Tag: Movie Review

Arrival

Rated: MArrival

Directed by: Denis Villeneuve

Screenplay by: Eric Heisserer

Based on the story: “Story of Your Life” written by Ted Chiang

Starring: Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker and Michael Stuhlbarg.

Without giving too much away, Arrival is a unique movie experience where language is viewed as more than communication; where learning a different language changes our neural pathways to change the way we see, feel and think.

Director, Denis Villeneuve has given his Midas touch to a film that really could have fallen flat.

With the space ships, or Shells in the sky used as the only marketing tool,  I admit, I was worried.

But Arrival had a unique flavour that bent the mind in unexpected ways.

Dr. Louise Banks (Amy Adams) is a linguist contracted by the US government to attempt communication and translation of alien language.  With 12 Shells hovering over cities across the globe, each country attempts to figure out the purpose of the aliens’ visit.

I know, I know, not another alien movie.  But Arrival isn’t just an alien film.  The word, ‘alien’ was used once with Dr. Banks asking, ‘am I the only one using this word?’

And that gives you an idea of the beauty of this film.  There was a distinct lack of drivel.

I love how Villeneuve can get you right up with the characters, to feel the tension and emotion.

Anxiety is shown so well in this film.  And Amy Adams is to be commended.  Her strength, intelligence and femininity shone – Denis making the most of Amy’s blue-eyed goodness.  The insight Villeneuve has managed to show of Dr. Bank’s character is astounding.  If only for this aspect, I enjoyed the film.  Then combine the incredible story, soundtrack and pace with that extra flavour that makes the characters so believable, you’ve got a winning film.

The real surprise for me was Jeremy Renner as the physicist, Ian Donnelly.  I admit I’m not a fan of Renner.  He has played so many cringe worthy characters, I shudder to think.  But in the role of Ian Donnelly, and handled with the skill of Villeneuve, this quiet, thoughtful character resonated well as a support to Dr. Louise Banks.

This isn’t an action film, nor your typical sci-fi, and Arrival isn’t scary.  But the subtleties and suspense of the story kept me completely absorbed.

Arrival isn’t so much an alien film as an exploration into language and how it affects our view of the world.

The Accountant

Rated: MA 15+The Accountant

Directed by: Gavin O’Connor

Screenplay: Bill Dubuque

Starring: Ben Affleck, Anna Kendrick, J. K. Simmons, Jon Bernthal, Jean Smart, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Jeffrey Tambor and John Lithgow.

Based on a screenplay written by Bill Dubuque, The Accountant is one complicated, cracker of a story: flash backs, fight scenes, number crunching montages, loud shots from military grade riffles to the quiet of an accounting office to the chink of cutlery in a jail cafeteria; wry humour, Crime Enforcement agents to stone cold killers to the dynamics family.  All combined with the overriding discussion of autism.

There was so much going on it was hard to keep a handle on all the threads.

On the one hand, this is a character driven story about family and autism; on the other, The Accountant is an action-packed crime thriller.

Chris Wolff (Ben Affleck) is an accountant, but not your everyday H&R Block style, CPA certified accountant – Chris is a high functioning autistic who’s a savant when it comes to numbers.  He also works for drug dealers and assassins; criminals who call in a guy who’s clean and can uncook their books to find any missing money.

With heat coming from the Treasury Department’s Crime Enforcement Division, Chris needs an above-board job.  He needs to get under the radar.  So when a job to find missing funds from a robotics company comes up, his handler sends him to meet Lamar Black (John Lithgow).  But there’s more going here than the ordinary.  And Chris shows himself to be more than an accounting whiz – he’s an autistic action hero.

I was pleasantly surprised by the attention to sensory detail: colours of paintings, an eye disappearing through a crack in a door that’s slowly closing; flashes of light and loud music…

Epileptics with a photic sensitivity be warned: the flashing light is bright and about 3Hz – a dangerous but effective addition to the film.  But yeah, there should be a warning here!

So, the sensors were certainly entertained and the association with autism and the effect of sensory stimulation on the character were cleverly worked into the story.  What I did miss was Ben Affleck’s cheeky grin.  There’s a deadpan humour that works well, but the constant blank face of Chris felt a bit forced.  People with autism do smile.

