As you should posthaste, I recently watched the highly entertaining Netflix Original ‘The Highwaymen.’ Having enjoyed it so, I couldn’t wait to converse with the men who created the film, director John Lee Hancock and writer John Fusco. Read more
THIS SUMMER, LET THE FESTIVITIES BEGIN.
‘MIDSOMMAR‘
DIRECTED BY: Ari Aster
STARRING: Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor, William Jackson Harper, Vilhelm Blomgran, Archie Madekwe, Ellora Torchia, and Will Poulter
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Greta is a dark, psychological thriller that’s all payoff with no setup. It’s suspense without the time taken to correctly build up the character’s relationships. This being the case, there’s virtually no chance to create a rapport with you, the audience. Without the much-needed connection to each other, it’s difficult for you to release and let yourself go and sink into the story. Read more
The outlaws made headlines. The lawmen made history. From director John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side), THE HIGHWAYMEN follows the untold true story of the legendary detectives who brought down Bonnie and Clyde. When the full force of the FBI and the latest forensic technology aren’t enough to capture the nation’s most notorious criminals, two former Texas Rangers (Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson) must rely on their gut instincts and old school skills to get the job done.
*Launches globally on Netflix on March 29 with exclusive theatrical engagements beginning March 15th.
Distributor: Netflix
Cast: Kevin Costner, Woody Harrelson, Kathy Bates, Kim Dickens
Directed by: John Lee Hancock
Written by: John Fusco
Producer: Casey Silver
Executive Producers: Michael J. Malone, John Lee Hancock, Woody Harrelson, Kevin Costner, Rod Lake
Music By: Thomas Newman
Cinematography By: John Schwartzman
Production Design By: Michael Corenblith
Costume Design By: Daniel Orlandi
One thing for sure is that writer and director, Asghar Farhadi, lives up to expectations. Having worked in the business since 2002, in 2011, he launched himself into major notoriety with his film, ‘A Separation,’ where he was adorned with awards. In fact, he was the first Iranian filmmaker to win an Academy Award®. Similarly, he was the first Iranian filmmaker to be nominated for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, better known as the ‘Bafta.’ This made him so successful that Farhadi was listed as one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World in the year 2012.
Now that I’ve introduced you to the writer/director of ‘Everybody Knows,’ I’ll tell you about the movie. With the help of an extremely clever trailer and the talents of the Oscar-winning, real-life couple, Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem, what Farhadi has essentially done here is lead you in one direction yet take you somewhere completely unexpected.
You wander into the film believing the story will be more about love, the trouble that sometimes comes with it and about Laura (Cruz) and Paco’s (Bardem) past together and are surprised with more of a mystery. The story is about those very things but not in the way you’d think which makes the yarn that much better.
We meet Paco, who has a winery, and Laura, who has traveled from Argentina to Spain with her children to attend her sister’s wedding. Paco has wisdom to share with us such as the only difference between grape juice and wine is time. Lines such as this makes you think their relationship may have aged in the same manner… like a fine wine. When Laura first gets there, her very social and gregarious teenage daughter Irene (Campra), prances about getting as much attention as she can. However, it turns out that she also gets the attention of someone in need of money and suddenly we’re in a film centered around her abduction.
Farhadi wrote a script that does a good job of keeping you interested in what’s going on and what will ultimately happen. You get sucked in right away but where he went vastly wrong was when he introduced us to the victim of the kidnapping. Irene is anything but a likable character. She’s an obnoxious spoiled brat, trouble for her mother and the kind of person you’d dodge rather than treasure to be anywhere near. I can’t figure out why she was written to be so annoying when the movie ends up being centered around everyone caring for her safety. Had she been more likable, it would have been more heartbreaking for the viewer. This is in no way a reflection on the actress who did a superb job, especially near the end. Speaking of acting, Cruz is excellent as a distraught and tortured mother. Her performance was convincing. She laments about what’s next and is tearful throughout most of the film. She’s needed to be and is believable in her concern. Unfortunately for the audience, you don’t quite feel for her. See the earlier paragraph regarding her daughter’s irritating attitude for what I mean. We just needed Irene to be more of an appealing person for us to take on her mother’s pain.
The story becomes a less complicated narrative when the set up for the kidnapping, and how and why it gets pinned on a certain person, (a land dispute) is made clear at the wrong time. On the surface, the dispute is quite exaggerated and contrived. Now onto the title. Let’s get to just what it is that everybody knows. And I mean everybody, including Laura’s current husband, by the way. It seems that Paco is the only person who doesn’t know. It turns out that Irene is Paco’s daughter. In a small town, everyone talks and unless the man doesn’t have ears how does he not know the big secret? In fact, this bombshell is something you’ve long suspected. When it’s revealed, with his hair graying from the stress for some reason, what Paco does with the news is to use his money to pay the ransom. This seems as though it may have been the aim all along.
