Tag Archives: Andrea Riseborough

The TIFF Report, Vol 2

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His Three Daughters

Director: Azazel Jacobs
Cast: Carrie Coon, Elizabeth Olsen, Natasha Lyonne, Jay O. Sanders, Jovan Adepo
Synopsis: A tense, captivating, and touching portrait of family dynamics surrounding sisters who converge after their father’s health declines.
Thoughts: When I hear the words “film festival,” tight-quartered dramas dealing with fractured family dynamics are often the type of motion picture that comes to mind. No, really. There’s something about the potential for a hefty emotional impact of this pressure cooker environment that lends itself to the type of audience that would appreciate seeing this work first. The starker and rougher around the edges, the better; whatever gets to that raw center to expose the wound we all know exists in every family. His Three Daughters picks at that scab for much of its run time, with director Azazel Jacobs (French Exit) wisely balancing his screenplay with enough pleasant surprises that even a late-in-the-game big swing winds up working because what has come before is so strong.
A perfect match of director and actors, His Three Daughters features three outstanding performances from Carrie Coon, Elizabeth Olsen, and especially Natasha Lyonne as sisters coming together during a beautifully brutal moment in their lives. Coon could have created this brittle and biting person in her sleep, yet she’s always fully alert and playing off the other two women. I’m not as high on Olsen as others have been in previous projects. Still, she finds a necessary neutral core as the Switzerland sister usually tasked with sending the other two off into their respective corners. Lyonne has been a scene-stealer for years, but she graduates to heartbreaker in her best performance on film.   Builds and builds to a powerhouse finale that will leave many viewers, myself included, exhausted but nonetheless better for the experience.

One Life

Director: James Hawes
Cast: Anthony Hopkins, Helena Bonham Carter, Jonathan Pryce, Johnny Flynn, Lena Olin, Romola Garai, Alex Sharp
Synopsis:  Follows British humanitarian Nicholas Winton, who helped save hundreds of Central European children from the Nazis on the eve of World War II. an act of compassion that was almost forgotten for 50 years.
Thoughts: In many ways, there’s a “what you see is what you get” feeling involved while watching One Life. I went into this film starring Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins expecting a pat retelling of the known honorable work Sir Nicholas Winton and others did to save children in Prague at the start of the Nazi rise. I found much of the movie to be a well-made, if artfully talky, Sunday matinee paint-by-numbers way of illustrating this effort, and the performances across the board were blessedly as solid as you would want them to be. However, I wasn’t prepared for the emotional gut punch of its final act. The movie works in one of the best last-inning rug pulls, one that doesn’t feel as emotionally manipulative as it likely is. Then, right as you’ve cleared away the first round of tears, first-time feature director James Hawes circles back with another wave to ensure no dry eye in the house by the time the credits roll. The film would be an impressive achievement in general on a technical level, but I can’t remember the last time we’ve had a true three-hanky weepie that you could feel good about later. This is the one.
One thing to note: Anyone reviewing this outside of its premiere at TIFF23 might have trouble, like me, separating the film from the experience of being in the audience. When the movie was over, Hawes came onstage to say a few words (while the audience continued to compose itself) and delivered another whopper. One of the children Winton had saved was in the audience, watching their story be told. Queue the third round of crying. Hawes then asked anyone else in the audience who was there today because of Winton and his team’s work, and another half dozen people stood up. Sustained applause during the lengthy standing ovation that followed was the biggest I’d heard at TIFF, and being in this audience, THIS audience will forever be etched in my movie-going memory. 

Days of Happiness

Director: Chloé Robichaud
Cast: Sophie Desmarais, Sylvain Marcel, Nour Belkhiria, Maude Guérin
Synopsis: A young orchestra conductor faces a crossroads in her life and career.
Thoughts: We should get the obvious out of the way as we begin. Yes, Days of Happiness shares some overlapping plot points with 2022’s Tár, and comparisons to it are, I suppose, inevitable. However, pitting the two films together would be unjust because they focus on two different female protagonists with separate intentions. Writer/Director Chloe Robichaud’s intimate and beautifully nuanced Days of Happiness tracks a young queer music conductor rallying against an oppressive father/manager and her history of pleasing others. Faced with diminishing prospects in staying the course with what is expected of her, she wants to expand into new areas but is discouraged by the people who should be offering support. Robichaud’s screenplay may plunk out a few clunky notes here and there and lacks the kind of sharp denouement audiences may be tapping their toes for, but it builds slowly to a stirring, lasting crescendo. Of note is a brilliant leading performance from Sophie Desmarais with solid support by Sylvain Marcel as her harsh dad & Nour Belkhiri playing her conflicted lover. As with Tár, another selling point is to hear stunning orchestral music conducted convincingly by the star, in this case performed by Quebec’s Orchestre Métropolitain onscreen, which we found out at a post-show discussion Desmarais toiled diligently on to learn the proper methods, gaining high praise and respect from her seasoned coach.

