A Reel Preview: The Year In Film 2015, Episode IX

The temperature may not reflect it, but the Summer Movie Season has ended, and Awards Season is underway. Here are the notable films for the month of September.

It all revs up with...

THE TRANSPORTER REFUELED – Jason Statham is out, and Ed Skrein is in the driver’s seat in the fourth film in the action franchise. 

A WALK IN THE WOODS – In this adaptation of the novel of the same name, Robert Redford and Nick Nolte star as two grumpy old men who hike the 2,200-mile Appalachian Trail. Co-stars Mary Steenburgen and Emma Thompson. 

BEFORE WE GO – In the directorial debut of Chris Evans (CAPTAIN AMERICA), Evans co-stars with Alice Eve (STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS) in this romance. 

THE VISIT – M. Night Shyamalan (THE SIXTH SENSE) returns to his horror roots in this little tale of two children who visit their grandparents and find that things are a little…off. 

BLACK MASS – Johnny Depp puts away the pirate costume to get serious, this time as notorious real-life gangster Whitey Bulger. Co-stars Kevin Bacon, Benedict Cumberbatch, Joel Edgerton, Sienna Miller, and Dakota Johnson. Directed by Scott Cooper (CRAZY HEART). 

COOTIES – Elijah Wood and Rainn Wilson star in this zany comedy in which cafeteria food turns elementary school children into killer zombies. 

CAPTIVE – Eighty-year old Jerry Jameson, who brought us the thriller AIRPORT ’77 (1977), brings us his first feature since RAISE THE TITANIC (1980), which tells the true story of an escaped convict. Stars David Oyelowo (SELMA), and Kate Mara (FANTASTIC FOUR). 

MAZE RUNNER: THE SCORCH TRIALS – The second installment of the sci-fi teen novels. 

EVEREST – Based on the events of the 1996 Mount Everest disaster, this adventure-thriller focuses on the climb and survival of two expedition groups. The cast includes Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin, Robin Wright, Emily Watson, Keira Knightley, Sam Worthington, and Jake Gyllenhaal. 

SICARIO – Director Denis Villeneuve (PRISONERS), brings us another crime thriller in which Emily Blunt (EDGE OF TOMORROW) is an FBI agent hunting down a drug lord. Co-stars Benicio del Toro and Josh Brolin. 

PAWN SACRIFICE – Acclaimed director Edward Zwick (GLORY, LEGENDS OF THE FALL, THE SEIGE, BLOOD DIAMOND), is back with a biographical film about chess master Bobby Fischer. Tobey Maguire stars as Fischer, and he is joined by Peter Sarsgaard, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Liev Schriber.

THE GREEN INFERNO – Horror director Eli Roth (HOSTEL) returns to his roots in which a group of student activists get lost in a jungle and encounter bloodthirsty natives. 

THE INTERN – Anne Hathaway plays the founder and CEO of an e-commerce company who agrees to take on a new intern, played by Robert DeNiro. 

99 HOMES – In this drama, Andrew Garfield (THE SOCIAL NETWORK) plays a single father who is forced to work for the very man who evicted him out of his home, played by Michael Shannon (TAKE SHELTER). 

MISSISSIPPI GRIND – A gambler, played by Ben Mendelsohn (THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES), tries to break his losing streak by teaming up with a younger gambler, played by Ryan Reynolds. 

THE WALK – Oscar winning director Robert Zemeckis (FORREST GUMP, BACK TO THE FUTURE) unleashes a dizzying 3D drama based on the true story of a French high-wire artist who covertly strung a tight-rope between the World Trade Center towers and performed. Stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ben Kingsley, and James Badge Dale. 

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Next month, Reel Speak previews the month of October. 

A Reel Review: Z FOR ZACHARIAH

A post apocalyptic-world is always a good setting for storytelling. Characters who are left with little or nothing of their past lives and stuck in a hopeless situation can bring out the best and worst in them, and the stories never seem to have any limits. Craig Zobel’s adaptation of Z FOR ZACHARIAH is all about these characters, with the end of the world coming secondary. 

