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Film Review: LIGHTS OUT (USA 2016)

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lights_outLIGHTS OUT (USA 2016) **
Directed by David F. Sandberg

Starring: Teresa Palmer, Gabriel Bateman, Maria Bello

Review by Gilbert Seah

LIGHTS OUT is a new low budget horror produced by HOSTEL’s James Wan and directed by David F. Sandberg based on his short story.

LIGHTS OUT is based on several potentially scary premises. There is the mother with mental health problems, the imaginary friend who could be a figment of mother’s imagination (or not), a boy scared of the dark and a monster that disappears and burns in light, surviving only in the dark. But one second thoughts, none of those are original concepts. The last one, though seemingly new is the same premise used in all vampire films.

But the movie plays confidently as a film that scares from things that go bump in the night. A large part of the film obviously takes place at night. The majority of the scares come from the ghoul called Diana who can appear out of nowhere, but only in the dark. As the lights go out in the house, a large mansion of course, the survivors have to arm themselves with torches or flashlights, batteries that soon run out of juice. This ‘novelty’ runs out very fast. After half an hour, the film really gets monotonous, with Diana appearing and disappearing. A bit of distraction is also provided in the script in which Diana might be imaginary and in the head of the mother, Sophie (Maria Bello), who was previously a mental patient.

Sandberg knows how to incite fear from small and dark enclosed spaces. But it takes much more to make a complete horror film.

The story goes like this. When the film opens, a creature kills a man who had promised to return home to his son who had complained of his mother being mental. The boy, Martin (Gabriel Bateman) is still afraid years later with the mother still having problems now manifested in Diana, who she has befriended in the mental hospital. Now Diana is able to appear as a creature but only in the darkness. Diana is breaking her promise that she will not hurt the mother’s children. Enter (out of nowhere), Rebecca (Teresa Palmer), Martin’s older sister and her sexy boyfriend, Bret (Alexander DiPersia) to rescue Martin from crazy mom and monster Diana.

The film makes the rules of the monster as it goes along – how it exists and so forth. The actors all do their screaming convincingly with Bret being the beau in distress. This is more of a female film where the women are heroes with the male and female roles reversed. No complaint here, as it is good to see things going the other way for a change.

But LIGHTS OUT would have succeeded as a 30-minute short film. It is stretched out too long, even at only 80 minutes. Boring, over manipulative and predictable, the film is a good idea that unfortunately does not play out as a full length feature. But it should make its money owing to its low budget. It would be interesting to see what writer/director Sandberg comes out with next.

Film Review: PHANTOM BOY (France/Belgium 2015)

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phantom_boy.jpgPHANTOM BOY (France/Belgium 2015) **
Directed by Jean-Loup Felicioli and Alain Gagnol

Starring: Edouard Baer, Jean-Pierre Marielle, Audrey Tautou

Review by Gilbert Seah

PHANTOM BOY is the next animated feature after the French directors Felicioli and Gagnol’s successful Oscar nominated A CAT IN PARIS. While the latter film took a distinct Parisienne personality, the new film hopes to do the same with New York City where the story is set.

The film begins with a boy reading a story to his little sister. It is revealed then that the boy has a sickness and has to go to hospital for extended periods of time. The boy somehow (don’t ask!) attains supernatural powers of being able to leave his body. He befriends a cop who is wheelchair bound. The cop is in the process of saving NYC from a computer hacker that will hold the city ransom. A girl (Audrey Tatou from AMELIE) helps destroy the virus and saves the city with the help of both he cop and the boy.

PHANTOM BOY as an animated feature looks like the older toons such as BETTY BOOP unlike the slicker animated features from Disney, Pixar or Dreamworks that North Americans are spoilt with. Inevitable comparison will make PHANTOM BOY look inferior despite the directors attention to detail The stars on the socks of a character can be seen just as clearly as any of the character movements.

The film is screened in French with English subtitles. The French is simple enough so that those learning the language can understand the dialogue without resorting to reading of the subtitles. But as much as foreign films should not be dubbed and shown in their original languages, the characters in New York City speaking French look odd. The film loses its credibility.

Despite the supernatural story, the story is quite plain and predictable. A lot of rules are dictated into the story. The boy, for example will die if he does not return to his body after a certain amount of time. How does he know and how did this rule come about? Strange supernatural reasonings make little sense in the film.

There is nothing super exciting or super funny. The main humour is derived from the black mayor who is always screaming at the cop for all the accidents caused while doing his duty.

The film is progressive in featuring a black NYC mayor. The film is current with the fact that hacking a central computer can bring the entire modern city down as just last year the whole New York stock exchange was brought to a halt because of a virus.

I have not seen A CAT IN PARIS but assume that that film is better than PHANTOM BOY which might also be called A PHANTOM IN NEW YORK. The film might have worked better if set again in Paris, France in the home country of the two directors.

Film Review: CAPTAIN FANTASTIC (USA 2016)

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captain_fantasticCAPTAIN FANTASTIC (USA 2016) **
Directed b Matt Ross

Starring: Viggo Mortensen, George MacKay, Samantha Isler

Review by Gilbert Seah

This new family drama tells the story of an eccentric father, Ben (Viggo Mortensen) who becomes the CAPTAIN FANTASTIC of his 6 children, forcing and training them deep in the forests of the Pacific Northwest (though shot in New Mexico), totally isolated from society.

If the plot sounds familiar, Harrison Ford played such a father who did the same in the 1984 Peter Weir film THE MOSQUITO COAST based on the Paul Theroux novel. The novel was much better than the film. But the film did not have as dramatic an impact as this new one – though CAPTAIN FANTASTIC totally bombs in its last 20 minutes. Remove the last 20 minutes and the film would have stood much better as a believable relevant and current family drama.

When the film opens, one of the sons, Bo (George MacKay) has just violently killed a deer. He is now a man having completed his rites-of-age passage. The father praises him. The film goes on to reveal other aspects of the training, a combination of survival skills as well as worldly knowledge in all fields including philosophy and American History. (Math skills seem to be left out in the equation.) When the mother dies, the father is forced to take his family to civilization. The challenges of the outside world are more than Ben and kids had envisioned.

Worst of all, Ben intends to fulfill his wife’s wishes of being cremated while her father, Jack (Frank Langella) plans a religious funeral ceremony.

For a film with this serious a subject matter, the film both written and directed by Matt Ross (28 HOTEL ROOMS) achieves some good humour. It is this humour, mainly derived from the smugness of the all-out-against civilization that hits the right notes. But Ross is also quick to turn the tables. By the mid-section of the film, the audience and the children (as River Phoenix turned against Harrison Ford in THE MOSQUITO COAST) turn against the father.

The dramatic set ups display a good combination of drama, conflict and humour. The best of these is the dinner table scene where his family meets his brother’s family. The conflict between him and his sister-in-law, Harper (Kathryn Hahn), with his brother, Dave (Steve Zahn) trying to cool the fight is brilliantly staged.

The film also contains suspenseful segments (the attempted rescue of one of the sons from the grandfather’s house).

But the film almost succeeds in making both a statement on American consumerism and family values before it all goes bust in its last 20 minutes. The father drives off alone only to discover later than his 6 children has somehow hidden in the bus. How can this be possible if the father is so skilled in survival skills that he had not noticed this. Where can 6 kids, most of them grown up hide in a bus? The removal of the mother’s coffin from the graveyard and performing the cremation ritual is all a little too much, especially with the entire family bursting into song and dance.

Despite the film’s flaws, the performances, especially by the young cast portraying the six children are more than fantastic. The film should be seen for this reason alone.

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Movie Review: Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie (2016)

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absolutely_fabulous.jpgABSOLUTELY FABULOUS – THE MOVIE (UK 2016) ***
Directed by Mandie Fletcher

Starring: Jennifer Saunders, Joanna Lumley, Jane Horrocks |

Review by Gilbert Seah

At one point in the movie, Edina Monsoon (Jennifer Saunders) quips: “Sixties are the new forties.” When the first AB FAB skit appeared in1990, both actresses Saunders and Joanna Lumley were in their forties. Now, more than twenty years later, they are still at it, creating havoc in the PR world of high fashion.