Quiz Lady

Director: Jessica Yu
Synopsis: A tightly wound, game show-obsessed woman must come together with her chaotic sister to help pay off their mother’s gambling debts.
Cast: Awkwafina, Sandra Oh, Jason Schwartzman, Holland Taylor, Tony Hale, Jon “Dumbfoundead” Park, Will Ferrell
Thoughts: There’s a broad appeal to this very broad comedy written by Jenn D’Angelo (Hocus Pocus 2), but it sadly doesn’t showcase either Awkwafina or Sandra Oh operating at the top of their game. True, there are enough moments in Jessica Yu’s film that give both women opportunities to play outside their comfort zone, but neither look settled in this new space. Oh comes across as really swinging for the cheap seats and whiffing it…yet she never embarrasses herself like other actresses could have. There’s a bit of a desperation in Oh’s desire to break out of her usual role, and it’s admirable, but paired with Awkwafina, it feels misaligned. Awkwafina fares better, but I didn’t ever fully buy her as a person so withdrawn or reserved.
I’m going to toss a late-breaking curveball your way. Here are two reasons why I will tell you to 100% see Quiz Lady. The first is for Ferrell giving one of his least Ferrell-y performances and nailing it. As the host of the quiz show Anne idolizes, he has a Fred Rogers charm that isn’t phony or played for laughs. There’s a moment when Terry and Anne get 1:1 time that’s some of the best onscreen work Ferrell has ever done. The second is for a cameo appearance near the end that will get most viewers who grew up in the ’80s a little misty. That it involves national treasure Holland Taylor’s (Bombshell) crotchety next-door neighbor character is even better. Genuine feeling goes a long way, though it can seem at odds with a comedy that often takes on problems it can’t fully solve.
Full Review Here

Lee

Director: Ellen Kuras
Cast: Kate Winslet, Josh O’Connor, Andy Samberg, Alexander Skarsgard, Marion Cotillard, Andrea Riseborough
Synopsis:  A fascinating portrait of the great American war correspondent Lee Miller, whose singular talent and ferocious tenacity gave us some of the 20th century’s most indelible images.
Thoughts: It’s frustrating to realize there’s no good way to go about a biopic. No magic formula will make one life more interesting than the next. It’s all about how you find your way into this life and if you can successfully illustrate the world they impacted. While this biography of American war correspondent Lee Miller has a standard entry point (subject relates their story to a captive listener) and a script so musty theaters should come with dehumidifiers, it’s how director Ellen Kuras moves these pieces around that gives Lee its critical energy. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that it has Oscar-winner Kate Winslet and her unimpeachable star power that will easily help to sell Lee to the masses. Winslet is terrific as the model turned photographer turned war photojournalist, throwing herself passionately into the role but never losing herself entirely. You always see Winslet’s bright eyes bringing Miller to life (the actress looks strikingly like Miller), and her investment gives everyone around her a reason to shine as well. The supporting cast of familiar faces, some appearing for one or two scene cameos, are intriguing. Notable standouts include Andrea Riseborough (To Leslie) as the editor of British Vogue, who sent Miller on assignment to Normandy, and Andy Samberg (Hotel Transylvania), who turned in a commendable performance as another journalist who accompanied Lee on her exploits and carried a torch for her. I did appreciate that there was more to the structure of Lee than initially met the eye, and the final reveal worked for me when I expect it may seem trivial to others. Still, Lee has stuck with me longer than I might have thought it would, and while it may not turn out to be the prestige-y awards contender its filmmakers hope it will be, I do believe it will (re)introduce the world to Miller and the vital work she conducted.

Mother, Couch

Director: Niclas Larsson
Cast: Ewan McGregor, Rhys Ifans, Taylor Russell, Ellen Burstyn, Lara Flynn Boyle, F. Murray Abraham
Synopsis: Three estranged children come together when their mother refuses to move from a couch in a furniture store.
Thoughts: I’ll admit that I expected to come out of Mother, Couch ready to write a review about Lara Flynn Boyle and how nice it was to see her back on screen after a long absence. I’m still high on Boyle after all these years (raise your hand if you still like Poltergeist III….no?), but she’s less of a factor in Mother, Couch than I was hoping to see, not that there isn’t plenty going on in this absurdist comedy to begin with. The cast alone (Ewan McGregor, Rhys Ifans, Taylor Russell, Ellen Burstyn, Boyle, and F. Murray Abraham) for Mother, Couch should attract attention. Still, the film has an uphill battle to keep a viewer focused on its critical message of parenting, living a flawed life, and letting go of what’s broken. I would best describe this as a mixture of mother! and Beau is Afraid, two movies that will likely scare more than a few of you reading this. If you like either of these films, you’ll buy into Larsson’s strange story of a man’s journey through hell during one day of furniture shopping with his family. It’s all a metaphor for the circle of life and how we become the parent to our parent at some point, yada yada yada, but it’s intent on being as weird as possible becomes fascinating after a while. McGregor is doing spectacular work here, capably handling the bizarre turns Larsson throws in, and I loved seeing Burstyn cast so deliciously against type. Often showing up as a calming peacekeeper, she’s a chilly antagonist here in a platinum wig (with a flip!) that gradually lets it be known what she thinks of her children in emotionless detail. This will not be everyone’s cup of herbal tea; it requires a bit more caffeine to get through a long middle stretch that feels like it’s treading water, but the finale is a Big Fish-y reminder that as much combat as we engage in with our parents, we have a responsibility to them in the end. 

