LOVING VINCENT – Review

Dr. Gauchet (Jerome Flynn) in LOVING VINCENT. Painting by Kat Knutsen. Copyright © Loving Vincent

The strikingly beautiful animated film LOVING VINCENT is described as “the world’s first fully oil painted feature film.” That description means a group of artists hand-painted the images that fill this stunningly beautiful film. This intriguing, ambitious film goes a step further and puts animated actors into Vincent Van Gogh’s paintings, which are used as the setting to explore the artist’s life and work through a mystery tale investigating his death. The result is not only gorgeous but an appealing fact-and-fiction tale through which the film recounts the famous artist’s life and art.

Van Gogh paintings are brought to life so that the actors, rotoscoped and then painted, move around in them, an amazing and pleasing effect. LOVING VINCENT employed a team of 125 artists over six years to hand-paint in oil recreations of Van Gogh paintings and the images of the actors in this unusual film. The film’s 65,000 frames feature 125 of Van Gogh’s paintings, starting with the famous “Starry Night.” Using a title taken from a signature, “your loving Vincent,” on Van Gogh’s letters to his brother Theo, LOVING VINCENT explores the life and art of Van Gogh through a sort of detective story.

This joint British – Polish production used a cast of mostly-British actors in roles based on real people from Van Gogh’s life. Douglas Booth plays the main character Arnaud, the son of Van Gogh’s postman and friend in Arles, Joseph Roulin (Chris O’Dowd). Arnaud’s father sends him on a journey to deliver Vincent’s last letter but the young Arnaud finds himself drawn into trying to uncover the facts behind the artist’s death. On his quest, Arnaud walks through a series of Van Gogh’s famous paintings, talking to various people who knew the artist. Arnaud’s journey takes him from Arles to Paris to Auvers-sur-Oise. Among those he meets are the painter’s physician Dr. Paul Gachet (Jerome Flynn, GAME OF THRONES’ Bronn), the doctor’s daughter Marguerite (Saoirse Ronan), his housekeeper Louise (Helen McCrory), the daughter of Van Gogh’s last landlord Adeline Ravoux (Eleanor Tomlinson, Demelza on BBC’s POLDARK ), and a boatman who knew him (Aiden Turner, who plays the lead on POLDARK).

 

Full disclosure here: As the daughter of an artist, a painter who worked in oil, I am a soft touch for anything about Van Gogh as well as intrigued by anything like this kind of ambitious cinema project. Given that the artist is one of the most popular, the film should generate wide interest, which is well rewarded in this remarkable film. The oil painting technique creates vibrant images, and the chance to move through the famous paintings is nothing less than spectacular. Van Gogh’s vivid use of color and bold brush strokes readily lends itself to this unique animation project. The actors are animated using a rotoscope technique, which captures the movement of their features, but each actor is also made up, costumed and in character of a person painted by Van Gogh, which makes their placement in this lovely landscape feel right. Watching the semi-animated actors move through the Van Gogh’s paintings is immensely appealing, a permanent delight of this film. Most of the film is in color, but a few flashback scenes are rendered in black and white, although still reproducing the artist’s signature style. It is a wonderful immersive experience and a visually beautiful film.

 

If the film had nothing else, it would be worth seeing for its sheer visual beauty. But the film does have more than its lush images, with a clever story that keeps the audience involved in the film while giving a short overview of Van Gogh’s life. The mystery story is involving and the fine cast give evocative performances, so the blending of cinema art and oil painting is perfect.

This wonderful film is an ambitious undertaking but it succeeds marvelously. LOVING VINCENT is a film best seen on a big screen, to fully appreciate all it offers. LOVING VINCENT opens Friday, October 27, at Landmark Theater’s Plaza Frontenac Cinema.

RATING: 5 out of 5 stars

 

ICYMI: Will Smith and Joel Edgerton In Trailer For Netflix’s BRIGHT From Director David Ayer

On December 22nd, Will Smith and Joel Edgerton bring their action A-game to the globe in the eagerly-anticipated Netflix Original Film Bright. A bold new action-thriller from director David Ayer (known for such box office hits as Suicide Squad, End of Watch and Training Day), Bright follows the story of two LAPD police officers played by Smith (Officer Ward) and Edgerton (Officer Jakoby) who form a most unlikely duo working to keep the mean streets of Los Angeles safe from a sinister underworld filled with gang violence and dark forces at work.

Check out the explosive new trailer for Bright.

The trailer also features the exclusive first taste of two brand new tracks from the film’s original soundtrack: “Danger” by Migos & Marshmello, and “Home” by Machine Gun Kelly, X Ambassadors & Bebe Rexha. These two new songs will be featured on Bright: The Album, which will be available for pre-order on November 9th. Bright: The Album is being produced by Atlantic Records and David Ayer, the creative minds behind the massively successful soundtrack Suicide Squad: The Album. For updates on Bright: The Album, visit https://ad.gt/bright.

Bright will be available in select theaters and on Netflix starting December 22nd, 2017.  Visit Bright on Netflix.  

 

Twitter: @BrightNetflix

Facebook: @BrightMovie

Instagram: @Bright

Set in an alternate present-day, this action-thriller directed by David Ayer (Suicide Squad, End of Watch, writer of Training Day) follows two cops from very different backgrounds (Ward, a human played by Will Smith, and Jakoby, an orc played by Joel Edgerton) who embark on a routine patrol night that will ultimately alter the future as their world knows it.  Battling both their own personal differences as well as an onslaught of enemies, they must work together to protect a thought-to-be-forgotten relic, which in the wrong hands could destroy everything.

The Netflix film stars Will Smith, Joel Edgerton, Noomi Rapace, Lucy Fry, Edgar Ramirez, Ike Barinholtz, Enrique Murciano, Jay Hernandez, Andrea Navedo, Veronica Ngo, Alex Meraz, Margaret Cho, Brad William Henke, Dawn Oliveri, and Kenneth Choi.  The film is directed by David Ayer and written by Max Landis.  David Ayer, Eric Newman, and Bryan Unkeless serve as producers.

The Academy Presenting Special Oscar Statuette To Director Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s Virtual Reality CARNE y ARENA

Achievement in Directing winner Alejandro G. Iñárritu “The Revenant” at The 88th Oscars® in Hollywood, CA on Sunday, February 28, 2016. ©A.M.P.A.S.

The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted Wednesday (October 25) to present a Special Award – an Oscar® statuette – to director Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s virtual reality installation, “CARNE y ARENA (Virtually Present, Physically Invisible),” in recognition of a visionary and powerful experience in storytelling.

“The Governors of the Academy are proud to present a special Oscar to ‘CARNE y ARENA,’ in which Alejandro Iñárritu and his cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki have opened for us new doors of cinematic perception,” said Academy President John Bailey. “‘CARNE y ARENA,’ Iñárritu’s multimedia art and cinema experience, is a deeply emotional and physically immersive venture into the world of migrants crossing the desert of the American southwest in early dawn light. More than even a creative breakthrough in the still emerging form of virtual reality, it viscerally connects us to the hot-button political and social realities of the U.S.-Mexico border.”

“CARNE y ARENA,” currently on display at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Fondazione Prada in Milan, and Tlatelolco Cultural Center in Mexico City, is a collaboration between Iñárritu, Lubezki, producer Mary Parent, Legendary Entertainment, Fondazione Prada, ILMxLAB, and Emerson Collective. Katie Calhoon executive produced.

In recognition of this achievement, an Oscar will be presented to “CARNE y ARENA” at the Academy’s 9th Annual Governors Awards on Saturday, November 11, at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland Center

Win Passes To The Advance Screening of A BAD MOMS CHRISTMAS In St. Louis

A BAD MOMS CHRISTMAS follows our three under-appreciated and over-burdened women as they rebel against the challenges and expectations of the Super Bowl for moms: Christmas.  And if creating a more perfect holiday for their families wasn’t hard enough, they have to do all of that while hosting and entertaining their own mothers.  By the end of the journey, our moms will redefine how to make the holidays special for all and discover a closer relationship with their mothers.

Opens In Theaters November 1, 2017.

WAMG invites you to enter for the chance to win TWO (2) seats to the advance screening of A BAD MOMS CHRISTMAS on October 30 at 7:00 pm in the St. Louis area.

TO ENTER, ADD YOUR NAME AND EMAIL IN OUR COMMENTS SECTION BELOW.

OFFICIAL RULES:

1. YOU MUST BE IN THE ST. LOUIS AREA THE DAY OF THE SCREENING.

2. No purchase necessary. A pass does not guarantee a seat at a screening. Seating is on a first-come, first served basis. The theater is overbooked to assure a full house.

Rated R for crude sexual content and language throughout, and some drug use

A Bad Moms Christmas
#BadMomsXmas
Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis, and Kathryn Hahn star in A BAD MOMS CHRISTMAS.

