Movies Movies Movies
"Adventures in the Sin Bin"
starring: Michael Seater, Emily Meade, Bo Burnham, Brian Petsos, Ben McKenzie, Gillian Jacobs, Jeff Garlin, Tim Blake Nelson
written by: Christopher Storer
directed by: Billy Federighi
This was a film that was "okay" because it was clearly borrowing some of its good elements from better films, and it was rather clear that the filmmakers had seen Wes Anderson's "Rushmore" a few too many times. It's got some decent characters and a pretty decent soundtrack, but it's the story that seems to lack substance, in my opinion. It's another one of those coming-of-age stories with an outcast/wallflower type of character looking to find himself through interactions with others.
Brian (Michael Seater) is on a scholarship among well-to-do kids., and mom's away trying to get over dad's death. Like all kids of his age, sex is pretty much all he thinks about, but, he isn't getting a chance to act on his crush for the lovely Suzie (Emily Meade). He's always kept busy lending out his unlikely passion-wagon, known to all as the "Sin Bin." This has made him popular among his friends, but one in particular takes him under his wing. The tall, slim, camp figure of smooth-talking Tony (played brilliantly by Bo Burnham), who tries to help him with his virginity problem, but at the cost of premium-time usage of the messy van. Tony has two girls on the go, but, one is the focus of Brian's affection, none other than Suzie, which eventually causes problems.
Emily Meade is the Manic Pixie Dream Girl here and she plays the role rather well. All the characters, major and minor are perfect in the roles. This is a good, entertaining film, as long as you don't mind the humor at times and can handle teenagers and their coming-of-age stories. I know some people think it's a genre of film that is played out and exhausted, but it never gets old for me.
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"Roger Corman's Death Race 2050"
starring: Manu Bennett, Malcolm McDowell, Marci Miller, Burt Grinstead, Folake Olowofoyeku, Anessa Ramsey, Yancy Butler, Charlie Farrell, Shanna Olson, D.C. Douglas
written and directed by: G.J. Echternkamp
This is one of those fun, post-apocalyptic and dystopian films that actually has something to say, if you get past the overt silliness of hte characters and plot. It's smart writing.
The year is 2050. In the desolate world that is The United Corporations of America, which is overseen by The Chairman (Malcolm McDowell), most citizens don't work. Instead, they sit at home and experience things through VR. The most popular event in this world is the Death Race, a competition where drivers travel cross-country, earning points by running over pedestrians. Frankenstein (Manu Bennett), the reigning champion, is a fan-favorite, not only because he's a winner, but due to the mystery created by the fact that he wears a mask. The other drivers in the latest race are; Minerva (Folake Olowofoyeku), a rapper with an urban flare; Jed Perfectus (Burt Grinstead), a genetically engineered superman; Tammy (Anessa Ramsey), a cult leader; and Abe (voiced by D.C. Douglas), a self-driving car. Frankenstein, being a loner, has no interest in getting to know his new in-car companion, Annie (Marci Miller). As the race begins, it becomes obvious that there are forces working against Frankenstein, and winning may take a backseat to surviving.
It's a remake of the original from Roger Corman in 1975 (originally titled Death Race 2000, because that seemed like a good time period back then for what the "future" may be), and here Corman is back to produce the remake, perhaps to make sure it sort of holds true to the original, but also so he can add his own flair.
Aside from the many strides that film technology has made over the years since the original which allows this version to be far more visually stimulating to the viewer, it's filled with eccentric characters, played very well by the actors.
Everyone lives in a state of besotted numbness, waking up only to clamor for blood at the big race. Malcolm McDowell is the fey president, a cross between Donald Trump (hair jokes), and a straight Elton John. First props in the great over-acting school of classic drive-in fare goes to foam-at-the-mouth Burt Grinstead, channeling the spirit of Dick Rude in REPO MAN as a closeted 'perfect male' and Anessa Ramsey as the fundamentalist Christian maniac Tammy ("All hail Saint Elvis Presley!"). She plays her deranged cult leader like a true force of crazy nature she'd be right at home in FASTER PUSSSYCAT, KILL KILL, as would Yancy Butler as the leader of the resistance. Folake Olowofoyeku as an African American woman driver who pedals her vaporwave single (Drive! Drive! Kill! Kill!") while racing across redneck stretches of this post-Trump wasteland of a nation by day, and by night quietly confessing her dad is a history chair at Columbia; another car is driven by an AI computer (who promptly has an identity crisis) with the navigator a Ballard-CRASH style hedonist (Shanna Olsen); there's also sweet Marci Miller as Frankenstein's right hand woman (and a rebel assassin) and as Frankenstein himself is played by New Zealand male Manu Bennett.
The characters are enough of a reason to watch this absolutely delightfully extravagant film.
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"Good Kids"
starring: Zoey Deutch, Nicholas Braun, Mateo Arias, Israel Broussard, Ashley Judd, Demian Bichir, David Coussins, Tasie Lawrence, Dayo Okeniyi, Julia Garner, Kevin Chapman, Virginia Gardner, Stephanie Fantauzzi
written and directed by: Chris McCoy
Here's another coming-of-age film/story, this time bogging down the story by focusing on four main characters instead of simply focusing on just one, which makes it hard to focus your attention or empathy, as you are constantly jostled around from one character's story to another's.
