20140114: Drama Review--As I Lay Dying

As I Lay Dying

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2013, rated R, 119 minutes, drama, indie.
2. IMDB: 5.7/10.0 from 996 audience ratings.  Spoken word is in English; aspect 2.35
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 41% on the meter, but 'no consensus yet'; 44% liked it from 2,674 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 2.8/5.0 from 9,798 audience ratings.
5. Written and directed by: James Franco.
6. Starring: James Franco as Darl Bundren, Beth Grant as Addie Bundren, Logan Marshall-Green as Jewell, James Parrack as Cash Bundren, Tim Blake Nelson as Anse, Brady Permenter as Vardaman Bundren, Ahna O'Reilly as Dewey Dell.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Addie Bundren lay dying in rural Mississippi circa 1930.  Darl and Jewel go on an errand, and promise to be back before sundown.  Their cart gets stuck in a rut in the pouring rain, and they do not keep that promise.  Cash keeps working on Addie's coffin within sight of Addie's sick bed.  Cash continues to work on it after she is gone, in the rain, no less.


2. Cash finishes the coffin,  Darl and Jewel get the cart unstuck. Addie has made Anse promise that she will be buried in the town of Jefferson.  This proves to be more than a bit complicated.


3. There is a lot of talking and angst and back-biting as Darl, Jewel, Cash, Dewey Dell, Vardaman and Anse head to Jefferson to fulfill the promise.  They encounter a number of challenges, such as weakened bridges across streams, dodgy fords, broken carts, lost animals, lost tools, lost coffin.  Aside from that, Cash gets a compound fracture, which the local vet sets.  To get a new team, Anse trades away just about everything the family had, including Jewel's beloved horse.


4. The corpse continues to rot, and the smell increases.  Whenever they are near or in a town, they are not welcome.  Cash's leg does not get better, and they set it with cement.  Jewel gives up his horse.


5. The journey does not get any easier.   Will the family accomplish its mission?


3. Conclusions
1. Adapted from William Faulkner's novel of the same name published in 1930.
2. One line summary: Poor Mississippi family takes matriarch's body home for burial.
3. Four stars of five


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 9/10 Mostly excellent, but has a bit of camera shake to it.


2. Sound: 9/10 Again, mostly excellent.  However, I would have been lost without the subtitles on Netflix.  The century-old Southern accents were thick to say the least.


3. Acting: 8/10 Fine, by and large.


4. Screenplay: 8/10 Difficult story, well told.

20140114: Comedy Review--In a Day

In a Day

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. British live action feature length film, 2006, NR, 84 minutes, comedy, indie,
2. IMDB: 7.0/10.0 from 846 audience ratings. Aspect 1.85
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 'No score yet,' 65% liked it from 429 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.4/5.0 from 171,235 audience ratings.
5. Written and directed by:  Evan Richards.
6. Starring: Lorraine Pilkington as Ashley Branstead, Finlay Robertson as Michael, Rose Keegan as Judith, Jake Broker as Sammy, Nolan Hemmings as Jasper.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Ashley's day starts badly with an extended interaction with a male aggressor whom she walks away from.  He throws hot coffee on her.  Michael intervenes.


2. Ashley and Michael are both out of work, and get to know each other over tea, then over clothes shopping for Michael's sister.  This was at an haute couture establishment where they were the only customers.  Michael pays for this.  They have a decadent meal at his expense.  Then he demonstrates his 'premonitions.'


3. They visit Michael's sister on her not-so-happy birthday.  They hike through an arboretum of some size, during which Michael carried Ashley pick-a-back.  They talk and visit an old site of Michael's graffiti writing.


4. Michael asks Ashley to decide the next thing that they together.  She asks him to buy a used saxophone for her musician friend.  They give the gift, and find out how her friend lost his earlier sax.  Ashley sings and plays piano with her friend.


5. They go for a drink.  The man who started Ashley's day badly by throwing coffee on her is in the bar.  Ashley points him out, then Michael observes him.  Michael faces him down in a very public way, then returns to Ashley. Turns out the bad guy is a solicitor for abused women.


6. Michael and Ashley have a beer, and Michael tells her why he wanted her to have a nice day.  They had known each other as children. Michael had been rather bad to her then and was hoping to apologise to her now.


7. Will Ashley sort this out?  Will Michael let it go?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Slow, endearing, thoughtful.
2. Four stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 8/10 A little fuzzy, but mostly good.


2. Sound: 8/10 A bit soft on conversations, but mostly good.


3. Acting: 8/10 Rather nice.  The two principals were quite good.


4. Screenplay: 10/10 Lovely story, well told.

20140112: Comedy Review--Swinging with the Finkels

Swinging with the Finkels

1. Production Fundamentals; Reception
1. British live action feature length film, 2011, rated R, 84 minutes, comedy, indie, romantic. Spoken word is in English.
2. IMDB: 4.5/10.0 from 1,928 audience ratings. Aspect, 2.35
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 0% on the meter; 20% liked it from 851 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.0/5.0 from 88,974 audience ratings.
5. Written and directed by: Jonathan Newman.
6. Starring: Martin Freeman as Alvin Finkel, Mandy Moore as Ellie Finkel, Melissa George as Janet, Jonathan Silverman as Peter, Jerry Stiller as Mr. Winters, Beverly Klein as Mrs. Winters.


2. Setup, Plot
1. Alvin and Ellie have been married for nine years, and their intimacy has reached a plateau, a dry patch.  They discuss this with friends, at first obliquely, then more openly.  Their friends Janet and Jonathan have been married for about the same number of years, but also have a toddler plus a nursing child.  Their situation is even more 'dried up.'  Someone suggests costumes in the bedroom.  The fireman's getup did not work at all.


2. Ellie's manicure team suggest that she masturbate with a cucumber.  She tries this after checking that she has sufficient time alone.  She is deeply into the rhythm of it when Alvin returns with her grandparents, who have just flown in from the States.  Unfortunately, he makes the mistake of opening their bedroom door without knocking and asking for permission to enter.  Mr. and Mrs. Winters (the grandparents) have a wide variety of comments afterward.


3. Ellie gets advice from her friend at work; Alvin gets advice at work whether he asks for it or not.  Ellie's advisers are a gay couple, who suggest swinging.  Alvin's advisers are a single man from Canada and a young fellow from India who suggest Alvin take a mistress.


4. They broach the idea with Peter and Janet, and that does not go well.


5. The meet a number of couples through queries on the Internet.  This is unsuccessful at first.  After many attempts, they meet a couple who seem normal enough and are of a similar age and stage in their lives, with similar 'drying up' problems.  They set a date to have a first swap.  They have some drinks with suggestive names, play pictionary, where the first word involves 'vulva.'  Then they set off into separate bedrooms.


6. There are not a lot of warmth the next morning, and the new couple take off fairly quickly.  Alvin and Ellie find it hard to talk to each other afterwards, which is exactly what they need to do.  Peter and Janet break up.  Alvin and Ellie start back-biting, which leads directly to an indefinite separation.


7. Goodness.  Do the two couples get back together?  Does anyone learn anything from all this discontent?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Boring script, indifferent idea, lackluster acting.
2. Two stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 9/10 No particular problems.


2. Sound: 9/10 OK.


3. Acting: 2/10 Jonathan Silverman I could have done without completely. Melissa George was horrible.  Martin Freeman and Mandy Moore were more or less competent, and delivered the script.  Everyone else was between OK and lackluster.