THE FLORIDA PROJECT – Review

While THE FLORIDA PROJECT has all the bright lush colors of Disney World, this tale is far from the magical world we associate with Disney. Moonee (Brooklynn Prince) might be living in her own happy little world, but her impoverished life is less than ideal. Moonee’s mother barely scrapes by trying to make a buck any way she can, while her daughter runs about in abandoned buildings and scavenging food with her friends. With all that being said, Moonee is still happy living carefree with the other kids who live in the rundown apartment complex, The Magic Castle, that sits just a few miles from Disney World.

Like he did with his previous film, TANGERINE, director Sean Baker once again gives voice to a part of society that is not often depicted on film. Baker has a way of showing these characters without judgment. Their lives and way of life feel so authentic that it feels like you’re watching a documentary. If it weren’t for the inclusion of Willem Dafoe as the manager of The Magic Castle – delivering one of the best performances in his career – you might think that the entire cast is made up of non-professional actors who live like this in real life.

If you didn’t know that Baker had a full script and gave directions to the kids, you would think that the child actors were improvising. There’s a real sense of danger as we watch them explore abandoned buildings and walk alone down busy streets. Young Brooklynn Prince is captivating as the leader of the pack. There’s a reckless confidence that she naturally portrays – an aspect of the character that she clearly got handed down to her from her mother.


Moonee’s mother is every inch the wild child. Covered in tattoos, dressed in clothes that barely cover her thin frame, and frequently smoking a blunt, she represents an older version of her daughter. One might see her as reckless, but on the other hand, she’s enjoying life with what little she can afford. She doesn’t have the money to buy fancy clothes or take her daughter to Disney World, but she can afford to let her daughter play with her friends while she smokes up – a vacation for her that’s affordable and attainable.

THE FLORIDA PROJECT is not an easy film to watch. There are few moments of joy in this bleak setting. Most of all, it’s hard to watch this film without feeling frustrated. Moonee is living with a desperate mother that is often negligent. Not only that, she treats her daughter like a friend, not a daughter. Baker doesn’t judge her relationship, but it’s hard to watch without passing judgment yourself. She’s a character that’s so frustrating because you want to tell her to be better, but since so many of us have never been in her situation, you can’t in good judgment chastise her.

Instead of focusing on the dirty hair and hand-me-down clothes, cinematographer Alexis Zabe lovingly presents these poor lives in a beautiful way. The purple and pink hotel buildings and clear Florida skies provide light to what could have easily been shown in a more dreary way. THE FLORIDA PROJECT is definitely not a very hopeful film as Baker hints at a cyclical world that is often hard to escape. The dream of a happily ever after isn’t always attainable. But as the film suggests throughout (and clumsily hammered home in the finale), that doesn’t mean we can’t have those brief moments where we can escape to our self-constructed fantasy worlds.

 

Overall score: 3.5 out of 5 

THE FLORIDA PROJECT is now playing in select theaters

Adam Driver Starring In Spike Lee’s Film BLACK KLANSMAN

Focus Features announced that Emmy Award® nominee Adam Driver (Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Inside Llewyn Davis) and Laura Harrier (Spider-Man: Homecoming) have joined the cast of Spike Lee’s upcoming film, BLACK KLANSMAN. The film is adapted from Ron Stallworth’s powerful, stranger-than-fiction eponymous autobiography.

Driver and Harrier join the already announced John David Washington as Stallworth. Focus chairman Peter Kujawski made the announcement on Thursday.

Along with Academy Award® winning director Spike Lee, the film’s screenplay is written by Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Spike Lee and Kevin Willmont. The movie will be produced by the team behind the critically-acclaimed box office smash Get Out – QC Entertainment, Blumhouse Productions and Monkeypaw Productions.

Black Klansman is the story of one man who dared to challenge the Ku Klux Klan and thwart its attempts to take over the city. Police Detective Ron Stallworth (Washington) was at the center of an undercover investigation that reached the heights of the organization. Stallworth miraculously gained status in their ranks – the shocking fact in this incredible story is Stallworth is an African American man.

Black Klansman is being produced by Sean McKittrick, Raymond Mansfield, Shaun Redick, Jason Blum, Jordan Peele and Spike Lee. QC’s Edward H. Hamm Jr. will serve as Executive Producer. Focus President of Production Josh McLaughlin will supervise the project for the company. QC Entertainment have been developing the screenplay and project over the last two years.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE – Review

(L to R) Adam Schumann (MILES TELLER), Solo Aeiti (BEULAH KOALE) and Will Waller (JOE COLE) in DreamWorks Pictures’ “Thank You for Your Service.” The drama follows a group of U.S. soldiers returning from Iraq who struggle to integrate back into family and civilian life, while living with the memory of a war that threatens to destroy them long after they’ve left the battlefield. Photo Credit: Francois Duhamel/DreamWorks Pictures. COPYRIGHT © Storyteller Distribution Co., LLC

Not all wounds suffered in war are obvious. The fog of war is replaced by the fog of the VA for a band of soldiers returned from Iraq in THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE. While several films have depicted the experience of soldiers in the Iraq War, few have told the story of their experience after they return home. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE focuses on gritty reality rather than comforting patriotism as it follows a handful of Iraq War veterans coping with a military that seems far less responsive as they move from soldiers to veterans, and as they struggle to adjust to a civilian life where those who lost a leg are recognized but less so those suffering the wounds of PTSD.

