A master of all things moody and mysterious, Dafoe is the chief reason to approach this narrative based on Panos Karnezis’s 2007 novel. The enigmatic star, singing and dancing at a few points, is granted all latitude to explore the framed space, and the camera is entranced to follow him. However, back to its ugly soap opera traits, outside of actively worshipping Dafoe completists, absorbing the undesirable heights of Jiménez’s bleak film is hard to recommend.
Read MoreLucky Strike makes two cardinal mistakes in its first two scenes, which, in turn, dilute the rest of the movie. It’s a shame, too, because The Last Castle and The Contender director Rod Lurie, filming in the thick woods of Bulgaria, utilized striking wintery location shooting to put his actors through their paces and make us feel every cold snap of this movie’s little piece of the famed Battle of the Bulge during December of 1944.
Read MoreAs aforementioned, the premise of Rose of Nevada, bobbing our two strapping young men to the mercy of the seas of time, carries the “potential” of a story. Unfortunately, potential can only reach so far without actual progress. Try as George McKay can to unravel with his wide eyes to find an exit for Nick from this spiral, the oddness and downright tediousness of the plot never reach a true mindfuck level.
Read MoreThat squint of doubt as a viewer is the main energy of Littermates, directed by short film specialist Scott Tinkman, making his feature-length debut, from his original screenplay partnered with Michael Woloson, who doubles as the cinematographer. Things seem too calm and mannerly, considering the chaos heard all around this property.
Read MorePut a good cast to root for in any a disaster scenario, and we’re intrigued. Hire Hell or High Water director David Mackenzie, and we’re filling up the popcorn bucket to witness something with edge. Unfortunately, Fuze erratically combines multiple tonal narratives and throws in an extremely misguided third plotline to smear whatever doesn’t explode when the bomb detonates.
Read MoreAt the 57-minute mark in Heads or Tails?, Reilly’s transported icon speaks the promise again to say, “Mark my words, boy, this is going to be quite the story.” At that point, with only 50 minutes to go of running time, there’s a good chance that, outside of the charismatic involvement of Reilly, you haven’t felt or fallen for the ensured charm of the film.
Read MoreWhen done right, heady ideas and anchors of the human condition can move a viewer as much, if not more, than spectacle. Filmmaker and animator Andrew Stanton’s latest foray into live-action, In the Blink of an Eye, available on Hulu, desperately wants to be the highest kind of exemplar for favoring the evocative over the explosive.
Read MoreIn the end, what is more interesting? Is it the past that made these loose characters, or the future that was foretold to open the movie? One could beg it’s the latter and not the former. The messy hodgepodge of it all feels random for randomness’s sake, and the character behaviors too often match that ridiculousness rather than win you over.
Read MoreThanks to umpteen versions and retellings, this whole thing has become a bit of a bedtime story, no matter how it’s sliced. Moving to the beat of that aforementioned tiny music box and not something deeper, Besson’s Dracula, and its selection of emphasized overtones and reduced undertones, are misaligned to become a lullaby from what could have been grander results.
Read MoreThe plot of Islands tries its hardest to add doubt to the current conundrum, but it does so in such a soft fashion. Peeks are weaker than pokes and prods every time. Not enough stings about this mystery. A film like this, using such a prime, exotic setting to add awe and infinite scope, should be putting us through our paces and making us sweat.
Read MoreIn Atropia’s type of satire, where war—and all its ugly realities—is being practiced as a performance for misplaced dominance, more than one mouthpiece is needed. Alia Shawkat’s oppositional firebrand is not enough. Callum Turner has to pull his weight.
Read MoreAsking Albert Birney to paint with a little more zip than dread would take away from his distinctiveness. This route will have its cult fans who stoke the fires of commentary comparing today’s anti-social generation with the past one. However, it’s still a course that regrettably shrinks the contagious wonder the premise of this daring jaunt could have generated.
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