Films, Films, Films, Films
"God's Pocket"
starring: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Christina Hendricks, Eddie Marsan, Caleb Landry Jones, Jack O'Connell, Bill Buell, Rebecca Kling, Domenick Lombardozzi, John Turturro, Molly Price, Eddie McGee
written by: Alex Metcalf (Peter Dexter, novel)
directed by: John Slattery
This reminds me of films like "The Town" or "Gone Baby Gone" or "Mystic River" in the sense that those were films about 'small' Boston towns and the place that it was and the people within that place. Here, with "God's Pocket" we get a study of neighborhood life and its people within a Philadelphia neighborhood that's become poor, working-class and depressed. It's also John Slattery's directorial debut (known most notably for his starring role in the show Mad Men). Here, he takes on the role of being behind the camera to present us with a dark and rather hopeless story of the neighborhood and its seedy people. It's a community whose residents may come and go but nothing ever really changes, and nobody trusts outsiders to the community.
Philip Seymour Hoffman plays a low level criminal (in his last role before his untimely death) as Mickey Scarpato, who is loved by everyone in the neighborhood even though he's only been there for 17 years, thanks to being married to Jeanie (an underused Christina Hendricks).
The voiceover we hear over the opening sequence belongs to the alcoholic newspaper columnist Richard Shellburn (Jenkins), who’s been writing about this neighborhood for the last 20 years – though, in truth, he does more drinking than writing these days. The film opens at a funeral, and then flashes back to the preceding three days to reveal the events that led to this moment. The kid being put to rest (Jones) was a rotten piece of work, who appears not to be missed by anyone other than his mother Jeanie. Yet his death in a “workplace accident” isn’t especially plausible either. Mickey just wants to come up with the cash needed to pay for the funeral that’s being arranged by the mortician Smilin’ Jack (Marsan), but one scheme after another leaves him more flat broke than he was before. By his side through it all is his friend Bird (Turturro), who’s in heavy debt to some serious gangsters.
The only flaw with a film like this is that there are far too many characters, even though the story and filmmaker try to focus our attention on one or two main characters, its all of them that have stories to tell, and even the town itself becomes a character, telling its story through the people. Your focus gets lost in the shuffle from one to the other. P.S. Hoffman is excellent in this final role, for sure, and you are drawn to him when he's on screen.
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"When Animals Dream"
starring: Sonia Suhl, Lars Mikkelsen, Sonja Richter, Jakob Oftebro, Mads Riisom, Stig Hoffmeyer, Esben Dalgaard, Gustav Giese
written by: Rasmus Birch
directed by: Jonas Alexander Arnby
Something is wrong with Marie (Sonia Suhl), a slim beauty who lives as one of only a handful of women in a small, rustic fishing village that appears to be stuck somewhere in the early 1900s. Dr. Larsen (Stig Hoffmeyer) gives Marie a physical, noting a rash on her breast while considering her claims of weird itching. The physician then checks her back, asking her to stretch out, and seems to fail to find whatever malady for which they both appear to be looking. There's a compelling implication of complicity in these early scenes from When Animals Dream, which is clearly a horror film in which most of the characters are already apprised of whatever supernatural rules will dictate the narrative.
I have really grown to love and appreciate foreign horror films because they are slow-burners that really take their time, developing both the story and the characters, while leaving things for the audience to piece together, from what's been left out. There are obvious themes of isolation and and bitterness towards society in horror films (like this one).
Marie is the monster or animal in question, and that's very apparent from the beginning scenes in the doctor's office. Something will happen to her. She will gradually transform, and it is this transformation that takes place throughout the film that we witness, a transformation into a non-traditional monster with lots of symbolism and sexual tension. The film seems to be about the sexual politics of Marie's culture which lead to her transformation and how she views herself as well as her status in where she lives.
I enjoyed this film a lot.
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"Syrup"
starring: Amber Heard, Shiloh Fernandez, Kellan Lutz, Brittany Snow,
written by: Max Barry
directed by: Aram Rappaport
This is one of those surprise, good films that I have found on Netflix thanks to my obsession with finding hidden, indie films.
When slacker business school graduate Scat (Shiloh Fernandez) comes up with an idea for a new energy drink, he tricks his way into meeting Six (Amber Heard), a cutthroat business executive. He arranges a deal with Six, but quickly learns that everybody is willing to stab him in the back to steal it, including his roommate Sneaky Pete (Kellan Lutz). With his great idea gone, Scat is left with nothing, until Six comes back to him for help. This moment begins their odd professional, and personal, relationship.
