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Movie Review: HAPPILY EVER AFTER – Starring Sarah Paxton & Julie Montgomery

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happily_ever_afterHAPPILY EVER AFTER (UK/Canada 2014) ***
Directed by Joan Carr-Wiggin

Starring: Janet Montgomery, Sarah Paxton, Alex Kingston, Peter Firth

Review by Gibert Seah

Running at almost 2 hours, HAPPILY EVER AFTER is a delightful comedy drama about two high school friends who both have the identical goal of living happily ever after. The only problem is that it is almost impossible task to accomplish, as most human beings can attest to.

The film centres on Heather (Janet Montgomery), an edgy documentary filmmaker in her 20s returning to her small Canadian hometown to look after her ailing father, Walt (Oscar nominee Peter Firth). She had left the town and her friends and family for Toronto after high school. She then reluctantly agrees to film the wedding video for her former high school best friend Sarah Ann (Sara Paxton). Things turn out more complicated than expected as the film turns into sort of a bedroom farce involving the whole town.

And between family and secrets, Heather is convinced that she and the seemingly carefree bride-to-be have nothing in common – except perhaps the high school teacher they both fell in love with (Tom Cullen).

It takes quite a while for Carr-Wiggin’s film to get a solid footing. The first half of the film appears to be all over the place with too many characters and an annoying lead. The situations all centring around a wedding also seems superfluous. But one has to be patient for HAPPILY EVER AFTER to settle in. It takes a while but the waiting pays off. The film shifts its focus from the lead character to the two leads, the lead and her best friend with an additional twist in the plot coming near the end (which will not be revealed in this review).

The film is about leaving a small town and making good. Another film that deals with this same theme, my favourite but highly forgotten INDEPENDENCE DAY (not the disaster pic) also showed the really difficult decision of small town folk having to make the decision to get away even though all logic points into doing so. The best thing about HAPPILY EVER AFTER is that the lead has left for the big city of Toronto but has not got much success either. She is a documentarist wannabe. Yet all the small townsfolk still admire her, if not for her decision to leave, despite the current state of affairs. The fact that Heather is not perfect and has just an equal if not larger amount of problems makes her character a more interesting one.

The film grows on the audience like a small town does on its visitors. At first annoying and uneventful, a small-town and the film gradually enchants its audience with its small town charm.

Carr-Wiggins characters also are all searching for simple happiness. They are all looking for love, and often in all the wrong places – i.e. the same town. The ‘follow your heart’ message is a bit too obvious, but given the situation of losers, it is an appropriate one to entertain the audience. There is more than meets the eye in this neat little film.

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Best of 10 Cloverfield Lane

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Read interview with the top film crew of the film, plus a praising movie review of the film that will set box office records this weekend:

Movie Review: 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE ***1/2
https://festivalreviews.org/2016/03/10/movie-review-10-cloverfield-lane/

Spoiler Alert: Please note that in order to provide a readable film review, there are minor plot points that have to be revealed in the review.

Interview with Cinematographer Jeff Cutter (10 Cloverfield Lane):
Interview with Cinematographer Jeff Cutter (10 Cloverfield Lane)

From Jeff Cutter: Expect a taut, tense psychological thriller with 1 or 2 big surprises. I had a great time working on the film as we had a wonderful director in Dan Trachtenberg and an extremely supportive production company in Bad Robot. It was a relatively small budget, and had challenges as a result, but since it is mostly a very contained script we could maximize the resources we had.

Interview with Special Effects Coordinator Donnie Dean (10 Cloverfield Lane):
Interview with Special Effects Coordinator Donnie Dean (Emmy Winner – American Horror Story)

From Donnie Dean: I can say we didn’t know until everyone else in the world that it was to be 10 Cloverfield. It was called Valencia up until then and no one knew it was related to Cloverfield at all.

