Mystery – Page 6 – We Are Movie Geeks

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

THE SNOWMAN – Review

*Michael Fassbender in THE SNOWMAN. Photo by Jack English. © Universal Pictures*

Director Tomas Alfredson helmed a pair of outstanding films, the gripping ground-breaking Swedish vampire film LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, and TAILOR, TINKER, SOLDIER, SPY, a moody, first-rate film adaptation of John LeCarre’s brainy bestselling spy novel. So one has to wonder what on earth happened with his latest film THE SNOWMAN, a crime thriller that boasts a cast including Michael Fassbender, Charlotte Gainsbourg, J.K. Simmons, Toby Jones, Val Kilmer, and Chloe Sevigny. THE SNOWMAN is not merely bad, it is outright awful. Reportedly, even the director thinks the film is bad, expressing frustration the conditions under which it was made.

Adapted from Jo Nesbo’s novel of the same name, THE SNOWMAN focuses on Olso policeman Harry Hole (Michael Fassbender) investigating the case of a missing woman who turns up links to a cold case. One thing that seems odd about this new case is the sudden appearance of a grim-faced snowman outside the missing woman’s house.

As the veteran detective and his rookie assistant Katherine Bratt (Rebecca Ferguson) investigate, it quickly becomes clear that a serial killer is at work. The investigation takes them into a web of mysteries, many of which link to a powerful business leader, Arve Stop (J.K. Simmons).

Harry has a reputation as a legendary crime solver based on his past work as police detective but now he has become an alcoholic and that reputation shields him from scrutiny as he goes on one drunken bender after another. The detective’s personal life is complicated too, as he tries to maintain a relationship with the son of his ex-girlfriend Rakel (Charlotte Gainsbourg) even though he is not the boy’s real father. Oddly, Harry’s messy personal life has eerie echoes to some aspects of the cases he is investigating now.

The film starts out well enough, moody and atmospheric, teasing us that it will develope into a meaty thriller. Cinematographer Dion Beebe creates a dark, snowy world that echoes LET THE RIGHT ONE IN and there are visual parallels to TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY too. Although the story takes place in Norway, the actors all sport British accents, even the non-British cast members. The director creates an eerie, suspenseful atmosphere, and the cast do their best to round out their characters, but as the story gets more complicated, it is all for naught as nothing appears to clarify how all this connects. Until it does, when the film suddenly dive into a remarkably far-fetched, even silly ending.

The real problem seems to be a laughably bad script. At first, everything is complicated and murky, but as we wait for the fog to clear, it starts to dawn on us there will be no clarity for this story. Red herrings appear and vanish, flashbacks (including one with a bizarre Val Kilmer) pop up and dissolve without adding much useful information. While there is not a lot of on-screen violence, we do get gruesomely views of the aftermath of killings, and the killer’s penchant to replace victim’s heads with those of snow men. The film suddenly wraps up all its plot’s loose ends in a ridiculously pat and formulaic bow, an ending that is as laughable as it is unconvincing and trite. The story would be a disappointment even as the plot of a bad 70s television show.

Why Tomas Alfredson chose this story for his film, why all these stars signed on, and what went wrong during filming, are the real mysteries of THE SNOWMAN. What is not a mystery is how quickly this stinker will sink out of sight, just as couple of characters do in this snowy mess.

RATING: 1 out of 5 stars

PAST LIFE – St. Louis Jewish Film Festival Review

Tuesday, June 6, at 1 PM, Plaza Frontenac Cinema

Israel; in Hebrew, English, German, and Polish with English subtitles; 110 minutes

Two sisters uncover their father’s secret past in the true story-based Israeli mystery PAST LIFE, one of the films playing as part of the annual St. Louis Jewish Film Festival. The film is also set to return to the Plaza Frontenac Cinema on June 9 for a longer theatrical run.

The film is an intriguing look into Israel in the late 1970s, before the fall of the Berlin Wall and crumbling of European communism, when many survivors of the Holocaust did not speak about their wartime experiences as they focused on building their young nation.