It's another film borrowing from the far more mainstream and successful films of its kind (re: American Pie) especially with the intended gross-out gags and even the sex-with-older-women side business.
The story revolves around 4 high school graduates and overachivers who feel like because they were so focused on accomplishing their goals did not necessarily get to "live" their high school years, so they are determined to pack it all in during their last summer together before heading off to college.
It’s graduation day for high school students Nora (Zoey Deutch), Andy (Nicholas Braun), Spice (Israel Broussard), and Lion (Mateo Arias), and the outsiders are mourning the loss of their prime socializing years. Committing to a “summer of yes,” the gang comes up with a plan to indulge as many forbidden experiences as possible before college comes to claim them. Andy becomes a favorite tennis instructor at an elite country club when he begins to accept money for sex, romancing all the lonely wives. Nora catches the eye of a much older co-worker, embarking on a courtship that becomes a little too real for the 18-year-old woman. Spice tries to secure a one-night stand, using his culinary skills to attract the opposite sex. And Lion is a karate instructor who falls in love with drugs, using the season to expand his mind.
Writer/director McCoy sets the stage right away for these characters' easy and predictable arc of enlightenment, but the trouble is establishing any kind of empathy on the viewers part for any of the four characters, which is key in any film.
It definitely has some decent parts to it, the writing can be smart and sharp at times, but it often falls for the stereotyping and cliche as an easy fallback. The characters present themselves as more selfish than enlightened, which is hard to understand, but then again, they are teenagers.
It's an entertaining little film, but I've seen better.
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"Man About Town"
starring: Ben Affleck, Rebecca Romijn, John Cleese, Sam Ball, Mike Binder, Gina Gershon, Erica Cerra, Adam Goldberg, Howard Hesseman, Bai Ling, Jerry O'Connell, Kal Penn, Amber Valletta
written and directed by: Mike Binder
Here we're given the plight of a Hollywood agent; that age-old character of moral corruption and hopelessness that turns up every month in lazy scripts. Like his contemporaries, Binder clings to the idea of an agent as the everyday man with everyday problems. Hogwash. All it really allows is for Binder to cook up inside Hollywood jokes about the industry and the talent fishing process that only the coasts will find appealing.
And that's where the film heads into familiar territory (re: Jerry Maguire-esque agent-with-a-conscience) about the self-introspection, which comes in an even more cliche form of Giamoro taking a writing course in which he has to journal write.
It's hard to really pin the blame on any one individual for this film's failure, because it just never really gets off the ground, nor should it really have ever been greenlit.
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"The Watcher"
starring: Erin Cahill, Edi Gathegi, Denise Crosby, Riley Baron, Kevin Daniels
written and directed by: Ryan Rothmaier
You guys, Lifetime makes horror films! Really?!?!
Emma (Cahill) and Noah (Gathegi) are a married couple who have just bought a new home. A nice big house in a nice quiet neighborhood, albeit with some neighbors who give them weird looks here and there. The house was on the cheaper side of the housing market, but that's because there was a death in it. Cheap is cheap. A house is a house, though.
There are strange deliveries. There are strange noises. Strange notes, some delivered via a dead animal, start to show up. The notes inform the couple that they are being watched.
Who is watching them?
The Raven.
Who is the Raven? And does it have anything to do with a huge black raven that the local neighborhood boy, Mickey (Riley Baron), claims to have seen near the house? You’ll have to watch the movie to find out…
Or not, and don't worry about it.
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"Coin Heist"
starring: Alexis G. Zall, Jay Walker, Craig Walker, David W. Thompson, Alex Saxon, Sasha Pieterse, Shoba Narayan, Justin Mark, Alex Maizus, Sage Kirwan, Slate Holmgren, Amy Hohn, Will Denton, Zach Broussard, Elijah Boothe, Mark Blum, Peter Benson, Blanche Baker
written and directed by: Emily Hagins
So, Netflix, when the company keeps churning out "original" programming like shows and movies (this one for example), they are clearly going to have plenty of hits and plenty of misses. This one was a "miss" for me, as it tried a little too hard to combine all that we love about John Hughes' films and good old-fashioned heist/caper films (the only trouble here is that the thieves are teenagers, well-to-do teenagers, at that.
After the principal of an exclusive prep school is arrested for embezzling the institute’s endowment, all of the extracurricular activities are cancelled. In an attempt to save the school, an unlikely group of students – perfect student Dakota (Sasha Pieterse), computer nerd Alice (Alexis G. Zall), athlete Benny (Jay Walker), and slacker Jason (Alex Saxon) – band together to rob the US Mint.
At the start of the plan, Jason speaks about watching a dozen heist films by way of preparation, including a brief onscreen reference to The Bank Job. Rather than copy those films, Hagins rejects many of their stylistic cues and looks more directly to John Hughes for inspiration.
Sure, the characters are likable, played well by the actors who seem to fit their roles nicely. But, the writing is what lacked here for me. There was very little substance.
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"Waking Ned Devine"
starring: Ian Bannen, David Kelly, Fionnula Flanagan, Susan Lynch, James Nesbitt, Fintan McKeown
written and directed by: Kirk Jones
This is a near-perfect film from Ireland about a small town, Tullymore, and the people who make up the town and their relationships to each other through the revelation that one of them has won the National Lottery grand prize (re: a lot of money, especially for these small town people). When no one comes forward to claim the prize at the town dinner (who has those these days?!?), they discover that one old man has not shown up. Ned Devine. So, they intend to investigate.