Interview with Stunt Double Olga Wilhelmine (10 Cloverfield Lane):
Interview with Stunt Double Olga Wilhelmine (10 Cloverfield Lane)

From Olga Wilhelmine: I was Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s stand-in, photo double and stunt double on 10 Cloverfield Lane so I was there every day with her on set. We filmed about 7 weeks in New Orleans mainly on a sound stage bunker set which was kept dark and lots of smoke, dust and special effects that add to the bunker feel. Being in the dark all day was a bit harrowing especially in the beginning and we really felt like we were in a bunker.

****
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Movie Review: 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE ***1/2

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10_cloverfield_lane.jpg10 CLOVERFIELD LANE (USA 2016) ***1/2
Directed by Dan Trachtenberg

Starring: John Goodman, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Gallagher Jr.

Interview with 10 Cloverfield Lane Special Effects Foreman – Donnie Dean

Interview with 10 Cloverfield Lane Cinematographer – Jeff Cutter

Spoiler Alert: Please note that in order to provide a readable film review, there are minor plot points that have to be revealed in the review.

It should be noted that every attempt has been made to keep the key plot twists secret so that readers will not have their entertainment of this film compromised.

Films about sole captives have always done reasonably well at the box-office and have sat well with audiences. From William Wyler’s THE COLLECTOR to Peter Jackson’s THE LOVELY BONES to the recent Oscar best actress winning film ROOM, creepiness has always translated to good suspense and thrills. It is surprising that the above three films dealt with the main element of suspense and 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE is the only one that is truly a horror picture. And quite a good one at that. The antagonist is played by the excellent John Goodman. Can you imagine waking up after being unconscious in a tiny room only to be greeted by a gigantic unshaven monster of a man? Now that is really scary. And the script written by Josh Campbell, Matthew Stucken, and Damien Chazelle milks that idea to the limit.
The film is a science fiction horror film and the spiritual successor of the 2008 film CLOVERFIELD, although the two films do not share the same fictional universe or continuity.

CLOVERFIELD dealt with teens protecting their neighbourhood from aliens. So 10 COVERFIELD LANE obviously has real aliens in the plot, though the first part of the film teases the audience with the fact that there might not be ab alien invasion and that Howard (Goodman) is keeping both Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and Emmet (John Gallagher, Jr.) prisoners in the dark on the false pretext of an alien invasion fall-out. But whatever the reason, Michelle,the lead character, has decided to escape, regardless.

The best parts of the film is Trachtenberg’s depiction of the desperation of all the three characters – each one dealing with it in his or her own way. The script also blends humour in the best of unexpected times. This is obvious in the film’s start with the intercutting with Michelle’s car accident and the titles ‘Paramount Pictures Present” and then car overturning and then “A Bad Robot Production”. The script is also clever enough to always keep the audience surprised with one plot turn after another. Howard can turn from super nice captor, to suspicious host to totally angry monster. The bunker itself is a contradiction of wonderfully designed live-in space to isolated captive room. Even the start of the film is a surprise. Michelle is shown driving away for 10 minutes of screen time before it is revealed she is running away from her lover, Ben (voiced by Bradley Cooper). “I think we’re alone now” is also an obvious but fun choice of a song on the soundtrack.

A bit of moralizing is included for good sport. Is it better to be alive in this situation?

There are a few minor loopholes in the plot, which cannot be mentioned here due to they being spoilers, but these are minor and can be overlooked. But the last 15 minutes of high tech, high budget climax destroys the otherwise excellent plotting of the first 3/4 of the film. It could be argued that the last segment is necessary to bind the two CLOVERFIELD films, but unfortunately director Trachtenberg has thrown all logic out the door as the audience can see what one small bottle of whiskey could do.

Despite its flaws, 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE is thoroughly entertaining and succeeds as a horror movie. One wonders though of the NORTH BY NORTHWEST styled letter credits the filmmakers have chosen to use.

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NEW Captain America: Civil War Trailer and Poster Revealed (Watch NOW)

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Watch the NEW Trailer for CAPTAIN AMERICA 3:

The third installment of Captain America finds Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) leading the newly formed team of Avengers in their continued efforts to safeguard humanity. But after another incident involving the Avengers results in collateral damage, political pressure mounts to install a system of accountability, headed by a governing body to oversee and direct the team. The new status quo fractures the Avengers, resulting in two camps—one led by Steve Rogers and his desire for the Avengers to remain free to defend humanity without government interference, and the other following Tony Stark’s (Robert Downey Jr.) surprising decision to support government oversight and accountability.

