Bloodshot

My View: Bloodshot (2020) PG-13   Ray Garrison (Vin Diesel) was an elite soldier who was killed in battle and is brought back to life by an advanced technology that gives Ray the ability of superhuman strength and almost immediate healing. Ray soon learns that what he thinks is real or knows may not be what is happening to him. I am guessing that Vin Diesel had a lot to do with the script since, at least three times, his character’s sexual prowess is brought up. You can also tell by how much Diesel is on the screen (try in almost every shot). I didn’t care about any of the characters in the film, the action sequences are some of the worst I’ve seen in quite a while, and the plot is just plain silly. Elza Gonzalez, as a fellow recipient of the technology (she can breathe air that has been poisoned), gives a woefully acted performance in a cast full of bad acting. The film seemed long, and it is for this type of action film, almost 1 hour and 50 minutes of dull.   My Rating: You Would Have to Pay Me to See it Again     Bloodshot Website

My View: I Still Believe (2020) PG   Jeremy (K.J. Apa) goes off to college, where he meets and falls in love with Melissa (Britt Robertson). As Jeremy’s singing/songwriting career starts to take off, the young couple learns that Melissa has cancer. Their beliefs in God and each other will be challenged in this troubling time. If you don’t like faith-based films, then this film isn’t for you. Based on the real love story between Christian superstar singer Jeremy Camp and his wife, I Still Believe works due to the chemistry of K.J. Apa as Jeremy and Britt Robertson as Melissa. The film is greatly helped by the singing of Apa, who, as TV’s Riverdale fans will attest, can belt out a tune and has the charisma of Camp when he is on the stage performing. Unlike a lot of faith-based films that seemingly fill out their casts with players from the local Baptist church community theatre, I Still Believe is helped by Gary Sinise, who plays Camp’s father. I will warn you that you will need to bring a few tissues along when you see this film.   My Rating: Bargain Matinee    I Still Believe Website

My View: The Hunt (2020) R   Twelve strangers wake up in a clearing and don’t have any idea where they are or how they got there. They are about to find out why they have been chosen, chosen for 'The Hunt.’ I can’t say too much about this film because, right from the start, this wacky and fun gorefest breaks a lot of rules in creating an inventive storyline that I really enjoyed. If you have seen the commercials or the trailer, you may think you know what this film is about, but I am telling you that you are probably wrong. I can tell you that Betty Gilpin, who has shown some spark in the TV series GLOW, is brilliant as a woman who decides that she is going to take charge and survive. My only regret about the film is I wish they had played up the comedy (think absurd plot lines) a bit more. Still, I had such a good time watching this film, that I told one of the critics after the screening, that I wanted it to be longer so I could enjoy the crazy world the film created.    My Rating: Full Price    The Hunt Website

Indiefest: Wendy (2020) PG-13   Retelling of the classic story of Peter Pan, wherein a land that aging and time have become unglued, Wendy (Devin France) must fight to save her family. In undoubtedly one of the biggest disappointments of the 1st quarter of films, two-time Oscar-nominated writer/director Benh Zeitlin, brings us a mess of a movie that felt more like a play put on by a bunch of neighborhood kids, than a film from a filmmaker that brought us the magical Beasts of the Southern Wild. Be warned that this is not a kid's movie, as it tells a muddled story of Wendy and Peter who run around quite a bit but never seem to do anything more than speak dialogue which is painful to hear and a plot that I have no clue what was about. I wanted this film to end ten minutes after I started watching it because I was bored out of my mind. It took eight years for Benh Zeitlin to bring us this movie, maybe he spent too much time with the project and got lost because when I watched it, I was also lost.   My Rating: Cable     Wendy Website

Indiefest: Balloon (2018)   In the summer of 1979, two families plot to escape East Germany to the West by making a homemade hot-air balloon. Based on an incredible true story, this film will keep you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. The film perfectly creates the anxiety and fear that permeated everyone under the Communist rule in East Germany, where you couldn’t trust anyone, and your neighbor might be a snitch for the secret police. The film builds the tension throughout the movie and can’t believe how creative the families were in their attempt to find freedom in the West. I thoroughly enjoyed this film, and you will be on the edge of your seat, rooting for their escape.   My Rating: Full Price     Balloon Website