4. Screenplay: 2/10 Boring, not engaging, seldom funny, not inventive.  The ending sucked rocks.

20140112: Drama Review--Sexy Evil Genius

Sexy Evil Genius

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2013, rated R, 91 minutes, drama, comedy, mystery, thriller.
2. IMDB: 5.6/10.0 from 1,684 audience ratings.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 'No reviews yet,' 46% liked it from 206 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.4/5.0 from 26,571 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Shawn Piller. Written by: Scott Lew.
6. Starring: Seth Green as Zachary Newman, Michelle Tractenberg as Miranda Prague, Katee Sackhoff as Nikki Franklyn,  Anthony Michael Hall as Mark Von Dutch, Harold Perrineau as Marvin Coolidge, William Baldwin as Bert Mayfaire.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Zachary arrives at a bar because Nikki asked to meet her there.  Miranda joins him at 8:00 pm.  They talk, mostly about Nikki.  Marvin shows up at 8:30, looking for Zachary and Miranda.  The stories about Nikki continue.  All three of them had received one sort of wonderful thing or another from Nikki, and all of them had been lied to in different ways.


2. Miranda says that Nikki called her from an insane asylum, where Nikki had been found innocent by reason of insanity of murdering a stalker.  They wonder whether any of this was true.  Miranda says yes, she had googled Nikki's case, and found plenty of authentic public records about her legal situation.  They discuss Nikki's stalker, Mark, and his public records.


3. Nikki shows up at 9:00, knowing that the three of them have been talking about her the whole time.  She tells them Bert will show up next.  Bert is her lawyer, lover, and fiance.  The discussions continue, especially about Nikki's arrest for murdering Mark.  Mark was her lover after she left Marvin.  They were heroin junkies together.  Insanity entered in somewhere; she killed Marvin, and did not know it.


4. Bert says that he stays with Nikki because he is certain she has been cured of her mental condition.  She now sees that her previous homicidal thoughts toward Marvin and the others were parts of her insanity and have to be let go.


5. The writing here is just brilliant.  Nikki uses Marvin, Miranda, and Zachary to help pressure Bert in to accepting a wedding date roughly a year in the future.  Also, she wanted Zachary to meet Miranda.


6. This is only the beginning of the film.  These smart people who know Nikki have a lot more to do before this encounter is over.  Nikki is mightily challenged by Bert, a man who is a 'better liar than I am.'  Bert on the other hand, thinks of Nikki as 'walking Viagra.'


7. The peeling away of layers of story together with re-interpretations of previous statements continues. 


8. How does this end?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Brilliant, cerebral, funny, engaging; fine acting, fine script.
2. Five stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 10/10 Some of the best low-light photography I've ever seen.  Very atmospheric.


2. Sound: 10/10 No problems.


3. Acting: 10/10  Best performance I've ever seen from Michelle Trachtenberg and from Seth Green.  Katee Sackhoff, Harold Perrineau, and William Baldwin were great.


4. Screenplay: 10/10 One of the best, tightest scripts I've seen in a long time.

20140111: Fantasy Review--Percy Jackson 1

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: the Lightning Thief

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. Canadian/American live action feature length film, 2010, rated PG, 118 minutes, fantasy, adventure.  Spoken word is in English.
2. IMDB: 5.9/10.0 from 97,778 audience ratings.  95 million USD.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 49% on the meter; 54% liked it from 249,598 audience ratings.
4. I saw this on Cartoon Network.
5. Directed by: Chris Columbus.
6. Starring:  Logan Lerman as Percy Jackson, Brandon T. Jackson as Grover, Alexandra Daddario as Annabeth, Jake Abel as Luke, Sean Bean as Zeus, Pierce Brosnan as Chiron, Steve Coogan as Hades, Rosario Dawson as Persephone, Melina Kanakaredes as Athena, Catherine Keener as Sally Jackson, Kevin McKidd as Poseidon, Joe Pantoliano as Gabe Ugliano, Uma Thurman as Medusa.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Sore thumb teen Percy has a terrifically bad day.  He's pursued by a fury, then a minotaur for a lightning bolt.  Percy, not surprisingly, has no idea at first what they are talking about.  He finds his way to a camp for half-human, half-deity teenagers.  Unfortunately, his mother is captured by Hades along the way.  At the camp, he finds that one of his friends, Grover, turns out to be a satyr; one of his mentors a centaur, Chiron.  Chiron becomes his drill sergeant, Grover his brother in arms.  He meets another comrade in arms, Annabeth, daughter of Athena and a mortal man.


2. To get Percy's mother back, Annabeth, Grover, and Percy pursue certain rare jewels and try to find the lightning bolt along the way.  Some of this is not easy.  The encounter Medusa, which was risky in the extreme.  To get the second jewel, they have to fight the Hydra.  Percy makes the usual mistake, and cuts off the Hydra's heads, but redeems himself using his power over water.  To get the third, they go to Las Vegas, and encounter the Lotus Eaters.  They manager to escape, but only after losing five days of the time Hades gave them to retrieve the lightning bolt.


3. They make it to see Hades.  Rosario Dawson was wonderful as Persephone.


4. Will they make it out of the Underworld with Sally free?  Will they make it back to Zeus in time to prevent a war between Olympus and Hades?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Solid teen fantasy-adventure movie, set in modern times.
2. Four stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 8/10 Looks good, but nothing spectacular.  The SFX were not spectacular, but were not bad either.


2. Sound: 8/10 No particular problems, except for the occasional passage where the volume of the conversation would dip badly.


3. Acting: 8/10 Better than I expected from the youngsters; good performances by the veteran actors.


4. Screenplay: 8/10 Not a bad story.  I was entertained throughout, and the story did not drag.

20140110: Horror Review--Grabbers

Grabbers

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. British/Irish live action feature length film, 2012, NR, 94 minutes, horror, SciFi.
2. IMDB: 6.2/10.0 from 7,522 audience ratings. Spoken word is in English.  Estimated budget, 4 million British pounds.  Aspect 2.35
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 72% on the meter; 52% liked it from 1,895 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.4/5.0 from 141,167 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Jon Wright.  Written by Kevin Lehane.
6. Starring: Richard Coyle as Garda Ciarán O'Shea, Ruth Bradley as Garda Lisa Nolan, Russell Tovey as Dr. Adam Smith, Lalor Roddy as Paddy Barrett, David Pearse as Brian Maher, Pascal Scott as Dr. Jim Gleeson.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Ciaran is on duty in an island (Erin Island) off the Irish coast.  While his usual mate is on vacation, Lisa becomes his partner. There is a pending case of missing fishermen.


2. There is a lot of intoxication, but only one pub.  Ciaran's first attempt at wooing his partner is a complete failure since he was quite drunk at the time.


3. Paddy captures/kills one of things while he is quite drunk.  He brings it to the local scientist, Adam, who determines that the beasts need water and eat blood.  Ciaran and Lisa meet Paddy and Adam and discuss the unknown animal.  They look for further leads and find a human head.  The coroner/local doctor, Jim Gleeson, says, mauled by an animal of some sort; hard to tell without the rest of the body.


4. Paddy, Ciaran, and Lisa get a map and start noting events associated with the creature, and with unexplained recent phenomena.  There's heavy rain due that night, so there might be more incidents.  They go to the Black Rock Caves near which Paddy caught the one specimen.  The caves are submerged when the tide comes in, so Ciaran and Lisa go for a short look.  The find a slicker, possibly from one of the missing fishermen.  Outside the cave, Paddy finds more eggs.  Inside, they find a large grabber, and make a narrow escape.  They call the mainland, but their superiors tell them that the Coast Guard has forbidden further sea voyages until the storm passes.


5. Back at the lab, an attack on Ciaran, who's been drinking despite being on duty, fails mostly because his blood had alcohol in it.  They check with Paddy, and yes, he was drunk when he fended off an attack.  Now they have a working theory on defense, but very limited resources to deter the anticipated attack.


