Scenic Route (2013)

 
What originally runs the risk of being a pretentious best-friends-fighting-in-the-desert borefest turns out to be an interesting study of what happens when your best bud becomes someone you would rather not share the same universe with, let alone a beat-up pick-up truck. The two friends are not always sympathetic, but we understand their motivations and the film refuses to side with either of them.

   Mitchell (Josh Duhamel, who did those two giant-robot movies by the filmmaker we all like to make fun of) and Carter (pudgy Dan Fogler, who until now primarily acted in critically-bashed comedies) are two friends driving through the desert. We don't know exactly where they're going, as their destination matter not to us; what we do know is that Carter's a starving artist (some might say 'loser') who lives in his car and struggles to sell a novel, and Mitch is a family man with a wife and a little boy, who begrudgingly makes the rounds through an excruciatingly boring job at the office.

   I won't go into the details of how they end up stranded in the desert with nothing to eat except dry ice and jelly beans. We felt tension between the two old friends initially, now the unease explodes into full-blown hatred and disgust. This is can be a good set-up for both a thriller and a black comedy and is, mean humor runs throughout this film that makes us laugh in spite of ourselves.

   In between their vicious bouts of verbal bile and outbursts, the men share their insecurities and fears. And as the boiling hot days give way to frigid nights, they become increasingly disillusioned about their chances of survival. The insights into male middle age are not always kosher or kind, but they are honest and cleverly written.

   Josh Duhamel does a very good job as Mitchell; Dan Fogler sometimes falters being unsure of the balance between pathos and black comedy but still impresses, especially considering where he came from. The twist ending is a bit predictable, but still brilliantly executed. On a random side note, I wish they had gotten an obese woman to play Mitch's wife. He talks frankly about how he has a hard time getting it up looking at her post-pregnancy body, and then she turns out to be gorgeously thin? Come on.

   "Scenic Route" might be a waste of time for some people, but for those who like conversationally driven thrillers with darkly comic undertones will be more than happy to soak in the film's subversive pleasures. The only film I can compare it to is "Buried" with Ryan Reynolds, if you like that kind of talky, tense film with an isolated setting, you will probably like this. As is, I found this a very underrated movie with a surprising cast. I hope you like it as much as I did.
                                                 Rating-
                                                          7.5/10

The Cry of the Owl (2009)

"The Cry of the Owl" is a strange little movie featuring profoundly odd characters who perplexed the bejeezus out of me. It's a movie that grows on you once you get behind the rhythm of the storytelling. Paddy Considine, an actor who I absolutely love and have enormous respect for, plays a slightly awkward and rather lonely divorcee by the name of Robert Forrester, who routinely spies on a local woman (Julia Stiles,) watching her house from a hiding spot in the woods.

   Robert is caught by the girl, whose name is Jenny Thierouf, and she rather perplexingly invites him into her house, where she lives alone, her solitary life occasionally interrupted by the appearances of her boyfriend, Greg Wyncoop (James Gilbert.) It soon becomes apparent that she is to some degree fascinated with Robert's creepy interest in her.

   Unfortunately for Robert, Greg is the jealous type who proceeds to make Robert suffer, even after Jenny tells Greg under no uncertain terms that their relationship is over. When Greg attacks Robert and promptly goes missing,  poor Robert finds himself ostracized at every turn, and worse, a murder suspect.

   Based on a book by Patricia Highsmith, the film features interesting and well-written characters, from whom you never know quite what to expect. Robert displays inappropriate social behavior and never seems quite comfortable in his own skin at any given time, and it takes us some time to decide whether he is essentially harmless or a dangerous wacko. With her clipped monotone and bizarre segues, Jenny is a fragile soul, and although you feel kind of bad for her, you certainly don't trust her.

   The first thing I noticed was the unevenness of Paddy's American accent. Otherwise, he is very good as an introvert whose creepy nighttime activities have put him in hot water at work and home. Julia Stiles initially comes off as a rather stiff and uninterested presence, but we gradually warm up to her acting style, which ultimately fits the character.

