Movie Review

TIFF 2018 Capsule Review: HELMET HEADS (Costa Rica/Chile 2018)

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Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2018. Go to TIFF 2018 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

Directed by Neto Villalobos

 

HELMET HEADS is a comedy about a group of friends who ride motor-bikes for a living doing deliveries while also doing a bit on the side like collecting debts.  The head of the group appears to be the one with a birthmark – an unfunny running joke.

  One of them loses his job and ends up giving driving lessons while his friends sit cramped in the back seats.  They throw a party which he does not show up for.  That is the extent of the humour found in this sad excuse for a comedy.   Think SUPERTROOPERS without the laugh-out loud humour.

  The two SUPERTROOPERS films have got really bad reviews though they are really funny.  So know what to expect from HELMET HEADS.  The film is low budget with low production values. 

 The best camerawork appears to be the camera placed in front of the cyclists showing them riding their bikes.  Shot in Costa Rica.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjgpIny0Dec

TIFF 2018 Review: DONNYBROOK (USA 2018) ***

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Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2018. Go to TIFF 2018 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

Donnybrook Poster
Two men prepare to compete in a legendary bare-knuckle fight where the winner gets a $100,000 prize.

Director:

Tim Sutton

Writer:

Tim Sutton

Stars:

Frank Grillo, Jamie Bell, Margaret Qualley

FIGHT CLUB meets BILLY ELLIOT.
  Jamie Bell is all pumped up in the role of an ex-marine trying to get out of drugs.  Drugs are bad!  His wife is addicted and he has to escape the wrath of a meth cook/dealer.  The story eventually ends with the two men — the ex-marine, Earl who struggles to provide for his family and that violent drug dealer with an undefeated fighting record — competing in the Donnybrook, a legendary, bare-knuckle brawl with a cash prize of $100,000.  
 Sutton’s film is not perfect, choppy and paints an unflattering look of America – best envisioned by a woman singing of the U.S. National amidst having a drag of her cigarette.  It is an America of clandestine drug deals, shady motel rooms, alcohol-fuelled brawls, and abandoned dreams.  
The film depends largely on Bell, who thankfully is believable as a tough guy though not believable to be tough enough to fight his opponent.

TIFF 2018 Review: CLIMAX (France 2018) ****

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Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2018. Go to TIFF 2018 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

Climax Poster
Trailer

French dancers gather in a remote, empty school building to rehearse on a wintry night. The all-night celebration morphs into a hallucinatory nightmare when they learn their sangria is laced with LSD.

Director:

Gaspar Noé

Writer:

Gaspar Noé

Stars:

Sofia Boutella, Romain Guillermic, Souheila Yacoub

Gaspar Noe (CARNE, SEUL CONTRE TOUS, ENTER THE VOID) shows what genius can be done with a troupe of dancers obsessed with their art.  The film begins with interviews of individual members followed by an incredibly executed dance in synch to the amazement of the audience. 

 Third segment has the camera following the dancers as they interact with each other, speaking about their aims, fears or just plain flirtation.  This is followed once again by dance, this time with the camera placed permanent,y overhead of the dancers as they now individually dance into the frame, showing their prowess.  The dancers now drink the sangria which is spiked with LSD.  They never find out the culprit though the suspected get violently attacked.  

They last segment leading to the film’s CLIMAX has them indulging in sex and violent acts.  The film’s dance sequences alone are more than worth the price of admission but the film delves more deeply into man’s tortured soul including the concept of death.  

CLIMAX is not a film for everyone but is nothing one has seen before for those who can take it.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi69nL_VrTE

TIFF 2018 Review: CAPERNAUM (Lebanon 2018) *****Top 10

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Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2018. Go to TIFF 2018 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

Capernaum Poster
A politically-charged fable, featuring mostly non-professional actors, about a child who launches a lawsuit against his parents.

