First Glance: “Ma” Trailer

February 20, 2019 by Keith Garlington

There seems to be a new wave of horror thrillers featuring unexpected actors or actresses playing terrorizing nutcases (more on that later in the week). I kinda like that. One of them sees (of all people) Octavia Spencer playing a small town hermit who woos teenagers to come party in her basement. She supplies the booze and the party space, but (as we see in the trailer) she’s not what you would call…stable.

The new trailer for “Ma” has dropped and it has some real potential especially with Spencer at the helm. Check it out below and let me know if you’ll be checking it out or giving it a pass.

REVIEW: “Monsters and Men”

February 20, 2019 by Keith Garlington

Of the recent wave of movies dealing with the subject of racism, one of the lesser talked about films is Reinaldo Marcus Green’s “Monsters and Men”. It premiered at Sundance 2018, was picked up for distribution by Neon, and was released in late September to very little buzz. That’s a shame because most of what we get works exceptionally well.

The movie is broken into three acts, each linked by a single incident that takes place in a Brooklyn neighborhood. The first two are the most organically connected while the third is more out on its own. It’s also the one story that is the most obvious and easily the most predictable. While the story seems ripped from the headlines, Green attempts to dig beneath them to show three unique perspectives and the impact the incident has on these three lives.

A powerful opening starts things on a strong foot. A law-abiding black man is driving through the city singing along to Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together”. For seemingly no reason blue lights flash and he’s pulled over. Director Green and his cinematographer Patrick Scola keep the camera on the driver’s face in an intense closeup that shows the boiling frustration but also the keen awareness of senseless danger. The black man is Dennis Williams (John David Washington), an off duty Brooklyn cop. We later discover it’s the sixth time he’s been pulled over in six months.

The first act centers around Manny Ortega (Anthony Ramos) who lives in his mother’s Bed-Stuy neighborhood apartment with his expecting wife and their young daughter. While on his way to meet friends he witnesses an altercation between a local fixture Darius “Big D” Larson (Samuel Edwards) and the NYPD. Darius is shot dead and Manny captures it all on his phone. Now he must decide whether to share the footage with the world or keep it to himself and protect his family.

The second act moves back to Dennis, a well-respected police officer and devoted family man. His precinct faces strong public backlash following the shooting and Dennis struggles to make sense of it all. He’s a good cop who knows first-hand the reality of racial profiling in the department but also the dangers police officers face anytime they strap on the vest. Washington gives the film’s standout performance, deeply sensitive and effortlessly charismatic.

The third act doesn’t quite pack the punch of the other two and comes across as more calculated. It’s premise is good. Zyrick (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) is a promising high school baseball prospect who has pro scouts salivating. This excites his father (the always good Rob Morgan) who sees this as his son’s ticket out of the inner city. But after the shooting of Big D, Zyrick is compelled to join a protest group and let his voice be heard. But at what cost to his bright future?

Green makes several interesting choices. First we never see the altercation between Big D and the police with our own eyes. Instead we see the reactions to the video from the film’s three key players. Perhaps most interesting is how none of the three stories have a tidy ending. Is it because we still don’t have a satisfying real-world answer? Is it to allow us to wrestle with and resolve their stories for ourselves? Either way I found it effective.

Despite losing steam in its third act, “Monsters and Men” maintains a steady sense of intimacy and relevance. Its stories feel personal and offer unique points of view on a smoldering current issue. And they’re told through several really good performances, especially from John David Washington. With only a handful of films under his acting belt, he’s already shown himself to be one of the industry’s most charismatic talents.

VERDICT – 4 STARS

REVIEW: “Cold Pursuit”

February 19, 2019 by Keith Garlington

It’s February so you know what that means – a new Liam Neeson movie. Late January and February have become synonymous with these Neeson action flicks in the vein of “Taken”, “Non-Stop”, and “The Commuter”. Not sure how that’s important but consider it information nonetheless.

Right out of the gate his new film “Cold Pursuit” has all the markings of a prototypical Neeson revenge thriller. A gravelly-voiced old-timer loses someone close to him. He then unleashes ‘a particular set of skills’ to find out who is responsible and offer up his own special brand of payback.

