2016 movies

Film Review: MORGAN (USA 2016). Starring: Kate Mara, Paul Giamatti

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morgan.jpg
MORGAN (USA 2016) **
Directed by Luke Scott

Starring: Kate Mara, Anya Taylor-Joy, Rose Leslie

Review by Gilbert Seah

MORGAN is the new sci-fi thriller not to be confused with the 1966 British comedy by Karel Reisz also called MORGAN or in full : MORGAN: A SUITABLE CASE FOR TREATMENT. The Morgan in the new film is also another case for treatment being a female created by a group of scientists.

MORGAN (Anya Taylor-Joy) is not like any other girl. Created and raised in a laboratory environment by a group of over-dedicated scientists, she defies nature with her super-human qualities. But do not push her beyond the limit! Walking and talking within one month and self-sufficient after just six, her rapid progression is remarkable, exceeding the expectations of her creators. But nothing ever goes as well as planned. There is a vicious accident. After Morgan has a “tantrum” in which she viciously attacks and injures one of the scientists (Jennifer Jason Leigh taking as much abuse here as she did in Tarantino’s THE HATEFUL EIGHT), corporate troubleshooter Lee Weathers (Kate Mara) is called in to make the ultimate choice of “terminating” Morgan or letting her live before she causes anymore havoc and escapes into the outside world. Her decision is to terminate Morgan but the scientists protect Morgan.

The script by Seth Owen and direction by Luke Scott is tight and well paced during the first two thirds of the film. The film is always one step ahead of what is revealed to the audience and this is where the film works best. No one knows what to expect – except for the last third of the film. An excellent cameo from Paul Giamatti helps spice up the tension. The inclusion of Michelle Yeoh and Toby Jones in the ensemble cast also adds to the excitement of the film. A neat segment involving Mandarin dialogue (Michele Yeoh is Malaysian Chinese) also works well.
For a film written and directed by males, it is interesting to see how females are depicted. They are either strong and forceful as in Weather’s character or a crying quivering mess as in Dr, Amy Menser (Rose Leslie), Morgan’s friend. The females are all sexy looking in different forms – fighting, vulnerable or smart. The eye candy for the female audience is provide by hunk Boyd Holbrook playing another doctor, who makes an unsuccessful pass at Weathers.

It is only in the last 15 minutes that the film starts to fall apart. Once Lee starts fighting Morgan and ends up indestructible, it becomes an easy guess to the twist in the story. It does not take a gnus to figure things out. That is when all the mystery and intrigue are lost in predictability.

Given the story’s limited potential, it has to be taken it to a predictable conclusion. Director Scott fares pretty well with the material. MORGAN is absorbing for the most part and provides sufficient thrills for the typical sci-fi thriller. The film has a beautiful setting, where the scientific facility is located, the film being shot in Northern Ireland.

MORGAN is up for stiff competition a week opening after DON’T BREATHE which caters for the same male target audience. Given its differentiation from a horror flick, MORGAN should do well enough at the box-office.

Also, Free logline submissions. The Writing Festival network averages over 95,000 unique visitors a day.
Great way to get your story out: http://www.wildsound.ca/logline.html

Deadlines to Submit your Screenplay, Novel, Story, or Poem to the festival:http://www.wildsound.ca

Watch recent Writing Festival Videos. At least 15 winning videos a month: http://www.wildsoundfestival.com

TIFF 2016 Movie Review: IXCANUL (VOLCANO) (Guatemala, France 2015) ***1/2

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Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2016. Go to TIFF 2016 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

ixcanul_.jpgIXCANUL (VOLCANO) (Guatemala, France 2015) ***1/2
Directed by Jayro Bustamante

Starring: María Mercedes Coroy, María Telón, Manuel Antún

Review by Gilbert Seah

It i the age old story of a human being’s quest for a better life despite mounting odds. Here is Maria’s desire to marry the one she loves and to escape to a better place, where the grass is greener. But she is betroth to someone else, while she gets pregnant in the meantime by her jilted lover. This story has been told many times in many films before but never in this new and mesmerizing and dreamlike fashion.

Maria is the daughter born into a poor family that work the plantations under a stern landlord who is never seen. Maria is match-made to Ignacio, the boss’s favourite. But Maria has someone else she desires – Pepe. But Pep is fond of drinking and not the chivalrous hero one would imagine. After getting drunk one night and impregnating poor maria, he abandons her while he takes off illegally to cross the border to the U.S. Maria’s mother attempts to, but fails to abort the baby.

