A CURE FOR WELLNESS Review

Written by Just Haythe, who previously only adapted Revolutionary Road for the screen and served as one third of the team that composed Lone Ranger among a few other jobs, A Cure for Wellness is a movie unlike those we typically get a chance to see in cinemas these days. This meaning Haythe has crafted a horror film of epic proportions that was somehow granted a budget of $40 million and placed in the hands of Lone Ranger director Gore Verbinski who, despite the reputation the likes of The Lone Ranger and The Pirates of the Caribbean films may garner him, is one of the best and most underappreciated auteur's working today. That the film also got a major theatrical release without having the added bonus of a rather recognizable star is just another surprising facet in the fact this thing was able to be made as it has been. That said, Verbinski, for one reason or another seems to carry a lot of clout in Hollywood and if he can use it to continue getting high-concept original material made at budgets not normally given to properties without source material or brand recognition-more power to him. Outside of his blockbuster endeavors, Verbinski has made inspiring films such as Rango and The Weather Man, but what is most critical to understanding why he was the perfect fit for something like A Cure for Wellness is the mention of his 2002 hit, The Ring. It could very well be that my experience with seeing The Ring for the first time in theaters at a nine o'clock show at the age of fifteen was one of the most terrifying if not the defining theatrical experience of my life when it comes to horror movies, but Verbinski (just listen to that name, even his name sounds like he was made to make scary movies) will always hold a special place in my petrified heart. And so, when it was announced the filmmaker would be directing his first horror flick in fifteen years you can bet it shot straight to the top of my most anticipated list. As with all movie-going experiences, expectations play a certain role and mine couldn't have been higher for A Cure for Wellness which may or may not be why the finished film simultaneously floored and confounded me. To be clear, this is a staggering piece of work-a masterful examination of purpose and other existential qualms that drive us to achieve material success that translates to a superiority over our fellow man that is never fully qualified as such in this life. Yet, while the film begins with such ideas and ambitions ripe for the taking it eventually succumbs to the mystery the film layers in early on that will seemingly intertwine with its thesis, but rather the two never mesh leaving Haythe's final draft one we wished he'd revised just a few more times given he might have then had his hands on a masterpiece in several genres and not just a satisfactory psychological thriller.

First Trailer for Gore Verbinski's A CURE FOR WELLNESS

I placed A Cure for Wellness in my most anticipated of 2016 when I was led to believe it would be released this year simply on the merits of it being the first film director Gore Verbinski had made since his major 2013 misfire in The Lone Ranger (misfire in terms of budget versus box office, not necessarily in terms of quality). Never mind the fact this would also be Verbinski's return to the horror genre after crafting The Ring re-make in 2002 which still stands to be one of if not the scariest theater-going experience of my life. And so, while the film will inevitably come out at the beginning of 2017 I am still very much looking forward to it and won't immediately discredit the quality of the film simply based on the early-in-the-year release date that typically signals poor quality-especially in reference to horror films. For a film that is as visually impressive as this trailer makes the final product out to be one can only hope that the story and its power is able to measure up. Still, in this first-look trailer we don't get much in the way of narrative, but rather are treated to a flurry of beautifully concocted images that add up to a full portrait that will hopefully be terrifying as all get out when brought together to serve the story. Based on an original idea by Verbinski and screenwriter Justin Haythe (Revolutionary Road) the film is said to follow an ambitious young executive who is sent to retrieve his company's CEO from an idyllic but mysterious "wellness center" at a remote location in the Swiss Alps, but soon suspects that the spa's miraculous treatments are not what they seem. Surely, the mystery around this "wellness center" will be key to the marketing of the film, but I've already seen more than enough to be hooked as Verbinski feels like an underrated talent and something of a hidden gem. Just look at the original Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy in all their majestic grandeur and don't forget the modern classic that is Rango-the guy has serious skills and to see him returning to the world of horror should herald much more than the silence of February will likely bring. A Cure for Wellness stars Dane DeHaan, Mia Goth, Jason Isaacs, Celia Imrie, Lisa Banes, Adrian Schiller, Susanne Wuest and opens on February 17th, 2017.

