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Burning Movie Review

November 8, 2018 (updated November 16, 2018) Published by Shari K. Green

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.

*OPENING HARKINS CAMELVIEW

Suspiria Movie Review

November 2, 2018 (updated November 16, 2018) Published by Shari K. Green

‘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 – Trailer

October 15, 2018 (updated October 15, 2018) Published by Shari K. Green

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

Social Media:

#GlassMovie

In Theaters January 18, 2019

http://www.fandango.com

A Simple Favor Movie Review

September 14, 2018 (updated November 16, 2018) Published by Shari K. Green

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.

Website & Socials:

Official Site: http://www.ASimpleFavor.movie

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ASimpleFavorMovie

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ASimpleFavor

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/ASimpleFavor

Hashtags: #ASimpleFavor

The Nun Movie Review

September 7, 2018 (updated November 16, 2018) Published by Shari K. Green

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.

Searching Movie Review

August 30, 2018 (updated August 28, 2018) Published by JMcNaughton

“Searching” is a new movie about a missing person and the resulting search, and it portrays it in a unique way. Only a few other movies have used the idea that a window into the modern world can be done with various screens. That is, computer screens, laptop screens, iPhone screens, security monitor screens, TV screens, etc. — you get the idea. The movie “Unfriended” does a similar thing, but only with computer screens. With “Searching”, the idea is opened up a little more, and the resulting movie draws you into the mystery. By examining social media and other online posts and Internet trails, the mystery deepens and is becomes a compelling look into current life online – and how the surface image can hide much different truths.

David Kim (John Cho) is introduced as a happily married man. With his wife Pam (Sara Sohn) they have a little girl. Margot is first a small baby, and then young girl and then a high school teenager. All of this unfolds with fifteen-year old technology, think Windows XP, AOL Mail and Messenger and the like. But the happy family has a breakdown when Pam develops cancer, and it relapses, and it then returns with fatal results. This is all done in the first few minutes of the movie, and it outlines the personal tragic story of this family. In some ways it is emotionally similar to the beginning of the movie “Up”, with a twist on the way that the audience learns the various details of the family story.

With the wife and mother gone, both David and Margot (Michelle La) have been dealing with the loss in very different ways. David becomes very busy with work, and every time he talks with Margot it is a reminder of his late wife. So, he tends to communicate more and more via technology, with iPhone calls, and FaceTime and instant messages. Margot is having a rough time with the death of her mother, but she knows that her Dad is feeling very fragile right now. She tries not to bother him about little things. So she does not tell him everything. David has a brother named Peter (Joseph Lee) who is much closer to Margot than David knows.

Then one night, David insists that Margot do some chores at the house when she gets home from a study group. She calls and tells him she will be home much later than usual. David sleeps, and as he does there are two phone calls from Margot, plus a FaceTime request, deep in the middle of the night. He misses them and does not know that she never came home. It does not register that she did not come home until David gets back from work the next evening. He sees that Margot did not take out the trash when she got home. But she also did not take her laptop. Why would she go to a school study group without her laptop? He also realizes that he does not know any of the people that Margot would know.

He gets into the old laptop and finds Pam’s notes and records and contact lists. He makes many phone calls to find out there was a ‘ditch day’ and camping up in the mountains. He is sure that Margot will call when she gets back from camping. Until he finds out that Margot did not go with that group. He calls 911 to report Margot as missing. Detective Vick (Debra Messing) shows up and tells him that she is assigned to case and not to worry. They will go over all the details that David has found and contact many of the people that he feels might know Margot’s whereabouts. David searches further and finds an online personal streaming site that Margot had used to post quite a few videos. Margot has also been taking money meant for piano lessons and putting into a private PayPal account. Until she withdrew $2,500 a few days before she disappeared.

David is going crazy in his mind, with all the possible thoughts of what might have happened. There are some online posts that allude to Margot and her online activities. David finds someone who has been posting to Margot about her online videos, but the person appears to be miles away in another state. But could someone be ‘catfishing’, making a fake fictitious online presence to pretend to be somebody else? There are more clues, and David takes off to a nearby lake, where a car is found underwater. It belongs to Margot, but she is not in the car. What has happened? Could the person involved in the disappearance be somebody very close to Margot? Could it be a random stranger, recently released from parole? How can David be sure what is the truth, when everything online can be changed and adapted and modified?

“Searching” does take a very specific approach to the technology that has become an everyday part of our life. It uses that tech to both tantalize and torture the main character by showing him various version of what might be the truth. John Cho is superb as the grieving husband who cannot stand another loss in his life and is determined to figure out the puzzle. The clues and red herrings are everywhere, and the use of modern social media tools to explain the recent past show the real limitations of those online systems.