In 1977, young Sephi Milch (Joy Rieger), an Israeli music student with a lovely soprano voice but ambitions to be a composer, travels to West Berlin for a concert with her school choir. After the concert, an elderly woman (Katarzyna Gniewkowska) runs up to her and, speaking in Polish, loudly accuses Sephi’s father of murder. Sephi is both rattled and mystified by the incident, despite an apology from the woman’s son, a renowned German composer (Rafael Stachowiak) who had attended the concert.

Back in Israel, Sephi wants to put the unsettling event behind her but her older sister Nana (Nelly Tagar) senses something is wrong. Shy Sephi reluctantly tells her about the incident but makes her bolder, older sister promise to say nothing to their stern, demanding father or emotional, sensitive mother (Evgenia Dodina). Dr. Baruch Milch (Doron Tavory) is a successful gynecologist but, like many Holocaust survivors in Israel, he had never talked to his daughters about his past. Nana is a rebellious young woman, a budding journalist who resents her father for his harsh treatment of her as a child. She tackles the mystery, bent on uncovering the truth about their father’s wartime experiences. But what the sisters uncover is a mystery that just keeps getting deeper and more complex the further they dig.

Atmospheric, tense and moving, PAST LIFE is directed by award-winning Israeli writer/director Avi Nesher, who has indicated that the film is the first of three films in a series. The son of Holocaust survivors himself, Nesher based his script on the wartime diaries of Dr. Baruch Milch, “Can Heaven Be Void?”

The twisty mystery is indeed intriguing, taking the sisters and the audience down a rabbit hole of secrets. The younger sister wants to dismiss what was said to her but the older sister embraces the idea of their father’s violent past. What they uncover if far different from what either expect.

In the film, the sisters could not be more different. Quiet, shy, obedient Sephi focuses her entire life on her music, struggling with her dreams to be a composer while her teachers dismiss that idea and tell her to focus on singing. Nana is loud, defiant, at times outrageous, and frustrated in her ambition to do real journalism, while stuck in a job at a tawdry, low-rent newspaper. Sephi still lives at home with her parents but Nana is married, although she does not always get along with her less-ambitious husband. Yet the sister grow closer as the mystery unfolds. Family dynamics are part of this story, as well as women’s career ambitions, and the lingering post-war human trauma, in this historic tale.

Nesher brilliantly builds suspense, and the fine cast bring out layers of character, that deepening the moving story. That cast also includes Evgenia Dodina, a well-known Israeli star, as the sisters’ nervous mother, but the strong performances by Rieger and Tagar as the two sisters are the center around which this winding-path story is wrapped.

The film is shot in a visually rich style, that adds to the dramatic effect. Music plays a central role in this film, and the moving music choices, a mix of classical and pop, frame the edge-of-your-seat story brilliantly. The soundtrack features original music by classical composer Ella Milch-Sheriff, the real daughter of Dr. Milch on whom the Sephi character is based. Films described as “based on true events” can diverge widely from facts but Nesher makes an effort to stick closely to the real events.

PAST LIFE is a polished and haunting drama that keeps the audience hooked with its suspenseful plot, affecting performances led by two strong female leads, and a heart-wrenching true story.

JULIETA – Review

2016 certainly turned out to be a good year for films, particularly dramas, and JULETA is one the last of those to come to local screens. A nominee for Best Foreign Language Film in the upcoming Oscars, the Spanish-language JULIETA is simply one of director Pedro Almodovar’s best – a visually lush, beautifully constructed, haunting mystery about love and loss, tied up with a satisfying but unexpected ending.

The acclaimed Spanish director’s latest film is a drama in a familiar vein for him, a tale of a woman – a mother – in crisis, yet JULIETA is brilliantly fresh at the same time. Julieta (Emma Suarez) is a successful, beautiful woman living in Madrid, who is on the verge of leaving her home of many years as well as a breakup with her long-time lover Lorenzo (Dario Grandinetti). But Julieta’s plans are disrupted by a chance encounter that brings back a flood of memories of her daughter Antia, who vanished mysteriously as a teenager many years earlier. The news that an old friend saw Antia, even spoke to her, sparks a renewed search and exploration of why her daughter disappeared. The search leads us into a flashback of Julieta’s life.