The occasionally brilliant debut by Guatemalan filmmaker Jayro Bustamante is a mesmerizing fusion of fact and fable, a dreamlike depiction of the daily lives of Kaqchikel speaking Mayans on a coffee plantation at the base of an active volcano. The title of the film IXCANUL means volcano, which the family prays to and give offerings, hoping to begat wealth, happiness and if not, at least a decent living.

Bustamante immerses his audience into its characters’ customs and beliefs. IXCANUL chronicles with unblinking realism, a disappearing tradition and a disappearing people.

IXCANUL emerges an impressive chronicle of the lives of a people as seen by the observation of the hardships o a single family. This kind of film seldom earns a commercial release. Shot in the languages of Kaqchikel and Spanish. Entertaining and mesmerizing!

Also, Free logline submissions. The Writing Festival network averages over 95,000 unique visitors a day.
Great way to get your story out: http://www.wildsound.ca/logline.html

Deadlines to Submit your Screenplay, Novel, Story, or Poem to the festival:http://www.wildsound.ca

Watch recent Writing Festival Videos. At least 15 winning videos a month: http://www.wildsoundfestival.com

TIFF 2016 Movie Review: ZOOLOGY (Russia/France/Germany 2016) ****

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Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2016. Go to TIFF 2016 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

zoology_.jpgZOOLOGY (Russia/France/Germany 2016) ****
Directed by Ivan I. Tverdovsky

Starring: Masha Tokareva, Natalya Pavlenkova, Aleksandr Gorchilin

Review by Gilbert Seah

My personal favourite of the festival so far, ZOOLOGY which won the Special Jury Prize at this year’s Karlovy Vary Film Festival is part comedy of errors, part social satire, and part tender love story.

The film follows Natasha (an excellent low keyed performance by Natalia Pavlenkova), a lonely middle-aged woman who still lives at home with her mother, unfolds in an ordinary, uneventful manner at first. Stuck behind a desk at the local zoo, ignored by her malicious, clucking colleagues, Natasha lives her solitary existence in withdrawn defeat.

That is, until something unexpected turns her life upside down: one day she discovers that she has grown a tail. The comedy comes from how she reacts with the tail. She tucks it in her panties and dances with it. It is hilarious how it does not bother her though rumours are going on about the town of a demon human with a tail.

The satire comes from the runarounds she is given when she gets X-Rays for her tail as well as her work at the zoo. Her love arrives unexpectedly from a hospital staff who has a tail fetish. Funny, intelligent and totally unpredictable, this surreal comedy is a total delight from start to finish.

Also, Free logline submissions. The Writing Festival network averages over 95,000 unique visitors a day.
Great way to get your story out: http://www.wildsound.ca/logline.html

Deadlines to Submit your Screenplay, Novel, Story, or Poem to the festival:http://www.wildsound.ca

Watch recent Writing Festival Videos. At least 15 winning videos a month: http://www.wildsoundfestival.com

TIFF 2016 Movie Review: JEAN OF THE JONESES (Canada 2016)

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Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2016. Go to TIFF 2016 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

jean_of_the_jonesesJEAN OF THE JONESES (Canada 2016) **
Directed by Stella Meghie

Starring: Mamoudou Athie, Gloria Reuben, Shailyn Pierre-Dixon

Review by Gilbert Seah

Writer/director Stella Meghie’s comedy concerning three generations of vibrant, vociferous, unforgettable women in the Brooklyn-based Jones family is the kind of film that is too smart for its own good.

Likely set in Brooklyn in order to be more commercial, the film would do better to be more originally set as an African Canadian film in a black Canadian neighbourhood. The film is slanted black all the way. When a man who shows up at the family home dies, the paramedic, Ray (Mamoudou Athie) who shows up in the ambulance is black. Whites are clearly a minority here and other minorities are absent.

The lead character is Jean (Taylour Paige) who falls for this annoying paramedic. The question is what she sees in him, or vice versa. Jean cannot get along with her sister or anyone she is trying to get a free place to stay with.

There is hardly anything to be learnt nor anything really humorous in this so-called comedy about an annoying family no one wants to meet. The only funny part is the segment where the sisters are caught smoking up in the car by their grandmother (Michelle Hurst) outside her house.