I really wanted to love this film as I’m always looking for that thriller that surprises, giving so much more than expected.  And although complicated, director Gavin O’Connor did tie the whole story neatly together, but the main character, Chris, was just too incongruent at times.

A strong performance from J.K. Simmons helped pull the story together, but aspects of the film just didn’t quite fit.  Putting such emphasis on The Accountant having autism was dangerous territory and requires getting it right.  And some aspects of the character grated as they didn’t feel authentic.

I don’t want to give too much away as there’s a lot going here and this is a great story with an interesting message, but getting all the moving parts right felt like a stretch.  Everything was there from story to characters to time spent on delivery.  And I know it sounds like I’m bagging this film but I’m being harsh because I love a good crime/thriller.

As a series, The Accountant would have been perfection.  As is, a cracker of a story that’s so close but not quite for me.

And a grin from Chris would have gone a long way.

Ouija: Origin of Evil

Rated: MOuija: Origin of Evil

Director: Mike Flanagan

Writers: Mike Flanagan; Jeff Howard

Starring: Elizabeth Reaser, Lulu Wilson, Annalise Basso, Henry Thomas; Parker Mack.

Feeling weary after a heavy day, I wondered if it was the right night to watch Ouija: Origin of Evil.  But, what the hey, I thought I’d perk up once I got there, then I’d get into it…  The start would get me there… Or maybe, by the end…  I guess you can see where this is going – there was no perking up!

Sure, Doris Zander (Lulu Wilson), the possessed little girl, was scary; all freaky-eyed and way too enthusiastic about all things occult.  There just wasn’t enough of a hook.

I liked the 60s style of the clothes and the house of the Zander family, the style somehow adding an authentic flavour.  The characters were all believable and the story was decent.  And that’s what the film was, decent.  There was no zing for me.  The story felt like a formula which reminded me of other films but without the punch because I could see what was coming:

A story of a fortune teller selling closure to people who’ve lost someone.  The fact that Alice Zander (Elizabeth Reaser), the widowed mother of 2 girls, was a sham doesn’t matter.  It’s all about looking after her daughters, Doris (Lulu Wilson) and Lina (Annalise Basso) while feeling like she’s helping others, even though she’s making money out of grief.

It didn’t ring true to me, the idea of Alice sending her kids to a Catholic school and the priest, Father Tom, being ever so obliging to someone working in the occult.  The religious aspect didn’t quite fit.

Playing with a Ouija board isn’t a new horror narrative, and Origin of Evil had a fresh feel; the look of the film itself depicting the ‘cigarette burn’ in the corner of the picture on screen, my thinking, on purpose and timely, making the 60s setting more authentic.  And the transformation of the little girl, Doris, was sophisticated in the reveal of possession.

But I felt there was a holding back.  Not that I want gore or to be disgusted.  I prefer a suspenseful horror.  I just wasn’t shocked or surprised.

I’m always looking for that ultimate horror thriller that gets past the seeing, past the eyeball and burrows its way into the brain, to the place of imagination, and Origin of Evil didn’t do that for me.

There was a quality of execution and I believed all the characters, but the scare factor that gets under the skin just wasn’t there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaiZYCSECC4

The Girl on the Train

Rated: MA15+The Girl on the Train

Directed by: Tate Taylor

Screenplay by: Erin Cressida Wilson

Based on: ‘The Girl on the Train’ by Paula Hawkins

Starring: Emily Blunt, Rebecca Ferguson, Haley Bennett, Justin Theroux, Luke Evans, Allison Janney, Edgar Ramírez; Lisa Kudrow.

Alcoholism, restlessness; hurt – The Girl on the Train is a film about the possibilities, the capabilities of someone lost.

The focus of the film surrounds the mystery of the main character, Rachel Watson (Emily Blunt) watching the world go by through the window of a train.

Sure, Rachel’s got her problems: she drinks, she lies, she has blackouts, and she wants what she can’t have.  And the audience, watching the world with her, sympathise: her heart’s in the right place – right?