The End We Start From

Director: Mahalia Belo
Cast: Jodie Comer, Joel Fry, Katherine Waterston, Benedict Cumberbatch, Mark Strong, Gina McKee
Synopsis: A new mother, her partner, and their infant are driven out of London into the English countryside by cataclysmic flooding in this adaptation of Megan Hunter’s prophetic bestseller.
Thoughts:  For all its bells and whistles, I was expecting a bit more heft to this adaptation of Megan Hunter’s novel from 2017, The End We Start From. Hunter set up a doozy of a real-world feeling situation with a modern-day ecological crisis of Biblical proportions (massive flooding) wiping out much of London and lower-ground areas worldwide. Those who survived the initial destruction depend on finding shelter and food from the waste while fending off fellow scavengers who know the supply is limited. It’s during this frightening time that the pregnant leading character, identified only as Mother (Comer), gives birth and has to fight for the lives of both her and her newborn. Despite an unsurprisingly stalwart performance from Jodie Comer, the film, from first-time feature director Mahalia Belo, comes off like The Last of How We Live Now on The Impossible Road. Apocalyptic occurrences acting as catalysts are overdone without a creative edge for justification. It’s all so bleak and depressing, with Comer the one bright spot that stands out amongst the small cast. Muddy dialogue (maybe the sound mix was off?) kept characters at a distance, and even a slight turn from producer Benedict Cumberbatch couldn’t shake the film out of its expected path forward. This is not to say that director Mahalia Belo hasn’t crafted a good-looking movie that shows assured confidence, just one that we’ve seen done better in its previous similarly themed iterations. If it feels like more of a vehicle for Comer to show the type of range we already know she can muster, I would count The End We Start From as a modest success but not one that demands certain attention.   

Seven Veils

Director: Atom Egoyan
Cast:  Amanda Seyfried, Rebecca Liddiard, Douglas Smith, Mark O’Brien, Vinessa Antoine
Synopsis:  A young theatre director is forced to re-examine her own trauma while working on a remount of Salome.
Thoughts:  Celebrated Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan has worked for nearly forty years in the business and has amassed many awards for his character-driven, narratively complex works. None of them are expressly commercial, and when there is a hit (1997’s The Sweet Hereafter is likely the best example, netting him his only Oscar nominations), it’s often more of a critical darling than a box-office bonanza. My appreciation for him is quantified. For every film that fascinates me, there are three that I can’t embrace fully…or perhaps can’t get my tiny brain around. Also an acclaimed director in theater and opera, Egoyan’s new film Seven Veils blurs the line between both mediums to varying degrees of success.
The good stuff first. It was terrific to see Egoyan introduce the world premiere of Seven Veils, collaborating with, among others, the Canadian Opera Company, where he recently directed the production of Salome featured heavily in the film. And the singing by true opera talent was breathtaking. Unfortunately, despite a few arresting sequences of visual brilliance, Egoyan’s latest drama is a stark reminder that not everything can be molded into a psychoanalytic exercise. Amanda Seyfried is a dependable actress but completely miscast in her role as written.   Playing a young director enlisted to remount an opera originally staged by her former mentor with whom she shared a fuzzy history, Seyfried feels too young for the directing job and the role in general. Don’t even get me started on all the weird “that never happens” incidents during the rehearsal process, further taking any sense of reality/urgency out of the picture. Drop the curtain quickly on this one – it’s a flop.

Other Volumes
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Volume 5

Movie Review ~ The Electrical Life of Louis Wain

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The Facts:

Synopsis: The extraordinary true story of eccentric British artist Louis Wain, whose playful, sometimes even psychedelic pictures helped to transform the public’s perception of cats forever.

Stars: Benedict Cumberbatch, Claire Foy, Andrea Riseborough, Toby Jones, Stacy Martin, Sharon Rooney, Hayley Squires, Aimee Lou Wood, Adeel Akhtar, Julian Barratt, Asim Chaudhry, Indica Watson, Sophia Di Martino, Taika Waititi, Olivia Colman

Director: Will Sharpe

Rated: PG-13

Running Length: 111 minutes

TMMM Score: (5.5/10)

Review: As has often been the cast for the past several years, actor Benedict Cumberbatch has two movies that are arriving near the end of 2021 that are playing at a number of film festivals.  One film is a bit elusive and hard to see unless you are attending one of the most prestigious events.  The other one is The Electrical Life of Louis Wain.  One film is getting the actor much acclaim and buzz about another Oscar nomination after his stoic turn in 2014’s The Imitation Game.  The other movie is The Electrical Life of Louis Wain.  Available at quite a number of film festivals over the past several months, you can see Amazon Studios and its other producers fighting a losing battle to get some traction on The Electrical Life of Louis Wain, the secondary Cumberbatch movie. However, with Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog readying for release on Netflix, it’s lights out for this twee bit of falderal that sparks early only to be undone by it’s overreliance on puffy artistry on the back end.