 

Also, Free logline submissions. The Writing Festival network averages over 95,000 unique visitors a day.
Great way to get your story out: http://www.wildsound.ca/logline.html

Deadlines to Submit your Screenplay, Novel, Story, or Poem to the festival:http://www.wildsound.ca

Watch recent Writing Festival Videos. At least 15 winning videos a month: http://www.wildsoundfestival.com

TIFF 2016 Movie Reviews: TONI ERDMANN (Germany 2016) ***1/2 Directed by Maren Ade

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Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2016. Go to TIFF 2016 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

Toni Erdmann.jpgTONI ERDMANN (Germany 2016) ***1/2
Directed by Maren Ade

Stars: Peter Simonischek, Sandra Hüller, Michael Wittenborn

Review by Gilbert Seah

German director Maren Ade’s third movie that was the toast of Cannes is that rare German comedy that has much to enjoy. Germans are more known for their rigidity than for their sense of humour, so TONI ERDMANN the film makes a welcome departure from there Germans we know.

The name in the title belongs to the father, a practical joker who means well. But no one really likes a practical joker least of all the one that the joke is on. That one happens to be his daughter, an important oil consultant in the international business world. So, her patience is tested up to the cry last reel. The humour in the film is sly and sometimes laugh out loud funny, many of them being the practical jokes that Toni puts on her daughter.

Despite the rather predictable ending, TONI ERDMANN ends up a charming film about a father and daughter relationship. Based on the director’s real practical joker father who also wore fake teeth, the ones she gave to him to play practical jokes with.

Trailer: https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=tHiBr8OrpKI

 

TIFF 2016 Movie Reviews: JULIETA (Spain 2016) *** 1/2 Directed by Pedro Almodovar

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Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2016. Go to TIFF 2016 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

julieta.jpg JULIETA (Spain 2015) *** 1/2
Directed by Pedro Almodovar

Stars: Adriana Ugarte, Rossy de Palma, Emma Suárez

Review by Gilbert Seah

A film being looked forward to, as it is based on Canadian author and Nobel Prize Winner Alice Munro’s short stores from her book “Runaway”.

Written and directed by Pedro Almodovar, his 20th film marks a departure from his signature melodrama to more high drama. Three short stores are combined into a strong narrative, told largely in flashback with a voiceover by the lead character, obviously called Julieta (Emma Suárez and Adriana Ugarte as older and younger versions of the film’s protagonist)

Film cineastes will be delighted to connect with film references from anything from the recent WINTER’S BONE seen in a poster to STRANGERS ON A TRAIN with a nod to author Patrician Highgate.

The film contains more dialogue than the standard Almodovar movie, and it is for this reason the director opted not to do the initial English languanger version with Meryl Streep in the title role. Aldmodovar’s use of bright colours is still felt throughout tho colourful story of life and regrets.

Trailer: https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=NHkGsbz8rLY

TIFF 2016 Movie Reviews: ELLE, Director Paul Verhoeven

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Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2016. Go to TIFF 2016 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

elle.jpgELLE (France/Germany 2016) ***1/2
Directed by Paul Verhoeven
Stars: Isabelle Huppert, Laurent Lafitte, Anne Consigny

Review by Gilbert Seah

Paul Verhoeven is known for both his Dutch foreign films (SPETTERS, THE FOURTH MAN, SOLDIER OF ORANGE) and Hollywood blockbusters (TOTAL RECALL, ROBOCOP, SHOWGIRLS).

His first feature film in 10 years proves to be a critical success as already celebrated at Cannes. Based on the novel Oh… by Philippe Djian, and written by David Birke, the film trails the life of a businesswoman, Michèle (brilliantly portrayed by Isabelle Huppert), who is raped in her home by an unknown assailant and stalks him back.

Michèle rules her company like a tyrant but faces personal problems like her failed marriage to Richard (Charles Berling), her slacker son (Jonas Bloquet) and a lacklustre affair with Robert (Christian Berkel). But she has not come to terms with her father’s crime.

Her father is a serial killer who is still in prison without parole. Her mother is getting re-married to a young buck makes matters worse. Verhoeven plays his film slick and efficient, but the films slags a bit before picking up again. All of Michèle’s problems eventually come together in the solid narrative with a bang-on message. The rape scene is played several times, each time just as (but necessarily) gruesome. The film is Verhoeven at his twisted and perverted best.

