The Foreigner Movie Review

October 13, 2017 (updated October 12, 2017) Published by JMcNaughton

What’s old is new again, sort of. In the movie “The Foreigner”, Jackie Chan is – um – not young, but he can still hold his own against an army of bad guys. And the bad guys are — the IRA? Yes, the defunct Irish Republican Army comes back, but only in cinema, to be the evil doers. And they are led by James B… I mean Pierce Brosnan (who has played Bond in the past). And the movie is directed by Martin Campbell, who has also directed prior Bond movies. So three cheers for the AARP crowd!

In London, a simple noodle shop owner named Quan (Jackie Chan) drops off his beloved daughter at a SOHO dress shop to find a wedding dress. Blink your eyes and will miss the IRA terrorist attack on the street, which destroys the shop. Quan’s daughter is dead. He is heartbroken, but determined to find answers. He finds out about a Northern Ireland deputy minister who is part of the British government. Liam Hennessy (Pierce Brosnan) is a long standing politician in Belfast, and he once was a part of the old IRA.

Quan goes to the police and to Scotland Yard, but gets no answers. He decides to try and get the names of the bombers from Hennessy, but he just shrugs him off. “Surely, I don’t have any knowledge of who did this” Hennessy tells Quan. But Quan is determined, persistent and trained by many years in Special Forces Jungle Ops. So Quan knows a thing or two about making a homemade bomb that will rattle the windows and the rattle the deputy minister. Hennessy is put on notice that Quan is not taking no for an answer. Quan does his best ‘Jason Bourne’ to take control of the situation.

Hennessy keeps having major difficulties with his prior IRA contacts, who hate him for giving up. He has problems with his wife (Orla Brady), and also with his mistress (Charlie Murphy) – who might be deeply involved in the terrorist action. He has a problem with his nephew, who is visiting from New York – but still many connections with the old IRA.

But mostly Hennessy has problems with Quan. Hennessy’s office bathroom gets bombed, and then Quan targets his country estate barn and his car. Then Hennessy loses a few men who try and track Quan. He will not give up until he finds the people who killed his daughter…

Jackie Chan is an actor who can use his physical abilities to comedic or dramatic use. He plays an older character than he usually does, and his age does require that. Quan is smart and noble and dedicated, and he can MacGyver his way into gaining the upper hand. Pierce Brosnan also plays a character who attempts to scrape and claw his way into keeping a good thing that he has going. He does not know that his actions have triggered a relentless time bomb called Quan.

“The Foreigner” has the distinction of raising the specter of IRA terrorism in the modern day and age. It might be straight from the original novel, but that was written well before the peace accords in Northern Ireland. Perhaps not since “Patriot Games” has the IRA been cast as a boogeyman. It does not ruin the story, but it really stretches out the plausibility.

This movie will make you want to allow Jackie Chan to overstay his visa any day!

IT Advance Movie Screening

August 28, 2017 (updated August 28, 2017) Published by markdeli

Movie Screening Summary: New Line Cinema’s horror thriller “IT,” directed by Andrés Muschietti (“Mama”), is based on the hugely popular Stephen King novel of the same name, which has been terrifying readers for decades.

When children begin to disappear in the town of Derry, Maine, a group of young kids are faced with their biggest fears when they square off against an evil clown named Pennywise, whose history of murder and violence dates back for centuries.

“IT” stars Bill Skarsgård (“Allegiant,” TV’s “Hemlock Grove”) as the story’s central villain, Pennywise. An ensemble of young actors also star in the film, including Jaeden Lieberher (“Midnight Special”), Jeremy Ray Taylor (“Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip”), Sophia Lillis (“37”), Finn Wolfhard (TV’s “Stranger Things”), Wyatt Oleff (“Guardians of the Galaxy”), Chosen Jacobs (upcoming “Cops and Robbers”), Jack Dylan Grazer (“Tales of Halloween”) and Nicholas Hamilton (“Captain Fantastic”).

Muschietti is directing “IT” from a screenplay adapted by Chase Palmer & Cary Fukunaga and Gary Dauberman. Dan Lin, Roy Lee, Seth Grahame-Smith, David Katzenberg and Barbara Muschietti are producing, with Marty P. Ewing, Doug Davison and Jon Silk serving as executive producers.

