What's on Redbox?--Safety Not Guaranteed

 

“Stormtroopers don’t know anything about lasers or time travel, they’re blue collar workers.”

 

          Released this past summer “Safety not Guaranteed” is one of those small films that slip through the Hollywood cracks only to be discovered on video.  I didn’t even see it in the theater, just like everyone else I was too busy re-watching “Avengers”.  It’s a story about people who are so out of touch with the present and unsure about the future that they are willing to believe in the possibility of traveling to the past to make their life better.  Whether it’s an actual machine or hooking up with an old high school flame, the characters in the film struggle to find their place and who they can share that place with.

Aubrey Plaza (Scott Pilgrim vs. The World) is Darius a typical intern with typical intern woes.  Re-stocks toilet paper, gets yelled at, and is labeled a lesbian because she looks emo and doesn’t have a boyfriend.  She’s one of those girls who as her dad played perfectly in one scene by Jeff Garlan (Curb Your Enthusiasm) describes her, someone with a cloud over her.  She decides to tag along on a story for her magazine about a classified ad posted by a guy needing a partner to travel back in time with him.  Naturally this would make a great story because the guy has to be crazy, so Darius and another intern Arnau (Karan Soni) with their staff writer Jeff (Jake Johnson) go to check the guy out.  Kenneth the time traveler in question is played by Mark Duplass, who is one half of the directing duo with his brother Jay.  Here he acts, and does a pretty good job as the slightly off Kenneth.  Darius willingly gets recruited by Kenneth as he trains like a twelve year old before a fake raid on a tree house.  Though with Darius’s help actually breaks into a research facility to steal parts for his time travel machine.

While this is going on and Darius is evidently getting too close, elsewhere Jeff is trying to recapture his youth by finding an old girlfriend in the town they are in.  The relationships work for the most part, mainly because Plaza and Johnson fit the roles really well.  The whole film is really good, it has a charm of indie and doesn’t feel forced even in the formulaic nature of the story.  The characters are funny and charismatic and the story doesn’t overstay its welcome.  It goes from point A to B to C, and you are satisfied when you get to C. “Safety Not Guaranteed” is a great little film, and is worth your time, whether you believe in the travel part or not.

 

--Robert L. Castillo   

Star Wars Episode VII:...

          After thinking about it, I’ve come to the decision that I am very excited about the future of Star Wars.  I was sure that in my lifetime I would see a new Star Wars film, I was just certain it would be well after George passed on and whoever was left the rights would want to be able to send their great-great-great-great-great-grandkids to college.  Thankfully the wait is over sooner than expected and Disney has stepped up with their big pockets and bought Lucasfilm for 4.05 billion dollars (Dr. Evil style).

If there is one thing Disney knows how to do is market the hell out of something, so I’m certain wherever we look for the next few years we are going to see Star Wars of tv, phones, computers, on the road, in the theater, everywhere, it will be there in our face, and some will be sickened by it for sure.  With that will come the eventual drawbacks that will be jumped on like sandpeople on a land-speeder by the haters on the net.  That joke will make more sense to more people in a few years by the way.  Along the way to great Star Wars content we will be besieged by a barrage of kid-friendly, Disney-oriented, over-baked, over-saturated, and a ton of other hyphenated words I can’t even think of right now that will equal, crap.  Just plain Star Wars kiddie crap that will drive fans insane.  Possibly even worse that Jar Jar.  Believe it.

However the silver-lining is that amidst all the smashing garbage on the detention level (‘nother Star Wars joke) we will get a few, and hopefully more gems related to the Star Wars universe, and even more hopefully this greatness will be in the cannon of films that encompass the original trilogy and the prequels.  Speaking of films, that is what is at the foremost in my mind right now.  Since this is a film blog, I am most curious about the seventh Star Wars film.  Yeah, Disney announced three more after the initial one in 2015, just three years and one flying DeLorean DMC-12 ride away.  But the first one is going to set the tone and the path to the future storylines.  I’m less concerned about what Lucas has in treatment form and more curious about who is going to bring it to us.