The script is done so well, it almost plays off like a brilliant long commercial or marketing pitch that you are watching. Scat is the main character, but it's Amber Heard's Six and her performance that really steals the film. She is just so enthralling to watch, with her sexual energy and her smarts. She is equal parts smart, sexy, cruel, yet kind and funny. The relationship that develops between Scat and Six seems a bit contrived and solely as a vehicle to offer breaks in the fast-paced dialogue, that it is almost a bit of a distraction from the rest of the marketing story going on. It's a story about climbing the ladder, no matter who you step on in the process and it works really well.
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"Crazy Kind of Love"
starring: Virginia Madsen, Graham Rogers, Amanda Crew, Zach Gilford, Sam Trammell, Madeline Zima, Kristoffer Winters, Anthony LaPaglia, Aly Michalka, Lin Shaye, Eva Longoria
written by: Karen McCullah
directed by: Sarah Siegel-Magness
With a film like this, you expect it to fall flat on its face thanks to all the cliches it sort of lends itself to falling victim to. It's rather predictable as a story, from start to finish, with a few cliches sprinkled throughout it all, especially the dialogue. But, that being said, it also has a bit of charm within it, and that is thanks in large part to the beautiful, cute, sexy girl-next-door Amanda Crew (who looks like a dead-ringer for a younger version of Lauren Graham). I fell in love with her almost immediately upon seeing her in this film. She plays the outspoken, extremely bubbly (but not in an annoying way) confidant Bette, who quickly becomes Henry's (Graham Rogers) live-in girlfriend. She dances along the fine thin line of being another Manic Pixie Dream Girl, but the way Amanda Crew plays her, just barely helps avoid this cliche.
Augusta (Virginia Madsen) has just been left by husband Gordie (Anthony LaPaglia), and is now having a mild breakdown, so doesn't leave her room for weeks. Her sons Henry (Graham Rogers) and Matthew (Zach Gilford), are pretty much useless, having their own problems to keep them occupied, but an unexpected person enters their lives, forcing them to deal with their problems head-on, and not bottle them all up, as they've been doing up to now.
It's a decent film worth the running length of your time.
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"Bare"
starring: Dianna Agron, Paz de la Huerte, Chris Zylka, Louisa Krause, Mary Price Moore, Alexandra Roxo, Lora Martinez-Cunningham, Travis Hammer, Kelley Lewallan
written and directed by: Natalia Leite
Remember and recall the film about the female coming-of-age, self-discovery journey and escape from the ennui of life as she knows it, where she is, for what it is-- found in the film "Echo Park," which centered in the California hipster neighborhood of the same name.
Well, here we have another female character, built and written rather strongly, in Sarah (played well by Dianna Argon, perhaps trying to escape being typecast as the peppy cheerleader/singer from the show "Glee"-- and let me say, you can't possibly get further away from typecast by playing a stripper). Sarah is languishing in the Nevada desert town she grew up in, amongst her high school friends, including her boyfriend, Haden, and best friend. Sarah quickly discovers she has outgrown everyone and her hometown, she is looking for something more out of life. She gets caught stealing from her grocery store job, almost as if she wants to, in order to find an excuse to leave. Her father has an all-but abandoned thrift shop that she seems to frequently visit; and upon visiting it again, she finds a beautiful drifter named Pepper (Paz) asleep on the couch in the shop.
Played by de la Huerta with her trademark, spaced-out brand of cool, Pepper becomes the agent for Sarah's rebirth, and Sarah, ready to shed all shackles of banality, says yes to every one of Pepper's propositions. The first is a simple road trip to Reno, where Pepper hustles a man in blackjack and steals his money, and the clincher is a nighttime getaway, where the two gals pop peyote and make love in the glow of a pickup's headlights. Sarah soaks all of this in as if it were life-giving vapor, begins making wild moves of her own, and Leite dutifully follows her on her id-driven journey. It's hard to recall a recent film that's felt like such a slave to its protagonist's will. There's no wind-up, for instance, to Sarah's entry into the seedy strip club where Pepper provides the girls with drugs. She strolls through the divey, neon-lit space, and her confused haze is palpable. She creeps into a dressing room and is inexplicably welcomed. She says yes to a bump of coke, lets a stripper paint her with eye shadow, and within moments, she's on a pole—phase one of a stealth side gig that may just fund a future with the Thelma to her Louise.
The film's climax seems to betray the journey we've followed Sarah on, and brings everything rather predictably to a close. But, the saving grace found in the fact that it still allows Sarah to be in the driver's seat where she can say "no" thanks to the empowerment she received from this stranger she met, who showed her it's okay to live without fear, to live rather recklessly and with a sense of abandonment.