The story unfolds like a mystery, and there is a strong dose of Hitchcock in Almodovar’s film. The Hitchcockian flavor is not just in the idea of a chance encounter sending a character on a life-altering adventure, but in Hitchcock references sprinkled throughout the film. JULIETA is also a film of stunning visual beauty, under the masterful hand of director of photography Jean-Claude Larrieu. The film’s gorgeous imagery seduces the viewer but it is Almodovar’s intriguing mystery and affecting characters that really hook us.

Two actresses play Julieta, younger and older, and both turn in strong performances. Having erased evidence of her daughter from her life, Julieta is now gripped by uncertainty and guilt as she renews her quest for Antia, a search that reveals how little the mother knew of her daughter and only child. In flashback, young Julieta (Adriana Ugarte) meets a man named Xoan (Daniel Grao) as a stranger on a train but, unlike Hitchcock’s film of that name, the result is romance, not murder. The sequence opens with Julieta gazing out the train window, transfixed by a graceful stag running along side the train. When the stag vanishes and the train comes to a sudden halt, she worries that the deer is the cause, a concern that plays a role in the connection she makes with Xoan, the man who becomes her husband. Almodovar skillfully blends a sense of mystery and beauty with themes of fate, life and death, all within the sequence.

Almodovar is a master storyteller, and his powers are in full-bloom here. He both directed and wrote the film, based on three stories by novelist Alice Munro. The film is filled with unexpected twists, so that the audience never knows where it will go next. As the older Julieta, Emma Suarez is brilliant, a strong, sure woman now tormented by questions – why did her daughter vanish as a teenager, where has she been, what part did her mother play in that decision, why has she never contacted her? The director explores all that, un-spooling the story with a sure hand, keeping the audience in suspense.

Women in crisis, particularly mothers, are one of the director’s favorite themes, as are campy, tongue-in-cheek, soap opera-style comic tales, like his last film. Here Almodovar returns to gripping, searing drama, in the vein of award-winners such as TALK TO HER and ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER. With its Hitchcockian elements, JULIETA is one of Almodovar’s most accessible films but it also has great depth, as a thought-provoking film for parents particularly but it is also a moving love story, and a tale of how chance events can change have life-altering results.

Whether one is a longtime fan of Almodovar or not, JULIETA is a must-see drama, well worth that effort to read subtitles, and certainly a film worthy of an Oscar.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

BACKTRACK Review

“Nothing haunts like the past.” It’s a catchy tag line that attempts to sum up writer and director Michael Petroni’s new film BACKTRACK, but there more to this mystery/thriller than can be summed up in a single breath. What begins as a moody drama about a troubled psychotherapist quickly reveals itself as a deeper tale of supernatural intervention into the darker underbelly of human nature.

Peter Bower, played with wrenching emotional finesse by Adrien Brody, is struggling with the loss of his daughter while barely holding together his practice and his marriage. Bower blames himself for his daughter’s death, while not entirely clear on what happened exactly. When not in sessions with his own patients, Bower seeks counsel from fellow psychotherapist Duncan Stewart, played by Sam Neill, which only leads Bower further down the twisted rabbit hole that will be come a truly unnerving revelation.

BACKTRACK is a ghost story of sorts, but at it’s core, the film is a highly internalized story of a man thrown up against his own emotions, his own inner demons, perhaps manifesting as tortured apparitions, or perhaps fueling an unwelcome opening in himself to another level of percieving the pain and grief that surrounds him on a daily basis. Whichever it is, the film merely suggests the possibility and leaves the audience to interpret the events as they unfold through our own filters.

The story truly shifts gears into an engaging, gripping mystery once a teenaged girl named Elizabeth Valentine shows up outside Bowers practice, unable or unwilling to speak. This sets Bowers off on a mission to understand driven by his own lack of certainty. From here, the energy and pacing of the film picks up and never lets the viewer go, pulling us in closer by a narrow thread, one tiny hand over another as we grow closer and closer to the morbid truth that awaits Bower.