So for sure we have Kathleen Kennedy, the new president of Lucasfilm in the producers chair, and who else would you want there except the person who helped bring to the screen films like: E.T., The Goonies, Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Jurassic Park, The Sixth Sense, and The Last Airbender… well ok, but there are definitely more hits than misses on her record, and surprise, Airbender was a hit even though we all hated it.  As far as writers, well Disney has so many at their disposal, from the Pixar guys to their newly acquired Marvel. Even though Joss Whedon is tied up in Avenger-land, he may deserve a peek, and more so the Marvel “Architect’s” who have truly made the company what it is today.  Great writers on great runs like Brian Michael Bendis (Avengers), Matt Fraction (Iron Man), Jonathan Hickman (Fantastic Four), Jason Aaron (Wolverine) and Ed Brubaker (Captain America).  Check out what these guys have done in the past decade and you will see that they know how to tell stories, both big and small.

As for the director’s chair?  A friend of my suggested and I agree that the former Pixar alumni Brad Bird who is coming off his big win with “Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol”, is the best choice, he can write and direct live action and animation, and has proven he can give the proper shot in the arm to a franchise.  He is currently slated to film “1906” a period action/thriller from the sound of it.  But if Disney shows up at his door with a wheel-barrel of money and says bring Star Wars back to life.  Would he say no?

All in all, this is a very exciting time for Star Wars fans, and as I said there will be things we wish never would have been brought to life, but in the exchange we will get some great stuff that will remind us why we became fans in the first place, and how we still want the force to be with us…always.

--Robert L. Castillo         

Fun Size

               Everyone loves a good teen comedy. You always want to find that one that “speaks” for its generation.  In the eighties you had any John Hughes movie, while in the nineties you had “Clueless” and “American Pie”. For the last twelve years I think you would be hard pressed to find that movie of its generation, and I hate to say but you will still be looking after watching “Fun Size”.

              That is not to say “Fun Size” is a bad movie, it’s just nothing special, it’s much like so many other movies that come out in any given year. Wren (Victoria Justice) is your normal quiet teen. Her father passed away a year before and she is left with her mother Joy (Chelsea Handler), who thinks she is in her twenties again, and a little brother Albert (Jackson Nicoll), who doesn’t speak anymore. Wren’s best friend April (Jane Levy) longs for her and Wren to be one of the cool kids. So April’s plan is to get invited to a certain Halloween party, where their social status will change and they will be taken to the promise land of the popular kid-dom. April’s plan is ruined when Wren has to take her brother trick or treating. Wren loses Albert while inside a haunted house and begins a search that will take her everywhere, including finding love on the way.

            “Fun Size” like I said before is nothing special. It has some decent moments, and Jackson Nicoll is by far the most entertaining part of the movie, and he doesn’t even speak for ninety five percent of the film. The story was written by Max Werner and directed by Josh Schwartz, both who came from Television and this being both their feature debuts. I don’t really know what the target audience is for this movie, it is rated PG-13, I think teenagers will bored by it and kids who might like it can’t get in to see it. If you are looking for something to see this weekend, but you don’t want to be scared, this isn’t a bad choice. If though you are looking for something that stands out, then you might want to pass on this one that’s small on ‘size’ and even smaller on ‘fun’.

Brian Taylor

                                                                   

Flashback "Dark" Corner--The Omen

“Look at me Damien.  It’s all for you!”

 

          From its opening piano/chanting in the haunting score by Jerry Goldsmith and the incredible image of a child whose shadow is an upside down cross, you know you are in for something, so you keep watching.

The 1976 horror masterpiece “The Omen” directed by Richard Donner who would later give us “Superman: The Movie”, “The Goonies” and the Lethal Weapon series first put us at the beginning of the end with the birth of the antichrist.  Right from the get go, you know it’s gonna be bad when a priest flat out tells Gregory Peck’s (To Kill a Mockingbird) character Robert Thorn to lie to his wife Kathy played by Lee Remick.  And it’s such a huge lie, of course that can’t go wrong at all.  Thorn is an U. S. ambassador who moves his family from Rome where his child is born to London, when it only takes ten minutes in to see things get really, really creepy.  When the nanny of their child Damien is dispatched in a memorable scene.

So memorable in fact this was the first scene described to me by my cousin who was allowed to watch horror movies before me.  He showed me a book that had the images of the making of “The Omen” and showed the nanny scene.  We looked through the book to see any other grizzly images, and did, but it didn’t ruin my viewing of it when I finally did see the film.  Interesting side note on the previous side note, that book about the making of the movie we were looking at, was at a used book sale on the grounds of a church.