This is a delightful village comedy that can only be successful if each of the characters play well, individually and collectively. And thanks to the acting, they accomplish their goal. They are all likable.
The question is: Is stealing 6.8 pounds from the lottery wicked or not?
Spend the film with these characters and decide for yourself. This is a great film, from 1998, nonetheless.
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"I Love You, Phillip Morris"
starring: Jim Carrey, Ewen McGregor, Leslie Mann, Rodrigo Santoro, Antoni Corone, Brennan Brown, Michael Mandell, Annie Golden, David Jensen
written and directed by: Glenn Ficarra and John Requa
Okay, this is a film brought to you by the same guys responsible for "Bad Santa," so as long as you know that and can brace yourself for the over-the-top gayness portrayed by Jim Carrey and Ewen McGregor (but mostly Jim Carrey, in his most overacting, dramatic role yet, which is hard to believe given his career).
Loosely based on the outrageous life and incarcerated times of Texan con artist Steven Jay Russell, I Love You Phillip Morris is every bit as strange as its subject matter. It's something of a comeback vehicle for Carrey, although the film struggles to find a tone somewhere between outright farce and redemptive gay love story played straight.
As it is, Russell's convoluted life is puzzling enough; adding less-than-nuanced layers of Carrey's incessant mugging to the character only complicates matters. Carrey plays Russell as a borderline sociopath and liar who has an ever-ready, aw-shucks grin and the scruples of a born predator. Introducing us to his world via an unnecessary voiceover narration, Russell begins the film as a Houston cop who is married and has children and a seriously intense religious life. After a quick change of profession, Russell becomes involved in a subplot about tracking down his birth mother, but that goes nowhere fast. Next comes some early, testing-the-waters insurance fraud. Then Russell's life changes – or, rather, is revealed to be a sham – after he's T-boned in an automobile accident while on the way home from an extramarital one-nighter with a gay hookup. Declaring his newly acquired lust for the good, gay life to the attending EMTs and then breaking the news to his wife (Mann), Russell decamps to South Beach, where he discovers, as that irksome narration reveals, "being gay is expensive. Russell's far, far-beyond-his-means lifestyle quickly attracts the unwanted attention of both the local and Texas authorities, and voilà, he's Huntsville-bound. There he meets the titular Phillip Morris (McGregor), a shy, unassumingly gay boy-toy who instantly falls for this charming man. The pair’s eventual release, further fascinating fraudulent activities, and silly hijinks ensue.
The trouble is in determining just what exactly this film is and what it is about and what it wants to be. One thing is for sure, it is way too damn confusing to be enjoyable.
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"Not Another Happy Ending"
starring: Karen Gillian, Stanley Weber, Iain DeCaestecker, Gary Lewis, Henry Ian Cusick, Freya Mavor, Kate Dickie, Amy Manson
written by: David Solomon
directed by: John McKay
Here is a great indie rom-com of sorts from Scotland. Set in Glasgow and focusing on a perky, naive, new novelist named Jane Lockhart (played so damn well by Karen Gillan, yup, you guessed it, my new crush!), who falls out with her handsome, Franco-Scottish independent publisher Tom Duval (Stanley Weber) after he changes the title of her memoir from "The Endless Anguish of my Father" to "Happy Endings." Hmm, as a writer, I can see why she would be upset, amiright!?! But, apparently, publishers know best because the book becomes a booming success and thus forcing Tom to push Jane to produce her contracted second book, but she has come down with a serious case of writer's block.
Tom decides that Jane – who has recently reunited with her father (Gary Lewis) and is shacked up with smarmy writer Willie (Henry Ian Cusick) – needs to be unhappy in order to write, so he sets out to unblock her by making her miserable, aided by his friend and flatmate Roddy (Iain De Caestecker). Meanwhile, as if Jane didn't already have enough to deal with, she starts hallucinating that her main character (Amy Manson) has come to life and is nagging her about the book's ending.
This is a near-perfect film in every single aspect, for me. And it depends a lot on Karen Gillan's skills, but also on the chemistry between her and Weber.
Gillan delivers a charming and likeable performance as Jane; as well as a winning way with a sarcastic one-liner, she also displays a gift for physical comedy, particularly during an amusing Austin Powers-inspired scene where she's unexpectedly in front of Tom. There's also inspired comic support from De Caestecker (who steals every scene as hapless schoolteacher Roddy) and Cusick is on top slimy form as Willie, while Manson is good fun as walking talking hallucination ‘Darsie’.
Not Another Happy Ending’s script duly ticks all the requisite romcom boxes (and boy, does director McKay love a montage) but it does at least deliver some decent jokes in the process. The film also makes strong use of its Glasgow setting and its Scottishness is further trumpeted with a selection of songs by Scottish singer-songwriters on the soundtrack.
Watch this film!