Look, before I saw this biographical drama, I had no clue the English artist Louis Wain played such an integral role in helping the domestic cat gain such popularity in Europe through his artwork.  As a dedicated cat lover (an animal that has a box for its own litter which it also covers for you, keeps it distance when it’s not in the mood to be bothered, and can tell when bad weather is approaching is A-OK in my book!) I am ever in his debt for normalizing the attitude toward cats in his country because many of those feelings became popularized the world over.  I was unfamiliar with his art before a viewing of director Will Sharpe’s film and the recreation of his style and technique through the screenplay Sharpe co-wrote with Simon Stephenson (Paddington 2) were fascinating bits of mechanics to watch – it’s everything else that surrounded it that became so befuddling.

Perhaps it’s the feeling that Sharpe was grasping for a style and tone that didn’t completely make sense all the time.  The opening stretch and final hour are flighty bits of quirkiness that feel curated and calculated, like what someone attempting to be irreverent with the life of a colorful character would put on screen.  By all accounts, the mental health issues that plagued Wain and various members of his family were present for a long while but only presented themselves rarely over the years until they became more serious in his older days.  It was during his romance of the family governess (Claire Foy, Breathe) when Wain found his true happiness and it’s also when Sharpe’s movie gets into its best and most easily accessible mode.

The early marketing materials and trailers I saw of the movie suggested the Foy/Cumberbatch relationship was going to be far more rambunctious, so I wasn’t particularly looking forward to it. Yet it turned out to be my favorite parts of the movie.  The two have such a natural ease of working together and I can’t help but think that it’s Foy that consistently brings out the best in her male costars, melting some icy actors down and letting audiences see the softer sides.  She absolutely lets us see another side of Cumberbatch, a far more tender one that finds himself caring for another when he previously felt like that part of his life would never come to pass.  These are the meat the film feasts on…but the meal can’t last forever and before too long it’s back to the same old ticks and tricks once more.

I’m all for biographies that color outside of the lines (and The Courier’s Suzie Davies production design along with Paddington’s Erik Alexander Wilson’s cinematography are never lacking for bold color choices) but it has to circle back to a point – something The Electrical Life of Louis Wain takes an awful long time to get to.  Along the way Sharpe stops to create several beautiful moments (a shot of Foy and Cumberbatch sitting in a meadow is gorgeous) but it’s balanced with far too many repetitive scenes of Wain fighting with one or more of his disapproving sisters.

Controversially, I’m not as sold on Cumberbatch as most are.  I loved him for Sherlock but have since found him to be decidedly hit or miss with his work, feeling that perhaps he’s more limited in his range than we’d care to admit.  He’s not bad in this new film but he’s been better in others that are about far less important people and ideas.  Fans of his will want to check out The Electrical Life of Louis Wain, all others should save their Cumberbatch Cinema of 2021 for The Power of the Dog.   

31 Days to Scare ~ Possessor Uncut

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by 31 Days to Scare, Movie Review • Tags: , , , , , , , ,


The Facts:

Synopsis: An elite, corporate assassin uses brain-implant technology takes control of other people’s bodies to execute high profile targets.

Stars: Andrea Riseborough, Christopher Abbott, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tuppence Middleton, Rossif Sutherland, Sean Bean

Director: Brandon Cronenberg

Rated: NR

Running Length: 103 minutes

TMMM Score: (8.5/10)

Review:  Anytime someone decides to call themselves a fan of something, it often comes with some kind unspoken limit to how far they are willing to go to show their appreciation.  I mean, it’s natural for a music lover to say they love The Rolling Stones, but would you camp out for two days in the rain for only the chance to buy tickets to a sold-out concert of theirs?  Or do you want that new iPhone that goes on sale at 3:30am so badly that you’ll set your alarm for 3:25 so you’re up and ready to purchase?  For horror films and the viewers that can’t get enough frights, there’s a similar line in the sand that many won’t cross, a personal run for the hills boundary it’s just too nightmarish to pass.

For me, the “body horror” genre is one that makes me squirm like no other and for the uninitiated it is defined as the intentional showcase of graphic or psychologically disturbing violations of the human body.  It’s sometimes referred to more crudely as “torture porn” when applied to the less sophisticated entries that have been produced within the last decade; think grotesque films like The Human Centipede or the disturbingly misogynistic Hostel series.  That’s a huge step down from its origins in Canadian cinema and director David Cronenberg.  It was his landmark films Rabid, Shivers, and even his 80s remake of The Fly that gave the body horror genre a gross but good reputation.

