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Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children

October 10, 2016 (updated November 7, 2016)

Jake Portman (Asa Butterfield) is a young teenager living in Florida, with a deep admiration and affection for his grandfather Abe Portman (Terence Stamp). Abe would tell Jake many wild stories about a far-off school that Abe used to attend. The horrible death of Abe gives Jake and his father Frank Portman (Chris O’Dowd) the idea to visit the Isle of Wales to see where Abe grew up.

On the Isle, Jake wanders into a large mansion and it changes from broken down to tip-top shape. Jake has gone from 2016 back to 1943. It is the work of Miss Peregrine (Eva Green), who is the loving but strict leader of the Home for Peculiar Children.

Jake meets all of the children, but he develops a crush on Emma (Ella Purnell) who is one of the students. Jake finds out the Nazis would bomb that building that night, but Miss Peregrine has the ability to turn back time for 24 hours to create a safe ‘time loop’ for the children.

There is an evil man named Mr. Baron (Samuel L. Jackson) who is a shape-shifter and can appear to be anyone. He leads a group of crazy people who will attack the Peculiar Children and eat their … eyeballs. Baron is also the cause behind the Hollows, invisible monsters that has earlier killed Jake’s grandfather.

Many of the Peculiar Children have unusual abilities. Emma can float and can control air, there is one who is pyrokinetic, another who is an invisible boy. There is one who can control and maintain plants, and another who has bees that live in his stomach, and a boy who dreams many future events. There is a young girl who is an amazingly strong child, and one who can control and direct the newly dead.

The story twist and turns back and forth between 1943 and 2016, and from the Isle of Wight to Florida and back again and also to London. There is a sunken ocean liner that is lifted with the forced air from Emma. There is another hidden Home in London that gets attacked by Baron and the evil crew. Miss Avocet (Judi Dench) has to run away and the Peculiar Children help her before Baron can kill her.

Jake has never found any special Peculiar ability that he might have. Except for the fact that he can see the Hollows, who remain invisible to everyone else. Miss Peregrine knows that Jake will be very helpful in the fight against the Hollows and against Mr. Baron. She will be able to use his special talents to keep the other Children safe.

So that is the direction of this new movie that NOT aimed for small children. There are some scary situations, along with many that are just down right odd. Yet, for a Tim Burton movie, it seems subdued and not as wild as many of his earlier ones. There is a bit of the darkness along with a crazy-quilt of characters. Just not as many as you might have expected in a Burton production.

Eva Green did a beautiful job in the role, and Samuel L. Jackson was very over-the-top as the big villain. Asa Butterfield was fair, but mostly bland, and there was not chemistry at all between him and co-star Ella Purnell. Judi Dench has a short role but is fun to watch, Terence Stamp has just the right look as the Peculiar grandfather.

This movie is available with 3-D, but except for a handful of scenes it does not lend itself to any great viewing. The production qualities were very clear and impressive. However the overly large cast and the odd shifting between time periods and places made the story very hard to follow.

By all means, leave your kids at home to go see this latest Tim Burton movie, especially if you have a taste for the Peculiar.

Arrival

October 10, 2016 (updated October 10, 2016)

When mysterious spacecrafts touch down across the globe, an elite team – lead by expert linguist Louise Banks (Amy Adams) – is brought together to investigate. As mankind teeters on the verge of global war, Banks and the team race against time for answers – and to find them, she will take a chance that could threaten her life, and quite possibly humanity.

Starring: Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker

Director: Denis Villeneuve

Deepwater Horizon

October 7, 2016 (updated October 10, 2016)

The ‘Disaster Movie’ from the ’80s is back, but in a more professionally produced package. There are no airplanes falling from the sky, but there is an Inferno, and it does tower. There is no sinking cruise ship, but a floating oil rig in the Gulf is in deep(water) trouble. The actual events of 2010 are recalled and given the up-close-and-personal treatment. “Deepwater Horizon” makes a statement about the strength of ordinary men and woman in a very extraordinary situation.

Mike Williams (Mark Wahlberg) is an oil rig engineer ready to take on another three week shift on the Deepwater Horizon rig. His wife Felicia (Kate Hudson) wishes for his safe return, as usual. He meets “Mr. Jimmy” Harrell (Kurt Russell) who is the supervisor on the rig. Mr. Jimmy is a no-nonsense leader who believes in safety first. Andrea (Gina Rodriguez) is a worker in the control room who helps keep the rig on target.

TransOcean is the company who owns the rig, and it is being leased by BP (British Petroleum). A few BP executives are on board, including Donald Vidrine (John Malkovich). They are worried that rig’s drilling has not been completed and tested in time, and now they are weeks overdue and millions are being lost. So there are reductions made in testing and not every normal regulation has been followed completely. The oil needs to be drilled already, dammit!

While running some functional testing, the results are unclear. The BP bosses, like Donald, want a quick retest done. But “Mr. Jimmy” and Mike and many other oil rig workers want every option completely tested. This includes Caleb Holloway (Dylan O’Brien) a guy on the main drill line floor. He notices that after the aborted test, there is some violent shuddering in the drill line. He starts to see the mud and oil oozing up from the drill. This is not a normal result.

Within minutes, the rig explodes with highly pressured oil and gas that had been trapped in the faulty drill line. Methane seeps into the air ducts, ready to ignite – and there is no place to hide. There are 11 people who do not make it out alive. But the remaining one hundred plus workers, engineers, pilots, cooks and everyone assigned to work on the Horizon are in trouble. There are many injured and people are in shock. The story of how the rest of them got out and helped each other makes for the second half of the movie.

Movies that are based on true life situations are interesting. There is a build up to an oncoming oil rig disaster or a double bird strike on a jet out of JFK. You basically know the story. But there so many details of the actual situation that the movie portrays, that you are still amazed to see the whole thing unfold.

Mark Wahlberg plays the smart yet humble oil rig expert, and he shows how average guy can become a hero in the right circumstances. Kurt Russell it a force to be reckoned with, and his character is devoted to by-the-book safety measures. “Mr. Jimmy” will not let the sneaky executives pull any fast ones, but when they get him out of the room…

Kate Hudson does her best to act like the loving wife, and she is nervous when she hears the news. Dylan O’Brien plays a typical oil rig grunt, the guys who are there pulling the pipe and manning the drill at all hours. The money-grubbing monster had to be played by someone, so John Malkovich was the only logical choice.

The acting plays second fiddle to the visual chaos of the Horizon under assault by flaming jets of gas and oil. The action scenes are so realistic that you also feel under assault. Everyone is covered in oil and blood, and the horror takes a human toll. The means to escape are few, and pathways to survive are slim. Special effects, computer enhanced imagery, sound design and mixing are all on display.

Peter Berg has taken a eerie chapter from America’s recent past with this event leading to the worst oil spill in history. But rather than focus on the long-term affects to the ecology of the Gulf, he instead narrows it down to the workers on the rig. We feel the confusion and despair of the men and women who made up that team. And at the very end, there is a fitting tribute to the 11 souls who perished on the disaster. With additional review (from this movie), perhaps there is some hope for changes and continued vigilance on the deepwater oil rigs.

The Girl on the Train

October 7, 2016 (updated February 24, 2017)

“The Girl on the Train” is based on Paula Hawkins’ bestselling novel of the same name and is adapted for the screen by Erin Cressida Wilson (Secretary) and directed by actor/director Tate Taylor who directed “The Help” and “Get on Up”. There’s plenty of talent there alone to entice you to the theatre this weekend but I’ll give you a few more good reasons to catch this somewhat complicated whodunnit; Emily Blunt, who is simply brilliant in her role, Haley Bennett and Justin Theroux. The story starts with introducing you to a girl on a train, Rachel (Blunt), more woman than girl in years but girl in behavior, as she tells you of the houses she passes each day and her curiosity as to what the lives are like within them. She begins to more or less obsess over one particular couple in love, Megan (Bennett) and Scott (Evans), who reside in a house she wished she lived. He is the sexy husband she desires to have and she is the beautiful young woman with whom she longed to be. Soon, we learn that she had once lived two doors down in a lovely home that is still occupied by her ex-husband, Tom (Theroux), his wife, Anna (Ferguson), and their baby. What led to her divorce may be what now leads her to occupy her mind with such things as what goes on in what she considers to be a more perfect life than hers; alcohol, her personal demon. She drinks heavily, on the train and off, and is paranoid,often blacks out and sees things that may or may not be actually happening, because of her drinking problem.

The story has a purposely, sometimes agonizingly, slow reveal, using flashbacks to catch you up on what gets Rachel to this point in life. It also uses this trick to show the direction her life now leads as well as solidly placed scenes to throw you off the scent as to where the chiller is taking you. It’s leading up to a moment when she gets off the train, wanting to take action on a situation she sees happen and getting involved in something she shouldn’t be. Her plight gets more and more involved and she gets deeper and deeper into something she now cannot escape.