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"Like Sunday, Like Rain"
starring: Julian Shatkin, Olga Merediz, Debra Messing, Leighton Meester, Georgia Ximenes Lifsher, Alfredo Narciso, Billie Joe Armstrong, Darcy Fowler
written and directed by: Frank Whaley
The trouble with this indie film about coming to terms with who you are and where you're from is that the two main characters share an age gap that just makes it hard to believe they can relate to each other. Eleanor (Meester) is a seemingly twenty-something girl from a "white-trash" upbringing and Reggie (Shatkin) is a twelve year-old boy from the upper-class 1%.
Leighton Meester plays Eleanor, a woman trying to get back on her feet after losing her waitressing job and breaking up with her boyfriend (a surprise appearance by Green Day frontman, Billie Joe Armstrong in a very small role). She eventually takes a job as a nanny for a wealthy single mother's son, Reggie (Julian Shatkin), a lonely child prodigy who speaks and behaves more like an adult. Their growing and increasingly off-putting relationship ultimately becomes director Frank Whaley's sole focus, and any political subtext implying a bridge between social standings becomes a casualty of the film's limited scope. Despite all the supposed goodwill Whaley wrings out of Eleanor and Reggie's mutually spirit-enriching friendship, the film evinces a perpetual streak of cynicism. Both the upper- and lower-class milieus from which Reggie and Eleanor originate, respectively, are presented as soulless hellholes populated with either vapid or resentful people concerned only with themselves. Whaley never gives these characters a humanizing moment outside of their default personalities, which turns them into cartoon impressions of the worst of each class (hostile world-hating for Eleanor's family, stoic unfriendliness for Reggie's).
It is suggested that the characters share a disillusionment for their upbringings that thus find solace in each other, but it seems that Reggie, as young as he is, ends up teaching Eleanor more about life than she does for him. Luckily, there is not anything sexually suggested in their friendship, so it's not creepy that they get along so well and find solace in each other's company, having connected over their love for music (perhaps that's why Eleanor took up with a musician as her boyfriend).
But, this film falls flat from the start, even with decent performances by both main actors.
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"Ashby"
starring: Mickey Rourke, Nat Wolff, Sarah Silverman, Emma Roberts, Kevin Dunn, Zachary Knighton, Michael Lerner, John Enos III, Steve Coulter
written and directed by: Tony McNamara
"Ashby" starts off like most schoolyard coming-of-age story’s as our main character Ed Wallis (Nat Wolff) arrives at a new town and attempts to fit in at school. When called upon by his teacher on the first day, Ed reveals his extensive knowledge of Ernest Hemingway—instantly earning him nerd status among his classmates. It’s an exaggerated classroom setting for sure, one where chants from the football team can happen at any moment and homosexual slurs are said aloud in front of the teacher. But it does get across the stereotypical slacker personalities of the upcoming Generation Z. In an effort to encourage students to take a break from narcissism, the teacher assigns the class to interview an “old person” and write a 2,000-word report on them. And just so happens that Ed moved in right next door to an older gentleman.
It turns out that Ed is neighbors with a dry-witted crackpot named Ashby (Mickey Rourke) who enjoys drinking and smoking by himself. Ashby is reluctant to answer any of Ed’s questions at first, but maybe because he sees a little of himself in the young kid, the crotchety old man slowly opens up. Ed soon discovers Ashby is a retired CIA assassin with nearly a 100 kills credited to his name, and by driving him around to various locations, he unknowingly gets caught up in the middle of Ashby’s assassin life.
The problem with this film is that it tries to combine two very different narratives into one cohesive storyline. In one narrative, there's an older man trying to absolve himself of his sins from the past and overcome his wrongdoings before he dies. And in the other narrative, there the teenage boy trying to build enough courage to stand up for himself (and to get/keep the girl he's interested in).
And then, there's the underdeveloped, otherwise noted Manic Pixie Dream Girl, Eloise, played by Emma Roberts, who is kind of left out and seemingly forgotten about halfway through, as she is introduced as the girl studying football players and the impact on the brain of taking hits. And also, Sarah Silverman's role as Ed's sexually active/recently divorced mother, is underdeveloped. This is clearly a case of a male writer not knowing how to write women and how to fit them into the story well enough, so we just get introductions and glimpses here and there, as they are clearly vehicles for the male characters in the story.
This is an interesting film, but there's better ones out there.
starring: Michael Seater, Emily Meade, Bo Burnham, Brian Petsos, Ben McKenzie, Gillian Jacobs, Jeff Garlin, Tim Blake Nelson
written by: Christopher Storer
directed by: Billy Federighi
This was a film that was "okay" because it was clearly borrowing some of its good elements from better films, and it was rather clear that the filmmakers had seen Wes Anderson's "Rushmore" a few too many times. It's got some decent characters and a pretty decent soundtrack, but it's the story that seems to lack substance, in my opinion. It's another one of those coming-of-age stories with an outcast/wallflower type of character looking to find himself through interactions with others.
Brian (Michael Seater) is on a scholarship among well-to-do kids., and mom's away trying to get over dad's death. Like all kids of his age, sex is pretty much all he thinks about, but, he isn't getting a chance to act on his crush for the lovely Suzie (Emily Meade). He's always kept busy lending out his unlikely passion-wagon, known to all as the "Sin Bin." This has made him popular among his friends, but one in particular takes him under his wing. The tall, slim, camp figure of smooth-talking Tony (played brilliantly by Bo Burnham), who tries to help him with his virginity problem, but at the cost of premium-time usage of the messy van. Tony has two girls on the go, but, one is the focus of Brian's affection, none other than Suzie, which eventually causes problems.