   "The Cry of the Owl" is a slow burner, with a rather abrupt ending, that may appeal perfectly to some audiences and confound and alienate others. I liked the offbeat characters and I was sucked into the mystery plot. Not for all tastes, and it may need time to grow on you, but otherwise, an entertaining thriller.
                                                              Rating-
                                                   7.0/10

Stoker (2013)

At it's worst, "Stoker" is stiff, awkward, and simply too artsy for it's own good. At it's best, however, it is beautifully photographed, well-acted, and loaded with atmosphere.

    Although there are certainly a lack of likable characters, "Stoker" gets points off the spookily edgy presentation of it's subject matter, and from the great performance and characterization of the seemingly fragile lead's Uncle Charlie, and enigmatic charmer with a killer smile and a lifetime's worth of secrets.

   Young India Stoker (Mia Wasikowska) is thrown off balance by her father's death and the appearence of her mysterious Uncle (Matthew Goode,) who evokes feelings in her of... what? Yearning? Anger? Sadness? A beast lurking just below the surface, waiting to jump out and take over?

The Cat and the Canary (1927)

Although "The Cat and the Canary" isn't sure what it wants to be- a slapstick comedy, a whodunit, or a straight horror movie- intriguing characters and excellent performances from the cast keep this one fresh and charming.

   Half-mad millionare Cyrus West dies in his creepy mansion, leaving the name of his benefactor in his safe. Like flies to a freshly bloated carcass, his family gathers at the mansion, waiting to snatch up his sizable fortune.

   There is a potentially deadly catch... the person who wins the money must spend the night in West's reportedly haunted mansion, and pass a sanity test short thereafter. The dubious 'winner' turns out to be Cyrus' niece, Annabelle West (Laura La Plante).

I'm Not Scared (2003)

It is 1978, and Italian youth Michele (Giuseppe Cristiano) lives what initially seems like the freedom-filled, idyllic childhood we wish we all had. But this life has dark implications, which reveal themselves when Michele finds a boy his age chained up in a hole, to his horror and surprise.

   The boy is Felippo (Mattia Di Pierro,) a boy Michele's age (nine), who is obviously confused and scared, but very much alive. Initially scared off by Felippo's corpse-like appearance, Michele finds himself  coming back to bring Felippo water and food.

   Reasoning that someone in his Italian village is Felippo's captor, Michele initially chooses not to tell anyone about his discovery, but when the perpetrators fall onto Michele's lap, he must decide what to do next.

the Boondock Saints (1999)

"The Boondock Saints" is an extremely over-hyped vigilante thriller that contains no depth beyond its initial macho revenge fantasy, but, despite moments of painful camp, doesn't have the sense to go all the way as a comedy. It would better serve as a satire on America's obsession with Machismo posturing and the view that violence is the best way to solve problems than the self-important bloodbath it becomes.

   I'm not adverse to revenge movies, even extreme ones. "Taxi Driver" featured Travis Bickle blowing away pimps and thugs, but it was more of a character study than a vigilante movie. "God Bless America" trivialized violence, but it was a satire, and a good one at that. "Dead Man's Shoes" was a powerful statement on the consequences of violence.

 I don't have any problem with violence in the media at all, except when it is portrayed as an easy way to solve real-life problems. People, I cannot stress this hard enough -- there are consequences to violent retaliation and vigilante justice.

Antichrist (2009)

I was apprehensive about seeing "Antichrist,, but not primarily for the reason that you might expect. Yes, the film's allegations of rampant misogyny (not a new accusation for controversial filmmaker Lars Von Trier) and graphic violence were daunting, but I also heard that the Von Trier's new work was linked thematically to "Melancholia," a film I found almost unbearably aloof and pretentious.