When AB FAB the movie opens, Edina is still running her PR agency that is quickly running out of money and interest. The duo realize that Edina needs a miracle to save her company and renew her reputation. Edina tries to recruit high fashion model Kate Moss at a party but accidentally pushes her over the balcony into the Thames. To hide from the press and bad publicity, the two take off to the south of France with Edina’s grand-daughter, Lola in tow, hoping to tap her youth in the fashion business. Patsy gets married. Other crazy adventures ensue.

Films made from TV series (KEVIN AND PERRY GO LARGE, HOLIDAY ON THE BUSES and THE IN-BETWEENERS) more than always have their characters go on holiday. Though Patsy and Edina do not really go on holidays, they end up in the south of France to escape being arrested. Here at least, the wealthy affluence of the French suits the environment of the characters.

All the characters from the TV series are present from Bubbles (Jane Horrocks), Edina’s useless secretary to her daughter, Saffron (Julia Sawalha) to her thieving mother(June Whitfield). The film updates the characters. Saffrom is now a mother who has a daughter, Lola.

Written by Saunders and directed by Fletcher who was responsible for a few TV episodes, the story is often all over the place. At one point the duo’s in London at a PR party and the next, Patsy is married in France. Anything can happen and often does. But no one can really take the incidents seriously either. These are the reasons the film works. It is good to laugh at the antics of the two, and they never go stale. But the writing poses a bit of a problem when it tries to rationalize Edina’s reckless living. There are also prize comedic set-ups like the chase with the two in a tiny ice-cream van and the hilarious designer Huki Muki event.

A long list of cameos is often common in films on high fashion (ENTOURAGE, ZOOLANDER). AB FAB THE MOVIE contains a list too long to mention though quite a few of the British faces will go unrecognized by North American audiences. A few stand out like Kathy Burke’s foul mouthed Magda. Burke is always a joy to watch.

The film has already opened in the U.K. and has broken box-office records. Saunders and Lumley appeared in person during London Pride march a week before the film opening. This comedy is just what the doctor ordered to distract from the world’s blues (Brexit, US shootings, ISIS attacks).

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Movie Review: GHOSTBUSTERS (2016). Direted by Paul Feig

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ghostbusters_2016GHOSTBUSTERS (USA 2016) ***1/2

Directed by Paul Feig

Starring: Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones

Review by Gilbert Seah

It took tons of effort and luck before GHOSTBUSTERS could be get this fresh look on the screen. The original 1984 hit version is best remembered as a classic that should not be tempered with. The original 4 that made GHOSTBUSTERS in 1984 including the late Harold Ramis who died in 1984 made a pact that no more GHOSTBUSTERS movie could be made unless all agreed. Bill Murray was the one who objected to all the previous scripts till this one written by Katie Dippold (THE HEAT) and championed by Paul Feig (BRIDESMAIDS). Bill Murray has a cameo as a supernatural activity debunker. And many loyal fans were upset that the film is given a female cast instead.

The film begins with an impressive opening sequence with a tour guide played by TV SILICON VALLEY’s Zach Woods explaining some paranormal behaviour before poltergeists appear. The story then moves on to professor Erin Gilbert (Kristen Wiig) who reunites with friends (Melissa McCarthy, Kate Mckinnon) to rid NYC of a ghost invasion. The film contains no boring romances, no life lessons or unnecessary drama – just plain silly fun with a female twist.

GHOSTBUSTERS runs out of steam at parts but the audience knows that another funny part will arrive just around the corner. A lot of the humour is provided by the 4 main actresses, who for the most part work well together to keep the laughs coming fast and furious. McKinnon is the most manic of the four, playing the scientist inventor, whose technical gibberish can hardly be understood at times. But who cares? Though Wiig plays the most serious of the four, the professor who loses tenure and has to return to fighting ghosts, she provides a good number of laughs. In fact, the film’s two funniest laugh-out jokes come from her, in the segment where she is manically runs to warn the mayor (Andy Garcia) having dinner of the ghost invasion. McCarthy overdoes it as usual. She does look funny in her oversized jumpsuit, showing that she is game in having a good time. One can get too much of her, while one wishes there is more of Leslie Jones, the reluctant subway employee who joins the group.

