THE OTHER WOMAN Review

Given the bad rap that romantic comedies typically get it seems The Other Woman was bound and determined to make sure people didn't think of it as a film that fit squarely into that cardboard box and so instead first time screenwriter Melissa Stack took cues from 9 to 5 and The First Wives Club and smashed them together into modern day giving us a comedy of errors in which three women, all scorned by the same man of course, get together and plot their revenge on the sick schlub. Thus, this is the antithesis of the rom-com, the movie not where some hopelessly romantic woman falls for a man who seems to be the perfect fit only to find out he isn't and that she has been blind to the real man of her dreams who's resided three cubicles down for years now, no, The Other Woman is out for revenge on the fanciful relationship and instead wanting to make sure everyone knows how the wrong kind of infatuation can lead nowhere and that it's only the healthy kind that might offer more meaningful fulfillment in our little time on this earth. That said, you don't really go into a movie that looks like what The Other Woman is going to be and expect much and maybe that is exactly why I had a pretty good time at this one. The film sports a pair of hilarious leading ladies with chemistry to burn and a solid guiding force in director Nick Cassavetes (The Notebook, My Sister's Keeper) who seems to have a taste for the eclectic and in trying his hand at straight-up comedy for the first time in his career, for the most part, lands on his feet only to stumble a few times in the area of slapstick and poop jokes that feel too immature for the subject matter the film is inherently taking on. Everything about The Other Woman screams that it should be easily shoved into the chick flick doldrums (shiny New York City setting, jobs for all that make life a breeze, cheesy pop soundtrack, several montages) but in a slight turn of hand we find that the film ultimately is able to divert the clichés of this formula and show the growing and repairing of relationships between women rather than the more idiotic road of watching these sophisticated women fight over a man clearly below their standards only for one of them to fool themselves into thinking our central schlub here is still the one, still worth keeping around, while never nailing down the entire male species as one stereotype.

On DVD & Blu-Ray: April 29, 2014

UNDER THE SKIN Review

Upon walking out of Jonathan Glazer's latest film I could only wonder if I'd just seen the same film as the one so many others had seen and laid praise upon. I try not to read, listen or watch other reviews before forming my own opinion of a film, but with the overwhelmingly good word of mouth on Under the Skin it was hard to ignore while I waited for the arthouse film to make it to the small market I live in. When it finally did open at the local indie cinema I was more than excited to finally see what all the fuss was about, but as the credits abruptly (yet not soon enough) rolled I stood up and exited the theater wondering what the hell I just watched. There is a fine line in being the kind of viewer and cinema lover that appreciates all different kinds of cinema and the cinephile that has become so accustomed to the styles and functions of mainstream movies that it is all dismissed as lesser than something that is more experimental or different. Being different for the sake of being different doesn't work and if, as a viewer, you've learned the tricks of the trade in big-budget Hollywood productions then you should also be aware of the fact it takes not only risks, but successful risks to come away with something both different and thought-provoking. The first thought that came to me as I tried to digest Under the Skin though was that simply because you pace your movie with an intentionally slow stride and make it extremely vague and/or purely metaphorical doesn't necessarily mean it will be of that thought-provoking nature. I like to consider myself an able interpreter of films meanings and messages, of their significance that is many times conveyed with larger scope in order to make a bigger impression than the sentiment itself might make were it given in a straight forward fashion, but even as Under the Skin will draw multiple meanings from its many infatuated viewers I couldn't help but see it as an ambitious film lacking a compelling narrative and devoid of any interesting drama to the point I could have cared less about what it really wanted to say or comment on. I'm sure that every single frame of the film is meant to be symbolic and intended to contribute to this overall poetic social criticism that Glazer wants to discuss, but I couldn't get into it, I couldn't see the point of it and more than anything, by the end, I was just irritated by it.

JOE Review

David Gordon Green is a director unafraid to explore the entire range of human emotion and while Hollywood sometimes requires that he segment these separate emotions into individual films Green has always been capable of dealing in the honesty of the human spirit. It would have been hard to find people who agreed with that assessment in 2011 when he released not one, but two critically panned straight-up comedies (Your Highness and The Sitter) one of which I understand the harsh reception, the other I think is sorely underrated. After taking a year or so off it seems Green re-evaluated what direction he was taking his career in and has since crafted two, lower-key character studies that have been able to access that full range of emotion he likes to explore rather than restricting him to the archetypes of slapstick, situational or conversation purely intended to make the audience laugh. While last years Prince Avalanche was a subdued little slice of life story that felt relaxed, improvised and more a quiet concentration on the point of it all, Joe is a character study as meticulously plotted and thought over as an extravagant poem meeting all the requirements of its goal scheme. Joe is not only about its title character but the place in the world in which he resides and the people around him that influence his decisions, those who he oversees and whose quality of their life he determines and the community that is both fed up and inebriated with him. As played by Nicolas Cage this outdoor, rugged, man among men character becomes a kind of Christ-figure to these small town people looking to be saved from their depressing, trash-riddled lives and it is only in Cage's furrowed brow and hardened soul that we see how Joe wants to try and live, but that he can't bring himself to be what the standards of society expect of him and so he rebels and he continues to rebel because that is the nature of his surroundings, no doubt of his upbringing and he can't help but to continue to think of himself as simultaneously better than those around him while never good enough to break free of this place he's found himself trapped in. I was riveted by Joe, moved by its performances and intrigued by its interest in these peoples lives. I think it is safe to say Mr. Green is back to doing what he does best.  

THE RAILWAY MAN Review

The Railway Man is a weight of a film. It is heavy with burden, heavy with guilt, heavy in theme and deeply entrenched in a story so stricken with all of these attributes that the resulting cinematic take on it could not help but to swim around in these deep, dark emotions. It is a disturbing tale, but it is one that is more of a straightforward nature than any film I've seen recently that exists outside the big-budget wheelhouse. We typically see these smaller films as opportunities for filmmakers to say something more than what you might find on a classroom poster or more than an excuse to simply make a bunch of noise and draw obvious conclusions from years of archetypes and cliches that still entertain the masses, but are not enough for people as immersed in film as the makers themselves or the strong army of cinephiles that populate the internet. Sometimes though, a story is strong enough on its own bearings that there is no need to come up with a fresh way to convey it or imply larger themes or ideas beyond that of the basic story and Jonathan Teplitzky's The Railway Man is one of those films. Not that the way in which Teplitzky has chosen to tell the story isn't effective in enhancing the already engaging story, but anyone who could provide solid-enough direction while armed with this narrative and these actors could have likely pulled off a win, it only helps that Teplitzky and his screenwriters, Frank Cottrell Boyce (Millions) and Andy Paterson who adapted Eric Lomax's autobiography, were able to get out of their own way and let the story speak for itself. I sometimes find it difficult to describe what makes a film of this straightforward yet compelling nature exactly that, but in doing so I've found I try to over-analyze and do the same thing I'm happy the filmmakers didn't do. That being said, The Railway Man is an engaging story featuring world-class actors and a high-brow look that keeps us entranced by its beauty, torn by its brutality and unwavering due to its strong resolution that you can't argue with because it's true, but is still somehow able to cover if not heal the scar tissue left behind by years of hate and a yearning for retribution that is tucked away by the harsh reality of how the world works.