Director:

Nadine Labaki

Writers:

Jihad Hojeily (screenwriter), Michelle Keserwany(screenwriter) | 2 more credits »

Stars:

Kawthar Al Haddad, Boluwatife Treasure Bankole, Nadine Labaki

I did not think too much of Nadine Labaki’s 2011 TIFF People’s Choice Award winner WHERE DO WE GO NOW?,  a female whimsical tale of sorts but in her latest film, she explores the lives of children living on the fringes of Lebanese society.

  This is in contrast, a dead serious film with a male protagonist, though a 12- year old male boy who, when the film begins is suing his parents for bringing him into this unfriendly world.   Zain (Zain Al Rafeea) is only 12, but he’s seen enough of this life to resent his very existence.  His parents have sold his sister and he runs away from home, ending up in prison for stabling the man who bought his sister.  Al Rafeea is sensational as the young rebel. 

 Labaki’s camera captures the dirt and poverty of the underbelly of Lebanese life where even hope is a luxury.  That title comes from the name of the town on the Sea of Galilee where Jesus healed the sick in Biblical times.

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

 

FIlm Review: THE NUN (USA 2018)

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The Nun Poster

Trailer

A priest with a haunted past and a novice on the threshold of her final vows are sent by the Vatican to investigate the death of a young nun in Romania and confront a malevolent force in the form of a demonic nun.

Director:

Corin Hardy

Writers:

Gary Dauberman (screenplay by), James Wan (story by) | 1 more credit »

Stars:

Demián Bichir, Taissa Farmiga, Jonas Bloquet

THE NUN is a gothic horror film set in 1952 Romania after World War 2, where the bombs dropped on an abbey have uncovered a portal where evil can emerge from another world.   It is a spin-off of 2016’s The Conjuring 2, (the nun is CONJURING 2 has a cameo in this film – not that anyone can remember or recall what she looks like) and the fifth instalment in The Conjuring Universe.

The film, believe it or not is English director Corin Hardy’s second film.  It begins in 1952 with a character saying the demon in the painting is real.  There is no reference to this painting or this demon in any other part of the movie,  The film continues with a group of nuns in abbey in Romania (don’t ask why Romania) where they walk carrying kerosene lamps in dark corridors before encountering a sign saying ‘God ends here’.  This follows by a nun committing suicide and the body found by a French Canadian called Frenchie (Jonas Bloquet) (his name is later revealed as Maurice – no kidding), though this character speaks with a distinct European and not a Quebec French accent. A Catholic priest, Father Burke (Demián Bichir) is dispatched from the vatican and together with a Catholic noviciate (Taissa Farmiga, younger sister of Vera Farminga) are sent to Romania to find out what is going on.

One segment has a scene in a graveyard where there are bells connected to the headstones.  The reason given is that if someone is buried alive by mistake, they can ring the bell from their coffin and be saved.  Without any warning, the Catholic priest is buried in a coffin and rings the bell to be rescued, which he is by the noviciate.  But not before all the other bells begin ringing for no reason.  Then the magic question asked by the noviciate; “How did you get brief in there?”   It i the evil that is going on,’ is the hilarious answer given by the priest,

The film’s climatic 15 minutes need mention.  This is the fight between good and evil.   As the portal is being sealed by supposedly the blood of Christ, there is a snake creature that appears from the demon’s mouth.  The demon that emits a force that pushes the nun to be dunked in water (where did this water suddenly come from?) and more high jinx that has no continuity or sense.   The dialogues no better.  When the blood of Christ is mentioned, the words ‘Holy Shit’ is heard.  That the dialogue goes, “Yes, that is the holiest of shit.”

The folk’s funniest moment is Frenchie saving the movie nun’s life.  “It is called the kiss of life,” he tells her after.  “Thanks for saving my life, she replies.