6. They organise an party at the pub, with the drinks free.  Many people come, and there is a lot of drinking.  The grabbers do show up, and the battle is something to behold.


7. Will our heroes prevail?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Monsters, music, comedy, and community action on Erin Island.
2. Four stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 9/10 Fine except for a few low-light situations.


2. Sound: 10/10 The sound on this film is mostly symphonic, with intelligent pieces chosen to accentuate the action in the film.  This is quite a welcome relief from poorly done pseudo rock music or an amateur effort made on a third rate synthesizer program.


3. Acting: 8/10 Richard Coyle and Lalor Roddy were great. Ruth Bradley, Pascal Scott, and Russell Tovey were enjoyable as well.


4. Screenplay: 8/10 Interesting approach to mixing comedy and horror.

20140108: Action Review--The Last Stand

The Last Stand

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2013, R, 107 minutes, action, crime, thriller.
2. IMDB: 6.4/10.0 from 73,469 audience ratings.  Estimated budget: 45 million USD.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 60% on the meter; 55% liked it from 35,892 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.5/5.0 from 156,599 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Ji-woon Kim.
6. Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger as Sheriff Ray Owens, Forest Whitaker as FBI agent John Bannister, Eduardo Noriega as Gabriel Cortez, Peter Stormare as Burrell, Johnny Knoxville as Lewis Dinkum., Luis Guzman as Figuerola, Rodrigo Santoro as Frank Martinez, Jaimie Alexander as Sarah Torrance, Titos Menchaca as the Mayor, Jack Gilford as Jerry Bailey.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Ray is the sheriff in a Sommerton Junction, a small border town in Arizona.  He used to be a narcotics officer in LAPD, but he's enjoying the quieter life in Sommerton.


2. Ray starts investigating some local irregularities.  A couple of out-of-towners talk openly about payoffs in a diner.  Ray has a chat with them.  One of the town's restaurants did not get their milk delivery.  His deputies find the farmer that Burrell had killed for not letting him park a semi-tractor on his land.  When Ray gets on the scene, they start looking for the right things, like tire tracks and the murder weapon.


3. In a separate thread, Agent Bannister oversees the disastrous attempt at a prisoner transfer: moving drug kingpin Gabriel Cortez.  The break is well-orchestrated, including using: a prototype car stolen from the LA Auto Show as the getaway car, a helicopter to steal the entire truck Cortez was being transported in, and using the semi to break a state police blockade.


4. Bannister contacts Ray, telling him that he's sending a SWAT team.  Ray listens a bit, then hangs up.  Two of Ray's deputies find the semi and a work area lit up at night.  They wound Jerry badly, but Sarah survives a bit longer.  Ray arrives and immediately kills three of the criminals.  They head out to the local hospital.


5. Bannister tries to coordinate.  Ray tells him about the crossing bridge being constructed south of Sommerton, and about the firefight they had.  Cortez does in much of the SWAT team. Ray and his crew, such as they are, are what's left to stop Cortez.


6. The bad guys head through Sommerton, and the trap that Ray and company lay nets many of the opponents.  After a long but well-done fire-fight, Cortez makes his way through town.  Cortez has the better car, but Ray has better knowledge of the area.  The contest in the cornfield was hilarious, and reminded me of submarine warfare.


7. If you like action or like Arnold, don't miss this one.


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Enjoyable action romp with Arnold and friends.
2. Four stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 10/10 Nicely done.


2. Sound: 10/10 No problems.


3. Acting: 8/10 Forest Whitaker, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Luis Guzman, Peter Stormare, and Eduardo Noriega were all up for the job.  I had a lot of fun with their performances.


4. Screenplay: 8/10 A bit formulaic, but well-done formulaic, with good actors for the jobs.

20140108: Horror Review--The Corridor

The Corridor

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. Canadian live action feature length film, 2010, NR, 98 minutes, horror, thriller.
2. IMDB: 4.7/10.0 from 1,478 audience ratings.  Spoken word is in English.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 'No score yet,' 32% liked it from 229 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 2.8/5.0 from 113,908 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Evan Kelly.  Written by: Josh MacDonald.
6. Starring: Stephen Chambers as Tyler Crawley, James Gilbert as Everett Manette, David Patrick Flemming as Chris Comeau, Matthew Amyotte as Robert 'Bobcat' Comeau, Glen Matthews as Jim 'Huggs' Huggan, Mary-Colin Chisholm as Pauline Crawley, Nigel Bennett as Lee Shephard.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Five young men (not teenagers) get together for a retreat in the woods.  It's in snow country, and there is a lot of snow.  That's good for snowball fights, snow angels, yelling for the sake of yelling, and yellow snow.  Okay, so they are older, bigger, stronger, and more accomplished than teens, but still exhibit some of the same behaviours.


2. Tyler is mentally disturbed, in that he witnessed his mother die from overdose, and just might have had something to do with the dying part.  Then he spent time in a mental institution to deal with it.  Nice beginning, I suppose, but it casts doubt on all that follows.  Are the proceedings supernatural, or is the whole film just about the extended delusions of an unbalanced mind?  Is the film supernatural horror or psychological drama?  Sigh.


3. Tyler makes a big deal of going away from the others to spread his mother's ashes in a spot nearby that was of some significance.  He chats about it when he gets back.  Is he OK?  Is he OK to drink alcohol?


4. Jim figures he's 'shooting blanks;' that is, does not have viable seed.  He's trying to figure out how to tell his wife.  Bobcat has lost his hair, but gained a lot of kids, and likes to play recorded football games.  Everett and Chris both play guitar.  They catch up through talking.


5. This is all rather dull through the first 36 minutes.  Then the weirdness and SFX start up.  Of course Tyler witnesses it first; he's the least likely to be believed.  He sees bright light in the middle of darkness, and sees an odd being who looks just like his dead mother.  Tyler confides in Chris, who promises to go with him in daylight.


6. There is a bit of transition, but the other four witness what Tyler experienced.  Together they set about exploring it.  Driving a snowmobile through it does not work; the motor stopped.  Their telephones do not work.  All of them feel great, but they all start having nosebleeds.  Everett stays; he wants to experience more right away.  The others decide to go back to the cabin. 


7. They try to figure out how to monetize it.  Not surprisingly, they start having contentious exchanges; the possibility of huge amounts of mostly free money seems to open their ability to irritate each other.  Everett meets Lee Shephard in the woods; Lee offers to help fix the non-functional snowmobile...then he witnesses the corridor of lights.  Lee takes to it quicker than all the others.  Everett notices this and garrotes him.


8. Their behaviour continues to become more weird.  Tyler starts to look like the most sane one of the bunch.  The corridor expands to the cabin.


9. Will the friends survive this experience?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Boring screenplay leads slowly to a pointless conclusion.
2. Two stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 6/10 Handheld camera for some sections, uninspiring for the others.


2. Sound: 8/10 Mostly good.


3. Acting: 6/10 Competent, but not engaging.  The actors were good soldiers.  Unfortunately, the best actor by far, Nigel Bennett, had very little screen time.


4. Screenplay: 0/10 Pointless.

20140107: Horror Review--Mandy Lane

All the Boys Love Mandy Lane

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2006, rated R, 90 minutes, thriller, horror, mystery.  Spoken word is in English.  Aspect: 2.35; estimated budget, 750,000 USD.
2. IMDB: 5.6/10.0 from 18,779 audience ratings.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 41% on the meter; 34% liked it from 24,861 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.0/5.0 from 14,572 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Jonathan Levine.  Written by: Jacob Forman.
6. Starring: Amber Heard as Mandy Lane, Anson Mount as Garth, Whitney Able as Chloe, Michael Welch as Emmet, Edwin Hodge as Bird, Melissa Price as Marlin, Aaron Himelstein as Red, Luke Grimes as Jake.