What I noticed watching the film now as a film lover is that it’s truly an amazing picture.  Not just scary, or gruesome, and there’s no shortage of that, but the way it was shot by Donner, like someone or something always peeking in at odd angles, or through gates and pillars from a distance.  And the almost inhuman close-ups which take up half the screen and wide shots of characters eyes, you can almost see their souls.  Also being that all the effects were done practically makes the movie feel even more impressive.  People talk about the shot of one character falling from a second story, which is a little dated, but the crazy baboons, fleeing giraffes, stalking dogs, and the still amazing decapitation scene that is one of the best looking and original kills ever put to screen cements this as one of my favorite films.

As I said before it’s not just well done horror, but as a film it hits all the right notes, the build-up really works and makes sense as it goes along.  One thing leads to another and another as Peck’s character is truly the average man put in an extraordinary situation.  I mean this movie takes Atticus Finch to the brink where he eventually takes an ancient ice pick to a child.  And you believe it.  That is where great stories come from, and this is a story that has been interpreted albeit in a fantastic way by the most famous narrative, the Bible.

My cousin would later tell me about the sequels which sounded better as he told them than they actually were when I saw them.  Now they feel like a pre-curser to the Final Destination series.  And I honestly never bothered with the 2006 remake.  But in ’76 filmmakers really knew how to make movies, and they knew how to give you the feeling of true terror.  Check out “The Omen” again, and if you’ve never seen it, watch it alone at night, and try not to get un-nerved by the chanting and whispering of the voices as dogs stalk the hallways, in the dark.

--Robert L. Castillo

Criterion Corner--Branded to Kill

It was bound to happen sooner or later, that I would check out one of these Criterion films and get a wacky one.  Well it was the third one in, so sooner it is.  “Branded to Kill” directed by Seijun Suzuki is a tripped out film about an assassin that gets targeted when he botches a job.  That’s basically the story since all the exposition was cut out of the film in very obvious ways, it’s very chopped up and while there is some cool imagery, over all the film is just plain weird.

It’s a B-movie with action that borders on clever to down-right goofy, the way Hanada (Joe Shishido) takes out an optometrist through a drain-pipe is straight out of a comic book.  Or if you’ve seen it, 1999’s “Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai”.  There also is a big thing about the ranking of hitmen, ‘who’s Number 1?’ is the big mystery.  Which leads to a confrontation between Hanada and Number 1 which starts as a game of wits and moments later seen in the Wachowski’s/Donner 1995 film “Assassins”, but then leads to scenes straight from “Three’s Company”.  There is weird visuals and equally weird sex stuff, like Hanada using steaming rice as an aphrodisiac before sex, and then they try to keep within the rating system but end up making the sex creepier.

Still despite its many, many, drawbacks, “Branded to Kill” has a visual style that on its own is worth a look at least once.  Well maybe just a passing glance.  Better yet, check out the trailer, you can see all you need to there.

 

--Robert L. Castillo   

    

Paranormal Activity 4

                             

         Do you like scary movies or things that go bump in the night? If so then you have probably become a pretty big fan of the Paranormal Activity series. It’s been five years since the first one hit the big screen and introduced a new type of horror movie, one that relied on the tension of what was going to happen next.   No longer is there that crazed killer, now you never know where or what unseen force will show up on camera.

    We pick up five years after (Spoilers for the first films) the disappearance of Katie (Katie Featherston) and Hunter, who was last seen walking out of Hunter’s house after Katie killed her sister. Alex (Kathryn Newton) has a normal home life. She lives with her mother and father and her little brother Wyatt. Everything is normal until a little kid Robbie (Brady Allen) and his mother who move in across the street. Something happens to Robbie’s mother and Alex’s family takes Robbie in. Strange things start to happen around the house almost immediately after Robbie moves in. So being the smart kid she is, (and what would these movies be without it) Alex sets up the computers around the house to record the events that happen at night. The computers record some strange things, including Robbie walking around the house in the middle of the night talking to someone. As the nights pass, the events get more and more strange, and you start to wonder if Alex and her family will survive.

