Riddick Review

The sad thing about “Riddick”—the third film in the sci fi action series that also includes “Pitch Black” from 2000 and “The Chronicles of Riddick” in 2004—is that the first fifteen to twenty minutes set up a much better story than the one that actually follows. Our hero Riddick (Vin Diesel) who, as you will remember from the first two movies, is good at fighting and killing and whose eyes are better suited for the night, wakes up buried beneath a pile of rocks on an unknown desert planet. After a convenient three or four minute narration/flashback combination where we find out that he was double-crossed and left for dead, Riddick makes the long trek across the harsh alien landscape, looking for a way to get back to his home planet.

For these first fifteen to twenty minutes, it’s just Riddick against the elements. He resets his dislocated legs back in their place, he fashions some weapons out of animal bones, he makes friends with a wild canine puppy who eventually becomes his loyal companion, and he even fights a couple nasty scorpion looking alien creatures. If writer-director David Twohy had kept the rest of the film like this, if it had just been Diesel by himself having to survive on this hostile planet and try to find a way home, “Riddick” could have actually been decent. Not great—in fact I wouldn’t consider “Pitch Black” a great movie either—but for being the third film in a franchise that I think everyone has forgotten about by now (“Chronicles” was made in 2004) it could have at least been tolerable.

Sadly, at about the 30-minute mark it’s almost like Twohy just gives up and for the rest of the film’s 119-minute running time. “Riddick” becomes a generic and boring sci- fi actioner involving bounty hunters and predatory aliens that is pretty much a rehash of “Pitch Black.” Two ships touch down on the planet, responding to an emergency beacon Riddick has activated. One ship contains a rag tag group of bounty hunters led by Santana (Jordi Molla) who may as well be wearing a nametag that says “Hi, I’m going to be a total asshole until I get killed off!” The other ship contains a group of clean, neatly dressed people led by Boss Johns (Mat Nable) whose son was with Riddick during the events of “Pitch Black” and wants to locate Riddick to find out what happened to his son.

Basically, what we’ve got here are a total of eleven one-dimensional, stupid tough guys (and the token tough women) just waiting to get killed off, either by Riddick or by those predatory aliens. Johns and Santana are the only ones who have any kind of personality; the rest may as well be slabs of meat. And so the movie just sort of goes through the motions, Riddick stalks and stealth kills a few of the idiots and then eventually they join forces to fight the predatory aliens. The last half hour is a dark, rainy and blurry mess devoid of any kind of originality or creativity and the climax/resolution is so underwhelming that when the end credits began to role I thought to myself: “Is that it?”

Diesel isn’t the most expressive actor out there but he has the right rugged, badass look and if “Riddick” had remained a “One Man Survivalist” movie he would have been perfect. Aside from the superfluous narration he barely says anything and usually the less he says the better. But of course, since those other one-dimensional idiots show up we’re subjected to Diesel’s, painfully slow, deep voiced (with a hint of gravel) dialogue deliveries. No matter what movie, he always sounds like he’s just woken up from a nap and is still groggy.

It’s too bad. “Riddick” had potential. Twohy had a chance to make something at least somewhat different and unexpected (in terms of Vin Diesel action movie, that is) but he simply throws it away, deciding to take no risks and offering no surprises whatsoever. Leaving us with yet another forgettable and pointless sequel.

 D+

Short Term 12

In “Short Term 12,” Grace (Brie Larson) appears to have everything under control in her job as a floor supervisor at a foster care facility. At the beginning when she’s showing the new floor supervisor Nate (Rami Malek) the ropes she speaks like a seasoned veteran who’s seen it all. When one of the foster kids makes a mad dash for the facility gates, screaming at the top of his lungs and wearing nothing but an American flag for a cape and underwear Grace, along with the other floor supervisors, springs into action and the event is treated as business as usual. The day-to-day life at the foster care facility (known as Short Term 12) is a series of up and down moments; one minute it will be calm and fun, the next a fight will break out, or someone will have a meltdown. Writer-director Destin Cretton establishes this day-to-day bustle of the foster care facility in an intimate and natural way and even though the movie specifically focuses on two of the foster kids, we get a taste of all the kids and how they interact with each another.

