First Glance: “The Quarry”

March 19, 2020 by Keith Garlington

There is so much anxiety in the world at the moment. But for some of us it’s good to know movies are still being announced. It’s a nice diversion from the worry and stress. The South by Southwest film festival was cancelled and several notable movies missed their world premieres. One was “The Quarry”, a mystery thriller starring Shea Whigham, Michael Shannon, and Catalina Sandino Moreno. That cast alone was enough for me.

The movie’s trailer dropped last week and it looks promising. Shannon plays a small town police chief who begins to suspect a new preacher (Whigham) isn’t who he claims to be. In addition to the cast I love the setting and the trailer builds a good sense of suspense. This could be a tense, fun southern noir.

“The Quarry” is set for an April 17th release in select theaters (maybe) and on-demand. Check out the trailer below and let me know if you’ll be seeing it or taking a pass.

REVIEW: “Tread” (2020)

March 18, 2020 by Keith Garlington

“Sometimes reasonable men must do unreasonable things.” Those words were written in 2004 by Marvin Heemeyer and found several days after he went on a bulldozer rampage through a small Colorado town. For obvious reasons the story caught national attention but only for a short time. President Ronald Reagan died the very next day, quickly stealing the headlines. Meanwhile the locals were left trying to make sense out of what had happened.

“Tread” is a fascinating documentary from Paul Solet that examines the lead-up and eventual wave of destruction in Granby, Colorado. The story is constructed through a combination of interviews, reenactments, camcorder footage, and actually audio from cassette recordings Heemeyer left behind. Solet gives plenty of attention to the genesis of Heemeyer’s rage and carefully uncoils the motivations behind the “job” he believed God had asked him do.

Through a sly and absorbing story structure Solet begins by playing with our sympathies. The film makes a compelling case that Heemeyer was a victim of “good ol’ boy” small town politics. In interviews friends portray him as a fun-loving, larger-than-life guy. A friendly, self-made man who loved snowboarding and had a knack for welding and working on engines.

Heemeyer was from South Dakota but stationed in Colorado while serving in the Air Force. He liked it so much that he stayed, buying a home in Granby and a two acre spot of land where he built a muffler shop. He earned the reputation of being a fine citizen and a hard worker. But things soured when Heemeyer’s business was annexed into the sewer district. The local board informed him that he was not only required to connect to the town’s sewer lines, but to pay to run the lines himself. Something that would cost up to $80,000. It set in motion a series of conflicts between Heemeyer and those in power who he felt were trying to squeeze him out.

PHOTO: Gravitas Ventures

But then Solet takes an interesting turn and begins considering the disputes from different points of view, particularly from the city officials and businessmen who were involved. They each paint a much different picture of the situations which led to the bad blood. The new perspectives instantly challenge our sympathies. It muddies the waters and the reliability of Heemeyer’s narration is suddenly called into question. The same audio tapes that first put us on his side suddenly become full of self-justification for the horrible act he was preparing for.

Heemeyer purchased a Komatsu D55A bulldozer and for a year worked in secret to turn it into a tank, reinforced with steel and concrete. It was impenetrable and June 4, 2004, Marvin Heemeyer sealed himself in and set out to destroy select targets around Granby. From there Solet’s film takes yet another form. You would think you were suddenly watching a grindhouse thriller except for the real camcorder footage that injects it with reality. Solet keeps us glued to the screen as this unbelievable rampage plays out.

“Tread” is thoroughly compelling filmmaking; a documentary just as interested in the buildup as the notorious headline-making act. It may start slow for some, but even those early moments offer a fuller picture of Marvin Heemeyer and his ultimately beef with Granby, Colorado. And by the time we get to his destructive warpath we practically feel like citizens ourselves.

VERDICT – 4 STARS

REVIEW: “The Hunt” (2020)

March 17, 2020 by Keith Garlington

For the sake of clarity, this is not a review of 2012’s “The Hunt”, the superb Danish drama starring Mads Mikkelsen (you can find that review HERE. No, instead this is the 2020 one, you know the self-proclaimed “most talked about movie of the year“. In reality the self-hype is wildly exaggerated. To be honest, I don’t know anyone who is talking about this movie. But I guess you grab publicity wherever you can.