The special effects work well. A number of ghosts look like the ones from the original. But the film might be too scary for younger children.
The new GHOSTBUSTERS at least learns from the original. The script by Katie Dippold improves while it can. The original theme song recorded by Ray Parker, Jr. back in the day that was the number 1 hit that stayed on on the billboard for 3 weeks is used at various points in the movie, obviously both reminding and reviving audience’s fond memories. Improvements in the film include adding a human villain, the one that opens the portal for the ghosts. Another is the addition of a new character, Kevin (THOR’s Chris Hemsworth) the male equivalent of the pretty dumb blonde secretary. Kevin has major problems answering the telephone while carrying on normal duties, creating more problems when he becomes possessed. Hemsworth displays a surprising flair for comedy and dance.

GHOSTBUSTERS definitely pleases as evident during the promo screening I attended. It takes quite a lot to both getting the audience to applaud as well as to stay for the closing credits.

 

 

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THE BFG (USA 2016). Directed by Steven Spielberg

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the_bfg.jpgTHE BFG (USA 2016) **
Directed by Steven Spielberg

Starring: Mark Rylance, Ruby Barnhill, Penelope Wilton, Jemaine Clement, Rebecca Hall, Bill Hader

Review by Gilbert Seah

THE BFG (big friendly giant) premiered at Cannes this year in the out-of-competition category to rave reviews. So expecting a lot from Spielberg, the director who is reputed to be a creator of dreams, I went into the BFG film (a film with a story of a giant collecting dreams in a bottle) expecting a lot but was duly disappointed.

The film based on the Roald Dahl children’s novel, deals with an orphan named Sophie (Ruby Barnhill) who lost her parents when she was a baby. Sophie is kidnapped from the orphanage one night by the BFG (Oscar Winner Mark Rylance from Spielberg’s NEST OF SPIES) and brought to Giant Land. There, Sophie befriends the BFG. The book and film fail to give a satisfactory reason of Sophie being kidnapped. The BFG turns out to be one who captures dreams and delivers them to children in the human world. In Giant Land, Sophie meets the other nasty evil human-eating giants. Going back to London, she convinces the Queen (Penelope Wilton) to capture the evil giants. That is the story, a simpler one compared to other Dahl’s stories.

Spielberg opts to leave out Sophie’s orphanage life. Nothing is shown about her life there, except of a mention by her to the BFG that the matron Mrs. Conkers is nasty and gives out lots of punishments such as locking children in the cellar which is rat infested. Not one other child is shown in the film leaving out a key element in the film – the human element. Other characters like the Queen’s Head of Army and Air Force, the King of Sweden and Sultan of Bagdad are largely left out. There are no ‘real’ human beings in the film except for Sophie. Everyone else like the queen and her men are shown as clowns and just pawns for the story’s movement.

At least the special effects animation and Janusz Kaminski’s cinematography are nothing short of stunning. The look of Mark Rylance as the BFG looks very close to Quentin Blake’s illustration in the Dahl book. From the very first frame to the last, there is always the feeling of awe. But the basic human story is lost. Special effects have undermined the simple pleasure of a Roald Dahl book. There can always be too much of a good thing. After being in Giant Land for an hour, the special effects animation begin to look normal.

Spielberg keeps his film in family mode. There is not gore or any scene in which a giant gobbles a human being. When Sophie is eaten by a giant in her dream, she is seen thrown into a dark black hole. Spielberg also resorts to cheap laughs like fart jokes The BFG offers Sophie a fizzy drink called frobscottle that causes noisy green-coloured flatulence. The flatulent humour is revisited when the Queen herself drinks the frobscottle.

The film is dedicated to Melissa Mathison, the scriptwriter (she also wrote E.T.) who passed away during the film’s production.

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THE DAUGHTER (Australia 2015) ***

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the_daughter.jpgTHE DAUGHTER (Australia 2015) ***
Directed by Simon Stone

Starring: Geoffrey Rush, Sam Neill, Anna Torv

Review by Gilbert Seah

Based on the Henrik Ibsen’s 2-act play ‘The Wild Duck’, THE DAUGHTER is Simon Stone’s gut wrenching drama adapted to a small loving town in Australia. It stars Oscar winner Geoffrey Rush who plays an evil father with a fondness for younger women and with no redeeming qualities. About to be re-married, his son (Paul Schneider) visits, only to open dark skeletons in the closet. This leads to things getting from bad to worse, leading to a suicide.

The film was shot in New South Wales, in an area of abandoned factories and logging forests in a soft light, like what would be expected in Denmark. Written also by Stone, the film is a compelling watch despite its over serious content that might turn out to intense for certain audiences. The play is simplified a bit, with the removal of a few characters but with no reduction in the drama.

Rush is always a pleasure to watch, even in the role of a much displaced character.

THE DAUGHTER is Stone’s first film, a little difficult to watch because of its content and a bit slow moving, made slower with a lot of slow option sequences.

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Movie Review: THE WITNESS (USA 2016) ***1/2

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the_witness.jpg
THE WITNESS (USA 2016) ***1/2
Directed by James Solomon

Starring: William Genovese, Shannon Beeby, Kitty Genovese

Review by Gilbert Seah

THE WITNESS, is a documentary about the 38 witnesses of the 1964 stabbing of Kitty Genovese. But it turns out that they all did nothing. Or so it seems. Could it be true that Americans are that soulless? The film goes on to probe how it is impossible for that many people to see everything and do nothing. As the film progresses, THE WITNESS covers many other stories. Though the stories are quite different, they are all linked to the stabbing. But the real story that stands out is the one of Bill Genovese, Kitty’s brother who is in almost every frame of the film.

The details of the case: Kitty was a bar waitress in Kew Gardens, Queens who was randomly stabbed by a stranger named Winston Moseley—who later told police he was just looking for a woman to kill—then raped and robbed by him after he returned to finish the job. The New York Times later reported that 38 witnesses heard and even saw some part of the attack but didn’t call police and failed to intervene or even call attention to it.

Solomon’s film is absorbing for many reasons. The most important of these is Bill’s fixation on finding the truth about his sister’s murder. Bill will not stop. He investigates the New York Times reporter, ironically nicknamed Honest Abe who twisted the story to make it one that made news around the whole country. The fact of 38 witnesses doing nothing became a sociology study in many colleges. Bill also goes through a checklist of all the witnesses and questions each of those who are still alive. He goes so far as to ask to speak with Winston Mosley, his sitter’s killer, now serving sentence. When Mosley declined to meet Bill, Bill met his son. This meeting (which does no appear to be a re-enactment) is the film’s tensest segment. Initially, Mosley’s son, who is a reverend appears detached and unhelpful. When he finally confesses how he also suffered, especially at school with kids calling him the murderer’s son, Bill and the audience begin to feel for him.

But he film finally looks at Bill. When will Bill give up and accept the facts and move on? The investigation also reveals Kitty’s character. It is also revealed that she is gay. Bill interviews some of her lesbian friends as well.

Solomon’s film is intriguing in that it goes many different directions just as Bill’s life has taken him. Bill has also lost two legs while serving in the marines during the Vietnam war.

In the end, it is up to the audience to determine what Bill has gained from his intensive search. And in the process, learn from the film a few valuable lessons in life.

 

 

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Movie Review: THE NEON DEMON (Denmark/France/USA 2016) ***

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the_neon_demon.jpgTHE NEON DEMON (Denmark/France/USA 2016) ***
Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn

Starring: Elle Fanning, Christina Hendricks, Keanu Reeves

Review by Gilbert Seah

The much anticipated film at Cannes that caused quite the sensation, Nicolas Winding Refn’s THE NEON DEMON will not disappoint in terms of gore and surrealism. Refn has already proven himself a director to watch, with remarkable features like his PUSHER trilogy, DRIVE and ONLY GOD FORGIVES.

While his earlier 5 films displayed speed and ultra-violence, THE NEON DEMON reveals a different side of Refn. THE NEON DEMON is an extremely slower paced film, full of pauses that allow the audience to sit back and figure what is actually going on. And most of the time, it is still hard to figure out what is going on.

