main characters seem to be greed and avarice.
Fabrizio Bentivoglio portrays Dino Ossola, a minor real-estate
agent dazzled by the old-money wealth of the Bernaschi family.
His daughter Serena (Matilde Gioli), however, is decidedly less
taken with boyfriend Massimilano (Gugliemo Pinelli), the hapless
Bernaschi heir. One day, while dropping Serena off, Dino forces
himself into an introduction to Massimilano’s mother Carla (Valeria
Bruni Tedeschi) and insinuates himself into a tennis match alongside
Massimilano’s father Giovanni (Fabrizi Gifuni). The fateful
day is the nucleus of a complex multi-family drama that interrogates
middle-class desires and upper-class realities, neither of which
are shown in a very kind light. While the men fail -- in every
way -- the women attempt to negotiate their coldness and disinterest
on the one hand, and their possessive desire on the other. Virzi
cleverly uses multiple points of view in isolated chapters to
unfold the plot, which serves as a terrifying metaphor for the
alienation we witness on screen. Nearly everyone exists in a
bubble of dramatic self-involvement that draws the families
into a tragedy in which the less fortunate ultimately pay a
terrible price for being in the way.
2.0--
SERENA, Susanne
Bier
[reviewed
by Andrew Hlavacek]
For,
budding lumber baron, George Pemberton (Bradley Cooper), meeting
Serena Shaw (Jennifer Lawrence) is love at first sight. In her
he finds a perfect mate; they fall in love quickly and he brings
her back to his Carolina lumber camp as Mrs. George Pemberton.
Serena proves to be a formidable partner. Cunning in business,
a shrewd judge of character, she soon earns respect in the man’s
world of logging much to the chagrin of George’s partner Buchanan
(David Dencik). Feeling slighted by her presence, Buchanan soon
forms other ideas on how to rescue himself from the financial
difficulties in which the operation finds itself. Divided loyalties
lead to betrayal and murder. The film is set at the start of
the 1930s -- an era of Hollywood cinema during which female
characters on-screen enjoyed greater breadth and depth than
at nearly any other time since. Ironically, it was also during
this period, prior to the tightening of the Production Code
in 1934, that themes of motherhood in particular showed the
strength and resilience of female characters. Shamefully, director
Susanne Bier chooses to adapt a novel, in which motherhood is
so integral to female identity that a woman necessarily faces
annihilation in its absence and love loses all meaning when
a male heir -- even an illegitimate one -- is threatened.
2.3
-- SERENA,
Susanne Bier
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
Set in North Carolina's smoky Mountains (but actually shot in
the Czech Republic), lumber man George Pemberotn (Bradley Cooper)
falls madly in love with Serena and takes her in as his wife
and partner of the business. However, he already has a business
partner, Mr Buchanan (David Denick) who is jealous of the closeness
Serena has with Pemberton. Serena is an asset. She can swing
a mean axe and trains an eagle to kill poisonous snakes that
prove deadly to the men working for Pemberton. The love between
the couple is passionate and intense, but a dark cloud soon
appears. She gets pregnant and loses the baby. She then finds
out that her husband already has a little baby boy by Rachael
who is rehired at the lumber camp. In the background is an evil
character named Galloway who ends up swearing an oath to protect
Serena as she saved his life. The film deals with betrayal on
many levels and murder seems to swallow up Pemberton's dreams.
He has been fixing the ledgers and is caught, but Serena finds
her own way to try to save her hubby from ruin. Serena is a
possessive, wild beauty who does not come without her own past
tragedy. The film was melodramatic and the ending was ridiculous.
Jennifer Lawrence was miscast, and should stick to the Hunger
Games. She acts with little subtly and this part needed
a mature actress, as the character is very complex. Perhaps
Lawrence worked hard on the part, but she revealed too much
too soon. Cooper was alright, but again, too Hollywoodish to
put himself into a lumber camp character.
3.7
-- THE HUNGER
GAMES; MOCKINGJAY - PART 1, Francis
Lawrence
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
This third sequel offers a darker, less sensational feel than
its two predecessors. The film starts where The
Hunger Games: Catching Fire ended -- when Katniss Everdeen
killed the games by having pierced the force field with her
arrow. The film opens to a dispirited Katniss stuck in a new
environment. She wakes up to discover she is living in a humungous
underground bunker complex inhabited by District 13 which is
led by their leader President Colin (Julianne Moore). Peeta
(Josh Hutcherson) has been taken by the evil President Snow
(Donald Sutherland) who continues to run the Capitol like a
dangerous predator; he's intent on killing any 'radicals.' Snow
has destroyed District 12 in retaliation for Katniss's actions,
and kills anyone who dares start any kind of rebellion. Katniss
must rebuild her confidence and once again spread her Mockingjay
wings to exert her moxy and fierce fighting spirit to lead a
rebellion against The Capitol. However, she is reluctant to
do anything. She misses Peeta and thinks he is dead until District
13 receives an unexpected broadcast. Peeta and the evil ringmaster
of the former Hunger Games - Caesar Flickerman (Stanley
Tucci) are taunting everyone. Peeta seems to have turned against
Katniss and sided with the enemy. During the interview, he urges
Katniss and her followers, comprised of all the people who aren't
in the Snow camp, not to rebel. He tells them to cooperate for
the sake of peace. It takes a series of propos (video filming)
taken while she's visiting the death and destruction of District
12 where she once lived; she rediscovers her bellicose public
persona and become enraged enough to raise her fist in fury
against President Snow. During another visit to a terrible hospital
swelling with the wounded in one of the Districts (Snow eventually
bombs it, killing everyone), Katniss is ready to rouse all the
oppressed to join forces to recapture Panem. The movie is really
exciting. The rescue of Peeta and others who appeared in previous
Hunger Games has a surprise ending which is sure to
result in yet another sequel. Yes, the characters are there
once again, and yes, the theme of good versus evil reply, but
it works. Good acting, fabulous sets and understated intensity
drive the film to its climactic ending.
1.9--
INTERSTELLAR, Christopher
Nolan
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
The world is literally drying up, and Porter (Matthew McConaughey)
and his young daughter, Murph, stumble upon a hidden Nasa station
with a diabolical heroic plan, engineered by Michael Cane who
claims they need the best pilot to search out another planet
to which humans can be sent to ensure a new start to life. But
beware of golden age guys whose time is past.There are 12 planets
which have already been explored by astronauts, and Porter must
investigate to see which one will do. This is a complex film
where time travel, gravity and desolate terrains converge into
a mishmash mess of a movie. You really have to have a degree
in quantum physics to understand all the information overload
upon which this film is based. It's a father daughter film that
ends up being a Benjamin Button bomb at the finish. The effects
were hypnotic, the story outrageous, the conflicts unbelievable.
When the astronaut, exploring one of the planets, is visited
and he takes off his suit inside his station, we see Matt Damon,
and wonder if his Bourne identity issue had shot him into outer
space onto the wrong set. McConaughey was miscast in this part.
Nobody cared about the relationship in this film whether anybody
survived or not.
2.3
-- HALF A YELLOW
SUN, Biyi Bandele
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
Two sisters educated in London, England return to Nigeria, but
soon they and their lovers are caught in the 1967 civil war
between the country's northern Hausas and the Igbo of the southeast
-- and all this just after Nigeria won independence. The movie
unfortunately fractures scenes from the titular book
by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Destitution reaches its climax
at the end of the film. Biafra is brought back to the big screen
as the beginnings of the catastrophe unfold. Fleeing from place
to place, region to region, we see what the once comfortable
couple now must endure to survive. Thandie Newton admirably
plays Olanna -- wife to Master (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who did not
capture the depth of character created in the novel. Tragic
events played out in the movie as a confusing and cluttered
matrix that did not affect us the way they should have. (This
film closed the 2014 Montreal
International Black Film Festival).
3.1--
AIDEPENDENCE, Alice Smeets
[reviewed by Nancy Snipper] The NGOs have got it all wrong in Haiti.
This rather depressing film shows how different companies
are not working together with each other and most importantly,
they are not working directly with the people who stride the
lowest echelons of Haiti's shattered shanty towns. We meet
Sabina, an American girl, who with her boyfriend work hand-on
digging and rebuilding with the people to create Cité
Soleil, a little one-street town in Haiti. We witness how
clinics, hospitals and schools never open due to NGOs refusing
to help out independent givers who respond to important community
needs. World Vision, Oxfam and so many make their presence
known by hanging out their logo beside some make-shift structure
(we see this in the film). According to the Haitians interviewed
-- sociologists, directors, anthropologist and many more --
it becomes apparent that in most cases the aid has hindered
rather than helped. Guilty of unequal distribution, this lack
of parity creates jealousy and anger among disparate communities
shattered not just by the earthquake but by being left out.
It's pan-endemic this NGO sham. Euopre, and especially, America,
shame on you! The tiny 2 x 8 tin dwellings called T-shelters
are infested with insects. Many of these ridiculous sheds
are being given to the same person who then goes ahead and
rents it to another Haitian who does not have any money. Evil
lurks far beyond this island, yet hope prevails and it manifests
among many hard-working people born in Haiti and in the industrial
countries. It is the individual that makes a difference --
not these well-intentioned, but misguided members of NGOs.
In the end, it's a matter of uniting face to face, hand in
hand, stone by stone to build bit by bit each part of the
island. As long as the Haitians are doing it with some involved
help by experts who also dig their teeth into the ground,
there may be a Haiti that comes out proud and renewed. (This
eye-opening documentary was screened during the 2014 Montreal
International Black Film Festival).
3.5-- BETTY'S BLUES , Remy Vandenitte
[reviewed by Nancy Snipper] A claymation/traditional animation mix that
fetchingly shows the terror of being black via the performance
of a strung out guitar player that the few odd customers have
no interest in -- until he gets deep into his song. The director
brings to life the 1920's New Orleans Blues legend of Blind
Boogie Jones. Ku Klux Klan and love with revenge has our guitar
player reminding people that music and passion can kill the
enemy and revive the dead soul. Don't try to understand the
plot; just enjoy how images morph into miracles before your
eyes. (This wonderful 12-minute short was screened during
the 2014 Montreal
International Black Film Festival ).
3.4-- NINAH'S
DOWRY,Victor Viyuoh
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
This film's title might as well have been, "A Hundred Ways
to Beat up your Wife in Cameroon and Treat her like a Mule
Tied to a Rope." Compelling, dramatic and superbly acted,
the story introduces us to 20-year-old Ninah whose thug husband
brutally beats her at every turn. Unfortunately, he is supported
by other men, even women. When Ninah tells him she no longer
can live with him, he demands her to pay back the dowry --
money given to him by her indifferent dad. Her father knew
what a violent man her husband was, but he wanted money more
than the preservation of his daughter's life. Ninah keeps
running away, but her horrid hubby finds her and most of the
movie is about them traveling back to his home on foot with
his two other pals helping him out. In the film, we see that
even Ninah's son gives her hiding place away when her husband
comes looking for her. I would have liked to have known if
this movie is a true representation of a large or miniscule
segment of the population's domestic abuse situation; I was
waiting for the info during the final credit role. As none
was given, I must assume that this film is an authentic if
not significant part of life in that country. This diabolically
inhumane treatment of women in Cameroon must stop! The director
dared to show us the cowardly behaviour of Cameroon's men
and their intense disdain for women wanting a better life
for themselves. (This powerful film was screen at 2014 Montreal
International Black Film Festival).
1.5--
DA SWEET BLOOD OF JESUS, Spike Lee
[reviewed by Nancy Snipper] You know when you see a new shirt or dress
on the clothing rack inside a swanky store, then you try it
on, and it looks horrible -- well that analogy certainly holds
true for this film. I am sure the script looked like a killer
story but put onto the screen it morphs into a major flop.
I have no idea what the iconic Spike Lee was thinking of,
other than trying to make a modern non/Hollywood terror film.
It's about a blood-hungry professor named Dr. Green, who kills
to satiate his addiction to blood. His open fascination with
the ancient blood-sucking customs of the Ashanti tribe seemed
to have literally and physically gotten under his skin. The
scenery was nice -- Martha's Vineyard, and his house was gorgeous,
but the lead actor, Michal K. Williams, was a stiff board,
who is able to seduce all kinds of women as soon as he opens
his mouth (before he drains to the dregs his victims of their
blood). Why women fall for him is another puzzlement, as he
is rather unpleasant to look at. Only an hour before the official
screening of the film, Spike Lee, who made a special trip
to Montreal for the festival, received on-stage king-of-cinema
kudos from famous people connected with the festival, including
the great hockey player P.K. Subban, referencing his inspiration
as a human being and filmmaker -- that he is a guiding light
for youth, and was most certainly for him. The irony was almost
comic, as if everyone were talking about a different filmmaker
-- at least after the screening to a full house. If this film
epitomizes Mr. Lee's noble character, I think something grave
is amiss. Someone suggested he is going through an artistic
crisis. I think he is experimenting and trying to be obtusely
trendy. The film belongs in the Fantasia Festival. I am an
honest reviewer, and the fact I saw people leaving during
the film says it all. What's in a name? Sometimes everything
and sometimes nothing. This film is an embarrassing disappointment
for fans of Mr. Lee -- a pioneering story-teller with a social
conscience. The persistently unsubtle, in your face metaphor
of society's parasitical ways is the only redemptive message
of this film which address exploitation, the dynamics of addictions
and those who service them, and well as the deliberate obfuscation
of one's real intentions. The profundity of masks Dr. Green
has hanging on his walls is certainly symbolic proof of this
latter metaphor for deception that eyes can't see. The film
was a classy enough and slick, but the music got on my nerves:
too much of it and totally unrelated to the film. During the
afternoon press conference, Mr. Lee was invited to talk about
the film, but he declined to do so. Now, I know why. Such
silence -- very atypical of the loquacious Mr. Lee -- indicates
a lack of enthusiasm for one's work, in my opinion. Perhaps,
this is one film he is already not proud of even though critical
faculty challenged Fantasia Festival groupies will surely
find merit in it. (This was the second film that screened
during the 2014 Montreal
International Black Film Festival
- the largest of its kind in Canada).
1.9--
HOPE, Boris Lojkine
[reviewed by Nancy Snipper] It's an age-old story of leaving Africa for
Europe (from Nigeria and Cameroon ). The film brings together
two desperate people -- Hope and Leonard -- strangers to each
other at the beginning of the film. They have joined a group
of men crossing the Sahara. When Hope is discovered to be
a girl, she is raped and left behind. Leonard refuses to continue
the journey without helping the girl (Hope) that he does not
particularly like. Soon, the two are thrust together and a
bond develops as each endures unspeakable brutalities at the
hands of thugs who feed them. Leonard even sells Hope to other
men in order to make money. Love eventually unites the couple,
but only one actually makes it on the boat alive that is headed
for Spain. The plot sounds great, but the slow pace and confusing
scenes dulled our understanding of what is actually going
on. This is a tale that is often left untold, so one must
applaud the filmmaker for attempting to reveal this plight
of escape and horror. In the hands of a more experienced editor
and better actors (I heard the roles were portrayed by non-actors).
Sometimes the intention is noble, but the result disappointing.
'Despair' would have been a more suitable name for this film
which opened up the 10th edition of the Montreal
International Black Film Festival, the largest of
its kind in Canada.
______________________________________________
3.8
-- DR.CABBIE,
Chris Diamantopoulos
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
Once in a blue moon, there comes along a film that you will
never forget. Why? It made you laugh, it made you worry for
the characters, and it sharpened your senses against the cruel
strokes that people in power can cut you down with. It also
made you fall in love again. And all this is done in a film
that cleverly delves into serious societal issues within a comedic
framework. Political correctness is dashed in this film because
the hero Dr. Deepak Veer Chopra (Vinay Virmani) has traveled
all the way from Delhi India to fulfill his vision to become
a doctor in Toronto, Canada. The plot is the trigger here and
the hero at the helm hits his mark, but not without enduring
so many hardships to deter -- even destroy his long-awaited
professional mission in life that he takes most personally.
After so many rejections by hospital heads who are stuck in
their own dowager attitudes towards non-Canadian doctors, Deepak
takes to the road as a cabbie to earn money. One night, he picks
up Nathalie (Adrianne Palicki) a pregnant girl and delivers
the baby in the back sit of the cabbie. His pal, Tony (Kunal
Nayar from Big
Bang Theory), films the whole thing from the front seat,
using his cell phone. It goes viral. Deepak becomes very busy
in his cab. His patients flock inside to get treatment. He diagnoses
and prescribes meds. He even saves many people's lives, urging
them to go to emergency at once or to see specialists to prevent
irreversible damage if not operated on. Nathalie and Deepak
begin to see one another, but there's a problem: the jerk who
got her pregnant is running for mayor, and he pulls strings
to do everything to get Deepak deported. He is breaking the
law. It's a happy ending, and the Bollywood makes its impact
via the music and dancing. There's even a CD out. This is an
'infectious' film but in all the healthy ways, but beware: the
warm fuzzy feelings it gives are contagious!
3.2
-- A WALK AMONG
THE TOMBSTONES, Scott Frank
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
The
latest entry in star Liam Neeson’s mid-career resurgence as
an action hero, casts the Irish thespian as alcoholic NYPD cop
turned unlicensed private detective Matthew Scudder – the protagonist
of a series of Lawrence Block crime thrillers. In this adaptation
of the tenth Scudder novel, the hard-boiled gumshoe is hired
by a clean-cut drug trafficker (Downton Abbey heartthrob Dan
Stevens) to track down the men who kidnapped and subsequently
murdered his wife, leading Scudder down a narrative labyrinth
of sinister alleyways, nasty characters and grim conclusions.
Writer/director Frank doesn’t attempt to transcend the mystery
genre so much as embellish it, paying homage to classic sleuths
Sam Space and Philip Marlowe and imbuing Scudder’s quest with
a monumental, archetypal feel, while the lead role itself seems
a part Neeson was born to play, blending the solemnity and steeliness
of his character turns with the sheer badassery of his recent
work. It results in a quiet, yet no less impactful, tale of
the dark side of vengeance and humanity’s endless capacity for
evil.
1.3
-- BABYSITTING,
Nicolas Benamou & Philippe Lacheau
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
Proof that even the French are prone to making roundly offensive
and deeply unfunny 'comedies,' this Frankenstein’s monster of
a film mashes together a boatload of lowbrow Hollywood laugh-riots
in a feeble attempt to capture the same sort of improbable box
office success. Combining the found-footage conceit so popular
in recent years with the ‘one crazy night’ subgenre populating
American comedies since time immemorial, it comes off simply
as a hackneyed rip-off of similarly themed (and equally terrible)
Project
X, keeping the racist, sexist and profoundly homophobic
sense of humour found in the earlier film. Though attempting
a kind of pseudo-commentary on our technology-obsessed times,
it instead falls back on familiar character tropes (the hard-nosed
boss, the sultry ex-girlfriend, the doofus best friends) and
a loose-fitting, barely-there storyline to fill out its empty
and meaningless existence. And, of course, as with every other
mainstream comedy in history, everything works out in the end,
defying logic and reason in its desire to give each and every
character a happy ending. It never feels real, and it certainly
doesn’t here.
1.5
-- THE GIVER,
Phillip Noyce
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
Lois Lowry’s original young adult novel finally gets the big-screen
treatment, over 20 years after the book’s publication and in
the wake of fellow dystopian adaptations The
Hunger Games and Divergent. The result of this
delay being, of course, that the film can’t help but resemble
the narratives and tones of these works, despite coming first.