BACKTRACK is an atmospheric film, shot with the visual tone to match the looming dread and sense of endless loss. The film looks dark and decayed, strangled of vibrant colors and replaced with a multitude of richly depressing shades of black, blue and gray. There is a gothic element to the film’s palette that maintains the tone, which is crucial as the film’s 90-minute running time doesn’t waste a beat after the initially slow but short opening sequence.

Sam Neill is splendid, as he usually is, but in a rather limited use. His character has minimal screen time, but serves as a crucial element in developing the plot, on a several psychological milestones for Bower as he pieces together the shattered puzzle that is his memory of what truly happened to spark the series of unfortunate events in which he finds himself involved. George Shevtsov provides an understated but impressive performance as Bower’s father, while Chloe Bayliss’ performance as Elizabeth Valentine is overshadowed by a slight overuse of questionably less than stellar special effects, but the level of distraction is minimal in comparison to the overall enjoyment of the film.

A particular achievement goes to the music in BACKTRACK from Dale Cornelius, providing a thick, robust injection of moody atmosphere to the film that truly sells the darkness. The score grabs the viewer by the ears and forces us to sit up and take notice right from the opening credits. It makes a statement, declaring something bad will happen and you do not want to miss out.

Michael Petroni draws on our innate human nature, or ingrained need to witness the horrible things that happen in others’ lives as if that somehow means our own lives will be immune of such tragedy. Petroni’s screenplay is definitely deserving of Brody’s committed intensity. While there is a temptation to over analyze the story as an extension of another previous film from 1999, I encourage the viewer to let that thought pass and remain open to the less superficial nature of BACKTRACK, which still carries some surprises of it’s own.

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

BACKTRACK released in theaters and video on demand

on February 26th, 2016.

OCULUS – The Review

Scaring people has become a lucrative business over the years and decades since Hollywood first embraced the concept of fear for fun. Some of the most profitable contemporary films in terms of investment-to-return ratio have been horror films. In theory, this sounds like a good thing. Unfortunately, profitability does not always equate to a film being a creative success. For those looking for casual scares that appeal to little more than our base reflexes, similar to riding a roller coaster, there is no shortage of options on the market. However, for those of us looking for something more in our horror films, the selection is more limited.

I am happy to report that OCULUS satisfies that craving rather well. No. It’s not a perfect film, but few are these days. That really should go without saying anymore. The film’s marketing proudly announces “from the producer of PARANORMAL ACTIVITY and INSIDOUS.” Try your best to take this with a grain of salt. Each of those films carry their own merit, and certainly fit well within the same genre wheelhouse, but refrain from allowing the franchise stigma to cloud or influence your opinion before seeing the film.

OCULUS is not the most original story at its core, playing on a number of popular and recognizable themes. However, the method by which the story is told is rather unique and definitely engaging. Far from linear and disjointed by design, the film leaps forward and backward in time between the present day and childhood for our two main characters. Kaylie, played by Karen Gillan, is an attractive young redhead engaged to the owner of an auction house by whom she is employed. Tim, played by Brenton Thwaites, is her slightly younger brother, recently released on his twenty-first birthday after having spent time under psychiatric care.

Kaylie and Tim have a secret. As children, their parents died and, despite the incredibly horrific events that led to their deaths, Tim ultimately was blamed for murdering his parents. The fantastic truth landed Tim in a mental hospital and prompted Kaylie to commit herself to keeping the siblings’ promise to destroy the entity responsible for the death of their parents. Kaylie’s journey of supernatural vengeance begins with a beautifully dark and ornate antique mirror that once adorned the wall of her father’s home office and has recently been sold by her fiancé’s auction company.

Directed and co-written by Mike Flanagan, who last previously ABSENTIA (2011), OCULUS works on the viewers’ mind in much the same way the mirror twists and pries on Kaylie’s and Tim’s minds. Truth and reality, time and memory, these are tools by which the entity uses to protect itself and wreak havoc on the lives of those who possess the mirror. The origin and story of the entity, for the most part a great mystery, does have a name revealed most briefly and without much ordeal. Marisol. Perhaps the filmmakers felt this was of little importance, but I feel if more attention had been given to the antagonist’s back-story the film would have been that much more engaging.