It was a really good film, especially as a vehicle for Dianna Argon
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"The Motel Life"
starring: Garrett Backstrom, Emile Hirsch, Stephen Dorff, Doc Divecchio, Nancy Youngblut, Dakota Fanning, Jenica Bergere, Joshua Leonard, Kris Kristofferson, Noah Harpster
written by: Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster
directed by: Alan Gabe Polsky
The story follows two down-on-their-luck brothers, Frank (Emile Hirsch) and Jerry Lee (Stephen Dorff), who've been on their own since their mother's death. A couple of drunks, they reside in a fleabag motel in downtown Reno, where they work odd jobs and gamble away what little money they make. One snowy night, Jerry Lee barges in on a sleeping Frank and explains that he's just run over and killed a young boy. They hightail it out of town, but eventually wind up back in Reno, where Jerry Lee attempts suicide, leaving him hospitalized. Meanwhile, Frank devises a plan for him and his brother to skip town for good, hoping to stop by nearby Elko to reconnect with his long-lost love, Annie (Dakota Fanning).
This film is far too overdone and lacks the depth the two brothers and main characters seem to have within themselves. Since it's also a novel, I'd love to read it and see if it plays out better in my own mind, especially because nothing is too memorable. It's an artsy indie film, splicing in seemingly graphic novel illustrations throughout the film, telling a story that Emile Hirsch's character is telling his brother, while he is laid up in the hospital, recovering from losing a leg. It all seems to play itself out like a film version of a long Bukowski poem. And it just did not work for me, and failed to grab my interest and attention.
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"Pretend We're Kissing"
starring: Dov Tiefenbach, Tommie-Amber Pirie, Zoe Kravitz
written and directed by: Matt Sadowski
Here's a debut film that's everything indie and rom-com you can expect from a quirky rumination on love and relationships, albeit a bit weird at times, too.
After catching a come-hither look from a comely female, Benny bumps into her a few days later. It seems downright providential, especially since Jordan (Tommie-Amber Pirie), the young woman in question, believes that true love has a sort of mystical quality. Benny’s got trouble on the home front, a flower child of a roommate who literally won’t leave due to a belief that she’s agoraphobic. That doesn’t stop Autumn (Zoë Kravitz) from demonstrating free love to whoever of either gender decides to share her bed or to lounge around in her birthday suit.
Dov Teifenbach is clearly channeling his inner, younger Woody Allen in his portrayal of Benny. And Tommie-Amber Pirie is working to fight against the Manic Pixie Dream Girl and be someone more substantial to the both Benny and the film. She is equal parts flighty and direct, rational and capricious, as well as a meaningful character with issues of her own to work through.
I enjoyed this film for what it was, but that's just because I thoroughly enjoy this type of film.
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"The Beast of Xmoor"
starring: Melia Kreiling, Olivia Popica, Nick Blood, Mark Bonnar, Simone Kirby, Sophie Harkness, James Lecky
written and directed by: Luke Hyams
This certainly was not the kind of film I was expecting when I decided to watch it. It plays itself off as another one of those "found footage" films, this one about a mysterious beast in the woods of England that is killing woman, and it seems to have a type. It's an urban legend of this beast that brings American documentary filmmakers and couple- Georgia and Matt- to England, to hopefully capture this beast on film and thus capture the reward of 25,000 pounds. Their guide for the adventure is an elusive guy by the name of Fox who is an enigmatic tracker who has armed himself with a machine gun.
When the group sets up camp in the woods, they discover dead bodies of woman who turn out to not be the victims of this elusive beast, because their hands are tied together with ropes and knots. Instead, now we discover along with the characters that there is a serial killer in these woods stalking them and waiting to pounce on their prey.
It quickly becomes more of a cat-and-mouse slasher type film with the strong female character seemingly set to come out the victor. Quite an unexpected turn in the film, which means the film goes through the motions rapidly in order to come to its climax and conclusion, which makes things predictable for the viewer, when it becomes more about a serial killer amongst them in the woods.
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"We Are Still Here"
starring: Barbara Crampton, Andrew Sensenig, Lisa Marie, Larry Fessenden, Monte Markham, Susan Gibney, Guy Gane, Elissa Downing
written and directed by: Ted Geoghegan
Now this is the type of horror film/supernatural film that is gold. It pays homage to the 1970s/1980s films while offering up its own genuine thrills. It could be a straight-up horror film or a tongue-in-cheek homage.
