movie review

Movie Review: JOY (2015)

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joy_poster.jpg
JOY (USA 2015) ***** TOP 10
Directed by David O. Russell
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Robert DeNiro, Bradley Cooper, Donna Mills, Elisabeth Röhm, Virginia Madsen, Diane Ladd

Writer/director David O. Russell has been known to made films with strong family content like SPANKING THE MONKEY, THE FIGHTER and. His last movie AMERICAN HUSTLE shows him successful in a completely different genre – business. JOY, a film about a housewife named Joy Mongano (Jennifer Lawrence), a struggling single mother who with the help of family and friends succeeds in inventing and marking her miracle mop invention combines the best of the two genres.

Joy has not the typical family. Her grandmother (Dianne West) who narrates the story, her TV-addicted mother, Terry (Virginian Madsen), two children live with her in her house together with her divorced husband (Edgar Ramirez) who lives in her basement. Her dad (Robert de Niro) suddenly moves in, and causes some havoc. But to survive, Joy decides to manufacture and sell her magical mop, going all out – to make it or go completely broke. This is a film about mending broken dreams and making them finally come true. JOY is a true joy to watch, a feel-good Christmas film with all the peers and quirkiness found in a Russell movie. The film moves at a manic pace, especially in the beginning, capturing the spirit of AMERICAN HUSTLE.

Jennifer Lawrence (MOCKINGJAY) delivers another knock-out performance capable of winning her another Oscar nomination for Best actress. Her two memorable segments especially the one where she freaks out in front of her daughters is enough to make one cry. The other has her telling her stepsister in words that will eventually go into movie history: “Never ever speak on behalf about my business … again!” Bradley Cooper has a smaller supporting role but one cannot get enough of his character on screen. Ramirez as the divorced husband is surprisingly good and truly as in the words of the film, they make ‘the most awesome couple in America”, despite not being married.

There is also some neat words in the script. In one scene, Joy’s father tells Joy that it is to possible to have the same dream, to which she replies she has had the same dream twice. If one has the same dream, that means having that dream twice, so how may times is the dream dreamt if one has the same dream twice. Funnier still, is the fact that what that dream is, is never revealed in the film. Also, Joy’s business financier and father’s girlfriend, Trudy’s (Isabella Rossellini) four rules of business success is a real hoot.

The trailer has a scene with Joy blasting off a rifle. In the film, she is upset and blasts the file taken in a rifle range next to the father’s shop. The trailer leads the audience to think Joy has shot someone, especially with anther scene with two cops handcuffing her and taking her away. But tis is not really what transpires in the film. It is a clever editing of the film to form a trailer to look more exciting with events imagined by the audience. Thought his to be a brilliant touch.

JOY has got mixed reviews so far from critics. I have read a few but am unconvinced of the reasons that JOY is faulted with. JOY to me, is a smart fell-good movie, appropriate for Christmas
and shows director Russell in top form.

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Movie Review: Concussion (2015)

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concussion_poster
CONCUSSION (USA 2015) **
Directed by Peter Landesman
Starring: Will Smith, Luke Wilson, Alec Baldwin, Albert Brooks

Slated for a Christmas release opening on Christmas Day, CONCUSSION has been picked probably because the studios thought it would be a film that would make a difference. Concussion is thought do to professional football what cancer did to the tobacco companies. Michael Mann’s THE INSIDER was a superb film about whistleblower Wigand played by Russell Crowe.

Unfortunately, Peter Landesman film about Dr. Bennet Omalu (Will Smith) is a sad disappointment.

It all starts in the film with huge praise for Dr. Omalu. He is cited as as an expert giving testimony in a murder case in court. He is questioned on his credentials, which he rattles on and on and on and on. For he is a very smart man. But the film is not.

The film for one is too formulaic. No surprises are in store – in any shape or form. Dr. Omalu is introduced in the film as the protagonist hero. As a forensic pathologist, he finds medical evidence of a common thread of suicides among former NHL football players. He discovers or rather names the disorder, chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Before long, he comes head to head with the high rollers of the NHL who want him silenced. Dr. Omalu is offered a Washington job that he declines. And the script calls for him to romantically fall in love with his tenant, a nurse also from Nigeria and have a daughter. That is too much niceness for a Christmas movie.

The character of Dr. Omalu can do no wrong. He is already, deemed the most intelligent person in America, by the list of degrees the audience is informed at the start of the film. He is shown angry for all the right reasons. He is shy, kind, handsome and hardworking. He will go against the bad people. He talks to the bodies he performs autopsies on. He given choice dialogue like: “If you don’t speak for the dead, who will?” One would like to see a more believable human being – one who has faults and who makes mistakes in real life. The only scene he is shown with a slight fault is when he is accused of being a self-righteous bastard, but even then, he has a reason for being one. As Dr. Omalu comes from Nigeria, Smith plays him with an African accent, which many will assume is the accurate Nigerian accent.