The behind-the-scenes creative team includes director of photography Chung-Hoon Chung (“Me and Earl and the Dying Girl”), production designer Claude Paré (“Rise of the Planet of the Apes”), editor Jason Ballantine (“The Great Gatsby”), and costume designer Janie Bryant (TV’s “Mad Men”).

A presentation of New Line Cinema, “IT” will be released worldwide beginning September 8, 2017, by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Entertainment Company.

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Detroit Movie Review

August 4, 2017 (updated August 3, 2017) Published by JMcNaughton

You can’t spell Detroit without R I O T…

Kathryn Bigelow wants to take you back fifty years in “Detroit” to see one of the most vicious race riots in America. The fuse had been lit long before that and was smoldering. But an incident where the Detroit police closed down an unlicensed after-hours bar set off the spark. This movie takes a close-up view of the events in that time. It shows a brutal and unfiltered look at the Algiers Motel incident and the aftermath. This was an awful display of racist police brutality and indifference by people who might have stopped it.

After three days of rioting in the streets of Detroit, destruction is widespread. But a new Motown vocal group is about to hit the stage at the Fox Theatre. The police close it down and send everyone home, since more rioting is coming closer. But not before Larry (Algee Smith) takes a shot a singing to the empty seats. Larry and his friend Fred (Jacob Latimore) head over to the Algiers Motel, hoping that it will be free from disruption. They meet two white girls there at the motel, Julie (Hannah Murray) and Karen (Kaitlyn Dever). They have met some other black guys named Carl (Jason Mitchell) and Greene (Anthony Mackie).

After hanging out in various rooms, Carl takes a starter pistol and says he can shake up the white police and National Guard. He aims the harmless pistol out the window and shoots a few times. The National Guard thinks they are under attack from a sniper at the Algiers Motel. The Guard bands up with the Detroit police and Michigan state troopers to surround the building. They are insisting that they will not leave until a sniper or a weapon has been found. The police patrol is led by Officer Krauss (Will Poulter) who is partnered with Officer Flynn (Ben O’Toole) and rookie Officer Demens (Jack Reynor).

A black security guard named Melvin Dismukes (John Boyega) also follows the other officers inside, thinking that he can defuse the tension. But Krauss is taking no prisoners and all three officers round up all people inside the hotel annex building. Carl tries to run and is shot dead. Every other person there, all the black men and the two white women, get hours of harassment and beatings. Krauss is the bigoted leader and Flynn and Demens follow his lead.

The Michigan state police see the Detroit police abusing people and leave the area. There are some National Guardsmen also inside, attempting to keep order. But when they see that Krauss is out of control, they also leave. Before the end of the night, there are three people dead in the hotel annex, most of the rest are bloodied and beaten. There is never any gun found…

There is a section of follow-up in the last part of the movie. Kraus, Flynn and Demens are charged with abusive behavior and murder. For some reason, Melvin Dismukes is also charged, even though he tried to keep things calm. At the trial, police union Attorney Auerbach (John Krasinski) puts many of the victims under suspicion for their past crimes. An all-white jury found nobody was guilty of anything.

Kathryn Bigelow has (again) made a very moving and profound movie. She and screenwriter Mark Boal also teamed up to make “Zero Dark Thirty”. This time they tackle the historical events of a terrible tragedy. The Detroit riots cause 43 deaths in total, including a few police and firemen. But the big focus here in the inept and racist ways that a few people in authority could destroy the lives of some folks at the Algiers Motel.

The movie is shot with a documentary style, with camera movement tracking closely behind various groups. The tension and the panic and stress are perfectly portrayed. Each situation where a bad decision is made turns into several other worse choices. The entire event seems to spin wildly out of control, with deadly consequences.

Every actor is well-cast and does a superb job. John Boyega and Will Poulter both stand out in the role. Boyega is the small-time security guard in over his head. Poulter is an over-the-top sadistic racist cop who would rather shoot all of them dead. Algee Smith is also convincing as man who wants to be free to sing to the world, yet he is trapped in the worst place ever.

Race relations back fifty years ago could bubble up into hatred and violence. But it has done so again since then; in Los Angeles (1992), then again in Ferguson (2014) and in Baltimore (2015). The movie “Detroit” can never solve the problems of racism and deep internal feelings of rage. Perhaps watching this will give people a chance to reflect, and then talk about it, instead of acting on it.