Ann (Margot Robbie) is living alone on her family’s farm during the days and years after a nuclear war has wiped out most of the world. She encounters Loomis (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a scientist and engineer, and the two work together to restore electricity to the farm. As they grow closer, another wanderer, Caleb (Chris Pine) arrives looking for food, and he and Loomis begin competing for Ann. 

Characters who are left isolated with nothing but themselves and a will to live opens up a lot of territory, and Z FOR ZACHARIAH is not shy about exploring it all. Ann and Loomis spend most of the film together, and with her being the faithful type and he being an atheist, the two characters work and prod each other, looking for a middle ground as they learn to cope with each other and the situation. Romance seems inevitable, and that is made even more complicated when Caleb enters the picture. A love triangle comes up, but director Craig Zobel doesn’t let his film fall into the standard fare of two men beating their chests looking to win the girl. Loomis is annoyed by Caleb’s intrusion, but at the same time knows that he is a necessary extra pair of hands. A series of minor mind games takes place, with Loomis playing the two like pieces on a chess board, in order to accomplish the work they need to in order to survive the upcoming winter.  Character motivations are kept close to the chest, and much of the film is spent wondering who is up to what and who will come out on top. Zobel is playing with an Adam and Eve metaphor, and with Ann obviously taking the Eve role...the only question to be answered is who is Adam and who is the Snake. 

Shot in the country of New Zealand, which stands in for the deep south, Zobel explores the lush countryside while filming a beautiful looking picture, and Heather McIntosh's haunting score adds some great atmosphere. There is no CGI used to show burned out cities or vast devastated landscapes, nor is there any explanation over the apparent war which has left our characters alone. The focus is all on the immediate happenings with our cast of three (and one dog) and the secrets they hold. Perhaps the most refreshing aspect of the film is that there are no killer zombies or rampaging cannibals to avoid; the real threat the characters have to deal with is each other. 

And the small cast is magnificent. Margot Robbie puts in her best work to date, working with no makeup and a strong southern accent, she vanishes into the character and proves that she can act with more than just her body. Chiwetel Ejiofor is also strong as usual, and Chris Pine also puts in an excellent performance; ranging from cunning to sly to charming in the blink of an eye. 

There are many themes that Z FOR ZACHARIAH plays with; faith, hope, trust, etc…and not all of them are completely resolved by the end; an ending which can and will take some breaths away and have good folk leaving the theatre in a great debate of what happened. It’s a subtle gut-punch, and the journey to get there was more than worth the while. 

BOTTOM LINE: See it 

Wes Craven 1939 - 2015

Wes Craven; director, writer, producer, and actor…has passed away at 76. 

Wesley Earl Craven was born in Cleveland, Ohio and raised in a strict Baptist family. After earning degrees in English and Psychology, and a Masters in Philosophy and Writing, Craven taught as a humanities professor before taking his first job in the film industry as a sound editor. 

After leaving the academic world, he spent time as a pornographic film director. In 1972 he directed his first feature film, THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, in which two teenage girls who are taken into the woods and tortured, shocked audiences into remembering his name forever. He would follow up with another shocker, THE HILLS HAVE EYES in 1977. 

From there, Craven collaborated with Sean S. Cunningham to create what would become one of the most iconic characters in not just the horror genre but in all of film, Freddy Krueger. Krueger, a mythical serial killer who used a glove armed with razors to kill teenagers in their dreams, would be the centerpiece for Craven’s A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET in 1984. The film was met with rave reviews and went on to make a significant impact in the horror genre, and would spawn a franchise consisting of sequels, a TV series, and an eventual crossover with another horror franchise, FRIDAY THE 13^th. Just as Freddy Krueger’s name would become synonymous with nightmares, Craven’s would be associated with horror. 

His long list of notable directing credits would include SWAMP THING (1982), CHILLER (1985), THE HILLS HAVE EYES PART II (1985), THE SERPENT AND THE RAINBOW (1988), and THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS (1991). He would prove his diversity and his skill as a filmmaker in 1999 when he stepped out of the horror genre to direct the drama MUSIC OF THE HEART with Meryl Streep and Angela Bassett, which was nominated for an Oscar. 