The movie goes about displaying the entire story as if it were unfolding on the devices that we use every day. This brings a closed-in, claustrophobic feel to the overall movie, but also gives it a larger sense of urgency. David is not the only one who is feverishly finding and mentally processing the clues. So is the audience.

Facebook: http://www.fb.com/Searchingmovie

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Searchingmovie

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/Searchingmovie

#SearchingMovie

Bad Times at the El Royale – Trailer

August 28, 2018 Published by Shari K. Green

Director: Drew Goddard
Producers: Jeremy Latcham, Drew Goddard
Screenplay: Drew Goddard
Cast: Jeff Bridges, Cynthia Erivo, Dakota Johnson, Jon Hamm, Cailee Spaeny, Lewis Pullman, and Chris Hemsworth

SYNOPSIS
Seven strangers, each with a secret to bury, meet at Lake Tahoe’s El Royale, a rundown hotel with a dark past. Over the course of one fateful night, everyone will have a last shot at redemption… before everything goes to hell. Jeff Bridges, Chris Hemsworth, Jon Hamm, Dakota Johnson and Cynthia Erivo lead an all-star cast in BAD TIMES AT THE EL ROYALE.

BAD TIMES AT THE EL ROYALE Official Channels
OFFICIAL WEBSITE: www.ElRoyaleMovie.com
FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/ElRoyaleMovie
TWITTER: www.twitter.com/ElRoyaleMovie
INSTAGRAM: www.instagram.com/ElRoyaleMovie
HASHTAG: #ElRoyaleMovie

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In Theaters October 12, 2018

http://www.fandango.com

The Little Stranger – Trailer & Clip

August 24, 2018 (updated August 24, 2018) Published by Shari K. Green

‘The Little Stranger’ tells the story of Dr. Faraday, the son of a housemaid, who has built a life of quiet respectability as a country doctor. During the long hot summer of 1948, he is called to a patient at Hundreds Hall, where his mother once worked.

The Hall has been home to the Ayres family for more than two centuries. But it is now in decline and its inhabitants – mother, son and daughter – are haunted by something more ominous than a dying way of life.

When he takes on his new patient, Faraday has no idea how closely, and how disturbingly, the family’s story is about to become entwined with his own.

The film stars Domhnall Gleeson, Ruth Wilson, Will Poulter, and Charlotte Rampling!

Listen as Gleeson reads a passage from the first chapter of the novel and watch an eerie clip of Rampling from the film.

Don’t miss this disturbing tale when it haunts into theaters on Friday August 31st!

Director: Lenny Abrahamson (“Room”)

Writer: Lucinda Coxon (“The Danish Girl”), based on the novel by Sarah Waters

Producers: Gail Egan, Ed Guiney, Andrea Calderwood

For more info, please follow the film on social:

#TheLittleStranger

Official Site I Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

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In Theaters August 31

http://www.fandango.com

‘Glass’ Tease Trailer

July 18, 2018 (updated July 18, 2018) Published by Shari K. Green

GLASS – In Theaters January 18, 2019

Official Site | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | #GlassMovie

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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In Theaters January 18, 2019

http://www.fandango.com

THE LITTLE STRANGER Starring: Domhnall Gleeson and Charlotte Rampling- Trailer

June 11, 2018 (updated June 11, 2018) Published by Shari K. Green

Story: THE LITTLE STRANGER tells the story of Dr. Faraday, the son of a housemaid, who has built a life of quiet respectability as a country doctor. During the long hot summer of 1948, he is called to a patient at Hundreds Hall, where his mother once worked. The Hall has been home to the Ayres family for more than two centuries. But it is now in decline and its inhabitants – mother, son and daughter – are haunted by something more ominous than a dying way of life. When he takes on his new patient, Faraday has no idea how closely, and how disturbingly, the family’s story is about to become entwined with his own.

Director: Lenny Abrahamson (“Room”)

Writer: Lucinda Coxon (“The Danish Girl”), based on the novel by Sarah Waters

Producers: Gail Egan, Ed Guiney, Andrea Calderwood

Cast: Domhnall Gleeson, Ruth Wilson, Will Poulter, and Charlotte Rampling

For more info, please follow the film:

Official Site | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

#TheLittleStranger

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In Theaters August 31

http://www.fandango.com

Tag: Mystery

Burning Movie Review

Suspiria Movie Review

Glass – Trailer

In Theaters January 18, 2019

A Simple Favor Movie Review

The Nun Movie Review

Searching Movie Review

Bad Times at the El Royale – Trailer

In Theaters October 12, 2018

The Little Stranger – Trailer & Clip

In Theaters August 31

‘Glass’ Tease Trailer

In Theaters January 18, 2019

THE LITTLE STRANGER Starring: Domhnall Gleeson and Charlotte Rampling- Trailer

In Theaters August 31

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