   You had to love the originality of the first Paranormal Activity. Horror movies had become stale and torture porn, it was the perfect shot in the arm that the popular genre needed. Over the last five years we have been presented with a new chapter to the ever expanding story of the original character Katie. Each new story did a great job of staying original and adding to the previous film, especially the last installment with a truly eerie ending. Well, there is a saying that all good things come to an end, and this can be said of the films in the paranormal series.  Where in the past the story added to the previous film, it seems this one is stretching to add. There were not as many moments that make you jump out of your seat, and I think that is part of what you look for now. The one thing I did like was how an Xbox Kinect was used as a great way to see things. I wanted this film to be like its predecessors, but instead the wear of four movies in five years has started to show in this series. The good thing is that the genre will reinvent it’s self again, does this mean the end of The Paranormal films?  It will carry on, I just hope it finds its magic for the next installment, and rediscovers ways to make us scared to sleep with the lights off, or your Xbox off for that matter.

Brian Taylor

                                                        

Alex Cross

   

     In the early nineties James Patterson introduced a character that would become very popular for readers. The novel was called “Along Came a Spider”, where we first meet Detective Alex Cross. Eighteen novels and two films later, we have gotten to know Detective Cross very well. After an eleven year absence from the big screen, Detective Cross is back and there is something different about him. 

     For starters Detective Cross is now played by Tyler Perry, yes the same Tyler Perry who has created a film empire playing everyone’s favorite grandmother. Perry plays Cross as he is at a crossroads, where he is deciding his career future. He is a Detroit detective who has a team who always seems to solve the cases that need to be solved. His partner and friend since kindergarten, Tommy (Ed Burns) plays the perfect counterpart to Cross. Everything in Detroit is not well though. Cross is called in on a case that is more disturbing than most; who he thinks was committed by one man. That man is Picasso (Matthew Fox), who has a thing for torture and drawing. After Cross stops his next planned crime, Picasso takes it personal and hits Cross in a way to make him suffer. With that Cross plans to stop Picasso at all cost and with him his plans.

   It almost seems like this character has faded from most people’s mind. There are still plenty of novels written about the character, but after two films within a few years of each other, why such a gap? Tyler Perry does a great job of stepping into Morgan Freeman’s shoes as Patterson’s star detective. The film adds more action than the first two films, but you would expect that from a film directed by Rob Cohen (xXx, The Fast and the Furious). The story doesn’t follow the book well and is definitely made for the big screen. The movie is entertaining for the most part, but has a few plot points that get left unresolved. I think it is good to reintroduce a good character like Alex Cross back into the world of movies. There is so much source material and so many stories you can do with him. Unfortunately they did not bring him back with a bang, but not exactly at a whimper either. I would like to see Perry come back as Cross, but with a better story, because this is one character that deserves another chance.

Brian Taylor

  

                                                           

Flashback 'Dark' Corner--In the Mouth of Madness

Even after years of watching “Poltergeist”, “The Howling” and “The Exorcist” through my fingers, there are still movies that do the job of scaring me when I watch them.  Now, it just borders on creeping me out, but the old fear and wanting to bring my hands up still lingers.  John Carpenter has already been sited here as a master of horror, though his later films haven’t shown this as much, he did have a film that hit most of the right horror notes.  This was 1994’s “In the Mouth of Madness”.

Sam Neil (Jurassic Park) is John Trent, an insurance investigator brought in to discover the whereabouts of famed horror fiction writer Sutter Cane played by Jurgen Prochnow who I always think of him as the bad guy from “Beverly Hills Cop II”.  Trent hired by Cane’s publisher, a surprisingly subdued performance by Charlton Heston and is sent to find the supposedly fictional town of Hobb’s End where he thinks the writer is holding the manuscript for his final book hostage.  A book series that has created rabid fans and an even more insane agent of Cane that has been driven to axe wielding.  When Trent and Cane’s editor the mostly drab and boring Julie Carmen find Hobb’s End after a eerie road trip, they stay at the local inn where paintings and old sweet ladies are not what they seem.  From here the movies goes all over the place, from weird, creepy, funny, disturbing, scary, and even delving into the meta, all leading up to a haunting and somewhat sad ending.

When I first saw this movie, which was intended to be the last of Carpenter’s “Apocalypse Trilogy”, the first two being “The Thing” and “The Prince of Darkness” you can see the similarities and the bleak tone of them all.  This one, though feels more like an unnerving piece of fiction mainly because of the meta aspect of it.  I had never seen a movie, where it flash forwards and backwards, that discusses elements of true horror and has moments that make you question reality.  I had read my share of Stephen King before seeing this movie, and I looked into the H.P. Lovecraft stories after seeing it.  You will notice many nods to the Cthulhu mythos, and even some of the creatures that look like it.  As well as the power of fiction, and how ideas can give birth to many horrible things if enough people read and believe.  The standout great exchange between Trent and Dr. Wrenn played by the great David Warner really sells what Carpenter is putting out there with the discussion of a book that can drive you crazy: “What about people who don’t read?”  “There’s a movie.”

Being a classic horror film you get the typical gags and jump-scares that Carpenter is famous for, but they still kinda work on some levels, even when you see them coming.  And Sam Neil really carries the film throughout.  His reactions and his transformations seem genuine. The other great part that gives it that classic feel, is that most of the effects are practical, this was when CGI was really taking off, and while Carpenter uses some of it, mostly it’s real moving and creepy, like the backwards hand-standing creature that still gives me chills.  And did I mention the mutant children and Hayden Christensen as the paperboy?  Chilling.  That and more is what makes this one of the great horror movies of 90’s.

 

--Robert L. Castillo       

World's Finest...Animation

Their stories have been entertaining us for over 70 years, and we still are not tired of them.  Superman and Batman, the two most recognizable characters ever created have been successful both on the big and small screens.  Whether it’s Christopher Reeve in the ’78 “Superman: The Movie” or Kevin Conroy as the voice of the animated Batman since 1992, these heroes only ever leave us wanting more.  So far what DC has done in the animated world has far superseded what Marvel has done on its animation front.  The last two films released by DC, its 14th and 15^th films are a reminder that great stories that started in the comic book form can be animated to life as well.

“Superman vs. The Elite” is a great story written in both comic form as well as the animated movie form by Joe Kelly.  In the story originally published in Superman: Action Comics issue #775 we see Superman go up against a Super powered group of self-appointed heroes that attempt to do what Superman would never do: kill to get the job done.  Manchester Black and his crew in the film version start off befriending the Man of Steel, showing their skills, and wanting to join the good fight.  But when they turn their attention and aggression to world politics and problems with the system that allows villains who kill to live, this is where they come into conflict with Superman.  What’s great about the movie is we actually see Superman’s dilemma play out, we see him wonder if he’s become outdated for this world.  The morality of someone as powerful as Superman comes into question and has a very satisfying conclusion.  Even if it does feel a little rushed at the end, it’s still a really solid entry into the DC animated universe.

“Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 1” is based on the 1986 epic game changer of a book written by Frank Miller (Sin City).  In it we see a 55 year old Bruce Wayne come out of a ten year retirement to take back the city of Gotham no matter the cost.  In the wake of his revival we get a new female Robin named Carrie Kelley who together takes on the criminal underworld as well as some of the most ruthless of Batman’s rouge gallery.  Namely Two-Face and the Joker, and possibly the afore mentioned man with the giant “S”…but that’s jumping too far ahead.  The animated film is not as good as some fans have hoped.  For me what feels like a huge miss is Batman’s voice-over.  In the comic it works so well listening to Batman’s thoughts and feelings.  It lends itself to the page and was quite effective in the recent DC film “Batman: Year One”.  Other than that we still get to see some great stuff, and get to hear some immortal lines by Peter Weller (Robocop) as the elder Batman.  Some work and some don’t, but if this is the only version we get to see animated from this great story, I’m okay with that.  Especially since this is only the first part of the story, the confrontation with the Joker and Superman are still to come.  If you’ve never read this story and you are a fan of the recent Chris Nolan Batman trilogy, it is worth your time.  My suggestion, watch the animated version first then, check out the book.  Part 2 will be coming out early next year.

Now while I will not let my kids watch these DC Universe films at least until they get a little older, I’m glad they are making them.  There was so little out there for comic book fans until superheroes blew up in a big way, now that they have, I hope Marvel will take a page from DC and give the adult fan something to pass on to the future fans of these classic heroes.

 

--Robert L. Castillo   

Flashback Corner--Catch Me if You Can

 

“No, no, no, you, you do not feel sorry for me.  The truth is… I knew it was you, now maybe I didn’t get the cuffs on you, but I knew.”

 

          After “Saving Private Ryan” Steven Spielberg directed a string of movies that had some people believing that he was losing his touch.  Oh yeah, he’s still a phenomenal visual storyteller, and he can get those emotional beats as if he directed “E.T.” last year, but when people look at “A.I. Artificial Intelligence”, “Minority Report”, “The Terminal”, “War of the Worlds”, “Munich”, and “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” it’s a little easy to see what people are talking about.  Something seems like it is missing.  But there is a film mixed in that bunch that I feel was short changed.  And that’s 2002's “Catch Me if You Can” starring Leonardo DiCaprio as a young con man on the run from the law, led by Tom Hanks.

Based on the true story of Frank Abagnale Jr. who before he turned 19 posed as a doctor, a lawyer, and a pilot for Pan Am.  He was able to forge checks so well, that he acquired millions of dollars over the course of a few years, and conned almost everyone he met.  Hot on his seemingly cold trail was Carl Hanratty a FBI bank fraud agent.  When Frank’s family begins to fall apart because of financial hardship, he runs away and uses his natural skill and older looks to survive and begins to live well beyond his means.  Meanwhile his mother moves on with her life and his father becomes a casualty of his financial situation.  Christopher Walken plays the elder Abagnale Sr. and kills it in every scene he’s in, a part of me wishes he was a central point of the film, however this is Frank Jr.’s story and Dicaprio at least in my mind shed any ounce of “Titanic” off of him for me in this film.  It also ushered him into the world of Scorsese where he has done some of his best work.  Here in “Catch Me if You Can” you see him transform from young and reckless to aged and experienced.  It is a tremendous film and belongs up there with Spielberg’s greats.

If you re-watch the film you will see the classic Spielberg tropes, not just the great close-ups and almost perfectly framed shots, but his views on youth and the innocence of the time, not so much the naiveté, though some of the characters come off that way.  You see the broken homes, like in “E.T.”, “Close Encounters”, and “Hook” (another underrated gem).  You can hear an outstanding score by John Williams that is jazzy and very Mancini-inspired.  And this is truly the best thing screenwriter Jeff Nathanson has ever written.  Mostly though what you will see is that Steven Spielberg has never lost the ability to give us fantastic moving pictures.  There is always something to love in everything he does.  Some are scenes, and moments, but here, he spins magic, and just because it’s not the wonder of unknown alien life or a rollercoaster of ride with the man in the fedora, it shouldn’t be ignored.

 

--Robert L. Castillo   

Criterion Corner--High and Low

          Akira Kurosawa has created some great Japanese films that have that Western cinema culture appeal to them, like “Rashomon”, “Yojimbo”, and “Seven Samurai”, which was later turned into a western called “The Magnificent Seven”.  His black and white camera shots have purpose and poetry, and the stories are filled with intense moments that deeply focus on character.

His 1963 film “High and Low” is no exception.  With opening music reminiscent of a horror movie or more prevalent to the time, like a “Twilight Zone” episode, the film starts off in a somber mood but the intensity ramps up quick as we meet Gondo a partner with National Shoes, who is meeting with other partners and proceeds to throw them out as he plans to take over the company to make it better.  This all turns when he receives a call from a man who has kidnapped his son.  The ransom will crush Gondo financially but he does not hesitate to pay up.  Then his son walks into the room.  “Da-da-dummmm.”  It turns out the kidnapper took his son’s little friend who happens to be the son of Gondo’s driver.  Now the dilemma begins.  Does Gondo throw his family’s future away to save a child that is not his?

The first hour of the film centers on this choice, and leads to what would appear to be an inevitable conclusion.  The second hour is more akin to a crime show or film procedural.  It follows the cops as they follow the clues, some that may make you think of later American films, like a clue straight out of the 1993’s “The Fugitive”.  As well as my favorite moment which would be bad in any other movie, is when the cops literally sit in a hot room and talk about their investigation and what they’ve uncovered.  It reminded me of the long phone-call’s scene in David Fincher’s “Zodiac”.  This is how investigations were done in the old days, or at least similar to this, no internet, no C.S.I. just guys walking and talking.  It all leads to the kidnapper, who is creepy and meticulous in his own right, with sunglasses that reflect the “Low” life beneath the “High” life of Gondo and his family with their house on the hill.  The kidnapper doesn’t even speak until the closing minutes of the film which is a little haunting and heartbreaking all the same.

The one thing that kept bothering me was how everyone from the press to the police felt so sorry for the rich Mr. Gondo, it’s brought up so many times in the film, that I was wondering if Kurosawa wanted the sympathy from the audience about a self-made rich man losing his fortune, or if it was meant to be more of a Shakespearean tragedy.  Either way,  you get it by the end, and I was with the film the entire time.  If you, like me only know of the great Kurosawa and some of his samurai classic films.  Give “High and Low” a view, it belongs up there with the greats.

 

--Robert L. Castillo             

Seven Psychopaths

     

          In 2008 a film called “In Bruges” came out the flow under the radar for most movie goers. It was a well written movie that was funny and original. That same film also showed there was more to Colin Farrell then just looks. Well now five years later they both are reteaming for another perfect collaboration.

    “Seven Psychopaths” sounds like a great name for a horror film. It makes you think of an insane asylum and a group of teenagers being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Well that version is not nearly as good as this version. Billy (Sam Rockwell) and Hans (Christopher Walken) are not very good people. To make money they go to the dog park and kidnap dogs, and then return them when there is a reward posted. If that was not bad enough, Billy actually kidnaps the wrong dog, a dog that belongs to Charlie (Woody Harrelson), who also happens to be the head of a crime syndicate. Charlie really wants his dog back and will do whatever it takes to find him. Billy is also helping his friend Marty (Colin Farrell) come up with ideas for his next screenplay. It is Billy’s idea to call his movie “The Seven Psychopaths” and the story is quite simply about seven psychopaths, all with a different story. As the story unfolds concerning Charlie’s dog, Marty finds real inspiration, his next screenplay, and a new appreciation of life.

        Martin McDonagh is becoming one of my favorite filmmakers. He has joined the list with Paul Thomas Anderson and Rian Johnson as just can’t miss storytellers. “Seven Psychopaths” is as entertaining, as funny a film you will want to see again. Every actor in the film is great, but every time Sam Rockwell is on the screen he commands your attention, and that says a lot since he shares the screen with the great Christopher Walken. It is easy to go see that sequel or that reboot of that classic film you love. I say make time for films like this, because after seeing this you won’t say that Hollywood has run out of original ideas. If you see “Seven Psychopaths” you will recommend it to your friends, so why not be the first of your friends to see this truly good film.

 Brian Taylor

   

                                                               

Sinister

 

    A good horror movie will have you thinking about it while you lay in bed that night after you saw it. Unfortunately most horror movies today go for the cheap scare; you know the one that may scare in the now.  A good scary movie will have you be scared of the dark.”Sinister” may not be that kind of scary movie, but it will have you thinking about it after the credits roll.

    Ellison Oswalt (Ethan Hawke) is a writer of true crime novels. It has been a while since he’s had a big hit and he is looking for just the right story to get him back on top. He picks a house where an entire family was hung and where one of the children also turned up missing. Wanting to be close to the crime scene, Ellison buys the house the murders actually took place in. Ellison keeps the truth from his family about the house they have moved into and right away starts to dive into the facts. Ellison likes to do most of his work at night, and while doing so he finds a mysterious box in the attic labeled “home movies”. Ellison watches the first film and realizes it is the murder he is investigating caught on film. That film is not alone; there are four more, all different murders. Strange things start happening around the house as he gets deeper into the mysteries that surround each of these killings. What he discovers is that he and his family might have just become a true crime story themselves.

    “Sinister” may not have a lot of “jump out of your seat” scares, but what it does have is moments that will make you think and horrify you. Written and directed by Scott Dickerson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose), with the help of C. Robert Cargill, weave a creepy story. The thing that really drove it all home for me though was the music for the movie. Every scene was made better and creepier because of the score by Christopher Young. “Sinister” is not a “scary” movie as much as just something that may make you feel a little uneasy during some parts. It is said Scott Dickerson and C. Robert Cargill wanted to do something original. Well they did that, and made a horror movie that does not follow the normal path.  If you do choose to see this movie, you might want to take someone along with you.

Brian Taylor

                                                                   

What's on DVR?--In Bruges

Ever since “Pulp Fiction” the seemingly average hit-man who talks about everyday things and over-analyzes his surroundings seems to now be a hallmark in gangster/hit-man movies.  Rarely is it done well, with style and profound impact on character.  Even rarer is the high quality and great visual style of a first-time director.  Writer/Director Martin McDonagh’s film “In Bruges” is a fantastic little film about hit-men and the baggage they carry because of the horrible things that they do.

Ray (Colin Farrell) and his partner Ken (Brendan Gleeson) are hiding out in Bruges, Belgium after a hit went bad.  While the elder Ken wants to sight see in the “fairy tale” like little town, the young Ray wants to know what the next move is and is in no way swayed by the beauty of Bruges.  The pair walk around, take a boat, see the sights, annoy tourists, and as it would happen end up in a hotel with two hookers, drugs, and a dwarf played by Jordan Prentice, whose career began in 1986 when he played the role of Howard the Duck.

Things eventually get intense when Ray meets a girl and Ken discovers why they were sent to Bruges in the first place.  After a call he receives from their boss Harry (Ralph Fiennes) who feels a little like a caricature of a British villain, but still manages to pull it off.  Watching it you can still see why Farrell is a really good actor dispite some of the roles he takes, and Brendan Gleeson is magic in every scene he is in, which is most of the movie.  The film has tremendous heart, it nails the emotional beats, and has a great ending so while I didn't catch it back in ’08, that is the power if DVR, you get to see those little gems you missed.  If you can catch it on cable, give it a view.  Also come back soon for a review of McDonagh’s latest flm “Seven Psychopaths”

 --Robert L. Castillo    

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

 

         Everyone remembers the awkwardness that is High School. While being there you think they are the worst days of your life, but when you leave you realize that they may have been your best. So many people have written stories about what it is like to be in High School. Everything from what it takes to be popular to what it is to be the school loser, but what if no one notices you at all?

   That is what “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” is about. Charlie (Logan Lerman) is about to start High School and he is more than a little nervous. Charlie’s best friend committed suicide which has left him entering that world alone and confused. For the first few months of school he is invisible to everyone. Charlie finds a kindred soul in Patrick (Ezra Miller), who he meets at a football game. With Patrick, Charlie meets his sister Sam (Emma Watson), who Charlie is enamored with. When they are apart they are misfits, but together they can do anything. Charlie is happy that he has finally found someone he can fit in with, someone who notices him. The three friends go through their ups and downs throughout the school year and Sam and Patrick get close to graduation. As they leave Charlie behind, Sam and Patrick are changed as well as Charlie, with relationships what will last a lifetime.

    The film is written and directed by Stephen Chbosky who adapted it from the novel he wrote. Chbosky seems to understand what it means to be a part of that “island of misfits” that Charlie and his friends are part of. Logan Lerman plays Charlie perfect as you travel through the first year of high school through his eyes. Emma Watson in her first role outside the ‘Harry Potter’ universe shows that she will not always be known as Hermione. I really enjoyed this film, but also think that most teenagers would enjoy it more. Mainly because it is kind of a roadmap of what one can expect in high school. It is real easy to look back on life and see the things that help define us and we all know how important high school was in doing so. If you have a teenager, take them to see this movie and enjoy it together. If you don’t have kids, still see this film, because maybe, just maybe, you’ll find out that you really miss something you didn’t know you lost.  Youth.

 Brian Taylor

                                                            

Criterion Corner--Stranger Than Paradise

          If “Seinfeld” was the show about nothing, then Jim Jarmusch’s 1984 film “Stranger Than Paradise” is the film about nothing.  Filled with moments of silence, and white noise, with characters literally sitting doing nothing, not speaking, or doing anything to progress the non-story forward.  They all seem to walk aimlessly and with no clear direction, and speak in half-conversations.  All this and I have to be honest, I kinda dug it.

Willie (John Lurie) is a slacker New Yorker, before slackers were cool.  He is forced by his estranged family to put up his cousin for ten days who is coming in from Hungary.  Eva (Eszter Balint) travels with a suitcase and a bag and a tape recorder that only plays ‘Screamin Jay Hawkins “I Put a Spell on You”.  When she firsts plays it, it is eerily appropriate and is probably my favorite moment of the film.  Eva is as quiet as Willie with as much zest for life as him (meaning none). 

Filmed in black and white it is the hallmark of minimalist filmmaking.  You don’t get any more independent film than this.  Even the locations that are traveled to, from New York to Cleveland to Florida which had to all be the same location that it’s even called out in the film by Eddie (Richard Edson) who you may remember from his role in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” as the garage attendant.  “What country do you think this is?”  That guy.  His character Eddie provides the comic relief to the film along with Aunt Lotte (Cecillia Stark) who like a lot of older foreign woman you may know, speaks in her native tongue, except when cursing in American.

Over all “Stranger Than Paradise” is a quiet, charming film, that is worth a watch if you want to see how an independent film from the 80’s looked and sounded.  And as obvious as the message at the film’s end is, I really liked it.  Give it a watch.

 

--Robert L. Castillo