Trailer: https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=OVBEV1w7too

WAR DOGS (USA 2016) ****

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Deadlines to Submit your Screenplay, Novel, Story, or Poem to the festival:http://www.wildsound.ca

wardogs.jpgWAR DOGS (USA 2016) ****
Directed by Todd Phillips

Starring: Jonah Hill, Miles Teller, Steve Lantz

Review by Gilbert Seah

If you enjoyed the hectic style championed by Scorsese’s THE WOLF OF WALL STREET and David O. Russell’s AMERICAN HUSTLE and JOY, then you can expect more of the same in Todd Phillips’ (ROAD TRIP, THE HANGOVER films) WAR DOGS. WAR DOGS is a black hilarious no holds-barred type comedy, farcical, loud and into-ones-face. Not every topic is suited to this kind of treatment. The hectic pace of Wall Street traders, the madness of the falling real estate market and the rise in fame of an inventive mop heiress made perfect subjects. WAR DOGS deals with two 20-somethings striking it rich with arms dealing through the internet with dangerous wheeling and dealing – again a perfect subject. Director Phillips graduates to his first serious comedy after apprenticeship in madcap nonsense comedies like THE HANGOVER. And WAR DOGS, surprisingly is both a fantastic entertaining comedy and a farce on the American military arms sourcing.

The film is aided by the performances of two terrific young actors – Jonah Hill, twice Oscar nominee for Best Supporting Actor (MONEYBALL and THE WOLF OF WALL STREET) and Miles Teller, best known for THE DIVERGENT series and who has proven his acting mettle in WHIPLASH. Hill is expert as portraying smart and crazy while making his dislikable character likeable and one to be somewhat admired. Not many actors can achieve this feat. Teller carries the other lead role confidently, proving himself to be one of the the hottest actors with talent. The film is told from David’s point of view, with him narrating the entire film.

The film follows two arms dealers, Efraim Diveroli (Hill) and David Packouz (Teller), who get a government contract to supply weapons for U.S. troops in Afghanistan. The film is heavily fictionalized and dramatized.
The story is based on true events, but events so crazy, they have to be seen to be believed. But a key segment, the drive through Iraq (the triangle of death) depicted in the film never actually happened. Their first major job runs into trouble when the guns are stuck in Jordan. They solve their problem while Teller keeps the arms dealing a secret from his wife Iz (Ana de Armas). When this problem is solved, they hit another huge project. They enlist the aid of a mysterious American, Henry Girard (Bradley Cooper, who co-produced the film). The family scenes with David and Iz tone down the madness and put all the mayhem into perspective.
It is difficult to imagine how the film would have gone if the original actors Jesse Eisenberg and Shia LaBeouf were hired. But I would rather see Teller than Eisenberg who is now over-exposed with too many films already (CAFE SOCIETY, NOW YOU SEE ME). LaBeouf is too crazy and Hill brings a needed maturity to the role.

The company formed is called AEY, the letters not meaning anything. When told that IBM stands for International Business Machine by an employee, Effraim fires the guy in disgust claiming that only geeks know this fact. Phillips sets up this entire scene (running 5 – 10 minutes) for this one joke. But he funniest scene is the one where the two attend a military meeting totally stoned out of their minds, Phillips intersperses the film with titles/sayings and there are about 5 of them. (Examples: When does telling the truth ever helped anybody? God bless Dick Cheney’s America.) The neat thing is that a character would ultimately utter the exact saying out in the segment.

A puzzling point in the film is Henry Girard thanking David for not exposing him in the Rolling Stone article by Guy Lawson. If that is true, how come his character exists in the movie?

WAR DOGS is smart, funny and edgy entertainment. It marks a brilliant debut from Todd Phillips who now proves himself a talented director to watch.