A rare horror exercise whose characters are nearly all well into middle age, “We Are Still Here” introduces the Sacchettis as they drive toward their new home in upstate New York in the dead of winter. Both are grieving the recent loss of their only child, Bobby, in a car accident, but hope the move will provide some distance from that tragedy for Anne (Barbara Crampton, “Re-Animator”) in particular, who’s clearly suffering from major depression. To the dismay of her husband, Paul (Andrew Sensenig), however, she immediately claims to feel Bobby’s “presence” in their new digs. But then, offering another possible explanation for that perception of restless spirits are their neighbors Dave (Monte Markham) and Cat (Connie Neer), who drop by to introduce themselves one night. Before abruptly departing, Dave spills lore about the very old house’s earliest days, when it was operated as a funeral home by a family that met a tragic end at the hands of angry townspeople. Hinting at dark incidents that have plagued occupants ever since, Dave smirks, “It’s been 30 years since we’ve had fresh souls in this house.” Needless to say, it eventually emerges that the house requires fresh souls to consume every, oh, 30 years or so. At first, only Anne notices poltergeist-type disturbances around the ramshackle 110-year-old structure, but even Dave can’t deny the pervasive smoky smell or inexplicably high temperatures in the creepy cellar. The latter complaints bring a visit by an electrician (Marvin Patterson) whose unnoticed demise is the first and scariest here. Showing up soon afterward to offer the Sacchettis moral support are Jacob (Larry Fessenden) and May (Lisa Marie), aging hippies who are a bit left-field for Paul’s taste. But while Paul rolls eyes at Jacob’s unreconstructed stonerdom, Anne wants to tap May’s alleged psychic abilities to figure out just what is going on in the house.
I loved this horror film for everything that it is and claims itself to be. It might not scare you to death, and it might not make you laugh (at it), but it will certainly entertain you.
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"Amorous"
starring: Josh O'Connor, Hannah Arterton, Rea Mole, Daniel Metz, Joe Banks
written and directed by: Joanna Coates
You know how Lena Dunham's character's in "Girls" on HBO seem to exist in this vacuum that only they can screw up for themselves, given their privileged lives that no matter how much they screw up, their lives will not be any different? Well, here we have a British version of characters like that. A foursome who decide to create their own happiness, away from the rest of the world, a world that bothers them.
Charlotte (Hannah Arterton), Max (Josh O’Connor), Jack (Daniel Metz) and Leah (Rea Mole) have chosen to abandon the modern world of London in order to develop a utopian commune in the secluded English countryside. Sublimely uninterested in what is going on in the world around them, they foster a place in which imagination takes precedence over societal rules. As an expression of their newfound freedom, the foursome establishes a polyamorous lifestyle in an effort to breakdown interpersonal boundaries while also avoiding any romantic connections that might tear the commune apart.
It's all a practice of existentialism as they wrestle with each other and themselves, seeking to know themselves through each other and to discover true happiness. They want to be free of the moral guidelines and everyday stress that they believe people put upon themselves. They want to create their own norms and beliefs. They want to exist equally and cooperatively, within their own commune, but we all know how that works, when you mix in egos and the idea of power dynamics, especially when you throw into the mix, freedom of sex. The film then becomes more of a psychological study of natural human behavior.
For Charlotte, Max, Jack and Leah, the world outside their protective bubble is a hopeless place. Rather than trying to fix something that is too far gone, they have opted to start their own form of existence in the hope that the rest of the world will just leave them alone. Of course that is assuming that the evils of the world around them will not encroach upon their paradise.
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"Chloe and Theo"
starring: Dakota Johnson, Theo Ikummaq, Ashley Springer, Andre DeShields, Mira Sorvino, Jessica Andersen, Christopher Backus
written and directed by: Ezna Sands
Whoever keeps giving Dakota Johnson work needs to stop! From "Fifty Shades of Grey" to "How to be Single" to this film, it is more and more apparent that she is not a good actress. Perhaps she is getting work through who her parents happen to be (Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith), but regardless, she keeps proving to me that she is not a good actress, or the material she's been given to be the lead in just is not good. Maybe that's it, maybe she's not meant to be a lead actress. I'm just not buying it from her.
Theo (played by Theo Ikummaq) is an Intuit in the Arctic, where the landscape and icescape are receding. With a vision that some day the sun will melt all, he is sent by his community to let "elders" in the South know that something must be done. When he arrives in New York and checks into a place to sleep, he has no idea where the elders are or how to contact them. While on the street, a homeless woman, Chloe (Dakota Johnson) befriends him, takes him to her secret abode that is shared with several others, but soon he offers his aboveground pad for them. They design a plan for the group to go to the UN so he can present his case, but they are arrested for unlawful entry. Committed activist Monica (Mira Sorvino) shows up to bail them out and soon finds an organization that will give Theo a platform to articulate his message, which is more eloquent because he is an Intuit personified. Theo offers quite a commentary on the everyday waste of energy by New Yorkers, including climbing more than sixty flights of stairs to visit the organization with his sponsor and his homeless friends rather than taking the elevator.