Emily Meade is the Manic Pixie Dream Girl here and she plays the role rather well. All the characters, major and minor are perfect in the roles. This is a good, entertaining film, as long as you don't mind the humor at times and can handle teenagers and their coming-of-age stories. I know some people think it's a genre of film that is played out and exhausted, but it never gets old for me.
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"Roger Corman's Death Race 2050"
starring: Manu Bennett, Malcolm McDowell, Marci Miller, Burt Grinstead, Folake Olowofoyeku, Anessa Ramsey, Yancy Butler, Charlie Farrell, Shanna Olson, D.C. Douglas
written and directed by: G.J. Echternkamp
This is one of those fun, post-apocalyptic and dystopian films that actually has something to say, if you get past the overt silliness of hte characters and plot. It's smart writing.
The year is 2050. In the desolate world that is The United Corporations of America, which is overseen by The Chairman (Malcolm McDowell), most citizens don't work. Instead, they sit at home and experience things through VR. The most popular event in this world is the Death Race, a competition where drivers travel cross-country, earning points by running over pedestrians. Frankenstein (Manu Bennett), the reigning champion, is a fan-favorite, not only because he's a winner, but due to the mystery created by the fact that he wears a mask. The other drivers in the latest race are; Minerva (Folake Olowofoyeku), a rapper with an urban flare; Jed Perfectus (Burt Grinstead), a genetically engineered superman; Tammy (Anessa Ramsey), a cult leader; and Abe (voiced by D.C. Douglas), a self-driving car. Frankenstein, being a loner, has no interest in getting to know his new in-car companion, Annie (Marci Miller). As the race begins, it becomes obvious that there are forces working against Frankenstein, and winning may take a backseat to surviving.
It's a remake of the original from Roger Corman in 1975 (originally titled Death Race 2000, because that seemed like a good time period back then for what the "future" may be), and here Corman is back to produce the remake, perhaps to make sure it sort of holds true to the original, but also so he can add his own flair.
Aside from the many strides that film technology has made over the years since the original which allows this version to be far more visually stimulating to the viewer, it's filled with eccentric characters, played very well by the actors.
Everyone lives in a state of besotted numbness, waking up only to clamor for blood at the big race. Malcolm McDowell is the fey president, a cross between Donald Trump (hair jokes), and a straight Elton John. First props in the great over-acting school of classic drive-in fare goes to foam-at-the-mouth Burt Grinstead, channeling the spirit of Dick Rude in REPO MAN as a closeted 'perfect male' and Anessa Ramsey as the fundamentalist Christian maniac Tammy ("All hail Saint Elvis Presley!"). She plays her deranged cult leader like a true force of crazy nature she'd be right at home in FASTER PUSSSYCAT, KILL KILL, as would Yancy Butler as the leader of the resistance. Folake Olowofoyeku as an African American woman driver who pedals her vaporwave single (Drive! Drive! Kill! Kill!") while racing across redneck stretches of this post-Trump wasteland of a nation by day, and by night quietly confessing her dad is a history chair at Columbia; another car is driven by an AI computer (who promptly has an identity crisis) with the navigator a Ballard-CRASH style hedonist (Shanna Olsen); there's also sweet Marci Miller as Frankenstein's right hand woman (and a rebel assassin) and as Frankenstein himself is played by New Zealand male Manu Bennett.
The characters are enough of a reason to watch this absolutely delightfully extravagant film.
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"Good Kids"
starring: Zoey Deutch, Nicholas Braun, Mateo Arias, Israel Broussard, Ashley Judd, Demian Bichir, David Coussins, Tasie Lawrence, Dayo Okeniyi, Julia Garner, Kevin Chapman, Virginia Gardner, Stephanie Fantauzzi
written and directed by: Chris McCoy
Here's another coming-of-age film/story, this time bogging down the story by focusing on four main characters instead of simply focusing on just one, which makes it hard to focus your attention or empathy, as you are constantly jostled around from one character's story to another's.
It's another film borrowing from the far more mainstream and successful films of its kind (re: American Pie) especially with the intended gross-out gags and even the sex-with-older-women side business.
The story revolves around 4 high school graduates and overachivers who feel like because they were so focused on accomplishing their goals did not necessarily get to "live" their high school years, so they are determined to pack it all in during their last summer together before heading off to college.
It’s graduation day for high school students Nora (Zoey Deutch), Andy (Nicholas Braun), Spice (Israel Broussard), and Lion (Mateo Arias), and the outsiders are mourning the loss of their prime socializing years. Committing to a “summer of yes,” the gang comes up with a plan to indulge as many forbidden experiences as possible before college comes to claim them. Andy becomes a favorite tennis instructor at an elite country club when he begins to accept money for sex, romancing all the lonely wives. Nora catches the eye of a much older co-worker, embarking on a courtship that becomes a little too real for the 18-year-old woman. Spice tries to secure a one-night stand, using his culinary skills to attract the opposite sex. And Lion is a karate instructor who falls in love with drugs, using the season to expand his mind.
Writer/director McCoy sets the stage right away for these characters' easy and predictable arc of enlightenment, but the trouble is establishing any kind of empathy on the viewers part for any of the four characters, which is key in any film.