Like any other professional in a high stress job, Grace knows exactly how to deal with the kids. On the one hand she’s firm and authoritative when enforcing the ground rules (no sharp objects, drugs, etc.) or diffusing one of those serious, high stress moments (such as when one of the kids hits another with a bat). On the other hand she’s also extremely caring and sensitive. Only in her early twenties, Grace is not much older than a lot of the foster kids, so she can still approach them at eye level. She knows when to give the children their space, as well as when to go and talk to them. And when she does talk to them it’s done in a casual, non-oppressive way, often times just sitting on their bed with them, waiting for the right moment to begin the conversation. This is more than just a job for Grace, it’s a lifestyle. She’s patient, determined and above all passionate, ready to defend and help these kids until the very end.

Of course, the reason why Grace is so good at her job is because she herself was a victim of child abuse by her father and was foster child. This means that, while she may be able to handle the lives of children at Short Term 12 with ease, she doesn’t quite know how to handle her own life. At the beginning when she finds out she’s pregnant she immediately makes an appointment to get an abortion; she deals with multiple needy children on a daily basis but isn’t confident enough in herself to be a mother. She tells the foster children to open up and talk about their feelings, but she herself hardly ever opens up and talks about her own troubles, even to her boyfriend and fellow Short Term 12 floor supervisor Mason (John Gallagher Jr.).

Larson does a lot of fantastic body acting to convey these insecurities and weaknesses, hunching over or tucking herself into a ball, literally closing herself in, or picking at her finger when she’s especially anxious. Working at Short Term 12 serves as an escape for her; she can relate to what the kids are going through but it keeps her busy enough so she doesn’t have to think about her own damaged life. At only twenty three, Larson gives one of the most genuine, multilayered performances of the year and hopefully (much like Shailene Woodley in “The Spectacular Now” earlier this year) this will be the performance that puts her on everyone’s radar. She’s the center of “Short Term 12.”

It also helps that the rest of the movie is pretty great too. The story and the subject matter aren’t wholly original and the movie doesn’t sound that interesting on paper, but it’s handled in a very straightforward and non-manipulative way. The picture isn’t overly sentimental but it also isn’t a complete downer either. Cretton’s script seamlessly blends both drama and comedy. Even in the most dramatic or intense situations he’s able to find humor, and vice versa. Some people might be put off by the film’s sudden ups and downs, but life itself is full of sudden ups and downs.

And again, Cretton isn’t trying overly hard to make you feel sad or happy, using manipulative filmmaking techniques like an overwhelming score. “Short Term 12” is done without any melodrama and its main focus is developing its characters, making them as authentic as possible so as to make those up and down situations believable. Cretton also manages to end the film on a bittersweet, “life will go on” note. He gives us a feeling of hope but at the same time not everything is resolved smoothly. There will be just as many down moments in these characters’ lives as there are happy ones. Just like in real life. Aside from the sheer level of authenticity and realism that Cretton achieves, the main reason to seek out “Short Term 12” is Larson. Without her powerful, understated performance the film wouldn’t have been nearly as good.

 A-

Getaway Review

“Getaway” is complete and utter madness from start to finish, and the worst part about it is that director Courtney Solomon insists we take it seriously. The tone is dark and gritty and the picture is shot (by Yaron Levy) in a raw, hand held style but the action is over-the-top and cartoonish. It’s as if Solomon is saying: “here are these completely ludicrous and stupid action scenarios, but we’re presenting them in a realistic, hardboiled manner so you have to take it seriously.” He wants to have it both ways, but unfortunately these are two totally different styles that, when mixed together, undermine each other. If you want to make an unrealistic and silly action movie then fine, but it also has to be self aware and playful, much like the “Fast and the Furious” movies are. And if you want the movie to be gritty and serious then you have to construct the action within a logical framework. The only fun that can be had while watching “Getaway” is from unintentional hilarity, though I wouldn’t call that much of a recommendation.