Indiefest: Hope Gap (2019) PG-13   An adult son (Josh O’Connor) is caught in the middle when after 29 years, Grace (Annette Bening) learns that her husband, Edward (Bill Nighy), is leaving her for another woman. Grace is caught unaware of her husband's unhappiness, and her life comes apart at the seams. Hope Gap is a film that is about two miserable people who spent too much time in their routines, not to notice their unhappiness. Bening has the toughest part in the movie, as you never like Grace. Bening’s character is selfish, a bully, and not very loving, making Bening’s performance stand out from the other two cast members. Bill Nighy isn’t given much to do with the milk-toast, reserved Edward. The film does turn around a bit near the end of the film as each character seems to right themselves and start living again, but it takes quite a while to get to that part, making the film drag a bit.   My Rating: Bargain Matinee     Hope Gap Website

Forgotten Film: Tucker and Dale vs. Evil (2011) R   Tucker and Dale are best friends who are headed to their new vacation cabin (a fixer-upper), but there is something you need to know about them: they are hillbilly rednecks. A bunch of preppy college kids are headed to the same section of the woods near an isolated lake. There is one thing that they all find out once they get to their camps…twenty years ago, five college students mysteriously disappeared there. The two groups encounter each other, and the college kids start dying. The difference between this and other slasher films is this is a comedy, and the deaths are all accidental.  This is a funny film that uses all of the horror stereotypes to play for laughs. Tyler Labine, who plays Dale (from TV programs Reaper and Mad Love), and Alan Tudyk (Transformers: Dark of the Moon), who plays Tucker, are brilliant as the dim-witted hillbillies who don't quite get why anyone could be afraid of them. If you are a fan of films like Shaun of the Dead and Attack the Block, you should see this delightful movie.  My Rating: Full Price     Tucker and Dale vs. Evil Info

Weird Credits: From the credits of The Hunt: Truck Costumer

Coming Soon to a Theatre Near You: Soul (2020)   A musician (Jamie Foxx) who has lost his passion is transported out of his body and must now find his way back, helping an infant soul (Tina Fey) learn about herself. All you have to say is Pixar, and I’m in.    Soul Website

Until Next Time!

The Call of the Wild

My View: The Call of the Wild (2020) PG   Buck is a beloved family dog whose heart is even bigger than his enormous size. Buck is kidnapped and sent to the frozen tundra of the Yukon. Buck learns to be a sled dog and eventually a companion to John Thornton (Harrison Ford), a man who wants to get lost in the winter wilderness, leaving his former life behind. The film starts out with an introduction of a dog, who is clumsy, running amuck in a large household, destroying the reception of a wedding, and showing up for the family photo with a Turkey leg in his mouth. Is this the latest Scooby-Doo movie? No, it’s an adventure film starring a dog that is created entirely by CGI at the cost of at least 120 million dollars (possibly up to 150 million after retakes). Buck, the dog, never looks real throughout the film, because the filmmakers constantly go to closeups of the dog as he gives expressions that an actual dog would never give us. If you are a fan of Harrison Ford, please note that he is only in about half of the film, the rest of the film is Buck’s experiences of being abducted to be sold as a sled dog in the Yukon and his attempts to become a sled dog for a mail delivery team. The film tries to pull the heartstrings every chance it can, mostly relying on those facial closeups of Buck, but it never comes close to delivering any sort of emotion. Young kids may enjoy some of the action sequences, but even those fail to create any tension as too often they end in attempts at humor. I recommend that you watch the 1935 version of the film instead. While not great movie, it at least has Clark Gable and a real dog as Buck.   My Rating: Cable   The Call of the Wild Website

Indiefest: Ordinary Love (2019) R   Joan and Tom (Liam Neeson, Lesley Manville) have been a happily married couple for years. Their relationship and their marriage are threatened when Joan is unexpectedly diagnosed with breast cancer. Ordinary Love is one of those small, intimate films that handles the relationship between two people with compassion and exploring how a severe illness can break down even the most robust and most secure couple. Neeson and Manville give us honest and sometimes brutal performances as two people trying to help each other deal with a horrible situation, where the cure (chemotherapy and extensive surgery) are as bad as the disease itself. Underneath the trials and tribulations that they are going through, the couple has already suffered a serious blow in the past. A serious blow which rears up in their relationship to compound the potential tragedy they are presently going through. This isn’t a big, splashy film but one that lets two masterful performers give us something extraordinary.   My Rating: I Would Pay to See This Film Again    Ordinary Love Website