It definitely has some decent parts to it, the writing can be smart and sharp at times, but it often falls for the stereotyping and cliche as an easy fallback. The characters present themselves as more selfish than enlightened, which is hard to understand, but then again, they are teenagers.
It's an entertaining little film, but I've seen better.
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"Man About Town"
starring: Ben Affleck, Rebecca Romijn, John Cleese, Sam Ball, Mike Binder, Gina Gershon, Erica Cerra, Adam Goldberg, Howard Hesseman, Bai Ling, Jerry O'Connell, Kal Penn, Amber Valletta
written and directed by: Mike Binder
Here's a film that sat on the shelf for a few years, thanks in large part to Ben Affleck's career taking a nose-dive off a cliff after "Jersey Girl" and his short-lived romance/marriage to Jennifer Lopez. I mean, it also doesn't help that this film is filled with a lot of cliche crap, which is really disappointing given that the filmmaker, Binder, is responsible for a great indie film "The Upside of Anger."
Jack Giamoro (Ben Affleck) is a television writer agent starting to feel the pinch of discontentment with his life. With his marriage (Rebecca Romijn) falling apart, his co-workers (Mike Binder, Kal Penn, and Gina Gershon) pushing him to swallow his problems, and his ailing father (Howard Hesseman) reminding him of life's fragility, Jack escapes to a weekly journal writing course to help find needed perspective. Easing into a new headspace, Jack is horrified when his journal is stolen by a vindictive newspaper reporter (Bai Ling) who threatens to spill his secrets.
Here we're given the plight of a Hollywood agent; that age-old character of moral corruption and hopelessness that turns up every month in lazy scripts. Like his contemporaries, Binder clings to the idea of an agent as the everyday man with everyday problems. Hogwash. All it really allows is for Binder to cook up inside Hollywood jokes about the industry and the talent fishing process that only the coasts will find appealing.
And that's where the film heads into familiar territory (re: Jerry Maguire-esque agent-with-a-conscience) about the self-introspection, which comes in an even more cliche form of Giamoro taking a writing course in which he has to journal write.
It's hard to really pin the blame on any one individual for this film's failure, because it just never really gets off the ground, nor should it really have ever been greenlit.
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"The Watcher"
starring: Erin Cahill, Edi Gathegi, Denise Crosby, Riley Baron, Kevin Daniels
written and directed by: Ryan Rothmaier
You guys, Lifetime makes horror films! Really?!?!
Emma (Cahill) and Noah (Gathegi) are a married couple who have just bought a new home. A nice big house in a nice quiet neighborhood, albeit with some neighbors who give them weird looks here and there. The house was on the cheaper side of the housing market, but that's because there was a death in it. Cheap is cheap. A house is a house, though.
There are strange deliveries. There are strange noises. Strange notes, some delivered via a dead animal, start to show up. The notes inform the couple that they are being watched.
Who is watching them?
The Raven.
Who is the Raven? And does it have anything to do with a huge black raven that the local neighborhood boy, Mickey (Riley Baron), claims to have seen near the house? You’ll have to watch the movie to find out…
Or not, and don't worry about it.
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"Coin Heist"
starring: Alexis G. Zall, Jay Walker, Craig Walker, David W. Thompson, Alex Saxon, Sasha Pieterse, Shoba Narayan, Justin Mark, Alex Maizus, Sage Kirwan, Slate Holmgren, Amy Hohn, Will Denton, Zach Broussard, Elijah Boothe, Mark Blum, Peter Benson, Blanche Baker
written and directed by: Emily Hagins
So, Netflix, when the company keeps churning out "original" programming like shows and movies (this one for example), they are clearly going to have plenty of hits and plenty of misses. This one was a "miss" for me, as it tried a little too hard to combine all that we love about John Hughes' films and good old-fashioned heist/caper films (the only trouble here is that the thieves are teenagers, well-to-do teenagers, at that.
After the principal of an exclusive prep school is arrested for embezzling the institute’s endowment, all of the extracurricular activities are cancelled. In an attempt to save the school, an unlikely group of students – perfect student Dakota (Sasha Pieterse), computer nerd Alice (Alexis G. Zall), athlete Benny (Jay Walker), and slacker Jason (Alex Saxon) – band together to rob the US Mint.
At the start of the plan, Jason speaks about watching a dozen heist films by way of preparation, including a brief onscreen reference to The Bank Job. Rather than copy those films, Hagins rejects many of their stylistic cues and looks more directly to John Hughes for inspiration.
Sure, the characters are likable, played well by the actors who seem to fit their roles nicely. But, the writing is what lacked here for me. There was very little substance.
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"Waking Ned Devine"
starring: Ian Bannen, David Kelly, Fionnula Flanagan, Susan Lynch, James Nesbitt, Fintan McKeown
written and directed by: Kirk Jones
This is a near-perfect film from Ireland about a small town, Tullymore, and the people who make up the town and their relationships to each other through the revelation that one of them has won the National Lottery grand prize (re: a lot of money, especially for these small town people). When no one comes forward to claim the prize at the town dinner (who has those these days?!?), they discover that one old man has not shown up. Ned Devine. So, they intend to investigate.