In the new film Possessor Uncut, a torch has been passed in this icky subgenre and in a sort of Shakespearean twist, the mantle has gone from father to son.  Directed by Brandon Cronenberg, the Canadian production has the same look, feel, energy, and shock of the work of his father and while you can spot the influences of his famous lineage throughout the intense film you also see a filmmaker with his own vocabulary coming forth.  I’d heard the buzz about this film long before it ever crossed my screening doorstep and it truly worried me.  The gore and extreme nature sounded like a true test of will and though these type of early reactions often prove to be exaggerations of overly excitable first-lookers, for once they weren’t too far off the mark.  This is a horrifying experience that infiltrates your nervous system for days after…but it’s also a real thrill; the kind of elegant top shelf genre picture that gives you exactly what it promises and says “You asked for it”.

In the not too distant future, a cutting edge tech company has found a unique method of assassination they sell to the highest bidder, or whatever conglomeration they might be able to use later to their advantage.  There is now a way for trained killers to plug into the brains of host subjects that have intimate access to those targeted for death and use them to carry out the evil deed.  The host is often self-terminated, the real killers final act before unplugging in their sleek lab offices miles away,  leaving no way to trace the vicious act back to anyone – the perfect set-up.  It’s a relatively simple one, too, and Cronenberg doesn’t spend a huge amount of time trying to explain the science behind it, preferring to let the audience piece the process together for themselves based off of what we learn from Girder (Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight) as she debriefs star assassin Tasya Vos (Andrea Riseborough, Oblivion) after the film’s shocking opening.

It’s obvious from the start that while the method to this madness seems smooth on paper, the mental and physical toll it takes to come back from each job blurs the lines of reality more and more with each task completed.  Tasya is estranged from her husband (Rossif Sutherland, A Call to Spy) and child and her visit to them early on is one of strained awkwardness, you almost get the sense that at this point she’s more comfortable in someone else’s skin than her own.  She’s also been straying from her normal routine when working as her host, becoming more interested in her victims and taking liberties with her directives on the best way to quickly eliminate her target. 

Ignoring the warning signs that she may be maxxed out and despite the protestations of a concerned Girder, Tasya jumps into another job, this time taking over the body of a man (Christopher Abbott, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot) who is set to marry the daughter (Tuppence Middleton, Fisherman’s Friends) of a wealthy CEO (Sean Bean, The Martian).  With three days to carry out her mission, the job seems to be going as planned…until she’s unable to maintain the balance between her host personality and her own, both of which are strong-willed and fighting for survival.  This leads to a sinewy split between the two and devastating consequences for anyone that gets close to either.

In a number of violent films, you look back in retrospect and see that they aren’t as violent or gore-filled as you remember, it’s just the suggestion of it all that led your mind to fill in the blanks for you.  In Possessor Uncut (a curious name change from its original plain ‘ole Possessor, likely as it’s being released without a rating to avoid that dreaded NC-17), there’s no punches pulled and you not only see every brutal stab, slice, crack, and rip…you feel it.  The camera lingers on these moments, almost daring you to turn away and while it’s an endurance test to be sure (those with a fear of seeing teeth knocked out…you’ve been warned) it’s strangely not as horrific as it might be made out to be.  Remember, this is coming from the critic that normally recoils from this type of stuff.  I had to look away a few times, no question, but I think I had built it up to be far worse than it ends up being.

I’m hoping others give it that same chance too because there are some deeply good performances on top of Cronenberg’s inventive work as a director on display.  Riseborough continues to be an actress that pushes herself with each role, unafraid to go to ugly places or change her appearance with each new part,  She’s actually absent for a good chunk of the film when she’s inhabiting Abbott but her presence seems to always haunt the scenes she isn’t there for.  In many ways, she reminds me of Leigh’s work throughout the years (no shocker that Leigh has worked with David Cronenberg before in the semi-similar but not as intense, eXistenZ, from 1999) and Leigh seems to have found a kindred spirit with Riseborough.  Their scenes together are low-key but pulsating with energy.  Abbott has to do a lot of bold things here a number of actors in his generation wouldn’t get near, he carries it off well, understanding the difference between his body being possessed (which it isn’t) and controlled (which it is) and that helps the audience along with buying into the far-out concept.

I don’t often encourage people to watch the trailer for a film because they are so spoiler-y but the first trailer for Possessor Uncut is pretty good about giving you a decent idea of what you’re in for. If you think you can handle it…go for it. I can’t imagine seeing this on the big screen, honestly, the visuals would be just too overwhelming but for a late night viewing at home where you have the freedom to hide under the blanket, Possessor Uncut will work like a charm.  Even though it’s drenched it blood and body parts, it’s a classy affair with the son of a renowned horror director ably stepping forward into the spotlight in a major way.

Movie Review ~ The Grudge (2020)

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The Facts:

Synopsis: After a young mother murders her family in her own house, a single mother and detective tries to investigate and solve the case. She discovers the house is cursed by a vengeful ghost that dooms those who enter it with a violent death.