Actually “The Hunt” did have a few people talking late last year when right-leaning critics denounced the movie’s portrayal of rich liberal elites hunting conservatives for sport. Much like the pro-incel nonsense hurled at “Joker”, this too was baseless outrage. But it went away quick, especially after the film was shelved following a pair of deadly mass shootings.

PHOTO: Universal Pictures

But now it’s back, finally receiving its big screen release. It turns out “The Hunt” isn’t a movie worth fussing over. In fact it’s pretty bad, sometimes in a good way but most often not. It’s definitely not the movie the political heads painted it as. It also isn’t nearly as clever or insightful as it desperately wants to be. At times it’s weirdly entertaining and laugh-out-loud funny. But it’s mostly a vulgar mush of satirical comedy and graphic grindhouse gore. And any message it might have is all but lost.

The story is as simple as this: a group of wealthy, big city, liberal elites (led by Hillary Swank) kidnap twelve working class “deplorables”, release them into a remote clearing, and then begin hunting them for sport. But one, a tough-as-nails military vet (Betty Gilpin), turns the table and fights back. The script is from Nick Cruse and Damon Lindelof, supposedly inspired by a 1924 short story. It more closely resembles “The Hunger Games” meets “Hard Target” but in the form of a bad Saturday Night Live sketch.

The paper-thin story builds its characters solely off of stereotypes and extremes. The idea is to poke fun at the inane division that makes up America’s current political climate. Obviously it’s a big part of the satire, but at some point you would like at least a little character depth. They try to slap some on at the end but it’s meaningless. And it doesn’t help that everyone talks like profane brain cell-challenged buffoons. I don’t know if it was an effort to ensure a hard R-rating (the exploding heads and flying viscera had that covered) or just lazy writing.

PHOTO: Universal Pictures

The film is directed by Craig Zobel and its a far cry from his last picture, 2015’s excellent “Z for Zachariah”. Here it’s hard to tell if he’s taking anything seriously or just whizzing through the motions. He does maintain a brisk pace and the film’s 90 minutes seemed to fly by. That’s a good thing because it wouldn’t take much downtime to start poking holes in the story. I think Zobel knows that so he keeps our attention diverted the best he can.

The idea at the core of “The Hunt” is a worthy one. We could certainly use a clear-eyed reminder of how toxic and sectarian our political discourse has become. I’m just not sure this is the movie to do it. The film never sells us on its convictions and often times it seems more interested in being a hyper-violent gorefest. Sure, we get gags about gun control, climate change, racial politics, immigration, and nearly every other issue of the day (I’ll admit some of them are pretty funny). But the filmmakers seem more dedicated to blood-letting than storytelling and by the end the satire is barely visible.

VERDICT – 2 STARS

REVIEW: “Bloodshot” (2020)

March 16, 2020 by Keith Garlington

I’m betting that there are a lot of moviegoers unfamiliar with the name Bloodshot. And I bet there are just as many who have never heard of Valiant Comics. It’s understandable. After all, getting noticed among such heavyweights as Marvel and DC Comics has to be a challenge for any small publisher. But Valiant has stuck around, bouncing between four different parent companies since being founded in 1989 and winning several awards along the way.

Historically, Bloodshot is one of Valiant’s most popular superheroes. He debuted in 1992 and like most comic book characters he has evolved over time. But his story has generally remained the same. Bloodshot is a former soldier who had his memory wiped and body injected with state-of-the-art nanotechnology as part of yet another super soldier program. It granted him superhuman strength, speed, and reflexes, a Wolverine-like healing factor, and the ability to hack into other tech. I’ve always liked the character but was a little surprised to see him getting the big screen treatment.

“Bloodshot” was to be the first in a five-movie deal set in the Valiant universe. It marks the feature film debut for director David S. F. Wilson from a script co-written by Jeff Wadlow and Eric Heisserer (the latter best known for penning “Arrival”). Despite my reservations and minuscule expectations, I ended up having fun with “Bloodshot”. Too bad it’s hampered by one nagging issue that shows itself early into the film and never really goes away.