Kidnap Movie Review

August 4, 2017 (updated August 3, 2017) Published by JMcNaughton

Halle Berry has won an Oscar for her role in “Monster’s Ball” back in 2001. But then she got a Razzy award for her terrible acting in “Catwoman” just a few years later. So, her work is really all over the place. Now she is starring in “Kidnap” and the results are a bit dubious. Berry may hope for another Oscar nod someday, but she will not get one for this car wreck of a movie. Literally, a good half of the run time is her driving like a maniac causing and being in many car wrecks…

Karla (Halle Berry) has a six-year-old son named Frankie (Sage Correa). She is in a custody battle with her ex, and her son is the best thing in her life. She and Frankie go to the park, and she takes a phone call from her lawyer. Her phone battery is almost dead, and she gets emotional when she hears that the ex wants sole custody. But when the phone dies, she turns around and see Frankie is missing. She asks several people about her boy, and nobody knows where he went. Then she sees him across the parking lot being dragged off by a large lady who is putting him in a battered car. She gets to the lot and the car takes off, so she gets her minivan in hot pursuit.

At this early point in the movie, the ridiculous factor kicks into high gear. Two kidnappers plus Frankie are going to be chased by Karla and her minivan for about half the movie. They cause numerous accidents and possibly a couple of fatalities. Even when a motorcycle cop catches up to Karla’s bad driving, the bad guys dispatch him with no problem. There is an unbelievable showdown between Karla and the male kidnapper named Terry (Lew Temple). His accomplice, the large lady named Margo (Chris McGinn) will ride with Karla to take her to the destination. This does not end well for Margo, who winds up on the side of the road.

Karla keeps after the car to try and get Frankie back. But there are more accidents and hit-and-runs, then Terry hot-wires a new getaway car. But Karla continues to chase them even when she runs out of gas. By the way, the movie ran out of gas much earlier than she did. Karla somehow finds a house where Frankie is being held, and by that time, Terry is out of the picture and Margo is back at the house. So, there must be a final showdown with Karla and Margo. Karla has caused countless accidents, injuries and more than a few fatalities, but she must prevail and be declared a hero – damn it!

Halle Berry plays a brain-dead character here, so that does not help her at all. Karla will literally stop at nothing, driving her minivan into all kinds of traffic violations. She has no depth and no clever ideas about how to combat the kidnappers. She seems to use a ‘spidey-sense’ to know where the bad guys go, because she never uses any logic or serious thinking. Karla just never gives up, but never makes any smart choices either. Halle plays her as determined, but dumb. It is amazing how much damage is done in the wake of Karla’s pursuit.

There is no other acting as such in the movie, just a few characters up on the screen playing the worst stereotypes ever. There is little in the way of plot, other than making Karla into a ‘Mad Max in a Minivan’. The editing and shot selection are rough and choppy. It is difficult to get a sense of place or direction when the scenes are cut together so awkwardly. There are several somewhat suspenseful scenes near the end, but these seem to come from a different movie. The final wrap-up is pretty bad, declaring Karla a hero, when she was responsible for several deaths and untold property damage.

The hashtag line for this movie is “#DontMessWithMom”. I would suggest a better one is “#DontMessWithLogic” or “#DontMessWithPlot”.

Kidnap Advance Movie Screening

July 21, 2017 (updated July 21, 2017) Published by markdeli

Movie Screening Summary: A typical afternoon in the park turns into a nightmare for single mom Karla Dyson (Academy Award winner Halle Berry) when her son suddenly disappears. Without a cell phone and knowing she has no time to wait for police help, Karla jumps in her own car and sets off in pursuit of the kidnappers. A relentless, edge-of-your seat chase ensues, where Karla must risk everything to not lose sight of her son. In this tense, action-fueled thriller, directed by Luis Prieto and from the producers of SALT and TRANSFORMERS, one mother’s heroic attempt to take back her son leads her to ask herself how far she will go to save her child.

Release Date: August 4
Studio: Aviron Pictures
Genre: Thriller
Director: Luis Prieto
Writer: Knate Lee
Cast: Halle Berry
Rating: R
Runtime: 81 Min

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