And for a plot so predicated on notions of uniqueness and difference,
it’s rather ironic that it feels so similar to every other dystopic
film in recent memory. There’s a seemingly ideal society, shot
in gleaming black-and-white to plainly indicate the colourlessness
of such a world. There’s a special young man, chosen for a particular
and important purpose. And there’s a group of faceless elders,
led by Meryl Streep, bent on maintaining their ordered way of
life. It’s all so familiar, and certainly director Noyce’s bland
approach to the material doesn’t help matters; his use of stock
footage is just that, and the film’s gradual colouring only
recalls a similar effect in Pleasantville. By the time
it reaches its climactic moralizing on the virtues of love and
emotion, the film has lost us.
2.0
-- YVES SAINT
LAURENT, Jalil Lespert
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
A by-the-numbers biopic of the eponymous fashion designer, focusing
more on his personal troubles than his artistic genius. Spanning
a good twenty years, from Saint Laurent’s appointment as head
designer of the House of Christian Dior in 1957 to his own company
becoming the prominent name in French fashion in the late ‘70s,
the film covers the requisite rise-and-fall-and-rise of the
central figure. From his manic depression diagnosis and struggles
with homosexuality to his later drug addiction and infidelity,
all the major hallmarks of your standard biographical film are
hit – albeit often only in a perfunctory manner before the next
big life moment comes along. But through it all, the complex
relationship between Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Bergé
endures, surviving the highs and lows of the designer’s tumultuous
lifestyle. Though this kind of love in the face of all odds
has become so common as to be cliché, here it manages to work,
primarily due to the commitment of the two actors involved.
As a biopic it feels familiar and conventional, but as a love
story it’s surprisingly warm.
3.0
-- THE F WORD,
Michael Dowse
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
In this case, the F stands for friends – as in what young Torontonians
Wallace (Daniel Radcliffe) and Chantry (Zoe Kazan) are determined
to stay, despite all indications and generic conventions to
the contrary. Of course, one soon falls for the other, leading
to a series of uncomfortable situations and awkward interactions
– the staple of any romantic comedy. Updating When
Harry Met Sally for modern times, director Dowse attempts
to put a contemporary spin on a familiar form but winds up bowing
to tradition anyway. That’s not to say that Radcliffe and Kazan
don’t share an easy, warm chemistry, or that the film isn’t
generally witty and likeable, just that it’s not nearly as progressive
as it purports to be – especially when it comes to issues of
race or gender. Regardless, you could do a lot worse as far
as modern-day romcoms go, and it’s always welcome to see a film
so clearly shot in Canada actually set there; for once, Toronto
is not forced to stand in for New York or Chicago, but allowed
to merely play itself.
1.6
-- TEENAGE
MUTANT NINJA TURTLES, Jonathan
Liebesman
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
The titular heroes in a half-shell are rebooted from their ‘80s
origins and given the full Michael Bay treatment, although the
divisive director is only credited as producer. Instead, hack
director Liebesman brings his hack sensibilities to bear, adopting
a Bay-lite visual style and even casting former Transformers
babe Megan Fox as intrepid reporter April O’Neil. Unfortunately,
though, the turtles themselves are reimagined as monstrous digital
creations, sporting enormous shells and resembling freakish
green babies more than anything, while their nemesis Shredder
becomes a nondescript samurai robot firing boomerang blades
and saying nothing. The result is an awful, soulless work, more
concerned with product placement than narrative coherence, which
soon degenerates into an extended action sequence with little
real-world resemblance. When every element of a scene is computer-generated,
it’s hard to feel an attachment to the on-screen product, and
with the added hindrance of the 3D gimmick, it’s all the more
removed.
3.2
-- THE TRIP
TO ITALY, Michael Winterbottom
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
Four years after British comedians Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon
crossed the English countryside, touring restaurants and swapping
impersonations, they’re back at it again, this time traversing
the gorgeous Mediterranean coast of Italy. Though acknowledging
early on that sequels are never better (save for The
Godfather Part II, of course) and vowing the avoid comic
impressions, the duo soon slip back into their duelling Michael
Caines and further expand their repertoire to include Al Pacino,
Christian Bale and Tom Hardy. Ostensibly retracing the footsteps
of 19th century poets Byron and Shelley on their Italian voyage,
the pair begin reflecting on their own lives and careers, with
Coogan desiring more time with his estranged children and Brydon
wishing to free himself of his familial clutches – a noted inversion
from the first film. As usual, pop culture references abound,
but they take on a more austere tone this time around, with
Godard’s Le mépris, Rossellini’s Viaggio in Italia,
and Wyler’s Roman Holiday amongst the films mentioned.
In general, it’s a more mature affair, but that doesn’t mean
it’s also not very funny; indeed, the pair’s banter is as witty
and wickedly hilarious as ever, only now with a surprisingly
substantive air.
3.6
-- CALVARY,
John Michael McDonagh
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
A Catholic priest (the always dependable Brendan Gleeson) in a coastal Irish village is told in confession one Sunday that he is to be murdered the following Sabbath for the Church’s past pedophiliac sins, and thus spends the subsequent week attempting to affect as much change as he can in this cynical modern world. Echoing Bresson and Dreyer in its pious solemnity, but given a darkly comic twist, the second feature by writer/director McDonagh (brother of fellow filmmaker Martin) is a bleakly hilarious work, at once both mocking and revering faith and devotion. As the stereotypically good priest is forced to contend with the increasingly derisive and faithless members of his parish, he confronts the absurdity and meaningless of existence (and his own impending end) with equal parts wry humour and resigned acceptance, and Gleeson is the true cornerstone of the work, stoic and warm, delivering his greatest performance to date. But even he is only one piece of the whole; stunningly shot on location in Ireland, with a stellar ensemble cast (also including Kelly Reilly, Chris O’Dowd, and Aidan Gillen) and a tone-perfect mood, it’s the rare religious film that works even on skeptics.
2.7
-- 1987,
Ricardo Trogi
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
The six-years-later sequel to Québécois comedy hit 1981
picks up with protagonist Ricardo (a fictional representation
of writer/director Trogi) and his friends graduating from high
school and ready to enter adulthood; as in any coming-of-age
film, that means getting a car, entering a bar, and losing their
virginity. Trogi doesn’t diverge too significantly from the
formula, but adds in a few autobiographical touches – such as
Ricardo’s desire to start a youth discotheque, or his appropriation
of his Italian heritage to become a mini-mafioso – that keeps
things fresh and interesting. There’s plenty of late ‘80s stereotypes,
including big hair, white tuxedos, and a soundtrack ranging
from Twisted Sister to Pet Shop Boys, evoking feelings of nostalgia
for the decade, giving the film an American Graffiti
or Dazed and Confused quality. Further, metatextual
scenes set in an educational curriculum meeting, while strange,
lend the film a slightly self-aware nature that allows it to
somewhat transcend the genre. Regardless, this is a strictly
personal affair.
1.3
-- MAGIC IN
THE MOONLIGHT, Woody Allen
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
Another year, another Woody Allen European vacation moonlighting as a motion picture. This time, he heads to the French Rivera of the 1920s, as a cynical British illusionist (Colin Firth), masquerading as a Chinese magician, is tasked with exposing a young American woman (Emma Stone) claiming to be clairvoyant; of course, romance is never far from their minds, and the two leads ably fill out the predetermined roles of a May-December love affair. This is Woody on autopilot, half-heartedly running through all the popular elements of his work – light fantasy, sardonic comedy, atypical romance – in a downright perfunctory fashion. Firth is more than capable as the director’s proxy – a pragmatic, sarcastic man with a deeply rational outlook on life – but Stone seems out of her element as the enigmatic mystic who manages to bewitch him. The whole thing comes off merely as an extended justification for Allen’s infamous extramarital affair, with its talk of the inexplicability and irrationality of love, but as an autobiographical act of absolution, it just doesn’t work.
2.9--
THE GREEN INFERNO, Eli
Roth
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
This graphic gourmet gore feast film may change the thinking
of activist groups fighting for Aboriginal rights in Peru's
Amazon jungle. If anything, it certainly will make us all think
twice before wanting to take a trip down the Amazon or tread
into the jungle. In this cannibal flick, a group of ultraistic
students led by Alexandro -- the sleaziest of corrupt creeps
-- follows his bidding to pull off a publicity stunt for the
world to watch. All are convinced he is doing great things,
risking his life (and theirs) to head for the jungle. They fly
into a specific spot in the jungle, chain themselves to trees
to stop in-your-face bulldozers from demolishing the area while
they record the bulldozers approaching them on their cell phones
phones. One of the girls Justine is the heroine who has a gun
pulled to her head. Alexandro shows no concern back on the plane
when everyone is heading home. But the plane crashes near some
incredibly flesh-hungry-eating dudes and dolls. We find out,
this plane crash was caused by an explosion, part of the plan
to divert one competitor to claim the jungle area over another,
and Alexandro seems to know about such things and has a part
in it. Anyway, they all get picked up by these kidnapping cannibal
tribes. They are taken by boat to their huts -- except for those
lucky enough to have been killed in the crash. One by one, they
get slaughtered. Of course the movie shows about seven ways
how to kill and eat humans. Justine escapes, and when picked
up by a plane, and brought home, she lies to her father and
his buds who are connected with the UN. She tells them she was
well treated, and that there was no cannibalism. Guess she was
a true believer in letting wild dogs live and lie -- even when
they are blood thirsty beasts. I'm sure tourism in Peru will
drop dramatically after people see this movie, and although
Peru's food is rated the best in the world, it's a given that
no one will be rushing to catch a meal after the film's credits
roll.
4.0
-- BOYHOOD,
Richard Linklater
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
Stunningly
ambitious, shot over the course of twelve years as lead actor
Ellar Coltrane grew from a kindergartener to a college freshman,
director Linklater’s epic character drama just might be his
masterpiece. Less a standard narrative than a series of vignettes,
the film is a sprawling, grandiose work, covering the entire
adolescence of a single boy in less than three hours and managing
to do justice to all the complexities and wonders of life itself.
As Coltrane’s divorced parents, Linklater staples Patricia Arquette
and Ethan Hawke age along with him, maturing from icons of youthful
foolishness into bastions of wisdom and experience; even Linklater’s
daughter, Lorelei, tags along for the ride as Coltrane’s elder
sister, at once both loving and disapproving. Such a film is
remarkable in both concept and execution: broad and expansive
in scope, yet extraordinarily personal and intimate in vision.
It’s the reconciliation of these two ostensibly contrary viewpoints
that makes the film one of the true cinematic jewels of the
new millennium; a 21st century tour-de-force for us to call
our own.
4.0
-- BOYHOOD,
Richard Linklater
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
It's
been a decade since that the visionary Richard Linklater announced
he planned to chart the growth of a family over a decade using
a committed cast of great of actors to make an authentic narrative.
Each month, he took three days out of each month for ten years
to film them and craft the movie. The film is a remarkable feat
and is superbly engaging. We meet a young sensitive intellect
named Mason (Ellar Coltrane) and his older sister, Samantha.
Their parents are brilliantly portrayed by Patrica Arquette
and Ethan Hawke. Two divorces later, we watch the kids become
teens ont eh verge of adulthood scholarly ventures, as they
both enter university. I felt the family was real. The men in
the film were total losers, except for Hawkes' character who
does mature into a great dad. His acting was brilliant. This
film is stellar piece of family life told in one of the most
unique ways as we follow them all growing up, ageing and facing
all the bumps in lfie that come their way. A must-see! It walked
away with the Silver Bear Award, Berlin International Festival
and scored tops at the Sundance International Film Festival.
2.8
-- HERCULES,
Brett Ratner
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
Director
Ratner and star Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson’s take on the Hercules
mythos isn’t a larger-than-life recreation of the demigod’s
famous twelve labours, but rather a pared-down deconstruction
of the legend. Depicting the titular hero not as an immortal
being but rather a flesh-and-blood man, the leader of a group
of mercenaries for hire, the film offers up a revisionist version
of the fabled story (à la recent historical interpretations
of King Arthur and Robin Hood), with Hercules himself indulging
the tales so as to boost his name and increase his asking price.
It’s a progressive concept, actively removing the fantastical
elements from the stories (creatures like centaurs and Cerberus
revealed to be mere illusions), and though it doesn’t always
work – in part because Hercules isn’t an actual historical figure
– the film’s demythologizing is refreshing and welcome within
the growingly outrageous sword-and-sandals genre. For his part,
the usually incompetent Ratner stages the inevitable battle
sequences crisply and cleanly, and Johnson is predictably badass
as the legendary warrior (although upstaged in the comedy department
by his cohorts Ian McShane and Rufus Sewell). It’s not great
filmmaking, but it is interesting storytelling.
3.2
-- A MOST WANTED
MAN, Anton Corbijn
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
The late Philip Seymour Hoffman’s last completed lead role is
in this adaptation of John le Carré’s post-9/11 espionage thriller,
playing a boozing, smoking German intelligence agent running
a counter-terrorist team in Hamburg (where the September 11th
attacks were planned). As opposed to the spy thrillers of the
Cold War era, all shady dealings and cloak-and-dagger actions,
this contemporary drama is more concerned with diplomacy and
morality – and specifically with what to do about a Chechen
Muslim and suspected terrorist who washes ashore and stakes
a claim to his dead father’s substantial fortune. Director Corbijn,
a former photographer and music video helmer, maintains the
restrained, patient style of his previous features Control
and The American, and his cast, from Rachel McAdams
as an amnesty lawyer to Robin Wright as a clandestine CIA operative,
are similarly subdued, resulting in a low-key, if unexciting,
spy drama. But this is Hoffman’s show through-and-through, as
the actor reliably delivers another terrific performance, this
time as an unconventional secret agent with a regretful past,
providing a suitable capper to his brilliant, too-brief career.
3.6
-- SNOWPIERCER,
Bong Joon-ho
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
After a last-ditch attempt to curb global warming goes awry
and freezes the planet, the remnants of humanity load onto a
perpetually running train circling the globe, with the rich
and the poor divided along class lines: the wealthy and powerful
at the front near the engine, and the impoverished and weak
forced into slum-like conditions in the rear. One rear-dweller
(Captain America himself, Chris Evans) has had enough, and so
organizes an uprising with the end goal of capturing the engine
and controlling the train; of course, much mayhem and bloodshed
ensue, bizarrely depicted with the unhinged eye of director
Joon-ho. In his English-language debut (after helming Korean
genre staples Memories
of Murder, The Host, and Mother), the filmmaker
presents a post-apocalyptic Marxist allegory that’s just as
disturbing and violent as it is ingenuous and comical. The multinational
cast (also including Jamie Bell, John Hurt, Ed Harris, and Octavia
Spencer) impresses, but the real standout is Tilda Swinton as
the bureaucratic figurehead Mason. Wearing false teeth and thick
glasses, her speech clipped and Yorkshire-accented, she is the
embodiment of middle management, working to keep everything
in its place so that the train of life keeps running, enraging
both the upper-class authorities and lower-class workers. Such
is the way of the world.
1.7
-- WISH I WAS
HERE, Zach Braff
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
Ten years after Garden
State, former Scrubs star Braff returns to the
director’s chair for his sophomore effort, ostensibly a decade
wiser and this time backed by Kickstarter. As in his debut feature,
the eternally youthful actor casts himself as a struggling actor
with daddy issues – only now he’s married (to Kate Hudson, improbably)
with two kids. Letting his wife support the family with her
menial data entry job while he "chases his dream,"
Braff comes off as a narcissistic asshole, especially once he
is forced to pull his kids out of Jewish private school and
homeschool them; instead of teaching them proper education,
he chooses to impart valuable life lessons such as “lose yourself
in your hero fantasy daydreams” and “fail to provide for your
kin.” Though relentless in its skewering of Jewish traditions
and culture, the film is more saccharine than anything, providing
greeting-card sentiments on the importance of family and being
different while converting a generic dramedy into something
even more cloying and irritating. Given Braff’s own brand of
egocentric, fidgety acting, the film’s base annoyance is hardly
a shock.
0.6
-- PLANES:
FIRE & RESCUE, Roberts Gannaway
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
A
sequel to a spinoff from Pixar’s worst franchise is already
destined for awfulness, but the film does itself no favours
by mixing adult humour and dated pop-culture references with
an infantile story and simplistic characters, resulting in a
tonally confused work that appeals to no one. The opening dedication
to the heroism of firefighters indicates a reverential mood
to be followed, and yet the remainder of the runtime does everything
in its power to work against it, employing fart jokes, racial
stereotypes and misogynistic undertones to tarnish the legacy
of firemen and women worldwide. Furthermore, the film muddles
its ideology, seemingly proclaiming the triumph of the exceptional
individual before affirming the virtues of teamwork and government
support. It’s hardly shocking that an animated feature about
anthropomorphic vehicles battling forest fires isn’t intellectually
sound, but it’s all the more saddening that even contemporary
kids flicks can’t keep their values straight; in an era of political
complexity and ambiguous morality, this much should be sacred.
3.0
-- BEGIN AGAIN,
John Carney
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
Once director Carney brings his low-key romantic sensibilities
across the pond to New York City, casting Keira Knightley as
an amateur musician jilted by a recent breakup and Mark Ruffalo
as the down-on-his-luck record executive determined to produce
her. It’s a clichéd plot, and yet the director and stars manage
to wring real emotion and pathos out of the cliché, utilizing
the same kind of restrained sentiments that made Once
so successful. Knightley, thankfully freed from attempting
an American accent, hasn’t been this likeable and warm in years
(or ever?) and Ruffalo is reliably affable as a rumpled man
going through a series of midlife crises. As in Once,
romance is briefly hinted at but never consummated, giving the
whole thing a refreshingly genuine vibe; even the stunt casting
of The Voice co-judges Adam Levine and CeeLo Green as, essentially,
versions of themselves (Levine as Knightley’s rock star ex;
Green as a rap mogul and former client of Ruffalo’s) can’t blunt
the authenticity. Though a third-act attempt at critiquing the
record industry and contemporary pop music feels ill-conceived
and heavy-handed, for the most part, the film rings true.
3.4 -- PLANES:
FIRE & RESCUE,
Bob Gannaway
[reviewed by Nancy Snipper] This adorable sequel to the first animation
that introduces Dusty, a dust cropper plane, now speeds forward
as Dusty the dynamic dare devil. He loves to race with his other
plane friends. But, Dusty's gear box is ready for the dumpster;
it malfunctions every time he goes past a certain high speed.
He always has to pull back. He is relegated to changing his
status as a fire fighting plane, and will probably never race
again, but Dusty proves he's got more mettle in him than a failing
gear box. He steps up to the plate and ends up saving some pretty
desperate people caught in fires, including a trailer couple
called Winnie and RV. (All characters in this movie are planes,
vehicles of all kinds, and there's a train). The one bad guy
in this sequel is the ranger car of Piston National Park. He
knows 'his' big fancy just-built lodge is bringing money in,
and despite a raging wildfire, he refuses to evacuate his car
customers in time. All of course ends well, including Dusty
brushing off his wings, and getting a new gear box so he can
race once again. But one suspects, he will continue in his new
flying role as a fire fighting plane. The film cleverly creates
all kind of expressive characters in the form of cars, fork
lifts, fire engines and more. It's a cute heroic story in typical
one up in typical Disney fashion, but its fascile plot lacks
the complexities that we've enjoyed in recent Disney films.
