THE FATHER Review

What do you do with the people you love when they no longer know who they are? Writer/director Florian Zeller's film adaptation of his 2012 stage production, The Father, attempts to find solace in the answers to this question. What's so striking about this feature directorial debut though is not how assured it seems (which it absolutely does), but more how well-balanced and complete it is despite the narrative and its origins suggesting a rather small, narrow window through which the material might view the world. The confined setting certainly gives way to the roots of the piece, but there is also something distinctly cinematic to the film as if Zeller was intent to not simply exercise his skills as a first time filmmaker, but justify why this piece of writing was worth being adapted to the screen (one possible reason for this being this is actually the second time Zeller's work has been adapted after the 2015 French film, Florida). This is almost laughable though, as the structure and quality of writing alone make Zeller's work more than worthy of being told time and time again. That said, it's not simply the insight garnered through the elegant prose, but more it's how Zeller is able to both take the viewer inside the mind of an individual experiencing the aggressive progressions of dementia as well as simultaneously lend awareness and understanding to the roles closely associated with this disease and how those who must go through this experience with a loved one are equally impacted by it. 

Needless to say, Zeller is a master storyteller and in his directorial debut (I keep repeating it because I can't believe it) he carefully - and probably meticulously, as re-watches will undoubtedly assure - creates this ever-shifting and insular world in which Anthony Hopkins' Anthony is trapped. The awareness of every facet of his film is what creates this environment for which we, the audience, immediately buy into completely. Zeller has purposefully paired his protagonist with this somewhat stuffy yet still pristine London flat where the green of trees can be seen through the window, children can be heard running along the sidewalks outside, and classical compositions largely dominate the sound waves within the apartment. It's a context that feels familiar and thus the reality of it is without question, but as the severity of Anthony's diagnosis becomes more apparent it's clear Zeller is not simply conducting this film as a shared experience for the characters and the audience, but as a piece of art in which the audience willingly plays an active part; we're participating. As eye-rolling as that may sound, it becomes true the further one follows The Father down its path as the fundamental choices of the film not only invest the viewer in these people, but put us inside their heads and help us understand the fear and the confusion - among other things - constantly enveloping them. 

MAPS TO THE STARS Review

I don't understand the intent of satire if not to criticize and expose the stupidity of others with the inflicted idea of how to correct such stupidity. I'm not saying everyone who pokes fun of something has to have a solution for how it shouldn't be funny, but while director David Cronenberg's latest, Maps to the Stars, is most definitely intended to be satire it certainly has no intention of being funny and with that one would expect it to have something more to say than the comments it hands out. If you've been watching movies for any amount of time you will come to realize the one thing Hollywood loves more than money is itself and so the indie kings, the rebellious filmmakers and those who generally defy the system consistently mock it for never allowing them the artistic expression to do as they please. To this point, I'm not one who is overly-keen on Cronenberg's work (though I admittedly haven't seen much) and so before you read any further know there is a bit of a grudge present because despite hearing promising things from the time I really began investing critical thinking in films (A History of Violence) I have come to be slightly disappointed with the results of what has been praised. Again, his last couple efforts (Cosmopolis and A Dangerous Method) have admittedly not been his most well-received, but while I knew I was experiencing something different with both Violence and Eastern Promises I didn't necessarily dig what I was seeing either. Maybe I didn't "get" what Cronenberg was going for, it's easy to dismiss it as such, but in giving a valid effort to want to like every film I watch I typically come away with something whether I feel a movie is good or bad, but the majority of the time I walk away from a Cronenberg picture I simply feel frustrated. I know there is plenty more to see between what I've heard about Scanners and The Fly, but why should I feel intrigued when the other products this company has produced haven't been satisfactory? Maps to the Stars is no different in that it features a singular style and voice, but more disappointing here is the fact we've seen this kind of satire before and so this typically unique perspective doesn't even feel fresh.

SEVENTH SON Review

With it being the time of year it is one knows exactly what they are getting into when buying a ticket to Seventh Son. It is as simple as that, really. Even after only reviewing films legitimately for a couple of years it has become something of a tradition to walk into a sci-fi/fantasy film that has for one reason or another experienced production issues and been delayed because of it and this year begins no differently as Seventh Son is clearly looking to continue an unwanted trend that the likes of Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters and I, Frankenstein have made customary as of late. A perfectly average fantasy film within the constraints of the fantasy genre, Seventh Son suffers only from being rather boring in spots with not enough narrative umph to push it towards what feels like the obligatory two-hour mark. It is a movie you know and recognize before it even begins and once it does you recognize every beat because it has seemingly pulled something from every other movie of the same vein. The music is reminiscent of any Hans Zimmer score you've heard over the past few years or any of its multiple imitators after The Dark Knight and it feels like they took the backlot of any number of films set in medieval times and re-used it with no updates or customizations. The stars, Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore, do what they can without any kind of character development and Bridges, more than anyone else, seems to have taken this on more for a paycheck while delivering a performance so ridiculous he seemed to be testing the limits of just how far his credentials might get him. It is both hilarious at times and incomprehensible at others. I couldn't tell whether or not the pedigreed actor was really trying to develop an original character at first, but by the time he's fighting his third CG monster I imagined any kind of effort that might have been sparked from reading the formulaic script was all but dead and he was just having some fun. I can't really defend the film and there's no reason to. I had a fine enough time with it as I knew what I was getting into and it aligned with those expectations. No more. No less.

