No Escape Review

A racism for worst of the year----Owen Wilson as a father and businessman caught in the middle of an Asian war in No Escape
                         No Escape is a film I watched with my jaw completely dropped. It's absolutely incredible to think something this antediluvian in its racism is being released in theaters in 2015, much less that it's being marketed as a blockbuster action film. This is a disgusting film, one that would only be more racist and appalling if Owen Wilson's character was wearing a Ku Klux Klan outfit for the entire film. I don't know what prompts people to make films like this and what gives them the idea that any of this can be considered entertainment but oh boy, is this film a despicable pile of garbage.

                        The film stars Wilson as Jack, a father of two lovely girls (Sterling Jerins and Claire Geare, who is wisely uncredited for her role as daughter Beeze) and a dedicated wife (Lake Bell.) They travel to an unnamed Asian country for a business opportunity presented to Jack. Soon after landing, their perfect world is in shambles when Jack realizes there is a war breaking out and the Asians (but only the bad ones, the good ones just get killed as if it's no big deal) are attacking (gasp) those white americans who are destroying their country. What persists is scene after scene of child in danger circumstances and Jack yelling at his family that they need to get to safety, both of which someone try to come across as a form of entertainment.

                          I don't know why anyone would enjoy this film. If it were this appallingly racist and uncaring and yet still intense, that's one thing. However, it's simultaneously unpleasant and boring. It's so dull, in fact, that even when Pierce Brosnan comes back as a man who leads Jack and his family, it felt incredibly anti-climatic as it was trying to build itself back up. I'm going to get into a spoiler here for a second because it's something I feel I have to bring up to talk about my true hate for this film so if you still somehow want to see this film, skip ahead to the subsequent paragraph.

                            Toward the end of the film, Jack's older daughter (so the one who's not Beeze, but is still only about 10,) has a gun to her head as the main Asian villain is forcing her to shoot her father in the face. The scene ends up with Jack's wife beating the main villain, and some of his henchmen, with a  blunt object. I can't even describe how much I wanted to punch the Dowdle brothers (who wrote this film and John Erick Dowdle directed it) in the face. Anything could potentially be acceptable in a film but this was done with such an uncaring nastiness that I had a hard time believing I was watching it.

                              I rarely say this because I am more than aware how hard it is to get a film made but John Erick Dowdle and Drew Dowdle and everyone else involved in the making of this film should be ashamed of themselves. I think Wilson and Bell both have a ton of talent but after watching this film, I have lost a lot of respect for them. This film is a torturous experience that serves absolutely no purpose and the attempt to try and cover the racism presented by writing in some phony BS about the dangers of being an American businessman at the end makes the unbelievable racism all the more shoved in the audience's faces.

                                 No Escape is not only a bad film---it's an unforgivable one. To think this is what people deem acceptable in 2015 is just shocking. There is not a single redeeming quality in this whole mess and if DW Griffith came back from the dead and watched this film, even he would be ashamed of the ideas presented here.
(0 out of 5 Stars, The film is rated R for strong violence including a sexual assault, and for language)
                         
   

A Walk In The Woods Review

Stars trek---Robert Redford and Nick Nolte as long lost friends who decide to do one last hike together in A Walk In The Woods
                         A Walk In The Woods is the type of film that is not going to be for everyone, but that someone would also have to be a cynical, depressing, soulless person to entirely hate. It's a lovely little comedy-drama with two major and legendary Hollywood talents. There is nothing great about it but it made me smile from start to finish, as it will do with many people and sometimes, that's all a film needs to do to earn my recommendation. In these dog days of the end of summer, I tend to be come much less demanding and this is exactly the kind of comfortable. enjoyable film I love to see get released amongst all the garbage. This is the kind of film that won't do too well in ticket sales but will kill on cable. Come a few months from now, a lot of people will see this is playing on TBS or FX and see that it stars Robert Redford and Nick Nolte. This will prompt them to turn it on and realize what a lovely film they're watching.