Nels Coxman (Neeson) spends his evenings plowing a lonely track of mountain road that connects the fictional tourist town of Kehoe to the rest of civilization. He’s a reserved fellow who lives on a hill outside of town with his wife Grace (a woefully underserved Laura Dern). Outside of helping Nels with his cufflinks, she is given nothing to do but stand in the background.

The couple’s world is shattered when they get news that their son (played by Neeson’s real world son Micheal Richardson) is found dead of an apparent heroin overdose. Grace closes herself off and Nels doesn’t want to believe it. He gets news that his son’s death is linked to a posh, health food obsessed drug lord affectionately known as Viking (Tom Bateman). Nels sets out to kill the man responsible, cutting through any henchman who is dumb enough to get in his way.

“Cold Pursuit” is director Hans Petter Moland’s remake of his own 2014 Norwegian thriller “In Order of Disappearance”. From one perspective the movie offers up plenty of what Neeson’s fans enjoy. This once unexpected action star has developed a certain gravitas that fits really well with these types of movies. I’ll admit it’s fun to watch him dole out punishment on the wicked. Here the violence can be brutal but intentionally over-the-top which (in a rather perverse way) feels right for this story.

Another plus (and a genuine surprise for me) is the healthy dose of dark comedy that is spread throughout, sometimes at the weirdest and most unexpected moments. It does throw a kink in the overall tone, but I admit to really getting a kick out of it. Some of the humor feels too out of place, but when it lands it can be pretty funny. And in some cases it’s the humor alone that salvages certain scenes hampered by some real shortcomings with the story.

One of the biggest disappointments is in how little attention Moland gives to the emotions of his characters most notably Nels. The film deals in some pretty heavy subject matter yet it only offers a couple of moments for Nels and Grace to show any hint of sorrow or pain. And as he starts offing Viking’s low-level thugs, he does so in the most detached and dispassionate way. It basically throws away the emotional weight Neeson’s character desperately needs. And as I said Laura Dern is squandered in a truly thankless role. There is a real opportunity to explore grief through them but Moland doesn’t seem at all interested in that.

Moland and writer Frank Baldwin throw in other narrative pieces that aren’t given enough attention to matter. There’s a wedged in custody battle between Viking and his ex-wife (Julia Jones). We also get a Native American drug gang that the movie seems to want to do some interesting things with but who end up serving as little more than a plot device.

So where do I land on “Cold Pursuit”? On one hand it offers up more of Neeson’s early year revenge-fueled action. Plus the unexpected dark humor adds a wacky layer that I enjoyed far more often than not. On the other hand you have the emotional blandness of the lead character and pretty much everyone else we see. They all operate at the exact same temperature. Sometimes it’s a struggle to find the humanity in anyone. And that’s without getting into the ending and the head-scratching loose ends it leaves dangling. So I land in the middle, completely aware of the movie’s sense of uniqueness but also bummed at how it misses a mark it could have easily hit.

VERDICT – 2.5 STARS

REVIEW: “Happy Death Day 2 U”

February 18, 2019 by Keith Garlington

Complete with an absurdly funny title and a crazy concept, 2017’s “Happy Death Day” was a nice little surprise. It was a waggish and off-beat horror movie that worked mainly due to it being both subversive and self-aware. It played around with several of the genre’s most familiar tropes and it did so with an ever-present tongue-in-cheek glee.

Now we get the inevitable sequel sporting an even more ridiculous title and taking the story to even more outlandish places. I say the sequel was inevitable because these meagerly budgeted horror films have proven to be a gold mine for producers like Jason Blum. The first film was made for under $5 million and made over $125 million at the box office alone. As I said, inevitable.

Jessica Rothe (now 31-years-old but still looking like a college student) returns to play Tree. The key piece from the first film, Rothe is asked to go even further here in terms of balancing the horror and comedy elements. She’s still a lot of fun to watch and is more than able to do most of the heavy lifting.

Tree and her now boyfriend Carter (a returning Israel Broussard) set out to help fellow Bayfield University student Ryan (Phi Vu) who is caught in a time loop much like the one she encountered in the first film. They link Ryan’s situation back to a quantum physics experiment fired off by him and his fellow science geek buddies. They conclude that the only way to fix things is to reenact the experiment, but in doing so Tree finds herself pulled back into her own personal “Groundhog Day” time loop. The film quickly shifts to her as she tries to figure out her predicament.