starring: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Christina Hendricks, Eddie Marsan, Caleb Landry Jones, Jack O'Connell, Bill Buell, Rebecca Kling, Domenick Lombardozzi, John Turturro, Molly Price, Eddie McGee
written by: Alex Metcalf (Peter Dexter, novel)
directed by: John Slattery
This reminds me of films like "The Town" or "Gone Baby Gone" or "Mystic River" in the sense that those were films about 'small' Boston towns and the place that it was and the people within that place. Here, with "God's Pocket" we get a study of neighborhood life and its people within a Philadelphia neighborhood that's become poor, working-class and depressed. It's also John Slattery's directorial debut (known most notably for his starring role in the show Mad Men). Here, he takes on the role of being behind the camera to present us with a dark and rather hopeless story of the neighborhood and its seedy people. It's a community whose residents may come and go but nothing ever really changes, and nobody trusts outsiders to the community.
Philip Seymour Hoffman plays a low level criminal (in his last role before his untimely death) as Mickey Scarpato, who is loved by everyone in the neighborhood even though he's only been there for 17 years, thanks to being married to Jeanie (an underused Christina Hendricks).
The voiceover we hear over the opening sequence belongs to the alcoholic newspaper columnist Richard Shellburn (Jenkins), who’s been writing about this neighborhood for the last 20 years – though, in truth, he does more drinking than writing these days. The film opens at a funeral, and then flashes back to the preceding three days to reveal the events that led to this moment. The kid being put to rest (Jones) was a rotten piece of work, who appears not to be missed by anyone other than his mother Jeanie. Yet his death in a “workplace accident” isn’t especially plausible either. Mickey just wants to come up with the cash needed to pay for the funeral that’s being arranged by the mortician Smilin’ Jack (Marsan), but one scheme after another leaves him more flat broke than he was before. By his side through it all is his friend Bird (Turturro), who’s in heavy debt to some serious gangsters.
The only flaw with a film like this is that there are far too many characters, even though the story and filmmaker try to focus our attention on one or two main characters, its all of them that have stories to tell, and even the town itself becomes a character, telling its story through the people. Your focus gets lost in the shuffle from one to the other. P.S. Hoffman is excellent in this final role, for sure, and you are drawn to him when he's on screen.
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"When Animals Dream"
starring: Sonia Suhl, Lars Mikkelsen, Sonja Richter, Jakob Oftebro, Mads Riisom, Stig Hoffmeyer, Esben Dalgaard, Gustav Giese
written by: Rasmus Birch
directed by: Jonas Alexander Arnby
Something is wrong with Marie (Sonia Suhl), a slim beauty who lives as one of only a handful of women in a small, rustic fishing village that appears to be stuck somewhere in the early 1900s. Dr. Larsen (Stig Hoffmeyer) gives Marie a physical, noting a rash on her breast while considering her claims of weird itching. The physician then checks her back, asking her to stretch out, and seems to fail to find whatever malady for which they both appear to be looking. There's a compelling implication of complicity in these early scenes from When Animals Dream, which is clearly a horror film in which most of the characters are already apprised of whatever supernatural rules will dictate the narrative.
I have really grown to love and appreciate foreign horror films because they are slow-burners that really take their time, developing both the story and the characters, while leaving things for the audience to piece together, from what's been left out. There are obvious themes of isolation and and bitterness towards society in horror films (like this one).
Marie is the monster or animal in question, and that's very apparent from the beginning scenes in the doctor's office. Something will happen to her. She will gradually transform, and it is this transformation that takes place throughout the film that we witness, a transformation into a non-traditional monster with lots of symbolism and sexual tension. The film seems to be about the sexual politics of Marie's culture which lead to her transformation and how she views herself as well as her status in where she lives.
I enjoyed this film a lot.
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"Syrup"
starring: Amber Heard, Shiloh Fernandez, Kellan Lutz, Brittany Snow,
written by: Max Barry
directed by: Aram Rappaport
This is one of those surprise, good films that I have found on Netflix thanks to my obsession with finding hidden, indie films.
When slacker business school graduate Scat (Shiloh Fernandez) comes up with an idea for a new energy drink, he tricks his way into meeting Six (Amber Heard), a cutthroat business executive. He arranges a deal with Six, but quickly learns that everybody is willing to stab him in the back to steal it, including his roommate Sneaky Pete (Kellan Lutz). With his great idea gone, Scat is left with nothing, until Six comes back to him for help. This moment begins their odd professional, and personal, relationship.