Jackie O'Shea (Ian Bannen) and Michael O'Sullivan (David Kelly) hasten to Ned's cottage, to find him seated in front of the television set, clutching the winning ticket--and dead. The winnings, they are astounded to learn, are not several hundred thousand pounds, as they had assumed, but nearly 7 million pounds. A fortune! Alas, since Ned Devine is dead, the money will be recycled back into the kitty for next week's drawing.
Right? Not on your life. Jackie and Michael hatch a plan to fool the visiting official from Dublin, who after all has never laid eyes on Ned in his life (few have, outside of Tullymore). Michael will impersonate Ned. The whole town will of course have to be in on the scheme, and so Jackie and Michael draw up an agreement in which their friends and neighbors will join in the deception and share in the prize.
This is a delightful village comedy that can only be successful if each of the characters play well, individually and collectively. And thanks to the acting, they accomplish their goal. They are all likable.
There is, for example, the mean-spirited Lizzy Quinn (Eileen Dromey) who tools around on her battery-powered chair, scowling and spreading ill will. Contrast her with the hard-working Pig Finn (James Nesbitt), a handsome young pig farmer who loves Maggie (Susan Lynch). She loves him, too, but not the way he smells. Either the pigs go or she does.
And there is the substitute village priest (Dermot Kerrigan), filling in during the regular's vacation, who has solemn talks about theology with bright young Maurice (Robert Hickey), who says of a life devoted to the Lord: "I don't think I could work for someone I never met." The treasure of the local population is Michael O'Sullivan, who is played by David Kelly in what can only be described as a performance arriving at the ultimate reaches of geezerdom. Kelly, with his twinkling eyes and turkey neck, is engaging, conspiratorial and delighted by all things not too wicked.
The question is: Is stealing 6.8 pounds from the lottery wicked or not?
Spend the film with these characters and decide for yourself. This is a great film, from 1998, nonetheless.
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"I Love You, Phillip Morris"
starring: Jim Carrey, Ewen McGregor, Leslie Mann, Rodrigo Santoro, Antoni Corone, Brennan Brown, Michael Mandell, Annie Golden, David Jensen
written and directed by: Glenn Ficarra and John Requa
Okay, this is a film brought to you by the same guys responsible for "Bad Santa," so as long as you know that and can brace yourself for the over-the-top gayness portrayed by Jim Carrey and Ewen McGregor (but mostly Jim Carrey, in his most overacting, dramatic role yet, which is hard to believe given his career).
Loosely based on the outrageous life and incarcerated times of Texan con artist Steven Jay Russell, I Love You Phillip Morris is every bit as strange as its subject matter. It's something of a comeback vehicle for Carrey, although the film struggles to find a tone somewhere between outright farce and redemptive gay love story played straight.
As it is, Russell's convoluted life is puzzling enough; adding less-than-nuanced layers of Carrey's incessant mugging to the character only complicates matters. Carrey plays Russell as a borderline sociopath and liar who has an ever-ready, aw-shucks grin and the scruples of a born predator. Introducing us to his world via an unnecessary voiceover narration, Russell begins the film as a Houston cop who is married and has children and a seriously intense religious life. After a quick change of profession, Russell becomes involved in a subplot about tracking down his birth mother, but that goes nowhere fast. Next comes some early, testing-the-waters insurance fraud. Then Russell's life changes – or, rather, is revealed to be a sham – after he's T-boned in an automobile accident while on the way home from an extramarital one-nighter with a gay hookup. Declaring his newly acquired lust for the good, gay life to the attending EMTs and then breaking the news to his wife (Mann), Russell decamps to South Beach, where he discovers, as that irksome narration reveals, "being gay is expensive. Russell's far, far-beyond-his-means lifestyle quickly attracts the unwanted attention of both the local and Texas authorities, and voilà, he's Huntsville-bound. There he meets the titular Phillip Morris (McGregor), a shy, unassumingly gay boy-toy who instantly falls for this charming man. The pair’s eventual release, further fascinating fraudulent activities, and silly hijinks ensue.
The trouble is in determining just what exactly this film is and what it is about and what it wants to be. One thing is for sure, it is way too damn confusing to be enjoyable.
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"Not Another Happy Ending"
starring: Karen Gillian, Stanley Weber, Iain DeCaestecker, Gary Lewis, Henry Ian Cusick, Freya Mavor, Kate Dickie, Amy Manson
written by: David Solomon
directed by: John McKay
Here is a great indie rom-com of sorts from Scotland. Set in Glasgow and focusing on a perky, naive, new novelist named Jane Lockhart (played so damn well by Karen Gillan, yup, you guessed it, my new crush!), who falls out with her handsome, Franco-Scottish independent publisher Tom Duval (Stanley Weber) after he changes the title of her memoir from "The Endless Anguish of my Father" to "Happy Endings." Hmm, as a writer, I can see why she would be upset, amiright!?! But, apparently, publishers know best because the book becomes a booming success and thus forcing Tom to push Jane to produce her contracted second book, but she has come down with a serious case of writer's block.
Tom decides that Jane – who has recently reunited with her father (Gary Lewis) and is shacked up with smarmy writer Willie (Henry Ian Cusick) – needs to be unhappy in order to write, so he sets out to unblock her by making her miserable, aided by his friend and flatmate Roddy (Iain De Caestecker). Meanwhile, as if Jane didn't already have enough to deal with, she starts hallucinating that her main character (Amy Manson) has come to life and is nagging her about the book's ending.
