Claire In Motion

FILM: Claire in Motion
DIRECTORS: Annie J. Howell, Lisa Robinson
RATING: 3/10

This film follows Claire and her son in the month after Claire's husband goes missing. Judging from the performance by lead actress Betsy Brandt though, you'd believe Claire never actually met the man as she has so little invested in his disappearance. With its deadly pace and quiet landscape, this film never quite picks up enough steam to level a feeling of honesty about the missing, and possibly dead, husband.  Instead the co-writing, co-directing team get so distracted with a relatively uninteresting wife/mistress rivalry between Claire and her husband's colleague, that this turns into another story of an emotionally unavailable wife pitted against a younger woman who feels herself a bit too much. The husband's disappearance, it ultimately seems, is an absurd catalyst for a cliche set of circumstances. Deemed so unimportant by the writers in fact (SPOILER ALERT), the husband's disappearance is never even solved. With an underwhelming emotional landscape and a maddeningly unsatisfying ending, this film manages to bring very little to the table.

Attack of the Lederhosen Zombies

FILM: Attack of the Lederhosen Zombies
DIRECTOR: Dominick Hartl
RATING: 10/10

The best time I've had watching a movie in ages. Dominick Hartl has crafted a ridiculous, fun zombie movie that feels fresh and free from genre cliches. Every killing is hilariously designed and every character is distinct and clear. This strange romp will get you in its grip almost immediately and, for it's brief 80 minutes, have you smiling. An absolute delight.

Retake

FILM: Retake
DIRECTOR: Nick Corporon
RATING: 8/10

Jonathan is a man in his late forties whose emotional center has been entirely decimated by his previous partner, and this film begins as he hires a male prostitute to accompany him on a road trip to the Grand Canyon. His hope is to recreate a moment he shared with his ex, down to every last precisely staged polaroid. A shaky premise to be sure, but disbelief is quickly suspended in the capable hands of the two lead actors. Played quietly by Tuc Watkins, Jonathan wears his pain in his eyes and in the occasional quiet outburst. Brandon, 25 years his junior, shares a similar depth of spirit, his will toughened by just trying to survive. With these two richly complex characters, Nick Corporon gives us a searingly raw account of two men finding each other amidst the land mines of their own heart break. With gorgeous handheld camera work that is at turns intimate and grandiose, this film takes us deep inside the damaged hearts of two individuals and leaves us believing again in the healing power of human connection. Not without its problems, but an absolute must see.

The Summoning

FILM: The Summoning
DIRECTOR: Alberto G. Rodriguez
RATING: 1/10

Good god. Listen I'm all for the idea of DIY, labor-of-love thrillers, so I stand behind the idea of this film existing. But rarely does a labor of love feel so poorly tended to by its team. From subpar acting to cliche dialogue inside a messy script full of plot devices that go nowhere, The Summoning fails to realize that tension isn't assumed, it's crafted.

10000 Miles

FILM: 10,000 Miles

DIRECTOR: Simon Hung

RATING: 4.5/10

What starts off as a beautifully shot, wholly engaging film is marred by a few jarring twists and unnecessary plot developments. Kevin and Sean are brothers who, from an early age, realize they have the gift of speed. They naturally are taken to running with the older Sean constantly referring to the younger Kevin as a tag-along. Of course this sparks in Kevin the desire to beat his brother, and so he pursues long-distance running with a fierceness of spirit and a refusal to ever give up. With a strong opening act, this film really just had to ride the tailwind to be successful. Throw Kevin a few losses, maybe a steamy love story that threatens to steal his attention,  and an eventual big win in the third act and it's hello, Rudy! But that's not where Director/Writer Simon Hung takes us at all.

As the older Sean's life falls apart and he is reduced to a life of drug crime, Kevin's foolishness gets the better of him as well. What follows are several subplots of varying degrees of silly, including one that tries to pull off a Revenant style battle with a CGI wolf (unsuccessful), and another where someone's kidney is stolen on the black market. By the time we reach the 10,000 mile race of the title, the Director is so confused about what's important to the audience, that the film ends abruptly, leaving the earnest heart that was once at the forefront of this film inside the travel size ice chest with the black market kidney.

Apple of My Eye

FILM: Apple of My Eye
DIRECTOR: Castille Landon
RATING: 5/10

A tender story about a teenager who loses her sight after a riding accident and has to learn to cope with her new life. Not quite embracing any of the guide dogs offered to her, her life begins anew when the guide dog trainer decides to train an adorable miniature horse to be her companion animal.

Obviously geared towards the older single digit crowd, this story unfolds without a single emotional outburst or anything that might possibly scar the young ones. In this world, going blind carries with it the same inconvenience as having to take out the trash or do the dishes. Ugh, chores. Ugh, blindness. But maybe that's good in teaching the lesson that it really is not a big deal, and everyone should be treated the same. Of laughable distinction though, and worth mentioning, is the casting of the parents. Amy Smart and Liam McIntyre are both just old enough to seem ancient to any nine year old, and since that's the target audience we can ignore the fact that they lack chemistry as a couple, bear no resemblance to their child, and give off more of an auditioning actor vibe than a parent concerned with their 16 year old daughter's new disability. Add to that the fact that lead actress Avery Arendes, though entirely capable, carries herself with such seriousness that the presumed age gap between her and her parents shrinks. So for heart, this film gets a solid two thumbs up from the under ten in me. But the middle schooler inside is looking down his nose at me and wants to kill me for picking this on Netflix.

Lost and Found

FILM: Lost and Found
DIRECTOR: Joseph Itaya
RATING: 2/10

It's hard to discern exactly who this film is intended for. On the surface it's an adventure story about two young brothers who search for their grandfather's hidden treasure on the family island. At the heart though, it's a family drama about two older brothers finding their way back to each other after life has ripped them apart. Trying to walk the line between both genres, this film does neither particularly well. The kids watching for the adventure storyline will find the plot forced, with all clues and elements conveniently and sloppily revealed at the right moment. If you make your child watch this, expect him to be bored in the first fifteen minutes. Meanwhile, the adults watching this for the family story (elderly, I'm assuming) will find that it never quite goes beyond melodrama, with given circumstances too absurd to ring true. Though it was nice to see young Benjamin Stockham continue to get work after his failed television show About A Boy, I'd still only recommend this film as Sunday afternoon viewing on TBS if you happen to be with a grandparent who's hard of hearing and gets offended by anything even remotely challenging.

Hickey

FILM: Hickey
DIRECTOR: Alex Grossman
RATING: 5/10

In his debut feature, Director Alex Grossman strives for quirky but treads dangerously close to tiresome. Ryan is a high school senior with a serious teenage crush on coworker Carly. He also has a full-ride scholarship offered to him at MIT, which just so happens to be the school of his choice. He's considering giving up the scholarship however, in order to stay in Los Angeles and continue his crush (mind you he has no actual plans to tell Carly how he feels). On the day our story takes place, Ryan and the gang have just received word that the electronics store where they all work is going to be closed that very day, so Ryan concocts a plan to save the store, thus saving his imaginary relationship with Carly. Sprinkle in a host of quirky characters and a bizarre relationship with his mother that is both poorly developed and poorly resolved and Hickey nearly drains itself of all its own merit. Promising but insecure. This film is packed with so much stuff that in the end, you're left with almost nothing.

Accidental Courtesy: Daryl Davis, Race and America

FILM: Accidental Courtesy: Daryl Davis, Race and America

DIRECTOR: Matthew Ornstein

RATING: 7/10

**SPOILER**

Daryl Davis is a serious man with a unique approach to a complicated issue. An accomplished piano player, Davis spends his free time collecting Ku Klux Klan memorabilia in the hopes of one day creating a Ku Klux Klan Museum. Odd enough already for a black man, but his collection is a bit more specific than that. Everything in his collection has been gifted to him by former Klan members who left the Klan after starting a friendship with Davis. So essentially, Davis befriends Klan members in the hopes of humanizing the black experience and collecting their robes, though he would insist there is no agenda and that they are truly his friends. He calls them his friends, he laughs with them. At one point the camera actually catches Davis adjusting the hood of a Klan member as he suits up. While this is perplexing to some people, it is absolutely infuriating to others.

Just because the film is examining Davis closely though, do not assume the Director is attempting to sanctify him. Matthew Ornstein does a fantastic job of presenting both sides of a polarizing issue without ever landing the film squarely in either camp. In fact, the most engaging sequence in the film is a heated debate towards the end which reveals the many cracks in Davis's armor, a risky move with a title character so close to the end of the film. But Ornstein seems to know there is standing room on both sides of the issue and he, like the audience, seems to be treading a path back and forth between the two sides. This film may leave you with more questions than it answers, but it is certainly a conversation worth having. 

The Space Between Us

FILM: The Space Between Us

DIRECTOR: Peter Chelsom

RATING: 2/10

The Clumsy Film with Intergalactic Failures

When a movie gets it this wrong it just seems mean-spirited to point out its flaws. Here Asa Butterfield plays Gardner, a 16 year old boy born and raised by scientists on Mars (back story: we've colonized the planet due to a serious global warming issue here on Earth. Not into global warming movies? Don't worry, it's one of the many given circumstances that bear no fruit in this film). Gardner spends his days gardening--yawn--and his nights AOL instant messaging with Tulsa, the girl he fancies back on Earth. A series of events not worth mentioning leads Gardner to Tulsa's high school locker in, you guessed it, Tulsa! And before you know it Tulsa (the teenage girl) is flying a plane through the midwest while Gardner tries to get used to the weight of gravity so he can live like a regular earthling. And did I mention, he also needs a heart transplant and he's trying to find his biological father? I can only imagine how many times The Fault In Our Stars was mentioned at the pitch meeting.

It is not just the characters that make this film annoying, though it is striking how inconsistent and poorly written they are. And I won't go into Gary Oldman, beyond that he doesn't age a day in the 16 years supposedly represented on screen (it's very truly as if no one involved in the film considered the design implications of a 16 year jump in time). But what's truly infuriating is that the interplanetary landscape that is presented with such promise, devolves and vanishes without resolution to make way for an uninspired, precious teen love story. Beyond countless plot holes and tiresome attempts at whimsy, this film simply doesn't trust itself enough to tell one story well. Instead it tries to distract the audience with endless gimmicks and plodding plot twists. The Fault In Our Stars minus the stars and double the fault. 

Between Us

FILM: Between Us

DIRECTOR: Rafael Palacio Illingworth

RATING 6.5/10

A synopsis of this film describes the central couple as suddenly hurling into free fall. What sends them on this soft crumble? Why it's the fear of getting married, of course. Knowing this, I was ready to dismiss this film as yet another indie meditation on yet another heterosexual couple's inability to commit. Seriously, when will straight people learn what homosexuals have always had to know: if you don't want to get married, guess what, you don't have to! And since, in real life, I wasn't allowed to even consider marriage an option until recently I still have a few deep-rooted eyerolls stored up for films where privilege is cast as burden.

But minority perspective aside (isn't that always the way), I did enjoy this film. Yes there are plenty of other films out there that deal more effectively with the ineffable stuff that we don't say to the person that we love. But this film wasn't nearly as melodramatic as it could have been, as other films in its peer group in fact, and that's a major testament to the artistry of the film maker. The performances from Olivia Thirlby and especially Ben Feldman, directed with great nuance and skill by Director Rafael Palacio Illingworth, set this film apart from other typically indulgent fare. And while the ending may leave some cringing, there were undoubtedly moments of visual poetry within this film that were rife with potential. I hope, in the future, to see this Director explore his visual metaphors more completely.

Arsenal

FILM: Arsenal
DIRECTOR: Steven C. Miller
RATING: 4/10

Arsenal, or as I call it, watch Nicolas Cage ruin a movie that had really great potential. Adrian Grenier turns out a strong performance as a man who would do anything to save his brother, even when it looks like the brother may be setting him up. In any normal circumstance, Adrian can absolutely lead a film. I've seen him do it. But here he is undermined. Actually, in truth, every performance in this film is overshadowed by Nicolas Cage who clearly decided that a hybrid between the characters he played in Vampire's Kiss and Face Off is what this film needed. I blame the director for not reigning him in. And now we're at a crossroads. Who is going to take responsibility and break it to Nicolas Cage that the overacting he did in ConAir is no longer what the people of America want!? Shit is too fucking dramatic in the real world Nic! The people want subtlety now. Truth in their art!! HUMAN TRUTH!!!! Was this a perfect movie otherwise? No. But as is, it's unwatchable.

LaMotta: The Bronx Bull

FILM: Lamotta: The Bronx Bull
DIRECTOR: Martin Guigui
RATING: 6/10

Typically biopics are my least favorite films to watch. They usually feel disjointed and rushed, hurrying to cover a wide scope of the protagonist's life. The endings are always contrived--can you believe he actually learned this important thing at this exact time and it conveniently brought his life great meaning as he himself came full circle!!! And the genre-required old-age makeup is always deadly. I don't usually enjoy biopics and I can't really recall a time that I've ever watched one more than once. But here I am today with LaMotta: The Bronx Bull. Having just watched this movie twice in a row, I'm struggling to express why. It isn't a great film. I didn't love it. It didn't bring me great clarity or illuminate a great truth. In fact, I know nothing about the world of boxing so this film may be an absolute piece of garbage when it comes to facts and history. But from where I sit, it's a portrait of a womanizing boxer who accepts his imperfections, doesn't ever really try to change himself and just lives his life with occasional wins and even more occasional losses. It doesn't feel sugar coated or glamourized--it actually is a really gritty, ugly movie. But I felt like I knew the world a little bit better, and that by the end I had a greater understanding of the man at the center.  Bonus: Cloris Leachman and Penelope Miller showing up in the third act was an unexpected pleasure!

Ouija 3: The Charlie Charlie Challenge (2017)

FILM: Ouija 3: The Charlie Charlie Challenge

DIRECTOR: Derek Presley

RATING: 1/10

Every year I try to see every movie that is released theatrically. Every year I try and I fail miserably. I never even come close. But this is the year I'm going to do it. This is the year I have to do it. Because if I don't do it, I cannot in any way justify watching this film. This film has nothing, and I literally mean nothing, going for it. You know you're in trouble when you think you're watching one thing, but then the movie starts and it's got a completely different title. Charlie Charlie is the name of this film. It has nothing to do with the Ouija franchise. Best I can glean is that there is another franchise called The Ouija Experiment, and this is the third installment of that series, but sneakily without the "The" and the "Experiment" in the title. Save your time and watch literally anything else. Watch paint dry. Be alone with your thoughts. Save yourself. You've been warned.

Bad Sister (1931)

FILM: Bad Sister

DIRECTOR: Hobart Henley

MY RATING: 5/10

Bad Sister offers a glimpse into the life of a young "flirt" played by Sidney Fox, but has the much more esteemed reputation of being Bette Davis's first film. Here, at the tender age of 23, Davis makes her screen debut in the supporting role of Laura. And though you wouldn't know it from Davis's downturned scowl, Laura is actually the good sister in this film. So don't let that incredibly dark look in those occasionally dead eyes fool you! That's not Laura plotting to kill her sister and the rest of the family, it's just Davis finding her sea legs on film for the first time. And because this is her first picture, her self-consciousness is easily spotted. Her inhibitions fill the screen with a too-slow head turn now and again, or stilted, disembodied movements. Convinced her Hollywood career was over, Bette famously left the premiere of this film before the credits rolled. But showing the remarkable resilience that would create a legend, Bette would learn from this role. She would go on to leave Universal who clearly didn't understand her, in turn leaving these good sister roles behind.