The film is dotted at regular intervals of the deaths of various NFL players beginning with the longtime, Super Bowl-winning center for the Steelers, Mike Webster (David Morse). Dr. Omalu did his first autopsy on Webster. There are several other heroes in the film like Julian Bailes (Alec Baldwin) and Omalu’s boss (Albert Brooks).

But despite the film being formulaic in dishing out a romance, confrontation scenes, feel good and feel bad segments, the film is a narrative mess. An example is the segment in which his girl Prema (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) speeds way in a car believing she is followed only to result in a miscarriage, one that serves no real purpose in the story.
The best thing about the film is the appearance of British actor Eddie Marsan as expert Dr. Steven Dekosky.

Unfortunately, the film does not have more of him. Marsan shows how acting can be done with the minimum of dialogue.
CONCUSSION’s potential as a film could be better tapped with a script doctor doing an autopsy on the original screenplay.

Movie Review: IN THE HEART OF THE SEA (2015)

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IN THE HEART OF THE SEA (USA/Spain 2015) **
Directed by Ron Howard
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Cillian Murphy, Brendan Gleeson, Ben Whishaw, Michelle Fairley, Tom Holland

Review by Gilbert Seah

Ron Howard, the Hollywood director best known for playing Richie Cunningham in HAPPY DAYS is also known for his blockbuster films like SPLASH, PARENTHOOD, APOLLO 13 and A BEAUTIFUL MIND. The films share one common characteristic. Box-office successes though they may be, they are all very forgettable films. After a year of viewing any of his films, there is not much one can remember from any of the films’ scenes.

Based on the 2000 non-fiction book In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick and adapted by Charles Leavitt to the script, this is supposed to be the story that inspired Herman Melville to write the classic tale Moby Dick. In 1820, the whaling ship Essex is crewed by the Captain George Pollard, Jr., (Benjamin Walker) first officer Owen Chase (Chris Hemsworth), second officer Matthew Joy (Cillian Murphy) who has nothing much to do but sit around and grow a beard, and cabin boy Thomas Nickerson (Tom Holland). During their voyage, the ship is sunk when it is rammed and split in half by a very large and enraged bull sperm whale, ultimately leaving its crew shipwrecked at sea for 90 days and more than a thousand miles from land. After the attack, the crew sails for South America and is forced to resort to cannibalism. The tale is told by a very reluctant older Matthew Joy (Brendan Gleeson) to budding author Herman Melville (Ben Whishaw) pressured by his good wife (Michelle Fairley) in order to exorcise his demons. Apparently it is the cannibalism that is the problem but the wife seems to accept it after overhearing the story, thus undermining its importance in the story. The audience is neither shocked at her acceptance. The events of the Essex crew are intercut with Matthew telling the story to Herman in his house.

This intercutting is annoying and serves to interrupt whatever suspense or action the film has built up. Director Howard keeps nagging the audience to remind them fact that Herman really does not want to tell the story, as every time the film cuts back to the two men, Herman complains or changes his mind. Yes, the audience has got the point.

The special effects and CGI are lacklustre. The 3D looks like back projection and one can see the various layers and shadows in the scenes. And with CGI use these days on all the Hollywood films, one can hardly get excited when a CGI action scene appears on the big screen.

The film also contains some of the worst acting in a film on this side of the Atlantic, where the whales are. Chris Hemsworth and relative newcomer Benjamin Walker look totally uninterested in the material. They are supposed to portray two shipmates ready to kill each other. The usually excellent Brendan Gleeson is largely wasted in a role in which he just mopes, drinking and complaining.

For an action film, Howard’s film can hardly be called exciting. The whale attack scenes with the monster splashing around the Essex creates less tension than a goldfish in my bath tub.
IN THE HEART OF THE SEA might turn out the most memorable of the Ron Howard films. But for all the wrong reasons.

Movie Review: The Hateful Eight (2015)

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THE HATEFUL EIGHT (USA 2015) Top 10 *****
Directed by Quentin Tarrantino
Starring: Channing Tatum, Samuel L. Jackson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kurt Russell, Walton Goggins, Tim Roth, Zoe Bell, Michael Madsen, Bruce Dern

Review by Gilbert Seah

Review now embargoed until Dec. 24th
 

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnRbXn4-Yis

Movie Review: MacBeth (2015)

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MACBETH (USA/UK/France 2015) ***

Directed by Justin Kurzel

Stars: Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard, Jack Madigan

Review by Gilbert Seah

It does to seem that long ago (1971) that Roman Polanski, in top cinematic form directed his version of MACBETH with Jon Finch in the title role.  His was an unforgettable MacBeth complete with old nude witches brewing around a cauldron and ending with the MacBeth’s head paraded on a stick.

No such luck in Justin Kurzel’s MACBETH.  (Kurzel is the Australian director best known for THE SNOWTOWN MURDERS, shown at the Toronto International Film Festival years back but not released.)  The troubled King of Scotland does die at the end but his head is intact.  The witches look like normal human beings, more like Scots women, wearing normal garments.  But his version is a Shakespearean film concentrated more on poetry, both verbal and visual than on shock tactics.

Running just under 2 hours, Shakespeare’s shortest tragedy is still a lengthy drama, spoken in Old English Shakespearean prose, which takes some minutes before the ear gets accustomed to.  The story that needs not be reiterated in detail, which almost everyone is familiar with, concerns MacBeth and his wife usurping the throne of Scotland from King Duncan (an excellent David Thewlis), after murdering him.  All this is foretold by three witches, and a child in the case of this film, to MacBeth who seems to believe all their predictions.  

It is clear right from the film’s beginning that director Kurzel wants to take the Scottish play out in the open.  The witches appear in the open countryside instead of a room with a cauldron.  The epic battle which MacBeth wins to gain favour with the King of Scotland is expensed in all its gory and bloodiness.  The battle scene looks something right out of 300.  Together with cinematographer Adam Arkapaw, Kurzel keeps most of the action outside thus displaying the ruggedness and stunning beauty of the Scottish terrain and mountains.

One disadvantage of pulling the camera back from the characters results in the audience feeling more distant from MacBeth and Lady MacBeth.  They seem less evil.  When the camera shows the surroundings of the execution of a mother and her kids, Kurzel opts to show sympathy in the face of Lady MacBeth, thus making her more sympathetic and less ambitious and evil, and taking away the main spirit of the MacBeth play.

Performances-wise, every actor dreams of playing the titular roles of MacBeth and Lady MacBeth.  Fassbender and Cotillard can do no harm but they are not exceptional.

Kurzel’s MACBETH works as another adaptation of the Bard’s work, still worth a look and a good film for those studying the play in school.  At least it is not a modern interpretation like the recent HAMLET with Benedict Cumberbatch wearing Jeans thus bastardizing the Hamlet play.  But Polanski’s 1971 adaptation remains my favourite MACBETH.

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

Movie Review of the short film “Submerged”

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“Submerged” played at the WILDsound FEEDBACK Film Festival in October 2015, part of its best of horror/thriller short film lineup. It received rave reviews from the audience winning two awards: Best Overall Performance and Best Original Score.

SUBMERGED, 15min, UK, Haunting/Romance
Directed by Darren Mapletoft

When a teleportation experiment goes wrong, submariner Billy Bourne finds his crewmates have all disappeared. Determined to dance with his ‘Baby’ again, he faces a race against time to make his own escape.

SUBMERGED Movie Review by Amanda Lomonaco

WARNING! DO NOT watch this film if you are claustrophobic. I am only very minimally scared of cramped spaces but I am TERRIFIED of being buried alive, and of course this film brought out both those elements together perfectly. Again, as a lover of horror, mystery, thriller, and all things Halloween-esque, I was still able to throroughly enjoy this flick despite my continuous sense of discomfort. In fact I suspect it was Darren Mapletoft’s ability to make me feel so thoroughly uncomfortable that made me enjoy the film so much.

The great thing about the cinema is that it allows us to feel things that we would otherwise never experience in our daily lives. It allows us to embody someone else’s experience if only for a few minutes, and escape from our own world in the safety of the theathre’s seats. Even if what we experience is a series of negative emotions, when it’s all over you come out of it just a little more grateful for your own life, and appreciative of the fact that it’s not half so bad as what you just felt.

Submerged was definitely one of those experiences. One commentator described perfectly the feeling that throughout the film you felt like you were gasping for air. As the oxygen began to run out in the submarine I felt my throat constricting and found myself involuntarily conserving my breaths.

The story itself is quite beautiful, and you spend the entirely short cheering for the young couple, hoping that they’ll find each other again. Some people were a little confused by the ending, but most felt that they enjoyed the fact that it was somehow both open ended and finite. You could draw your own conclusion from it, and it was somehow still satisfying enough that you weren’t left too confused, or overly skeptical.

Submerged was a fantastic way for WILDSound to finish its October line-up, and if nothing else it certainly helped increase my lung capacity. Those averse to soppy love stories, science fiction, tight enclose spaces, or being buried alive, may not quite enjoy this film as throroughly as I did. Then again, maybe you’re a bit of a lunatic like me and enjoy suffering for the purpose of your own entertainment. Give it a try, you might learn something new about yourself.

Watch the Audience FEEDBACK for SUBMERGED:

Movie Review of the short film “The Little Missus”

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“The Little Missus” played at the WILDsound FEEDBACK Film Festival in October 2015, part of their best of Horror/Thriller short films from around the world. Ironically this is the funniest movie that has ever played at this festival. 

3min, Canada, Comedy/Horror
Directed by Adam Beal

A devoted housewife discovers that her slob of a husband has been cheating on her. She takes her revenge by feeding him dozens of tiny metal items — paperclips, ball bearings, thumbtacks — and pulling them out with a powerful electromagnet.

The Little Missus Review by Amanda Lomonaco

Some people might find it strange to mix horror and comedy, but I have always loved it. Yes, I am one of those people who laughs during horror films. I thought Hostel and the entire Chuckie series were hilarious, and while Little Missus is no where near as gory as those flicks, it still finds the perfect balance between comedy and disturbance.

This is definitely one case where I can say my bias did not get in the way, as the rest of the audience seemed to enjoy it about just as much as I did. With absolutely no dialogue, some peppy, upbeat music, a colourfully bright set and quick cuts, director Adam Beal was able to turn an otherwise distressing turn of events, into something pleasantly comical.

Perhaps what’s most interesting about this film is Beal’s use of magical realism. Though generally associated with Latin culture, and cartoons, Beal somehow managed to transfer this fictional genre into horror, and use it to emphasize the comedic elements of this gory tale. It’s not every day we’d be willing to accept that a man would eat an entire disgusting meal filled with bolts, and metal objects, without noticing a thing, or that his wife would have an industrial sized magnet laying around. The way the film is set up, and edited, however, lets us suspend our disbelief and remain content in the world of the film.

I could find nothing wrong with this film. The acting was excellent, the casting was brilliant, the cinematography, editing, art design, even the length. I loved it. And I loved it even more because it was a Canadian film. This is one I definitely advise you not to take my word for on, though. Go see it for yourself, biases aside, I’m certain you’ll enjoy yourself.

Watch the Audience FEEDBACK Video of THE LITTLE MISSUS:

Movie Review of the Short Film “A Peaceful Man”

festreviews Amanda Lomonaco, audience feedback festival, film festival, film festival reviews, horror, Short Film Movie Review, shorts showcase, Uncategorized, wildsound festival review, writing and film festival , , , , , , ,

“A Peaceful Man” played at the best of Thriller/Horror short film festival in October 2015, as part of the WILDsound FEEDBACK Monthly Film Festival. It was the winner of Best Cinematography in a short film.  

Australia, 4min, Action/Thriller
Directed by Harrison Norris

Beaten within an inch of his life, a peaceful man has a gruesome epiphany through violence.

Learn more about this short film HERE

A Peaceful Man Review by Amanda Lomonaco

All of us are capable of violence and cruelty under extreme circumstances. At least that’s what Harrison Norris, director of A Peaceful Man, wants to convince us of in his gory short film. His bloody, cringe-worthy, gory close-ups might distract you from that message a little though, or at least it will distract you from the voice-over narrative.

I’m not saying this movie is bad, in fact this was one of my favourite films of the night. What I really mean, is that the cinematography in this film was so brilliant that it almost overshadowed everything else about it. I would venture a guess that the cringes and gasps coming from the rest of the audience indicated they may have agreed with me. Even the special effects didn’t even have to be that great to appreciate this flick, although they were certainly impressive. The very thought of the level of violence being implied in the film was enough to make people curl up in their chairs and look away.

That, to me, is effective filmmaking. Making your audience feel something and react to the very idea of what is being depicted on screen. Even though I’ll admit to only paying attention to half of the spoken narrative in the film, I feel that Norris reserved the most important bits of monologue to the least impactful visual moments. I was able to still understand the gist of everything the narrator was saying while still being able to enjoy the bloody wonder that was being paraded in front of me.

I think Norris makes some really good points in his film. The level of gore and violence simply emphasized how far all of us can be pushed, or in fact need to be pushed, in order to reciprocate with the same level of anger. When it comes to survival, we are all animals, we all have to follow our instincts, and we will all defend ourselves, even if that self-defense involves something we would never imagine ourselves doing. That’s where Norris’ images almost don’t need a narrative. If you simply consider the film’s title, and then focus on the images and how they make you feel, you’ll probably catch on pretty quickly.

By now you’ll have realized that you should not watch this movie if you have a sensitive stomach. On the other hand, if you’re a crazy lover of guts and gore like me, this film should be mandatory viewing. Norris’ cinematographer deserves an award, and  would happily volunteer to make one for him.

Watch the Audience FEEDBACK Video of A PEACEFUL MAN: