Author Archives: Keith Garlington

REVIEW: “Poltergeist” (2015)

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The popular practice of remaking movies, all kinda of movies, has proven to be more than a fad. That’s unfortunate. There doesn’t seem to be movie that modern filmmakers won’t try to remake. The horror genre has been particularly fond of this fairly unoriginal practice. “Halloween”, “Texas Chainsaw Massacre”, “A Nightmare on Elm Street”, and “Friday the 13th” are just some to receive a modern (and inferior) redo. So why not “Poltergeist”?

Normally I would automatically dismiss a movie like this but several things intrigued me, namely an interesting trailer, Sam Raimi’s attachment as co-producer, and the casting of the always likable Sam Rockwell. Unfortunately the movie itself isn’t nearly as intriguing as the trailer. Raimi’s fingerprints are nowhere to be found. Rockwell feels terribly out of place.

 

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After losing his job Eric (Rockwell) and wife Amy (Rosemarie DeWitt) are forced to move their three children to a more affordable home. Unfortunately they pick a housing development built on an old cemetery. Talk about a terrible idea. Soon the family begins to notice a series a spooky occurances, many linked to the house’s lights and electronics. Obviously in the age of flat screens, tablets, and iPhones that is a bad thing.

But things get dramatically worse and even more unexplainable. Unable to go to the cops, the family seeks help from paranormal specialists who discover the house is haunted by angry and violent poltergeists. The bumps come more often, the screams get louder, and ultimately the danger escalates as Eric and Amy try to protect and save their children.

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Minus a couple of the performances, there is nothing inherently awful about “Poltergeist”. But at the same time there is nothing new, unique, or innovative to make it stand out from the run-of-the-mill horror flicks we get by the dozens. In fact its greatest sin may be its blandness. Much like the majority of the modern PG-13 horror flicks, “Poltergeist” plays it safe and depends on too many traditional and predictable scares. I never jumped, squirmed, or was caught off guard.

So I’m left with a question I have asked numerous times. Why did we need a “Poltergeist” remake? This version is very swift and easy to watch. It has some good moments and there are a few fun nostalgic winks. But it doesn’t do anything new or exciting. It follows the same tired blueprint and fails to capitalize on its potential. Even though it’s not a bad movie, it’s not one that you will ever remember past its first viewing. That’s a shame.

VERDICT – 2.5 STARS

2.5 stars

Great Images from Great Movies (6) – “Inception”

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GREAT INCEPTION

Truly great movies leave indelible marks. It may be through an emotional connection to the story. It may be through a remarkable performance or a signature scene. But it could also be through the brilliant imagery that films carves into your mind. That’s what this feature is all about – highlighting great images from great movies. Today we have a great one from 2010.

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So what are thoughts on this fantastic bit of sci-fi from Christopher Nolan? Is there a particular image that stands out to you? There truly are more than a simple post can contain. Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

 

K&M RETRO REVIEW: “The Untouchables”

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“The Untouchables” hit theaters on June 3, 1987. It was a little over a month away from my 16th birthday and I still remember my unbridled enthusiasm for the movie. I would perk up with every TV spot. I read the movie novelization. I read “The Untouchables: The Real Story” by Eliot Ness. I watched the old Robert Stack television series (what few chances I had in a small rural town). In other words seeing this movie was a big deal at the time.

I can’t count how many times I have watched it since. I can say that after paying it a visit for the first time in a while, it still excites me. Director Brian De Palma’s Prohibition era gangster picture pulls from an assortment of different inspirations. De Palma certainly infuses it with a specific visual style. At the same time the film features several classic filmmaking and storytelling touches. It was a big success. It did well at the box office and at the Academy Awards. It grabbed four Oscar nominations winning one for Sean Connery’s supporting work.

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Kevin Costner plays Eliot Ness, a young and eager Prohibition agent in 1930 Chicago (the role was originally offered to Mickey Rourke). He is assigned the seemingly impossible task of taking down mob boss Al Capone (Robert De Niro). Capone owns most of the city through violence, bribes, and liquor distribution. Ness flounders his first few liquor raids and borders on being a laughing stock around town.

Ness catches the eye of a seasoned cop named Jimmy Malone (Connery) who is fed up with the mass corruption running through the system. Malone pushes Ness to go further and to be willing to get his hands dirty if he wants to stop Capone. The two add a young academy trainee and expert marksman George Stone (Andy Garcia) and Washington bureau accountant Oscar Wallace (Charles Martin Smith) to their team. They begin to make dents in Capone’s organization eventually earning the nickname “The Untouchables”. But can anyone be called ‘untouchable’ in De Palma’s corrupt and violent Chicago?

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Even at almost 30 years-old “The Untouchables” hasn’t lost a bit of its excitement or intensity. De Palma and screenwriter David Mamet deliver a fluid, high energy story that weaves through rampant police corruption and bloody gangland violence. And there is certainly some bloody violence. At times the film flows with a classic gangster movie vibe. But then De Palma will broadside us with a scene of jarring violence which feeds the film’s unique tone.

The presentation is top notch. It was brilliantly shot by Stephen H. Burum and several of Chicago’s historical locations were used. The settings, wardrobes, and set designs are impeccable. The Grammy Award winning score from the great Ennio Morricone is simply superb. Who can forget the deep piano accompanied by the haunting wail of a harmonica? Like so much else in the movie, Morricone’s score is truly phenomenal.

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And how about the cast? A young Kevin Costner is the perfect fit for an earnest and determined Ness. De Niro hams it up to epic levels. Of course he goes really, really big, but he is a ton of fun. And then you have Sean Connery who gives one of the best performances of his impressive career. He’s surly, he’s tough, and he has a ton of charisma. Garcia is really good as the soft-spoken cop in training and Billy Drago is gloriously evil in his version of Frank Nitti. The cast is fabulous from top to bottom.

High expectations can often be a death knell. Thankfully that wasn’t the case with “The Untouchables”. It more than delivered when I finally saw it during the summer of 1987. It was nice to see that it still holds up after all these years. Some have picked the film apart, pointing to everything from Mamet’s script to Connery’s accent. Neither were an issue for me. Instead I see this as a fabulous bit of entertainment that hasn’t aged a bit and is unquestionably one of Brian De Palma’s best.

VERDICT – 4.5 STARS

4.5 STARS

REVIEW: “The Last of Sheila”

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Its title is as awkward and unusual as its story, but the 1973 mystery thriller “The Last of Sheila” maneuvers through its clever twists and red herrings before finishing in a much different place than where it started. Clever is a good word to describe it. It paints itself as something routine and predictable only to pull the rug out from under the audience over and over again. And the best part is it works really well.

The film was produced and directed by Broadway choreographer Herbert Ross. This was only his third time in the director’s chair and several years before his most successful movie “Steel Magnolias”. Equally intriguing is the writing team of actor Anthony Perkins and composer Stephen Sondheim. It’s a surprisingly impressive collaboration. I wasn’t expecting such an intelligent, crafty, and unpredictable picture from such a unique creative trio.

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The story opens with six people in the film business receiving invitations to join wealthy movie producer Clinton Greene (James Coburn) on his yacht for a weekend on the French Riviera. The group includes screenwriter Tom Parkman (Richard Benjamin) and his wife Lee (Joan Hackett), a washed up director Philip Dexter (James Mason), talent agent Christine (Dyan Cannon), movie starlett Alice Wood (Raquel Welch) and her manager/husband Anthony (Ian McShane).

There are two common threads that link the group. One is the pungent arrogance that surrounds each of these spoiled individuals. There is a haughty sense of self-importance and entitlement that makes them feel a bit like caricatures but it’s intentional and it makes more sense as the story plays out. Another common thread is that they were all together the night Clinton’s wife was killed by a hit-and-run driver. Needless to say that plays prominently in where the story goes.

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To tell any more would be doing a disservice, but lets just say Sondheim and Perkins put together one heck of a parlor game involving both the characters and the audience. For the characters it is an intricate game put together by the enigmatic Clinton with his guests being his snooty and self-serving players. For the audience it becomes a dense and mesmerizing puzzle that takes one unconventional turn after another. It was hard to muster sympathy for these characters, but the slow and revealing leaks of information made each of them pretty fascinating. It also makes the story’s twisted and unexpected turns all the more satisfying.

“The Last of Sheila” will instantly strike you as a movie from the 1970s. That decade’s styles and sensibilities are all over it. But once you get to what matters – good characters, good concept, good storytelling – the movie sparkles. It does have subtle things to say particularly about the entertainment industry, but for me it was about the story and the way Ross, Perkins, and Sondheim deliver it. I’ve never heard many people speak of this film which is a shame. It is a thriller worth talking about.

VERDICT – 4.5 STARS

4.5 STARS

REVIEW: “Captain America: Civil War”

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While an understandable superhero movie fatigue has sat in for many, longtime invested fans look forward to each new installment to the Marvel in DC cinematic universes. For me personally, the Captain America films have been particularly exciting. Part of it is due to my love for the Cap character dating back to my childhood. But it is also because the previous two films have been among Marvel’s best especially 2014’s “The Winter Soldier”.

The third Cap movie holds an unusual position in Marvel’s grand picture. It doesn’t actually feel like a Captain America film. It feels much bigger and broader – an Avengers-like installment if you will. Anthony and Joe Russo return to direct a screenplay by Stephen McFeely and Christopher Markus. The filmmakers have certainly made a movie which seeks to expand the MCU’s narrative rather than telling a tighter more focused Captain America story.

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The story is inspired by a fantastic Marvel comics crossover event that ran from 2006 through 2007. The story had a ripple effect that reached to several individual hero comics most notably Captain America’s. Here (as expected) there are few similarities to the comic arc other than a rift between the Avengers. The massive destruction and casualties following the Avengers previous battles have driven governments worldwide to adopt the Sokovia Accords which places the Avengers under United Nations control.

Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) signs off on the resolution seeing the Avengers as no better than criminals if they are unwilling to play by rules. Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) stands firm in his trust of the team’s judgment and his distrust of the politics behind governments. The rift between heroes presents itself early on but the film takes its time in developing it. Along the way the it ties up several loose ends from the previous two Cap movies as well as put heavy emphasis on his continued search for Bucky, A.k.A. The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan).

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“Civil War” features so many moving parts and most of them function well. The established characters still have the same charm and charisma and I still enjoy spending time with them. That’s one reason it is easy to be effected once the tension springs up. Marvel Studios has done a great job introducing their characters and developing the relationships between them. A couple of noticables are missing here but some new players are added into the fold (Chadwick Boseman is fantastic as Black Panther and Tom Holland takes on the role of Spider-Man). Storywise things are the best when the focus is on the. But it flounders a bit in telling the story of a mysterious Sokovian militant played by Daniel Brühl. His story is a bit scattered and never has a satisfying end.

Another strength of the film is its pulse-pounding action. Part of what made “The Winter Soldier” great was that it used a lot of traditional effects and stunt work. It’s the same here. Intensely choreographed action sequences come in spurts and each are incredibly impressive. Of course we get some CGI, but the hand-to-hand combat and wild chase sequences are mainly done via old-school means and several of the scenes are still carved in my memory. The film also steers clear of the big, mind-numbing, CGI laden finale. No crumbling skyscrapers or citywide devastation. It’s still a violent ending, but much more personal and consequential.

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The movie should also be commended for genuinely trying to ask some significant questions and deal with some weighty issues. And it doesn’t just toss them out there and them leave them behind. These dilemmas run throughout the film. Characters wrestle with death and loss. Others struggle with responsibility and consequences. And while the film may not be an appeal to deep thinkers, among its large amounts of fan service it does explore areas that few from the genre care to.

“Captain America: Civil War” feels like it could be titled “Avengers: Civil War”. In fact, it actually serves as a better Avengers sequel than last year’s “Age of Ultron”. But we do still get plenty of Captain America and his character is still the most intriguing piece in this entire puzzle. But as a whole the movie does more to alter the landscape of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as we know it. By the end things are much different. Characters have been impacted. Relationships have been affected. Most importantly it sets before us a very interesting landscape and the potential for some incredibly intriguing storylines. I can’t wait to see where things go next.

VERDICT – 4.5 STARS

4.5 STARS

REVIEW: “Meru”

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Nestled in the heart of India’s Garwhal Himalayas stands a beautiful yet ominous mountain called Meru Peak. Topping at an elevation of 21,850 feet, the mountain features three peaks, one being Meru Central which is considered by mountaineers as one of the world’s toughest climbs. Meru Central features a 4000 foot granite wall called the Shark’s Fin and the route around it has been tried and failed by the world’s best climbers.

This documentary tells the story of three climbers who first attempted to conquer the Shark’s Fin in 2008. The three determined men endure a major storm, harsh temperatures, and a shortage of supplies only to be forced back down a few feet away from conquering the peak. It’s disappointing and demoralizing for the team but it is nothing compared to the adversity each would individually face in the three years that followed.

Early into the film it’s easy to see these guys as nothing more than free-spirited adrenaline junkies. You would have to be a bit crazy to take the deadly risks they take and to put your body through the stress they do. But after the failed attempt to summit Meru, team leader and one the world’s best climbers Conrad Anker, his trusted partner Jimmy Chin (who also directed, co-produced, and shot the film), and young but trustworthy Renan Ozturk each experience personal tragedies or near-death experiences that completely alter their lives.

The documentary takes a detour from climbing to look at these tragedies and show us the effects they had on these men. Tackling Meru was no longer important. Life had taken darker turns and each man was bearing his own heavy burden. Through this Anker, Chin, and Ozturk become more to us than adrenaline junkies. It grounds them on the most human levels. As a result we empathize with them when they decide to go back to Meru Central. We understand their personal motivations and we too see this as more than just a climb.

At times you may feel like your watching one big North Face advertisement. The logo seems to be in every shot. There are also moments where the narrative transitions are a little rocky. Other than that “Meru” hits every important note you want from a documentary. But it also has an intriguing structure that teases you to make negative assumptions before unveiling its deeper human component. That is when I knew “Meru” had a lot more going on under its surface. I ended up caring about these men, empathizing with their perspectives, and reflecting on my own viewpoints. I love it when a film is able to pull that kind of reaction out of me.

VERDICT – 4 STARS

4 Stars