See the next Movie Posters for Captain America: Civil War

captain_america_civil_war_poster

captain_america_civil_war_poster_2

captain_america_civil_war_poster_3

Movie Review: THE BRONZE. Director: Bryan Buckley

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

the_bronzeTHE BRONZE (ISA 2015) ***
Directed by Bryan Buckley

Starring: Melissa Rauch, Gary Cole, Haley Lu Richardson

Review by Gilbert Seah

THE BRONZE is a feel good crowd pleaser about a has-been foul-mouthed bronze gymnastic medallist that makes it good. The trouble with feel-good films like the recent EDDIE THE EAGLE is that it is too formulaic, with all the right buttons pushed that everything is predictable right up to the secret smile of a coach to the end credits. Fortunately for THE BRONZE, the niche of the lead character being a foul mouth breaks the trend – a little anyway.

It all began a decade ago when Hope Ann Greggory (Melissa Rauch) was America’s sweetheart. Her inspired performance on a ruptured Achilles at the world’s most prestigious gymnastics tournament clinched an unlikely bronze medal for the U.S. team and brought glory to her hometown of Amherst, Ohio. But in the years since that epic third place victory, Hope has wasted her life. Still living in her too loving/possessive dad Stan’s (Gary Cole) basement, still sporting her daily uniform of a Team USA gym suit with teeny-bopper bangs, ponytail and scrunchie, she spends her days at the mall milking her minor celebrity for free food and favours.

Hope’s routine is upended when she learns that she must coach Amherst’s newest gymnastics prodigy Maggie (Haley Lu Richardson) in order to receive a sizeable financial inheritance. Hope is faced with a serious dilemma: whether to jeopardize her “hometown hero” status by devotedly training this rising star to achieve the dreams she never could?

The film plays like STRANGERS WITH CANDY, another comedy with a lead character similar to Coach Hope’s. In fact Melissa Rauch’s mannerisms in THE BRONZE are so similar to the lead’s in STRANGERS WITH CANDY that one wonders if she uses that film as her inspiration. It works anyway. The success of THE BRONZE lies largely on Rauch’s nuanced performance and she delivers it right up to the very end with her very vulgar end credits rendering of the rap song called “F That”.

Some things are still predictable in the script like her romance, her turning over a new leaf and her final making-up with her long suffering father.

Director Buckley serves his humour without constraint. The gymnastic sex segment is a prime example of humour gone bonkers. A second example is the the vulgar F That song at the end credits.

The gymnast competition segments are also exciting enough – executed with superior camera work and choreographed synchronicity.

Buckley also approaches the film with a no-nonsense approach. The first 10 minutes of the film, for example are used to establish Hope’s character – ranging from user (getting free favours at the local mall from her past glory) to sympathetic (aiding an invalid with money to fix his wheel chair). Her one-liner “I’m a star, not a coach,” effectively captures all that needs to be shown. In a similar way, this is a comedic version of WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY HOPE?

Not too preachy, sufficiently hilarious, well shot with a prize performance from the lead actress Rauch, THE BRONZE is an entertaining enough time waster.

 

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Movie Review: CHI-RAQ. Directed by Spike Lee

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chi-raqCHI-RAQ (USA 2015) ***
Directed by Spike Lee

Starring: Nick Cannan, Teyonah Parris, Wesley Snipes, Angela Bassett

Review by Gibert Seah

CHI-RAQ, the film’s title is made up of the first and last syllables of the cities of Chicago and Iraq respectively and used s the title for the reason that more people have been killed in Chicago than the Americans in the Iraq war with the result of south side Chicago (the film’s setting) being declared a war zone.

The film, a mix of satire and musical contains lots of song and dance numbers with a very strong message. The message is to save the babies and do away with guns. The film begins with the death of a little girl from a stray bullet. The black women of Chicago have had enough. The women of the two gangs, Spartan and Trojan (their meeting is plain hilarious) decide to withhold sex to prevent their husbands from fighting. The local priest, Father Mike Corridan (John Cusack) steps up to help the fight.