2. Setup and Plot
1. It is not easy to get to like this, or even be interested.  The characters are all rather disagreeable at best.  This is another teen slasher film, where entitled teens have little or no supervision and considerable resources to waste.  Their issues seem to be about embarrassing one another and the loss of virginity, especially if that is forced.  After one such public embarrassment, the one wronged (Emmet) eggs on another to do something stupid while drunk.  This resulted in a rather grave injury, and immediate pariah status for the instigator.  Some time passes.


2. The setup that should never have happened is that three girls (Mandy, Marlin, and Chloe) and three guys (Jake, Bird, and Red) are alone on a ranch with only ranch hand, ex-Marine Garth around for some semblance of sanity.  Garth works for Red's father, and he knows better than to interfere too much.  There's beer, there is coke, there are the constant challenges to have sex.  According to the cliches of the genre, we're in the normal sort of killing field: teens far from much help, teens thinking about having sex, drinking, doing drugs, with someone whom they have wronged deeply lurking about.


3. Marlin dies first.  Jake goes looking for Marlin, and gets killed after finding her dead.  Bird catches up with Emmet, takes his gun away, then roughs him up a bit.  Emmet counter-attacks, and kills the stupid bully in an incredibly humiliating way.  The next morning, Garth, Mandy, Chloe, and Red are still alive.  None of them are aware of Emmet's presence.


4. Garth sees unmistakable signs that someone else is with them.  The others quickly agree to leave.  As they go out the door, Emmet takes a shot and wounds Garth in the chest.  Mandy stays with him.  Red and Chloe try a side route out that Red knows; they see the bodies of Jake and Marlin on the way.  They stop for a kiss; Emmet shoots Red.  Chloe abandons him; she runs away, and by happenstance, finds Bird's body.


5. Will anyone get out alive?  Will Emmet pay for all the murders?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary:  Yet another teen slasher film; nothing new.
2. Two stars of five.  Please, no sequel.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 3/10 Not that good, and the end credits were irritating.


2. Sound: 7/10 Had a few problems, but mostly OK.


3. Acting: 3/10 Bad.  Edwin Hodge, Melissa Price, Aaron Himelstein, Michael Welch, Luke Grimes, and Whitney Able were terrible.  Amber Heard and Anson Mount were better, but not enough to lift this lead balloon.


4. Screenplay: 4/10 Nothing new, nothing interesting.

20140106: SciFi Review--Monsters

Monsters

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. British live action feature length film, 2010, rated R, 93 minutes.  Spoken word is in English and Spanish; subtitles in both.
2. IMDB: 6.4/10.0 from 56,679 audience ratings. Estimated budget, 800,000 USD; aspect, 2.35
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 72% on the meter; 52% liked it from 38,628 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.1/5.0 from 937,454 audience ratings.
5. Written and directed by: Gareth Edwards.
6. Starring: Scoot McNairy as Andrew Kaulder, Whitney Able as Samantha Wynden, Mario Zuniga Benavides as Ticket Seller.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Kaulder and Sam make their way from Mexico to the United States.  She is the daughter of his boss, who runs a large publishing business.  The father charges Kaulder to bring Sam home to the States safely.  That's the whole film.


2. Their main problem is that many dangerous extraterrestrials lie between them and their destination.  Transportation is hampered, and what transportation there is is illegal and expensive.


3. In Mexico, they encounter delays from a railway being out, from someone stealing their passports and a ferry ticket, from using an illegal personal charter.  They see evidence of aliens in abundance during their journey.  They lose their guides during an alien encounter at night.  They collect what supplies they can from the bodies, and start out on foot.  They make it to the border of Mexico and the USA.


4. Surprisingly, no one is manning the guard posts on the giant wall constructed to keep the aliens out.  There has been an incursion by the aliens and a retreat by the humans.  They see jets flying in the distance.  They keep walking through bombed out housing and dead aliens.


5. They find a gas station with power.  They phone 911, and get a promise of an Army escort to come soon.  While waiting, they make some other calls: Kaulder to his son who does not know that Kaulder is his father; Sam to someone, probably her fiance.


6. They hope to be home in one day, but the aliens have other ideas.  Will both of them make it?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary:  Photographer and his boss' daughter cross territory loaded with dangerous aliens.
2. Four stars of five.  I liked this one, but no sequels, please.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 6/10 Mixed bag.  There is night filming that is just poor, some handheld footage I could have lived without, and also daylight shots that are gorgeous.


2. Sound: 8/10 Adequate.


3. Acting: 8/10 There are two principal actors and a number of bit parts.  Fortunately, the leads could carry most of the film.


4. Screenplay: 8/10 Good plot flow.  Fairly simple story, but it does not drag.


5. SFX: 8/10 Not the greatest I've seen, but more convincing than not.  Lovely ending.

20140106: Movie Review--Jack Reacher

Jack Reacher

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2012, rated R, 130 minutes, action, crime.
2. IMDB: 7.0/10.0 from 138,739 audience ratings.  Estimated budget, 60 million USD; aspect, 2.35
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 61% on the meter; 68% liked it from 107,857 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.8/5.0 from 485,750 audience ratings.
5. Written and directed by: Christopher McQuarrie.
6. Starring: Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher, Rosamund Pike as Helen Rodin, Richard Jenkins as Rodin, David Oyelowo as Detective Emerson, Werner Herzog as The Zec, Alexia Fast as Sandy, Robert Duvall as Cash.


2. Setup and Plot
1. The film opens with a sniper killing five people at extreme long range.  From evidence at the scene, the police pick up James Barr, a psychopath sniper just discharged from the Army under suspicious circumstances.  He signs a confession, and makes a request in writing, 'Get Jack Reacher.'  He's put in the general population, and is soon beaten into a coma.


2. DA Rodin and Det Emerson decide to track Reacher down, but this proves moot.  Reacher meets them in the DA's office.  Barr's defense lawyer, Rodin's daughter Helen, manages to engage Reacher as her investigator.


3. Someone sets up Reacher at a bar, and he's arrested.  Helen, her father, Emerson, and Reacher discuss this with some heat.  Reacher gets more interested.


4. As Jack gets closer to the truth, the stakes get higher, and it becomes clear who the real culprits are.  Jack even finds evidence to prove Barr is innocent.  Jack enlists the aid of Cash, whose contributions prove essential.


5. Will Jack and Helen prevail, or will the mob forces behind all this triumph?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Good tension and plot resolution, with lots of difficulties along the way.
2. Four stars of five.  I could live with a sequel to this one.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 10/10 Excellent.


2. Sound: 10/10 Just fine; no problems.


3. Acting: 8/10 Wonderful performances by Tom Cruise, Rosamund Pike, Richard Jenkins, Robert Duvall, and Werner Herzog.  Alexia Fast, Josh Helman, and Dylan Kussman were rather bad.


4. Screenplay: 8/10 Good tension and plot resolution, with lots of difficulties along the way.  Grinding up the ladder of levels of hoodlums took a bit longer than I had hoped.  Still, quite a good thriller.