The ending is strangely elusive but leaves it open for a sequel which is puzzling yet a bit intriguing. If Farhadi nails the characters a little better, I’d be up for it. What would make it even better is if he were able to have the same cast. ‘Everybody Knows’ is an acceptable crime, drama with a good plot and is beautifully shot. It has gorgeous locations which are accentuated by the brilliant cinematography of José Luis Alcaine (Volver, The Skin I Live In) who has an immense amount of work behind him. For you to get the full benefit of his work, seeing this on the big screen this weekend would be the best way to watch this film.
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In ‘Burning,’ director Chang-dong Lee brings us a mystery centered around a secret love triangle of sorts. It’s based on the short story called ‘Barn Burning’ by William Faulkner which is about conflict, control and honor. It’s about the decision to do what’s right in the name of justice or to be loyal to family. The book is narrated by an unnamed third person and in the film, also about justice, the audience feels as if they’re an unnamed witness to something sinister. The story unravels rather gradually, even lethargically, but you’re compelled to stay with it simply by the look on the main characters face. In fact, it’s already being considered for an Oscar at the Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film this year. Not new to him and not bad for a man who only has six directing credits.
South Korean actor, Yoo Ah-in, makes a wise choice in playing Jong-su, the protagonist of the story who bumps into old chum from school named Shin Hae-mi (Jong-seo Jeon) and ends up falling in love. He’s stunned with her beauty and by the fact that she’d even look at him with him only being a farmer’s son. He tries to impress her by telling her that he went to college for creative writing and plans on being a novelist. He listens as she tells him the difference between the ‘Little Hunger’ and the ‘Great Hunger’ and how desperately she has the Great Hunger; so much so that it’s calling her to Africa. The Little Hunger is merely a person who’s hungry. The Great Hunger is someone wishing to know why we live, who genuinely wants to know what the meaning of life is. He goes to her place to have sex and meet her cat who he’s agreed to feed while she’s on her trip. The cat respectfully declines an invitation to meet him but he agrees to feed it because at least he gets to be in her room and among her things. Her room is a mess but it’s not as bad as his. She finally returns from Africa without his ever meeting her cat. When he goes to pick her up, she has a new friend with her by the name of Ben. Playing Ben, our antagonist is Steven Yeun from ‘The Walking Dead’ and ‘Sorry to Bother You,’ who’s actually making his debut in Korean cinema with the role.
Ben is wealthy and cultured and immediately a threat to Jong-su. They all get to know one another better and Ben confesses to Jong-su that he likes to burn down people’s greenhouses for no other reason than to rid the world of them so they can be replaced with something better. When Haemi disappears, Jong-su starts an investigation where all roads lead to Ben. What unravels next is an engaging riddle about who Ben really is and where has Haemi gone. Jong-su may have to get his hands dirty but he’s prepared to find out the answers to both of those questions.
I really liked the characters, the performances, I liked the movie in total but not the length. We meet some characters that are hardly worth knowing which unquestionable slows the process down. Jong-su’s father is in jail and Jong-su has an insignificant conversation with his lawyer, played with perfect timbre and measure by Seong-kun Mun, about the stubbornness of his father and about Jong-su’s writing. This doesn’t help the narrative one bit. There are other characters that float in for reasons that take up time when what they’re telling us would and could have been taken care of through different, and shorter means. It wasn’t necessary to tell this story in the two and a half hours that it took to watch. I enjoyed the film but had it been cut to expedite its development, it would have been that much more provocative. Regardless, ‘Burning’ pays off if you stick with it so see it this weekend at a theatre near you.
‘Suspiria,’ a remake of the 1977 cult classic of the same name, is a psychological thriller more than it is a horror. After watching, you’ll have an uneasy feeling in your gut for what it is you witnessed so the film does handle the responsibility of manipulating your state of mind quite well. However, it’s too long for no other reason than ego and indulgence on the part of the director, Luca Guadagnino (Call Me by Your Name). The performances were strong but even they can’t keep you interested for two and a half hours when the director constantly takes you in different directions, asking more effort on the part of the viewer to keep up than he may have originally bargained for. Movies are meant to be entertainment AFTER a long hard day of work, not be an addition to the workload. That said, if you can handle the length and get through an ostensibly uninteresting German psychiatrist character who doesn’t quite belong, there is a lot here. This being the case, I’d like to note that ‘Suspiria’ isn’t for those without an imagination. With its plot points perhaps incorrectly framed leading occasionally to boredom, it may take a lot out of you but what you’ll get in return if you’re willing to commit, is worth consideration. It does attack your faculties at first, but you’ll appreciate it more and more once you leave the theatre and it hits you as to exactly what it is you just observed. It’s unnerving, chilling and rather grotesque… but in a good way.
The story is, on the surface, about the experiences of Susie Bannion (Johnson) a dancer from America who goes to Berlin to dance with the famous Helena Markos Dance Company. When we finally get to the dancing in the film, you’ll be mesmerized by the power of it, the choreography and the performances. This is also when the true reason for the company to exist is revealed.
Susie comes at a time when a girl named Patricia (Chloë Grace Moretz) leaves the troop and Madame Blanc (Swinton), the woman who wrote and is directing the piece, is looking for her replacement. Susie is just that person. At this point in the film, you’re becoming aware of what the women who run the dance company are. They’re witches and once taken into the coven, you’re needed for a purpose and you’re not to leave. As Susie dances, we’re made blissfully aware of what happens if you try. This scene hooks you because with every step she performs, she jerks and manipulates the body of someone attempting to escape and it’s not a pretty sight.
Since we already know that the witches in this school of dance are more concerned with finetuning their witchcraft rather than churning out gifted students to graduate and live happy lives, you feel cheated out of the reason for staying but the dance sequence toward and the climatic ending itself will more than atone for Guadagnino’s mistake in revealing too much too soon. Artistically, the film is beautiful. The images are frightening. The cinematography is outstanding. What plays in your mind as you toy with whether or not the film is a nightmare someone can’t escape or a fight between good and evil is a direct result of how well it’s shot.
At times it’s tedious but other times it’s brutal and worth the dark halls you must meander through. Regardless, it’s satisfyingly imaginative so saddle up if you’re pleased more by artistry than by instantaneous indulgences. On the big screen is the way to see ‘Suspiria’ but might I suggest a matinee if you wouldn’t be happy when it lags.
GLASS
REAL VILLAINS ARE AMONG US. REAL HEROES ARE WITHIN US.
M. Night Shyamalan brings together the narratives of two of his standout originals—2000’s Unbreakable, from Touchstone, and 2016’s Split, from Universal—in one explosive, all-new comic-book thriller: Glass.
From Unbreakable, Bruce Willis returns as David Dunn as does Samuel L. Jackson as Elijah Price, known also by his pseudonym Mr. Glass. Joining from Split are James McAvoy, reprising his role as Kevin Wendell Crumb and the multiple identities who reside within, and Anya Taylor-Joy as Casey Cooke, the only captive to survive an encounter with The Beast.
Following the conclusion of Split, Glass finds Dunn pursuing Crumb’s superhuman figure of The Beast in a series of escalating encounters, while the shadowy presence of Price emerges as an orchestrator who holds secrets critical to both men.
Joining the all-star cast are Unbreakable’s Spencer Treat Clark and Charlayne Woodard, who reprise their roles as Dunn’s son and Price’s mother, as well as Golden Globe Award winner Sarah Paulson (American Horror Story series).
This riveting culmination of his worldwide blockbusters is produced by Shyamalan and Blumhouse Production’s Jason Blum, who also produced the writer/director’s previous two films for Universal. They produce again with Ashwin Rajan and Marc Bienstock, and Steven Schneider and Kevin Frakes, who executive produce. Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum also serve as executive producers.
A Blinding Edge Pictures and Blumhouse production, Glass will be released by Universal Pictures in North America on January 18, 2019, and by Buena Vista International abroad.
Genre: Comic-Book Thriller
Cast: James McAvoy, Bruce Willis, Anya Taylor-Joy, with Sarah Paulson and Samuel L. Jackson
Written and Directed by: M. Night Shyamalan
Produced by: M. Night Shyamalan, Jason Blum, Marc Bienstock, Ashwin Rajan
Executive Producers: Steven Schneider, Gary Barber, Roger Birnbaum, Kevin Frakes
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Allow me to start this with a simple and direct message to you… see this movie this weekend. Director Paul Feig works very well with powerful women allowing them to show their strengths, such as Melissa McCarthy, Sandra Bullock, Mary-Louise Parker and now he does the same with Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively in this dark film, ‘A Simple Favor.’ Lively is exceptional and I wouldn’t be surprised if we see her on stage during award season.
With this film, Feig gives these two women the opportunity to have something brilliant added to their resumes and a chance to shine in the type of story usually given to the opposite sex. This is an intriguing, provocative crime-drama that leads you down a fascinating trail and you won’t want it to end. The characters are following the same bread crumbs and with how the narrative plays out, it manages to do something not always achieved these days… surprise the hell out of you.
First, we meet Stephanie (Kendrick), a widowed, overly energetic, devoted but bored mother of a young son named Miles (Satine). She’s a vlogger who, when we first see her, is telling her followers about the simple favor her friend Emily (Lively) has asked of her. Staring into the camera she says she’ll start from the beginning for her new friends, presumably us, and she tells everyone what happened. This goes on throughout the film. We go back to when she first met Emily who she instantly clutches onto. Emily’s son Nicky (Ho) and Miles ask to have a playdate. Stephanie would like this as she wants to know Emily. Emily is everything Stephanie isn’t. She’s tall, uncommonly beautiful, confident with a scent of arrogance Stephanie can’t help but admire. Though a play date isn’t something Emily usually does, she agrees. They end up at Emily’s gorgeous home which Stephanie would die to have and they begin to reveal secrets about themselves… secrets that will prove to be useful later. Emily warns Stephanie that she doesn’t want to be friends with her. Little things like this are said as Stephanie, and you, become more interested in knowing who she is.
Though the script is heavy on the dramatic aspect of the story, it’s reasonably amusing, as well. Nicky is relatively colorful most of the time, delivering rather comical lines, however subpar they may be. It’s obvious Feig doesn’t work as well with children as he does with adults.
Now we’re to the favor… and we’re all caught up with the vlog. Emily asks Stephanie to pick up Nicky and watch him until she gets home. She happily does, however, Emily never returns. Days later, she still hasn’t and single mom with time on her hands, Stephanie, begins playing Jr. Sleuth, looking for her friend. Unable to forget the mystery woman who so intrigued her, Stephanie gets to know her attractive husband, Sean (Golding), who adds that, like Stephanie, he didn’t know much about Emily. He tells her that he tried to get close, but she was hard to reach; she was like a ‘beautiful ghost.’
Deciding she likes playing Nancy Drew, she goes to the office building where Emily worked in public relations and finds a shady character and clues. After putting up posters and trying desperately to find out who she was and where she went, Emily’s body turns up in another state. As Stephanie gets closer to Sean, she kicks pursuing answers as to what led to Emily’s death, into high gear. What happens next is something she isn’t quite prepared for. Luckily, instinct and some advice she received from the friend who still haunts her, literally as well as figuratively, helps her handle herself surprisingly well when faced with moments of challenge and deception.
This film is impressive in so many ways. The music, the costumes, the characters, and the script but what stands out most is Lively whose performance, though not always on screen, infects you as you watch this play out… and stays with you long after.
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I’ll say it right here. James Wan, director, and creator of the original ‘Saw’ film knows a hit series when he sees it but needs to learn when to let it go. In fact, he has a number of record-setting credits under his belt and is best at taking something that previously worked and keeping it going but he so far lacks the awareness of when to let something die; literally and figuratively. In ‘The Nun,’ the horror-fest that started from ‘The Conjuring’ series, he takes us into the world of the frightening character that was the evil presence in ‘The Conjuring 2.’ She was magnificently terrifying and ultimately what made the film but in this new narrative, one in which you’d expect great things based on what you had previously witnessed, she’s not all that terrifying but instead, rather anemic. In this film, what should have been its strengths seemed little trusted and scarcely used.
When the story begins it’s 1952. We’re in an abbey in Romania and are witness to a tantalizing introduction. From the start, there’s hope that ‘The Nun’ is going to be the noteworthy horror film we’ve been waiting for. Something purely evil needs a vessel to continue to survive so a nun sacrifices herself to stop it from using hers by hanging herself. Her body is discovered dangling from the window of the church. The Vatican is notified, and they send a priest by the name of Father Burke (Bichir) and a young nun, Sister Irene (Farmiga), who is about to take her final vows, to check it out. With the help of Frenchie (Bloquet) the very nervous man who found the Sister’s body, they root around in the Abbey and discover quickly that it’s an unholy place. Frenchie believes the crosses surrounding the place are there to keep evil in rather than out. It seems there’s little to prove otherwise.
After Father Burke is haunted by very real demons of his own, demons who wake the audience from a slow start, he and Sister Irene discover that Valak, the defiler and the profane, built a gateway to hell on the grounds so the wicked could walk amongst the living, but the church secretly sealed it hoping to keep Valak at bay. However, as evil usually does, it manages to, quite predictable, escape.
‘The Nuns’ downfall is that there’s very little about it that’s unique and try I did but I found little of the acting remarkable, as well. Having been scared frozen by her character in ‘Conjuring 2,’ I assumed I’d get much more from her yet was largely disappointed. If you’re a fan of the franchise I’d say you will most likely enjoy parts of the film, especially its ending… except the part that suggests there’s a way they could continue the storyline further. Quite frankly, after seeing this, I’d like them to bury any idea they have of doing such a thing.