THE INFILTRATOR Review

The Infiltrator opens with a nice little tracking shot through a 1985 bowling alley as Rush plays on the soundtrack and arcade games make up the lighting. We're informed we're in Tampa yet we're following a man with hair so black it can't be natural and who is wearing a jacket in what is no doubt an insanely hot summer. Something feels off. When the camera finally pans around from the back of the figures head to reveal Bryan Cranston's face and all the stories it tells with its many cracks and crevices, but still ruggedly handsome and definitive features most will know the set-up we've been dropped into. Given the context clues provided not only by the title of the film, but by what we see in the opening seconds it is clear Cranston is undercover and is preparing for a moment of some sort. He's effortless in his adaptation of the customs and dialect in which the men he's now keeping company with do business. From here we are given a brief and subtle glimpse of how adept Cranston's character, who we come to learn is U.S. Customs and Drug Enforcement Agent Robert Mazur, actually is at modifying his persona and adjusting to whatever the situation might call for which will naturally inform moments later in the film to be filled with even more tension once we become invested in the characters. In all honesty, you've seen this movie before. It is easy to pick up on the beats of the story and understand where things are headed even if the real life events this film depicts are likely much more complicated than we're led to believe. By containing this story to what are more or less genre trappings though, director Brad Furman (The Lincoln Lawyer) doesn't limit the power of the story or the tension that unfolds from these moments, but rather gives what is undoubtedly a sprawling epic guidelines by which the highlights and necessary information of Mazur's story can be communicated to a mass audience in a clear and effective way. The Infiltrator may feel somewhat familiar in its execution, but the exceptional cast led by Cranston and by virtue of the unique details that make up the familiar plot there is much to be taken from the film if one is looking for a white-knuckle crime drama worthy of that descriptor.

TIFF 2015: LONDON FIELDS Review

Amber Heard certainly seems to have an affinity for playing the film noir types who elicit little more reaction than the understanding that she is little more than a pure representation of the male fantasy. Heard has done this for years whether it be in Drive Angry or Machete Kills, but in London Fields we are operating in a film that is actively trying to become a member of the noir genre rather than riffing on it. In London Fields, Heard plays a character who is clairvoyant and a total femme fatale named Nicola Six. Seriously. All of that is true. Nicola is a seductress by way of having lost her parents at a young age and making up imaginary friends that automatically tells us she is tormented and taking it out on every man she encounters with her natural gifts from God. She enjoys playing this role to large effect with her many worshipers. Nicola's exploits are made all the more heightened by the arrival of Billy Bob Thornton's writer in a London that is on the brink of nuclear war. Thornton's Samson Young is looking to write a new novel when he stumbles upon Heard's Nicola who just so happens to live in the same building he's staying in. It always feels like a risk including a writer in your film as it easily sets one up for more direct criticism than the film might receive otherwise, but while London Fields recognizes this possibility and even addresses it to a certain extent the somewhat interesting ideas at play here are still not able to convey themselves as a good movie. At all. In fact, this is pretty terrible all-around.

EXODUS: GODS AND KINGS Review

What can you say about a film that is fine for what it is and nothing more? Exodus: Gods and Kings is a movie, it has entertaining moments, looks fantastic and while I obviously didn't love it there is certainly no reason to hate it either. The real problem is the fact there's no vision or passion behind the project. Director Ridley Scott (Alien, Blade Runner) is nearing eighty and in his aging state seems intent on pumping out films at a quicker rate than ever before. Since the massive success of Gladiator at the dawn of the millennium the director has not gone more than two years without making a film and more times than not he delivers one on an annual basis. With a project on the scale of Exodus though, one might imagine he'd have to take more time for prep and the development of visual effects at the least, but moreso for the necessity of trying to really make something substantial. Scott hardly seems interested in making anything of note these days though and instead is a misguided storyteller somewhat fascinated by history, more interested in spectacle and with no sense of impassioned faith, not even in his own work. I can only imagine what might come of an elder Scott picture were he to really take the process step by step and first develop the script he is given, this one patched together by four different screenwriters, then move on to planning a visual representation of that story that might actually allow the audience to become invested or feel a part of the action that is unfolding in front of them. Scott clearly has no problem getting budgets to secure the epic scope of his films nor is there an issue with attracting top talent to headline his movies, but instead of using these advantages to his advantage they are wasted on mediocre products that have consistently ended up feeling more like cogs in the machine than any type of exception to the rule. One might expect a Biblical epic in the vein of Cecil B. DeMille with a more contemporary approach to serve as fascinating for the generations that find Charlton Heston's version dated, but instead we receive more of what we are conditioned to. Exodus: Gods and Kings is less an inspired retelling of a story we all know and more another attempt by Hollywood to cash in on a pre-established brand.