One has to be able to bare Lee’s preachiness. And Lee can be the most preachy at his most preachiness. This is illustrated in a segment in which the priest preaches his preachy sermon to a congregation, in which part of his sermon is repeated so that nothing can be left out.

If the film’s dialogue sounds Shakespearean, it should be noted that the script, written by Lee and Kevin Willmott is based on Aristophanes’ Lysistrata, the classical Greed comedy play in which women withhold sex as a weapon to prevent their husbands from going to war. The film is framed with a spritely delivered narrative by no less than Samuel L. Jackson. Jackson has never been in a film in which he has not uttered he m***f**er word, and this film is no exception.

An impressive cast includes old Lee collaborators like Jackson, Angela Bassett, Wesley Snipes (as Cyclops) and new ones like Jennifer Hudson, Teyonah Parris and Nick Cannon playing the lead role.

CHI-RAQ is everything one can expect from the controversial Spike Lee. His film touted controversy from the film’s music supervisor Kendricks who got fired for charging a fee to musicians for having their music considered on the soundtrack to Lee calling the Chicago mayor a bully for demanding the film’s name be changed or the city’s tax credits not apply for the film. Love it or hate it, this latest joint by Spike Lee is unforgettable.

Music and dance play a big part in Lee getting his message across. The first segment has a song played loud with subtitles for those unfamiliar with the south side Chicago accent. But the film with its message is catered towards the adult black folk, judging from the steamy sex scenes and language. Perhaps the message should also be told to the younger teens and pre-teens who eventually become the violent criminals depicted in the film.

The $15 million budget film has already grossed $2.7 million in a limited release in December of 2015. For all the good intentions and huge effort put in by Lee and his gang, the film hopefully, will do well in its wider release now.

 

 

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Movie Review: WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT (USA 2016) ***

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whiskeytangofoxtrotbaWHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT (USA 2016) ***
Directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa

Starring: Tina Fey, Margot Robbie, Martin Freeman, Billy Bob Thornton, Alfred Molina

Review by Gilber Seah

WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT is the military communications term for WTF which stands for….what everyone is familiar with. The title sounds more appropriate than the lengthy title of the memoir called The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan written by Kim Baker about her own experiences as an overseas reporter.

The film charts Baker’s life story while reporting in various cities in Afghanistan. She leaves boyfriend Chris (Josh Charles) to fend for himself as she leaves for an initial 3 months. She befriend the only other female journalist on arrival, Tanya (Margot Robbie). As Baker learns the ropes and gets her reporting done, she learns much about the state of Afghanistan, though these tend to be feminine biased. She falls for a fellow reporter, Scotsman Iain (Martin Freeman). She learns a few painful life lessons as well. All this seriousness is however, conveyed through in a humorous manner.

The film is directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa who did an ok job also with I LOVE YOU, PHILLIP MORRIS.

An outright flaw is the film’s preachiness on women’s issues. One can understand where this is coming from as the film is produced and performed by Tina Fey based on a female’s novel. But one would have expected the all male scriptwriter and directing trio to at least moderate some of the material. The romance overshadows what is going on to the point that the film almost turns out into another annoying Hollywood romantic comedy. The lady saves her lover at all costs with her ingenuity? It is really hard to take in as fact what she did in the film to save Iain. Also, the film praises many feminist issues like the right of afghan women to gossip and socialize at the well, their right to ensure foreigners cover their heads and not hold hands (two scenes has the Fey character admonished for those two ‘sins’) and the women’s roles are much strongly written than the males. The men exist to service the purpose of the female characters. There is the alpha male security of Baker, a hunky no-brain ready to have sex with her at her command. Her main love interest Iain is always there to beckon her ever wish and woos her to no end. And at the social gatherings, the men never have anything important to say. The chief male, General Hollanek is depicted as an egoistic goat who succumbs to Baker’s plans while the Afghan chief of the Interior Ali Massoud Sadiq (Alfred Molina) does more of the same.