 

Also, Free logline submissions. The Writing Festival network averages over 95,000 unique visitors a day.
Great way to get your story out: http://www.wildsound.ca/logline.html

Deadlines to Submit your Screenplay, Novel, Story, or Poem to the festival:http://www.wildsound.ca

Watch recent Writing Festival Videos. At least 15 winning videos a month: http://www.wildsoundfestival.com

LA TETE HAUTE (STANDING TALL) (France 2016) ****

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standingtall.jpgLA TETE HAUTE (STANDING TALL) (France 2016) ****
Directed by Emmanuelle Bercot

Starring: Catherine Deneuve, Rod Paradot, Benoît Magimel

Review by Gilbert Seah

LA TETE HAUTE follows, for a large portion, the same filming style as the Cannes winner Laurent Cantet’s ENTRE LES MURS (THE CLASSROOM) and the more recent Stephanie Brize’s LA LOI Du MARCHE (MEASURE OF A MAN). All three turn out to be fascinating films, real life dramas suited to this kind of filming technique. The filming often has the camera stationed in a set-up in which a confrontation occurs. The actors have their role plays and they go at it, ensemble-style. The result is a compelling watch, with a more realistic feel as the scene looks totally unscripted, though it may not be. The camera focuses primarily on the actors, often with closeups on the reactions of dialogue that take place. The Dardenne Brothers attain an identical realism with a different technique, often placing the camera at neck level of the actors and following them closely around. LA TETE HAUTE occasionally feels like a Dardennes film since the protagonist is a kid, as kids are frequently the subjects in a Dardennes film. It would to be surprising if Bercot herself got some inspiration from Dardennes’ LE FILS another film about a delinquent boy.

Bercot allows the audience to root for the hot-tempered delinquent called Malony(Rod Paradot). Who would not like to see someone progress through the system and improve to be a functional citizen? But Bercot shows that the process is long and difficult but not impossible. Bercot (who co-wrote the script) attributes more effort by those helping the boy than put in by the boy himself. As the adage goes: “It takes a village to rear a child.”

Besides the boy, the supporting characters are all equally interesting. The mother, who is herself a delinquent, loses her two younger boys to social services. The boy’s councillor was himself a delinquent, younger on and got this job believing in the system. And there is the judge, magnificently played by Deneuve with all her regality. The scene in which she stretches out her hand to the boy in both desperation and sympathy is the film’s most touching moment.

But director Bercot takes her film one step further. She inserts more incidents than are normally found in a family drama. Included is a car crash, expertly shot and a home abduction.

There is much change the boy goes through, but these changes must be observed by the viewer. Malony is shown for once in a very vulnerable state crying for his mother when placed in prison for the first time. The way he holds the pencil to sign his name at the judge’s office shows progress from the way he held a pen with his fist at the start of the film. It can also be observed that most of the characters, the councillor and judge are also victims of the system. They have to work the system, just like the boy to each’s own advantage. There is much to be observed and learnt from Bercot’s film. That is what makes it so outstanding. It is a film about life and hardship – and how everyone faces his or her own at one time or another.

It is seldom that we get good French films these days. Cinefranco is gone. The number of French films that are commercially released has been reduced. This winner, that was chosen to open Cannes this year (the last time a French film opened Cannes was in 2005, Dominik Moll’s LEMMING that never got released here). It is a surprise and indeed good news that LA TETE HAUTE is released and before TIFF. The film comes highly recommended.

Movie Review: STEPHEN THE TIME TRAVELLING DOG (2016)

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STEPHEN THE TIME TRAVELLING DOG, 3min, UK, Comedy/Fantasy
Directed by Kyran Davies

Where’s Stephen?

Seen at the July 2016 COMEDY FEEDBACK Film Festival in Toronto.

Movie Review by Kierston Drier

Written and directed by Kyran Davies, Stephen The Time Traveling Dog is a delight. Short, humorous and filled with a surplus of sublet and colorful hints of Stephen’s mysterious powers, this film is an all-age laugh.  

The premise left room for much more possibility in the actual plot, but the story was entertaining regardless. It focuses on Stephens’ owner walking home, looking for him. Apparently Stephen gets lost a lot. Along the way of course are hints and clues that Stephen is living a fantastical life away from his owner.

Reprints of famous works of art that feature Stephen litter the owner’s walls.  Prehistoric size bones sit in the dog’s bed.  Antique knick-knacks from all over the world and from every time period litter Stephens’ owner’s’ home, and all serve to assist the world building aspect Stephen The Time Traveling Dog. From a production standpoint, the art and design team put incredible care into the detail, for the more you watch the short, the more subtle clues you find.

Absolutely worth a watch for a quick laugh and a whimsical story, Stephen The Time Traveling Dog will make you wonder what your pet is up to when you’re not around.

Watch the Audience FEEDBACK Video of the short film: