Demolition

My View:  Demolition  (2015)  R  Davis (Jake Gyllenhaal) has it all. He is a successful investment banker with a beautiful wife and a great home. It all goes away when his wife is killed in a car crash. Now he has to figure out how to put the pieces of his life back together. I have seen this movie twice and can’t totally put my finger on why this film doesn’t quite work. The cast, which includes Gyllenhaal, Naomi Watts, and Chris Cooper, is first rate and Watts stands out on screen as a single mom, Karen, who works for a snack machine company.  Gyllenhaal is stellar as the man who wants to figure out what to do with his life now that his wife is gone. Gyllenhaal has great chemistry with Judah Lewis, who plays Karen’s son, a troubled young man who Davis takes under his wing. The film never quite finds its footing, trying too hard at times to be profound and meaningful.  I enjoyed some of this movie, especially the scenes involving Judah Lewis but the film never found a way to make its point, if it ever had one.   My Rating: Bargain Matinee   Demolition Website

My View:  Hardcore Henry  (2015) R  The film is a first person action film in which the audience is the main character.  Henry is a cyber-solider who is trying to rescue his wife from an evil warlord. Right off the bat, if you easily get motion sickness, this film isn’t for you but if you love or like first person video games, see this wild ride of a film. The main character is the camera, so it’s a first person point of view film. This is a movie that doesn’t really care about plot or character development, it just cares about action and this film is full of smash-mouth, in your face, pedal to the metal action sequences. There is one action sequence involving moving cars, trucks and motorcycles that I am still wondering how they shot it. Most of the film was shot with Go-Pro cameras mounted to stuntmen’s heads, so we see what the main character see’s. I had fun seeing this film, several times shouting out with the rest of the audience as the character jumps from one motorcycle to another. It’s not for everyone, but if you want to jump on, it’s one heck of a ride.   My Rating:  Bargain Matinee   Hardcore Henry Website

Indiefest:  Everybody Wants Some!!  (2016)  R  It’s 1981 in a small Texas college town where most of the sports teams of the college suck, all but the baseball team. The team rules the campus and just about the whole town, living in two old houses off campus, where there are only two rules laid down by their coach; no girls upstairs and no alcohol. Needless to say that both rules will be broken within in a few hours of the house manager laying down the law. Into this environment walks freshman pitcher Jake (Blake Jenner), a likable but sometimes too smart for his own good 18-year old who must quickly find his place in this new world of booze, manliness and baseball.  Everybody Wants Some !! is a blast to watch, sort of a sequel to Dazed and Confused, Richard Linklater’s 1993 classic film about a bunch of Texas high school students experiencing their last days of high school. While not the same characters as in “Dazed,” the baseball team does inhabit the same small town Texas world, just a little older but certainly not the wiser.  Linklater has created a film, which while a little shallow at times, is so much fun that you are willing to overlook it's few flaws. While a welcome addition to Dazed and Confused,this is a film that deserves its own place in the Linklater film repertoire. As with Dazed and Confused, which gets better with each viewing, you will want to revisit the baseball team from the small Texas college town for years to come.   My Rating: I Would Pay to See it Again   Everybody Wants Some !! Website

Forgotten Film:  Serpico  (1973)  R  Serpico (Al Pacino) is a good cop who has never wavered in his duty. When he can no longer stand the rampant corruption in the police department, he blows the whistle on them. His life is now in danger, and it’s not from the bad guys. Pacino gives one of his better performances and the film perfectly captures the New York City of the early 70s. It’s a film that explores how hard it is to fight a system that in so entrenched in its corruption. Serpico is a film that hits hard, and it’s Pacino with director Sidney Lumet that delivers the heavy blow.   My Rating:  I Would Pay to See it Again   Serpico Info

Weird Credits:  From the credits of Hardcore Henry:  Additional Voices

Coming Soon to a Theatre Near You:  Sing Street  (2016)  PG-13  A boy growing up in Dublin in the 1980’s stars a band to escape his broken family life.  This was one of the films that people kept talking about at the SXSW Film Festival. It looks like a film that I can get into.   Sing Street Website

Until Next Time!