The female audience may be delighted however at the Afghan war being looked at from a different perspective. Also, the war with all its horrors is depicted as just that, though doused with quite the bit of humour. One can always be reminded that this is an SNL film – if such a thing exists – produced by Lorne Michaels (SNL) and Fey.

In one segment of the film, Baker is asked the reason she went to Afghanistan. Her answer that she realized that day in and day out she has moved backwards in life as metaphorically observed in her stationary bike that moved backwards after constant use and that she should move forward, one can only wish that the directors’ reason for making this movie also could have achieved this same goal. WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT could have been better, but as the title implies WTF, it leads nowhere. WTF?

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Movie Review: ZOOTOPIA (USA 2016) Top 10 *****

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zootopiaZOOTOPIA (USA 2016) Top 10 *****
Directed by Byron Howard, Rich Moore and Jared Bush

Review by Gilbert Seah

ZOOTOPIA is the Utopia for animals, so called because the 10% predators (lions, wolves, foxes) can co-habit side by side with 90 % prey (rabbits and other smaller animals). The status quo is about to be altered when the usually calm predators start exhibiting unruly behaviour threatening the 90% population of the ‘prey’. It is up to the heroine of the story, a wannabe cop by the name of Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) to solve the mystery, CHINATOWN-style and save the animal world.

The premise allows the film plenty of opportunity to reflect and criticize the real world of today – particularly America. If one reads between the lines of the script, there is much more pleasure to be derived, besides just enjoying a Disney movie.

And as for Disney movies go, ZOOTOPIA is the best there is, that I have seen for a long time. The film is clever, funny, superfluously animated with never a dull moment, even for the adults.

The film begins with Judy the bunny, leaving her comfortable home of carrot farming to achieve her dream of becoming a cop. After passing the course, with much effort, she is sent to Zootopia for her first assignment.

The animation is stunning. As the train arrives to Zootopia, the audience is given a birds-eye view of the gorgeous city, recalling the awe when on comes to a new fantasy land as in the movies JURASSIC WORLD and TOMORROWLAND.

The cop world is very similar to the American police system. The tough get the best assignments and Hopps, is given parking ticket duty. The problems she faces with this job are also very similar to the real world. The ticketed complain that they don’t deserve to be ticketed with the same reasons real people do. Judy is so dedicated that she gives herself a parking violation ticket as she forgotten the time on her meter. Though this might sound ridiculous, it should send a message to the police that they are not above the law and should also be bound by the same rules as the general public.

Racism is also examined with a sense of humour. Hopps takes offence of being called ‘cute’, the word bunnies take offence to.

The switch of lambs being the bad villains and the foxes and more ferocious animals being the victims is also a brilliant idea. The ultimate criminal in the film turns out to be the unsuspected meek Deputy Mayor Dawn Belweather (Jenny Slate). The mayor Lionheart (voiced by J.K. Simmons who is also heard in KUNG FU PANDA 3) is pulled away and arrested for the same crime most city mayors are also guilty for.

ZOOTOPIA plays more as a suspense thriller (think CHINATOWN) than action animation. The film also gives an obvious nod to THE GODFATHER films. The film’s funniest segment is the sloth segment (even if you have seen it once in the trailer) in which Hopps and her friend the fox, Nick (Jason Bateman) goes to get a run (see photo in-set) on a license plate. Again, the marvel of Disney animation is reinforced by the tearing on the perorated line of the ticket in slow motion, showing the details of the paper tear.

But it is the humour that makes the film really tick. It is a laugh out loud moment at least every minute. The writers and directors have a great sense of humour, clear from the film’s very start. There are a lot of rabbit jokes, the funniest ones poking at the rate they populate. Judy, has for example, 365 brothers and sisters and the population numbers on the town Bunnyborrow is constantly ticking upwards.

The film denounces power and all the evil power brings with it. Though a bit preachy with a voiceover at the end, ZOOTOPIA is near movie perfection – yes, the Utopia of animation. Even the ending song “Try Everything” sung by a gazelle that is supposed to be Shakira is nothing short of brilliant.