But one must hand it to Refn that as slow paced as this film is – it is far from boring. The film for one, is meticulously shot with glittery lighting that mesmerizes as much as confuses. His images of the characters often blend one into another, like the corpse that looks like the heroine in the film, for the purpose of the lady making love to it imagining the corpse to be the girl she did not succeed in sleeping with.
The film shows Refn’s interpretation of the pretentious L.A. fashion industry. A young and aspiring model called Jesse (Elle Fanning) has just moved to Los Angeles. She is an orphan, very beautiful and impresses everyone she meets with her beauty. She meets make up artist Ruby and two of her rather nasty model friends Sarah and Gigi at a surrealistic dimly lit party. The rest of the plot is immaterial except to show that models will do everything to stay ahead.

Refn’s films seldom contain pleasant characters. There are none in THE NEON DEMON. Who initially appears a kindly soul, Ruby turns out to be another mean person with the ulterior motive of using Jesse for sexual satisfaction. And when Ruby cannot get what she wants, she turns incredibly vicious. Refn does to shy away from gore and violence. Where there is insufficient of these in the story, he more than makes it up in the dream sequences. Jesse has a nightmare of her motel manager (Keanu Reeves in nasty mode) inserting a knife down her throat only to be awakened by him banging at her door wanting to rape her. This unpleasant character is not crucial to the story of Jesse, but is there just for added unpleasantness. But the prized unpleasant segment is the one with necrophilia on full display.

Ref does not seem to care what audiences think of his work. With that attitude, Refn can come up with a few mighty fine films – the best of these being his PUSHER trilogy, which are all cutting edge, exciting and relevant. THE NEON DEMON is his most surreal film, reality turning into a nightmare with models morphing into flesh eating vampires in a world lit by neon and fluorescent lights where the sun seldom shines. Needless to say, THE NEON DEMON is not a film for everyone, but it is not without its merits, strange as they may come.

 

 

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Movie Review: KHOYA (Canada/India 2016) ***

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khoya.jpgKHOYA (Canada/India 2016) ***
Directed by Sami Khan

Stars: Rupak Ginn, Ravi Khanvilkar, Stephen McHattie

Read Interview with the Director

Review by Gilbert Seah

Sami Khan’s first feature is an occasionally impressive piece about a man in search of his identity.

The man is Roger Moreau (Rupak Ginn), a Canadian from a small town in Ontario, who when the film opens is on his way to the airport (as seen in the Airport Road sign on Toronto’s 401 Highway). This is how intimate Khan’s film gets, as evident in other scenes as well. Roger is travelling to India in search for his adoptive parents.

The event is initiated when Roger’s adopted mother unexpectedly dies. Roger loses his last tie to his Canadian upbringing and identity. But his arrival in India is not what he expected. The crowded and hot streets of Mumbai compared to what he is used in Canada are more than he bargained for.

Director Khan’s film works when he shows what Mumbai and Madha Pradesh in the rural heartland of India are like. Just as Roger is struck down with culture shock, the audiences is however, able to enjoy the vast differences in culture from the comfort of their theatre seats. India is poor, hot, dirty and poor. But the natural beauty is unmistakably stunning. Khan’s segment where Roger soaks his feet in the huge river (see photo inset) is extremely striking.

The film contains a few scenes set in Canada. One is in the garage where Roger works where Canadian actor Stephen McHattie has a cameo. Another is his meeting with a Chinese lady with whom Roger confides his secrets. These segments are uncomfortably told in flashbacks at awkward points in the film.

Roger Moreau is played by American actor Rupak Ginn who is in almost very frame of the film. Ginn, who has appeared in Hollywood films like FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS and Mira Nair’s THE NAMESAKE is barely able to carry the film on his own. Fortunately, Khan uses India as the main actor in KHOYA.

Khan’s film is actually two films in one. The first is the story of India and her poetic beauty. The other is the mystery of Roger’s family. Though given the run around at the start, Roger’s persistence eventually pays off. He learns the truth and he unexpectedly finds something more than he expected (what this is will not be revealed in the review).

KOHOYA is more a lyrical film than a mystery of a family identity. Though not perfect in it execution, KHOYA is still a worthy tribute of a young director who deserves more works in the future. Khan is currently working on a documentary on four Cuban baseball players.

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