MRwOS is BACK!!!!

 I've been retooling my movie review show to be more of a succinct audio podcast. Check it out and let me know what you think!

MRwOS: Movie Reviews with Original Songs

Ep. 1: Movie Reviews with Original Songs - "Perfect Days" and "So Afraid"

 In this episode, I give my thoughts on the Wim Wenders directed Japanese film, then play a simple but anxious tune of my own!

Movie Reviews: Creed, Trumbo and more...

My dad was in town over Thanksgiving weekend, and we took the opportunity to do a movie marathon!

Sylvester Stallone hasn't been a symbol of quality in a long, long time, so it's easy to forget that the original Rocky (1976) won Best Picture, and was a pretty great film. Creed (2015) is a spin-off of the original Rocky series, and it captures much of the heart of the original. Stallone plays a supporting role as the aging champ helping out his deceased friend's son, and the film is better for it. It was a pleasant surprise. Recommended.

My favorite film of the weekend was Trumbo (2015), starring Brian Cranston (Breaking Bad, Malcolm in the Middle) as the eponymous character. Dalton Trumbo is probably the most famous of the blacklisted screenwriters during the Red Scare of the 1950s, having won multiple Oscars while writing under pseudonyms. It's a very political film, focusing on free speech issues (a subject very dear to my heart), but manages to be incredible entertaining at the same time-- this film oozes with old Hollywood charm. Highly, highly recommended.

Brooklyn (2015) stars Saoirse Ronan as a young Irish immigrant in 1950s New York. It's hard to go into the film too much without oversimplifying it, but I will say that this film has some really wonderful dinner table conversations. The movie is a romance, both about people and places, and it doesn't wrap up in a tidy way. It will leave you thinking, so bring someone along to talk about it afterwards.

Newspapers have been dying, so it's no surprise that we don't see movies about newspapers so much, anymore. But that's a shame, because there's something thrilling about a group of intrepid reporters fighting the system and uncovering corruption. Spotlight (2015) revives that tradition as it details how the Boston Globe uncovered the full extent of the Catholic child abuse scandal. It's not perfect-- I think it sometimes goes overboard trying to make active visuals while relaying key information-- but it's a worthy entry in the genre.

It's odd that the movie is called Victor Frankenstein (2015), because it's really about his assistant-- though I can understand why naming it Igor Stravinsky might be a bad marketing move. Daniel Radcliffe plays this revisionist version of Igor, which brings a lot of humanity to the character. I really appreciated the first part of the film, which explored his origins in the circus and his love for one of its acrobats. James McAvoy is well cast as the mad scientist who enlists Igor's help in conducting some horrific experiments. The last act is a bit overdone and deviates from the focus on Igor, but it will satisfy those who need a spectacular climax. Overall, it's a pretty neat take on the Frankenstein story.

I prefer to see films in the theater, but we did rent the local film Ink (2009), which depicts a dreamworld where the benevolent Storytellers try to protect us from the Incubi, who bring only nightmares. One little girl slips into a coma as the mysterious creature, Ink, kidnaps her unconscious mind. Will the storytellers retrieve her soul? Will her absentee father return to help out? This was locally done in Denver, and won Best Colorado Film from the Denver Film Critics Society. It's an uneven film, but visually it's stunning and creepy.

Diary of a Teenage Girl: Cheryl & Dave's Review

Cheryl and I thought the film was very well made, but that isn't the same as enjoying it.  See the video below!

Ricki and the Flash: Cheryl & Dave's Review

Cheryl and I reviewed this film at the request of some of our fans.  I don't think either of us were in love with the film, but we still managed to find lots to disagree about.

Mr. Holmes: Cheryl & Dave's Review

Elementary, my dear Watson! Cheryl and I review Ian McKellen as a 90+ year old Sherlock in "Mr. Holmes"!  Far from elementary, this movie is quite advanced...

Movie Reviews: The Theory of Everything, Project Almanac and Obvious Child

Oscar has nominated The Theory of Everything for best picture, and I think it deserves the nod.  Of course, it revolves around the performance of Eddie Redmayne as Stephen Hawking; he does an excellent job portraying an incredibly smart and charming man whose motor skills fail him; and kudos to the make-up and costume departments for making Redmayne look like the man himself.    Felicity Jones, who plays Hawking's wife, does an equally impressive job in a role that demands much more subtlety-- she stands strong beside Hawking throughout, but we can see the internal struggle that develops as a marriage expected to only last a year continues for decades.  But as compelling as the acting is, I think the real star is director James Marsh.  I know Marsh better for documentaries like Man on Wire, and he uses those documentary techniques to create a greater intimacy with these characters; at times we feel like voyeurs (let's be honest, we are!). He's also very inventive when approximating Hawking's thought processes-- for a film about a man in a wheelchair, it's quite stimulating visually.  I don't think it's going to win over those who dislike lofty prestige films, but for anybody who cares what Oscar thinks, you'll be thoroughly entertained.

I needed some counter-programming for all the Oscar-bait I've seen lately, and some sci-fi teen-sploitation like Project Almanac  fit the bill.  First off, if you're sick of hand-held cameras and fake documentary style, don't see this film.  But if you can stomach it, they do a reasonable job of explaining why there's always a camera there: they're making scientific breakthroughs, man!  This $h!t needs to be recorded!  So the film progresses as you would expect if teenage boys built a time machine (there are a couple token girls in the gang, but understand that this is about male adolescent wish-fulfillment and not the female equivalent).  They throw together some arbitrary rules about using the machine, but don't hesitate to use it as their own personal reset button.  Unlike most time travel films, the problems our heroes face aren't so much about the consequences of time travel (though there's a little bit of that); instead it's when the group dynamic changes that their headaches begin.  What's disappoint about this film is that it touches on some interesting ideas, but then breezes by them in order to forward the plot.  This is one of those films I suspect had a really good script to start with, but got doctored into shallow pap by the Hollywood revision machine.  But it is a fun diversion if that's what you're looking for.  Go see it with friends, then afterward discuss how you could've done it better.

I'll admit, I went to see Obvious Child because the trailer for it used the Paul Simon song of the same name-- it has the best drum sound ever!  But the movie is quite good beyond its Simonesque title.  Jenny Slate stars as a stand-up comedienne gets pregnant after what she thinks is a one night stand.  She plans to get an abortion, but as this man turns into a legitimate suitor, she has to weigh the wisdom of telling him about it.  The characters are very well drawn and the world the protagonist lives in is fully realized-- this movie feels honest and intimate while managing to be quite funny.  Recommended.

Movie Reviews: Inherent Vice, Force Majeure, The Babadook, Predestination

As film noir stories go, Inherent Vice (2014) isn't all that different:  There's a down-on-his-luck detective, a femme fatale, unsympathetic cops, and a convoluted mystery with all sorts of twists and turns.  It's the film's style that really makes it stand out.  As directed by P. T. Anderson, everything's a little more pastel, a little more shaggy, and little more hazy as befits a stoner P. I. like Doc Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix).  I appreciate filmmaking that puts you in the subjective space of its protagonist (the recent alien thriller, Under the Skin, is another fine example of this); it's a little off, but it rings truer.  Aside from its stylistic trappings, this is a really fun film.  It has an all star cast, and Martin Short nearly steals the show with an especially welcome cameo.  Some folks will be turned off by the implied drug use in the film, and this movie is definitely a hard-R, but if you can handle that, you'll be thoroughly entertained.

When I read the plot summary for Force Majeure (2014), I thought it was going to be a comedy.  If it had been made in America and not Sweden, I suspect it would have been (and I don't think that would be a wrong approach).  Instead, it's a very insightful exploration of family dynamics after a life-or-death moment; after a family of four on a ski trip stare down an avalanche and survive.  Do you know how you would behave?  I should note that, despite the ski resort setting, this is not an adventure film-- don't go in expecting adrenaline pumping stunts or anything like that.  This is a talkie; it asks a lot of great questions that you'll want to talk about afterward-- be sure to see it with friends.

The Babadook (2014) is a good old-fashioned haunted house movie, to the point that the special effects were pretty low budget.  But you know what?  Those cheap effects managed to spook me just fine.  Not that it's about the special effects.  No, this film is about the relationship between a widowed mother, her young son and the strains on their relationship; The Babadook only brings things to a head.  As the mother, Aussie actress Essie Davis goes through several emotional transformations, and she does so brilliantly.  I really liked this film, but it's more relationship oriented than most horror flicks, which may turn off many fans of the genre.  On the other hand, if you're more a fan of drama, this might be a right horror film to check out if you want to test the waters.

Predestination (2014) is part of a new trend in which smaller films are released simultaneously in theaters and on pay-per-view.  I watched this one on TV at a friend's place, which was fitting as it felt like a very good episode of the Twilight Zone.  As with most time travel films, it's hard to go much into the plot, except to say that I enjoyed the film even when I could see the twists coming.  This is the second team-up between Ethan Hawke and the Spierig Brothers (the previous being Daybreakers, which is now on my watch list), and they do a good job.  Ethan Hawke is one of those actors who I don't particularly care for, but I put up with him because he usually chooses good films to make.  I don't want to overpraise this film-- there's not much to it beyond its central plot and one great performance.  But if you're looking for a blast of hardcore sci-fi, this will scratch that itch.

Movie Reviews: Into the Woods and Begin Again

Into the Woods (2014) is the second movie I've seen based on a Stephen Sondheim musical (the other being Sweeny Todd), and I've decided I don't much like Sondheim's musical sensibilities.  He's very fond of recitative (talk singing, basically) which is one of my least favorite aspects of opera and musical theater.  And even the main song productions didn't hook me (with the exception of the princes-on-the-waterfall scene... "Agony!").  None of this is to imply that it's a bad film, just that it's hard to like a musical if you don't like the songs, and I didn't much like the songs.

But if you don't mind recitative, and if you like Sondheim's music, then you'll probably love this film.   First off, it looks fantastic-- the costume and set design is out of this world.  On top of that, the acting is uniformly superb.  My favorite performance was by Lilla Crawford, who played Little Red Riding Hood as a cad, but with a really powerful singing voice.  Emily Blunt's lovely voice was also a pleasant surprise.  Story-wise the movie is a bit crowded-- with so many fairy tale characters demanding screen-time, it's inevitably jumbled.  But the story is also crammed full of interesting themes of courtship, coming of age, the relationship between your children when they're young and after they've grown up.  There's a lot to like about this film.  If I liked the music more, I might consider seeing it again.


Begin Again (2013) is a very different kind of musical.  Kiera Knightly and Mark Ruffalo bring some serious star power to this follow-up to Once from director John Carney.  Like Carney's previous film, this one is about two down-on-their-luck music makers who team up to help each other find redemption and realize their dreams.  But unlike Once, this film focuses on those who once had musical success and then lost it, or those who've lost loved ones to musical success while being passed over themselves.

I have two big issues with this film.  Once again, I couldn't get into the music.  This bothers me even more than with Into the Woods, because I don't expect to like songs from stage musicals (they're just not my thing).  But this film, with all its decrying of mainstream music, managed to produce a bunch of bland, boring songs that were theoretically within a genre I like.  The other problem was the star power itself.  The characters are schleppy losers, but the actors feel like Hollywood superstars throughout-- they never look anything other than gorgeous, they never lack room-crushing charisma-- they're distracting.  The story itself is perfectly pleasant, if a bit shallow, but I have a hard time recommending this one.

Movie Reviews: The Imitation Game, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, and more...

The Imitation Game (2014) comes in with the annual rush of awards contenders, and it has all you would expect: a great actor playing an eccentric genius, a high stakes plot involving WWII, and an angle on contemporary social issues.  You'll laugh!  You'll cry!  Yes, it's a very well done film, but it is just as much a genre picture as all the superhero movies that come out every year-- there's nothing terribly ground-breaking here.  But it's nice to see one of the great minds of the 20th Century, Alan Turing, get his due.  If it looks like your cup of tea, I'm sure you'll thoroughly enjoy it.

I was a bit upset with the second Hobbit movie, The Desolation of Smaug... mostly because they ended the film with such an ill-timed cliff-hanger.  Now seeing the latest film, The Battle of the Five Armies (2014), I'm even more pissed off, because what would've been an awesome ending to the second film was an anticlimactic prelude to the third film.  Though I understand why Peter Jackson did it-- the scenes with the dragon are, by far, the best in the trilogy, and the rest of the third film couldn't help but be a let-down afterward.  There are some great sequences in this third and final entry, but like the other films, it feels a bit padded.  Don't get me wrong, this is a good film and it's a good trilogy, it's just easy to be disappointed when it doesn't match the majesty of The Lord of the Rings.  Maybe we'll get a fan-made edit culling the best parts of the three movies into one 3-hour film... I can dream, anyway.

I love a good romantic comedy; unfortunately, not many get made anymore (not good ones, I mean).  Maybe I'm not in the right demographic, but it used to be that Hollywood knew how to make rom-coms that appealed to guys as well as gals.  Definitely, Maybe (2008) really got me, though.  Ryan Reynolds plays a dad on the cusp of divorce who's beseeched by his daughter (Abigail Breslin) to tell her the story of how he and her mom met.  Instead of giving a straight-forward account, he tells her about three women he was involved with before getting married and challenges her to guess which one was her mom.  It's a neat premise for a film, and it plays out wonderfully; all the characters are well-drawn, their lives are layered-- it felt like this was a story about real people living in a real world with real complications.  I adored this film; highly recommended.

After seeing Nightcrawler a few weeks ago, I wanted to check out some other Jake Gyllenhaal films.  Unfortunately, I rented Enemy (2013), a metaphysical thriller based on the Nobel Prize winning novel The Double, by Jose Saramago.  Now, understand that I have a bachelor's degree in Philosophy-- I like Philosophy, I read Philosophy, I enjoy having philosophical discussions.  But I don't like how films like this get all portentous and what-not.  We get it: your film is pondering meaningful, important questions; just, please, crack a joke once in a while.  It doesn't help that this is the second doppelgänger film I've seen this year (the other one being the coincidentally titled The Double), which was similarly dour.  Go see John Dies at the End instead-- it's a much more entertaining way to bend your mind.

***

That's probably the last set of movie reviews I'll do in 2014.  But be on the lookout for my year end Top 10 list later this week!

Short Movie Reviews: Chef, The Maze Runner, The Fault In Our Stars, and more...

John Favreau is probably best known for his work on the Iron Man movie series, but for my money, his best work has been on smaller films.  With Chef, Favreau has returned to his indie roots and maybe made the best film of his career.  Over the years, I've really come to appreciate films about preparing food-- it's surprisingly cinematic, and it really lends itself to personal drama; it's a perfect framing device (I should also mention that I produce a friend's cooking show on YouTube, so maybe I'm biased).  And it works as a great framing device for this film, in which Favreau's disgraced celebrity chef buys a food truck and goes on a road trip across the country with his son.  It's funny, it's touching, it has an all-star cast, and it'll make you want to eat a Cuban sandwich immediately afterwards.  I can't recommend this movie enough-- it's my favorite film of the year.

The near future has never looked worse for young adults, not if Hollywood has anything to say about it, anyway.  The Maze Runner is one of the latest entries in the teenage dystopia genre, and it's just fine.  It's energetic, the special effects are passable, and it has a central mystery that drives the story forward.  At the same time, the girl who's introduced to the stranded community of boys enters as a token plot device that never develops, and the convoluted conspiracy behind the maze itself... well, once it's revealed, I kept shaking my head thinking, "there are much less expensive ways to do this, guys."  This film is decidedly middle-of-the-road.  If you're aching for a sci-fi action film, this movie will certainly scratch that itch... but it won't do much more.

I'm not really in the demographic for The Fault In Our Stars, but I enjoyed it never-the-less.  Shailene Woodley is a great actress (check her out in The Descendants and The Spectacular Now) and her performance is matched by Ansel Elgort, who comes off as a young, more affable Val Kilmer.  It's based on a novel, and the film clearly benefits from the source material-- a lot of book adaptations feel rushed, but this one felt fleshed out, instead.  The depth in the story really pays off when the couple go to Europe in search of a reclusive author.  So, yeah, this was pretty good-- definitely worth checking out if you like cinematic romance.

There's a lot to like about The Signal.  First of all, the cinematography is fantastic!  If all you need is good visuals, go watch this now.  The movie starts out as a cat and mouse game between some MIT students on a road trip who are being cyber-stalked by a mysterious hacker.  The students decide they're going to find and surprise the hacker, but end up being swooped up into something much stranger than they expected.  It gets off to a wonderful start, but it's one of those movies that sets up such a big mystery that once it starts to resolve, it can't help but be disappointing.  It probably didn't help that the reveal at the end is one that I've seen in a couple other sci-fi programs recently.  But despite its problems, this is a film worth checking out, and I'll be interested to see what comes next from the director, William Eubank.

A few years ago I was collecting these discount collections of B-movies.  You could get something like 50 films on DVD for $10, and they were bundled by genre: horror, sci-fi, crime, etc.  Most of the films were deservedly forgotten (though some were of the so-bad-they're-good variety), but occasionally I'd find something in there that was really great.  Sure, it would gratuitously dive into all the trappings of its genre, but it would do it in a thoroughly entertaining fashion.  A Walk Among The Tombstones felt like one of those diamonds in the rough.  It's violent, it has shallow caricatures, it has Liam Neeson... but I walked away satisfied.

Movie Review: Interstellar (2014)

Like all films by Christopher Nolan, Interstellar is a philosophical treatise disguised as cinematic entertainment.  Inception and Memento were about the limitations of our perceptions of the world, The Prestige dealt with the metaphysics of patterns and their social implications, and his Batman films (especially The Dark Knight) reveled in tossing out ethical conundrums that pushed our conception of morality to the extreme.  I think it's amazing that Nolan has been able to take relatively deep subject matters and still appeal to the masses.

But for the most part, science hasn't been a focus.  It's been there, but just as a set-up for his larger interests-- science might have well have been magic, because it wouldn't have made a difference in the stories.  That changes with Interstellar.  Following the trend set by last year's Gravity, hard science science fiction is making a comeback.

Apparently 2001: A Space Odyssey was the film that inspired Nolan to become a film director, and it shows.  Interstellar takes its time to tell its story.  We get to see lovely visuals of this Earth of the near future and how it's falling apart.  Once Cooper, played by Matthew McConaughey, is launched into space, the visuals become even more stunning.  The universe is one of the greatest canvasses ever seen by man.  Not only do we see stars and planets, but we see space-time warping those images into something new.  The ghost of Stanley Kubrick is everywhere.

But as brilliant the imagery is, there's also an emotional weight here that's often absent in Nolan's films.  This movie is not just an intellectual puzzle, but an appeal to our humanity.  The relationship between Cooper and his kids (specifically Murph, as played by Jessica Chastain) can be heartbreaking at times, and Cooper's desire to both save his family and to survive long enough to see them again drives much of the action.

Interstellar is big, ambitious story-telling that will affect you on multiple levels.  But it's not a perfect film.

My biggest problem was a technical one-- the music was too loud in the mix.  I found the music to be similarly distracting during Inception, but it's worse this time because it obscures key dialogue.  It's possible it was just the theater I was in, but I've heard this complain from others, so beware.

There are points when the movie seems to drag-- it's nearly 3 hours long, and it could've been tighter (though, I'll admit, I didn't realize it was 3 hours while watching it-- I was stuck in the moment).  There are also issues with pacing-- some of the big conflicts in the middle of the film seem a bit forced, as did their resolutions.  And, despite the filmmakers' attempts to be scientifically accurate, it works against the story when it gets more fanciful.

But this is a good film.  The best recommendation I can give for it is that I talked about it for a couple hours afterward.  So check it out, bring a friend, and then let us know what you thought in the comments below.

Short Movie Reviews: Neighbors, Trust Me, Mystery Team, The Objective

Neighbors (2014)

Seth Rogan and Rose Byrne are a married couple with a newborn child living in a nice house in a nice neighborhood.  Everything looks great until Zac Efron and his fraternity move into the house next door.  From there, the two neighbors go to war.  I found this film to be pretty amusing without quite making me laugh out loud.  But the charisma of the actors went far enough to make it an enjoyable time.

Trust Me (2013)

Clark Gregg plays a down on his luck agent for child stars in Hollywood who befriends a teen actress (Saxon Sharbino) so talented, she may revive his career.  It starts out as a comedy, then takes a hard turn into drama.  As a comedy, it's really good; as a drama, it's a mixed bag, with an over the top, noirish ending.  It's not a bad film, and there are some wonderful performances here, but it will make you long for the great film that could have come from the same cast and material.





Mystery Team (2009)

It's about a team of stunted, adolescent detectives who are faced with solving a murder, forcing them to come of age.  It's a very dumb film, but that's by design.  The contrast between these wide-eyed innocent teens (led by Donald Glover, who was drafted by Dan Harmon to be in the sit-com Community after seeing this film) and the very adult world they're forced to contend with can be laugh out loud funny.  But as many of the jokes miss as hit, so it makes it hard for me to fully recommend the film.  Still, it's a lot better than your average Adam Sandler flick...

The Objective (2008) 

This one was recommended to me by a website that specializes in obscure movies; once I rented it, I noticed that it had been slammed by the critics-- but after watching it, I couldn't quite understand why.  It's about a CIA agent who leads a military special ops team in search of mysterious weapon in the mountains of Afghanistan; the further they go, the more bewildering things get.  It was made by the same guy who did The Blair Witch Project, and many reviewers compare it to that film, though I felt it was quite different in execution.  There's not a lot of deep character work here, and the low budget can be felt, but the director creates a lot of tension and an effective sense of mystery.  If it had been a movie on the SyFy channel, everybody would've praised it.  

Movie Review: The Drop (2014)

The trailers for The Drop suggest this movie is about a couple thugs robbing a mob-connected bar and how the shit then hits the fan.  You'd be forgiven for thinking this was a clone of the 2012 film, Killing Them Softly, but you'd also be very, very wrong.  The Drop is both more complex and more straight-forward, but also quite a bit more subtle.

There are actually several intertwined story-lines, all revolving around Bob, who tends bar at his cousin Marv's place.  Aside from the bar heist, the biggest storyline involves Bob finding a dog that's been beaten and left for dead in a local woman's dumpster.  Bob and the woman build a relationship as he learns to take care of the puppy.

The other story lines aren't immediately obvious, but rather unveil themselves as the movie progresses.  This movie is masterful at adding plot-points casually, making them look like natural character development and bits of local flavor.  I really admire how this script was put together; it's tightly constructed, but comes off as really loose.  There are slow points in the film when you may mistakenly believe that nothing important is going on.

Bob is played by Tom Hardy, who is proving to be an actor's actor.  In his last three films (playing the title character in Locke and Bane in The Dark Knight Rises), he's been virtually unrecognizable from one part to the next.  I wouldn't be surprised if it starts with his voice-- each character he plays seems to talk in a very unique way; Hardy would've been a natural in the age of radio plays.  But his body language is amazingly distinct, too.  He fully inhabits his roles in a way that would give Daniel Day Lewis a run for his money.  The other actors on hand are in fine form, too.  It's notable that this was James Gandolfini's last film role (though apparently there was some television pilot he did after this).

This film works on several levels.  If you appreciate character driven plots, and if you appreciate well constructed scripts, you'll really appreciate this film.  Highly recommended.

Movie Review: Violet & Daisy (2011)

Violet & Daisy begins with a walk-and-talk between two young female assassins on their way to a job. It's very similar to the first Jules and Vincent scene in Pulp Fiction, so I was immediately expecting the movie to be a chatty, sub-Tarantino bloodletting.  But I was pleasantly surprised by this film.