                             The film stars Redford as Bill Bryson (who is a real person who wrote the book this film is based on,) a travel writer in his 70's who realizes his life has lost any spontaneity. He has an extremely caring and dedicated wife (Emma Thompson,) great grandkids and a comfortable existence. However, he has also become to accustomed to his daily life and has even been reduced to being interviewed by amateur anchormen about why he seems to have no intention to write anything new.

                          One day,  after the funeral of a friend, he decides that he will walk the Appalachian Trail, an over 2000 mile walk that even people half his age surrender to. Bill's wife insists he bring a friend along and he reluctantly has Stephen Katz (Nolte,) the only person willing to touch this expedition with a ten foot pole, join him.

                          What this film does really well is that it shows two people, played by two great actors, just being lovely. These feel like the kind of people that anyone would pass on the street and they are both sweet, caring people. Sure--they have flaws and aren't always the ideal person to have by your side on a long hike but they are dedicated to the journey and enjoy one another's company, even in the most obnoxious of times. Namely, an overly abrasive and obnoxious hiker (Kristen Schaal, whose schtick I'll give about a month before everyone becomes as unbelievably sick of it as I am.) Fortunately, her character leaves about four minutes after being introduced, right as I was about to walk out of the theater because of her.

                             Redford and Nolte have never shared screen time together but as with a lot of veteran actors first acting together (John Lithgow and Alfred Molina in Love Is Strange is another example that jumps right to mind,) they are dynamite together and have unbelievably magnetic chemistry. I instantly believed these were pals who lost contact and were excited to see each other again. They  are completely believable as two people who find one another yet again at the perfect time.

                              Both Redford and Nolte get a lot of funny moments as well. The film is incredibly touching but it also has more to offer than just gags about how these two are such old farts. They are not only funny in their own rights but they are extremely funny together. Their banter makes for some extremely amusing moments. There are some things that feel shoved into the film, however. Specifically, Mary Steenburgen shows up as a hotel manager who seems to have the hots for Bill. However, seeing as Bill is married and faithful to his wife, this plot point goes absolutely nowhere. This plot point is mostly forgiven, though, because Steenburgen proves herself a good counterpoint to Redford's half-ready to give up old man.

                                  While the comedy mostly works, the better moments are the ones that try (and completely succeed) to be touching. One moment where Stephen confronts Bill about his alcoholism is particularly great and admittedly brought a few tears to my eyes. These moments give the film the weight that make it as simultaneously enjoyable and deep as it is.
   
                                   Like I said, this film will not be for everyone. If you're already rolling your eyes at the idea of Nolte and Redford as two old men who have witty banter in the woods, this film will have you running for the exits. However, A Walk In The Woods is a lovely (I know I've used that word a lot in this review but there's no word to better describe it), very well done comedy-drama that will prove to be an extremely fun time for anyone who just wants to see two legendary actors be great together for the first time.
(4 out of 5 Stars, The film is rated R for language and some sexual references)
                             
                       

Irrational Man Review

No flight of the Phoenix--Emma Stone as a college student and Joaquin Phoenix as a philosophy professor in Irrational Man
                           Irrational Man, the latest from Woody Allen, is only a film in the sense that it has moving images and sounds on a screen. This is a miserable, depressing experience that doesn't exactly start out as a classy venture and yet manages to get progressively worse every second it inches along. This film doesn't have characters, a story, dialogue, ETC. Sure, actors show up and say a few words but there's no link between any two words any of these people say nor any of the "events" that "take place" on screen. I use quotation marks to indicate that nothing really happens. There are just movements by people on a screen.

                        Whenever I went to my local arthouse theater (even a week before this atrocity opened,) I saw the poster for it and yet had only vague hints of seeing the trailer once. Considering this is a "film" by Woody Allen, it seemed to be completely under marketed. Watching it, I realized why. Even a first time director with no dignity whatsoever would feel completely ashamed of having made something like this. Before I come across as too much of a jerk, I understand films are an incredibly hard thing to get made and I suppose I can give Allen the benefit of the doubt and say he put effort in and it just wasn't in the cards this time. However, this film is so pathetic and sad that I still can't tell whether I should hate it or pity it.

                            Joaquin Phoenix and Emma Stone, both at great points in their respective careers, will no doubt be able to shake this off as a misfire. Allen has made so many clunkers over the years that this will just go down as another one of those. However, this was near unwatchable to me (I literally almost left 18 times, and it's only a little over 90 minutes!!!) Allen has made some terrible films. However, I never found one this unpleasant. Between Aloha and this, Stone seems to be trying to prove that her Oscar nomination for Birdman was just a flash in the pan and has helped in providing two of the most unpleasant movie going experiences I have had this year. She's an extremely talented actress but she needs to find a new agent because she's terrible in these roles. Phoenix has also caused me two of the most unpleasant experiences this year. Between Inherent Vice and this garbage, this talented and versatile actor who is almost always interesting (he was actually the only genuinely good part of Inherent Vice) perhaps needs to reconsider the roles he is taking. As for Parker Posey in a brief role that is simply the Town Bimbo, she's a solid actress but needs to find a different role to put herself back in the spotlight.

                               There is something to be said about a film that causes me to write a review that is simply an angry rant. I almost have to give Irrational Man credit for being a film that is a level of awful I have never seen before  and will never see again. However, it is all too dull and unpleasant to give that much credit. I don't know what went wrong that all these talented people came together for such an abysmal production. I would love to see the making of for this garbage. It would be fascinating to see who is to blame (if anybody, really.) Perhaps it was truly just an incredibly unfortunate production. For now, I'll just warn you not to be shocked if this ends up in a  spot that comes before #2 on my worst of 2015 list come January 2016.
(0 out of 5 Stars, The film is rated R for some language and sexual content)

The Diary Of A Teenage Girl Review

Growing into it----Bel Powley as a teenager whose mother (Kristen Wiig) seems painfully unaware of her sleeping around in The Diary Of A Teenage Girl
                               The Diary Of A Teenage Girl is a film written and directed by a woman, based on a novel by a woman and feels like no less would have been acceptable in this politically correct times. This is strange because the film is most reminiscent of James Toback and Todd Solondz (especially When Will I Be Loved, with its heavy sexual themes and Welcome To The Dollhouse, with its theme of a young woman coming into her own.) Just like films by these two directors, writer-director Marielle Heller's film (based on a novel by Phoebe Gloeckner) is uncomfortably close to home in the ways it explores the idea of human interaction and the temptation to push that interaction over the edge. However, it's also an enthralling, inventive and somewhat quirky drama held together by the lead performance of Bel Powley.

                                  The film follows Minnie (Powley,) a socially awkward, neurotic teenage girl living in 1970s San Francisco who is tired of being looked at as a kid. One day, she makes a proposal to her mother (Kristen Wiig)'s sleazy kind of boyfriend Monroe (Alexander Skarsgard) to engage in sexual relations privately. Immediately, Monroe seizes the opportunity but Minnie soon finds out that it's not all about the carnal nature of a relationship.

                                   Powley is excellent here, showing a tortured soul who just wants to feel grown up. Every little look she gives, movement she makes, ETC, totally informs Minnie. Her performance completely reminded me of Heather Matarazzo's brilliant work in Solondz's Welcome To The Dollhouse. This is as fully realized a film character as I have seen. Skarsgard also does a really good job, showing once again that no one plays a creepy weirdo quite like him. Wiig provides solid supporting work as the completely oblivious mother.


                                    As adapted by Heller, the screenplay is dynamite. The way the interactions always seem to be teetering on the creepy is so flawlessly done it often made me very uncomfortable to listen to the characters talk. Even a conversation between Minnie and Monroe about food is so wickedly evil in its own little way that the viewer can't help but be engaged, no matter how much they are cringing. Minnie's whole way of speaking totally informs who she is viewed as VS. who she actually wants to be. There is obvious hesitant in her to sleep with Monroe from the get-go but she feels the obligation to. The first bit of dialogue between she and Monroe perfectly shows this strained connection the two have.

                                      The direction is also really good. Heller, along with the set designers, costume designers and other crew members, should be praised for the look of the film. I've always found the 1970s is the toughest decade to pull off in film and they absolutely nail it here. Not only the way the surroundings and clothes look but the way people talk and act totally brings the decade back to life.

                                       The film does drag a bit as it reaches its conclusion and it feels as if there are a couple of moments that feel more shoved in than perhaps they should have been. However, The Diary Of A Teenage Girl is a risky, engaging, altogether successful film that makes me realize just how much I miss the prime years of Toback and Solondz.

(4 out of 5 Stars, The film is rated R for strong sexual content including dialogue, graphic nudity, drug use, language and drinking-all involving teens)
                   

The Stanford Prison Experiment Review

Simulated experiment, real harm---Tye Sheridan as one of many college students who get caught up in the idea of a fake jail in The Stanford Prison Experiment
                                  The Stanford Prison Experiment is an amazing story. The experiment itself was a real thing that took place at the titular college back in 1971. It was run by a man named Phillip Zimbardo and the fact that any of it ever happened is fairly incredible to think about. The human brain is a very complex tool. When given nothing to do, it often seems to wander out of one's head. However, when given nothing but control, it takes full advantage of this newfound power like a moth to light. The new film from director Kyle Patrick Alvarez and writer Tim Talbott is a completely electrifying and visceral experience. It is a perfectly enclosed little indie film, with a great sense of just why this experiment went so, so wrong.

                                    For those not familiar with this experiment, it is the summer of 1971 at Stanford University. Twenty-four male students who all have spite toward the people in power are picked for an experiment. The idea--twelve will be shoved into prison (which is just a hallway in an empty campus building,) complete with a real police officer coming to their house and arresting them. The other twelve will be given the role of guards. However, Professor Phillip Zimbardo (Billy Crudup) will be closely observing these guards to assure that nothing gets crazy. Oh boy, do things get crazy.

                                      The guards eat up the power they were against just a few days ago. One guard, Christopher (Michael Angarano) even gets so caught up that he puts on a Cool Hand Luke-style southern accent and immediately grabs the respect (or at least reluctant faking of respect) every time he even breathes near them. Naturally, other guards follow his lead, especially one seemingly harmless guy (Nicholas Braun) who figures if he can get the prisoners to do whatever he wants, why not make them? This sets off a chain of unbelievably creepy events that even lead to extreme breakdowns by some of the prisoners.

                                        One thing that Alvarez and Talbott do exceptionally well is show that who became who was just in the flip of a coin. If the prisoners and guards were the other way around, it is more likely than not that the exact same thing would have happened. It's easy for the prisoners to say they would never do what the guards are doing but until you get that power, how do you truly know your full potential?

                                          Alvarez and Talbott also do a wonderful job of giving all perspectives. We see how reasonably disturbed the prisoners are but we also see why Zimbardo doesn't want to stop, even when he sees the chaos, why Zimbardo's girlfriend, Christina (Olivia Thirbly) thinks he should and why the guards can't help but become this way. One particular aspect is showing the guard's true colors. We see that Christopher is not really a bad guy at all. He's a nice guy who just has trouble holding back from using his power. This is also due to the performance of Angarano. While everyone is great in here (the cast is filled to the brim with up and coming actors such as Tye Sheridan, Ezra Miller, Kier Gilchrist, Johnny Simmons, Moises Arias, Jack Kilmer and Thomas Mann,) Angarano takes the cake.
       
                                       He is fascinating to watch from start to finish. From the first scene he appears in which he is being interviewed for a position in the experiment, he brings both humanity and an uneasy feeling that he may unexpectedly snap to the character. I haven't seen such a rich and complex performance in quite some time. However, everyone is wonderful. One of the biggest compliments I can give the actors is that despite knowing almost all of them extremely well, not once did I see the actor come out in any of them. I not only completely bought their characters but didn't even recognize them within the performance.

                                        The ending is also totally profound. I understand that the ending is the one part Alvarez and Talbott had to take some creative licensing on. Knowing a lot about the real experiment (it's such a fascinating thing to read and hear about,) I can say what they did is not completely farfetched. While the real experiment does not exactly conclude the way the film portrays it, the idea of the real ending is still pretty much there. They did, however, also manage to write in a fascinating ending that says a lot about human beings and who we are.

                                           The Stanford Prison Experiment is a completely worthwhile thriller (yes, it's in that genre simply because of how damn creepy the events are) that demands to be seen at least once. The complete sense of realism created by Alvarez, Talbott and their crew of phenomenal young actors is unlike anything I've ever seen. If there's ever such a thing as time traveling back to a certain event, this is it. Whether or not you know about this story, see this film as soon as you can!
(5 out of 5 Stars, The film is rated R for language including abusive behavior and some sexual references)

Mistress America Review

New York state of mind---Lola Kirke & Greta Gerwig as soon to be sisters who meet up in The Big Apple in Mistress America
                            I've always had a like-strongly dislike relationship with Noah Baumbach & Greta Gerwig, the two minds behind the new comedy Mistress America. Often the films they make and characters they produce feel way too quirky to ever really enjoy. Other times, they get into a more subdued state and impress the hell out of me. In this year's fantastic drama Eden, Gerwig has a brief but effective role as a former lover of the main character. Baumbach has produced some gems from Kicking And Screaming to the criminally underrated The Squid And The Whale to this year's very enjoyable While We're Young.
                           The quirk level on this newest independent comedy is high and it really took me a while to warm up to it but the more I thought about the film, the more I liked it. The film does have a lot of the usual tropes that I don't like in Baumbach & Gerwig (who wrote the screenplay together, Gerwig is one of the two leads, Baumbach directs) but this one is short, sweet and to the point. I was not a big fan of their last big collaboration, Frances Ha (it may be important to note that Baumbach & Gerwig have been together since 2011 and thus will continue to make films together as long as their relationship doesn't fall apart.) The problem I had with that film is the quirkiness was the entire film. Every time Frances (Gerwig) opened her mouth, I wanted to just tell her to stop. But I digress & am now unfairly comparing two films.
                             What works in Mistress America is the fact that the quirkiness of it all is just one part of the overall film. Gerwig does do her usual Zooey Deschanel-lite schtick but it's in service of the character rather than being the entire character. In one particular moment set in a house of someone Gerwig used to know, she even does a bit in which she "rewinds" herself. In a film with less restraint, this would have completely bugged me. Here, it's just part of the character.
                                The plot follows Tracy (Kirke,) an awkward but sweet college student who finds out her mother is planning to remarry. One particularly lonely night, she decides to call her sister-in-law to be, Brooke (Gerwig) and they decide to have a night out together. However, their relationship gets much deeper when a fortune teller informs Brooke that she still has business in her life to take care of.
                                In my opinion, the best scene is one early in the film set in a dingy bar. Without giving away what happens in the scene, it is incredibly well done in how it will leave audiences divisive about what to make of it. After my screening, I heard many people debating this scene and whether it tried to convey X or Y. This scene also stays completely away from the quirk and allows the audience to see these people through a different light.
                                 Gerwig & Kirke have amazing chemistry, instantly making it totally believable that these two people not only enjoy one another but largely need the other. At the Q&A that followed my screening, Gerwig mentioned that she and Kirke were enjoying each other's company on set so much, Baumbach often got irritated with them. This is totally seen through their natural interactions and palpable chemistry.
                                   The film does have some problems, however. While it is enjoyable and nicely subdued for the majority of the running time, the quirkiness is a bit too much at first. When we first meet Brooke, I felt as if Gerwig was still trying to figure the character out for a bit. It's not until the scene in the bar that I didn't feel as if Gerwig was overdoing Brooke. She seemed to treat her as more of an idea than an actual person. That wasn't the right approach and fortunately she begun to realize that. Also, the extended sequence in the house does drag on for a bit too long. It was a clever set up for a 10 minute gag but it went on past the point of being enjoyable. Half of the film if not more is set in this house and after a while, it's just not funny or charming or at all good anymore. Lastly, the film's finale is very touching but would have been so much more effective if it weren't so convenient. At the end, everything is wrapped up in too much of a bow. It's the completely overused cliche of the thing that splits the characters apart before they ultimately get back together. That cliche isn't even so bad if it produces a worth while reveal, middle part and conclusion. However, this film only takes around 10 minutes after the reveal to get Tracy and Brooke back together. This led to a finale that was touching but also felt incredibly rushed.
                                  Mistress America  clocks in at 84 minutes and that was certainly enough. For the most part, I enjoyed what Baumbach and Gerwig had to offer. However, I was glad it ended when it did because it ultimately ends up feeling like an ice cream headache---delicious at first before becoming too much to handle.
(3 and 1/2 out of 5 Stars, The film is rated R for language including some sexual references)