Some of the dialogue can be trite and a bit stuffy at times but overall, the mystery she becomes entangled in is one of the best I’ve seen since the fantastic, “Gone Girl” from 2014. Not wanting to reveal much more about the story I will add that Blunt is most likely looking at a best actress nomination. She plays her character with passion and despair and motivates you to go on this journey with her and you’re more than happy to hitch your wagon to it. Wilson and Taylor have given three woman the opportunity to excel and they more than do. Theroux, as well as the rest of the supporting cast, also stand out bringing this thriller to life for what will be one of your favorite complex stories of the year.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them Trailer

October 7, 2016 (updated December 22, 2016)

The adventures of writer Newt Scamander in New York’s secret community of witches and wizards seventy years before Harry Potter reads his book in school.

In theaters November 18

Bridget Jones’s Baby

October 1, 2016 (updated October 28, 2016)

I’ll admit I was skeptical. ‘Our favorite “singleton” having a baby?!’ With television programs, this is usually the “jump the shark” moment. Have studios learned nothing from that? How could this be good for a film that centers on our “Bridge” and her love affairs?!

Back in 2001, I met Bridget Jones in “Bridget Jones Diary” and have seen the film a dozen times or more since. If I happen by while someone’s watching; I’ll watch, too. If it’s on cable, I can’t resist and will stop flipping and complete the film. I loved Oscar® winner Renée Zellweger’s performance and her commitment to authenticity with the character that she took on. She was willing to gain a lot of weight, which for a woman in Hollywood is an extremely risky move, she looked “mousey” and her hair was generally a complete mess the entire time she was on screen. No matter. The success of the film proved that with a sound tale to tell, good actors and ability to provide realistic, more importantly, relatablestorylines, anything is achievable.

Risk to her health was not taken this time as Zellweger once again plays Bridget Jones, oddball and overall crazy person. She remained her svelte self and even though her character is pregnant this time around she preferred padding to real weight gain, letting the make-up department get her to where she needed to be.

What “Bridget Jones Baby” mostly gives is why you loved it in the first place and that is mostly what you’d hope… Bridget. In fact, it felt a lot like the first one without being unoriginal. Needless to say, there’s a fight between two men and you picking sides is once again at the heart of things.

Humor is throughout the plot, aimed straight at Jones and her choices. She has two nights with two different men and now, not knowing who the father of the baby is, she’s trying desperately to find out the answer to this predicament she’s in… without letting them know what she’s up to. Her prenatal doctor is played by Emma Thompson and she couldn’t have been more delightful.

For the most part, the secondary characters are a joy and add surprisingly detailed elements to what could have been a disaster. What made it work was its ability to remain a Bridget Jones film. It was as reliable as Bridget herself, yet at the end, it introduced her reason to be a little self indulgent and close her diary for good for it’s time to put someone, other than her lovers, in the forefront of her life. There are a few moments that are very touching, even scenes from the first film that will have you realizing how many years have gone by.

So, which man will get her heart, Mark or Jack? You’ll have to watch and see. Will it be the one you want her to end up with? You’ll have to return and answer that for me yourself. So, if you liked the first movie, you’ll like this one. Aside from a few silly scenes, I have to recommend you check this out for a good laugh; it’s enjoyable and amusing.

The Accountant movie trailer #2

September 30, 2016 (updated September 30, 2016)

Christian Wolff is a math savante with more affinity for numbers than people. Behind the cover of a small-town CPA office, he works as a freelance accountant for some of the world’s most dangerous criminal organizations. With the Treasury Department’s Crime Enforcement Division, run by Ray King, starting to close in, Christian takes on a legitimate client: a state-of-the-art robotics company where an accounting clerk has discovered a discrepancy involving millions of dollars. But as Christian uncooks the books and gets closer to the truth, it is the body count that starts to rise.

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In Theaters October 13

Get showtimes and tickets

Masterminds

September 30, 2016 (updated February 24, 2017)

“Masterminds” is a comedy based on the true story of one of the largest bank heists in America… and one of the most simplistic minds there is. Galifianakis plays David Ghantt who would do anything for the woman of his dreams. Galifianakis would do anything for a role, going as far as “sharting” in a pool for this one. Okay! I couldn’t help myself. I laughed at that. Sometimes the really stupid funny makes me giggle and this is about as stupid as they come.

Based in North Carolina, Hess uses every southern stereotype he could find from wood paneling on all the walls to a high-rise double-wide trailer to the hicks in them but the worst is the extra nauseatingly thick accent Galifianakis uses. It gets old very fast but there’s something about his comedy in this movie that you can’t help but find amusing and enjoy. I’d guess it’s his chemistry with director Jared Hess of “Nacho Libre” and “Napoleon Dynamite” that works to create a blissfully ignorant hayseed who is somehow still smart enough to pull of a 17 million dollar heist for the woman he loves, Kelly (Wiig), who is not his fiancé, might I add. His fiancé is Jandice and portrayed by McKinnon who does white trash brilliantly and the only way to describe her character is “weird”. McKinnon is always good at weird but this Jandice character goes way beyond the norm. Wiig, executes the love interest in the film and is, for the most part, playing straight for a change. There are a few laughs from her but it seems oddly fitting that she is the balance to all of the crazy going on; you expect insane from her in a film like this but when she delivers compassion and caring for someone getting taken advantage of, the story seems more real.