The movie gets going right away. Brent Magna (Ethan Hawke, doing the best he can in a poorly written role) comes home to find that his living room has been trashed and his wife missing. In overly dramatic black and white flashbacks--that resemble the cheaply produced “dramatic reenactments” one would see in a show like “America’s Most Wanted”-- we find out that his wife has been kidnapped by thugs and is being held hostage in some grimy rape dungeon. Brent gets a call from an unknown person, instructing him to go to a parking garage, steal an armored sports car (he calls it a “ very special car”) that’s been outfitted with video and audio surveillance and carry out a series of car related tasks or else Brent’s wife will be killed. Along the way he encounters the car’s actual owner, a pesky seventeen-year-old girl (Selena Gomez) who accompanies him on the ride.

 The unknown man is played by Jon Voight—oh wait! I mean John Voight’s mouth, neck, hands and occasional eye. You see, he’s a mysterious guy and we’re not supposed to know his identity. But then, why bother showing us his other body parts? And why bother showing us that he’s in some crowded café with a laptop, tracking and monitoring Brent’s actions? In the credits he’s simply called “The Voice,” wouldn’t it be more mysterious to just let us hear his voice? At the end we do finally get to see all of him, although it doesn’t really matter because we still don’t find out who exactly he is, and yet Solomon treats it as a major revelation.

Anyway, where was I? So Jon Voight wants Brent to do a bunch of tasks, what are these tasks you ask? Well, first he tells him to drive recklessly through a crowded park, crashing into objects like a water tank and a stage. Then he tells Brent to lose the cops in four minutes for some reason. In short, he’s supposed to cause as much mindless destruction as he possibly can while in a car. Real clever tasks you’re having him do, Voight, what are you, a thirteen-year-old delinquent? I lost count of how many police cars are smashed, flipped and tossed into the air. And at one point Brent is driving on a train track while being pursued by even more cops and through some fancy maneuvering he makes one of the cars smash into a fuel tank that explodes, causing a chain reaction of fuel tank explosions all along the track. Seriously, did Solomon and screenwriters Sean Finegan and Gregg Maxwell Parker really expect us to take this nonsense seriously, just because there’s a woman in peril? And believe me there’s even more stupidity that follows.

By now I should mention that Brent used to be a race car driver who has since burned out because he believed everyone who said he was good, when he actually wasn’t. Clearly that’s a load of b.s. Brent is not only a good driver but he is seemingly the best driver ever, navigating the narrow city streets with ease and shaking the cops at every turn. Although driving appears to be the only thing he can do, as he’s a complete moron when it comes to everything else. This is where the girl comes in; she knows a lot about technology (at one point, in an homage to “Speed” she hacks into Jon Voight’s command center and puts a video of them doing nothing on a continuous loop to buy them some time) and she pretty much sounds out every development in the plot to both Brent and the audience.

She’s the brainy (as well as the tough angst-y teenage girl) sidekick obviously, but she’s also a rich spoiled brat who doesn’t shut her mouth once during the entire movie. While Brent is doing his glorified joyriding she tells him to slow down…but then she tells him to go faster. One minute she’s telling him that he’s a horrible driver, the next minute she’s calling his driving “awesome.” She has a different verbal reaction or response to everything he does. Her character is all over the place. Whatever promise Gomez showed as an actor in “Spring Breakers” earlier this year is basically thrown out the window with this annoying, overacting performance. She’s almost unbearable.

After the setup and after Brent and the girl (known as The Kid in the credits) embark on their wild ride, “Getaway” becomes one gloomy, chaotic and exhausting chase sequence after another. And these chase sequences have to be some of the worst, most muddled car chase scenes I’ve ever had the displeasure of seeing. Editor Ryan Dufrene must have been on a sugar high when he cut together the movie. It’s constantly cutting back and forth, showing us every angle and view of the car along with a few abrupt close ups of Brent’s face or his foot as it pushes down on the acceleration. It’s irritating for sure, but also disorienting, especially with the use of the handheld camera. Sitting in the theater I thought I was going to have a seizure. The audience has no idea where the car is in relation to Brent, The Kid or the environment and to see this over and over again is agonizing.

Even worse, when that madness isn’t happening we’re subjected to excruciatingly painful dialogue exchanges between Brent and The Kid. I guess it’s what Finegan and Parker think is banter. In one towards the beginning, the phrase “shut up” is uttered about seven or eight times between the two:

“You shut up!”