Saoirse Ronan gives her usual soulful performance, and it's nice to see Alexis Bledel post-Gilmore Girls.  But the highlight of the film is James Gandolfini's turn as the target of a hit who, despite everyone's intentions, can't seem to get killed.  As the job continues to go awry, Gandolfini develops a relationship with Daisy (Ronan) and, to a lesser degree, Violet (Bledel).

What separates this from a Tarantino film is that there is some genuine sweetness.  And though there is gun-play and a couple bloody scenes (the worst is probably the first scene in the film), it's not really a film about violence.  There are nice personal moments throughout.

However, for all its heart, it lacks the sharp dialogue and sure directorial hand that Tarantino would bring.  There are chapter headings throughout the film that are nothing but a distracting contrivance, and many of the scenes lack rhythm, hurting otherwise fine performances.

This movie was a mixed bag for me.  The central twist to the film is interesting, and there are several moving scenes.  But too much of the film is trying to be hip without quite succeeding.  There are rewards here, but watch at your own risk.

Movie Review: I'll Follow You Down (2013)

Before I ever saw the film, I knew all about the motif of an angel showing someone what the world would've been like had he never been born.  But when I finally saw It's a Wonderful Life, I was shocked that most of the film had nothing to do with that conceit; it only occupied the very last part of a two-hour-plus film.  In the same way, I'll Follow You Down is a sci-fi movie about time travel-- the sequence that fits it into that genre is so short, it's hardly fair to classify the film as sci-fi.

This movie is a hardcore drama about how a family continues after its paterfamilias (Rufus Sewell) mysteriously disappears during a business trip.  It's nice to see both Haley Joel Osment and Gillian Anderson on screen again, and in good form, though playing different types of characters than you might expect.  The story is played out very realistically-- you can believe that the characters might act this way (at least, for the first half of the film).

I think some problems start to creep in as soon as they introduce the sci-fi element (which involves time travel, but I won't say much more).  Considering how real and serious the movie is otherwise, the introduction of this fantastic element was a little too casually presented for me, and felt sillier to me because of it.  But, truth be told, this movie is not about science-- science is merely a metaphor for dealing with philosophical and emotional issues.  And when the sci-fi sequence comes at the end, it's done well and powerfully, and it's worth the wait.

Still, I walked away wishing they had spent more time in the fantastical world, and explored the mind-boggling scientific ramifications of what was happening.  At the very least, I wish they had just acknowledged more how significant the possibility of time travel is-- I think it would have added more depth to the central dilemma.

But, at worst, this is an imperfectly executed experiment in merging drama and sci-fi.  It still contains fine performances and a thought-provoking premise, and it's well worth taking a look at.  Just don't go in expecting hardcore sci-fi.

Movie Review: Calvary (2014)

Calvary

A couple years ago, actor Brendan Gleeson and writer/director John Michael McDonagh teamed up for the amazingly charming buddy cop movie "The Guard."  Now they've returned to give us the excellent "Calvary."  It's not quite as charming as "The Guard," but only because its focuses on more serious issues.

In this instance, Gleeson plays a catholic priest for a small Irish town, and in the very first scene, one of his parishioners threatens to kill him in a week.  From there, we follow Father James around as he meets with the colorful inhabitants of the town, his daughter, and as he decides exactly how he's going to deal with the threat.

I'll admit, sometimes I thought the characters were a little too colorful, but by the end of the film, it feels less like a story striving for realism than one laying down a metaphor.  The reputation of the Catholic Church has taken a beating in the last few decades, and that disrespect is palpable in this film.  Is it possible for an honest Catholic priest to do any good, anymore? 

Brendan Gleeson plays Father James as a smartly gruff and sarcastic man struggling with his role in the town.  It's a strong performance, and a moving one, too.  I'm not sure what the role of the Catholic Church is these days, but if I were Catholic, this is the man I'd want to be my priest.

This is an great film.  It has a dark subject matter, but plenty of lighter moments along the way that will leave you chuckling.  It will also spark conversation-- I recommend seeing it with a friend and grabbing a cup of coffee afterward for a quality discussion.