Masterminds Armored CarMasterminds Armored Car

Kelly gets David to help her and her pals steal the money and behind his back they have planned on David to also be the fall guy. Steve Chambers (Wilson) is running the show and after David steals the money from Loomis, Fargo & Co., which becomes the second largest cash robbery in U.S. history, even appearing on shows like “America’s Most Wanted” because of it, he sends David to Mexico with a small allowance until things cool down and they “meet up with him later.” While they are living the good life, he’s in Mexico waiting for his girl. So, perhaps the David in the film isn’t so far removed from reality. However, feeling the pain of being the patsy, perhaps an exaggerated film of bringing them all to justice was his best revenge.

The sight gags in “Masterminds” are great. The characters are grotesquely over-the-top and you’ll laugh but to dig deeper into what you’re seeing, the structure isn’t there and doesn’t hold up. It feels as if you’re clicking on Youtube, looking for the funny clips and all the while not as entertained in-between the clicks. However, the costume changes and bizarre you get from Galifianakis and then the relationship that develops between him and the man sent to kill him, Mike McKinney (Sudeikis), makes this absurd film one to take a peek at. It has that “Napoleon Dynamite” feel to it and I wouldn’t be surprised if it picks up momentum with people watching this more than once to take it all in again and to perhaps take another look at the characters to figure out who may have taken the still missing two million dollars. Now you’re interested. By the way, stay at the end for some extra fun stuff.

Interview with Mark Geist and John Tiegen of “13 Hours: The Inside Account of What Really Happened in Benghazi”

August 12, 2016 (updated July 8, 2019)

Former Marines, Mark “Oz” Geist and John “Tig” Tiegen, were unable to quiet their minds and bodies on September 11, 2012. They were in Benghazi, Libya, when what they were trained and ready to do, not what they were actually there for, kicked in; and luckily for anyone who survived because many wouldn’t have, had these men not been willing, ready and able to be, not in their words, heroes. Read more

Interview with “Unsullied” director Simeon Rice

August 9, 2016 (updated April 23, 2018)

Interview with “Unsullied” director Simeon Rice

Directed by: Simeon Rice

Starring: Murray Gray, Rusty Joiner, James Gaudioso, Erin Boyes, Cindy Karr and Nicole Paris Williams

By Shari K. Green

“Unsullied” is a film made by Simeon Rice, who directed and helped write the film after film school. He graduated film school after he retired from pro-football in 2009. He played for the Arizona Cardinals and also earned a Super Bowl ring in 2003 when he played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

He was a very good football player but I’m not so sure that he’s going to be as successful behind the lens unless he learns more about what he’s doing. We do need to keep in mind that this is his directorial debut, but he should take on smaller films and lighter topics first, “pay his dues” so to speak, because as it turns out, the film is sloppy and chaotic… muddled, and the problems with it were exactly what you’d expect from a new director who needs a bit more experience.

When learning that there were several writers on the project, you can see why so much commotion made it to the screen. I won’t lie to you… if you like the type of action/horror movies that come from indie or student filmmakers, this is what “Unsullied” has in store for you and you’ll like the film. It isn’t special and it isn’t new. What doesn’t work? It’s in conflict with itself and its overall message is unclear. What works? Well, Rice has surrounded himself with some good people, chiefly, his cinematographer, Scott Winig. The movie looks good so, Rice has some experts in his corner and if he wants to continue making movies, his love of film and eye for talent behind the camera could begin to work for him.

As he declares in my interview with him, he’s very passionate about filmmaking and is humble enough to ask for assistance when he needs it. It’s my belief that as he learns more about the game, as he did in football, there’s little doubt he’ll improve and even become good at this. That said, “Unsullied”, a story about Reagan (Gray), a track star who is kidnapped by a pair of sociopaths for a game of cat and mouse, is an extremely formulaic “B” movie, made more for Rice to get a feature under his belt than for an audience to love and then tout for their new favorite director.

I hope he absorbs the criticism about his film and what is said about him. He should make improvements based on his mistakes and focus on creating a story that isn’t rife with commonality and concentrate more on entertaining his audience than proving something to himself and his friends.