Steven Spielberg’s classic JAWS comes to mind, not directly, but when explaining the relative absence of Marisol from the film. Like minimizing our visual exposure to Bruce the shark, the viewer is not overexposed to Marisol, instead leaving much to the imagination and focusing on the mystery and suspense that actually drives the film. OCULUS does not delve too deeply into the back-story of Tim’s and Kaylie’s lives, outside of the events that led to their parents’ deaths. The frightening flavor of the film is not seasoned so much by knee-jerk scares and cheap thrills, but rather by a sense of the unknown powered by disorientation and distraction. Just as Marisol keeps the siblings’ distracted from their goal of destroying her, the film keeps the audience distracted from its flaws and weaknesses by immersing the audience into a more cerebral and visceral experience.

For the wannabe ghost hunters out there, pray you never encounter the likes of Marisol. One of the most intriguing elements of OCULUS is how formidable a foe she turns out to be, as creative and patient as she is brutal. Despite its correlation to films such as PARANORMAL ACTIVITY and INSIDIOUS, OCULUS actually has far more similarities to that of THE RING, both in it’s evil antagonist and in the type of fear the film instills in the viewer. The modern meets Gothic mood of the film is enhanced by the cinematography of Michael Fimognari, experienced in the genre, and original music from The Newton Brothers.

In retrospect, given time to reflect and analyze the film, OCULUS is engaging as an in-the-moment cinematic indulgence. It will surely hold up to a second viewing as a way to watch for details missed in the original viewing, but I question the longevity of the film’s ongoing appeal. Ultimately, how the film ends in general is more predictable than the details of how that ending plays out. From early on in the film, the audience gets a sense of what must inherently happen, but it’s the thrill of watching that inevitability unfold before us that is as enticing as it is appalling, but isn’t this truly at the core watching any good horror film?

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Stars

HAPPY CAMP – The Review

I am reminded of growing up in the late-80s, watching Unsolved Mysteries on prime-time television. Intrigued by commercials for Time Life’s Mysteries of the Unknown, an encyclopedic series of books about everything supernatural, extraterrestrial and any other unproven or unexplained phenomena, I recall begging my parents to buy me the books about alien abductions, Stonehenge, and mythical creatures that live in our backyards. Sadly, they never did, but I did manage to find the random torn and battered volume available at the local library.

HAPPY CAMP, directed by first-timer Josh Anthony, stirs these nostalgic memories of an era defined by the weird, abstract and unusual. The film is about a man named Michael, played by Michael Barbuto, who returns to his small home town 20 years after his brother went missing as a child. Michael is accompanied by his girlfriend Anne, played by Anne Taylor, and two friends named Teddy (Teddy Gilmore) and Josh, played by writer-director Josh Anthony). Anne wants to shoot a documentary about Michael and the mysterious disappearance of his brother twenty years ago, so the four of them hop into a massive old RV and road trip into the remote wilderness town of Happy Camp, California.

This group of relatively happy young adults quickly discover they are about as welcome in Happy Camp by the locals as they are aware of what they are soon to discover about the disappearance of Michael’s brother. In fact, Michael’s brother is only one of over 600 people who have gone missing from Happy Camp, many of them “flat landers” visiting from out-of-town. Anne and her rag-tag crew of documentary filmmakers set out with their handheld camera, asking colorful backwoods local characters about the disappearances, getting colorful backwoods responses, all of which are either typically vague or embarrassingly obvious in their exposition.

Herein lies the primary flaw and underlying reason for the film’s failure to succeed. Writing. HAPPY CAMP is constructed on the premise of being an actual documentary being shot, but never finished by the original filmmakers. Rather, this is the footage they did obtain, compiled after the fact by someone who happened to find the footage left behind by the filmmakers. In other words, this is yet another entry into the “found footage” genre of horror/thriller filmmaking that has become so popular since the stellar box office success of THE BLAIR WITH PROJECT (1999) opened this fickle can of worms for movie audiences.

I have nothing against the found footage genre. There are many creatively successful films that have experimented with this style of storytelling, such as the REC (2007) franchise, and a few have even been major box office hits, such as CLOVERFIELD (2008). However, just like any genre, there needs to be a compelling story behind the film for it to engage its audience and, unfortunately, HAPPY CAMP does not deliver. The concept is there, in its essence, and the film even has a fairly commendable production value for what appears to be a relatively low-budget endeavor, but the writers make two fundamental errors. First, the film is beyond predictable. I would argue that anyone who hasn’t figured out the entire premise of HAPPY CAMP within the first 15-20 minutes should avoid recommendations to refill the blinker fluid in their car. Everything is laid on the table, all the cards are shown and nothing — I do mean nothing — is left to the viewer’s imagination. There is an effort to disguise the mystery and protect the film’s secret, but the veil is left so thin by the characters’ dialogue that it might as well be made of plastic wrap.

HAPPY CAMP, roughly broken down into its simplest parts, is 33% setup, 33% pointless arguing and excessive use of the F-bomb while aimlessly chasing one another or running from and/or towards strange noises, and 33% actual story progression and conclusion, in that order. The remaining 1% got lost somewhere on the cutting room floor. Surprisingly, the third act of the film (being the ending) is the best and most promising part of the film. Despite so much being given away in the film’s dialogue, the filmmakers manage to hold back and not reveal too much of the [fill in the blank] that is the cause for all the missing people. What? Just because the film gives away its own ending, doesn’t mean I’m going to do the same. With that said, the special effects are, by far, not the worst I’ve ever seen on film.

Overall, the film is worth a good time late night viewing with friends of a similar sense of humor and a few beers. Laughter will ensue, not by intention, but the film does have its merit. HAPPY CAMP is not a painful movie to watch. I can see the film possibly garnering a cult following, like Tommy Wiseau’s THE ROOM (2003) or James Nguyen’s BIRDEMIC (2010), but with a decidedly higher production value. I would not hesitate to compare the film to those of Uwe Boll, in that it strives to accomplish something bigger then itself, but just doesn’t have the inherent substance to reach its intended goal.

Overall Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Available nationwide On Demand and on iTunes, Time Warner, ComCast and DirecTV, among other platforms on Tuesday, March 25th, 2014.

Tribeca 2012 Review: RESOLUTION

Whichever distributor picks this film up is going to have a hell of a time figuring out the proper way to market this beast. RESOLUTION tells the story of Michael (Peter Cilella) who attempts to get his former best friend Chris (Vinny Curran) to leave the burnt out shell of a house he is living in and go to rehab. When Chris refuses, Michael handcuffs him to the wall and plans to wait the seven days it will take for the drugs to clear out of his system. During the course of the week, some strange characters show up including drug dealers, Indian reservation security, and members of a local cult. With Chris suffering from extreme withdrawal, Michael cares for him while piecing together various forms of media he finds scattered throughout the surrounding woods that seem to be hinting at a much bigger story. Oh, and it’s a comedy, albeit a fairly dark one. As I said, not an easy sell but I truly hope someone rises to the challenge because this film deserves to be seen.

Similar to THE CABIN IN THE WOODS in that it is a film that works best with the audience knowing as little as possible going in, I will not reveal anything else about the plot. If you are at least intrigued by the film, I suggest you don’t even watch whatever trailers they eventually release for fear of spoilers. I genuinely had no idea where the film was headed next and that is a rare feat nowadays. Full of clever twists and witty dialogue, the film culminates in what may be the most spectacularly meta ending in cinema history. I know the meta term scares some people but it really works in this film.

The script is sharply written by Justin Benson, who also did an equally fantastic job co-directing with Aaron Moorhead. Visually intriguing, utilizing interesting camera and editing techniques, the film has a great look and feel that really enhances the story it is trying to tell. Peter Cilella and Vinny Curran get the bulk of the screen time, which is great since they have excellent chemistry and are totally engaging to watch. These are really breakout performances for each of them and I look forward to seeing more of them in the future. I am also looking forward to future collaborations between Moorhead and Benson because these guys seriously know what they are doing.

Not that this means anything but of the 18 features I saw, RESOLUTION is my favorite film of the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival.

http://vimeo.com/28909207

Jerry Cavallaro – @GetStuck – JerryCavallaro.com

THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN – The Review

Motion capture animation and 3D appear to be the rising stars of cinema technology, both of which have the equal shares of supporters and opponents. One thing is for sure, both relatively new technologies are still within their infancy, but there are occasionally examples of the inspiring potential of this trend toward high-tech storytelling. The most current being THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN, a collaborative effort of gargantuan proportion.

While many audiences may not be aware of the film’s origin, or too young to know better, THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: THE SECRET OF THE UNICORN — which happens to be the film’s official, unofficial full title — is adapted from a comic book series from the ’30s of the same name by the Belgian artist Herge, which also became an animated television series which ran 1991-1992. Sadly, I must report I have no personal knowledge or experience with either, so you will not find me referencing the source material in this review, but, by all means… seek them out as I plan to do.

With all the history behind TINTIN, it’s no wonder the film has such an all-star team of imaginative storytellers working behind the scenes to bring the adventures to a whole new audience. Directed by Steven Spielberg, who also co-produced the film alongside Peter Jackson (LORD OF THE RINGS), THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN was written by Steven Moffat, a very talented writer behind the popular BBC series SHERLOCK and DOCTOR WHO, with assistance from Edgar Wright (SHAUN OF THE DEAD) and Joe Cornish (ATTACK THE BLOCK). That’s a lot of creative star power, and we haven’t even introduced the cast yet.

THE ADVENTURES F TINTIN follows a clever, young report named Tintin – no, the dog is not names Tintin, that’s an entirely separate franchise – played by Jamie Bell (JUMPER). Tintin has an unquenchable curiosity, so when he happens upon a magnificent model ship, he manages to haggle a good deal. Immediately following, he finds himself the center of an immense mystery regarding that model ship, for which various unsavory and dark figures are seeking for them selves. This is where Tintin’s adventure begins, leading him to the drunken Captain Haddock, played by Andy Serkis (RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES), a man with a family history crucial to the mystery of the model ship. Tintin also encounters Ivanovich Sakharine, played by Daniel Craig (CASINO ROYALE), a deviously cunning and dangerous foe seeking the secret of the model ship.

One thing you will certainly not experience during the film is sleep. THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN is non-stop action and endlessly fun. Tintin is sort of a combination of the Hardy Boys and Indiana Jones wrapped up into a small, scrappy package, always getting into a pickle but always managing to find a way out of trouble. He and his trusty Scottish terrier – I may be off slightly on the breed — are an effective investigative team, as they work with Captain Haddock and his rum-induced amnesia to recover the secret of the model ship before Sakharine figures it out himself.

THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN takes the audience halfway around the globe to Morocco, where the greatest excitement of the story takes place. Tintin runs into a number of interesting characters along the way, including the bumbling Thompson twin detectives, played unrecognizably by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (SHAUN OF THE DEAD, HOT FUZZ). Cary Elwes (THE PRINCESS BRIDE, SAW) also makes a welcome vocal cameo as the Pilot. The most awe-inspiring scene in the film occurs in Morocco, one last massive chase sequence that resembles a deadly life-sized Rube Goldberg contraption that spans an entire ancient city. This sequence is bound to have you leaning forward, even partially lifted from your seat, as Tintin repeatedly navigates through the perils of the Moroccan streets and Sakharine’s henchmen.

I’ve never had a personal grudge against motion capture, which seems a logical marriage between live acting and animation, as we move forward into new cinematic frontiers of technology. With that said, THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN does a splendid job of capturing the energy and excitement of the story using motion capture, but I am also pleased to say that the film gets the 3D right as well, integrating the often intrusive and annoying technology into the entire film, still utilizing the gimmick value of the tool, but without getting in the way. The use of 3D enhances the story without causing hurdles for the film to stumble over, which is rare indeed.

John Williams has been a busy man in 2011, having scored WAR HORSE as well as THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN, but the difference between the two scores is the music’s presence. In WAR HORSE, Williams’ music n unconventional backseat, but in TINTIN his work stands front and center, making itself known with all its glory and becomes, as is usually the case, a character in and of itself.

THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN is likely to be the most fun you’ve had in an animated family flick all year, perfectly kid friendly with plenty of visual stimulus to keep the rug rats entertained, while still creative and intelligent enough to keep adults thrilled and engaged. Personally, this is the first animated film in some time I have left the theater with an immediate desire to watch a second time.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS – The Review

Mystery fans rejoice, the world’s greatest detective returns in SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS, to be referred to as AGOS from here out. Guy Ritchie returns to direct the sequel to his 2009 reimagining of the eccentric, yet brilliant master sleuth. Robert Downey, Jr. (RDJ) returns as Holmes, along with Jude Law as Doctor James Watson. This film also offers the arrival of Swedish actress Noomi Rapace (from the original THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO) in a major Hollywood film, as the gypsy Madame Simza Heron.

Holmes is up to his normal shenanigans, but this time he’s obsessed with what he calls the greatest case of his career, or even of all time, in his words. The problem, however, is that Holmes is working alone. Watson is about to get married, but Holmes isn’t about to let that stand in his way, managing to unintentionally involve Doc Watson in his deadly pursuit of a genius evil mastermind by way of biting off more than he may be able to chew. Also assisting Holmes this time around, but in a smaller role and with comedic flair, is Stephen Fry (V FOR VENDETTA) as Holmes’ brother Mycroft.

AGOS sees the emergence of Professor Moriarty, played rivetingly by Jared Harris, an incredibly smart and dangerous foe to rival the wits of Holmes himself. The two engage in a battle of the minds, a sort of game to determine who is superior, but a game that has the lives of many, even world peace at stake. Moriarty’s plans are merely a business venture to him, but to Holmes this is a test of his own ability, proving to be his most challenging and deadly investigation.

For fans of the first SHERLOCK HOLMES (2009), expect more of the same from RDJ, cunning and clever, witty and ill-mannered, obnoxious and reckless. With Ritchie once again behind the helm, AGOS also maintains the use of the slow-motion, or “bullet time” effects photography that allows incredible detail during epic action sequences. As before, this technique works wonderfully for the hand to hand fights, illustrating how Holmes preconceives his every move before the fight even begins. However, as spectacular as one massive scene involving Holmes, Watson and Heron fleeing an arsenal of massive guns may be, the technique is used to a point of being stretched too thin. The result is a dampening of the initially induced awe.

Aside from the slight overuse of the slow-motion tactics, AGOS involves some truly exhilarating action sequences. Hans Zimmer’s score is nothing short of a damn good time, energetic and highly appropriate, but the pacing of the film as a whole is not quite as finely tuned as in Ritchie’s 2009 film. There’s plenty of fun to be had with this second adventure, but the 129-minute sequel feels significantly longer than the 128-minute SHERLOCK HOLMES that rebooted the franchise.

Guy Ritchie continues to prove his knack from combining comedy and action, a talent Brett Ratner could only dream to accomplish on this level. Holmes and Moriarty are something like a superhero and his arch-nemesis super villain, whose quarrel with determine the fate of the world. AGOS is as much a battle of intellects as it is a physical battle, as the two characters try and gain the tactical edge throughout the film, much like the symbolic chess match they undertake in the final act of the film.

I found myself thoroughly entertained by SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS, despite the slower pacing. Unfortunately, the only real complaint I have about the film is the ending, which feels a bit too much like a Hail Mary, last resort effort to wrap up the final battle while setting up a twist to follow. The ending is absurd as it plays out, requiring more than it’s fair share of demand on the viewer’s suspension of disbelief, even for a popcorn movie such as this. Regardless of the faltering finale, SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS is well worth seeing for the fun factor on a Friday night.

Tag: Mystery

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