20140106: Action Review--Hansel and Gretel

Hansel and Gretel: Warriors of Witchcraft

1. Production Fundamentals; Reception
1. American live action feature length film, 2013, PG13, 82 minutes, action, fantasy.
2. IMDB: 2.8/10.0 from 1,155 audience ratings. Estimated budget: 1 million USD. Spoken word is in English.  Aspect: 1.78
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 'No score yet,' and 14% liked it from 81 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 2.6/5.0 from 301,055 audience ratings.
5. Directed by David DeCoteau.
6. Starring: Booboo Stewart as Jonah, Fivel Stewart as Ella, Vanessa Angel as Ms. Keegan, Eric Roberts as Mr. Sebastian, Cherie Currie as Ms. Thomas, Judy Norton as Allyson, Zac Goodspeed as Charles, Kathryn Collins as Kristen.


2. Setup, Plot
1. Twins Jonah and Ella go to an elite prep school (Lebkuchen Haus, which is German for gingerbread house; the only reference to the fairy tale) because Jonah is always getting into fights.  This is ridiculous enough that it might be a good enough reason to stop watching the film.


2. Jonah is assigned a room with Charles, who does not get along well with others.  Nice.  Charles warns Jonah that one either eats or gets eaten at the school.  Charles is at the school through scholarship obtained by merit.  Jonah is there through influence from his adoptive parents; he was born into a lower social setting.  So, Charles has two reasons not to like him.


3. Ella is assigned a room with Kristen, who works on the school paper.  Kristen used Google to find out all sorts of information about Ella.  Kristen thinks she has a kick-ass story that will blow the lid off the school.


4. In Jonah's first class (held outside; sure), Ms Thomas goes on about Golding's hypothesis that humans naturally reject civilisation whenever possible and descend into savagery.  Jonah appears not to be listening, but then again, he's a perfect example of the lesson.  When asked about what had been said, though, Jonah summarised it in one sentence.


5. Jonah finds that there are witches at the school, and they invite him to join.  They know, somehow, that he has a circular birthmark at the back of his head, just as all of them do.  They show him that he can do some unexpected things, and swear him to secrecy.


6. Charles warned of students going missing; he decides to leave before it happens to him.  Kristen goes missing; Ella tries to follow her research.  She ends up following Jonah, and asks him what he has been up to; Jonah stays quiet about it.  Some of Kristen's research involves the coming of European witches to America, and the attempt of the 'Great Witch of the Woods' to rule in the Americas.  Despite the fact that many of the followers were put down in Salem, the GWW is still alive and about 400 years old, and has new followers in the Circle.  The job of the Circle is to find young souls for the GWW to feast on.  The counter current here is the presence of a few who have witch skills but are tasked with killing evil witches; these people would be 'witch slayers.'


7. Are the twins witch slayers or servants of the GWW?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Acting, screenplay, SFX, sound: black holes.
2. One star of five.  Four black holes for sound, acting, screenplay, SFX.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 5/10 Amateurish. The re-use of some of the campus stock footage was beyond irritating. Some short clips were each repeated at least ten to twelve times.


2. Sound: 0/10 Fracking hideous.  The sound has multiple personalities: (a) pieces of the score sound as if they were made in the 1970s by an out of work composer with a lesser grade synthesizer (b) other pieces are florid, symphonic, and ridiculous for an action film (c) another set of background music is second rate industrial, say late 1990s.  Some of the conversations were very badly miked, and sounded noticeably hollow.


3. Acting: 0/10 The leads were dull non-actors who are a huge anchor around the neck of this drowning film. Booboo, in particular, is so poor that it is painful to watch any scene he is in.  His attempts to read a sentence from a book were pathetic.  Judy Norton and Eric Roberts were wasted.  Roberts' slurred speech in the early scenes sounded as if he was recovering from something, and that hair cut was laughable.  What was the director thinking?


4. Screenplay: 0/10 Why would an ineffective ruffian (Jonah) be placed in an elite prep school?  It's like asking a fish to walk 100 miles in a desert at the height of summer.  What were the real reasons that he was admitted? Why would his sister go as well? The answers come late, and were not that interesting when they showed up.  The dialog was between sub-standard and just plain bad.  The great dramatic moment at the end was a complete dud.


5. SFX: 0/10 Laughable: both uninteresting and not believable. Zero was too high a score.

20140105: Comedy Review--Hansel and Gretel Get Baked

Hansel and Gretel Get Baked

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2013, NR, 86 minutes, comedy, horror.
2. IMDB: 4.2/10.0 from 1,672 audience ratings. Estimated budget: 4.5 million USD.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 'No score yet,' 36% liked it from 234 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 2.9/5.0 from 136,962 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Duane Journey.
6. Starring: Molly C. Quinn as Gretel Jaeger, Michael Welch as Hansel Jaeger, Lara Flynn Boyle as Agnes, Cary Elwes as Meter Man, Andrew James Allen as Ashton Crawford, Reynaldo Gallegos as Carlos, Bianca Saad as Bianca, Lochlyn Munro as Officer Ritter, Yancy Butler as Officer Hart, Eddie Martin as Manny, Claudia Choi as Sam.


2. Setup and Plot
1. The film is set in contemporary Southern California.  The film opens with a seemingly endless montage of visuals of medical marijuana prescriptions.  Eventually, we shift to a meter man reading usage at a house consuming a huge amount of wattage.  He decides to investigate a bit more before calling it in.  This turns out to be a mistake.


2. Hansel and Gretel are brother and sister in an upper middle class house. Their parents are away for a while at the beginning of the film.  Gretel and her friend Ashton are in her bedroom sharing a sample of weed ('Black Forest') while they listen to music.  Hansel comes home and is not amused.  He goes up to chat with them, and they decide to make gingerbread after Hansel describes Black Forest Cake.  Ashton goes to get some more Black Forest from the little lady who lives in Pasadena (where else...).  Agnes is willing to sell him the weed and to get him some munchies, as long as he does not touch her gingerbread house.


3. Ashton does eat some of it, and is knocked out by it.  He awakes to find Agnes basting him.  She starts eating him while he is still alive: first an eye, then roasted lower leg.  Gretel makes a lot of calls since she expects him back.  Next day, she starts asking his stoner associates where he might be.  She gets Agnes' address from Manny, then convinces Hansel to drive her there.  Agnes manages to fend off her inquiries.


4. The police call the power company to ask about a missing van about to be towed.  The company acknowledges this, and the van is towed.  Hansel and Gretel call the police, but the interview does not go well since they are unwilling to provide specifics about Manny, or Gretel's own drug use.  Officer Hart takes Agnes' address anyway.  Gretel is disappointed; Hansel is resigned.


5. Agnes seems to be more of a succubus than a cannibal.  Sucking Ashton's spirit out of his body seems to do more for her than eating his flesh.


6. Carlos decides to horn in on Manny's action with the Black Forest High.  Manny goes to Agnes and tells her about Carlos' demands.  Agnes is unimpressed.  She sends Carlos an insulting message, then kills Manny.  Gretel posts signs about Ashton.  Carlos, Jorge, and Octavio visit Agnes.  This proved to be a bad idea for them.


7. The power company continues investigating the power spike.  Sam's son (one of the stoners who gave up Manny to Carlos) divulges the location of the new weed, and Sam reports it to her boss.  He personally continues the investigation from the power usage angle.


8. Gretel and Bianca decide to look for Ashton and Manny at Agnes' house.  While Bianca talks to Agnes, Gretel breaks into the basement, and searches.  She finds a piece of shirt that she recognizes.  Soon she finds Octavio, or at least his voice.  Agnes prevails again.


9. Hansel heads to Agnes' house once he sees Gretel's text.  The police get a missing person's report on Ashton.  The power company is zeroing in.


10. Will Agnes maintain her household against all these challenges?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Modern stoner comedy with a horror slant and oblique references to the fairly tale.
2. Three stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 7/10 Mostly excellent, but many of the interior shots were not so good.