In 1994, he deconstructed the genre he had revitalized with WES CRAVEN’S NEW NIGHTMARE, which poked fun at the Freddy Krueger franchise and famously looped back on itself by using the original cast members playing themselves. Craven starred as himself in a well-received concept of a movie-within-a-movie. Craven would take his sense of humor a step further when he launched a new horror franchise, SCREAM in 1996…which launched another iconic film character in the “ghostface”. With tongue firmly in cheek and plenty of love, Craven parodied the genre that he had created. SCREAM would spawn three sequels, with SCREAM 4 finishing as his last big-screen directing gig in 2011. 

He would be a good sport and appear as himself in films and TV shows over the years, including Kevin Smith’s JAY AND SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK (2001). He created a five-issue comic book series called COMING OF RAGE in 2014, and served as a producer for the 2015 SCREAM TV series. He received the New York City Horror Film Festival Life Achievement Award in 2012. 

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In the late 1980’s, this Blogger and his brother got in trouble with Mom when she found the Freddy Krueger glove we had created out of an old work glove and cardboard knives. She wasn’t a big fan of Freddy, but she recognized who the glove represented right away…and that speaks towards Wes Craven’s knack for using iconography to generate fear. From Freddy’s knives and hat to the whiteness of the SCREAM ghostface, Craven struck a chord with us all with just one glance. As a filmmaker, he created and un-created the horror genre and still made it seem like new. He understood what made a movie work and manipulated audiences like only a master could. He believed that fear wasn’t something to run from, but to plow into…and from that basis anything was possible. Wes Craven may be gone, but the nightmares will go on forever. 

Reel Facts & Opinions: Back to Middle-Earth

Author JRR Tolkien’s massive literary works involving the fantastical world of Middle-Earth, a realm packed tight with stories and adventures involving men, wizards, dwarves, elves, goblins, dragons, demons of the ancient world and little Hobbits, has seen an equally massive career in its adaptations to the big screen. So big, that it continues to make headlines long after the most recent film has faded to black. 

Director Peter Jackson’s adaptation of THE HOBBIT, which was beefed up into a trilogy of films by mining much of Tolkien’s expansive appendices’, will be returning to the big screen this October. The special extended editions, which includes more footage not seen in their original theatrical runs from 2012-2014 (but was included in the blu-ray and home releases), will play in 500 theatres on October 5^th, 7^th, and 13^th, respectively. 

Jackson’s adaptation of THE HOBBIT was a box office success, even though it didn’t quite enjoy the critical success of his first Tolkien trilogy, THE LORD OF THE RINGS. It’s difficult to imagine people flocking to the gates to view expanded editions of films which were probably too long the first time around, but then again…this is Middle-Earth we’re talking about. Returning to that beloved world is always a treat, especially on the big-screen, and THE HOBBIT films did have their highlights with some stunning set-pieces and battles. Big-screen spectacle is what it thrives on. 

Speaking of battles, Jackson’s third film in THE HOBBIT trilogy, THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES, will see its long-awaited home release of the expanded edition arrive in late November (which gives fans incentive to go see the expanded edition in theatres; they can beat the home-release by a month), and the interesting news here is that not only is this edition 20 minutes longer than the theatrical cut, but unlike the original version which was rated PG-13, this will be rated R for “some violence”. 

The R rating from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) is the first such rating for any of Jackson’s six Middle-Earth films. There had been word last year prior to the film’s release that the big end-battle had been cut down considerably (the running time was relatively short at 144 minutes), so it seems the bulk of the expanded cut would center around more killings and perhaps more bloodshed. How this will play out remains to be seen, but an R-rated Middle-Earth movie would certainly stand out among the somewhat kid-friendly films from THE HOBBIT and THE LORD OF THE RINGS. 

Speaking of kid-friendly Middle-Earth films, Turner Classic Movies has announced that it will air Ralph Bakshi’s animated take of THE LORD OF THE RINGS (1978) on September 2^nd. The film, which was met with mixed reaction from critics and fans, served as an influence for Peter Jackson before he set out to make his live-action movies.  