The script is done so well, it almost plays off like a brilliant long commercial or marketing pitch that you are watching. Scat is the main character, but it's Amber Heard's Six and her performance that really steals the film. She is just so enthralling to watch, with her sexual energy and her smarts. She is equal parts smart, sexy, cruel, yet kind and funny. The relationship that develops between Scat and Six seems a bit contrived and solely as a vehicle to offer breaks in the fast-paced dialogue, that it is almost a bit of a distraction from the rest of the marketing story going on. It's a story about climbing the ladder, no matter who you step on in the process and it works really well.
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"Crazy Kind of Love"
starring: Virginia Madsen, Graham Rogers, Amanda Crew, Zach Gilford, Sam Trammell, Madeline Zima, Kristoffer Winters, Anthony LaPaglia, Aly Michalka, Lin Shaye, Eva Longoria
written by: Karen McCullah
directed by: Sarah Siegel-Magness
With a film like this, you expect it to fall flat on its face thanks to all the cliches it sort of lends itself to falling victim to. It's rather predictable as a story, from start to finish, with a few cliches sprinkled throughout it all, especially the dialogue. But, that being said, it also has a bit of charm within it, and that is thanks in large part to the beautiful, cute, sexy girl-next-door Amanda Crew (who looks like a dead-ringer for a younger version of Lauren Graham). I fell in love with her almost immediately upon seeing her in this film. She plays the outspoken, extremely bubbly (but not in an annoying way) confidant Bette, who quickly becomes Henry's (Graham Rogers) live-in girlfriend. She dances along the fine thin line of being another Manic Pixie Dream Girl, but the way Amanda Crew plays her, just barely helps avoid this cliche.
Augusta (Virginia Madsen) has just been left by husband Gordie (Anthony LaPaglia), and is now having a mild breakdown, so doesn't leave her room for weeks. Her sons Henry (Graham Rogers) and Matthew (Zach Gilford), are pretty much useless, having their own problems to keep them occupied, but an unexpected person enters their lives, forcing them to deal with their problems head-on, and not bottle them all up, as they've been doing up to now.
It's a decent film worth the running length of your time.
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"Bare"
starring: Dianna Agron, Paz de la Huerte, Chris Zylka, Louisa Krause, Mary Price Moore, Alexandra Roxo, Lora Martinez-Cunningham, Travis Hammer, Kelley Lewallan
written and directed by: Natalia Leite
Remember and recall the film about the female coming-of-age, self-discovery journey and escape from the ennui of life as she knows it, where she is, for what it is-- found in the film "Echo Park," which centered in the California hipster neighborhood of the same name.
Well, here we have another female character, built and written rather strongly, in Sarah (played well by Dianna Argon, perhaps trying to escape being typecast as the peppy cheerleader/singer from the show "Glee"-- and let me say, you can't possibly get further away from typecast by playing a stripper). Sarah is languishing in the Nevada desert town she grew up in, amongst her high school friends, including her boyfriend, Haden, and best friend. Sarah quickly discovers she has outgrown everyone and her hometown, she is looking for something more out of life. She gets caught stealing from her grocery store job, almost as if she wants to, in order to find an excuse to leave. Her father has an all-but abandoned thrift shop that she seems to frequently visit; and upon visiting it again, she finds a beautiful drifter named Pepper (Paz) asleep on the couch in the shop.
Played by de la Huerta with her trademark, spaced-out brand of cool, Pepper becomes the agent for Sarah's rebirth, and Sarah, ready to shed all shackles of banality, says yes to every one of Pepper's propositions. The first is a simple road trip to Reno, where Pepper hustles a man in blackjack and steals his money, and the clincher is a nighttime getaway, where the two gals pop peyote and make love in the glow of a pickup's headlights. Sarah soaks all of this in as if it were life-giving vapor, begins making wild moves of her own, and Leite dutifully follows her on her id-driven journey. It's hard to recall a recent film that's felt like such a slave to its protagonist's will. There's no wind-up, for instance, to Sarah's entry into the seedy strip club where Pepper provides the girls with drugs. She strolls through the divey, neon-lit space, and her confused haze is palpable. She creeps into a dressing room and is inexplicably welcomed. She says yes to a bump of coke, lets a stripper paint her with eye shadow, and within moments, she's on a pole—phase one of a stealth side gig that may just fund a future with the Thelma to her Louise.
The film's climax seems to betray the journey we've followed Sarah on, and brings everything rather predictably to a close. But, the saving grace found in the fact that it still allows Sarah to be in the driver's seat where she can say "no" thanks to the empowerment she received from this stranger she met, who showed her it's okay to live without fear, to live rather recklessly and with a sense of abandonment.