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Watch World Premiere GHOSTBUSTERS Movie Trailer

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Why do people hate this movie trailer?  Perhaps they are right.

Take a look;

Here’s what people are saying about the trailer:

As much as I love the idea of the all girl Ghostbuster team.. I much prefer the idea of talented writers.

WTF IS WITH THE HATE. THIS LOOKS DOPE AF

the monsters looks like they are from the scooby doo movie. it sucks

This actually looks pretty good… And I just love Kate Mckinnon and Kristen Wiig, two of the funniest women around.

This is what I was afraid of. Too loud and in your face the original ghostbusters wasn’t like that

I love the original so much and I had doubts about this one but man I’m defiantly going to watch! I love the idea of an all girl ghostbuster team!

Hm… What if… Yes! We need remake of “Saving Private Ryan” where all cast would be females. Or! Even better, All Nazis must be played by male actors, because males are sexists. Yes. That would be Politically correct movie!

There’s nothing wrong with an all female leading cast.
What’s wrong is that it looks like shit and sounds like it was written by monkeys.

This movie looks horrible. And it has nothing to do with its cast.

Girls? Ruined the movie. Shame on you.

All in all, this is a trailer that doesn’t have the comedy snarkiness that made the original so good. And where is the romance? Where is the sexiness?

Movie Review: GODS OF EGYPT (USA 2016) **

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gods_of_egypt_poster.jpgGODS OF EGYPT (USA 2016) **
Directed by Alex Proyas

Starring: Gerard Butler, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Geoffrey Rush, Brenton Thwaites, Courtney Eaton, Chadwick Boseman, Elodie Yung

Review by Gilbert Seah

The Lionsgate blockbuster GODS OF EGPYT has been plagued by many problems the most notable of it being a totally white cast for its lead characters. But this is the least of the film’s troubles. Made by Lionsgate, the HUNGER GAMES company that desperately needs a big hit after their stock plummeted 30% in one day after the earnings announcement, this $140 million production is only expected to gross, by industry estimates only $15 million on its opening weekend. To Lionsgate credit, it claims that it only footed $10 million of the budget, the rest covered by pre-sales and tax credits. The Australian Government apparently paid half the production costs.

The director Alex Proyas (I, ROBOT, THE CROW) claims that the world of Gods of Egypt never really existed. It is inspired by Egyptian mythology, and therefore it would make no sense to attempt any historical accuracy because that would be pointless — none of the events in the movie ever really happened. So, it does not really matter that the film was never shot in Egypt but down-under.

The story of Gods and man is set in Egypt. At the film’s start, the audience is given the heads-up by voice-over of the film’s setting. Apparently God and man are co-existing side-by-side. The film distinguishes one from the other by the size. Gods are figures that appear much taller (or larger) than humans. The film opens with a common human thief, Bek (Brenton Thwaites) stealing an amulet to offer it as a gift to his everlasting love. They attend the coronation of the crowning of the new King, Horus (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), whose throne is stolen by Uncle Set (Gerard Butler with all the growling he can muster!) After that, it is the quest of reclaiming the throne.

Since when do Gods die or fight for a throne? And where does the idea of so many Gods living together ever come from? The main premise is as ridiculous as it looks and it does look even sillier in a big budgeted film. One best example is the scene of the coronation with the screen filled with thousands of spectators as far the the screen can hold. How then can they hear what is going on on the stage when the microphone was not invented then. The scene reminds one of MONTY PYTHON’S LFE OF BRIAN where the Monty Python group complain about being unable to hear what Jesus was preaching during the sermon on the Mount.

The film running more than 2 hours is CGI gone mad. The special effects, 3D and CGI are costly and look good on the screen. But the script meanders more than the Nile giving the impression that the writers are making things up as they go along. For a multi-million dollar epic, the one-liners could at least being funnier. “Run…”, “Run Faster”… are the best the film has to offer. The climatic fight is good enough, performed at the top of a pyramid, but the entire adventure turns out to be a totally boring affair.

Never has so much money been devoted to the realm of boredom.

 

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