This is a near-perfect film in every single aspect, for me. And it depends a lot on Karen Gillan's skills, but also on the chemistry between her and Weber.
Gillan delivers a charming and likeable performance as Jane; as well as a winning way with a sarcastic one-liner, she also displays a gift for physical comedy, particularly during an amusing Austin Powers-inspired scene where she's unexpectedly in front of Tom. There's also inspired comic support from De Caestecker (who steals every scene as hapless schoolteacher Roddy) and Cusick is on top slimy form as Willie, while Manson is good fun as walking talking hallucination ‘Darsie’.
Not Another Happy Ending’s script duly ticks all the requisite romcom boxes (and boy, does director McKay love a montage) but it does at least deliver some decent jokes in the process. The film also makes strong use of its Glasgow setting and its Scottishness is further trumpeted with a selection of songs by Scottish singer-songwriters on the soundtrack.
Watch this film!
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"Like Sunday, Like Rain"
starring: Julian Shatkin, Olga Merediz, Debra Messing, Leighton Meester, Georgia Ximenes Lifsher, Alfredo Narciso, Billie Joe Armstrong, Darcy Fowler
written and directed by: Frank Whaley
The trouble with this indie film about coming to terms with who you are and where you're from is that the two main characters share an age gap that just makes it hard to believe they can relate to each other. Eleanor (Meester) is a seemingly twenty-something girl from a "white-trash" upbringing and Reggie (Shatkin) is a twelve year-old boy from the upper-class 1%.
Leighton Meester plays Eleanor, a woman trying to get back on her feet after losing her waitressing job and breaking up with her boyfriend (a surprise appearance by Green Day frontman, Billie Joe Armstrong in a very small role). She eventually takes a job as a nanny for a wealthy single mother's son, Reggie (Julian Shatkin), a lonely child prodigy who speaks and behaves more like an adult. Their growing and increasingly off-putting relationship ultimately becomes director Frank Whaley's sole focus, and any political subtext implying a bridge between social standings becomes a casualty of the film's limited scope. Despite all the supposed goodwill Whaley wrings out of Eleanor and Reggie's mutually spirit-enriching friendship, the film evinces a perpetual streak of cynicism. Both the upper- and lower-class milieus from which Reggie and Eleanor originate, respectively, are presented as soulless hellholes populated with either vapid or resentful people concerned only with themselves. Whaley never gives these characters a humanizing moment outside of their default personalities, which turns them into cartoon impressions of the worst of each class (hostile world-hating for Eleanor's family, stoic unfriendliness for Reggie's).
It is suggested that the characters share a disillusionment for their upbringings that thus find solace in each other, but it seems that Reggie, as young as he is, ends up teaching Eleanor more about life than she does for him. Luckily, there is not anything sexually suggested in their friendship, so it's not creepy that they get along so well and find solace in each other's company, having connected over their love for music (perhaps that's why Eleanor took up with a musician as her boyfriend).
But, this film falls flat from the start, even with decent performances by both main actors.
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"Ashby"
starring: Mickey Rourke, Nat Wolff, Sarah Silverman, Emma Roberts, Kevin Dunn, Zachary Knighton, Michael Lerner, John Enos III, Steve Coulter
written and directed by: Tony McNamara
"Ashby" starts off like most schoolyard coming-of-age story’s as our main character Ed Wallis (Nat Wolff) arrives at a new town and attempts to fit in at school. When called upon by his teacher on the first day, Ed reveals his extensive knowledge of Ernest Hemingway—instantly earning him nerd status among his classmates. It’s an exaggerated classroom setting for sure, one where chants from the football team can happen at any moment and homosexual slurs are said aloud in front of the teacher. But it does get across the stereotypical slacker personalities of the upcoming Generation Z. In an effort to encourage students to take a break from narcissism, the teacher assigns the class to interview an “old person” and write a 2,000-word report on them. And just so happens that Ed moved in right next door to an older gentleman.
It turns out that Ed is neighbors with a dry-witted crackpot named Ashby (Mickey Rourke) who enjoys drinking and smoking by himself. Ashby is reluctant to answer any of Ed’s questions at first, but maybe because he sees a little of himself in the young kid, the crotchety old man slowly opens up. Ed soon discovers Ashby is a retired CIA assassin with nearly a 100 kills credited to his name, and by driving him around to various locations, he unknowingly gets caught up in the middle of Ashby’s assassin life.
The problem with this film is that it tries to combine two very different narratives into one cohesive storyline. In one narrative, there's an older man trying to absolve himself of his sins from the past and overcome his wrongdoings before he dies. And in the other narrative, there the teenage boy trying to build enough courage to stand up for himself (and to get/keep the girl he's interested in).
And then, there's the underdeveloped, otherwise noted Manic Pixie Dream Girl, Eloise, played by Emma Roberts, who is kind of left out and seemingly forgotten about halfway through, as she is introduced as the girl studying football players and the impact on the brain of taking hits. And also, Sarah Silverman's role as Ed's sexually active/recently divorced mother, is underdeveloped. This is clearly a case of a male writer not knowing how to write women and how to fit them into the story well enough, so we just get introductions and glimpses here and there, as they are clearly vehicles for the male characters in the story.
This is an interesting film, but there's better ones out there.
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