It was a really good film, especially as a vehicle for Dianna Argon
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"The Motel Life"
starring: Garrett Backstrom, Emile Hirsch, Stephen Dorff, Doc Divecchio, Nancy Youngblut, Dakota Fanning, Jenica Bergere, Joshua Leonard, Kris Kristofferson, Noah Harpster
written by: Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster
directed by: Alan Gabe Polsky
The story follows two down-on-their-luck brothers, Frank (Emile Hirsch) and Jerry Lee (Stephen Dorff), who've been on their own since their mother's death. A couple of drunks, they reside in a fleabag motel in downtown Reno, where they work odd jobs and gamble away what little money they make. One snowy night, Jerry Lee barges in on a sleeping Frank and explains that he's just run over and killed a young boy. They hightail it out of town, but eventually wind up back in Reno, where Jerry Lee attempts suicide, leaving him hospitalized. Meanwhile, Frank devises a plan for him and his brother to skip town for good, hoping to stop by nearby Elko to reconnect with his long-lost love, Annie (Dakota Fanning).
This film is far too overdone and lacks the depth the two brothers and main characters seem to have within themselves. Since it's also a novel, I'd love to read it and see if it plays out better in my own mind, especially because nothing is too memorable. It's an artsy indie film, splicing in seemingly graphic novel illustrations throughout the film, telling a story that Emile Hirsch's character is telling his brother, while he is laid up in the hospital, recovering from losing a leg. It all seems to play itself out like a film version of a long Bukowski poem. And it just did not work for me, and failed to grab my interest and attention.
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"Pretend We're Kissing"
starring: Dov Tiefenbach, Tommie-Amber Pirie, Zoe Kravitz
written and directed by: Matt Sadowski
Here's a debut film that's everything indie and rom-com you can expect from a quirky rumination on love and relationships, albeit a bit weird at times, too.
After catching a come-hither look from a comely female, Benny bumps into her a few days later. It seems downright providential, especially since Jordan (Tommie-Amber Pirie), the young woman in question, believes that true love has a sort of mystical quality. Benny’s got trouble on the home front, a flower child of a roommate who literally won’t leave due to a belief that she’s agoraphobic. That doesn’t stop Autumn (Zoë Kravitz) from demonstrating free love to whoever of either gender decides to share her bed or to lounge around in her birthday suit.
Dov Teifenbach is clearly channeling his inner, younger Woody Allen in his portrayal of Benny. And Tommie-Amber Pirie is working to fight against the Manic Pixie Dream Girl and be someone more substantial to the both Benny and the film. She is equal parts flighty and direct, rational and capricious, as well as a meaningful character with issues of her own to work through.
I enjoyed this film for what it was, but that's just because I thoroughly enjoy this type of film.
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"The Beast of Xmoor"
starring: Melia Kreiling, Olivia Popica, Nick Blood, Mark Bonnar, Simone Kirby, Sophie Harkness, James Lecky
written and directed by: Luke Hyams
This certainly was not the kind of film I was expecting when I decided to watch it. It plays itself off as another one of those "found footage" films, this one about a mysterious beast in the woods of England that is killing woman, and it seems to have a type. It's an urban legend of this beast that brings American documentary filmmakers and couple- Georgia and Matt- to England, to hopefully capture this beast on film and thus capture the reward of 25,000 pounds. Their guide for the adventure is an elusive guy by the name of Fox who is an enigmatic tracker who has armed himself with a machine gun.
When the group sets up camp in the woods, they discover dead bodies of woman who turn out to not be the victims of this elusive beast, because their hands are tied together with ropes and knots. Instead, now we discover along with the characters that there is a serial killer in these woods stalking them and waiting to pounce on their prey.
It quickly becomes more of a cat-and-mouse slasher type film with the strong female character seemingly set to come out the victor. Quite an unexpected turn in the film, which means the film goes through the motions rapidly in order to come to its climax and conclusion, which makes things predictable for the viewer, when it becomes more about a serial killer amongst them in the woods.
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"We Are Still Here"
starring: Barbara Crampton, Andrew Sensenig, Lisa Marie, Larry Fessenden, Monte Markham, Susan Gibney, Guy Gane, Elissa Downing
written and directed by: Ted Geoghegan
Now this is the type of horror film/supernatural film that is gold. It pays homage to the 1970s/1980s films while offering up its own genuine thrills. It could be a straight-up horror film or a tongue-in-cheek homage.