Photo: Sony Pictures

Vin Diesel plays Marine Ray Garrison who would make Rambo proud on the battlefield but always looks forward to coming back to his wife Gina (Talulah Riley). But when a mission in Mombasa follows him home, both Ray and Gina are kidnapped by a mysterious psychopath and his henchmen. Ray watches as his wife is murdered then he too is killed.

He’s resurrected by Dr. Emil Harting (the always welcomed Guy Pearce), a genius techno-scientist working to create the ultimate super soldier (heard that one before). To bring Ray back the good doctor injects him with millions of nanites replacing what was once his bloodstream. And just like that Ray is imbued with superhuman strength, the power to heal within seconds, and a knack for tapping into anything electronic. The one problem – he has no past memories whatsoever.

As Ray tries to adjust he is helped by KT (Eiza González), one of several augmented soldiers working for Dr. Harting. But things get dicey once he starts having memory flashes of Gina and her murder. Obviously in a movie like this Ray wants to track down the guy who killed the woman he loved. But that’s not why he was brought back from the dead and we quickly learn Harting has more control than Ray was led to believe.

The story moves along at a fairly snappy pace and features a few pretty impressive action scenes. There are a ton of digital effects, some glaringly obvious and other times really well done. But some of the action is chopped up and made indecipherable due to furious quick cutting. It’s not constant but enough to be an annoyance. It’s maddening that filmmakers are still using this approach.

PHOTO: Sony Pictures

As for Diesel, he isn’t an actor known for having a ton of depth. You know what you’re going to get. But that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. There is a gravelly two-dimensional charm that he brings to his roles. Here he is basically Dom Torreto with nanotechnology instead of a 1970 Dodge Charger. Most of the human layers come from González who does a nice job with a good chunk of screen time. And Pearce brings gravitas but also believability to a role that could have went bad a number of different ways. And Lamorne Morris does a nice job bringing levity while not being annoying. Oh and there’s Tobey Kebbell in shorts, gym socks, and a pair of slides dancing to “Psycho Killer” by Talking Heads. It’s the nuttiest scene in the movie and I kinda loved it.

But then we get back to the one crippling issue I mentioned above. Ultimately “Bloodshot” is hurt the most by predictability. The story and where it ends is never in doubt. There is an interesting reveal around the halfway mark, but otherwise the course is obvious. Even the characters are pretty much drawn out from the very start. Most fit very familiar types and never venture off of those well-worn paths. It unfortunately robs the movie of any real suspense despite the best efforts of the cast.

From a strict critical perspective it would be hard not to pick “Bloodshot” apart. It trips over itself too often and outside of one good reveal the script hasn’t much new to offer. But I’m not going to lie, I had a good time with it. It’s intermittently clever, some of the action is cool, and I enjoyed most of the performances. “Bloodshot” is the picture of pure Hollywood escapism. And in these days of anxiety over a global pandemic, we could all use an escape.

VERDICT – 3 STARS

First Glance: “The Artist’s Wife”

March 13, 2020 by Keith Garlington

There is a certain something about movies dealing with painters that always grab my attention. Often times painters are a special breed of artists and through the decades cinema has given us numerous portraits of them. The latest film from director and co-writer Tom Dolby looks to have a unique vision into the life of a painter who happens to be the wife of a painter. That’s all I needed to hear.

“The Artist’s Wife” stars Lena Olin playing (you can probably guess) the wife of an accomplished painter. He’s played by Bruce Dern who seems pitch-perfect for this role. Olin’s character gave up her painting aspirations to support her husband’s career, but as his health deteriorates she must decide to continue supporting his work or finally seek the career she once dreamed up. The trailer gives a good look into the complexities of their relationship, one filled with love but also regret. I’m really anxious to see where this story goes.

“The Artist’s Wife” has limited engagements throughout the month of April. Check out the trailer below and let me know if you’ll be seeing it or taking a pass.

Great Images #15: Max von Sydow (1929-2020)

March 12, 2020 by Keith Garlington

The great Max von Sydow passed away this week leaving behind an incredible cinema legacy. The Swedish movie icon had an spectacular 70-year career where he appeared in over 150 films. Von Sydow died Sunday, March 8th. He was 90-years-old. Here are just a few great images from some of the memorable movies he was a part of.

What is your favorite Max von Sydow performance and film? Please take time to share your thoughts on this truly wonderful actor in the comments section below.