Other Iraq war films have focused on the experience of war but THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE spotlights the obligation of the military to soldiers as they transition to veterans. Miles Teller delivers a sterling performance as Adam Schumann, the de facto leader of this close-knit group. Among this band of brothers are Tausolo Aieti (Beulah Koale), Billy Waller (Joe Cole) And Michael Emory (Scott Haze). On the flight home, they jokes and tease, talk about their plans for the future, and seem eager to get back to civilian life. But part of it is a brave front to cover up troubling problems or even pure fantasy. As they shed their uniforms, a new battle begins.

A new reality greets them as soon as they land, when Schumann’s wife Saskia (Haley Bennett) meets him in the company of her best friend Amanda (Amy Schumer, in a rare dramatic role), the widow of one of the group who didn’t make it home. Amanda is desperate for details on her husband’s death, something Teller’s Schumann is equally desperate to avoid talking about.

The cast also includes Keisha Castle-Hughes, Brad Beyer, Omar J. Dorsey, and Jayson Warner Smith. Cinematography by Roman Vasyanov adds a surprising beauty to ordinary settings, and helps draw out the inner conflicts the men are struggling with.

Writer/director Jason Hall takes a direct, head-on approach to the challenges these vets face, which makes it clear his sympathies lie with these soldiers rather than the system or superior offices. Based on journalist David Finkel’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book, this film has a far different tone from his last film, AMERICAN SNIPER. Those who disliked that film may find this one more involving and insightful, while those who embraced the earlier film may not care for its hard-hitting stance on the treatment of veterans by the military.

 

One of the first parts of that battle is just the transition from active military to veteran. The military is glad to have them re-enlist and walk them through every step but when it comes to even getting the card to get the veterans benefits they are owed, the men find themselves waiting in huge room of fellow soldiers, facing a bewildering system of forms and with no one to guide them. It is a lot to ask of someone suffering from PTSD and accustomed to military efficiency. On the streets, their uniforms draw thank-yous but no practical help. Once out of uniform and with no obvious wounds, they are expected to fit in with the unforgiving pace of a society that has moved forward without them.

The sympathies of this moving drama are with the returning soldiers rather than military or government they served. When striking scene has Teller’s Schumann in the office of commanding officer that is supposed to be helping him get treatment for his PTSD. While the officer seems like his is going to help, his focus keeps drifting to the online shopping he is doing while trying to help Schumann. It is a perfect illustration of a flawed system, where even personal attention is some how impersonal. The search for help is vital to Schumann but just routine to the officer, no matter how well-meaning he may be.

As the drama builds, all these soldiers go on their own rocky journeys, often trying to tough through on their own. Schumann continues to play a protective role towards the others as he did in Iraq but finally he has to confront his own demons.

Much of why this film works emotionally as well as it does (and it does work better than many recent war films) is due to Miles Teller’s strong, layered performance. Teller has shown himself to be an acting power house in films such as WHIPLASH and THE SPECTACULAR NOW, and here he shows his range in a role of both quiet strength and complex human feelings. The ensemble cast blend well, each adding their own distinct thread, but Teller’s performance is the linchpin.

Although the story is set during the Iraq War, the story is universal one for returning soldiers in modern America. While every veteran’s experience is unique, the film points to some significant weaknesses in the country’s treatment of those who served in war. The U.S. military is very good at war but THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE makes clear it needs some improvement in how those who served are returned to civilian life.

RATING: 4 out of 5 stars

 

 

SUBURBICON – Review

 

Strap yourself in for another trek in the cinema “way-back” machine at your local multiplex. And for once it’s not a “biopic” or a story “inspired by true events” like MARSHALL or BREATHE. Yes, it’s pure fiction but it is set firmly in the real world. The movies have often viewed the 1950’s through the “rose-tinted” lens of nostalgia, as if yearning for that simpler, more innocent time. TVeven joined in with its long running hit “Happy Days” (that 70’s show now has its own nostalgic glow, as seen in the recent KINGSMEN: THE GOLDEN CIRCLE). Sure, they were indeed happy days…if you were part of the right social class, religion or race. . That’s the view of this new film, no surprise since it sprang from the minds of Joel and Ethan, the Coen brothers. But they’re not behind the camera on this project (supposedly this is an unproduced script of theirs from 1986), instead one of their frequent collaborators is finally filming it. It’s beloved actor George Clooney sliding into the director’s chair for his sixth feature film. In his last film, THE MONUMENTS MEN he guided us through WW II ravaged Europe. Well he’s back in the ole’ US of A in a place full of its own dangers. What’s that sign on the road say? Welcome to SUBURBICON.

 

The film opens up with a sales pamphlet/brochure that itself opens up to taut the joys of living in the postwar utopia known as Suburbicon. The brightly colored illustrations spring to life, full of happy smiling residents from all around the country (“We’re from New York!” “And we’re from Mississippi!”), as the ad copy extolls the conveniences of this newly designed haven (“Our own police force…and fire department!”). As the booklet closes we’re following the mailman on his rounds there, going from one immaculately groomed front lawn to the next. Oh look, a new family is moving in. But the postman’s frozen grin curls down as he discovers that the newcomers are black (“colored” for those pre-PC times). They become the main topic at a very emotional town meeting that night (“…driving down our property values!” Get em’ out!”). Cut to the backyard of the Lodge house, directly across from the backyard of the despised new neighbors, the Mayers. Wheelchair-bound Rose Lodge (Julianne Moore) demands that her eight year-old son Nicky (Noah Jupe) go play ball with the same-aged Mayers boy. Rose’s twin sister Margaret agrees. Later that night an angry mob gathers outside the Mayers home to taunt and harass, while more sinister things or happening at the Lodge house. Nicky’s dad Gardner (Matt Damon) enters his bedroom (“Men are in the house”). Downstairs two thugs, Sloan (Glenn Fleshler) and Louis (Alex Hassell), demand money as they hover over the twins. After tying everyone to chairs, Sloan drenches a handkerchief with chloroform (or ether) and covers their mouths. As Ricky drifts off, he sees Sloan give his mother a second dose. Waking up in the hospital, he sees his mother in a coma. She doesn’t survive. At Rose’s funeral, her and Margaret’s brother, the crude but kind Mitch (Gary Basaraba), tells Ricky to count on him for anything. In the following week, Margaret slides a little easily into the mother role as Gardner tries to return to work. Ricky soon learns that his mother wasn’t the victim of a botched home invasion. And as the crowds outside the Mayers house increase in numbers and volume, a slick insurance investigator, Bud Cooper (Oscar Isaac) pays a business visit to the Lodges. Will he shed a light on the dark secret at the heart of this “perfect” neighborhood?

 

 

Though he’s not the film’s main focus, Damon gives his timid role from THE INFORMANT! a sinister twist. His vintage specs do much of the comedic work, while Daddy Lodge sweats and squints as though he’s a walking “pinched nerve” encased in a sweat-drenched white short-sleeve shirt. He’s Hank from TV’s “King of the Hill”, though always on the verge of blowing his top. Moore as Margaret (we hardly get to know Rose) is better able to contain her emotions, using her cheery “happy homemaker’ smile as a mask to hide her inner demons. She’s a slightly less-homicidal cousin to her recent KINGSMEN villain role. Big kudos to Isaac for injecting a burst of energy when the story begins to sag. His “get right to the point” insurance PI is a frothy mix of Fred McMurray in DOUBLE INDEMNITY and MUSIC MAN Harold Hill and worthy of his own solo flick. Actually the film doesn’t really belong to that trio of screen vets, since we view the story through the eyes of young Jupe. He delivers just the right note of sweetness and terrified paranoia. We feel his confusion over the odd behaviors of the “grown ups” and we root for him to escape his perfect home turned shrinking trap. Barsaraba is quite enjoyable as the lovable bear of an uncle. And as the thugs, Fleshler is pure sweaty menace and Hassell is the perfect “bug-eyed weasel” accomplice.