Stars: Andrea Riseborough, Lin Shaye, Demián Bichir, Betty Gilpin, John Cho, William Sadler, Jacki Weaver, Frankie Faison

Director: Nicolas Pesce

Rated: R

Running Length: 94 minutes

TMMM Score: (3/10)

Review: I’ve always liked to look at the start of a new year as a way to wipe the slate clean and start fresh.  What a perfect time to forget about old annoyances, unmet goals, and the resolutions from the previous year that you didn’t stick to.  For this critic embarking on his ninth year of being a one-man reviewing band on this site, it’s also a fine time to hope that the next year of movie-going will be a smooth ride, where every film is a winner and each expectation I have going in is met.  Though 2019 shaped up to be a rather strong year for film in those final few months there were some bumps along the way…with some real rough patches especially in the horror genre remake/reboot realm.  If you read my end of the year review you’ll know I put the trash update of Child’s Play as my #1 worst movie in 2019 and unfortunately we are only two days into the new year and I already have a likely candidate to be (dis)honorably mentioned 12 months from now.

Always wanting to support my beloved horror films I was silly enough to take myself to see Sony’s restage of The Grudge thinking that it would be the scary new vision of 2002’s Ju-On: The Grudge it made itself out to be.  Instead, writer/director Nicolas Pesce squanders a talented cast and decent production values in a film that is schizophrenic at best, incoherent at worst.  The films in this series have always suffered from issues with structure and there is barely a framework in place before Pesce starts to tear it all apart. Coming off of two well received movies, 2018’s Piercing and The Eyes of My Mother from 2016, Pesce was an intriguing choice to take on this reboot but brings none of the style he showed in those smaller movies with his first foray into franchise territory.  This is Horror Movie 101, with lame-o jump scares favored over any kind of build up of suspense or furthering of the narrative action.

After the death of her husband, Detective Muldoon (no first name given ever) packs up and moves with their son to Cross Creek, PA, where they have a chance at finding a new normal.  Her first day on the job she’s partnered with Detective Goodman (another character not given the benefit of a first name) and they are sent to the woods where a decomposed body has been found in a locked car.  Tracing the body back to a house with a bloody past, Goodman wants to turn the investigation over to the federal authorities and forget about it but Muldoon can’t resist doing some work on her own.  Once Muldoon enters the infamous house she starts to experience strange events that can all be tied back to a family that had been murdered two years prior…and whatever caused all that trouble before is now after her.

If you’ve never seen it, the original Japanese film Ju-On: The Grudge is quite an effective entry in J-Horror.  I remember catching it at a small theater in my town when it received a limited release and receiving good chills for my effort.  When I heard the original director was coming to the US to remake the film in partnership with Sam Raimi (Oz: The Great and Powerful), I was curious to see how Hollywood would handle it.  The 2004 version of The Grudge followed it’s foreign predecessor pretty closely and was a decent if completely unnecessary effort; setting much of it Japan with a largely American cast had its own problems, though and it’s non-linear format didn’t flow as easily overseas.  A quick sequel was pushed into production and the 2006 result was a steep nosedive in quality and logic.  I never got around to seeing the third film, released in 2009, but skimming reviews for it online it appears I didn’t miss much.  Stepping back from the 2020 version a bit and squinting, you can see where a new twist on The Grudge may have sounded appealing to the studio heads at Sony.

I have to believe that something happened between Pesce’s pitch and the film being released that changed what was originally intended.  Made for a small-ish $10 million dollars, there was a real opportunity to make a suspenseful film that took the haunting elements from the original movies and placed them in a new story.  Instead, the movie is stuck in the same old narrative rut that proved so problematic in the past.  Set between the years 2004 and 2006 (why?), Pesce has really made four mini-episodes showing how the cursed house has taken deadly action over the years and then thrown it all into a wood-chipper before piecing it back together.  It never allows the action to find a rhythm because there’s no impetus to when or how the storylines diverge from one another.

One moment you’re in 2006 where Muldoon (Andrea Riseborough, Oblivion) and Goodman (Demián Bichir, A Better Life) are investigating the body in the car, the next you’re back in the past watching married real estate agents (John Cho, Searching and Betty Gilpin, Isn’t it Romantic?) dealing with their own tragedy who make the mistake of taking on the spooky dwelling.  Aside from the original family who meet a gruesome fate, the other noteworthy arc involves a man (Frankie Faison, The Silence of the Lambs) who has called upon a euthanasia supporter (Jacki Weaver, Stoker) to help his ailing wife (Lin Shaye, Insidious: The Last Key) transition.  Of all the plots Pesce juggles this is the one that I wanted to know more about, thanks to the performances of all three actors…especially Weaver.  The way Weaver reacts to the horror she sees made me wish she had better material to work with…but she gives it her all anyway.

Actually, all the actors deserve some pat on the back for imbibing what sensibility was possible into their roles.  Riseborough is such a fascinating actress but struggles with a character that becomes more hyperbolic as the film goes on.  Pesce makes a concerted effort to pause the action while Riseborough works through her emotions but since we have no real sense of who she is these slow sections become annoying, making the film feel longer (much much much longer) than its 94 minutes.  I’m not sure if Bichir ever spoke above a throaty whisper but I’m definitely sure Cho and Gilpin didn’t know they were in a horror movie until after the movie was finished.  Both look bewildered instead of scared.  You can always count on Shaye to bring us back on track and her few scenes as a woman that has become unhinged due to the house consistently find the right tone.  I also found William Sadler’s (Freeheld) brief appearance to be approaching the right ballpark of where Pesce should have taken things.