The film cost $22 million to make, which is a lot considering that the film is such a mess.  Judging from the last 15 minutes of the film’s climax, never has a film been so incoherent.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzD9zGcUNrw

TIFF 2018 Review: WINTER FLIES (Czech Rep/Slovakia/Slovenia/Poland 2018)

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Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2018. Go to TIFF 2018 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

Winter Flies Poster
Two mischievous adolescent boys embark on a journey of imaginative misadventure and coming-of-age self-discovery, in Olmo Omerzu’s road-trip comedy celebrating the need to indulge the … See full summary »

Director:

Olmo Omerzu

Writer:

Petr Pýcha (screenplay)

Stars: Tomás Mrvík, Jan Frantisek Uher, Eliska Krenková

Two mischievous adolescent boys, Hedus and Mara embark on a journey of imaginative misadventures in the Audi Mara hardwired.  Mara is questioned by the police regarding the theft just after Hedus has left the car.  The questioning is the excuse for the flashbacks that tell the story up to this point.  

The boys pick up a hitchhiker girl.  She leaves the car after being fed up with the boys, though they do save her from another boy.  The boys save Mara’s grandfather from a heart attack and have several other misadventures during this road trip that are supposed to show their coming-of-age while entertaining the audience with a few laughs. 

 Apart from a few scenes of pretty wintry Slovakian landscapes, Omerzu’s examination of youth is nothing out of the ordinary.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVeehZwgm9Y

TIFF 2018 Review: THE CROSSING (China 2018) ***

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 Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2018. Go to TIFF 2018 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

The Crossing Poster
Studying in Hong Kong but living in Shenzhen (the port city of Mainland China), Peipei has spent 16 years in her life travelling between these two cities. To realize the dream of seeing …See full summary »

Director:

Bai Xue

Stars: Gang Jiao, Elena Kong, Kai Chi Liu

A film somewhat similar to the Argentinean film EL ANGEL, the subject is again a thief with no morals.  Whereas the they in EL ANGEL indulges because he loves it, the their in THE CROSSING does it because se cannot help it, with society and smily circumstances not helping her much either. 

 She lives with her (assumed) separated mother who is more interested in playing mahjong than in her daughter and her father who does not know how to care for her.  THE CROSSING refers to the divide between Hong Kong and China where she mostly sells her stolen good.  She comes across a den of thieves through a boat party where she meets a boy who she cannot love either.  Her only aim in life appears to be wanting to see snow and to experience cold, a metaphor for something she cannot attain.  

She meets the gang boss ‘Sister Hao’ who se cannot accept as another mother figure.  There seems no road to redemption for her and the film does not care to give her one either.

Trailer: https://www.tiff.net/tiff/the-crossing/  (click on trailer)

TIFF 2018 Review: KURSK (Belgium/Luxembourg 2018) ****

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Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2018. Go to TIFF 2018 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

Kursk Poster
Trailer

The film follows the 2000 K-141 Kursk submarine disaster and the governmental negligence that followed. As the sailors fight for survival, their families desperately battle political obstacles and impossible odds to save them.

Director:

Thomas Vinterberg

Writer:

Robert Rodat

Stars:

Léa Seydoux, Colin Firth, Matthias Schoenaerts

KURSK follows the true story of the August 2000 sinking of the Russian submarine KURSK and the international effort made to save her survivors.  The film benefits from well respected director Vinterberg working with scriptwriter Robert Rodat who wrote SAVING PRIVATE RYAN with stars Belgian actor Matthias Schoenaerts as Russian Navy Officer Mikhael LKalekov,  Léa Seydoux, Colin Firth and Max Von Sydow.  

The film’s claustrophobic scenes especially the cramped quarters flooded with water are harrowing to watch.  One cannot help but feel as well as admire these men who would give up their all for their country.  But is Russia willing to do her all for these sailors?   The wives are kept in the dark as to what is happening.  Surprisingly, the film’s best scene is the naval conference where the wives attack the naval authorities for doing nothing. 

 The film’s production sets and the explosion scenes are incredibly realistic making KURSK a totally emotional suspenseful drama of the highest level.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xExzwSc4_eQ

TIFF 2018 Review: BORDER (Grans) (Sweden 2018) ***** Top 10

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Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2018. Go to TIFF 2018 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

Border Poster
Clip

After a customs officer develops a strange attraction to the suspect she’s investigating, the case’s revelations soon call into question her entire existence.