   I am, however, a fan of the director's earlier works "Dancer in the Dark," and especially, "Breaking the Waves" (the film that made me fall irrevocably in love with Emily Watson), so I decided to  give this one a go. This movie didn't make me fall in love with anybody, least of all the characters (though the acting is very good.) It made me want to hit something. Or crawl into a fetal position and cry.

The Perfect Host (2010)

"Frasier"'s David Hyde Piece turns up the camp for "The Perfect Host," a perfectly functional black comedy that deteriorates into an incomprehesible mess. Sporting more twists than Snakes and Ladders and more holes than a putt-putt golf course, the end ruins what is otherwise an enjoyable exercise in kitsch.

   John (Clayne Crawford) is on the run after a bank robbery gone wrong- and camps out in the wrong house when he enters the L.A. home of Warwick Wilson (David Hyde Pierce,) a well-mannered gentleman with a sadist's streak. Warwick, a full-blown Schizophrenic with a plethora of imaginary friends, holds John captive, while flashback reveal what led up to John's crimes.

   Sounds great, doesn't it? It kinda is... until "The Perfect Host" falls prey to 'the curse of the thriller' and piles one nonsensical plot twist after another. I was reminded of the eye-roll ending of Stephen Soderburgh's "Side Effects," which brick by brick tore down the foundation the film had strove for.

Side Effects (2013)

Side Effects (2013)

Director: Steven Soderbergh

Writer: Scott Z. Burns

Why I Watched It: I am a fan of several of Soderbergh’s previous films, and I was curious about this one.


My Reaction, In a Nutshell: Never has my reaction to a film gone downhill so dramatically. At the beginning, my response was: “Hey, this is going to be great!” I was captivated by the interesting characters and masterful cinematography. Later in the movie, my response shifted to occasionally rolling my eyes and muttering, “Um … seriously?” By the end, I’d devolved into repeatedly shouting “Oh for fuck’s sake!” at the screen. I guess if I really wanted to reframe that nicely I could say, “It was a hell of a ride.”

Arbitrage (2012)

Billionaire Robert Miller (Richard Gere) has built a successful trading company and watched it flourish. He has his brilliant daughter Brooke (Brit Marling) working beside him and his lovely wife Ellen (Susan Sarandon) handling the company's philanthropic work. Now Robert is in danger of having fraudulent business practices exposed and is anxious to sell his corporation before that happens. Then a tragic turn in his personal life puts him at the center of a criminal investigation.

The Gift (2000)

Sam Raimi avoids the camp of the "Evil Dead" trilogy to deliver some serious scares in "The Gift," a Southern-Gothic ESP thriller that stars Cate Blanchett in the role of Annie, a psychic living in a small town.

   When local flake Jessica King (Katie Holmes) gets murdered, Annie's sixth sense acts up, leading the authorities to one man: resident wife-beater and town redneck Donnie Barksdale (Keanu Reeves). Of course, Donnie's not the one who done it, and with her power under scrutiny, Annie must find the real killer before she, too, becomes a victim.

   The strength of this movie is that it avoids the pitfalls of modern horror films. First of all, Annie isn't the usual ditzy, flaky, slutty heroine, who along with her group of dumb friends has a total IQ of 50. She behaves in an admirable and most of all, INTELLIGENT way.

Dead Man's Shoes (2004)

   Bloody and brilliant, "Dead Man's Shoes" is an emotional rollercoaster from beginning to end. The 57% rating on Rotten Tomatoes is both a crying shame and a sacrilege, because this is Shane Meadows' masterpiece -- a film that transcends the revenge genre, delivering a heart-pounding, intense story that lets events unfold in a way that is anything but simple.

   Richard (Paddy Considine) returns home from military service with no intention of living a nice quiet life and settling down. The target of his rage: a low-rent drug gang that did some terrible things to his borderline simple brother Anthony (Toby Kebbell) some time before.

    After Richard threatens a drug dealer and later gives him an unsettlingly twitchy apology, the gang of thugs suspect that ol' Anthony's brother might be a few screws short of a tool box, but don't know how to react. Sonny (Gary Stretch), the most sadistic and smartest (and in a group like this, that's not saying much), takes charge as best as he is able, but they are no match for Richard's cool-headed brutality and military training.

Repost of an Old Favorite: Buddy Boy

    Buddy Boy, Mark Hanlon's debut, is a haunting and potent film about dead end lives that provokes more questions than answers but remains bizarrely interesting throughout.
 
   The film provides a look into the surrealistic existence of emotionally stunted, stuttering misfit Francis (Aidan Gillen), who lives with his trollish invalid stepmother (actual amputee Susan Tyrell), in a squalid apartment.

   Suffering from overwhelming guilt concerning his sexuality, his religion, and himself, he goes to confession monthly, admitting every impure thought and indiscretion. The contrast between faith and the id is revealed in the opening, which presents the viewer with a montage of religious imagery followed by Francis, uh... pleasuring himself to a pair of voluptuous breasts in a magazine.

Film Review: Caché

Year Released: 2005

Written & Directed by: Michael Haneke

Review by: Steph

My Rating: 5/5 Stars

Film Review: Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others)

Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others) (2006) Written & Directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck; Winner of Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2006. (It beat out Pan's Labyrinth.)

I grew up during the Cold War, a time when Europe was sharply divided by the Iron Curtain and the idea of the Berlin Wall coming down was fodder for insane predictions touted by tabloids. Then the year after I graduated from college, European communism began to dissolve, and the Berlin Wall was leveled to the ground. Suddenly we found ourselves living in a drastically changed world.

Fall of the Berlin Wall, while East German Border Guard Looks On - photo from bbc.uk

The Lives of Others is a beautiful German film that explores life under East Germany's communist regime. The story opens in 1984. Secret Service Agent Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe) is a ruthless interrogator, ambitious and single-mindedly devoted to ferreting out "enemies of socialism." For him, human nature is viewed through a very narrow lens, with no room for ambiguity.

Book & Movie Review: Red Dragon

Publication Date: 2009 (originally published in 1981)

Publisher: The Berkley Publishing Group

Format: Paperback

Genre:  Mystery/Thriller

Why I Chose It: It was given to me by Jill at Fizzy Thoughts for the Dueling Monsters Showdown.






Rating: (3.5/5 stars)

Strangers on a Train by Alfred Hitchcock

This psychological thriller begins with a seemingly chance meeting, between two men, on a train. Guy Haines is a professional tennis player with aspirations of pursuing a career in politics. Bruno Anthony is a ne'er-do-well with an Oedipus complex from a wealthy, privileged family. Bruno approaches Guy, drawn by his status as a pro athlete. "I certainly admire people who do things," Bruno enthuses.

In the midst of a steady stream of chatter, Bruno reveals that he has a problem he wants to get rid of: his father. Apparently the patriarch has tired of Bruno living off the family fortune without contributing to society. Bruno wants him dead. Furthermore, he's read about Guy in the gossip columns and knows he wants a divorce from his difficult wife, Miriam, so he can marry the woman he loves. Bruno has an interesting theory about how to pull off the perfect murder. If two men were to commit each other's murders, Guy killing Bruno's father and Bruno killing Guy's wife, no one would suspect the perpetrators. After all, neither of them had a motive to go after his victim.

Guy is repulsed by the idea. Yet there are several moments, which highlight why this is such a great psychological movie, when the viewer suspects he'll give into temptation.

The two men part. Guy seems to dismiss Bruno as a relatively harmless lunatic, and they go their separate ways. Nevertheless, Bruno is intent on putting his plan into motion. The result is a series of events that close in around Guy, threatening to destroy his future and his relationship with the woman he loves.