SG: Everyone dreams of a second career and I know you’ve been asked this question a lot, but I must ask you… why film?

Rice: I have a passion of storytelling. I have a passion of… of creating concepts and being able to express yourself on a theatrical standpoint so… film, to me, is one of the ultimate levels of expression and freedom. To be able to do that and tell your own stories in your own way from facts to fiction is just one of those things that resonated with me… and improved itself over time.

SG: You had made a short film, a comedy, and then you tackle an entire feature next. Why such a tough project right away and what is the ultimate message you’d like to convey?

Rice: That I’m a filmmaker. That I’m telling a story and I can create details. I want to go so far left of what people would expect from me and to show that I’m a serious filmmaker; as a storyteller and as of a responsible storyteller. I have a film going into theatres nationwide and it comes from a very organic place. Those tales I create are going to stay in the pulse of people. I watched the film “No Country with Old Men” and as I sat and watched that film, I was so enthralled and into this movie, that I said, ‘I want to make a film similar to this’… one that’s going to lead you to the edge of your seat… that’s going to be an adrenalin rush of a film, that’s going to take you to epic heights and the lowest of lows, and things of that nature… so, I wrote “Unsullied” and “Unsullied” to me… it typifies the tipping point of what an action/thriller/suspense could be.

SG: You achieved all of that. It’s crazy, this movie. Murray Gray was the perfect choice for it. She was tough mixed with innocence. Were you involved in casting her?

Rice: Yes. I cast her. She was brought to me by a casting agent slash one of our producers, Michelle Gracie and… yeah… I watched a lot of girls. I sat in that process and ultimately picked the one who suited this role the best. Her and her ability to translate emotion really spoke to me and she really went after this role and took on a full commitment and the responsibility of what a lead actress would do and I’m overjoyed with her performance.

SG: Now the cinematic side. You had to have spent many days in the woods, not a Hollywood set, and shot day for night and such in those woods. I have to commend you for picking the right director of photography, as well, Scott Winig, who started his career shooting music videos and won many awards there. He got some really beautiful shots that had to have been equally as difficult to capture. How many days did you spend in those woods?

Rice: We were there just about twenty days. The shoot was twenty-three days and we were in the woods about seventeen or eighteen of those days.

SG: Wow. That’s a LOT of work! What was the biggest challenge for you there?!

Rice: I dealt with a lot of challenges but I think the biggest challenge was just… ummm… the anxiety of it. Dealing with my own anxieties before shooting and having confidence in my own ability as a director. But once I got on set, I think the biggest anxiety was the unknown; the fear of the unknown when you’re going into production. But once I got on set, it all made sense… it all felt natural and I felt that I shouldn’t have been anywhere else but right there in the director’s chair creating this film.

SG: Well, congratulations.

Rice: Thank you.

SG: I must know your opinion here. Which do you find harder, a three-week film shoot or a seventeen-week football season?

Rice: They both have their inherent strengths. You have to endure so much as a player. You have to endure so much as a filmmaker slash writer slash producer and executive producer. They are both very respected in their own different ways. Obviously playing football has a toll on me physically and creating films, you deal with great highs and lows… they both are different but both have their levels of complications. I respect both professions.

SG: Who came up with the title, “Unsullied”? Are you a “Game of Thrones” fan?!

Rice: I’m a “Game of Thrones” fan but it was more related to what she went through. It begs the question, “Unsullied”, does she or does she not, you know? It was just one of those things… the fact that the guys were so sullied… so tainted, you know? She goes through this and we want to know, does she lose her way?

SG: Right. Does she stay clean?

Rice: It’s also an open-ended question.

SG: Exactly. So, what was your favorite part of directing?

Rice: My favorite part of directing? I don’t really deal in favorites because that’s an absolute. I kind of enjoyed every aspect of it but really connecting with the actors is my biggest joy in terms of directing. To connect with the actors in terms of the role, in terms of expression, in terms of casting them and communicating an idea and then working through some of the complications that come with it… that’s a joy.

SG: Is there anyone out there you’d like to work with in particular?

Rice: I’m so humble. I’m so fortunate if anyone would work with me. There are so many great actors out there in the platform of theatre and production that if I’m connected with anybody out there that wants to tell a great story, I’d be overjoyed.

SG: What’s your advice for anyone who wants to go into filmmaking?

Rice: Come in the game very prepared if you want to see your story through. Tell your story. Tell your tale. Be dedicated. Make sure, whatever you do in terms of storytelling, that you have an outlet for the big game. Be honest in your creativity. Be honest in your storytelling… but be a responsible storyteller and make sure that the message you’re trying to convey is parallel with the message you want to get out there.