Director:

Ali Abbasi

Writers:

Ali Abbasi (screenplay), Isabella Eklöf (screenplay) | 2 more credits »

Stars:

Eva Melander, Eero Milonoff, Viktor Åkerblom

The film that everyone has been raving about.  And with reason too.  This is definitely the weirdest film and arguably one of the best of the festival.  The film, directed by Iranian born Swede Ali Abbasi is called BORDER because the story centres on border agent Tina (Eva Melander) who uses her ability to sense or smell human emotions to catch smugglers. 

She is called an ugly bitch by someone caught by her and with reason.   When she sniffs up a suspicious Vore (Eero Milonoff), love blossoms.  But what the audience and Tina doesn’t knows that her life will be disrupted completely.  BORDER is a mix of very, very black comedy, romance and horror.  Director Abbasi knows what to focus his camera on especially the clsoe-ups, be it the sniffing nose or quivering lips to exact the perfect emotion from his audience. 

 There is a big twist in the plot as well as many surprises around every corner.

Clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpwPp0DYyg0

Film Review: PEPPERMINT (USA 2018)

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Peppermint Poster
Trailer

Peppermint is a revenge story centering on a young mother who finds herself with nothing to lose, and is now going to take from her enemies the very life they stole from her.

Director:

Pierre Morel

Writer:

Chad St. John

Stars:

Jennifer Garner, John Gallagher Jr., John Ortiz

PEPPERMINT is the ice-cream flavour Riley North’s daughter picks at the fair.  The film could also be called Rocky Road the flavour Riley (Jennifer Garner) choses for hers or also for the awful route the revenger thriller takes.

When Riley North’s (Jennifer Garner) husband and daughter are killed in a drive-by shooting by members of a cartel and the killers walk free owing to corrupt officials on the cartel’s payroll, she takes matters into her own hands and seeks vigilante justice against those who destroyed her life.

The film begins with a slice of Riley’s family life.  Husband is overly loving, daughter annoyingly cute and smart and everyone is lovey-dubey.  After Riley’s family is killed, she takes down the killers one by one till she reaches Garcia, the chief villain.  Added to the story is the vigilante element (DEATH WISH).

The film’s lazy script does not bother with plot details or character development or even suspense build-up, all the laments necessary to make a good thriller.  Showing Riley with her family enjoying fun times together is a very laze way to get the audience to feel for her. Nothing is shown how Riley got to transition from loving mother and housewife to martial-arts expert and super fighter.  One short clip is shown of an MMA fight with the cops saying that Riley was in one of the fights.

The fight scenes are barely exciting – too much gunplay and fast cuts to examine in detail what actually happened.  Garcia’s henchmen are all buffed but too easily beaten by Riley in unbelievable punch-ups.

The only one interesting character is that of cop Carmichael (John Gallagher).  He aids Riley initially – in fact too much.  When it is revealed that he is actually Garcia’s undercover, his initial actions do not add up.  He could have done her away many times given so many opportunities.  

Jennifer Gardner now joins the ranks as an actress in action films.  Having carved her name in fame for romantic dramas, she looks entirely out of place kicking and fighting int he movie.  She only looks convincing at the start of the film as the loving wife and mother.   THE TOMB RAIDER or HUNGER GAME actresses would have fitted in better.   Putting in a female fntaed of a male in the revenge action genre at least makes a welcome change, given the film’s limitations and problems.

Cardboard characters, simplistic plot, silly plot twists, unexciting action sequences, uninspired acting, mediocre sets and music, PEPPERMINT leaves far to be desired.

Successful films of this genre that include Morel’s previous Liam Neeson revenger TAKEN are often described as guilty pleasures.  PEPPERMINT is a total displeasure.  The film at the press screening ended with a blank screen instead of closing credits. “No wonder the film is so bad,” remarked a fellow critic.  “It wasn’t even finished.”  But whether finished, edited or improved, it is doubtful that the film will impress.  

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtQ-0kqbJ7A