Watch this at your own risk. Bakshi’s film, which was originally supposed to be called Part 1, only covers the first book and-a-half of THE LORD OF THE RINGS before abruptly ending after 133 minutes. Since Part 2 was never made, we’re left with half a movie with no real ending. The film was notable for its use of rotoscoping, which was an animation technique where scenes were first shot live-action, and then traced onto animation cels; basically using a hybrid of traditional hand-drawn animation and live-action footage. It was considered innovative at the time, but today it just looks bizarre. This Blogger finds the film (and most of Bakshi’s work) to be unwatchable crap. At the very least it serves as a curiosity piece and a sense of completion for any fans who can’t get enough of Middle-Earth. 

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THE HOBBIT expanded editions arrives in theatres October 5^th, 7^th, and 13^th. The expanded edition of THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES will be released November 17^th. 

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Ralph Bakshi’s 1978 THE LORD OF THE RINGS airs on TCM September 2^nd. 

A Reel Review: IRRATIONAL MAN

At 79 years old, writer/director Woody Allen is showing no signs of slowing down. By cranking out seven movies over the past five years, he’s become the assembly-line of filmmakers; throwing in all of his trademark themes in new surroundings in an apparent rush to beef up his numbers before old age finally catches up to him. His newest work, IRRATIONAL MAN, has nearly all of Allen’s tricks and trademarks; all the good ones, bad ones, and all the ones in-between. 

Abe (Joaquin Phoenix), a burned-out alcoholic philosophy professor who leans on life-lessons over textbooks, begins a new position at a small school and promptly starts a relationship with Jill (Emma Stone), who is one of his students, along with an affair with his fellow teacher Rita (Parkey Posey). Unable to sustain either relationship due to his depression, Abe stumbles upon a solution with deadly consequences. 

Sometimes the best storytelling happens when characters are thrown in a situation together and are allowed to just react to each other. This type of writing has served writer/director Woody Allen very well over his 50 years in the film business, and in the early goings of IRRATIONAL MAN, the stage is set for an excellent character study. Both Abe and Jill are from opposite ends of life; one has been beaten down and lost all zeal for living, while the other is young and full of love and life. Abe’s background as a philosophy teacher allows the film to explore many themes through the eyes of the great philosophers of our time, and Allen uses his time wisely in having his characters explore each other and moving the story forward. 

Things take a wicked left-turn when Abe, who is desperate to find a solution to his misery, suddenly decides to commit a murder which snaps him out of his depression. The introduction of the idea comes way out of left-field and is enough to jar the viewer right out of the movie, and things never quite recover from it. The idea is outrageous, and once Abe pulls off the crime IRRATIONAL MAN becomes a whodunit-flick in reverse where Jill, Rita, and others, who don’t know Abe committed the crime, try to figure out who the killer is. As a crime story it doesn’t work because the audience already knows the answer to whodunit, and most of, if not all of the great character moments that were built up in the early goings gets left on the table. 

Woody Allen’s talent for writing sharp dialogue isn’t really on display here. Characters don’t show much wit and overall the movie is dull to listen to even after the crime is committed and everyone starts playing cat-and-mouse. The dullness seeps into everything else about the movie; the pacing, aesthetic, and unfortunately…the acting. 

The actors involved, all of whom are talented, don’t seem to know what they’re supposed to do with the material. Joaquin Phoenix, who is supposed to be playing a tortured soul, is a bit of a snooze to watch as Allen doesn’t seem know exactly where to direct him. Emma Stone is charming and looks great as always, and she plays off of Phoenix nicely…but it always seems like there should be more for her to work with. Parker Posey as the unhinged affair-having wife escapes with the least damage. 

The finale brings with it a fair amount of laughs from the theatre; not because it’s funny but because it’s ridiculous and flies in the face of the seriousness of the situation the film wants to convey. It’s a silly way to end a dull and bizarre movie, one that Allen will hopefully learn a few lessons from before he cranks out another. 

BOTTOM LINE: Fuck it