 

The look of early “baby boomer” America is faithfully recreated by the art directors from the fashions to the bulky cars, and the early remote-controlled TVs (a beam of light…hmm). It feels right, but why doesn’t the film gel? The talented Clooney has had a difficult time finding the right comic tone since his great debut, CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND (LEATHERHEADS felt really forced, as was MONUMENTS MEN). The delightful satire of the opening titles is quickly jettisoned in favor of pitch black, often gruesome crime calamity (it figures that this script was the Coen’s follow-up to BLOOD SIMPLE). Perhaps Clooney with frequent collaborator Grant Heslov should have made another run at that shelved script to smooth out the bumps. The flow of the film is thrown off by cutting from the main story (the murder/robbery) to the raging hatred directed at the Mayers. Plus there’s nothing amusing in the mob menacing this proud family (perhaps this was the plot’s reason why the bumbling police force wasn’t paying much mind to the mayhem at the Lodge home). Alexandre Desplat contributes another assured score that goes from whimsical to foreboding. Ricky’s a compelling kid hero whose plight harkens back to classics like THE WINDOW and INVADERS FROM MARS, but he can’t shoulder this wildly uneven failed farce. Now there’s the sign I was yearning to see after an hour on this village road: “Now leaving SUBURBICON”.

 

2 Out of 5

 

ALL I SEE IS YOU – Review

 

For over ninety years cinema has been catering to and exerting two of the five senses. Well mainly, since gimmicks like “Smell-O-Vision” and “Odorama”, used with the films SCENT OF A MYSTERY and POLYESTER, never really connected with the film going public. They were cards that emitted aromas when a number was scratched (after prompting by seeing the number flash on-screen). I’m guessing certain fragrances didn’t mix well with concession treats. Well before that, THE JAZZ SINGER introduced movie audiences to sound, allowing them to hear actors reciting lines rather than reading “title cards’ (along with sound effects and music). Now, instead of those cards, subtitles are run at the frame’s lower part for most foreign films (the subtitles help the “hearing impaired” watching films on home video). But how do film makers simulate the “point of view” of those “impaired’ or “challenged”? The wizards of sound mixing can manipulate the audio, sometimes turning down dialogue in the foreground as they “amp up” street noises in the background, and fading out the sound altogether (as in the recent DUNKIRK). Similar techniques can be used to show the visual senses failing, with shifting focus and fuzzy lighting. And it can keep the hero and heroine in near constant jeopardy, as the film makers attempt in the “would-be” thriller ALL I SEE IS YOU.

 

At the story’s start we are bombarded by images inside the mind of Gina (Blake Lively) while she’s making love to her hubby James (Jason Clarke). We soon learn that she is blind, the result of an auto accident as a teen. This accounts for the flash images of her family in a car, the sides of a tunnel, and a rapidly approaching truck, followed by flashing bits of glass and metal. Gina and her sister survived while their folks perished. James’s job has taken them to Thailand. While he works, Gina helps the neighbors (she gives guitar lessons to the pre-teen girl down the hall) and swims laps in the public pool along with her pal Karen. Aside from regaining her sight, Gina really hopes to start a family with James. There’s good news on the former front as a sight expert, Dr. Hughes (Danny Huston) tells the duo that he can restore sight in the right eye, once a cornea donor becomes available. An evening celebrating in a dance club turns tense when the couple is temporarily separated. Luckily the happy call from Hughes comes, Gina goes in for the operation, and she can see once more (she had never viewed her hubby’s face). Images are still a tad fuzzy, so Hughes prescribes a strict regimen of daily eye drops. James surprises Gina with train tickets for a return trip to their honeymoon locale of Barcelona, followed by a visit to her sister in a nearby village. Though happy, things don’t go quite right on the trip, especially when they try to “spice things up” in the sleeper car. Thankfully, Gina has a great reunion with her sister Carla (Ahna O’Reilly) and meets her brother-in-law Ramon (Miquel Fernandez) and little nephew Luca. A night on the town turns ugly (frisky locals), but a visit to the accident site helps the sisters heal. Returning to Thailand, the couple continue to be frustrated as the attempt to conceive, Then the unthinkable. Gina’s eye turns a harsh red as she begins to lose clarity in her vision. But she’s taking her drops as instructed. Did something go wrong in the operation or is someone trying to sabotage the healing process?

 

 

Perhaps in an effort to duplicate the surprise box office success of last Summer’s THE SHALLOWS, Lively is yet another damsel in distress, without the ticking clock element of a rising tide and hungry shark. She does display a real vulnerability in the early sequences as the camera mimics her gaze (like peering through a fish bowl full of chunky clam chowder) while not showing us the source of sudden loud noises. Unfortunately her Gina is far too guarded, hesitant to relate her feelings, which at times makes her a frustrating heroine. There’s an aloof air that distances her from much of the action as though she’s floating through the story. Clarke’s James is much more straightforward, every bit of unease etched in his darting eyes. His devotion to Gina often verges on the obsessive as he verbally strikes out when things don’t go as planned (especially in their “50 shades” fantasy). His motivations are murky which makes his scenes with Lively off-kilter. O’Reilly is a warm support system as the sister who shares a common trauma, while Fernandez as her hot-blooded hubby is a “wild card” whose attempts at comedy are ill-timed (why does he douse himself in blood-red paint before a bull statue before slipping on a chain-mail dress). Though he’s only in a couple of scenes, the dependable Huston exudes the proper gravitas as the stern but concerned doc.