FURY Review

Ernest Hemingway said, "Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime." Hemingway means to inform us of the repercussions of getting carried away with violence as power, but director David Ayer asks us to contemplate not the repercussions but the mentality it takes to execute such acts of war. Is the ruthlessness with which these men approach their actions acceptable? Is their matter-of-fact attitude towards taking a life understandable within the confines of the circumstances? There is never a moment in Ayer's latest effort, Fury, where we let ourselves become distracted by the action sequences or the curiosity of where the story is going because we know exactly where it's taking us and that, in many ways, is the only let-up the film offers as it's otherwise a consistently tense and mentally exhausting experience. In order to deliver this disjointed, but outwardly insightful look Ayer has combined a typical plot-driven narrative with large elements of a pure character study. The director clearly wants to depict the type of men and personalities it took to win World War II, but further than this it is about how they became these beings free of any kind of moral compass yet trapped in a mindset that left nearly every other human an enemy. When we look at history we see what we are taught in textbooks and reference what we learn in lectures, but the little details escape us, the unimaginable is left at that and the countless lives sacrificed are best forgotten as their bodies are lost in a sea of limbs. Carnage is a disgusting act of man that seems to settle little more than who has more men fighting for them and Fury gets to the heart of this ugly method that sees men, people just like you and I, transformed into these conditioned warriors that see things in nothing but black and white, all or nothing, live or die. It is in these hands governments put as much power as they can muster which naturally translates to the indestructible mentality of soldiers thinking of themselves as an exception while the talkers, the leaders sit back and hope for the best possible outcome. Fury commentates on the ugliness of war by laying waste to the idea those we call heroes couldn't feel less like one.

First Trailer for FURY

I have to admit I am a little underwhelmed by this first trailer for David Ayer's Fury. Ayer's second release of the year after the disappointing Sabotage in March is easily one of my most anticipated films of the year. I highly doubt the film will turn out to be that way given Pitt has become the kind of actor very choosy of his projects and only investing his time and talent in projects he considers worthwhile and transcendent of cinema, but if a trailer is meant to elicit interest from people who aren't familiar with the project all this spot has going for it is the star power. Yes, Pitt is in it and it is a war movie and we are served that premise throughout while also getting highlights of Pitt's crew that includes Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman (Perks of Being A Wallflower, Noah), Michael Pena (Crash, End of Watch) and Jon Bernthal (Walking Dead, Wolf of Wall Street). The cast is strong and while Sabotage wasn't all it could have been Ayer's previous writing and directing effort, End of Watch, was one of my favorite films of 2012 and that being on his resume alone means I will reserve judgement on this WWII tank film. While the trailer overall tries to do too much in divulging one too many plot points it does wash us over with the gorgeous photography from cinematographer Roman Vasyanov (End of Watch, Charlie Countryman) . I worry only about the story as this is from an original screenplay by Ayer in that it might fall into convention, but again Pitt and his impressive supporting cast clearly had enough faith to sign on and so my excitement level will remain high until Fury opens on November 14th.

A SINGLE SHOT Review

What is a tragic character study comes to light slowly in David Rosenthal's A Single Shot. With its southern gothic tones that nearly dip their toes into the horror genre at certain points we tread lightly along with lead character John Moon (Sam Rockwell) as he sulks through the woods that provide the backdrop to his now barren trailer where he lives and waits, pointlessly, for the return of his wife and son. I have yet to see any previous directorial efforts by Rosenthal prior to his latest, but it is clear he has a gift for being able to access the inner-workings of his characters minds and translate them to the screen without resorting to over-indulgent tactics that exclude some audience members. Either that or he was extremely lucky to land someone as versatile and gifted as Rockwell to play his lead character that starts his journey as a man desperate for normality without the intelligence to see what it might actually take to get back to that point. We are subjected to Moon's journey as things only begin to unravel. As the title suggests, a single shot sets off a chain reaction of cat and mouse that allows the film to become much more generic than its tone and prestigious cast would indicate. The nearly two hour film moves at a somnolent pace and doesn't return to the surprising or poignant place it began in until its final scene where, miraculously, we are provided with a genuine emotional payoff that I didn't see coming. That final scene made me want to re-consider my overall opinion of the film, but as I thought through the piece as a whole it seemed too much an intriguing start and perfectly balanced conclusion with a messy middle that comfortably fell into conventions rather than a film who had the nerve to stick with its protagonist and trust that his psyche alone was worth following. There are films that make you question what exactly you're looking for in them and when you have to ask that question it usually means there is no clear objective or that the film itself isn't sure what it wants to be. That is the vibe that comes from A Single Shot as I could see that it wanted to be a dark and brooding story from the untold diaries of backwoods Appalachia, but it didn't necessarily know where to go to accomplish that and so instead became a familiar thriller with the saving grace of Sam Rockwell at its center.