I can't believe I waited this long to see this movie -- it may be my favorite of the Hitchcock films I've seen so far. It is cleverly plotted and well paced, with strong acting and several satisfyingly insane characters. My sidekick, MovieBuff25, was rather partial to Bruno as a sociopathic mama's boy. And the cinematography is wonderful. In keeping with classic film noir style, most of the scenes are dimly lit, and there's an interesting interplay between light and darkness throughout the movie. An example is an unforgettable scene when Bruno follows some unsuspecting victims through a tunnel at an amusement park. We see only their shadows on the dimly lit wall of the tunnel, and Bruno's shadow seems to gradually gain on theirs, eventually swallowing it up.

There are too many other memorable shots to count. For example, I loved the moment when a murder is committed, after the victim's glasses have fallen to the ground, and we see the heinous crime dimly reflected in the lenses of the glasses. We barely glimpse the crime, yet that image is more memorable for me than most of the bloody, graphic acts of violence I've seen onscreen.

The suspense continues to intensify, climaxing in an intense scene on a runaway carousel. The continuing game of "cat and mouse," as well as the complex interplay between the characters, kept me guessing until the end.

Long Pigs

    Long Pigs is a film that shouldn't work. Shaky cam? Done? Serial killer thriller? Done? Faux snuff film? Done, done. Regardless, through its incisive writing and strong performance by Anthony Alviano, who plays the killer, it succeeds in being both consistently interesting and profoundly disturbing.

    Two low-life filmmakers, John (John Terranova) and Chris (co-director Chris Powers) come upon a deal of a lifetime -- they will make a documentary, using serial killer Anthony McAlister (Alviano), who likes to eat his victims, as a subject.

    Didn't your mother ever tell you to avoid scary people? Apparently not. Undeterred, the two accompany Anthony on a ride-along. His first victim is a prostitute named Lucy, who he makes into a stew. From step one, the fate of the filmmakers is as violent as it is inevitable.

    Anthony justifies his eating habits to the extreme. He doesn't seem to be as much emotionless in that Michael Myers way as utterly and completely shallow in his response to wrongdoing. Something, as they say, just doesn't go to the top floor.

    Long Pigs asks the question -- can people who carry out monstrous acts change? Should they forgive themselves when no one else can? Although not reaching the same heights playing a sociopath as Noah Taylor in Simon Rumley's Texas thriller Red, White & Blue, Anthony Alivano, who looks like a more rounded Jason Segel, is effective, dynamic, and chilling.

   Paul Fowles also stands out as the grieving father of Ashley, McAlister's only child victim. His deadened smile as he greets the filmmakers and eventual breakdown ring true. The film also incorporates interviews with a callous radio show host (Roger King), stressed cop (Shane Harbinson), and an uber-Liberal serial killer expert. Through discussions of Ed Gein, fictional killer Norman Bates, and different archetypes of serial murderers, she pleads sympathy and integration into society for their kind. Her words show mercy, but she hasn't seen the things the cop has.

    The documentary-style technique does not become strained or distracting. That's the thing. Sporting the odd and the unusual, this surprisingly good first feature throws common cinematic techniques out the window. In doing this, it gets away with murder.

 

 

Wake Wood

  Wake Wood starts out with an unnerving premise and goes downhill as the film's tyke goes on a killing spree. Her name is Alice, and she has had a happy life. Why does she kill?

  Well maybe if you were resurrected during a Pagan ritual, you'd have problems too. After Alice (Ella Connelly) is killed in a dog attack, her parents Patrick and Louise (Aidan Gillen and Eva Birthistle) would do anything to have her back.

   They move to Wake Wood, the kind of community that exists primarily in horror movies, cloistered and isolated, with weird locals who come into the house uninvited.

    "How would you like to get you daughter back?" asks creepy villager Arthur, played by Timothy Spall (not a direct quote). "That's not funny," replies Patrick. a believable response. But conveniently, Louise caught a glimpse of a resurrection ritual. She believes him.

   The ritual can bring the deceased back for three days, so the bereaved can say their goodbyes. It requires that another person's body be used in the process of resurrecting the girl. Conveniently (or not so conveniently), an older man in the village was recently crushed to death by a cow.

   The ceremony is prepared, but the child's parents lied about one important detail -- Alice has been dead for more than a year, which creates a rift in the Pagan magic. Will Alice come back a normal little girl? Or the bad seed reborn?

    You should have been able to figure out the answer to this question without my little commentary in the first paragraph. And forgive me, but I don't buy that a seven-something year old girl, albeit an undead one, could rip a woman's heart out of her ribcage. Which also happens in the movie. Keep up with me, folks!

    Notice how I'm using the word "convenient" a lot? "Wake Wood" runs on unlikely occurrences, close calls, and horror cliches, like "car breaks down," "woman runs into *gasp* her husband," and the inevitable "child kills animal" archetypes. All this and a scene pulled straight from Carrie.

   Ella Connelly, as the girl, has all the cuteness and wide-eyed sincerity of a young Dakota Fanning, but Dakota Fanning she is not. Although she could act happy and sweet, she wasn't really convincing as an infernal child-gone-wrong.

    Which brings us to the ending. Eva Birthistle is the highlight of this film, portraying grief and distress naturally. Timothy Spall is a great actor in an underdeveloped, criminally underwritten role, therefore hindering his capacity for greatness.

    Aidan Gillen, who did a commendable job playing a mentally ill stutterer in the indie Buddy Boy some years back, practically sleepwalks through this role.

    His apparent mindset: play the part, jump the hoops, collect the paycheck. There's little passion or commitment to this role. Now that I think about it, his character in Buddy Boy was a bit stiff, a little under-reactionary.

   But it fit the character, and Aidan Gillen had some spark playing the nervous wreck. Gillen now plays Patrick as detached to the extreme, facing horrific and astonishing occurrences with mild anxiety. He plays a concerned husband, but that's about it. Despite it's initially chilling premise, Wake Wood fails to deliver. Although it has potential as a thriller, it ultimately fails as a movie.

The Constant Gardener

When does someone's struggle to make a difference go too far? When that person ends up dead, apparently. That's what happens to Tessa (Rachel Wiesz) when she attempts to reveal a cover-up involving a pharmaceutical company being unfairly tested on African natives.

The protagonist of the film is Justin Quayle, played by the great Ralph Fiennes. He's an easy-going kind of guy, a British diplomat prone to puttering around in his garden. He meets Tessa, a humanitarian, while giving a speech on diplomacy to a bored audience. She stands up and argues her ideals to him, which he takes well. After a discussion, Tessa apologizes, and they go to her house and have a one-night stand. Justin might not think much of it. He may, considering his most intimate moments involve plants.

Whether he expects her to come back is not clear, but return she does, and with a surprising proposition. The proposition is a marriage of convenience, so that she can go to Africa with him. Time passes, and the marriage becomes strained. Justin suspects Tessa of having an affair and is disconcerted by how much time she spends with fellow philanthropist Arnold Bluhm (Hubert Koundé). Tessa is disheartened by Justin's consistent uninvolvement, and a sudden tragedy presses down on them. And then she's gone.

Reeling, Justin focuses on her final project, the unveiling of a conspiracy that she never got to complete. In doing so, he finds himself on dangerous ground but cannot bring himself to return to his plants.

I honestly cannot find much fault with this movie, a well-developed thriller with terrific acting. The cinematography, story, and character are all well-done. I liked the relationship between the two main characters and how it wasn't heavily romanticized or glib like a lot of romantic couples in movies. Unlike the overrated Academy Award Nominee Blue Valentine, the lead characters are likable and engaging. In this movie, Ralph Fiennes proves why he he one of the best of modern thespians. With each facial expression, he conveys a world of emotion. He never over-emotes or "stage-acts" and remains believable throughout the movie.

The only complaints I have are that some of the child actors are not up to par with the script, and the black characters (other than Arnold Bluhm) are not terribly well developed.

Lastly, I think that most people can relate to Justin's involvement with his own personal interests. I think there is more of the constant gardener in us then we would care to admit.