Nonetheless, this charming film with great lines, plane and
car personalities, along with a slew of gags is sure to appeal
to kids of all ages. It's cute when the 'shi...'curse word is
said as "Chevy".'
1.4
-- LES VACANCES
DU PETIT NICOLAS, Laurent Tirard
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
Adapted from the popular series of children’s books, this sequel
to 2009’s Le
petit Nicolas finds the eponymous youngster on summer holidays
at the beach, making new friends and learning the ways of adulthood.
In the spirit of the source material’s 1950s origins, director
Tirard keeps the proceedings light and colourful, adopting a
loose-fitting narrative structure that strings together slapstick
and simple jokes. While this allows for a family-friendly tone,
it also broadens the comedy to the point of sheer unfunniness,
as the literal toilet humour and other lowbrow gags seem exclusively
directed at children. While the film’s summertime setting, beach
locale and farcical form recall the Jacques Tati classic Les
vacances de M. Hulot (even the titles are analogous), Tirard
doesn’t know how to bring out the sophistication in slapstick,
relying on a crass, unrefined approach that simply fails to
impress. The bright colours and gross antics may amuse the kids,
but for the rest of us, there’s not a lot to like here.
1.9
-- EARTH TO
ECHO, Dave Green
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
Crossing the found-footage conceit of Chronicle
(and others) with the Spielbergian sense of childhood wonder
in Super 8, director Green helms this low-rent sci-fi adventure
that barely amounts to more than an E.T. rip-off. When
three outcast kids, forced to move out of their soon-to-be-demolished
Nevada suburb, discover strange messages on their phones, they
follow the alien symbols and discover a stranded extra-terrestrial,
hunted by the government and desperate to return home. The nostalgic
feelings engendered by this familiar storyline isn’t enough
to keep things fresh, so Green utilizes a (rather broad) found-footage
technique that includes voiceover narration, non-diegetic music,
and on-screen graphics, speaking to the evolution of the stylistic
form. The film is thus much more interesting from a formalist
perspective than a narrative one, as there’s nothing innovative
or exciting about the directions the plot takes; trading in
well-worn themes of lost adolescence and blossoming maturity,
it’s merely telling an old story in a new fashion.
1.7
-- TRANSFORMERS:
AGE OF EXTINCTION, Michael
Bay
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
The fourth entry in the franchise adaptation of the titular
Hasbro toy line is exactly as one has come to expect from the
series: expensively designed, confusingly plotted and incoherently
constructed. Swapping out former lead Shia LaBeouf for his Pain
& Gain star Mark Wahlberg, director Bay indulges even deeper
in his love of true Americana, depicting a wholesome Texan family
torn apart by both the evil federal government (here symbolized
by CIA black ops head Kelsey Grammer) and a corrupt technology
corporation (led by Stanley Tucci’s thinly veiled Steve Jobs
caricature) after they team up with outlaw Optimus Prime and
the rest of the hunted Autobots. Bay’s unique brand of jingoism
has always privileged the blue-collar individual above state
institutions, but this might be his boldest statement to date
on the inherent villainy of big business and government bureaucracy.
It may be patriotism, but it’s a very specific kind: Tea Party
patriotism.
3.8--
THE HUNT, Thomas
Vintenberg
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
Forty-year-old
gentle Lucas has settled into a small Danish town where he helps
out at a small school filled with kindergarten kids. He is great
with them, and perhaps because he is quiet and shy, the kids
make him come to life. But one little girl, Klara develops a
crush on him, and one day when all the kids are tackling him
she kisses him on the lips. Taken aback, he tells her this is
wrong. She has also given him a little love note. Klara loves
Fanny, Lucas' dog, and Lucas of her parents and brother. But
one day, Klara behaves oddly, and tells a dirty lie about Lucas
which turns his life into a nightmare. He is fired and loses
all his friends, including Klara's family whose father was Lucas'
best friend. In fact, he is totally ostracized from everyone,
and is basically banned from every daily interaction; he is
prevented from even entering the supermarket. Things get violent
and Lucas is deteriorating into a broken man. Despite Klara's
deceptions that take the form of a 'he did it -- he didn't do
it,' confession, all the staff and the kids join her in the
accusation, and then, everyone refuses to accept her story when
she recants, saying she was just saying something foolish and
not true. A year later, however, we see that Lucas is once again
embraced by everyone. The children however fail to realize that
Lucas has no basement which is where they tell the police it
all happened. Marvelously acted (Mads Mikkelsen as Lucas was
excellent) with a sensitively plotted out script, the film shows
that even a lonely little girl scorned by someone she fancies
can be the ruination of that man. It also shows how dangerous
the crowd mentality can be. Ironically, the weak link in this
chain of mounting hysteria occurs when things get happy and
life is better for Lucas; this sudden ending offers a denouement
that dishes out an unsatisfactory and implausible result. As
well, the symbolism of an innocent deer being hunted and shot
was somewhat infantile although the analogy ran parallel to
his own life..(This film was viewed compliments of le SuperClub
Vidéotron, 5000 Wellington in Verdun, Montreal).
3.0--
TIM'S VERMEER, Teller
[reviewed by Nancy Snipper] A fascinating and brilliant inventor named
Tim Jenison is obsessed with the idea that the 17th-century
painter Vermeer could not have captured the likeness, light
and extraordinary details he was renown for without optic devices
of some sort. Jenison reconstructs Vermeer's studio, making
everything himself in his Texas warehouse. He discovers that
by using a mirror attached to a handle stem -- much like a dentist's
mirror held inside one's mouth -- one can actually colour in
exactly the image onto paper that is reflected in the mirror.
He first tries this out by taking the image portrait of his
father-in-law and is able to replicate to-the-T the exact original.
Jenison is not a painter and through many successful steps that
lead him to the final concave lens he uses to 'trace' every
detail in Vermeer's painting, called "The Music Lesson," he
recreates the exact painting itself. A private showing by the
Queen of England of the very painting inspires him to complete
the project which took more than half a year to paint in the
privacy of his Vermeer 'veritas' studio. This documentary moves
far too slowly though, especially as he paints the painting.
His meetings with artists David Hockney and Philip Steadman
bolster his belief that Vermeer definitely employed this method
to create his paintings. Moreover, it is concluded that paintings
are visual documents and as such science and artistry are needed
to produce these painted documents. The famed duo of Penn and
Teller are in the film; Tim is a friend of Teller's. His partner
Penn Jillette, who narrates and often appears in the movie --
more so than silent Teller -- co-produced the film with Farley
Zeigler. (This film was viewed compliments of Le SuperClub Vidéotron,
5000 Wellington in Verdun, Quebec).
2.8--
DEVIL'S KNOT, Atom Egoyan
[reviewed by Nancy Snipper] Based on a true story, the film takes us
into the rather harrowing mysterious events that took place
in a small backwater southern town in Arkansas in 1993. Three
darling boys were murdered -- their bodies found in a place
of water called Devil's Den where few dared to go. But on
that fateful day (May 5th) thee boys innocently rode their
bikes there. A travesty of justice and a conspiracy of a cover-up
of evidence and interviews ends up pointing the finger at
three boys -- none of whom did it. The evidence, by implication,
retrieved by one persistent investigator, pointed to Terry
Hobbs, the father of one of the dead boys and the complicity
of most of the town folk. Based on the book by Mara Leveritt,
this tragic story put three innocent teens in prison for 18
years, released them but still with the title of guilty --
not to mention the total lack of justice which should have
led to a retrial and the introduction of substantial evidence.
The crime was never solved nor any attempt to find the culprits,
and I think the ending suggests why: too many of the locals
were agents of the devil cult and the killing of these boys.
3.5--
BLOOD TIES, Guillaume Canet
[reviewed by Nancy Snipper] A terrific film of great realism involving
a family with specific focus on two brothers, one of whom
is ex-con who wants to get back on track with his estranged
younger brother who is a cop (Billy Crudup), and bring in
dough for his new girl who soon becomes his wife. Their ailing
father, excellently acted by James Caan, is trying to keep
the boys together -- as is his devoted daughter. High tension
and inner conflict drive a huge dark wedge between the brothers.
Their worlds collide during a robbery and most poignantly,
at the end of the film when Chris saves his brother from taking
the bullet of an angry thug, ex-convict Frank who is now free.
He comes after Frank for 'stealing' his wife (Zoe Saldana),
a woman Frank was once involved with. The relationships in
the film are complex; each has its own history whose ongoing
story unfolds in this excellent film that proves family love
overcomes hatred. (This film was viewed, compliments of Le
SuperClub Vidéotron, 5000 Wellington in Verdun, Quebec).
2.9--
THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL, Wes Anderson
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
A slickly made stylized somewhat absurd recounting of an amazing
concierge named M Gustave who inherits his wealthy lover's priceless
painting, called "Boy without Apple," along with her other properties,
including this dowager ritzy hotel (hence the title). The story
of his adventures is told by M Gustave's lobby boy who is now
grown up and running the hotel. This immigrant boy ends up becoming
M Gustave's loyal friend. The poetic Gustave ends up in jail
being accused of murdering his lover along with stealing her
painting which her children are desperately trying to get back.
They hire a man to kill off those who stand in the way. The
film's mayhem chase scenes spice up the action with motorcycles,
trains, sleds and skis. The sets are gloriously belle époque,
the cast has gathered the biggest names in Hollywood most in
cameo roles, and the film is so odd and full of ridiculous escapes
from the clutches of WWI police and others of their kin that
it effectively emulates 1920 comedic farce. As well, Ralph Fiennes
as M. Gustave impeccably catches the character; one wishes that
every hotel concierge could be as graceful, fearless and poetic
as M Gustave. (This film was viewed, compliments of Le SuperClub
Vidéotron, 5000 Wellington in Verdun, Quebec).
1.7
-- LE VRAI
DU FAUX, Émile Gaudreault
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
When famed Québécois filmmaker Marco Valois (Just for Laughs
staple Stéphane Rousseau), creator of a fictional street racing
franchise à la The
Fast and the Furious, is blamed for the car crash death
of a fan, he decided his next movie will be a more profound
and truthful work – an account of PTSD soldiers returning from
Afghanistan. Encountering a particularly deranged one, Éric
Lebel (Mathieu Quesnel), Marco sets about filming the tortured
veteran day and night, even accompanying him back to his industrial
hometown to understand his backstory; meanwhile, Éric’s psychologist
and parents frantically pursue the pair, aware of the ex-jarhead’s
disturbed psyche and wary of the director’s intentions. It’s
rather disappointing (though not entirely surprising), then,
that this incisive probe into the lasting effects of war is
mostly played for laughs, highlighting the cultural differences
between Marco’s urban lifestyle and Éric’s rural past. Asides
about the true purpose of cinema and value of fiction in storytelling
are mostly distractions from the comedy, which adopts a rather
inappropriate tone in its mockery of serious subjects. “It’s
not a documentary,” Marco asserts at one point, and director
Gaudreault makes certain of that.
3.2
-- VENUS IN
FUR, Roman Polanski
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
Exiled director Polanski, in a startling act of self-criticism,
casts his wife Emmanuelle Seigner opposite his younger lookalike
Mathieu Amalric for his adaptation of David Ives’ two-person
off-Broadway play. Amalric, as Polanski’s proxy, plays a frustrated
theatre director attempting a Parisian production of Venus
in Furs, the Sacher-Masoch novella credited with popularizing
sadomasochism; Seigner is the auditioning actress who begins
to truly inhabit the lead role of Wanda, asserting her dominance
over Amalric’s increasingly meek director. Whatever insights
into Polanski and Seigner’s real-life marriage and sex life
are gleaned, though, it pales in substantive comparison to the
filmmaker’s thoughts on performance and art, as the pair’s witty,
wicked tête-à-tête gradually blurs the line between fiction
and reality. Akin to Polanski’s prior Carnage (an American
version of a French play, reversed here), in its overt theatricality
and heightening insanity (of both theme and plot), it’s a far
more fascinating and incisive work, examining the relationship
between director and actress with a ruthless, exacting tone.
When Amalric winds up in lipstick and high heels, tied to a
giant phallic cactus, we find out more about Polanski than we
ever wanted to.
1.8
-- I’LL FOLLOW
YOU DOWN, Richie Mehta
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
Former child star Haley Joel Osment, all grown up and sporting
an oddly shaped head, headlines this low-rent Canadian sci-fi
yarn, playing a genius physics student whose quantum researcher
father (Rufus Sewell) disappeared mysteriously 12 years earlier.
With his mother (the suddenly ubiquitous Gillian Anderson) overwhelmed
with grief and depression, Osment and his professorial grandfather
(Canuck icon Victor Garber) research the disappearance and come
to the only logical conclusion: time travel. So, naturally,
Osment sets about following in his father’s footsteps by opening
up a space-time wormhole and building a pod-like machine to
travel back to 1946, ostensibly for a meeting with Albert Einstein
himself. In the tradition of Shane Carruth’s Primer,
the film is heavy on the technical gobbledygook and convoluted
chronology, but writer/director Mehta is less interested in
the physical and philosophical implications of time travel than
the impact a father’s disappearance can have on his family.
As a result, this is strictly soft science fiction, explicitly
putting its human characters and relationships above scientific
research and delving into ethereal spiritual concepts such as
the soul. And in its depiction of an attempt to change the mistakes
of the past and create an idealized world, it’s less a challenging
work of heady sci-fi than a fluffy piece of romanticized fantasy.
3.3
-- THE ROVER,
David Michôd
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
Ten years after a worldwide economic collapse, the Australian
Outback is a wasteland of criminals and outlaws, not unlike
the futuristic landscape of Mad
Max or the lawless frontier of the Old West. An unnamed,
taciturn man (a bearded and gaunt Guy Pearce) tracks three men
who have stolen his car, dragging the injured younger brother
(Robert Pattinson) of their leader (Scoot McNairy) along. Long
stretches of dialogue-free driving or inane conversation are
punctuated by shocking acts of violence, brutally encapsulating
this savage environment. Pearce’s character is clearly drawn
from Clint Eastwood’s Man With No Name, driven by a
bloodthirsty quest for vengeance, and Pattinson’s Southern simpleton
(a new kind of role for the erstwhile Twilight heartthrob)
epitomizes the loss of innocence in a cruel and unforgiving
world. The growing fraternal relationship between the two men
forms the heart of the film, such as it is, but the narrative’s
climactic twist and final gut-punch reveal that there are no
happy endings in the desert.
2.7
-- LA PETITE
REINE, Alexis Durand-Brault
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
Based
on the life and career of maligned Québec cyclist Geneviève
Jeanson, this flashy cycling drama follows professional star
Julie Arseneau (Laurence Lebeouf), the leader on the World Cup
circuit and just two races away from winning it all. Just one
problem: she’s doping, at the demands of her abusive, violent
trainer JP (Patrice Robitaille). But when her doctor comes clean
and reveals her crime, Julie must find a way to get out from
under the thumb of the psychotic JP while also winning on her
own terms. Director Durand-Brault stages Julie’s conflict well,
if rather heavy-handedly, and Lebeouf is up to the challenges
of the performance, believing portraying a trained cyclist.
But the film is melodramatic to a fault, invoking stirring music
during the race scenes and depicting Julie with damn near operatic
reverence; for a film ostensibly based on real life, it’s startlingly
one-note, never really rising above its exaggerated tone. As
a generic sporting drama, it’s above average, but as a complex
Québécois character study, it’s unfortunately middlebrow.
1.3
-- THE LOVE
PUNCH, Joel Hopkins
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
An excruciating attempt at a modern caper comedy, starring better-than-this
British icons Pierce Brosnan and Emma Thompson as a pair of
bickering exes who reluctantly team up to seek revenge on the
cartoonishly evil French tycoon who liquidated their pension
funds and post-retirement future along with it. Their ludicrous
plot involves traveling to the south of France to steal a ten-million-dollar
diamond from around the neck of the billionaire’s supermodel
fiancée -- a harebrained scheme that includes low-speed car
chases, Mediterranean scuba diving and preposterously fake Texan
accents. Though notions of feminist agency and post-recession
economic hardship underpin the simplistic narrative, director
Hopkins seems more interested in broad, sophomoric humour than
thematic relevance, turning the entire exercise into little
more than a rehash of Le
Week-End without the maturity or sophistication. Of course,
it all ends in a manner akin to the once-ubiquitous comedy of
remarriage, proving that, for all of the film’s faux-progressive
protestations against female objectification and late-stage
capitalism, ten million dollars really can buy love – or in
this case, love again.
2.4
-- RUNNER RUNNER,
Brad Furman
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
Runner
Runner keeps us on our toes. When Princeton grad student
Riche Furst (Justin Timberlake) is told he can no longer sell
online gaming site access to his fellow students or else he'll
be kicked out, he's furious. He needs the money to do his Masters
and so he bets every last dime he has, but gets swindled out
by some unseen player on the biggest on-line poker site run
by Ivan Block (Ben Affleck) in Costa Rica. Richie heads out
there to find him and when he does, he plays all his cards telling
him his multi-billionaire empire is cheating people. So what
does Ivan do with this potential enemy, he hires him to work
for him. Richie is pulling in big loads of cash and his bright
pals from Princeton come down to help the company even further
by using their amazing math and computer skills. But soon, the
FBI gets involved and Richie finds out just how evil his boss
is. However, the cards fall in his favour when he plays the
biggest but most dangerous game yet. He traps Ivan and his empire
comes tumbling down by bribing officials; Richie has found a
clever way to bring him down, while flying away with a suitcase
of dough and the girl that once was Ivan's. Director Brad Furman
has made a fun, fast-paced movie, placing big bets on the cast.
Ben Affleck can play a cavalier cad in all kinds of evil ways
and Justin - well - he's Justin. Gemma Artherton dresses up
the plot and visuals with her beauty -- enough to make any man
play all his cards to win her. (This film was viewed compliments
of Le SuperClub Videotron, 5000 Wellington in Verdun Quebec).
3.3 --
IDA, Pawel
Pawlikowski
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
A low key film in black and white with an interesting story
line. Anna, an orphan, has been raised in a convent in Poland
and is set to take her vows in four days. She visits Wanda,
her aunt for the first time. Wanda tells Ana she is in fact
Jewish, not Catholic. Together, aunt and niece set out to find
out where Ida's parents have been buried. Wanda drives to the
house where the family once lived. It is now illegally occupied
by the children of the neighbour who hid the family during the
war. Wanda and Ida set out to find the father who is now lying
in a hospital bed. A surprise visit by the son is what they
need. The son says he will show them where they were buried
if Ida gives them the house. It is agreed. It turns out Ida
had a brother who along with his parents were killed by the
son. The father had in fact fed them and hid them well in the
forest, but the son was the one who killed them. During their
search, they pick up a hitchhiker, and he falls for Ida and
vice versa, but Ida is a strict Catholic. Wanda ends up jumping
out her apartment window and Ida dresses in her clothes and
spends a night with the hitchhiker. The end of the film sees
Ida sneaking out returning to the convent where God awaits her.
This is a quiet film of unspoken horrors that live in the memory
of Wanda and the family who has taken over the house she once
lived in. The film walked away with multiple awards in European
festivals. I found it far too slow. Still, it is a film that
shows the aftermath of shattered lives in a subtle manner, and
that makes it very special.