Indiefest: Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) R   On an isolated island in Brittany at the end of the eighteenth century, a young artist, Marianne (Noemie Meriant), is hired to paint a wedding portrait of a mysterious, silent woman, Heloise (Adele Haenel). A beautiful and magnificent look at the love between two women who know that no matter how deep their love is for each other, they are doomed to only experience their togetherness for a brief period of time. The film is a slow and steady look at a relationship where the two women gradually, almost too deliberately, explore their budding feelings for each other through short glances or slight touches of their hands. Writer/director Celine Sciamma shrewdly handles the relationship through the eyes of Marianne as she becomes enchanted by the young woman she has been hired to create a portrait of Heloise so that a nobleman can see her beauty and marry her. Marianne's job is to finish a painting that a male artist wasn’t able to complete because Heloise would not sit for him. There is a secret that the family is Heloise is hiding from the nobleman, one that hangs over Heloise’s almost every move. The film is a movie, much like the painting, that takes time to complete but is worth seeing the finished product.   My Rating; I Would Pay to See it Again     Portrait of a Lady on Fire Website

Indiefest: Banksy and the Rise of Outlaw Art (2020)   Documentary on the world’s most infamous and mysterious street artist, Banksy, and the revolutionary art movement that he/she has inspired around the globe. You got to love a film that opens up with one of Banksy’s famous pranks. A Banksy art piece is auctioned off, with the winning bid of over a million dollars. As soon as the gavel goes down for the final sale, the artwork starts to shred itself. The film, while concentrating on the life and artwork of Banksy, gives us a great background of the history of the graffiti and street art scene that not only Banksy but other artists came from. The film contains excellent footage of Banksy as a young artist, always hiding his identity. I am guessing that Banksy is a male due to the footage in the film, but that’s as close as you get to figuring out who he is. The film contains interviews from some of the leading street artists, including Steve Lazarides, who, for many years, was Banksy’s, right-hand man. If you are a fan of Banksy and his art, you will want to see this film and revel in how Banksy has become one of the most famous artists of the modern age.   My Rating: Full Price    Banksy and the Rise of Outlaw Art Website

My View:  Brahms: The Boy II (2020) PG-13   Unaware of the horrific history of Heelshire Mansion, a young family (Katie Holmes, Owain Yeoman), moves into the guest house on the estate. The couple’s son (Christopher Convery) soon discovers on the grounds a new friend, a life-like doll he calls Brahms. Oh, Katie Holmes, I had so much hope for your career back when you were playing that sweet kid on Dawson’s Creek. Now you are stuck doing horrible horror films, which is sad to me. I will admit the doll is pretty creepy for about the 1st five minutes of the film, but after that, the movie resorts to a lot of music that is meant to be scary and not much else. The ending of the film feels rushed and isn’t satisfying at all, with almost everything leading up to that point predictable. The film never builds any tension, and Convery as the son just isn’t creepy enough to make it interesting. My advice to Ms. Holmes, get a new agent and my advice to you, the moviegoer, skip this sleep-inducing plot of a film.    My Rating: You Would Have to Pay Me to See it Again     Brahms: The Boy II Website

Forgotten Film: The Addiction (1995)   A New York philosophy meek grad student, Kathleen (Lili Taylor), who is obsessed with how evil is portrayed in literature, encounters a stranger (Annabella Sciorra) who it turns out is a vampire. This black-and-white film is hard to describe (part horror/part comedy) but is worth watching just for the performance of Christopher Walken as a vampire that becomes Kathleen’s guide to the blood-sucking life and a college mixer that turns into a party of vampires.   My Rating: Bargain Matinee     The Addiction Info

Weird Credits: From the credits of The Call of the Wild: Buck On Set (a man is listed, not an animal).

Coming Soon to a Theatre Near You: The Hunt (2020) R  Twelve strangers wake up in a clearing and don’t have any idea where they are or how they got there. They are about to find out why they have been chosen, chosen for 'The Hunt.' I don’t know if it’s true, but the trailer says that The Hunt is the most talked about film of the year.    The Hunt Website

Until Next Time!