“No, you shut up!”

“Hey! Shut the hell up!”

 And so on. This is the kind of exchange you would see in a bad comedy, but the fact that it’s in a super serious action/thriller is even more dreadful.

The movie is only ninety minutes but it feels like two hours. It keeps going on and on and on, until finally it reaches its conclusion. Without giving too much away (even though there’s not much to give away in the first place) Solomon and Co basically tell us that all of the madness and stupidity that came before was, ultimately, for nothing, making an already terrible movie even more terrible and worthless.

 F

The Grandmaster Review

Wong Kar-wai’s “The Grandmaster” is a movie I respect more than I actually like. In this summer of one generic, CGI heavy action movie after another it’s refreshing to see something as graceful and beautiful as Kar-wai’s film, which captures the spirit and style of old fashioned, choreographed martial art movies. There’s no CGI and no buildings are destroyed. What a relief. The picture tells the real life story of legendary martial art master IP Man (Tony Leung), who’s perhaps most known for teaching fellow martial arts icon Bruce Lee. The movie begins in 1930’s Foshan China. The city is split into a northern and southern martial art clans and this first part of the movie follows IP Man’s confrontation with a northern grandmaster Gong Yutian (Qingxiang) and his romantic encounters with Yutian’s daughter Gong Er (Zhang Ziyi, as fierce as always). However, due to the Second Sino-Japanese war IP Man had to flee to Hong Kong, and so the movie picks up in 1950’s where IP Man teaches at a martial arts school.

Aside from this strong sense of Chinese history, the other major factor that informs “The Grandmaster” is a strong appreciation of martial arts. Watching the movie you can tell that Kar-wai has the utmost respect for them, not just for IP Man’s preferred style Wing Chung but for multiple forms and he gives each one its due time. As already stated “The Grandmaster” is a gorgeous film, mainly because it has some of the best looking action in any movie so far this year. Kar-wai uses quick cuts and slow motion (common characteristics of American action movies) but unlike a lot of American action films these days he doesn’t use them to disorient us or make us seasick. Instead, he uses the techniques to emphasize the brutal, fluid beauty of these martial art forms, as well as the intricacy that goes into them. Kar-wai stages them more like ballets than fight scenes. He achieves a gracefulness that’s hardly ever seen in American action movies. This again goes back to this immense appreciation of martial arts apparent in every frame of the picture.

However, probably the best thing about “The Grandmaster” is that even though it is a martial arts movie Kar-wai doesn’t overwhelm us with one fight scene after another. During the opening confrontation—in which we see IP Man face off against a large group of thugs during a heavy rainfall—I rolled my eyes and thought to myself: “Oh great, how many of these are we going to have?” Turns out that’s the only massive confrontation we see. Kar-wai uses the fight scenes sparingly, so we’re not completely exhausted by the end. Each confrontation has some kind of weight or significance behind it and that’s the most effective way to use action in any movie, American or not. And more often than not it’s the non-violent confrontations that leave a greater impression. For example, when IP Man goes to face Yutian we’re expecting a five or six minute fight but instead it turns out to be an exchange of philosophical ideas instead of fists. We don’t see it coming and so it turns out to be far more effective and special than just having the two men duke it out physically.

 Now comes the hard part of this review. While I admired the movie’s craftsmanship it still suffers from one major flaw, which is that Kar-wai doesn’t fully develop IP Man’s character. I have nothing against Leung (who gives a stern and assured performance) but after watching the entire film I didn’t learn very much about IP Man, which is peculiar considering the movie spans two decades or so. Even with this massive time frame, Kar-wai fails to provide us with a comprehensive picture of IP Man’s life and none of the individual chapters of his life that are emphasized feel fully elaborated. On top of that, the narrative (what little there is) relies on far too much voice over narration and information cards. In the end the movie is more about Gong Er (the two encounter each other again in the 1950’s) and her quest to avenge her father’s death and restore honor to her family. That’s all well and good but it’s still told from IP Man’s point of view and so her character doesn’t feel fully established either. I realize that other IP Man movies have come before this one so maybe Kar-wai would have been better off focusing on one specific portion of his life, like when he starts mentoring Bruce Lee.