1.7
-- MALEFICENT,
Robert Stromberg
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
Disney scavenges from their deep well of animated classics once
again, reappropriating Sleeping
Beauty into a dark, revisionist tale of the titular villain’s
backstory. Sultry superstar Angelina Jolie, returning to live-action
roles after a nearly four-year absence, stars as the malevolent
fairy, utilizing her rich lips and high cheekbones to give Maleficent
the full supermodel treatment and believably cackling and
glowering throughout her magnificently evil turn. But director
Stromberg, a former FX wizard helming his first feature, has
no idea how to properly surround Jolie’s towering performance,
opting for an effects extravaganza that feels more like a ninety-minute
sizzle reel than a coherent film. The subsequently digitized
fantasy world winds up seeming rather boring, and even the revelation
of Maleficent’s tragic past and a feminist twist on
the canonical narrative can’t make the film any more interesting
than Disney’s recent crop of fairy tale reimaginings. Though
not quite as soulless as Alice in Wonderland or Oz
the Great and Powerful, it’s still rather hollow.
3.8
-- THE IMMIGRANT,
James Gray
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
The dark underbelly of the American Dream, turned over and exposed
at last. Marion Cotillard’s titular Polish émigré Ewa Cybulska
arrives at Ellis Island in 1921 with her coughing sister, only
for said sister to be quarantined and Ewa bound for deportation.
Enter Bruno Weiss (Joaquin Phoenix), a slick conman who preys
on the hopes and dreams of immigrant women like Ewa, turning
them into icons of exoticism for his burlesque cabaret and prostitution
ring. Ewa, alone and destitute, has no other choice but to join
this three-ring circus, selling her body in a vain attempt to
earn enough money for her sick sister’s treatments. Hardship
after hardship sets in, turning Cotillard into a grim-faced
martyr on the same order of Jeanne Falconetti in Dreyer’s The
Passion of Joan of Arc; even Bruno’s cousin, a charming
magician named Orlando (Jeremy Renner) who takes a liking to
Ewa, can’t break this endless cycle of misery and despair. Director
Gray, known for his Brooklyn tales of crime and romance (including
We Own the Night and Two Lovers), dials his
classical approach even further back, unveiling the grand illusion
of the proverbial land of freedom. America: where only the greedy
and the lustful succeed.
2.7
-- ATTILA MARCEL,
Sylvain Chomet
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
It’s easy to see the influence of animation upon French director
Chomet’s live-action debut: cartoonish characters, fanciful
imagery, and an emphasis on sound and music above dialogue and
exposition. In telling the story of Paul Martel, a mute pianist
raised by his domineering aunts after the death of his parents,
Chomet (known for his Oscar-nominated animated features The
Triplets of Belleville and The Illusionist) naturally
relies on the aspects of filmmaking familiar to him, resulting
in a larger-than-life, whimsical tale full of hallucinogenic
flashbacks and musical memories. Nonetheless, something is inevitably
lost in the transition between media, and for all of the film’s
delightful surface pleasures, it’s lacking thematic substance
in its narrative. You’d think a tale of an orphaned man searching
through his own remembrances (with the help of a mind-altering
drug) to find out what happened to his parents would be full
of heart and emotion, but in Chomet’s florid hands, it becomes
more about the whimsy than the why, missing the dramatic forest
for the brightly-coloured, singing-and-dancing trees.
1.5
-- THE MONUMENTS
MEN, George Clooney
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
What
should have been a suspenseful film of great importance turned
out to be a subtle comedy of directing and acting errors. During
WWII when seven non-soldiers -- dressed as soldiers charge themselves
with recuperating stolen works of art owned once by Jewish French
families, they stumble upon thousands of priceless stolen pieces,
along with gold bullion and barrels full of gold fillings (from
the teeth of those slaughtered in the camps) in a mine in Germany.
Hitler had intended the art works to go to his soon-to-be-built
Fuhrer Museum. Trouble is the film was a sleepwalker, falling
flat. One should not cast comedians such as Bill Murray, John
Goodman and Jean Dijardins -- all funny actors -- in serious
roles. Their performances came off as non-consequential and
their dangerous task light-hearted. It was almost embarrassing
to watch. The only credible actor was Cate Blanchet who handed
over the book which listed where all the Jeu de Paume art work
was stored by the Germans; she worked for the Nazi Stahl who
oversaw the robberies and clandestine hiding places, so she
knew what had become of them. Confusing to watch and terribly
boring, this is probably the worst movie ever to come out on
such a momentously important subject inspired by a true story.
Although Clooney's intentions were good: to pay tribute to these
men who risked their lives -- two of which died while participating
in this unique covert operation -- nonetheless, his direction
and acting were a joke. The tragedy in the film was the unintended
mockery of a timeless story that is historically true. (This
film was viewed compliments of Le SuperClub Vidéotron, 5000
Wellington in Verdun, Quebec)
3.0
-- THE GRAND
SEDUCTION, Don McKellar
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
An English-language remake of the popular Québécois comedy
La grande séduction (also known as Seducing Doctor
Lewis), transposing the setting from a small Québec island
to a tiny Newfoundland harbour. International star Brendan Gleeson
(muddying his traditional Irish accent to make it a bit more
Newfie) stars as Murray, newly appointed mayor of the ailing
fishing village of Tickle Head, who concocts a scheme to lure
visiting plastic surgeon Paul Lewis (played by Canadian-born
Hollywood hunk Taylor Kitsch) to reside permanently in the harbour,
in order to win a factory contract and bring jobs and pride
back to Tickle Head. The ensuing antics are high on fish-out-of-water
shenanigans and culture-clash comedy, with the rural inhabitants
pretending to love cricket and Indian food in order to better
seduce the doctor, but director McKellar and screenwriters Michael
Dowse & Ken Scott (the latter of which also scripted the original)
keep things light-hearted and fluffy, if hewing rather close
to the jokes and plotlines of La grande séduction.
Those not familiar with the source material will likely enjoy
themselves, but for the rest, it’s likely to be another case
of cinematic déjà vu.
3.0
-- THE GRAND
SEDUCTION, Don McKellar
[reviewed
by Samuel Burd]
Brendan Gleeson and the beauty of Newfoundland are the main
attractions of The
Grand Seduction, exuding a natural charm that infuses a
lackluster story with a soothing and buoyant languor. The inhabitants
of a destitute and doctorless fishing village must convince
a handsome young doctor on a month-long visit to stay long-term,
his presence the final crux in their bid to have a job-generating
petroleum treatment plant built on their land. Toward that end,
the collection of charmingly provincial middle-aged talent begins
listening to the doctor’s phone calls to figure out how best
to transform their community into a place he might like to stay,
pretending to love cricket instead of hockey and supplying him,
in the person of Gleeson's character, with a father figure he
never had. Luckily the peeping toms include Gleeson and national
treasure Gordon Pinsent as well as a pair of old women who man
the listening station and are far too matronly and adorable
to let the creepiness set in for long, and the ethical implications
of their actions are deflected by some carefully modulated naughtiness
involving their happening upon the doctor engaging in some not-so-naughty
phone sex. Seduction is most notable for the sense
of resignation that it somewhat offensively sees as a logical
condition of getting older, as the single member of the community
who voices any concern over the coming of a petroleum treatment
plant is the only young woman who seems to live within a hundred
kilometer radius. That people might instead rely on each other
in times of need is an idea better left to the idealistic types,
which seems to make Seduction a surprising reflection
of a culture that purports to prize natural beauty yet cannot
see beyond a politics of petroleum-as-liberation.
2.4
-- WELCOME TO
THE JUNGLE, Rob Meltzer
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
An entertaining film that takes the stars and you outside an
ad firm and into the jungle to test the mettle of the employees.
Chris (Adrian Brody) is a highly creative, quiet and rather
weak-willed dude whose ideas always get stolen and pitched by
his mean superior Phil who believes it's his right to steal.
Storm (Jean Claude Van Damme) who claims to be an ex-marine
is hired by the president of the firm to take the 20 employees
to a desert island infested with all kinds of dangers. The most
resourceful of the lot will be promoted to VP of the company.
The plane lands, but the pilot has a heart attack. To make matters
worse, a tiger attacks Storm and he goes over the cliff. No
one sees him after that, but days later, he returns. He is badly
wounded and can't walk. He confesses to being a fake with no
survival credentials to speak of. By this time, Phil has dressed
himself up as a Neanderthal god, named Orca. Everyone is under
his command, save for Chris, two girls -- one of whom Chris
fancies -- and a helpful radio ham guy. This funny made-in-Hollywood
comedy is not as predictable as one might imagine. It takes
a good share of the plot from the William Golding classicLord
of the Rings, for Phil and his slaves have completely shed
any trace of suits and civility. Chris puts his boy scouts skills
into full gear, flies off a cliff to prove he is Icarus (he's
made wings) and Phil loses his following to Chris. In the end
a boat rescues them, but Phil is left behind. Chris refuses
the VP job and walks out of the office into a new life, bringing
the girl along. It's a fun comedy whose improbable plot somehow
works. The hammy acting made it all the more outrageous. There's
nothing wrong with turning an unsung hero into the company star
even if it takes a jungle to do so. (This film was viewed compliments
of le Superclub Vidéotron, 5000 Wellington in Verdun, Quebec).
2.4
-- GRUDGE MATCH,
Peter Segal
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
It's
hard not to like a movie that stars Sylvester Stallone and Robert
De Niro. These two ageing veterans have a score to settle and
they do it in the boxing ring. Stallone plays Razor Sharp and
De Niro Kid. Both are asked to return to the ring after 30 years
to duke it out; the last match was a tie breaker. Razor lost
his old-time girlfriend Sally (Kim Basinger) in a one night-stand
to Kid; Sally thought Razor had been unfaithful to her, and
wanted to even the score. A son came out of that union, and
he ends up coaching Kid. It's a hoot of a film as the two old
pros can't stand each other. However, both show true sportsmanship
during the final knock-out. Razor takes the trophy, but gains
Sally and Kid back into his life. (This film was viewed compliments
of le Superclub Vidéotron at 5000 Wellington in Verdun, Montreal)
1.8
-- FADING GIGOLO,
John Turturro
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
Character
actor and sometime director Turturro takes a page out of the
Woody Allen playbook and casts himself as the romantic lead,
playing a middle-aged New York City florist who starts whoring
himself out to sexually unsatisfied older ladies. Allen himself
co-stars (in one of his few acting roles for another director)
as Turturro’s best friend, who takes it upon himself to act
as his pal’s business manager/pimp; delivering one of his trademark
performances of neurosis, the esteemed filmmaker quips about
Jewish heritage and modern sexuality in equal measure. But Turturro
himself, sleepy and underplayed as the titular sex god, lacks
the self-deprecating spark that makes Allen’s narcissistic romances
more clever than cloying, coming across as a chauvinist director
indulging fantasies of male desire: being renowned for your
sexual prowess, paid for your lascivious acts, and sought for
a threesome with bisexual buddies Sharon Stone and Sofia Vergara
(former and current sex symbols themselves). It’s ridiculously
egotistical, making even Woody Allen himself look downright
humble.
2.4
-- FADING GIGOLO,
John Turturro
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
Murrary
(Woody Allen), a Jewish somewhat money-hungry, manipulative
New Yorker married to a black woman with kids convinces his
best friend Fioravante (John Turturro) that he ought to go into
business with him to service lonely rich women. It started with
Murray's dermatologist, Dr. Parker (Sharon Stone) who out of
the blue asked Murray if he knew of a stud man to service her
sexually for which she will pay a handsome fee. Murray relates
this to his good-looking pal who reacts with astonishment. Murray
proposes his pal take up the offer. Given the book business
they run is closing, Fioravante agrees but he is not totally
comfortable in the role. Murray lives in a Hassidic neighborhood
as does Dovi (Liev Schreiber). He is a highly religious vigilante
who becomes suspicious of Murray and his outings with his friend
to women's apartments. Dovi and his friends kidnap Murray; they
haul him into their car and drive him to a place to face a Hassidic
tribunal; they are there to question, judge and possibly punish
him. All is saved though when the sweet, lonely widow Avigal,
(Vanessa Paradis), a highly devout Hassidic interrupts the proceedings
to confess she consulted Fioravante -- having been introduced
to this healer via Murray. Avigal and Fioravante have fallen
in love, and Avigal tells the tribunal that this healer did
touch her back (he massaged her as part of the treatment). When
asked, she reveals to the solemn judges she she cried not out
for shame but loneliness. Nonetheless, she ends up with Dovi
who has been in love with her since a child. Murrary is dismissed.
The ending of the film along with most of the film flops and
fails to satisfy the viewer despite the iconic humour of Woody
Allen that is injected into several scenes.
3.8--
MILLION DOLLAR ARM, Craig
Gillespie
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
The
first of its kind as an American-Indian baseball movie with
big bits of Bollywoodish overtones. It's sure to hit a homerun
at the box office. Based on a true story, the plot puts in the
front seat baseball agent Jamie Bernstein. His hotshot company
for athletes is about to go belly-up. His four baseball biggies
have retired and he has zero clients. He banks on Pogo, a football
star in the making, but the tattooed big shot backs off: not
enough money offered. One night, Bernstein watches Susan Boyle
on TV's Britain's Got Talent competition and surfs from that
to a cricket match taking place in India. He goes back and forth
between the two channels, and the idea dawns on him to hold
a huge try-out contest in India to find potential baseball players
with promise, train them, and bring them back to Los Angeles.
Billions of Indian young men show up for the contest. He chooses
two, Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel. The trip to L.A. starts with
their training, but it doesn't last long enough. Bernstein is
forced to hold a big bonanza PR publicity show with the two
players. He is hoping they'll throw with incredible speed and
accuracy. Anything over 85m/hr at this point is impressive.
It's a risk as they have received limited training due to financial
backing deadlines set by Chang, his Chinese investor. This movie
is full of things going wrong from the get-go both in Bernstein's
dream and the dream of his two Indian athletes. Steeped in obstacles
that make the odds so unlikely for the two baseball hopefuls
to win any big contract, they seemed doomed to failure. Part
of the problem is Bernstein himself who is so driven and abrupt
with the two young men, they lose confidence come show time.
They've got to pitch perfectly. It doesn't happen. Ominous tidings
begin with their landing in L.A. They are experiencing cultural
clashes way out in left field. Yet these scenes are both amusing
and heartwarming. Brenda. Bernstein's tenant, becomes his love
interest who seems to save the day for both Bernstein and his
transplanted protégés who end up living with him. No hotel wants
them due to their total lack of understanding about modern-day
life that gets them into trouble. The film never approaches
any stereotypic or slapstick humour. It's a drama that is nonetheless
funny and touching because these Indian guys with their humble
little Indian translator prove to be of immeasurable value both
professionally and personally to Bernstein -- more than he could
ever have imagined. This is a film for everyone. You don't have
to be a baseball fan to thoroughly enjoy this American/Indian
dream team story whose incredibly happy ending is a real-life
miracle
3.9
-- AMAZONIA,
Catherine Thierry
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
A
darling young capuchin ends up being crated in a small plane
to some village, as his little girl who supposedly owns him
bids goodbye. But the plane crashes in the Amazon and the documentary
dazzles as the little fellow tries to find his way into survival
mode. Snakes, a leopard, eagle, spiders and all kinds of the
strangest creatures seem to follow him as he travels on a piece
of driftwood down the Amazon River. We are captivated by the
capucin's vulnerability and expressive reactions as he tries
to understand his new dynamic and often dangerous environment.
Another capuchin comes to his rescue while he drifts -- after
having tumbled into a huge waterfall. Amazingly, he is taken
into the friendly capucin's group, but one nasty rival keeps
the little newbie at arms length from his tree and his woman
-- in fact, he is the mate of the very female capuchin who rescued
the stranded primate. In the end, the lost capucin is found.
Although he ends up seeing the little girl again, he makes a
hasty retreat to his new-found monkey-see, monkey-do family.
The creatures shown in this film were shot with incredible microscopic
close-up lenses. The most compelling of these creatures were
the oddest looking insects ever to crawl before your eyes. The
3D view made it all the more astounding; to see the wildlife
in action is a cinematic thrill. The only complaint I raise
concerns the end credits of the film. Photos of the different
animals with identification would have brought us more insight
into what we were actually viewing. A superb French/Brazilian
co-production that is a once-in-a-lifetime rainforest spectacle.
1.9
-- UN ÉTÉ EN
PROVENCE, Rose Bosch
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
After
their parents separate, two Parisian teenagers and their deaf-mute
little brother are shipped off to the south of France to spend
the summer with their estranged grandparents (played by Jean
Reno and Anna Galiena), former Woodstock hippies who now own
an olive tree farm. What follows is generic fish-out-of-water
antics, with the teens’ urban personalities and tech-heavy lifestyles
inevitably clashing with the country folk’s luddite way-of-life
and sun-soaked attitude; of course, as in all films of this
type, the out-of-water fish soon come to embrace their strange
new environment, quite literally falling in love with the Mediterranean
countryside and its exotic inhabitants. Director Bosch can’t
even be bothered to craft a compelling plot, settling for half-baked
drama and low-grade shenanigans instead; even her song choices
are derivative, from Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence”
expressing the deaf kid’s viewpoint to Deep Purple’s “Highway
Star” as a bunch of aged motorcyclists roar down the road. This
blatant lack of creativity and imagination is indicative of
the work as a whole: a plagiaristic assemblage of other, better
films, coalesced into an utterly safe and completely insipid
family-friendly dramedy.
2.2--
UN ÉTÉ EN PROVENCE, Rose
Bosch
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
Three children including a deaf little boy set off with their
grandmother to visit their grandfather Paul who lives in Provence.
Things do not go well. Paul is irascible and very strict. The
two teens find their own crushes and ways of escaping, as does
their grandmother who is joined with her ageing hippy motor-cycle-riding
friends. They have located Paul on Facebook and the reunion
is nostalgic at best. In fact, Paul and his wife rode all over
Europe in their younger days with these friends. The big reveal
is made insignificant in the film. In fact, the show stoppers
are all the scenes that do not involve the main characters.
The movie is ridiculous as it plays old 60s songs with these
70-year-olds friends sitting around a fire strumming a guitar
and dressed in hippy clothing. There is actually nothing interesting
in this movie except the handsome dude who plays the acid-taking
pizza man who seduces the daughter. He's good looking. Of course,
the scenery is lovely as is typical town life in Provence --
the only part that 'peaks' our interest. Peter Mayle who wrote
the book might be more than a tad disappointed at the screen
result.
2014
VUES D'AFRIQUE: APRIL 25TH - MAY 4
2.3--
O GRAND KALIPY, Zézé
Gamboa
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
La
Maison des étudiants de L'Empire in Lisbon was formed to keep
bright African students from stirring up political problems
and integrating. They were watched diligently by the police.
The MPLA (resistance movement) was active; it comprised the
Ambundu ethnic group and the educated intelligentsia of Luanda,
the capital of Congo. In 1960 up until 1974, Portuguese colonization
in Angola brought evil and opportunity. One of the better vehicles
that drove the dramatic change for Angola was letting students
study abroad in Portugal and Brazil. The film however does not
weave in a stirring manner this political backdrop with the
personal aspects, and the overall dual themes create a diffuse
landscape, and tension is lost. The plot is huge, and is worthy
of being told. João Fraga from Luanda in Congo, is one such
student. He comes from wealth and is accepted by high society.
He's classy and confident. The film vividly shows how a bright
engineering student is accused of being a Don Juan with White
women (which he is -- he has a white lover, Carmo -- daughter
of a Minister. She pays him for sexual favours and more). He
also makes a play for Rita -- his best friend's girlfriend.
She only has eyes for Rui, her boyfriend. He brings both to
a seaside house that one imagines Carmo has paid for. He meets
Lola, a high class club lady -- a stripper and he starts up
with her. Carmo follows them and she intentionally hits João
with her car. One day in the countryside, he is stopped by the
police and Lola's car is the one he's driving. He says she's
his wife The best scene is inside a Fado club. We hear a Fado
singer and Rui sings too. He is also great. Rui has deserted
from army training, and makes a getaway with his best friend
helping him. He will go to France. Maybe, he'll do Fado there.
Meanwhile back with the main plot: Lola is visited by João and
the cops are there. Lola works for the head cop, but she feels
bad about it all. João is taken in. Rui's photo is shown to
João and he refuses to tell the cops he knows him. They beat
him. He returns to Luanda and works in a travel agency. His
father is angry that his son has wasted his future, but gets
him a job at the ministry in the finance department. He embezzles,
and with the money, acquires a vintage car and a new girlfriend
named Mitó -- all the while generously supporting the illegal
MPLA and a soccer club with his money. His friends are black
and white. The narrator telling this entire story comments that
it is inconceivable that this insignificant man living in a
white milieu has dared to have a white lover. The biggest surprise
is the discovery that his own father is sympathetic to the MPLA.
One night at a nightclub, this multi-womanizer -- he takes up
with his childhood girlfriend (father of the man who sold him
his new car, cheats on her) is arrested. The old cop from Lisbon
is back. However, rumours circulate that Joäo is actually an
undercover agent trying to infiltrate the MPLA. He becomes very
powerful, but his childhood gal's father brings in the cops
and he is put in jail. Finally, Angola gets independence, and
the hero is freed. The film did not focus on anything intense.
The director is a documentary filmmaker, but this biopic failed
to move us.
3.3--
VIVRE, Maharaki
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
An
adorable short from which features Thomas in his classroom in
Guadeloupe daydreaming about what he wants to be after his teacher
asks the students. His imaginary journey takes him from being
a drug dealer to an astronaut. The superb editing and humour
make this production from France a winner.
1.1--
DAKAR TROTTOIRS, Hubert
Laba Ndao
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
Salla
and her ruffian boyfriend Siirou are subject to the threat of
Blinky, a man taking over the girls of the neighbourhood that
the violent Siirrou 'protects.' Siirou ends up killing him and
together the pair flee to the protection of Padre, her older
friend. While taking refuge there, Salla drops her ring, given
to her by this man when she was young. She discovers her misfortune
once back in her home -- without Siirou. She returns to this
man and they make love. She wishes to marry him; he's a good
man. Siirou robs an old man in his apartment and beats him up.
He buys drugs. He kills in order to find his girlfriend who
by now is with Padre. Siirou has not only lost her but his sanity.
Poor Padre is killed by him and Salla sees it all. The streets
and sidewalks of Dakar (Senegal) are full of treachery and hopelessness.
It seems women have the worst of it -- always needing to fend
off the overtures of men or in need of their protection. Murder,
depravity and confusion constitute this sorry film. A bad film
all round, but the acting was tolerable.
1.3--
SOLEILS, Olivier
Delhave & Dani Kouyaté
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
The
daughter of a 16th-century king seems to suffer from a lack
of identity and depression. The king summons his healer who
is the girl's uncle. He's also a great story teller. He tells
stories that have messages, and illustrates them by going back
in time. Together, the wise man takes her into various scenes
where philosophers, liars and personages throughout history
engaged in slavery and other evil deeds. This film says the
sun has three locations, material, vocal and living creatures
of sweetness. I did not understand the ramblings of disconnected
scenes that seem to deal with different comedic farces and tales
of deceit between villagers. Lies and truth were obsessively,
yet gently referred to in these various vignettes. Nelson Mandela
even came up in topic and scene. As morals and men of history
are revealed, the healer takes his niece to Ouagadougou, Le
Cap, Robben Island, Berlin, Mali and Belgium. A total Burkino-Faso/France
screw-up, yet the philosopher/healer/story teller was enlightened,
and he held our interest. The music was great, but the acting
was more theatrical than cinematic in delivery.
3.7--
HORIZON BEAUTIFUL, Stefan
Jäger
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
A gorgeous film about an orphan boy whose dream is to go to
Barcelona and train properly for soccer. Even his school does
not have any soccer. He hears Franz Arnold, a superstar recruiter
from Switzerland is going to be in Addis Abeba to watch some
players. He is totally disinterested, nasty and heartless; he
despises the people. That little boy tracks him down but arranges
for a fake kidnapping by a gang of teens, but the gang seriously
wants to kidnap him for money. The kid follows Frnaz as he escapes
from the thugs. He ends up jumping into a garbage truck and
the little fellow jumps too. Franz has passed out. He has a
heart condition. Together, they trudge through the backwoods
of Ethiopia. The journey is one of discovery for them both.
This heartwarming film offers the unexpected with an ending
full of sadness and success. The acting was superb, and the
little boy is not really an actor, yet he stole the entire movie;
his range of emotions was incredible.
3.5--
C'EST EUX LES CHIENS,
Hicham Lasri
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
Majhoul
has been in prison for 30 years and is freed in 2011. There
is a huge demonstration going on in the central square of Casablanca
in which he gets caught up -- it's the 1981 grand strike all
over again. Majhoul is accosted by a reporter and his camera
man. They try to get him to stay and talk in the camera, but
he's a highly stubborn and taciturn fellow; he refuses to talk.
He's very disoriented after being a prisoner for so long. All
he wants is to find his wife and children once more. The reporter
and his cameraman keep him in the car, driving around, promising
they will help him find his wife, but first he must be interviewed.
They woo him by feeding him, buying him a wheel for his son's
bike which he never lets go of. Bit by bit, the puzzle of Majhoul's
life unfolds and as it does his wife -- now remarried is fianlly
located. His son now a bitter adult disowns him, insulting him.
He tells him never to come back. By dropping in on old friends,
knocking on wrong doors and revisiting old haunts, Majhoul terminates
his quest. The reporter and cameraman have become his best friends.
This heartwarming and often funny film offers frenetic camera
movement that imitates the fractured memory and mind of the
film's poor hero in search of his family. Reality hits Majoul
at the end of the film, and for the first time he addresses
the camera directly; he says a true sentence about the beginning
of his life. "I was born in Casablanca in 1950." The film ends
there. You either love or hate this film which does go on too
long, but as we follow Majihoul, his strange behaviour and dogged
determination to find his family become part of our life too;
we begin to wish we were tagging along helping him.
0.0
-- IMINIG,
Menad Embarek
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
Moussa
and his wheel-chair-bound mother live in total solitude on the
shore of some Algerian town. Their only escape is the sea they
sit in front of -- as seen in the closing scene in this depressing
film. They dream of getting out of their terrible existence
in a land where Moussa's dad met his end through Islamic terrorists.
That part of this short was referenced in a line only. Who could
imagine that the 20-minutes that snail along in this short could
be interminably long and oh so boring!
2.2--
LA LEÇON D'ANGLAIS, Sophie
Robert
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
In
this 18 min. short, a young Mauritian couple try to get accepted
to immigate to Canada, but they can't speak English and that
is the reason they aren't accepted. The young wife Lakshimi
gets a job taking care of a little rich white girl named Victoria.
They really get along and Victoria begins to teach her English.
The wife ends up giving her husband some classes too. They research
London, England, and the film ends with them on the airplane.
Evidently, it's a happy landing for them both.
1.5--
FAMILY SHOW, Pascal
Lahmani
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
A
rather ridiculous story passing off as presenting an entertaining
comedic plot. The story involves two neighbouring families whose
kids are friends though the parents aren't. This is due in part
to one of the grandfather's ongoing philandering with the neighbor
-- but he's dead now; his ashes are carried around by his old
heavy daughter -- even on stage when the two families become
rivals on a dance TV show called, Family Show. Differences are
solved though when they join forces to beat out a rather nasty
rival team. The stage dancing is silly and it goes on far too
long. The little girl who is the force behind getting her family
on the show in the first place and who directs them as she dances
is a darling actor, but even this petite dame's talent can't
save this facile movie whose entertainment value wears thin
after they all hit the stage of Family Show.
2.3
-- AYA DE YOPOUGON,
Marguerite Abouet
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
An
amusing feature animation that gives us an inside glimpse into
Yopo City, a working-class neighbourhood in Abidjan in the Ivory
Coast. Everyone is sleeping around, yet no one knows what is
really going on until secrets are revealed. Aya is the main
character who ends up with no one, but her friend becomes pregnant.
She is the daughter of an employee at the city's beer company.
She pretends the big shot owner's son Moussa is the true father
of her unborn son. But when the baby is born, it becomes clear
that the little guy bears no resemblance to Moussa, but instead,
looks just like the neighbour who sports a huge afro -- just
like the baby has -- chaos ensues. The music and colourful drawing
capture the refreshing spirit of the town. The animation brims
with details that add entertainment value to the otherwise silly
plot substance. (This film opened Montreal's 2014 Vues d"Afrique
Festival - celebrating its 30th anniversary this year).
___________________________________________________
1.4
-- LABOR DAY, Jason
Reitman
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
A
good idea on paper, but not on celluloid. The acting was lame
and the story so improbable. An escaped convict ends up in Adele's
house with her son and she falls for him, especially because
he makes such a great peach pie. He also plays guitar and fixes
things. The only good thing about this film was learning how
to make a great peach pie. There was zero chemistry between
Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin. Winslet wore the same worried
expression throughout the entire film. There was no suspense
either. The silly background classical guitar music that played
throughout the film did not convey any of the heavy weight of
the past both characters carried with them. It made the movie
even more flat. The only believable burden in this film lay
in the watching of it. (This film was viewed compliments of
Le Superclub Videotron, 5000 Wellington in Verdun, Montreal).
2.3--THE
LEGEND OF HERCULES, Renny Harlin
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
A totally new challenge for Hercules in this slick forward-looking
film on the ancient Greek myth: he must accept and harness his
god-given powers in order to return to Tiryns and reclaim the
kingdom of his murdered father and the Cretan princess who lives
there with her father. The new victor hates Hercules and thinks
his new wife took a lover who is in fact the biological mother
of this strong son. He eventually kills the queen and sets his
favoured evil son on a course to track down Hercules who escaped
months ago. It is the journey Hercules -- together with his
best friend Sotiris -- must endure (battling as a slave in wagered
combats and experiencing depraved conditions) that turn the
omnipotent being into the man-god he becomes. His true nature
is revealed to him through Hera. Zeus came to the original queen
and impregnated her Hera. The story is rather riveting though
a tad complicated. The special effects surpassed any modern-day
Superman movie. The fight scenes were excellent. An action epic
that brings the ancient past into present-day action sophistication.
(This film was viewed compliments of Le Superclub Videotron,
5000 Wellington in Verdun, Montreal).
3.9--
PHILOMENA, Stephen
Frears
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
A true story that vividly portrays the heartbreak of Irish mother,
Philmena Lee. She gives birth to a boy out of wedlock and is
forced to live at a nunnery. It is here that her child is given
up for adoption -- wrenched away from her when he was barely
three. Fifty years of guilt and sadness fill Philomena's life,
lit up by the few bitter-sweet memories she has of her estranged
little boy. However, Martin Sixsmith, a BBC reporter who has
been unjustly sacked, decides to help Philomena locate her lost
son. He is hired by a British magazine to do this. The film
has this misbegotten pair traveling together to the United States
to track him down. Martin's dogged research leads him to an
unhappy truth about her son. Philomena is a staunch Catholic,
and Martin an atheist. Both find their own redemption when the
truth about a cover-up by the nuns -- one in particular -- is
discovered. Philomena and Martin have come full circle in the
quest to bring some kind of closure. The film has brilliant
dialogue and is not without humour. The acting of Judy Dench
in the role of Philomena and Steve Coogan as Martin is worthy
of international accolades. The film, based on the 2009 book,
The
Lost Child of Philomena Lee reveals the story and speaks
for the thousands of Irish young mothers still trying to locate
and emotionally connect with their sons that were taken away
from them in the 1950s. A must-see film. (This film was viewed
compliments of le Superclub Vidéotron, 5000 Wellington in Verdun,
Montreal).
3.4
-- THE SECRET
LIFE OF WALTER MITTY, Ben Stiller
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
A comedy where the lines of fantasy and reality are blurred
stylistically and plot wise. Walter Mitty is a negative point
man for Time
Life. He is painfully introspective, but is forced to face
reality when Time Life is about to publish its last
print issue while laying off a multitude of employees. Walter
is assigned to retrieve neg #25 -- a mysterious photo destined
for the front cover taken by Time Life's star global
trekking photographer, named Sean (Sean Penn). The trouble is
the neg is missing; there are only three strange photos that
suggest where Sean is. Walter tracks him down but the journey
to find him is arduous and fraught with danger. He ends up in
the sea battling a shark, climbs the Himalayas and rides a bike
towards an erupting volcano. Romance happens from the get-go
when he meets Sheryl Melhoff (Kristen Wiig) who works in the
same company, but his shy heart and the assignment steers him
towards Sean, but with her face always edging him on in his
daydreams, he successfully gets the neg and the girl. Guess
what the front page cover features? His job is gone but his
new life is just beginning. Ben Stiller is the quintessential
Walter Mitty. His comedic timing and authentic manner makes
us all believers in Walter Mitty, a man who morphs into a real-life
hero. Based on the book by James Thurber, the movie does not
disappoint though it does go on a tad too long. (This film was
viewed compliments of Le Superclub Vidéotron, 5000 Wellington
in Verdun, Montreal).
1.1
-- BAD WORDS,
Jason Bateman
[reviewed
by Samuel Burd]
Jason
Bateman’s directorial debut is stupid, hateful and boring, but
it does have Phillip Baker Hall, which is something. A grown
man enters a spelling bee for teenagers and begins sabotaging
it, doing hilarious things like tricking a girl into thinking
she has had her period onstage by putting a ketchup packet on
her seat. He also calls the woman who runs the competition a
lesbian because she is stern and wears a pants suit, and a boy
he befriends who is of Indian descent Slumdog and curry trap.
Edginess established, it turns out the man has a secret reason
for being a jerk which has to do with the guy who started the
competition, played by Phillip Baker Hall as man who would doubtless
have been a more interesting and, in Bateman's place, less self-serving
main character. As it is, after five minutes the only secret
is how such a sad project could have made it past the script
stage. Call it vanity or idiocy, but really no word is bad enough.
1.8
-- THE RAILWAY
MAN, Jonathan Teplitzky
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
Yet another based-on-a-true-story World War II movie, this time
telling the harrowing story of British Army officer Eric Lomax,
who was captured by the Japanese after the surrender of Singapore
in 1942 and sent to a prisoner-of-war camp. Though the film
has an impressive pedigree, with Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman
playing the elder Lomax and his second wife Patti respectively,
it never accounts to anything more than a warmed-over The
Bridge on the River Kwai leftover, only with a contemporary
frame story preaching peace and reconciliation added on. It’s
undoubtedly an inspiring tale, as Lomax eventually meets, forgives,
and even befriends one of his captors, but there’s almost nothing
new or interesting to be gained by this depiction of it. At
a certain point, one has to think that every single WWII story
has been told and the genre can slowly die out, but here we
are, with another sub-par historical drama from that era distracting
us for a couple hours but never really delving into anything
profound or genuine. It may ostensibly be drawn from real life,
but the middling, mundane melodrama told here is pure fluff.
3.7
-- ONLY LOVERS
LEFT ALIVE, Jim Jarmusch
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
The
growingly stale and toothless vampire genre gets a much-needed
reinvigoration from American indie auteur Jarmusch, who brings
his trademark laconicism to this tale of centuries-old nosferatu
lovers. Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston star as the ageless
paramours, creatures of art and culture who just happened to
have encountered (and influenced) some of the most renowned,
peerless thinkers of the past millennium. Opening with a starry
night sky before transitioning into a spiraling montage linking
the two vamps (unsubtly named Adam and Eve), Jarmusch identifies
the two as cosmic figures, as constant as the stars, and subsequently
seems content to merely loiter about his protagonists’ nocturnal
lives as they wax philosophical on history, society and humanity.
In Jarmusch’s vampiric world, humans are the mindless monsters
(Adam calls them ‘zombies’), while the mythical bloodsuckers
are highbrow bourgeoisie, composing music (Adam having switched
from classical to rock over the years, with his psychedelic
tunes actually created by Jarmusch’s band SQÜRL) and lazing
about their dilapidated mansions. Here, the vampire is not some
bloodthirsty beast, craving human flesh and sustenance, but
merely a bored immortal, awaiting the collapse of civilization;
with Jarmusch’s meticulous eye and striking compositions, the
end of the world has never looked so stylish.
3.2
-- LE WEEK-END,
Roger Michell
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
A squabbling British couple (played by seasoned vets Jim Broadbent
and Lindsay Duncan) take a weekend trip to Paris to celebrate
their 30th wedding anniversary, desperately trying to save their
on-the-rocks marriage by returning to the site of their honeymoon.
With him worrying about money and her uninterested in rekindling
their waning romance, the pair constantly bicker as they wine
and dine the City of Love, eventually running into an old school
friend of his (Jeff Goldblum); a narcissistic, talkative intellectual,
he invites them to a party for like-minded individuals (read:
academics and artistes) where the couple’s simmering problems
come to a head. In its loose, meandering structure and loquacious,
snarky rapport, the film resembles another ten-years-later sequel
to the Before
Sunrise series, albeit with heightened bitterness and cynicism,
but it’s not so much a pessimistic take on love and aging as
a realistic look at the perils of growing old with someone whom
you simultaneously love and hate. British director Michell (known
on this side of the pond for his frothy romcoms Notting
Hill and Morning Glory) and screenwriter Hanif
Kureishi thus take a delightfully naturalist approach to things,
resulting in a caustic yet genuine tale of aged love.
2.9
-- THE BAG MAN,
David Groivc
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
Jack,
(John Cusak) is a tough, loyal guy who kills when ordered or
when people get in the way of the task at hand -- in this case
-- to pick up a bag and check into room 13 at a seedy motel.
His academically inclined sadistic crime boss has ordered Jack
not to look in the bag and to wait for him to come and get that
bag. But a mysterious street sultry woman (Rebecca Da Costa)
whose life is in danger, gets into his room and hides. This
is when the plot twists and turns, and Jack's plan gets derailed
over and over again, plunging the movie into deeper darkness
and suspense. One moment, Jack needs to get rid of her, the
next she is saving his life. The double twist at the end has
them both coming together with a whole lot of dough in their
pockets. The lies and criminals in the film aren't revealed
until various climaxes. (This film was viewed compliments of
le Superclub Vidéotron, 5000 Wellington in Verdun, Montreal).
2.7
-- THE FAMILY, Luc Besson
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
Robert
De Niro reprises his wise guy persona. He plays Giovanni Manzoni
-- a Mafia murderer who has snitched on his gang of thug friends
in order to gain immunity. He's now under the witness protection
program with his wife and two teenage kids. They have been placed
in a home in a small town in Normandy. But this family can't
let go of their bad habits which means violence is the way to
solve their frustrations. When they can't get what they want
-- decent drinking water, peanut butter and respect at school,
each one, including the kids puts into action what they do best:
beat up people. His FBI ever-watchful agent (Tommy Lee Jones)
is beside himself, as Giovanni -- now called Fred -- keeps drawing
attention to himself through some pretty nasty deeds he's doing
in town. Even his wife Maggie (Michelle Pfeiffer) has her own
match to light when she's cross. The film is very funny, however.
It's a black comedy that cleverly combines great acting with
a dark theme in a light-hearted manner. It's is an original
plot based on an old theme. (This video was viewed compliments
of le Superclub Vidéotron, 5000 Wellington in Verdun, Montreal).
3.8
-- BEARS,
Alastair Fothergill & Keith Scholey
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
Once
again Walt Disney brings us a superb nature film. Set in the
Alaskan wilderness, this feature lets us into the most loveable
grizzly bear family. Sky is the protective mother with her two
cubs Scout and Amber. The mother's single purpose in life is
to get enough fat in order to feed her two cubs during the six-month
winter hibernation. The film tracks this family during the first
year as Sky fends for her new-born cubs. Her quest demands she
with her two cubs walk over steep snow-covered craggy mountains
that are not without their own avalanches. She must also face
territorial bears that covet all the salmon areas which she
tries to reach. On the way she must fend off wolves, the reoccurring
appearance of the great grizzly Magnus who is as hungry as her
family is. She wishes to reach the Golden pond that is brimming
with salmon and that goal is one that nearly gets them all killed
by predators and nature's savage ways that conspire against
this family. Shooting this film was a feat in itself. The cinematography
was exceptional; not a single close-up or angle could have been
better. Never will you think of grizzlies in the same manner.
One would be hard pressed to meet a mother walking on two feet
as brave and caring as Sky. The cubs were utterly adorable and
their personalities were irresistible.
3.4
-- LAST VEGAS,
Jon Tureltaub
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
Hilarious
lines and a very cute story make this comedy a laugh-out-loud
pleasure. Four old-time friends agree to meet up in Los Vegas
for a bachelor party as one of them is getting married. The
kicker is he's marrying a 32-year-old and he's in his 60s --
as they all are. Billy is the dude getting married (Michael
Douglas) and Paddy (Robert de Niro) a widower who really doesn't
want to be there ends up falling for Diane, a nightclub singer
(Mary Steenburgen). Paddy holds a big grudge against Billy for
not showing up at his wife's funeral, and as we later find out,
it was Billy who the deceased wife eally wanted to marry. Anyway,
the plot is funny and touching, but it is the ensemble acting
and witty lines that make this a great film. I love the fact
Diane's character displays disarmingly magnificent moxy; she
has great wit and spars as charmingly as she sings. When you
watch this film, take out your pencil and pad to write down
some of the lines, you'll want to use on your buddies. (This
video was viewed compliments of le Superclub Vidéotron, 5000
Wellington in Verdun, Montreal).
2.6
-- LE WEEK-END,
Roger Michell
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
What
happens when two British highly literate totally opposite people
are about to celebrate their 30th anniversary? They take off
to Paris, of course. Only, what is supposed to be a coming together
of good times ends up on a rather sour note that nonetheless
ties both together as a couple ready to stay together and last
into their 70s face to face. The entire weekend is fraught with
issues between them both. Nick, her husband, is dedicated to
his rather nasty tongued-wife, but most of the time, there are
too many moments of personality clashing and bashing, especially
on the part of restless Meg (Lindsay Duncan). She is bored with
Nick, and wants to change her life completely; she even considers
abandoning Nick who clearly gets on her nerves. They meet Morgan
(Jeff Goldblum), a former student of Nick's who has become a
successful novelist. Nick however, has languished in his philosophy
post at a college where is has just gotten sacked for insulting
a student. He is miserly and miserable about his own life, and
both have a penchant for an enjoy-and-run modus operandi. Things
seem to be heading into grifterhood for them both; on two occasions
they forgo paying a restaurant bill, and after they whack up
an incredible sum for their posh penthouse suite at a stunning
hotel, they simply walk out without paying. In fact, they have
used up all their Euros. The film ends on a rather stagey incredulous
note that has the couple with Morgan dancing in a café -- the
very dance they saw on TV at the hotel. Meg is even wearing
the same hat the girl dancer was wearing. They are hippies and
they are ageing unhappy folks who want to be carefree but are
too caring to be so. These two seem to waffle in between wanting
to be a part of high society and spurning it. The acting was
very good, but I recommend they both get a divorce.
3.8--
CAPTAIN PHILLIPS, Paul
Greengrass
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
An
excellent thriller film that is based on a true event. Every
segment and stage in the film that went into the 2009 Somali
hijacking of the Maersk Alabama ship led by Captain Philips
(Tom Hanks) was covered in great detail and with absolute credibility.
Most exciting was the part when the pirates are trying to get
onto the ship. No amount of hoses spraying tumultuous torrents
of seawater at their little boat nor swerving of the captain's
ship to hit them could stop Muse (Barhad Abdi) and his two Somali.
Nothing was rushed or glossed over for the sake of fast sensational
action. The editing was superb. In this film we find out that
these hijackers have their own unseen boss named Garaad, the
warlord who manipulated these poor fishermen to do the hijacking,
but their take would be considerate. Terrorism on the sea is
illustrated in this marvelous film. I thought the best actor
was Muse's assistant, played by Barkhad Abdirahman. His eyes
displayed the madness that can drive one to commit terrible
acts for money. Captain Phillips was a brave man, and despite
the ordeal continues to be so: he returned to the seas one year
after the event. His leadership was second to none as displayed
by his quick thinking and clever decisions. A film worthy of
the six Oscars it received. (This film was viewed compliments
of le Superclub Vidéotron, 5000 Wellington in Verdun, Montreal).
3.4
-- 12 YEARS
A SLAVE, Steve McQueen
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
This
biopic recreates the twelve painful years endured by Solomon
Northup who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in 1841. Trickery
and terror entrap him forever changing his life and his identity.
A fine violinist and literate, he is known by many, including
the deceitful. He accepts an offer to join a circus with the
promise of receiving a handsome pay by two strangers who entice
him in. He dines with them, and wakes up to find himself in
chains inside a ship on its way to the South. Gone are the days
when he was a free citizen who enjoyed a wonderful life in New
York with his family and children. He ends up having to work
for a brutal man named Epp whose wife is equally heartless.
Whippings, rape and lynching figure in this epic film that paints
the fierce cruelty that Northup and his fellow slaves endured.
Luck finally enters his field of vision. He meets a man named
Bass (Brad Pitt) who arranges his reentry into freedom via a
letter this brave white man writes on his behalf. He along with
all the other slaves are the heroes of this harrowing time in
Southern history. Chwetel Ejiofor did a credible job playing
Northup. The cast was compelling, but the film had some fuzzy
lines of editing and some of the intense scenes delievered dialogue
that seemed theatrical. Inspired by a true story, the impact
of the film's depiction of shame and degradation is one that
the United States, to this day, carries in its collective conscience.
Let's hope the admittance of guilt and the lessons still to
be learned don't disappears into the dustbin of history. (This
film was viewed compliments of le Superclub Videotron, 5000
Wellington, in Verdun, Montreal).
1.4
-- DRAFT DAY,
Ivan Reitman
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
Taking a cue from Moneyball’s
inside baseball approach to present a behind-the-scenes look
at the titular NFL event, this Kevin Costner-headlined sports
drama sees the resurgent actor playing the GM of the Cleveland
Browns, trying to turn around a perpetually losing franchise.
Though not based in fact, it echoes the earlier film’s dramatization
of backroom wheeling-and-dealing and managerial politics, turning
seemingly mundane tasks into the stuff of Hollywood drama; however,
it falls far short of its progenitor, lacking the intelligence
(and savvy scriptwriting of Aaron Sorkin) to successfully pull
it off. Plagued by cringe-worthy expository dialogue, baffling
split-screen overuse, and flashy graphics and logos, the film
resembles a two-hour advertisement for the NFL more than an
actual movie. Furthermore, in its emphasis on clichéd sports
traits such as character and gut feelings over statistics and
actual talent, it feels closer to Clint Eastwood’s grumpy old
man rebuke Trouble with the Curve than anything. If
nothing else, it’s a final death knell for once-noteworthy Canadian
director Reitman, now resigned to making shitty formula pictures
-- quite the fall from Ghostbusters.
3.3
-- THE RAID
2, Gareth Evans
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
Picking up right where the first left off, this martial-arts
sequel expands upon the simple structure and single setting
of its predecessor, becoming a bona fide crime epic complete
with warring mob families, twisted character dynamics and deep-cover
policemen. While this inflates the runtime by almost an hour
over the original, it also allows for a bit of breathing space
in between all the stunningly choreographed fight scenes, making
this sequel seem more like a conventional cops-and-criminals
tale than the video-game atmosphere of the first one. That’s
not to say that the action takes a backseat in this installment;
if anything, Evans outdoes himself this time around, adding
a thrilling car chase to the franchise’s already-impressive
repertoire of hand-to-hand combat. But if Evans the action choreographer
has improved in the three or so years since his last feature,
then Evans the director has taken leaps and bounds, developing
his filmmaking style into something ominous, evocative and deeply
unsettling. The
Raid: Redemption was the consummate action movie, taking
the genre back to basics and excelling within a Spartan framework;
with the fundamentals mastered, then, Evans sets his sights
on something much more ambitious and complex, aiming for the
bigger picture. In this revelatory follow-up, he truly succeeds.
2.7
-- CAPTAIN
AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER, Anthony
& Joe Russo
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
As much a sequel to The
Avengers as the first Captain America, this installment
finds the genetically-enhanced star-spangled soldier working
as an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., the globe-spanning intelligence
agency at the heart of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. When an
attempt is made on director Nick Fury’s life, the Cap becomes
an enemy of the state, teaming up with fellow Avenger Black
Widow to track down the clandestine plotters and their clandestine
plot. Obviously paying tribute to ‘70s conspiracy thrillers
(a connection made explicit by casting Robert Redford as a shadowy
government official), the directing brothers Russo attempt to
strike a similarly paranoid, cloak-and-dagger tone, but the
eventual reliance on large-scale action and brightly lit battles
is less Three Days of the Condor than Transformers.
While the ostensible focus on atmosphere and characters above
spectacle and explosions is admirable, too often the demands
of the Marvel brand and its overarching storyline supplant the
mood of political intrigue, resulting in an uneven work that
mixes concrete contemporary concerns with fanciful imagery.
As post-9/11 social commentary, it’s surprisingly astute (if
unambiguous); as just another superhero blockbuster, it’s disappointingly
mediocre.
2.9
-- AFFLICTED,
Derek Lee & Clif Prowse
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
Two
Canadian friends (directors Lee and Prowse, playing versions
of themselves) embark upon a yearlong globe-trotting vacation,
with one of them filming the trip – via a veritable armory of
camera and equipment – for the stated purpose of video blogging;
when the other is bitten by a vampire and begins to turn into
one, the visual documentation soon becomes necessary as a recording
of events. Thus the found-footage conceit of this latest horror
entry in the ever-growing cinematic form is explained, albeit
not entirely convincingly (on-screen text and graphics betray
the hand of post-production, somewhat dissolving the film’s
illusion); the movie itself is, however, not just another point-of-view
recording of paranormal events, choosing to emphasize the medical
and scientific over the supernatural and mythological. That
doesn’t mean it isn’t suitably scary and visually striking,
though, as the filmmakers take advantage of their concept to
depict abnormal acts and unearthly sights from the simulated
viewpoint of the mythic creature itself. Though hardly the only
vampire movie to present vampirism as a disease with biological
symptoms, it might be the first to attempt to place the viewer
in the visual perspective and psychological mindset of the legendary
bloodsucker, actually making us identify with the monster –
and thus come to terms with the capability for monstrosity within
all of us.
1.2
-- 3 DAYS IN
HAVANA, Gil Bellows & Tony
Pantages
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
An insurance salesman from Vancouver (played by co-writer/director Bellows) gets caught up in an assassination plot in the Cuban capital in this sub-par Canuck noir/comedy, unfortunately just another indication of the dwindling quality of English Canadian cinema. Obviously inspired by both the hard-boiled conspiracy thrillers of the ‘70s and more contemporary twists on the formula (by the Coen Brothers, among others), the film frankly offers nothing new or interesting to the genre, seeming content to recant well-worn narrative tropes and no-longer-shocking plot twists. Even the look of the film is depressingly inferior: a kind of low-grade digital cinematography that would feel right at home amidst the cheap documentaries and local programs on CBC. It’s a sad fact, indeed, that this is the accepted standard for Canadian film outside of Quebec – mediocre knock-offs of Hollywood brands, complete with derivative screenplays and ugly camerawork – but it may also be telling that, instead of trying to develop our own national cinema, we simply ape America’s.
3.4
-- TOM À LA
FERME, Xavier Dolan
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
Quebecois wunderkind Dolan changes gears for his fourth narrative
feature, abandoning the garish melodrama of his Trilogy
of Impossible Love in favour of something more pared down,
suspenseful, and downright Hitchcockian. The young writer/director
himself stars as the eponymous Tom, who travels from Montreal
into the countryside – and the titular farm – for the funeral
of his recently deceased lover; once there, however, he realizes
that not only does his late boyfriend’s mother not know who
he is, but she had no idea that her son was gay. Dolan crafts
a threatening, oppressive atmosphere, one exacerbated by the
arrival of his lover’s brother, a dark, angry man with secrets
of his own and a vicious desire to hide the truth from his mother.
Tom soon becomes wrapped up in a sadistic, violent game, and,
as such, Dolan gradually narrows the aspect ratio of his frame,
visually representing the tightening circumstances of his protagonist;
it’s just this kind of formal brilliance which has made Dolan
one of the premier young filmmakers working today, both in Canada
and around the world.
2.0
-- MEETINGS
WITH A YOUNG POET, Rudy Barichello
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
A series of encounters between a young French-Canadian poet
(Quebecois actor Vincent Hoss-Desmarais) and Nobel Prize-winning
Irish playwright Samuel Beckett (acclaimed Canadian thespian
Stephen McHattie) form the narrative backbone of this low-key
Canuck drama, filmed and partially set in Montreal. Director
Barichello, making his English-language debut (with a large
helping of French), takes an episodic and non-linear approach
to the story, jumping between ‘90s Montreal and ‘60s Paris,
but all this does is kill the momentum of his movie, giving
it a start-and-stop feel. The two actors share a warm chemistry
and witty repartee (in two languages), but that’s about the
only thing the film has going for it; furthermore, background
knowledge of Beckett’s works (especially his French plays) seems
a bit like required reading in order to understand the dense
references and dominant themes of the film, making it a strictly
for-the-fans affair. For the rest of us, unfamiliar with Waiting
for Godot et al., it comes off as rather impenetrable.
3.4
-- NYMPH( )MANIAC,
Lars von Trier
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
Provocateur
extraordinaire von Trier crafts perhaps his most controversial
work to date: a four-hour (split into two parts) odyssey through
one woman’s sexual history, presented as explicitly and unromantically
as possible. Von Trier’s newest muse Charlotte Gainsbourg stars
as the titular nympho Joe, who is found beaten and bloodied
one night by the asexual intellectual Seligman (Von Trier regular
Stellan Skarsgård) and proceeds to recount her entire story
to him. Interruptions and analogies to fly fishing, classical
music and Jesus Christ Himself abound, giving the film a self-deprecatory
pretentiousness that is downright hilarious at times. The Danish
director isn’t so much interested in telling a serious, moralizing
account of the horrors of sexual addiction as he is attempting
to remove the shackles of censorship and repression from society’s
attitudes about sex. Throwing in everything and the kitchen
sink in his valiant attempt to kick-start a frank, open discussion
on the nature and history of human sexuality, von Trier’s ambitious,
sprawling film doesn’t always work, but when it does, it’s staggeringly
brilliant.
2.9
-- DIVERGENT,
Neil Burger
[reviewed
by Samuel Burd]
Neil Burger's dystopian tale for the Twilight
set substitutes block-headed earnestness for originality,
and makes out pretty well with recycled material. In a postwar
future Chicago, a young girl faces a Hogwarts-esque initiation
and discovers that she doesn't fit any of four rigidly defined
societal classes, prompting her to hide her 'divergence' and
join with the 'dauntless' warrior class tasked to protect the
future city against unspecified outside threats. Soon she transitions
to the requisite training montage and meets the requisite brooding
sexy instructor, with whose help she rises through the ranks
before discovering that not everything about the four class
structure is requisitely as it seems. The two leads make eyes
at one another while keeping things PG, and a full-figured Kate
Winslet shows up in a blue suit to prophesy bad things and suggest
a true divergence that the film's pubescent conservatism labours
to suppress. Other attractions include Ashley Judd as the girl's
mother and Maggie Q as a 'dauntless' member with too little
screen-time, who join with Winslet to surround the girl with
an aura of female power as commanding as all the muscle the
male stars can muster.
3.6
-- ENEMY,
Denis Villeneuve
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
Hollywood star Jake Gyllenhaal reteams with his Prisoners
director Villeneuve for this Toronto-set cerebral thriller,
concerning an existentially bored history professor who spots
his doppelgänger in a movie and becomes determined to find the
man. Based upon José Saramago’s novel The Double (not
to be confused with the Dostoyevsky text), it is deeply psychological
and truly creepy, probing the fractured mind of a disturbed
individual with the utmost of style and purpose. Almost Cronenbergian
at times, especially in its T.O. setting and increasingly prevalent
spider motif, but the talented Québécois filmmaker distinguishes
his material well enough, keeping the conventional horror stuff
largely figurative and turning the narrative weird in a less
obvious manner; specifically, by utilizing an endlessly roaming
camera, a deliberately obfuscating editing pattern, and an unsettling
score to set the mood. The result is the kind of abstract puzzle
movie favoured by the likes of Davids Lynch and Cronenberg:
a surreally strange story with no easy answers, one that follows
thematic beats instead of narrative turns, and one that ends
on a horrifying, enigmatic note, not meant to be conveniently
solved.
2.5
-- MR. PEABODY
& SHERMAN, Rob Minkoff
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
Based upon the Peabody’s Improbable
History segments found in the classic animated TV series
The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, this kids flick follows
the time-traveling adventures of the titular bow-tie-wearing
genius beagle and his adopted pet son in their WABAC (or Wayback)
Machine. Successfully adapting the short segments to feature-length
and updating their attitude to contemporary times – while still
maintaining its educational spirit – it is a largely inoffensive
and childish affair, depicting various historical eras (including
Ancient Egypt, the Trojan War, the Renaissance, and the French
Revolution) as colourful, cartoonishly violent periods. Director
Minkoff, well-versed in family-friendly fare (having co-directed
The Lion King, amongst others), keeps the sense of
humour relatively light – with a few notable exceptions. For
jokes regarding decapitation, disembowelment, Oedipus, and Bill
Clinton himself fly fast and furious, likely aimed at parents
and certain to go right over their kids’ heads – a sign of the
film’s misjudged comic tone. However, even more damning is the
film’s frank lack of ambition; it’s amusing enough, but in an
era of Pixar and Miyazaki, it just feels inadequate.
1.7
-- 300: RISE
OF AN EMPIRE, Noam Murro
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
In the pantheon of unnecessary sequels, this follow-up to Zack Snyder’s 2007 sword-and-sandals graphic novel adaptation certainly ranks amongst the most superfluous. Missing both Snyder’s visual flair and star Gerard Butler’s raw charisma, it is a fundamentally flawed affair, continuing a story that seemed finished whilst discarding the one thing the original had going for it – its distinctive look. Untested director Murro aims to mimic Snyder’s slo-mo-heavy approach and comic book stylings, but, frankly, lacks the skill to pull it off, resulting in a muddled collection of incoherent aquatic battle scenes and faux-serious monologuing. It certainly doesn’t help that Australian actor Sullivan Stapleton, filling Butler’s boots as the impossibly buff lead, simply doesn’t have the acting chops or gravitas to pull off his role as heroic Athenian general Themistocles, coming off as wooden and uncompelling – especially when compared to Eva Green’s villainous turn as erotic, ferocious naval commander Artemisia. Butler may not be much of a dramatic actor, but his dominating presence certainly would’ve helped balance the scales here.
2.7
-- MIRACULUM,
Daniel Grou
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
A horrific plane crash connects people of all religious backgrounds
in this highly spiritual Québécois drama, helmed by prolific
director Grou a.k.a. Podz. The ensemble cast of characters includes
a pair of Jehovah’s Witnesses (one of whom played by wunderkind
filmmaker Xavier Dolan) wrestling with their beliefs, an older
couple engaged in a torrid affair, an upper-class husband and
wife dealing with their marital problems in self-destructive
fashion, and two estranged brothers, one of whom wishes to get
his life back on track. Grou weaves the interconnected, non-linear
story (written by Gabriel Sabourin, who also plays the down-on-his-luck
brother) with aplomb, but his overtly religious themes – reflected
in the title – threaten to overwhelm the basic concerns of the
narrative. The use of soaring choral music and soft-focus cinematography,
depicting these struggling figures from an ostensibly God’s-eye
view, borders on self-parodic at times, even if Grou’s ideas
and notions about miracles and the universe’s larger purpose
are deftly handled and thought-provoking. It’s definitely a
striking work, if not an altogether subtle one.
3.4 --
RHYMES FOR YOUNG GHOULS, Jeff
Barnaby
[reviewed
by Samuel Burd]
A
solid entry in the growing corpus of Native Canadian cinema,
Jeff Barnaby's Rhymes for Young Ghouls paints a Native
reservation of the 70s or 80s as an occupied territory, replete
with a population besieged by sadistic agents and marked by
the daily reality of alcoholism and drug use. Some ten years
after a tragedy involving the deaths of her mother and brother
saw her father hauled off to prison, a young Native woman copes
with her father's return and the harassments of the head agent
and prefect of the reservation school, which dwarfs like some
massive asylum or parliamentary building the surrounding land.
Always one step from being locked away, she splits her time
between helping her uncle distribute pot to Natives and visiting
with her grandmother, a woman whose stories and creased leather
skin suggest the cultural memory that haunts the land and takes
shape in the ghosts of the girl's dead family members. Their
presence demands retribution, a call that Ghouls gladly
answers in a virtuoso turn that converts despair to righteous
defiance and salvages an ember of hope in a history all but
snuffed out. Part ghost story, part tale of real perseverance
and suffering, it's also a fantasy of revenge to warm the hearts
of the weary, a fictive history to hand down in place of stories
ripped away.
2.5
-- 3 DAYS TO
KILL, McG
[reviewed
by Samuel Burd]
A diagnosis of terminal cancer sends a CIA hitman home to Paris
to reconnect with his estranged wife and daughter. Promises
are made and quickly broken as a sexy and mysterious CIA agent
shows up dangling an experimental cure and coaxes him out of
retirement to find and kill a non-descriptely European drug
trafficker and his bare-headed albino accomplice. Meanwhile
the hitman finds a family of Mali immigrants squatting in his
apartment and enough humanity to let them stay through the birth
of the patriarch's grandchild, while he splits the rest of his
time between torturing bad guys and teaching his daughter to
ride a bicycle and to dance. The mixture of European locations
and thoughtless brutality only means that this is another film
to which Luc Besson has attached his name, though the moral
repugnancy turns to blandness after passing through McG's most
non-existent of auteur sensibilities. Lacking the perverse drive
that makes a film like Taken
never less than watchable and a script that makes any sense,
Kill banks on Costner's gruff charm, which is somewhere
between the retired alcoholic baseball player from The
Upside of Anger and the stoical, quick-shooting cowboy of
Open Range. In a film designed to be thrown away, the
parts that he recycles are built to last.
0.8
-- 3 DAYS TO
KILL, McG
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
A bizarre collision of various styles and tones informs this
Paris-set action-thriller, produced and co-written by French
craftsman Luc Besson and directed by American hack McG. Kevin
Costner stars as a dying former CIA agent desperate to reconnect
with his estranged wife and daughter when he is offered a potentially
life-saving cure by the agency – specifically, a ridiculous
femme fatale type (Amber Heard) – in return for the stereotypical
One Last Job. While Costner aptly fills the badass requirement
of the aging acting star role usually owned by Liam Neeson,
his Ugly
American routine (proudly declaring “I don’t speak French”
at one point) pales in comparison to Neeson’s transatlantic
charisma, echoing the quality of the rest of the film. Shockingly
inept, with confounding editing, obvious mistakes, and a wildly
inconsistent tone, it appears to have been assembled in the
editing room from a half-dozen different films; part European
existentialism, part American crassness, it’s a Frankenstein’s
monster of a movie that never should have been created.
2.3
-- DEVIL’S
DUE, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin
& Tyler Gillett
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
Another January, another supernatural found-footage horror flick
(the second this month), this time with an overtly satanic twinge
(as opposed to the mere demonism of Paranormal
Activity). These things are a dime a dozen these days, rarely
showing much imagination or indelibility, but it was hoped that
filmmaking duo Bettinelli-Olpin & Gillett, making their
feature debut after their impressively terrifying contribution
to the anthology flick V/H/S, would be able to inject some much-needed
creativity into the subgenre. Alas, ‘twas not to be. The directors
exhibit shockingly little vision in this conventional Rosemary’s
Baby rip-off, always stopping just shy of depicting something
truly scary. Whether inhibited by major studio backing or simply
lacking enough ideas for a full-length film, the pair show little
to indicate they will become major names in the genre, crafting
a disappointingly dull and clichéd demonic child tale that never
really captures the unspeakable terror that the devil’s name
conjures up. And in abandoning the point-of-view conceit that
makes found-footage so popular in the first place, in favour
of a collection of surveillance video feeds, the film begs the
unanswered question: who, if anyone, is assembling this film?
1.5
-- LABOR DA,
Jason Reitman
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
Canadian wunderkind Reitman (son of Ivan) follows his string
of snarky contemporary dramedies (Thank
You For Smoking, Juno, Up in the Air, Young Adult)
with and old-fashioned melodrama, disguised as a coming-of-age
story. Middle-aged Henry Wheeler (voiced and briefly played
by Tobey Maguire) narrates a tale of his thirteenth year, when
a menacing-looking escaped convict (a goateed Josh Brolin) took
him and his lonely mother (Kate Winslet, all nerves and acting
tics) hostage over the titular holiday weekend; of course, love
soon follows, and the convict – revealed to be not-so-menacing
after all – becomes a stand-in father figure for the teenaged
Henry. It’s a ridiculously contrived plot of the highest order,
and though Reitman shoots it prettily (including some wonderfully
impressionistic flashbacks), everything is presented so straightforwardly
and unironically that it’s hard to take any of it seriously.
Classical film melodrama has always had an element of self-awareness,
if not self-deprecation, to its heightened emotional states
and overdone narrative, and that’s something desperately lacking
in this overblown Oedipal tale.
2.6
-- RIDE ALONG,
Tim Story
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
Kevin Hart is probably the funniest man on the planet right
now, or at least the most popular funnyman, and it’s a testament
to his comic abilities that this otherwise lame Training
Day spoof is as funny and watchable as it is. The diminutive
comedian plays a high school security guard/wannabe cop who
wishes to impress his girlfriend’s brother enough for him to
give his blessing to marry her; the latter, a hard-ass Atlantic
police detective (Ice
Cube)
instead offers to take him on the titular act, with the hopes
of scaring him away. Director Story isn’t much of a craftsman,
but he keeps things light and uncomplicated (for the most part),
emphasizing his star’s manic energy and the hilarious juxtaposition
with Cube’s stoic, borderline emotionless, composure. Though
the plot, such as it is, derives from so much cliché it’s practically
a template, and the supporting cast is mostly wasted (especially
Saturday Night Live MVP Jay Pharaoh as a random street thug),
Hart brings enough laughs via his off-the-wall, improvisational
style that it’s at least an enjoyable buddy-cop comedy, if not
a particularly memorable one.
2.7
-- JIMMY P.,
Arnaud Desplechin
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
Linguistic
chameleon Benicio Del Toro adopts the distinctive cadence and
intonation of Native Americans to play the titular Plains Indian,
a Blackfoot who returns from WWII fighting with a traumatic
head injury and seemingly unrelated migraine headaches. French
actor Mathieu Amalric also stars as pioneering ethno-psychologist
Georges Devereux, who begins to treat Jimmy at the famous Winter
Hospital in Topeka, Kansas and whose book the screenplay is
based upon. Director Desplechin, making his English-language
debut, depicts Jimmy P.’s backstory in a non-linear and abstract
fashion, including some impressionistic Freudian dream sequences,
but his visual style is much too flat and plain to successfully
convey the confusion and wonder of thought and memory. For his
part, Del Toro is predictably great, imbuing his underwritten
character with warmth and empathy, but the film’s frequently
to focus on Devereux’s womanizing, unorthodox doctor shifts
the importance away from Jimmy, ironically lessening his impact
in the film named for him.
3.4
-- THE WIND
RISES, Hayao Miyazaki
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
Apparently the last film for Japanese animation master Miyazaki (although he’s said that before), this is somewhat of a departure from his prior fantastical works, as it tells the dramatized life story of Jiro Horikoshi, the engineer who designed the fighter planes used by the Empire of Japan during World War II. The director (mostly) avoids controversy by showing none of the war and making Jiro a regretful figure, while still using whimsical elements and fantasy sequences – trademarks of his oeuvre – to help tell the largely fictional tale. In a way, though the film is clearly unique amongst Miyazaki’s work, it almost feels like an encapsulation of the themes and ideas he has wrestled with throughout his career, using the story of a man who dreams and imagines his inventions before building them – not unlike what Miyazaki does – to pose questions of art, creativity, and legacy. Jiro wants to be remembered for his achievements long after he’s gone, and seemingly so does Miyazaki; thus, as the director’s ostensible final film, it is also perhaps his most important.
3.2
-- THE LEGO
MOVIE, Phil Lord & Chris
Miller
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
What was originally thought to be a depressing emblem of cinematic
commercialism and diminishing originality turns out to be a
clever and hilarious riff on Hollywood blockbusters – not surprising
when one learned of the résumé of co-directors Lord & Miller
(they also turned Cloudy
with a Chance of Meatballs and 21 Jump Street from
conceptually bad ideas into pretty good movies). Instead of
crassly and soullessly shilling the titular toy, the duo take
a self-aware (and self-reflexive) approach, thumbing their nose
at their corporate overlords even while selling their product
perfectly. Co-opting the traditional hero narrative, but then
undercutting and rewriting it at every turn, the pair strive
to make a statement on the very nature of creativity in art,
simultaneously crafting a film that is both commercial and unconventional.
Only a final-act stumble, in which the implicit self-consciousness
is made explicit and therefore loses some of its impact, prevents
the movie from reaching greatness; for most of the time, though,
this is animated merchandising done right.
0.8
-- ROBOCOP,
José Padilha
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
Paul Verhoeven’s 1987 satirical sci-fi masterpiece gets its
inevitable 21st century reboot, following the Total
Recall rehash of a couple years ago; however, unlike that
generic, uninventive remake, a fair chunk of the original’s
effect and spirit is maintained, even if Brazilian director
Padilha (known for his Elite Squad crime duology) ultimately
comes up short. Re-focusing the target of satire from ‘80s apathy
and excess to contemporary imperialism, militarism and blind
patriotism, Padilha’s approach is much angrier and more self-righteous
than Verhoeven’s absurd comedic tone, but that seems likely
due to our more divisive times. Where he does falter is narratively,
as the straightforward set-up (a Detroit cop is nearly killed
by a car bomb and rebuilt into the titular cyborg) eventually
degenerates into a convoluted climax with ambiguous villains
and baffling motivations. While it’s admirable and even reflective
that there is no clear-cut bad guy, the film’s cathartic conclusion
seems to indicate otherwise, and its further suggestion that
some kind of universal wrong has been righted is out of touch
with not only the film’s own themes, but real-world sentiment
as well.
2.4
-- BELLE ET
SÉBASTIEN, Nicolas Vanier
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
The popular 1960s French children’s novel and subsequent TV series finally arrives on the big screen, allowing the titular orphaned boy and his adopted Pyrenean Mountain Dog to reach a whole new generation of fans. To its family-friendly tale of childhood loneliness and newfound friendship in a small mountain village, though, director Vanier has added a distinctly historical sensibility, setting his film in 1943 and shifting the mountain location from the Pyrenees to the Alps, specifically the French-Swiss border (rendering the dog’s breed somewhat illogical). Not only does this allow him to use everybody’s favourite bad guys, the Nazis, as his cartoonishly evil villains, but it also lends his simplistic story an air of feigned importance that would be lacking otherwise. Regardless, it remains merely a kids movie with serious aspirations, as actual Nazi atrocities are whitewashed in favour of bread-stealing and merely threatening, allowing Belle and Sébastien to easily defeat them. The result is a satisfying but pedestrian affair, where even a third-act reveal of the stereotypical Good German can’t grant the black-and-white tone any ambiguous shades of grey.
3.0
-- POMPEII,
Paul W.S Anderson
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
Vulgar auteur Anderson indulges his inner Emmerich for this
disaster flick, depicting the final days of the eponymous Roman
resort town and the subsequent cataclysmic eruption of Mt. Vesuvius
with the requisite fire, ash and brimstone. Before the tragic
ending, though, he presents a narrative mash-up of Titanic
and Gladiator, focusing on a Celtic slave (Game
of Thrones star Kit Harrington) who falls for a Pompeii
princess (Emily Browning) even while seeking vengeance against
the Roman senator (Kiefer Sutherland, taking after his father)
who murdered his family; a story indeed worthy of Ridley Scott
or James Cameron. However, Anderson seems less interested in
the broad strokes of this ill-fated romance than in the small
details and odd perversities of a doomed civilization, counting
on the audience’s existing knowledge of the sword-and-sandals
subgenre to fill in the blanks; but, for his part, the director
still gives us what we came for: wanton destruction, fluid action
and CGI-enhanced visuals. The 3D is pretty wonky, as expected,
and the dialogue is nothing to write home about, but as far
as B-movie genre entertainment goes, it’s hard to beat Anderson’s
use of spatial geography and slow-motion choreography. Vulgar?
Perhaps. Elegant? Definitely.
3.3
-- OMAR,
Hany Abu-Assad
[reviewed
by Samuel Burd]
After
participating in an act of violent resistance involving the
shooting of an Israeli solider, a young Palestinian man (Omar)
is arrested by Israeli authorities, tortured, and released with
the mandate to inform on the friend who pulled the trigger.
He quickly disregards the mandate and lands back in prison only
to be re-released with the same mandate, distrusted now by Israeli
intelligence as well as his Palestinian friends, one of whom
leads the resistance movement and happens to have a sister with
whom Omar is in love. Soon a kind-eyed and cold-hearted Israeli
official begins threatening violence against the sister, and
Omar finds himself caught between allegiance to his friends
and the fear of losing the woman he loves. Everything reaches
pitch-levels as the possibility of a traitor enters the mix,
yet the melodrama is consistently brought to earth by the film's
brutal portrait of Israeli occupation, which lends a familiar
story a sense of topicality and daring. That this daring is
not more shocking is another indication that damning views of
Israeli war crimes are increasingly palatable in the mainstream
today, yet the most affecting scene in the film is among the
least literally violent: chained and beaten, Omar stands before
the desk of the cold-hearted Israeli intelligence official who
breaks from the business of Omar's incarceration to answer a
call from his wife about his nagging mother. The balance of
the horrific and the mundane will be familiar to anyone raised
under the spectre of Nazi horror, and though "Omar" uses its
protagonists's desperation as a way to read the desperation
of a people, it is this subtler comparison, and interaction,
that seems more believable, and more terrifying.
2.3
-- JIMMY P:
PSYCHOTHERAPY OF A PLAINS INDIAN, Arnaud
Desplechin
[reviewed
by Samuel Burd]
In
the waning days of World War II, a Native American veteran (Benicio
Del Toro) enters a progressive psychiatric facility seeking
a cure for powerful and inexplicable bouts of blindness. There
he begins treatment with a psychiatrist-ethnographer who is
inexplicably fascinated with native culture and mysteriously
closed about his own past, which somehow involves France and
perhaps his being persecuted as a Jew. A lot of talk involving
incidents of childhood abuse and betrayal follow, all involving
women, and a few Blackfoot words are thrown back and forth,
but otherwise the film has no interest in native culture and
all the interest in the world in Del Toro's native accent, which
commands most of its energy and attention. Otherwise a WASPY
female love interest shows up to dispel any homosexuality the
doctor's flamboyance and effeminacy might suggest, while the
film's central scenes of doctor-patient dialogue manage to avoid
the 'who's treating whom' cliche only to replace it with a moderately
offensive mixture of Freudian dream analysis and a vaguely native
symbology of animals and spirit guides. It gets old fast, but,
like Del Toro's accent, sounds fine in the moment.
1.6
-- JACK RYAN:
SHADOW RECRUIT, Kenneth Branagh
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
The Cold War’s ostensibly been over and done with for more than
two decades now, but that hasn’t stopped those pesky Russkies
from making trouble for our favourite fictional action heroes
in the intervening time. Following the unfortunate lead of last
year’s Russia-set A
Good Day to Die Hard, this fifth installment in the adventures
of the late Tom Clancy’s most celebrated spy (rebooted once
again and now played by Captain Kirk himself, Chris Pine) travels
to Moscow, but not before telling the topically tragic backstory
of our fearless Dr. Ryan, shaken by 9/11 and shot down in Afghanistan.
Indeed, such time is spent on this drawn-out introduction that
the film’s proper narrative is chopped to ribbons and rushed
to conclusion, even forgetting to truly establish director/co-star
Branagh’s cartoonish villain, some kind of Russian banking miscreant.
In fact, the plot’s focus on financial terrorism (mixed in with
traditional acts of bombing) seems to retroactively blame the
Former Soviet Union for the Wall Street crash, absolving heroic
American financiers of their crimes. It’s somewhat reassuring
to know that, after all these years, it’s still all Russia’s
fault.
0.4
-- THE NUT
JOB, Peter Lepeniotis
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
Dredging up the bottom of the barrel of animation, Canadian
director Lepeniotis’ first full-length feature (an adaptation
of his 2005 short Surely
Squirrel) is predictably awful and unfunny, set in Manhattan
during the bizarrely specific fall of 1959 and concerning a
motley crew of wild animals collecting food for the coming winter.
Aiming for similarly themed Over the Hedge seems even too high
a mark, let alone other furry flicks Ratatouille and
Fantastic Mr. Fox; the plot, as evidenced by the title,
involves a nut heist, coincidentally occurring simultaneously
with a film noir-esque bank robbery. It’s a curious thing, with
a typical children’s film narrative laid right over top of the
grown-up dramatic story it’s aping, but any ironic juxtaposition
is overcome by the sheer atrocity of it all. Singular moments
briefly interest, but are soon drowned out; likewise, adult
themes of desperate survival and the evils of democracy are
largely supplanted by generic platitudes of ‘heroism’ and ‘sharing’
– a not-so-subtle socialist message, for kids! While the recognizable
celebrity voices of Will Arnett, Katherine Heigl, Brendan Fraser
and Liam Neeson inhabit various woodland creatures, the most
heinous use of pop culture in the film is the anachronistic
use of Gangnam Style, a fad now two years out of date;
a feeble attempt at topicality and relevance if ever there was
one.
2.1
-- PARANORMAL
ACTIVITY: THE MARKED ONES, Christopher
Landon
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
A
spinoff from, rather than a direct sequel to, the dirt-cheap,
insanely profitable found-footage horror franchise, this installment
forgoes the static surveillance footage and upper-middle-class
McMansions of its predecessors in favour of gritty, handheld
camerawork and a working-class apartment complex – a formal
decision owing, at least partially, to the film being gearing
toward the Latino market. Hewing therefore closer to other,
more conventional films of the sub-genre, it seems to lack the
deliberate patience and attention to detail that distinguishes
this series, even as it continues the deepening and darkening
of the complex mythology, adding magical superpowers and mystical
time portals to the already-bizarre mix of possessed children,
demonology and witch covens. Still, the scares and set-pieces
remain grimly effective, although the shaky-cam does much to
soften their blow; gone is the slow buildup and truly earned
frights of the earlier films, replaced by jump scares and quick
blows. If nothing else, it’s a sign that all things must regress
to the mean, and that even this Latino-targeted edition is not
immune from white-bread tastes.
2.6 --
ANCHORMAN 2: THE LEGEND CONTINUES,
Adam McKay
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
The long-awaited, much-anticipated sequel to the 2004 newsroom
comedy-turned-cult classic finally arrives, with Will Ferrell,
Steve Carell, Paul Rudd and David Koechner reprising their roles
as the moronic Channel 4 News Team. This time, the team is relocated
from 1970s San Diego to 1980 New York City to become part of
the first 24-hour news channel in history; however, as in the
first one, the plot is merely a loose structure on which to
hang a series of increasingly random skits and non-sequiturs.
Despite a few inspired moments of social commentary, mostly
relating to notions of modern cable news, the film is largely
a collection of sketches and tangents – some much more funny
than others – all leading up to a cameo-laden climax that aims
to top the original’s infamous news-team, parking-lot showdown.
Though the sheer quantity and quality of famous people present
clearly outrank the relatively modest assemblage of the first
one, there is nonetheless something amiss comically; it’s almost
as if, in their desire to cater to overgrown expectations, the
filmmakers simply tried too hard.
3.2
-- WHITEWASH,
Emanuel Hoss-Desmarais
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
Something of a rarity – an English-language Quebecois film –
this slow-burn thriller/character study is shot and set in the
dense forests of the Laurentides during a tremendous blizzard.
American character actor Thomas Haden Church, best known for
his Oscar-nominated turn in Sideways,
stars as Bruce, an alcoholic snowplow driver who accidentally
hits and kills a man during the aforementioned snowstorm. As
Bruce heads for the woods to hide out, growing more despondent
and desperate by the day, a series of flashbacks reveal what
really happened between Bruce and his victim (played by Quebecois
actor Marc Labrèche). First-time feature filmmaker Hoss-Desmarais,
a former commercial director, masterfully captures the bleak
and unforgiving frigidity of Canadian winters while simultaneously
presenting a stark portrait of a man slowly unraveling, and
Church, for his part, is terrific, utilizing every one of his
acting tics to portray a man who finds his world crumbling around
him. Though the film’s darkly comic tone recalls the work of
the Coen Bros. (specifically Fargo) and their offshoots,
Hoss-Desmarais takes things to an even more bitterly cold degree,
capping things off with a tone-perfect final line.
2.2
-- DALLAS
BUYERS CLUB, Jean-Marc
Vallée
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
The AIDS crisis of the 1980s is depicted with unflinching
realism in this by-the-numbers biopic of Ron Woodruff, a
homophobic Texan cowboy fond of unprotected sex and intravenous
drugs. When diagnosed with HIV in 1985, though, he becomes
a crusader for gay men and transsexuals alike, creating
a ‘buyers club’ of unapproved drugs and untested remedies
to combat the fatal illness, subsequently putting him at
odds with doctors, pharmaceutical companies and the FDA.
Matthew McConaughey, continuing his career renaissance,
lost 50 lbs. to play the gaunt Woodruff, and Jared Leto,
in his first film in six years, adopts a similar look to
play Rayon, a transgender woman and fellow AIDS patient
who becomes Woodruff’s partner; apart from these two impressive
performances, however, there’s nothing particularly noteworthy
about this work, as it portends to be little more than one
(white, straight) man’s experience with the disease. Twenty
years after Philadelphia broke down walls and transgressed
borders with its depiction of an HIV-infected gay man, it’s
somewhat disheartening to see how little we’ve accomplished.
4.0--
DALLAS BUYERS CLUB, Melisa Wallack
[reviewed by Nancy Snipper] A gritty biopic on the equally gritty man,
Ron Woodroof, an AIDS sufferer. The film tracks his steel-like
determination to give away -- via smuggling from various
countries which he personally travels -- the best non-toxic
cocktail of vitamins and more, including Interferon that
proves to stop the virus from accelerating so rapidly,
while prolonging a life to be lived in comfort. Matthew
McCaughney was devastatingly brilliant in the role. This
movie shows the evil collusion of the FDA with drug companies,
even though there is a better immediate remedy for AIDS
patients that would obliterate many of the drug companies
producing AZT. On the way, Ron tries to expose this fact.
He opens up his office to help other victims with the
help of a transvestite named Rayon (Jared Leto), who becomes
his invaluable assistant and friend. She has AIDS, too.
When Ron discovers that AZT is in fact killing AIDS patients
-- he learns this first-hand, this is where the bull-riding
cowboy really digs in his heels. He risks all to get at
minimum cost non-chemical meds that are non-toxic, along
with Interferon to replace AZT. Ron Woodroof was a hero
-- driven to help himself and all who suffer from AIDS.
McCaughney and Leto make an extraordinary acting team.
3.0 --
LA GRANDE BEAUTE (LA GRANDE
BELLEZZA), Paolo Sorrentino
[reviewed
by Samuel Burd]
Intimations of mortality steadily accrue in Le
Grande Beaute, a tale of la dolce vita that begins
with an Asian tourist dropping dead in Rome. This bit
of wish fulfillment for natives whose lives otherwise
embody wishes aborted or half-realized leads us to the
film’s eponymous Mastroianni figure, a one-time novelist
and sometimes journalist of high culture who spends his
afternoons haunting the Roman streets and his evenings
partying with his fellow middle-aged and moderately depressed
intellectual cohorts, all the while pining for a lost
love and remarking with bemusement the second novel he
has failed for 30 years to convince himself to write.
This pattern is thrown into question when he learns that
his past love is dead and had loved him all along, triggering
a buried sense of lost possibility and bringing intimations
of approaching death to a boil, as one disturbed character
kills himself and another dies of an undisclosed disease.
All of this is conveyed in bright colors and swooping
camera movements which suggest the clarity and liveliness
with which the writer views a world that he cannot allow
himself to channel into words. Yet it is the one exception
to the parade of hues and eloquent, attractive middle-agers
-- an ancient, silent, toothless nun -- that gives weight
to those hints of mortality, arriving in the film’s final
minutes, all papery skin and brittle bones, to say everything
that the film and its writer-hero are too enamoured with
stimulation to say about life, death, struggle and beauty.
3.8 --
LONE SURVIVOR, Peter
Berg
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
Based
on a true, terrifying story of a navy SEAL band of four
men who are on a mission to eradicate Shah, the Taliban
leader of a high-level al-Qaeda operative living in a
mountainous village in Afghanistan. The men seek high
ground under tree cover in the rocky cliffs overlooking
the village where Shah is spotted by them. However, things
go wrong. Goats led by some Taliban herders stumble upon
the group who is hiding out in the mountain. The band
of brave heroes captures them and ties them up. A soft
decision is made; it is based on doing no harm to unarmed
enemies, so the SEALS do not kill them. Two from the group
disagree and feel they should be shot. The men's kindness
sounded their death knoll. Of course, they are found out,
discovered, outnumbered and slaughtered as they receive
riddles of machine gun holes in their bodies. All eventually
succumb except one -- Marcus Luttrell (real author of
the first-person memoir of the book who supervised the
movie.) The film assiduously follows the tragic events
that included wrong decisions by the men in the mountains
and at ground level operations. In fact, the men were
left stranded for a long time. When Luttrell (Mark Wahlberg)
hides out, a Pashtun villager named Gulab finds Luttrell
who is at death's door. Gulab risks his life and that
of the villagers to bring Luttrell back to health while
hiding him. There is a 2000-year-old code of the Pashtunweli
that dates back to the pre-Islamic era. It commands aid
for a person in dire need from his enemies, Unfortunately,
the Taliban murderers find him, and are about to decapitate
Lutrell, when this heroic man who found him shoots the
would-be murderer. But they are undaunted, and return
to basically massacre the entire village. Luttrell is
rescued in time by the Americans. So much suspense ending
in tears by those watching this film. Brave, brave brilliant
men whose lives lasted as long as each one of these fighting
brothers protected one another. Their dedication has been
posthumously honoured by the bestowment of medals and
the making of this astounding movie. The film gave a vivid
face to the names of each who lost their lives. Their
stories are now told, and we shall not forget them. I
am sure the book is equally brilliant.
1.4 --
AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY,
John Wells
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
A veritable who’s who of Oscar winners and heavy-hitters
populate the cast of this stage adaptation, led by the
twin female titans of modern American acting: Meryl Streep
and Julia Roberts. Scripted by Tracy Letts from his stage
play and directed, simply and ably, by TV veteran Wells,
it is an unsurprisingly theatrical affair, chronicling
a few days in the life of a dysfunctional, volatile family
in rural Oklahoma. Weighty topics and themes abound, ranging
from simple concerns of life and death to more disturbing
content such as adultery, incest, and pedophilia; however,
all are covered with the same melodramatic and histrionic
tone. Nearly every performer is give the opportunity to
overact and, as trained thespians, they are more than
willing – perhaps none more than Streep, who ages herself
quite a bit to play the nasty, domineering matriarch Violet,
verbally attacking her three daughters and swilling back
handfuls of pills. It’s undoubtedly a showy, exaggerated
performance, suiting the demands of the story, and yet
it feels entirely too big for the screen, as if the sheer
monstrosity of her character can only be played on stage,
not captured on film.
4.0 --
AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY,
John Wells
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
An incredible tour de force drama created by the star-studded
cast. Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Juliette Lewis and
more familiar faces who make up this excruciatingly abusive
family which is led by man-hating matriarch meanie, Violet
(Streep) who happens to have mouth cancer -- but she continues
to chain smoke. Streep masterfully plays a drug-taking
terrifically horrid mother whose acerbic tongue lashes
out at every moment. This family has secrets and when
they come out, all hell breaks loose. Each of the three
daughters joins in their parents' train wreck as their
own tattered lives leave each of them derailed on a lonely
track. They come together at the beginning of the film,
meeting up in their mother's hot and humid home in Osage
County, situated in one of Oklahoma's vast plains. They
are going to go to their father's funeral, and this is
where the film's drama unfolds. Much in the line of playwright,
Eugene O'Neil's: Long
Day's Journey into Night, the worst interaction of
these foul-mouthed, nasty women takes place around the
dinner table post-funeral. The dinner ends in an intense
scene in which Barbara, the oldest of the three daughters
(played by Roberts) and her mother get into an on-the-floor
cat fight: Barbara is intent on wrestling mom's pills
out of her rigid grip. Roberts plays anger very well,
and Streep -- well - there are no words to describe her
gut-wrenching gift. The plot is riveting as it covers
every dark corner that aberrant people hide in, and in
the case of this family -- they eventually expose themselves
for all to see: incest, drug and alcohol addiction, adultery
and divorce. Tthe entire two hours is a piece of movie
magic that one rarely sees coming out of Hollywood.
3.5
-- MANDELA:
LONG WALK TO FREEDOM, Justin
Chadwick
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
This
significant film realistically captures the long journey involving
several sacrifices -- including 27 years in prison which resulted
in the loss of self-determination, both personally and for his
people for too many years. It shows through archival photographs
and film clips the horrid violence that continued in places
like Sharpeville and Capetown when Mandela was in prison and
even after the AMC party reached an agreement with the governing
power. It portrays the brutality and fear of South Africa's
whites treating blacks with ongoing degradation -- a way of
life which was built into the political law of the country itself.
Nelson Mandela had a single purpose in mind simply and eloquently
embodied in most of his speeches; he always stressed his insistence
that his people must obtain power in order to self-govern. At
times, he resorted to aggressive acts, but only those that targeted
empty buildings -- this at the beginning of his political involvement
when he was young and wanted to capture attention of whites
to show them that blacks could not take anymore oppression and
outright murder by the police, including the murder of women
and children. Passbooks were burned by blacks with their leader
setting an example. Mandela played a clever game with the rulers
when power was finally passed onto the AMC and he became President.
He was a brave man who miraculously obtained what he worked
for even while in prison. His wife Winnie made her own kind
of sacrifices, and time in prison she was subjected to torture
and suffered loss of self. She came out a changed, angry woman
who opted for violence rather than the peace Mandela urged and
sought for his people. Ultimately, he rejected her. This film
ought to be viewed by everyone who needs to see what it takes
to be a hero in the making.
3.0
-- AMERICAN
HUSTLE, David O. Russell
[reviewed
by Pat Allen]
"American
Hustle," the new film from David O. Russell, tells the story
of two New York con artists, Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale)
and Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams), as they are forced to help an
FBI agent (Bradley Cooper) entrap a New Jersey mayor (Jeremy
Renner). Despite fantastic costumes, music and setting, the
often-sluggish pace of "American Hustle" never seems to match
the trashy, excessive lifestyle of its characters. Overly long
and predictable, the film manages to find charm in its great
soundtrack, humour and stellar performances all around (especially
so from Jennifer Lawrence). This is not an exceptional film
but it is the most coherent and worthwhile film from a director
who has previously received enormous praise for much lesser
efforts.
3.5 --
INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS,
Joel & Ethan Coen
[reviewed
by Pat Allen]
Inside
Llewyn Davis, the newest film from Joel and Ethan
Coen (Oh Brother Where Art Thou, No Country for Old
Men), starts with a tired plea for death and then
follows a man who can't take leave of his miserable life.
Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac) is a talented folk singer in
the early 1960s, unwilling to simply 'exist' but unable
to get his career off the ground. The film trails Llewyn
on a mildly Odyssean journey (with a feline companion
named Ulysses) through a slate-grey New York as he tries
to launch his career and give himself something to live
for. Rich with yearning folk music, the Coen Brothers'
sardonic humour, and a fantastic supporting cast (including
Carey Mulligan, John Goodman, F. Murray Abraham and Justin
Timberlake) Inside Llewyn Davis is a patient
chronicle of a nowhere man looking for anything to call
his own.
3.6 --
WALKING WITH DINOSAURS,
Barry Cook & Neil Nightingale
[reviewed by Nancy Snipper] Patchi is a puny Pachyrhinosaurus
-- the runt of the litter but as he grows up to defend his
huge herd, he becomes a dynamic hero. The film introduces
all kind of dinosaurs who lived 70 million years ago during
the Cretaceous Period in present-day Alaska. The characters
and their wit along with the somewhat convoluted plot are
great in this movie, but this obvious blockbuster is definitely
for kids. The special effect were superb, and the story a
typical one of good versus evil heroism.
2.6 --
FROZEN, Chris
Buck & Jennifer Lee
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
Following the grand success of 2010’s Tangled,
Walt Disney Animation Studios returns to the great well
of fairy tales for their latest feature, this time loosely
adapting Hans Christian Anderson’s The Snow Queen.
However, co-writers and directors Buck and Lee forgo the
traditional Disney narrative of good vs. evil in favour
of a more complicated and mature story of two princess
sisters, one destined to be queen, who are separated when
the eldest one’s magical freezing powers grow out of control.
Even though the archetypal elements of a handsome prince,
a comedic sidekick and an adventure quest are all present,
the story lacks a true villain, making the narrative feel
lopsided and turning the main plot problem into more of
a misunderstanding than a real danger; while this deviation
from the norm would usually be welcomed, in this case
it has the unwanted side effect of making the entire film
feel rather low-stakes and meaningless. Still, there’s
a lot to like about the movie, from the impressive voice
cast to the plentiful humour to the enjoyable musical
numbers (even if they border on too many), so perhaps
a trivial narrative can be forgiven.
1.8
-- OLDBOY,
Spike Lee
[reviewed
by Daniel Charchuk]
Director
Lee’s remake (or, in his words, ‘reinterpretation’) of Korean
filmmaker Park Chan-wook’s 2003 revenge thriller is predictably
redundant and unneeded, making minimal changes to the narrative
(apart from the necessary Americanization) and succeeding only
in increasing the violence over the already-brutal original.
Considering the cult status of that film, even when factoring
in the foreign language, it’s unclear why some thought a Hollywood
remake would be successful or even wanted, as the disturbing
content matter further limits an already small audience. Still,
on the whole, it’s not much of a downgrade from the overpraised,
too-solemn Korean version (itself based upon a Japanese manga)
and there’s a kind of gleeful nihilism to the extreme violence
this time around, but in its recreation of the original’s most
famous scenes – the hammer fight, the twist ending – it plays
more like a parody than a remake, forgoing self-seriousness
for pitch-black comedy.
3.5
-- MAN OF STEEL, Zack Snyder
[reviewed by Nancy Snipper] An extremely thoughtful approach given to
this timeless story. The film is dedicated to our Superman
hero, graphically telling what happened on Krypton and
how his father and mother saved their precious baby (Superman)
from obliteration as the kryptonite energy was dwindling
on their planet, then was harvested only to implode. But
an evil man groomed to protect the planet lets no one
stand in his way, as he knows it will soon not exist unless
he can get hold of the Codex which evidently contains
the magic needed to regenerate the plane. He is captured
however after he kills and attacks those in power, including
baby Superman's dad. He sent into frozen encapsulation
as punishment, as are his fellow fighters. It all sound
silly but it works. Leap light years forward, and we see
Cal (his real Krypton name) as a school kid saving those
around him. His father does not want his son to tell the
world of his powers, and this is a major theme in the
film. Cal grows up to fight the return of the evil man
who is intent on repopulating earth with his fellow Krpytons.
He hunts down Cal with the intention of killing him; Cal
wants to save Earth, and the muscle-bound all powerful
anti-hero wants to use Earth as his breeding ground. The
Lois figure is introduced and the film does end with the
two heroes getting together. Cal, now Clarke, dawns on
those famous pair of glasses to start incognito in his
new job at the Daily Planet newspaper working alongside
Louis. Henry Cavell does a valiant job playing Superman,
and newbies and old timers alike will like him. The epic
story is most enjoyable. Lots of fantastic special effects,
but the fighting scenes go on too long. I enjoyed far
more the human part of the story -- the first hour of
this sophisticated 142-minute-long intriguing blockbuster.
(The movie was viewed compliments of le Superclub Vidéotron,
5000 Wellington in Verdun, Montreal).
![Canadian Tire Repair Scam [2211 boul Roland-Therrien, Longueuil] = documents-proofs](../2010_v9_n5/images/mapleleaf.jpg)