2. Sound: 10/10 No problems.


3. Acting: 6/10 Molly Quinn, Lara Flynn Boyle, Reynaldo Gallegos, and Yancy Butler were all fine. Bianca Saad was rather fun. Michael Welch, Lochlyn Munro, and Eddie Martin were almost OK.  Andrew James Allen and Claudia Choi were terrible.


4. Screenplay: 6/10 This one had a few continuity errors involving time of day.  Some of the plot motivators were really weak.  Also, just what did the power company contribute to the whole matter? The opening seemed like the film was to be a full-on stoner film with no other considerations, which turned out to be false.

20140105: Horror Review--Hansel & Gretel

Hansel & Gretel

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2013, NR, 90 minutes.
2. IMDB: 2.5/10.0 from 2,223 audience ratings. Estimated budget: 135,000 USD.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 'No reviews yet,' 15% liked it from 139 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 2.9/5.0 from 298,187 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Anthony Ferrante.
6. Starring: Stephanie Greco as Gretel Grimm, Brent Lydic as Hansel Grimm, Steve Hanks as Brandon Grimm, Trish Coren as Ruby Lumiers, Dee Wallace as Lilith, Lydia Woods as Dana.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Set in modern times, say 2013, in a small town in the USA.  Hansel and Gretel are brother and sister.  Their mother has passed away.  Their father is thinking of marrying Ruby, who is three years older than Gretel, selling the house, then moving somewhere else.  Hansel, an irresponsible video gamer, runs off and puts his leg in a bear trap.  Oi.  They see a cabin, which turns out to belong to Lilith, who operates the local general store.  Lilith's specialty is a meat pie.  When the siblings go to Lilith's house, she feeds Hansel a beef stew that he really likes.


2. Hansel and Gretel stay overnight.  Lilith tells Gretel that a neighbor took Hansel to the hospital while Gretel was sleeping.  In the meantime, Hansel wakes up in a prison with Jane, Kevin, and Dana.  There used to be more in the cell, but they are gone now.  They have plenty to eat, all of it cookies, doughnuts, and candies.  Kevin informs them that they are being fattened up to be used as meat.  They take Dana.


3. Lilith tries to convince Gretel to be her heir, or at least one of the 'family,' such as it is.  Gretel resists.  Lilith has her dumped in the prison cell.  They take Jane, but not before Jane steals a pointy object that she passes to Hansel.  He uses it to unlock their shackles and the cell door.  Kevin makes a break for freedom; Hansel and Gretel try to rescue Jane.  Ruby and the local police look for them, though quite ineffectively.


4. Do any of them escape?  Does justice catch up to Lilith?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Bears little resemblance to the fairy tale; poor as a gorefest.
2. One star of five.  Two black holes for screenplay and acting.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 7/10 Much of the movie looked fine, but some of the dark sections were ridiculously poorly done.


2. Sound: 6/10 The conversation is a close to muted all too often.


3. Acting: 2/10 Dee Wallace was fine, but the rest of the cast was terrible.


4. Screenplay: 0/10 The story made no particular sense.  None of the characters were interesting, and I found no reason to care about any of them.

20140105: Fantasy Review--Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. German/American live action feature length film, 2013, rated R, 87 minutes, fantasy, action.  The spoken word is in English.
2. IMDB: 6.1/10.0 from 101,160 audience ratings. Estimated budget, 50 million USD.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 15% on the meter; 54% liked it from 90,718 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.5/5.0 from 253,720 audience ratings.
5. Written and directed by:  Tommy Wirkola.
6. Starring: Jeremy Renner as Hansel, Gemma Arterton as Gretel, Famke Janssen as Muriel, Peter Stormare as Sheriff Berringer, Pihla Viitala as Mina, Thomas Mann as Ben, Bjorn Sundquist as Jackson, Derek Mears as Edward.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Hansel and Gretel are told to wait in the woods by their father.  He does not come back.  They investigate a candy house, are captured by a hideous witch, and manage to kill her and escape instead of being eaten.


2. As they grow older, they save captured children, and kill offending witches.  This goes on into their adulthood.  They have reputations and expertise, and their services come at a price.


3. The film moves forward to the 'present' when Hansel and Gretel are adults.  In the German village of Augsburg, children are missing and Mina is accused of witchcraft by Sheriff Berringer.  He starts the rituals to prove she is a witch.  In this case, drowning: if Mina drowns, she's not a witch; otherwise she is one.  Hansel and Gretel prevent this.  They are hired by the mayor to find the kidnapped children.


4. They find a witch who is not the kidnapper, but also find a document indicating that a holy day for witches is coming up: the rise of the Blood Moon.  This is a once in a generation event, and will occur in three days.  The children are likely part of the ceremonies.  The sheriff gathers a posse to find the children in competition.


5. Orchestrating events from the witch side is Muriel, a Grand Witch who can change appearances.  The lesser witches have hideous skin, ugly teeth, and strange voices. All the witches have prodigious strength and speed.  Muriel manages to collect a child born in each month of the calendar year, so her readiness for the Blood Moon progressed right along.


6. Hansel and Gretel get separated, and things get even worse.  When the sheriff was about to kill Gretel, a troll named Edward saves her.  Min helps Hansel, who was left hanging from a tree.  They re-connect, then discover their childhood home.  Muriel informs them of a few details of their childhood that they had been missing, particularly facts about their mother Adrianna and their father.


7. The dark witches need Gretel's heart to complete their Blood Moon rituals.  Mina and Hansel discover a powerful book among Adrianna's possessions.  They set off with Ben to stop the ritual and recover Gretel.


8. Will Ben, Mina, and Hansel, possibly with Edward's help, be able to stop Muriel's grand plans?  If so, will they free the children?


3. Conclusions
1. Will Ferrell was one of the producers, so my expectations for the film were drastically lowered.
2. One line summary: A poor film despite an interesting plot idea and veteran actors.
3. Two stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 10/10 Better than I expected.


2. Sound: 6/10 Ineffective for the most part.


3. Acting: 5/10 Peter Stormare, Famke Janssen, and Jeremy Renner were rather good.  Gemma Arterton and Pihla Viitala were between forgettable and bad.  Thomas Mann's performance was horrid. 


4. Screenplay: 0/10 Referring to 'hillbillies' in late medieval Europe is a stupid and ridiculous anachronism, as was Ben's using modern fan speak.  The use of a phonograph in the late Middle Ages is out of the question, as were the taser, the hypodermic injector, modern shotguns, repeating rifles, Gatling guns, and electric heart resuscitation devices.  The final sequence in the desert was terrible.

20140104: Drama Review--The Wall

The Wall (Die Wand)

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. German live action feature length film, 2012, NR, 108 minutes, drama, indie.
2. IMDB: 6.7/10.0 from 1,587 audience ratings.  Spoken word is in German; subtitles in English.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 74% on the meter; 74% liked it from 955 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.0/5.0 from 4,273 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Julian Roman Poelsler.
6. Starring: Martina Gedeck as Frau, Wolfgang Maria Bauer as Mann, Karlheinz Hackl as Hugo, Ulrike Beimpold as Luise, Hans Michael Rehberg as Keuschler (cottage dweller, male), Julia Geschnitzer as Keuschlerin (cottage dweller, female).


2. Setup and Plot
1. The protagonist awakes one day in a hunting lodge.  Her husband and a friend had left to run errands in town; she was alone in the lodge.  When she walks to town, she finds an invisible wall keeping her from progressing.  As time passes by, she finds there is no escape at all.


2. During the next two years, she learns to feed herself in a sustainable way.  There is a cow in the region she can reach; she grows and harvests hay for the cow in return for milk.  She cultivates potatoes and some other roots, and collects berries and mushrooms.  She hunts for the occasional deer, and learns to shoot a rifle quickly and accurately.


3. Her other companions are her dog, Lynx, a pregnant cat who scrounges off her, and a white crow that is outcast by the black crows.


4. We follow her narration of events, which mirrors her writing on the paper she happened to have at hand.  There are ups and downs, including the loss of Lynx and the cow's baby bull, both killed by a murderous poacher who is the only other human she was able to interact with.


5. The film, which consists of visuals that accompany the woman's narration as she comes to adapt to her unexpectedly changed environment, comes to an end when she runs out of paper.


3. Conclusions
1. The film was adapted from the book Die Wand (The Wall) written by the Austrian author Marlen Haushofer in 1963.  It received the Arthur Schnitzler Prize the same year.  The dystopian SciFi work was considered her best.
2. One line summary: Beautiful to watch, sad, and thought-provoking.  A woman faces the fact that she will spend the rest of her life without other human beings.
3. Four stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 10/10 Sharp, clear, well-focused and framed.  The landscape in Austria was lovely.


2. Sound: 10/10 The vast majority of the sound is voice-over narration.  There is good incidental sound for: the wind in the trees, pouring rain, crunchy snow, the sound of a rifle shot, the footfalls of the dog, and the like.


3. Acting: 8/10 There is one actor, Martina Gedeck. We see some body English, but otherwise, there is only off-screen narration.


4. Screenplay: 7/10 Moves along well in most places; drags in others.  As an existential piece, it is pretty good; for other purposes, not so much.

20140104: Drama Review--Phantom

Phantom

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2013, rated R, 98 minutes, thriller, mystery.
2. IMDB: 5.8/10.0 from 7,854 audience ratings. Estimated budget: 18 million USD; aspect 2.35
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 25% on the meter; 36% liked it from 4,745 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.7/5.0 from 191,338 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Todd Robinson.
6. Starring: David Duchovny as Bruni, Ed Harris as Demi, Lance Henriksen as Markov, Sean Patrick Flanery as Tyrtov, Jonathan Schaech as Greg Pavlov, William Fichtner as Alex, Jason Beghe as Dr. Semak, Jason Gray-Stanford as Sasha.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Demi is about to retire, but the powers that be, through Markov, inform him that he has one more mission.  The date is late spring, 1968.  Demi will captain the B67 instead of his usual ship.  His crew have had only three weeks shore leave instead of the expected three months.  Several of them are on leave far away; he will have several unknown faces.  The B67 will be decommissioned after this last cruise; Demi gets the call since the B67 was also his first assignment.


2. Bruni and Pavlov come on at the last minute.  Alex (first officer) notes that the old tub can barely accommodate the 86 men required to sail her.  Bruni says it's good to see him again; Demi seems to only barely remember this.  Pavlov and the captain go though the ceremony of  the captain receiving the 'real' orders from the KGB.


3. From the first dive, there are indications that he captain is having some problems: a phantom sound on the forward outside hull; the sight and sound of an angry dog.  Where did these come from?


4. The KGB representatives inform the captain that he is about to step into part of the ship where he is not allowed.  Bruni suggests that the captain bothers to read his orders.  Alex has a chat with the captain.  Some of the newcomers are Oznas (radical KGB commandos); some of the new crew are dead; many of the new crew have no history, just name and rank.


5. The KGB officers countermand practically everything the captain proposes.  They force a collision with a civilian tanker.  This will ensure that everyone in the area will know the submarine's location.  Cleaver.  Their orders were to observe the massing of American naval forces.


6. Very unfortunately, the captain suffered a brain injury a few years back with triggered grand mal epileptic seizures about once or twice a year.  It would seem that some of the newcomers on board know of this.


7. When an American attack sub passes by, the old crew manage to evade.  However, Bruni overrides this, has the B67 surface and turn on their diesel engines.  The KGB officers turn on the 'Phantom' which effectively cloaks their position.


8. When the captain arranges to get confirmation of orders from Fleet HQ, Bruni stages a mutiny.  After some discussion with the old crew, Demi and company figure that Bruni and the Oznas are aiming to use the Phantom to start a war.


9. Will the mutineers succeed?  Will the captain and his allies neutralize them in order to save the world from a nuclear war?




3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Regular Russian submarine crew deal with KGB mutineers in 1968.
2. Five stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 9/10 Reasonably good, but some of the images suffer from low light.


2. Sound: 10/10 No problems.


3. Acting: 10/10 Fine jobs by William Fichtner, Ed Harris, Jonathan Schaech, Jason Beghe.  The rest were at worst competent.


4. Screenplay: 9/10 A bit slow going at first, but picks up to a fine conclusion.

20140103: Drama Review--Inside Llewyn Davis

Inside Llewyn Davis

Oscar Isaac

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2013, rated R, 104 minutes, drama, music.
2. IMDB: 8.0/10.0 from 8,236 audience ratings.  Spoken word is in English.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 93% on the meter; 75% liked it from 18,934 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: not yet, still in theatres, 20140103.
5. Written and directed by: Ethan Coen and Joel Coen.
6. Starring: Oscar Isaac as Llewyn Davis, John Goodman as Roland Turner, Justin Timberlake as Jim, Carey Mulligan as Jean, F. Murray Abraham as Bud Grossman, Ethan Philips as Mitch Gorfein, Robin Bartlett as Lillian Gorfein, Garrett Hedland as Johnny Five, Jerry Grayson as Mel Novikoff.


2. Setup and Plot
1. The film opens in the Gaslight Cafe in 1961 in New York City in the deep of winter.  Llewyn Davis gives a beautiful performance, then goes out to meet somebody who wants to talk to him.  The somebody beats the nonsense out of LLewyn.  At this point, I was a bit low on context, and was not all that interested in the rest of the film.  Fortunately, I stayed.


2. The film ends on a repeat of the same scene.  The difference was that more information was given in the scene the second time, and everything made perfect sense.  In the repeat, one knows where Llewyn was going and why.


3. The large majority of the film is about exploring how Llewyn got to the final scene.  We meet Mitch and Lillian's cat, which escaped, causing all sorts of problems for Llewyn as he tries to get it back to his friends.


4. We meet Jim and Jean, who used to be in an act with Llewyn.  We see in great detail why that is no longer true.  Jim helps Llewyn get some studio work; Llewyn's haste denied him future income because he would not go through proper paperwork.  His agent Mel does not seem to be doing anything for him.


5. After the studio session with Jim, LLewyn goes to Chicago to talk to Bud Grossman, another figure in the music business.  On the way he shares gas and driving with Roland and Johnny.  He gets some alternate points of view, and something that was at least intended to be a curse.  He makes it to Chicago, despite the troubles that Johnny and Roland encountered.


6. Bud gives Llewyn a fair hearing, is not shocked that Mel did nothing for him, and even offers Llewyn a new job. When Llewyn is not willing to make a few changes to make him commercially viable, Bud offers him some reasonable advice.


7. Llewyn hitches a ride back to New York.  Along the way, he faces further choices, such as whether to meet his two year old son in Akron whom he just found out about in the last week.


8. Llewyn decides to rejoin the Merchant Marine since he's broke and everyone hates him.  Even this involves difficulties: past union dues, proper licensing, and meeting his ailing father once more.


9. Will Llewyn get to a stable place in his life?  Watch the final scene.


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary:  Another fine film from the Coen brothers; catch it if you can.
2. Five stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 10/10  Just wonderful.  The choices in lighting and camera work show strongly the sheer cold in New York, on the road from New York to Chicago, and in Llewyn's life.