Wong Kar-wai cut three different versions of “The Grandmaster,” the original Chinese cut is two hours and twenty minutes, the second version (which appeared at the 2013 Berlin International Film Festival) runs two hours and three minutes and finally this version (distributed by the Weinstein Company) is the shortest at an hour and forty eight minutes. I haven’t seen either the Chinese cut or the Berlin Film Festival cut but I think the American version could have benefited from being longer. As it is right now this version is beautifully crafted and I still have respect for what Kar-wai is trying to do, but at the same time it’s lacking in both character development and story telling.

C+

Closed Circuit Review

James Crowley’s “Closed Circuit” takes an icy cold and cynical look at the British government, a government that, in the movie, acts as a powerful, oppressive force capable of carrying out (or covering up) anything they want despite the efforts of even the most determined and honest lawyers (or the British equivalent of a lawyer). There is no defeating them. Or escaping them, for that matter, not with the many closed circuit security cameras perched all around London. As the tagline states: “They see your every move.” Even though Crowley’s film takes place in London and therefore deals with things pertaining to British law, its subject matter (government monitoring of citizen activity) should prove relevant and timely to American audiences, in light of the recent scandals involving the NSA monitoring of emails and phone calls. Although the situation in London appears to be much more extreme, the NSA isn’t monitoring our actions with street surveillance cameras…at least not yet.

However, aside from that real life connection, “Closed Circuit” is a fairly standard conspiracy thriller (structure wise) that’s somewhat intriguing but ultimately undone by uninteresting characters. It starts rather abruptly when a bomb goes off in a populated area of London, followed by a suspect named Farroukh Erdogan (Denis Moschitto) being apprehended. Two lawyers, Martin Vickers (Eric Bana) and Claudia Simmons-Howe (Rebecca Hall) are assigned to his defense. At first everything seems normal, weird things happen now and again (Martin somehow catches the exact same taxi numerous times at different locations around the city) but nothing to get alarmed about.

But then—as they get deeper into the case— the weird happenings start to escalate and it becomes clear that there are mysterious, ominous forces at work, interfering with Martin and Claudia’s work. They soon become paranoid, looking over their shoulders, constantly getting the sensation that they’re being watched. And with all of those security cameras seemingly positioned at every street corner, they are being watched. An unnerving, impending sense of doom pulses through every frame in “Closed Circuit.” While watching it you can’t help but be reminded of the same eerie paranoia felt in other conspiracy movies such as Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Conversation” and Brian De Palma’s “Blow Out.” And like those pictures, “Closed Circuit” has a similar pessimistic ending.

The movie is well made. Jim Clay’s production design is handsome and neat, the cinematography by Adriano Goldman is simple but effective in creating a sense of paranoia, and he photographs the entire movie in a dark blue/greyish light. Crowley moves the picture along at a steady pace and Joby Talbot’s score heightens the eeriness and intrigue. Yet, despite all of this and despite Bana and Hall’s best efforts, “Closed Circuit” fails to create compelling protagonists and therefore we have a hard time getting invested in the movie’s twists and turns. The protagonists in “The Conversation” and “Blow out” (played by Gene Hackman and John Travolta) had an imperfect, everyman quality that made them fascinating to watch. They had personality, but Martin and Claudia come off too clean and one note. They’re good honest lawyers, dedicated to the case…whoop-de-doo. Martin has an estranged son but this matter is hardly ever brought up and so it comes off as a lame attempt at characterization. Also, in an attempt to create some backstory and tension between the two lawyers, we find out early that Martin and Claudia used to be romantically involved with each other. But Crowley and screenwriter Steven Knight don’t really do anything with this development after introducing it. It doesn’t affect anything else in the plot and doesn’t seem to be much of a problem for Claudia and Martin; they can work on the case just fine. And for playing ex lovers Bana and Hall have almost zero chemistry together.

To put it simply, they’re forgettable, ultimately making the entire film rather forgettable and making its other minor flaws more blatant. All of which is a shame considering the movie’s craftsmanship and its relevance to current events.

 C