Returning director Christopher Landon (who also writes the sequel) retains the original film’s playfulness while barely keeping it within its genre. It’s weird but this barely feels like a horror movie. There are a couple of jump scares and we’re reminded that you can chew up a lot of screen time by walking slowly down hallways or through darkened rooms. But that’s about it. You could try to fit it into the slasher sub-genre but even that feels like a stretch.

“Happy Death Day 2 U” ends up barely being a horror movie, kind of a comedy, and sort of science-fiction. Its story is goofy (I like to believe intentionally so) and I’m still trying to figure out what the heck actually happened in it. But here’s the funny thing, this peculiar mashup still manages to show its audience a good time. Rothe is an absolute blast. It has a specific story thread that is surprisingly touching. And the movie embraces its goofiness just enough to keep the whole thing afloat. It’s a movie so dependent on its central conceit that I’m not sure where it can possibly go next. But even though this is a pretty fun sequel, you get the feeling they need to come up with something new if they want to keep this series fresh.

VERDICT – 3 STARS

REVIEW: “Nancy” (2018)

February 15, 2019 by Keith Garlington

The 2019 Independent Spirit Awards are just around the corner and when perusing their list of nominees I came across “Nancy”. The film received two nominations, J. Smith-Cameron for Supporting Actress and Christina Choe for Best First Screenplay. After a little digging I found myself really intrigued by the movie’s premise.

Choe also directs this tightly paced drama that first premiered at last year’s Sundance Film Festival. The story is a bit slippery and requires a steady hand and precise tone management. It could have easily careened into overcooked melodrama or downright absurdity. But Choe does a truly impressive balancing act, keeping everything together and under control. It all amounts to one knock-out debut.

Andrea Riseborough stars as the title character Nancy. She’s a young woman in her thirties who splits time working as a temp at a dentist office and caring for her overbearing mother (Ann Dowd) who has Parkinsons. In between she writes short stories and invents online personas as a way of connecting with other people. It’s the latter that she sometimes takes to far. Like ‘catfishing’ a desperate and grieving father (played by a very good John Leguizamo).

This is perfect material for Riseborough, a crafty shapeshifter of an actress who has shown a knack for transformative performances. Her Nancy is pale and disheveled, looking at the world through an ever-present vacant stare. It’s a melancholic portrayal which makes her character a tough one to read. This proves to be a big asset for the narrative especially in the film’s second half.

Mere days after her mother dies, Nancy sees a news report recounting the disappearance of a young girl named Brooke some 35 years prior. The report reveals an image of what Brooke would look like now and the resemblance to Nancy is uncanny. Seeing this, Nancy believes she may be the long-lost Brooke. Or does she? We’re given several reasons to question Nancy’s motivations, yet at the same time she always has our sympathy.

Nancy contacts Brooke’s parents, a tender-hearted intellectual couple who immediately arrange to meet. The mother Ellen (a terrific J. Smith-Cameron) desperately wants to believe she has been reunited with her daughter. Leo, the kind but reasonably cautious father (played by Steve Buscemi), wants to be sure and hires a private investigator to conduct a DNA test.

The dueling tensions of the film are quite fascinating. First, does Nancy truly believe she is Brooke? Second, what will the DNA test results reveal? Those questions stick in the backs of our minds as we try to sort out who gets our empathy. Is it Nancy, Brooke’s parents, maybe both? Choe does a masterful job of keeping us guessing.

VERDICT – 4 STARS

First Glance: “Yesterday” Trailer

February 14, 2019 by Keith Garlington

Now here’s a peculiar but potentially fun movie with a brand new trailer. “Yesterday” is the new film from director Danny Boyle and is written by Richard Curtis (“Love Actually”). It’s concept is a bit nuts. A struggling musician named Jack is hit by a bus and wakes up in a world where The Beatles never existed. Here’s the thing, he still remembers all their songs. Also some weird global power flicker somehow fits into it all.

Jack ends up a worldwide mega-star singing Beatles tunes as his own. Like I said, its concept is a bit nuts. “Yesterday” hits theaters June 28th. Check out the trailer below and tell me if you will be giving it a look or a skip.