SABOTAGE Review

First and foremost, I really wanted to love Sabotage. Like, I was totally up for it and was ready to have just a ridiculous amount of mind-numbing fun and by all accounts audiences had every right to expect the same things. Thinking about it in the light that director David Ayer was coming off one of his better written films with easily his best directing job to date and stacked with a cast as lumbering and raucous as that of Arnie's Expendables co-horts with names just slightly less major, but even more credible to the point where I really thought this had the shot to turn out to be something quietly major, a slight cultural mainstay that would fester on the minds of cinephiles over the years and become regarded as a well-loved box office flop that found its following long after it left the theaters. There were glimmers of hope on the horizon when the first action-packed trailer premiered and was followed by several others complete with red-band access as well. There is an interesting film somewhere in here and as I look through my notes I jotted down while watching the film, I keep coming across pieces where I remember wanting so much for this to become that something better, that kind of retrospective Arnold Schwarzenegger film that did as much to entertain us in the moment as it also gave us a look at how a man in his late 60's finds himself slipping in terms of esteem and credibility while having to come to terms with his physical limitations. In a sense, I wanted a large metaphorical action drama that mirrored the life of our star, but instead, Sabotage is as well thought out as the plan at the heart of the plot. It feels quickly shot, rushed through editing with a soundtrack that couldn't sound more generic and a group of supporting actors that almost make this feel like someones first student film. It is hard to take a film seriously when it tries so hard to be exactly that, but by the time the smoke from the opening sequence has dispersed and we begin to get to know the characters involved and are forced to listen to their incessant cussing to the point it actually begins to insult their own intelligence and we no longer buy that these people could do these jobs effectively, the curtain has been pulled back and we realize what we're actually in for is a mess of a flick in perfectly positioned B-movie clothing.

First Trailer for SABOTAGE

We're less than a week away from the opening of the latest Jason Statham actioner which also happens to be written by his Expendables co-star Sylbester Stallone and thus we now have our first look at their other co-stars latest project that will no doubt play in front of Homefront this Thanksgiving. I've been hearing some pretty positive things concerning Statham's latest outing though and despite the recent box office misfires this crew of action stars has faced ole Arnie looks as if he may have something a little "different" on his hands as well that may just do the trick for his non-Expendable movie career. Sabotage is billed as a loose adaptation of Agatha Christie’s classic mystery Ten Little Indians and sees Schwarzenegger heading up a DEA task force that makes a major arrest of a cartel leader only to see its members begin to be picked off one by one after a fair amount of the money seized in the capture goes missing. I'm actually pretty excited for this one as David Ayer is handling directing duties and produced one of my favorite films of last year (End of Watch) and is heading up one of my most anticipated for 2014 (Fury). While he didn't write the script for this film as well he seems to have captured the camaraderie and intense tone of the content with fun and important precision. The trailer gives just enough of the plot points without getting too heavily into much of the second or third acts it seems and exploits the charisma between its large ensemble cast which will no doubt be a selling point as, besides the Governor, the film also features Joe Manganiello, Sam Worthington, Harold Perrineau, Terrence Howard, Max Martini, Josh Holloway, Olivia Williams, and Mireille Enos. Sabotage is set to get us all ready for Summer 2014 when it opens on April 11th.

HYDE PARK ON HUDSON Review

I am somewhat bewildered by Hyde Park on Hudson. The film, which is billed as a story of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Bill Murray) and wife Eleanor (Olivia Williams) welcoming the King and Queen of England to their home at Hyde Park on Hudson, in upstate New York is not exactly what we get. As you can see, Laura Linney is prominently featured on the poster and as you can read she is not the one playing Eleanor. So, as I was mainly excited for this film for the sole reason of Murray's performance it became somewhat of a surprise when the real story the film was telling began to expose itself. For this is not just another film you could throw in the pile with with The King's Speech or Madonna's W.E. (though those films aren't anywhere close to being in the same category) in terms of putting together a chronological look at England's monarchy but instead this is a film from the perspective of Linney's Daisy, a distant cousin of the president. The issue with Hyde Park on Hudson though is not that it isn't refreshing because of that surprise turn of events but that it never turns out to be that good of a movie. There are certainly redeeming qualities here; the acting, the look of the film, the pacing. All of these work in the movies favor but it just never becomes that interesting despite its subject matter, which is shocking. I am no expert on FDR nor was I aware of the events on which this film is based, all of which I thought might make me feel more inclined to like the film, but instead it just made it all feel a little weird.