A clumsy film to kick off 2020, hopefully audiences won’t take the bait with this new version of The Grudge and allow this series to just disappear.  The only thing good about seeing this is that everything else you watch this year is bound to be better…but maybe that’s me being too hopeful again.

The Silver Bullet ~ Shadow Dancer

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shadow_dancer

Synopsis: Set in 1990s Belfast, an active member of the IRA becomes an informant for MI5 in order to protect her son’s welfare.

Release Date:  May 31, 2013

Thoughts: In the last month I’ve become a big fan of star Andrea Riseborough after catching her in two strong performances: as an investigative news reporter in Disconnect and an icy company woman going toe-to-toe with Tom Cruise in Oblivion.  So I’m particularly interested in seeing her take the lead in this political drama involving the IRA in the early 90’s.  Aside from Riseborough, there’s the usually strong Clive Owen and Gillian Anderson who has parlayed herself away from her The X-Files fanbase by taking on some nicely flawed characters.  Director James Marsh has helmed several notable projects (winning an Oscar for the documentary Man on a Wire) so I’m excited to see what his latest offering amounts to.

Movie Review ~ Oblivion

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The Facts:

Synopsis: A veteran assigned to extract Earth’s remaining resources begins to question what he knows about his mission and himself.

Stars: Tom Cruise, Morgan Freeman, Olga Kurylenko, Andrea Riseborough, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Melissa Leo

Director: Joseph Kosinski

Rated: PG-13

Running Length: 124 minutes

Trailer Review: Here

TMMM Score: (8/10)

Review:  I’ll start this review with an admission of bias: I really like futuristic sci-fi films set in a dystopian climate.  From Prometheus to Moon to 2001: A Space Odyssey to 2010: The Year We Make Contact, I just really respond to the chilliness of the whole genre.  So it’s no surprise that early trailers for Oblivion caught my eye and I made it a point to see this film on the biggest screen possible to immerse myself in the world created by director Kosinski (Tron: Legacy) and screenwriters Karl Gajdusek, Michael DeBruyn (who adapted Kosinski original graphic novel)

A lot of people had issues with Kosinski’s Tron: Legacy feeling that it was a meal that looked good but offered no sustenance.  I can see where those detractors were coming from but found that film to be better than its predecessor decades earlier.  Kosinski wisely knows how to use current technology to make a future world look sleek and believable and though Oblivion isn’t as all tech consuming as Tron: Legacy was it’s still a strong entry into the sci-fi genre.

Plot-wise, there’s not a lot here that you haven’t seen before if you’re a fan of science fiction of any kind.  The notion of a future world suffering the after effects of a war with an alien race has been done to death from the truly great films to the very awful direct to television offerings.  What sets this one apart, though, is a focus on stronger character development, impressive visual effects,  and a crack cast that knows exactly what kind of movie they are operating in.

Star Tom Cruise is having a nice renaissance after several years of being the punch line to a never-ending onslaught of couch jumping jokes.  Though he started 2012 strong with Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, his next two films didn’t catch fire like everyone had hoped…though to be fair Rock of Ages was a nightmare film with Cruise the only saving grace.  December’s Jack Reacher was vastly underrated and should have been a bigger hit. Oblivion has put Crusie back into a fighting spirit and for good reason…it’s a role tailor made for the action star and it gives him a chance to kick butt while showing a lighter side too.

He’s supported ably by two strong females.  Andrea Riseborough may be my new star to watch…after turning up in Madonna’s directorial debut W/E, she delivered a layered performance in Disconnect and her role here as Cruise’s partner in work and love is nicely complex. We’re never quite sure what side she’s on and even when we think we’ve figured it out, the film throws some nice twists in to keep us guessing.  Kurylenko (Quantum of Solace) plays a character with secrets I shan’t give away but proves to be more than a woman that Cruise has to merely save.

Don’t be deceived by ads (or the above poster) that show Morgan Freeman playing a main role in the film.  While he does hold some significance his screen time is severely limited, ending up being more of a cameo appearance than anything.  Melissa Leo is one of the most earnest actresses out there so one should watch her performance here carefully…after the film is over her restraint is quite telling.

Seen in an IMAX theater, Oblivion has a lot of sound and fury…signifying something.  It’s a booming picture with amazing visuals and a sound design seemingly meant to test the sound proofing on any theater (as the credits were rolling I was almost out the door to the theater and could still hear the film playing).  The soundtrack by M83 is electronic heavy (I originally though Tron: Legacy composers Daft Punk had been tapped again for the soundtrack) and works nicely into the action.

This is a film that really should be seen first in the theater for the visuals alone.  It’s not going to revolutionize the sci-fi genre, nor does it really aim to.  It’s a compact re-tread of the best parts of other films that works more than it probably should.  I know the film has its nay-sayers and I completely see where they’d be coming from – but the film experience that I had was very rewarding and very unexpectedly entertaining.