 

Unfortunately the film is just as hazy and unfocused as Gina’s right eye. Director Marc Foster (MONSTER’S BALL) lets the story drift aimlessly and only lets a sense of urgency kick in during the last act. Far too much time is spent in the POV shots and the manic memory flashes scattered with little purpose over the long running time ( a twenty-minute trim might’ve helped…a bit). The couple at the story’s centered aren’t compelling enough for us to be invested in their squabbles and pettiness. And why the foreign locales? It adds a bit to Gina’s disorientation in the opening (she struggles with a language-learning app), but it seems an excuse for a “working vacay” for cast and crew. Thailand’s never another character. It’s just another problem with the script by Foster, along with Sean Conway, which is a meandering, pretentious mess (lots of floating shots of Lively…huh?). Film goers will struggle mightily to keep their eyes open (and mind engaged) with ALL I SEE IS YOU.

 

1/2 Out of 5

 

Ten Classic Scary Movies For Halloween


I have known for years, many people will not watch black and white movies, of any kind. It has to be color and no older than 10 years, preferably movies made this year, or last year. I have had people look at me with astonishment when I tell them I not only watch black and white movies regularly but even silent movies. I’ve had people admit they didn’t know movies were being made in 1927, much less 1915.

So for this Hallowe’en, when movie geeks thoughts turn to scary movies here is my personal and eclectic list of great, old, scary movies, filmed in glorious black and white.


10. Nosferatu 1922

The Great Grand Daddy of all Dracula movies, and the template for every vampire movie ever made, the first, one of the best and still creepy, even if you’ve seen it repeatedly. A silent masterpiece by FW Murnau and with the incredible Max Schreck as Graf Orlock looking weasel faced and moving like a big rodent, this vampire is light years from Lugosi’s suave aristocrat or Christopher Lee’s super human woman magnet. Some of the camera tricks have not aged well, but there is nothing camp or silly about Nosferatu. Remade brilliantly by Werner Herzog with the incredible Klaus Kinski playing the Vampire King and the subject of Shadow of the Vampire, a movie about the making of Nosferatu that put forth the idea, what if Schreck was a real Vampire? But accept no substitutes. Radah and I got to see this at the Tampa Theater a few years ago for Hallowe’en, with live organ accompaniment, an unforgettable experience.


9. Haxan 1922

Another silent masterpiece Benjamin Christensen’s still controversial Haxan is deeply disturbing, still creepy and captured images unlike any other film made during the silent era, or any time later for the matter of that. Part documentary, part hallucinatory nightmare Haxan was recut and rereleased as Witchcraft Through the Ages with a music score and narration by the one and only William S Burroughs. Filled with nudity, demons, the very devil himself and horrifying scenes of accused witches on trial and being tortured into confessions, Haxan is one of a kind, and perfect for Hallowe’en.


8. Vampyr 1932

Only marginally a talking picture Vampyr is another one of a kind, deeply disturbing tale of Vampirism told in a hallucinatory, dream like way. Shot through gauze filters with a non actor in the lead role, Vampyr, directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer, is disorienting, creepy and leaves the viewer with a serious feeling of uneasiness. There are no jump out of your seat scares and yet, we are never really sure what in hell is going on; shadows dance on the walls without people being present, living person’s shadows get up and move on their own, point of view changes constantly, characters enter and exit without explanation. Most unsettling, we get an entire sequence of what it would feel like to be buried alive, the view from inside a coffin, while still alive, and being carried to a grave site, in the hypnotic thrall of a vampire. Be forewarned, some people don’t get it. Forest J Ackerman, editor of Famous Monsters of Film land, hated this movie, didn’t think it scary at all, or entertaining. It is referenced constantly throughout Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula, good enough recommendation for me.


7. Island of Lost Souls 1932

In the 1930s Universal Studios was considered the major producer of horror films. Their movies, if you are a serious movie geek like me, are so familiar they are probably not scary at all anymore. Despite Universal’s dominance of the genre other studios put out some great productions. Paramount Pictures, known for classy musicals produced one of the most disturbing horror movies of the 1930s, Island of Lost Souls, a movie that packed such a punch on its original release it was banned in England and other countries for years. And it still has a powerful, painful effect. Directed by Earl C Kenton and the first film version of HG Well’s Island of Dr. Moreau (Wells hated the film) Island of Lost Souls features an incredible performance by Charles Laughton, obsessed with creating men out of animals and operating on them without using anesthetic. His island is populated with these half man half animal hybrids, among them, most unforgettably Bela Lugosi as Sayer of the Law “What is the Law? Are we not men?” and someone named Hans Steinke as Ouran, another unforgettable character. It is not just the horror in the house of pain or the monstrousness of the animal men, there is a queasy, oppressive atmosphere in the whole film, the jungle itself seems to be alive, even more so than in King Kong. Criterion’s blu ray is incredible, bringing out details, especially in the makeup I had never noticed before.


6. The Black Cat 1934

Another one of a kind horror movie, although made by Universal, the Black Cat is unlike any other film in their various franchises, or any other movie ever made for that matter. Rather than a gothic castle The Black Cat is set in a futuristic house,(it even has digital clocks, in 1934!) built on a fortress from WWI, in the Bauhaus style, and that house is inhabited by Boris Karloff playing a thinly disguised version of Aleister Crowley. Bela Lugosi arrives with a young couple in tow(David Manners and Julie Bishop) who get sucked into the vortex of Karloff and Lugosi’s poisoned history. Lugosi and Karloff were in eight movies together, usually with Karloff in the lead role, once, in The Raven, it was Lugosi’s movie. Here they stand as co equal characters, both of them dangerous, both actors at the top of their form. And masterfully directed by Edgar G Ulmer, who somehow made a movie that deals with necrophilia, cannibalism, Satan worship and God knows what else in 1934! I have watched The Black several times, usually around Hallowe’en and it never fails to make me feel very ill at ease. This is seriously creepy stuff, especially when Lugosi decides it would be a swell idea to skin Karloff alive.


4. Black Sunday 1960

The official first movie directed by Mario Bava (he had a hand in several other films, without credit) Black Sunday still has the power to horrify and frighten. A witch (Barbara Steele) is tortured and put to death in a blasted looking landscape, where the sun never seems to shine. She vows revenge and comes back years later, along with her walking dead servant and proceeds to wreck all manner of carnage and mayhem. Her main concern is taking over the life of her look alike descendant (also Steele). Bava has several masterpieces on his resume, this is one of them. Drenched in gothic atmosphere, as only Bava could produce, Black Sunday is still genuinely scary stuff. The servant Javutich crawling up out of his grave is still the stuff of nightmares.


3. Psycho 1960

A game changer is ever there was, Hitchcock’s film was not just the template for every psychotic slasher movie that came out over the years it changed the way we see movies. If it’s a scary movie we expect that no one is safe. No one had ever killed off the major character in any movie previously, certainly not from a major film maker. And Hitchcock’s genius shines in every frame, no matter how many times it is seen the shower scene still is shocking, the entire movie has an uneasiness, even the mundane scenes at the beginning have an edge. And the famous all strings music by Bernard Herrmann can still put you in a nervous frame of mind. A classic and still scary after all these years.


2. Carnival of Souls 1962

A one of a kind regional movie, made by people who made classroom and training films, on a very low budget with non actors, except for the lead actress Candice Hilligoss, (who is brilliant.) Carnival of Souls is not terrifying, but again, it will put you in an uneasy frame mind that can last for days. A major influence on George Romero Carnival is yet another movie, even if you know the ending, is worth revisiting many times. All of the scenes at the old Salt Air Pavilion in Utah are literally haunting. A text book example of what can be done on a low budget, if you have some talent. I first saw Carnival of Souls on Zone 2 in 1965, a local St. Louis tv show with a Horror Host played by Jack Murdock , scared me half to death.


1. Night of the Living Dead

The other game changer on this list. We have George Romero and his underpaid crew to thank for all the zombie movies that have come out since 1968, including the Walking Dead. And yet another regional film made by people who made industrial and corporate training films, as well as sports documentaries, Night of the Living Dead may shock you, it may horrify you, so if you are the least bit faint hearted, well, we warned you!

And, as I said this is a very personal list, I have to give honorable mentions to the original The Haunting, The Thing From Another World, Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Brain that Wouldn’t Die, all of the Val Lewton series made at RKO in the 1940s, The Mummy’s Hand, Bride of Frankenstein and, what the hell, I love them all, whether they are still scary of not!

And a very Happy Hallowe’en to you all!