2. Sound: 10/10 Lush, beautiful.  Kudos to Oscar Isaac and Justin Timberlake.


3. Acting: 10/10 Kudos to Oscar Isaac.  Excellent work by John Goodman, F. Murray Abraham, Garrett Hedland.


4. Screenplay: 10/10 The character studies are brilliant, plus the exposition of the protagonist's difficult passage is carefully done.

20131230: Drama Review--American Hustle

American Hustle

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2013, rated R, 137 minutes, drama.
2. IMDB: 8.2/10.0 from 17,027 audience ratings.  Estimated budget: 40 million USD.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 94% on the meter; 82% liked it from 63,626 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: not yet, 20131229.
5. Directed by: David O. Russell.  Written by: Eric Singer and David O. Russell.
6. Starring: Christian Bale as Irving Rosenfeld, Jennifer Lawrence as Rosalyn Rosenfeld, Amy Adams as Sydney Prosser, Bradley Cooper as Richie Dimaso, Jeremy Renner as Mayor Carmine Polito, Elizabeth Rohm as Dolly Polito, Louie C. K. as Stoddard Thorsen, Robert De Niro (uncredited) as Victor Tellegio.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Irving is a semi-legitimate business man who owns a glass replacement business plus several dry cleaning stores.  He sells paintings of dubious provenance, and 'arranges' loans that might otherwise be hard to get.  Irving is married to Rosalyn, but is invigorated by his falling in love with the talented Sydney.  Sydney wants Irving to leave Rosalyn, but recognises that Rosalyn is an even better con artist than either of them.  Working with Sydney, Irving's various dealings go better, and the quality of clients improves.  Their future looks bright and rich. 


2. FBI agent Richie Dimaso pulls a sting on the pair, and uses the evidence collected to leverage Irving and Sydney to help the FBI.  What Richie wants is for Irving to mastermind a sting against some New Jersey politicians, including Mayor Polito.  This effort moves forward.  When it was about to bear fruit, Richie fouls the sting by deviating from Irving's plan, and Carmine leaves the meeting.


3. Irving and Sydney save the day.  Irving gets Carmine to trust him; this was a major effort.  Sydney helps the FBI come up with just enough good faith money to convince Carmine and his people that they have a serious investor (a sheik) to re-energise the rebuilding of Atlantic City.  Irving's friendship with Carmine continues to deepen, and Carmine insists that Rosalyn get to know him and Dolly socially.  Rosalyn takes to this social whirl very quickly.


4. Richie loses his composure when things work despite his foulups.  He keeps pushing the FBI to make larger attempts to get bigger stings. He also pushes Sydney harder to leave Irving, and be with him. On the other side of the coin, news traveled fast in gambling circles, and large figures such as Victor Tellegio join the field of interest.  Victor insists on 10 million in good faith money, and that the sheik become a US citizen practically overnight to ensure that everyone is satisfied about the legitimacy of the operation.


5. To resolve the citizenship issue would require an act of Congress.  To get that through in a short amount of time, some shuffling of money might expedite the process.  Irving and Sydney help set this up. The FBI is definitely interested in who accepts such money and who does not.  The 10 million in good faith money gets handled in another operation.


6. In the end, who comes out as winners?  Will the FBI arrest some Congressmen?  Will they arrest any mob figures?  Will Irving and Sydney come out of this unscathed?


7. The ending is nicely written, as was the entire movie.


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: A tense, dramatic thriller with fine plot and character exposition.
2. Five stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 10/10 Good sets, good camera work.


2. Sound: 10/10 Excellent.  Some wonderful choices of incidental music.


3. Acting: 10/10 Outstanding: Christian Bale, Jeremy Renner, Jennifer Lawrence, Amy Adams, Elizabeth Rohm, Bradley Cooper.  Wonderful, powerful, short performance by Robert De Niro.


4. Screenplay: 10/10 Wonderful, tightly knit, complicated story.  The two hours and 17 minutes seemed just right.  Character development and story development were top notch.

20131227: Comedy Review--TiMER

TiMER

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2009, rated R, 99 minutes, comedy, indie, SciFi
2. IMDB: 6.5/10.0 from 7,053 audience ratings.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 58% on the meter; 65% liked it from 3,051 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.6/5.0 from 1,065,523 audience ratings.
5. Written and directed by: Jac Schaeffer.
6. Starring: Emma Caulfield as Oona O'Leary, Muse Watson as Rick O'Leary, JoBeth Williams as Marion Depaul, Michelle Borth as Steph DePaul, Hayden McFarland as Jesse Depaul, Tom Irwin as Paul DePaul, John Patrick Amedori as Mikey Evers, Scott Holroyd as Brian, Kali Rocha as Matchmaker Patty, Sandra Marquez as Luz Morales, Desmond Harrington as Dan.


2. Setup and Plot
1. This romantic comedy is set in the near future where technology has advanced considerably.  Nothing unexpected there.  Supposedly an implant can be attached to a person's body that will count down to the time when the wearer meets their true love.


2. Oona O'Leary is approaching thirty, and her timer has not started its countdown yet.  Social convention suggests that couples get together if their counters mark each other.  What can Oona do in this situation?


3. In the opening, Oona and Brian meet with Matchmaker Patty after several dates.  Brian is from Oklahoma, and has never had a timer.  Brian's implant starts showing between two and three years to go.  Oona's timer does not start.  She's been down this road before.  The couple breaks up immediately.  As Oona leaves, Matchmaker Patty describes her as a repeat customer.


4. The film has a number of amusing commercials plugging the product.  While daydreaming in the checkout line at a store, Oona tunes back in to hear Mikey (checkout person, by day, otherwise a musician) talking to her.  Oona's interest is piqued.  Oona and half-sister Steph DePaul visit mother Marion DePaul (remarried) for half-brother Jesse's timer install ceremony.  They meet the new housekeeper Luz, who speaks next to no English.  Jesse gets a target date immediately: in three days plus change.  Oona in non-plussed.  Steph meets Dan at her first job at the retirement home.


5. Marion advises Oona and Steph how lucky they are.  Thanks to the timers, they will miss out on divorce, unrequited love, missed opportunities (not meeting the right one), and STDs.  Further, they were so lucky that she broke up with Oona's father and found Paul, and that Paul broke up with Steph's mother.  Being happy about two breakups is a bit much, and the overall picture is ridiculously rosy.  Do the timers ever fail?  Also, how could Marion be so incredibly verbally abusive to her natural daughter?  I'm surprised Oona did not hit her upside the head.


6. By this point, about 40 minutes in, the film is almost done exposing ideas.  Will Oona get anywhere with Mikey?  Will Dan be Steph's match?  Will the families accept Jesse and his partner?  Will the film illuminate possible variations?  Will we meet Oona's father?  Will he have any wisdom to impart?


3. Conclusions
1. The direction was boring, not illuminating or funny, as was the screenplay that the director wrote.  I liked Emma Caulfield much better in her 85 episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. 
2. One line summary: Blending of science fiction, romantic comedy, and ongoing dysfunction.
3. Three stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 10/10 No problems.


2. Sound: 10/10 No problems.


3. Acting: 6/10 Emma Caulfield, JoBeth Williams, Tom Irwin, Desmond Harrington, and Muse Watson were fine.  The other actors were next to forgettable.  I don't remember seeing their work before, and I hope to never see them again.


4. Screenplay: 4/10 A nice 20 minute short stretched to 99.  There were zero belly laughs, zero chuckles, zero wry smiles. The film fails as a comedy.  Where was the romance?  One's significant other is chosen for you by factors you cannot control. What are the non-matches supposed to do?  The setup is just an excuse for further discrimination against the unlucky.  The film fails in the romantic department.  SciFi?  It did have one idea.  Unfortunately, it was a ridiculous one.