Movie Review ~ Disconnect

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disconnect

The Facts:

Synopsis: A drama centered on a group of people searching for human connections in today’s wired world.

Stars: Jason Bateman, Hope Davis, Frank Grillo, Michael Nyqvist, Paula Patton, Andrea Riseborough, Alexander Skarsgard, Max Thieriot, Colin Ford, Jonah Bobo, Haley Ramm

Director: Henry Alex Rubin

Rated: R

Running Length: 115 minutes

Trailer Review: Here

TMMM Score: (6/10)

Review:  Disconnect is that rarest of films…the kind that works like gangbusters while you’re soaking it in at the theater but one that gradually erodes away with each day that passes.  It would be easy (and fair) to call this Crash 2.0 or Crash Online as the film is an ensemble drama with intertwining plots that circle around a single topic.  Where Crash took a hard look at race relations, Disconnect takes a timely look at how the internet has worked its way into our lives with troublesome results.

As is the case with many of these films with large casts and multiple story arcs, some of them work well and some of them fall flat.  For me, the most effective of these involves a news reporter (UKer Riseborough, sporting a flawless American accent) doing some investigative journalism into underage teens using the internet to provide sexual favors/shows in return for gifts/money.  Lured into this life, these teens are exploited and put into dangerous situations and it isn’t long before the FBI gets interested in the reporter and her relationship with an older teen (Thieriot) that agrees to go on camera to tell his story.

Riseborough is a fascinating actress to watch and though she does equally good work in the sci-fi actioner Oblivion, it’s in Disconnect where we enjoy her more because the character has some interesting moral dilemmas to go through.  Thieriot is impressive too as he graduates from Disney-fied teen films to a raw and revealing look into some dark material.

There’s also a Catfish-y story about two young high schoolers (Ford and Avian Bernstein) that use Facebook to pose as a girl interested in an outcast (Bobo).  Not just cyber-bullying but using the boy’s desire to connect against him, the two take their joke too far and soon find lives and futures are put into question when their target goes to drastic measures to free himself from their humiliation.  Grillo (building quite the impressive resume recently with films like The Grey, End of Watch, and Zero Dark Thirty) and Bateman (Hit and Run, Identity Thief) are fathers that are directly affected by the actions of their sons and both do solid dramatic work.

The least effective section involves Patton and Skarsgard as a couple with a marriage in trouble further put to the test when they are the subject of identity theft.  Was it Skarsgard’s online gambling habit or Patton’s online support group friend that opened them up to having their bank accounts drained?  That’s the back and forth issue they bicker about a lot…leading them to a confrontation with a man (Nyqvist) that may have the answers to their questions.  Patton and Skarsgard don’t have the right chemistry to sell this and I found myself squirming anytime the movie shifted focus.

How these different stories connect are mostly interesting and maybe sometimes too convenient but I won’t spoil how these overlap lest it ruin some of the discoveries the movie reveals as it goes on. Director Rubin (of the great documentary Murderball) and writer Andrew Stern clearly used Crash as an inspiration for the resolution (everything comes to a head in one high-tension series of slow-mo throat grabbers) and for the most part the film works. 

It was on my way home and in the days since that I saw how manipulative the film was.  Though there’s a connection that most audiences will make with the movie, if you sit down and consider the film you’ll see some of the plot holes and disconnecting contrivances that don’t seem to be a big issue when the fast paced movie is being taken in.  Perhaps because I enjoyed the film so much at the time and thanks to several strong performances, I’m giving it a higher rating than it deserves.

The Silver Bullet ~ Disconnect

by Silver Bullet - Trailer Park • Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

disconnect

Synopsis: A drama centered on a group of people searching for human connections in today’s wired world.

Release Date: April 12, 2013

Thoughts: As our reliance on technology grows, so our connectivity with living and breathing beings seems to be waning.  The upcoming ensemble drama Disconnect seeks to explore the emergence of how much of our lives are spent on the internet and how intertwined we’ve become with the online world.  From cyber bullying to identify theft to “catfish”ing someone, the internet has become a place for people to lose themselves.  These types of films are always very interesting…especially when they are centered around a central theme as timely as this one.

The Silver Bullet ~ Oblivion

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oblivion

Synopsis: A court martial sends a veteran soldier to a distant planet, where he has to destroy the remains of an alien race. The arrival of an unexpected traveler causes him to question what he knows about the planet, his mission, and himself.

Release Date:  April 19, 2013

Thoughts: 2012 had its highs and lows for Tom Cruise.  He came into 2012 with a hot film (Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol), turned in a great performance in a box office bomb (Rock of Ages),  went through a very public divorce, and is ending the year with a new film (Jack Reacher) that is getting above average reviews.  It won’t be long before Cruise will be back with this sci-fi epic from the director of the underrated Tron: Legacy that looks quite entertaining.  Add a cast of interesting faces and impressive effects and Cruise may be back on top by this time next year.