But the slow reveal of Rachel’s unravelling makes us wonder just what she’s capable of.

And there lies the mystery.  What is really happening here?  Just how lost is Rachel?

The Girl on the Train is a movie of perspectives.  Of what people see compared to what goes on behind closed doors.  This is a film about what’s revealed to the audience and when.  And I think the mystery was handled well by director Tate Taylor (who won a BAFTA Award for best adapted screenplay for, Help (2011)).

I’m just going to say it – I found the book a slow read.  So for once and a rarity for me to say, the condensing of the story into a movie length narrative made for a more dramatic reveal.  The film concentrated on the main thrust of the story, of Rachel, of her illness, about her blackouts; about what actually happened on that fateful day.

No one can say that Emily Blunt can’t act, and indeed, her acting kept The Girl on the Train firmly on track.  Blunt is phenomenal in Sicario (2015), one of my favourites and I recently re-watched Looper (2012) – another fantastic movie starring Blunt.  I like her authentic, down-to-earth style and think she’s fast becoming one of the greats.  And her performance here is to be commended.

Also to note was the performance of Haley Bennett as the saucy Megan Hipwell and Justin Theroux as Rachel’s ex, Tom Watson.

In conclusion, I have to say there’s no real punch here and I wasn’t on the edge-of-my-seat, but The Girl on the Train is an absorbing mystery, shown well.

Deepwater Horizon

Action/Drama           Rated: MDeepwater Horizon

Director: Peter Berg

Screenplay: Matthew Michael Carnahan and Matthew Sand

Screen Story: Matthew Sand

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, John Malkovich, Gina Rodriguez, Dylan O’Brien and Kate Hudson.

Based on the article written by David Barstow, David Rohde and Stephani Saul: ‘Deepwater Horizon’s Final Hours’, Deepwater Horizon is about one of the largest man-made disasters to have ever occurred.

Ultra-deep-water drilling off the coast of Louisiana, the rig suffered a massive blowout after pressure caused oil to explode up the pipeline.  The oil then caught fire destroying the rig.  The disaster killed 11 people and leaked 50,000 barrels of oil into the ocean for 87 days.

Deepwater Horizon is about putting the audience in the midst of the disaster, about pressure from the depths hard to fathom.  In fact, the whole scenario is difficult to get my head around because I’m not an engineer nor a deep sea drilling technician that understands drilling and pressure and the forces of rotting dinosaurs from a previous millennia.  And there isn’t a requirement to have this knowledge as the film shows the staff, doing what they do, without dumbing it down for the audience.

The story is shown in a way where you get it.  That the mud is used to contain the pressure of the oil, so that if it’s oozing up the pipes onto the rig, that’s a bad thing: the mud isn’t stopping the pressure.  And if that dial goes to a psi in the red area of the dial, that’s a very bad thing.

That’s what I liked about the film.  Being right there with the people working on this monstrous rig.

Mark Wahlberg as the Transocean chief electronics technician, Mike Williams, gives a great performance as an everyday guy doing his job.  And Kate Hudson as the wife waiting at home keeps the cheese to a minimum – it’s all about down-to-earth folk just dealing with it.

Wahlberg and director, Peter Berg, have worked together previously in the film, Lone Survivor.  Another survival story about making tough decisions. Berg doesn’t use cheap tricks to tug the heart strings, he just tells a tale with an authentic flavour and Wahlberg plays the no-nonsense hero well.  And the simplicity and straight forward telling of Deepwater Horizon gave the story more impact and power.  It was left to the audience to feel the emotion.

I love a good techy film and Deepwater Horizon filled the bill with great camera work to show the scale undertaken to drill into the depths of the ocean; and the explosion and visual spectacle of the disaster was totally believable on screen.

There was a glossing over of the politics of dealing with BP, but covered by the interaction between Donald Vidrine, the BP company man played by John Malkovich (he plays a villain just so well) and Kurt Russell as Mr. Jimmy who was the offshore installation manager.

Rather than the politics or emotional drama, Deepwater Horizon was more about the confrontation of the disaster itself.  And I liked that.

LIFE, ANIMATED

Rated: PGLIFE, ANIMATED

A documentary by: Roger Ross Williams

Editor: David Teague

Cinematographer: Tom Bergmann

Composer: Dylan Stark, T. Griffin

Original Animation: Mac Guff

Based on a book by: Ron Suskind

Starring: The Suskind Family: Owen, Cornelia, Walter and Ron.

LIFE, ANIMATION is a documentary based on a book written by Ron Suskind, father of Owen who at age 3 was diagnosed with autism.

This is a story about Owen’s journey from childhood, to his devastating withdrawal at age 3, to his diagnosis of the pervasive developmental disorder of autism, through to miraculously living on his own in assisted residential care. All due to the Suskind family’s persistence and recognition of Owen’s ability to communicate through his understanding of the exaggerated emotional cues shown in Disney films.

Owen’s father, Ron, has used his journalistic skill in portraying the difficulties of autism: the constant overstimulation (due to lack of filtering of the external environment), the loss of understanding of words and the determination to release him from his autism prison.

I can understand how this documentary, directed and produced by Roger Ross Williams (Music by Prudence; God Loves Uganda), has won so many audience awards: Telluride Mountainfilm Festival, San Francisco International Film Festival, Full Frame Film Festival and the list goes on…

Not only a remarkable insight into autism, I found myself constantly smiling.

The Suskinds are just such a loving, supportive family, that every triumph is experienced right there with them. And Owen himself is a genuinely lovely guy. It’s such a pleasure to see him open up and become a young man.

Yes, there are difficulties, and I shed a few tears through-out the film, because that’s life.

I could relate to Owen’s difficulties, the falls we all take. And I could admire his tenacity to keep getting up and keep fighting the good fight: the losing of his voice and then finding it again.

This is a heart-felt story that is shown so well by the directing. And the soundtrack is perfect: there to amplify the moments without becoming intrusive. What amazed me the most was the original animation created by Mac Guff to depict Owen’s own imagined stories.

I could sense the amount of time and care put into this film and I have to say, it has really paid off. The film is a seamless journey, shown with emotion that is real and made relatable to everyone.

I laughed, I cried, I smiled and I learnt something not only about Owen and his battle with autism, I also found an opportunity to reflect on my own life journey.

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Blair Witch

Rated: MA+Blair Witch

Directed by: Adam Wingard

Written by: Simon Barrett

Starring: James Allen McCune, Callie Hernandez, Corbin Reid, Brandon Scott, Wes Robinson; Valorie Curry.

The creators of the original film, The Blair Witch Project (1999), and now executive producers of Blair Witch, Myrick, Sanchez and Hale wanted the sequel to be true to the 18th century myth of Elly Kedward – the woman accused by the children of Blair of being a witch.

Left to die of exposure in the woods of Maryland, Elly disappears without a trace. When the people of the town begin to disappear, starting with the children who made the accusation, the killing, the missing, the myth of the Blair Witch begins.

No-one can accuse director Adam Wingard (You’re Next, V/H/S and V/H/S2) and writer Simon Barrett (once again collaborating with Wingard on their 9th feature film, including V/H/S and V/H/S/2) of wavering from the original concept. Blair Witch, like the original Blair Witch Project, is also made up of video and images from the found footage of missing documentary makers.

James (James Allen McCune) is the brother of Heather, who is one of the three characters who go missing in the original. Heading back to the Black Hills Forest, James sets off with his good friends and documentors, Lisa (Callie Hernandez), Ashley (Corbin Reid) and Peter (Brandon Scott) to try to find his sister.

Does James really believe that his sister is still alive? This question amongst many other red herrings go unanswered.

Yes, there are some very weird happenings, but the characters don’t seem to notice or question. To the point where the only explanation could be characters in shock.  There’s definite skimming over some scary moments that could have evoked real terror with greater exploration.

It’s difficult to review Blair Witch without comparison to the original. It’s also another ‘lost in the woods’ scenario where the darkness, rain and the weird noises of the woods seem determined to make the search for James’ sister difficult.

A noted difference is the addition of two locals, Lane (Wes Robinson) and Talia (Valorie Curry, who you’ll recognize from The Following) giving the film another dimension. I was never sure what they were going to do. And in this respect the tension was allowed space to develop.

The quality of the camera work is far better and easier to watch here.

But I felt there was a lack of imagination, a lost opportunity to really ramp up the terror by giving meaning to the scary bits rather than just the shock factor: the terror didn’t resonate.

The original had the benefit of surprise as the concept of basing a film on ‘found footage’ hadn’t been done before. Here, I was expecting more of the myth so was disappointed as the scary bits weren’t enough.

Honestly, the 2nd Blair Witch, Book of Shadows (2000), had a better story-line.

For those who haven’t seen the original, Blair Witch could easily be watched without need of introduction. And the house was scary and the camera work was well done.

But I think this was a superficial scare with a lost opportunity to really ramp up the depth of terror.

SULLY

 

Director/Producer: Clint EastwoodSully

Screenwriter: Todd Komarnicki

Based on the book written by: Chesley “SULLY” Sullenberger, Jeffrey Zaslow.

Director of Photography: Tom Stern

Composers: Christian Jacob and The Tierney Sutton Band

Starring: Tom Hanks, Aaron Eckhart; Laura Linney.

“I’ve got 40 years in the air, but in the end I’m gonna be judged on 208 seconds.”

SULLY is the story of the ‘Miracle on the Hudson’, where pilot Captain Chesley ‘SULLY’ Sullenberger makes an emergency landing with 155 people on board onto the Hudson River in New York.

I remember hearing about the incident on the news back in 2009 and was amazed, along with the rest of the world, by the bravery of such a decision and the skill to actually land without a single soul lost.

But good deeds don’t go unpunished.

What I didn’t realise was the scrutiny Sully experienced by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the nightmares and distress experienced by the pilot, Sully, and his co-pilot Jeff Skiles (Aaron Eckhart).

SULLY was a brilliantly cast film with the resemblance to the real-life crew unmistakable. The lead role, Captain Sullenberger, played by Hanks, called for a calm character who showed honesty and strength, which Hanks, of course, plays very well.

But like the character, the film was also dry and calm; the control held firmly in the hands of director Clint Eastwood.

As Hanks states, ‘Sometimes you read something that is so stirring and at the same time so simple, such a perfect blend of behaviour and procedure.’

The film focuses on the aftermath and the technicalities undertaken for the emergency landing. And there was such restraint used that even the dramatic event of the landing also had an overriding feeling of calm. So the film felt a little too even for my taste. Certainly, no-one can accuse Eastwood of over-dramatising!

There was also the element that we all know what’s coming; how it’s all going to end. It was more about the fleshing out of the story.

SULLY is an amazing story with great acting. I loved that the film makers recruited many of the people who were there that day to reenact what happened.

I just wasn’t blown away.

This is a story of a 40 year veteran who had seconds to make a life or death decision for 155 people. And he did his job. That’s the tone of the movie. A truthful re-telling without too many dramatics.

The story was played out with clever devices like dream sequences made real, personal perspectives from the passengers and flash-backs to build the suspense, but as stated before, we already know what’s going to happen!

If you’re interested in the story, this is a great film; if you’re looking for a lot of action, you’ll be disappointed.

I’m somewhere in-between: a solid movie but no real surprises.

Mountain Cry

Rated: MMountain Cry

Directed by: Larry Yang

Adapted Screenplay: Larry Yang

Music by: Nicolas Errèra

Cinematography by: Patrick Murguia

Starring: Yueting Lang, Ziyi Wang, Taishen Cheng, Ailei Yu, Jin Guo, Caigen Xu, Chendong Zhao; Siying Li.

Language: Chinese Mandarin

Subtitle Language: English

Based on: Lu Xun Literary Prize recipient novel of the same name written by Ge Shuiping.

Mountain Cry is a Chinese tale of a mute girl, Hong Xia (Yueting Lang), who moves to a remote rural village with her abusive husband, La Hong (Yu Ailei), and two children.

After her husband is killed by a detonation used in a badger trap set in the woods, a young villager, Han Chong (Ziyi Wang) is blamed for the accident.  The village council then forces Han to look after the young widow and her children until the debt is paid for killing her husband.

Mountain Cry has been beautifully adapted to the screen with director and screenwriter Larry Yang relating this amazing story of Chinese village life and the two main characters slowly falling in love.  But this film is so much more than a romance, there’s crime here and mystery.

The characters show more of themselves with each action, with each scene adding weight to the adage, show don’t tell.  There was such a gentle touch here with tragedy and longing, freedom given and taken away, responsibility and loyalty and love all revealed like leaves slowly falling.

When novels are adapted to the screen there can be the feeling of parts missing or the story being rushed or glossed over, but Mountain Cry was a complicated story given depth, revealed slowly allowing the audience to become absorbed by the mystery of Hong Xia’s life.  Not surprising that the film won Shanghai International Film Festival Media Award Best Director Award and Shanghai International Film Festival Media Award Best Scriptwriter Award.

Although set in 1984, there was a classic feel to the story: old fashioned tools used for farming, handmade paper and painted writing, and the echoing sound of voices and drums like the heartbeat of the vast mountains.

The scenery was captured beautifully by cinematographer, Patrick Murguia.  And the soundtrack a fitting accompaniment (Nicolas Errèra) to this classic Chinese tale.  But it was the characters who were the focus, and their relationships.

Although a tragedy, the story was lifted by the simple warmth of Han Chong and his ginger kitten, but you need a quiet mood for this one.  And I have to say the film was slow at times.  But by the end, I was completely absorbed and pleasantly surprised by the mystery and beauty of the story.

A slow reveal but well worth the journey.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVWcImqSilU

NERVE

Rated: MNerve

Directed by: Henry Joost & Ariel Schulman

Screenplay by: Jessica Sharzer

Based on the novel by: Jeanne Ryan

Starring: Emma Roberts, Dave Franco, Emily Meade, Miles Heizer, Colson Baker, Kimiko Glenn, Marc John Jefferies, Brian Marc, Samira Wiley and Juliette Lewis.

NERVE is a thrill ride with directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman putting the audience in the middle of the action.  Shot in New York, the camera work and streetscapes made the film more entertaining and better than expected.

Vee (Emma Roberts) is living in the shadow of her best buddy, Sydney (Emily Meade).  Always the cautious, wilting violet, Vee is terrified of putting a step wrong until she’s had enough of being a loser in love and life.

Sydney, being the dare devil, has managed to make it to the Top 10 of a new online game, NERVE, where the Players earn money and fame by completing dares given by the Watches.

And Vee, sick of towing the line, feels a wave of reckless youth and takes the plunge into the world of being a Player.

Knowing that she’s pushing her limits but finding a part of herself that she likes, Vee meets the hunky Ian (Dave Franco).  Loving the couple, the Watches dare the partnership on more challenging dares until the dare becomes a sinister reflection of mob mentality – where being anonymous allows behaviour that borders then becomes that of a sociopath.

It’s all about the moment recorded via the Watches’ camera phones; information about the Players taken from social media and everything available online: purchases made, banking details.  The film highlights how much information is available and how easy it is to take over a person’s life via the internet.

NERVE makes the point it’s no longer Big Brother we need to be afraid of, it’s us who are recording and sharing with each other.

Based on a young adult novel written by Jeanne Ryan, teens living adolescent lives leads to the expected awkward moments of unrequited love and the usual we’re-best-friends behaviour.  Thankfully, I was happily absorbed into the action of the online game rather than the film dwelling on the drama.

The character Vee had cringe-worthy moments, but only a few.  And the adolescent aspect was overcome by the creative camera work; where the audience was taken along for the ride.

NERVE was a lot of fun but I found it hard to take seriously when the story turned into the realm of giving a lesson.

Tapping into the teen angst of wanting to break free was still present and this was shown with unexpected edge.  I enjoyed the ride but the attempt at depth gave the film more meat not more meaning: we’ve already heard about the dangers of social media, right?

But drawing the audience into the world of NERVE and being given the feeling of taking those dares along with the characters made a suspenseful and entertaining film.

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