Slow West Review

West we forget----Kodi Smit-McPhee and Michael Fassbender as travelers trying to avoid a group of crazies in Slow West
                           It's hard for me not to sit here and just immediately call Slow West, the new throwback action-western from first time feature writer/director John Maclean a masterpiece of filmmaking. This is the kind of film that grips the viewer from the start and doesn't stop until it wants to. Once the film is wrapped up, a strange feeling will come over me. I realized I had just watched a game changer in the world of film. Yes, it's not true that Slow West will become a box office smash nor may it ever find an audience beyond film junkies such as myself. However, it will allow directors far and wide to see that there is room for their films on the marquee that will proudly take the spot of another action film that Michael Bay is unfortunately belching out. Further more, this is the kind of film that the word "cinematic" is made off. Its only real fault is that there is significantly more interest in the visual aesthetic, acting and deliberate pace that builds up very nicely than the story itself.
           
                       However, that's Maclean realizing filmmakers are doing it all wrong. People like Bay don't focus on the story at all while many arthouse films seem TOO invested in the story and not enough in how it's playing out. Here, Maclean takes the story and all other aspects and tells the story well enough to be invested in it but not so much that the genuine desert backdrops don't make the viewer's eyes pop. This is a visual orgy in motion for its entire run time. Not once did the sets stop paying due diligence to the westerns of yesteryear. If John Wayne, John Ford, Buck Rogers, David Dortort, Lorne Greene and so many others who helped shape the western were alive today, they would be nothing but proud of the work done here.

                         The film follows Jay Cavendish (Kodi Smit-McPhee,) a young guy who travels from Scotland into the west to find the love of his life. He blames himself for the move she and her father had to make and he wants to find that spark with her yet again. In his travels, Jay meets Silas Selleck (Michael Fassbender,) a man with a quick trigger hand and an even quicker mouth. Silas agrees to help Jay get to where he's going, especially with the threat of mad man Payne (Ben Mendelsohn) and his murderous posse approaching

                           Smit-McPhee and Fassbender have excellent chemistry here. Their banter is fun, their growing respect for one another palpable and their kindness felt. From the first second, it is totally believable that these two guys would agree to travel together. They're honest men who just want to get to their own little havens and they both realize two heads are better than one. Also, Mendelsohn is incredible here. All three men have proven to be phenomenally talented actors who can disappear into their roles in the snap of a finger. All do career best work here. Smit-McPhee gives Jay equal parts vulnerability and toughness, never falling too far into the category of one. Fassbender is hilarious and makes Silas both a believable bad boy and a realistic wise guy. Mendelsohn thoroughly embraces his role of a slime ball who would do anything to watch blood be spilt. The acting makes the otherwise wacky story a great success.

                             However, Maclean, along with the costume and set workers, must be applauded as well. Maclean both writes and directs like a long time veteran of Hollywood while the costumes and sets both look stunning. I honestly forgot I was watching a film for almost the entire thing and just believed I was in the old west. That's where Maclean really gets credit for dialing down of the story. If the plot had been too drawn out, that complete engagement and feeling of being there would have never worked. Maclean makes me feel hot and thirsty as I am vicariously walking that desert with Jay and Silas.

                             Slow West is an entirely different film from someone who has no desire to conform to the filmmakers of today. This is the kind of film that needs to be made much more often--one that challenges the world of both blockbusters and independent films and shows faults in both of them while never being condescending to either. Maclean has made a perfect combination of a Hollywood action film, an arresting visual ordeal and an equal parts touching, funny, sad and overall palpable independent drama.
(5 out of 5 Stars, The film is rated R for violence and brief language)