A rare horror exercise whose characters are nearly all well into middle age, “We Are Still Here” introduces the Sacchettis as they drive toward their new home in upstate New York in the dead of winter. Both are grieving the recent loss of their only child, Bobby, in a car accident, but hope the move will provide some distance from that tragedy for Anne (Barbara Crampton, “Re-Animator”) in particular, who’s clearly suffering from major depression. To the dismay of her husband, Paul (Andrew Sensenig), however, she immediately claims to feel Bobby’s “presence” in their new digs. But then, offering another possible explanation for that perception of restless spirits are their neighbors Dave (Monte Markham) and Cat (Connie Neer), who drop by to introduce themselves one night. Before abruptly departing, Dave spills lore about the very old house’s earliest days, when it was operated as a funeral home by a family that met a tragic end at the hands of angry townspeople. Hinting at dark incidents that have plagued occupants ever since, Dave smirks, “It’s been 30 years since we’ve had fresh souls in this house.” Needless to say, it eventually emerges that the house requires fresh souls to consume every, oh, 30 years or so. At first, only Anne notices poltergeist-type disturbances around the ramshackle 110-year-old structure, but even Dave can’t deny the pervasive smoky smell or inexplicably high temperatures in the creepy cellar. The latter complaints bring a visit by an electrician (Marvin Patterson) whose unnoticed demise is the first and scariest here. Showing up soon afterward to offer the Sacchettis moral support are Jacob (Larry Fessenden) and May (Lisa Marie), aging hippies who are a bit left-field for Paul’s taste. But while Paul rolls eyes at Jacob’s unreconstructed stonerdom, Anne wants to tap May’s alleged psychic abilities to figure out just what is going on in the house.
I loved this horror film for everything that it is and claims itself to be. It might not scare you to death, and it might not make you laugh (at it), but it will certainly entertain you.
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"Amorous"
starring: Josh O'Connor, Hannah Arterton, Rea Mole, Daniel Metz, Joe Banks
written and directed by: Joanna Coates
You know how Lena Dunham's character's in "Girls" on HBO seem to exist in this vacuum that only they can screw up for themselves, given their privileged lives that no matter how much they screw up, their lives will not be any different? Well, here we have a British version of characters like that. A foursome who decide to create their own happiness, away from the rest of the world, a world that bothers them.
Charlotte (Hannah Arterton), Max (Josh O’Connor), Jack (Daniel Metz) and Leah (Rea Mole) have chosen to abandon the modern world of London in order to develop a utopian commune in the secluded English countryside. Sublimely uninterested in what is going on in the world around them, they foster a place in which imagination takes precedence over societal rules. As an expression of their newfound freedom, the foursome establishes a polyamorous lifestyle in an effort to breakdown interpersonal boundaries while also avoiding any romantic connections that might tear the commune apart.
It's all a practice of existentialism as they wrestle with each other and themselves, seeking to know themselves through each other and to discover true happiness. They want to be free of the moral guidelines and everyday stress that they believe people put upon themselves. They want to create their own norms and beliefs. They want to exist equally and cooperatively, within their own commune, but we all know how that works, when you mix in egos and the idea of power dynamics, especially when you throw into the mix, freedom of sex. The film then becomes more of a psychological study of natural human behavior.
For Charlotte, Max, Jack and Leah, the world outside their protective bubble is a hopeless place. Rather than trying to fix something that is too far gone, they have opted to start their own form of existence in the hope that the rest of the world will just leave them alone. Of course that is assuming that the evils of the world around them will not encroach upon their paradise.
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"Chloe and Theo"
starring: Dakota Johnson, Theo Ikummaq, Ashley Springer, Andre DeShields, Mira Sorvino, Jessica Andersen, Christopher Backus
written and directed by: Ezna Sands
Whoever keeps giving Dakota Johnson work needs to stop! From "Fifty Shades of Grey" to "How to be Single" to this film, it is more and more apparent that she is not a good actress. Perhaps she is getting work through who her parents happen to be (Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith), but regardless, she keeps proving to me that she is not a good actress, or the material she's been given to be the lead in just is not good. Maybe that's it, maybe she's not meant to be a lead actress. I'm just not buying it from her.
Theo (played by Theo Ikummaq) is an Intuit in the Arctic, where the landscape and icescape are receding. With a vision that some day the sun will melt all, he is sent by his community to let "elders" in the South know that something must be done. When he arrives in New York and checks into a place to sleep, he has no idea where the elders are or how to contact them. While on the street, a homeless woman, Chloe (Dakota Johnson) befriends him, takes him to her secret abode that is shared with several others, but soon he offers his aboveground pad for them. They design a plan for the group to go to the UN so he can present his case, but they are arrested for unlawful entry. Committed activist Monica (Mira Sorvino) shows up to bail them out and soon finds an organization that will give Theo a platform to articulate his message, which is more eloquent because he is an Intuit personified. Theo offers quite a commentary on the everyday waste of energy by New Yorkers, including climbing more than sixty flights of stairs to visit the organization with his sponsor and his homeless friends rather than taking the elevator.
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