Movies

Subterms

    More stories

    • 150 Shares149 Views

      in Movies

      ‘Hard Luck Love Song’ Review: A Glossy Take on a Gritty Tune

      by

      Drawn from the plotline of a Todd Snider song, the film follows a pool shark and an escort, taking twists that are both violent and silly.Movies based on popular songs often bring specifics to the table to better capitalize on the hooks. For Bobbie Gentry’s “Ode to Billy Joe,” the 1976 movie adaptation took on a question the song doesn’t answer: Just what did Billy Joe and the narrator throw off the Tallahatchie Bridge? On the other hand, all the 1954 movie “White Christmas” required was its title Irving Berlin song, some more Irving Berlin songs and stars in Santa hats.“Hard Luck Love Song” is based on the Todd Snider tune “Just Like Old Times.” Snider’s no superstar, but he is a troubadour with a solid cult following and a good way with story songs. “Old Times” is a straightforward, ironically poignant narrative in which a pool hustler phones an escort service from his motel and is soon greeted by his onetime high school sweetheart.The movie, co-written and directed by Justin Corsbie and executive-produced by Snider, puts flesh — much of it movie-star-level attractive — on the song’s bones. Michael Dorman’s Jesse and Sophia Bush’s Carla are depicted partying with a vengeance, fueled by both alcohol and cocaine. Yet by the time they light out for a bar (mostly to put the plot into third gear), they both look as freshly scrubbed as a couple on the good side of a deodorant commercial.The song’s actual story line winds down about an hour and 10 minutes into the movie. After which “Hard Luck Love Song” falls further apart. The twists are violent and silly and have little relation to the gritty realities of Snider’s world. Corsbie has filmmaking energy to spare but also makes many undergrad errors, including a clunky needle drop of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion song “Bell Bottoms,” which was executed definitively in the opening scene of Edgar Wright’s 2017 “Baby Driver.”Hard Luck Love SongRated R for language and partying with a vengeance and cocaine. Running time: 1 hour 44 minutes. In theaters. More

    • 125 Shares149 Views

      in Movies

      ‘Needle in a Timestack’ Review: Put a Pin in It

      by

      The director John Ridley, who wrote “12 Years a Slave,” tries to combine time travel and romance, and comes up short twice.Who among us has never dreamed of turning back time and changing a decision or event, just like Cher and the Terminator? That possibility is a reality in John Ridley’s sluggish, blandly slick time-travel romance, “Needle in a Timestack.”Nick (Leslie Odom Jr.) is a fancy architect and his wife, Janine (Cynthia Erivo), is a fancy photographer. We know they are soul mates because they constantly talk about their great love, maybe to make up for the fact that they have no real personalities.One day, Nick realizes there has been a so-called time shift — a slight realignment of reality after someone traveled back in time to change the past — thus modifying the present. Further, more consequential alterations in the timeline keep happening, until we end up in a reality where Janine is married to Tommy (Orlando Bloom), their old friend. Nick realizes that Tommy has been fiddling with the past to finally land the woman he wanted.The most fascinating idea in “Needle in a Timestack” is that “time jaunting” is a mundane activity, up to a point: It is so expensive that only wealthy people like Tommy can afford it on a regular basis. But Ridley (the writer of “12 Years a Slave”) decides to stick to the shiny surfaces of aspirational lives, and keeps layering on banalities like “Love is drawn in the form of a circle” and “Have we really thought through the cause and effect of our choices?” That needle was clearly used to stitch slogans on pillows.Needle in a TimestackRated R for language. Running time: 1 hour 51 minutes. In theaters and available to rent or buy on Apple TV, Google Play and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators. More

    • 88 Shares159 Views

      in Movies

      ‘All About My Sisters’ Review: Family Matters

      by

      Wang Qiong’s debut feature traces the tragic effects of China’s one-child policy on her family.Often in “All About My Sisters,” the Chinese filmmaker Wang Qiong’s documentary portrait of her family, you might forget that what you’re watching is filtered through a camera. Over a period of seven years, Wang filmed her parents, siblings and relatives from within the emotional thicket of their lives, capturing moments of piercing, private intimacy. Her approach yields a film bristling with the kind of familial rancor that usually only emerges behind closed doors.There’s plenty to warrant this bitterness, starting with the fact that Wang’s younger sister, Zhou Jin, was abandoned as a newborn before being retrieved and then given to an uncle to raise. That was in the 1990s, when the combination of China’s one-child policy and a widespread cultural preference for sons had tragic consequences. As we learn over the course of the film’s epic (yet impressively brisk-moving) three-hour arc, Jin’s is one of the many stories of abandoned babies, sex-selective abortions and female infanticide that haunt Wang’s family history.Wang is neither a staid observer nor a formal interviewer, but an active participant in the scenes she captures, often intervening gently from behind her hand-held camera. “Have you ever thought that induced abortion is horrible to baby girls?” she asks her older sister, Wang Li, whose husband is desperate for a male heir. Li’s response is simple but profound: “The world is horrible to us, too. Every move is a risk.”At times, Wang’s candor can be unsettling: I wondered about the ethics of her unflattering portrayal of Jin, who is seen being cruel to her toddler, as if re-enacting her own traumas. In such moments, “All About My Sisters” teeters discomfitingly between the personal and the political, revealing how little separates the two.All About My SistersNot rated. In Mandarin, with subtitles. Running time: 2 hours 54 minutes. In theaters. More

    • 113 Shares129 Views

      in Movies

      ‘The Trip’ Review: With This Gun, I Thee Shoot

      by

      In this Norwegian thriller on Netflix, a murderous couple get more bloodshed than they bargained for.Most people don’t prepare for getaways with their spouses by buying a hammer, a hacksaw, duct tape and rope — but Lars (Aksel Hennie) is not most people, and “The Trip,” directed by Tommy Wirkola, is not most movies. Its initial premise is this: Lars has planned to murder his wife, Lisa (Noomi Rapace), during their holiday, but he’s thwarted when it turns out Lisa has been preparing to do away with him on the very same trip. Unfortunately, while that concept promises a fun, agile thriller, “The Trip” all too quickly descends into a juvenile, nihilistic mess.Lars and Lisa’s mutual blood bath turns into a group affair when some unexpected outsiders, including the escaped convicts Dave (Christian Rubeck), Roy (Andre Eriksen) and Petter (Atle Antonsen), coincidentally join the fray. Each actor gamely tackles the ensuing violence and emotional turbulence, and Rapace is particularly excellent at juggling the two. The film reveals its many surprises through flashbacks, sharp editing and an absurd script clearly aiming for irreverence.But “The Trip” upsets its own tenuous balance of darkness and drollery, grasping at tasteless material about genitals and poop, though its basic premise is much smarter — and perfectly delightful — on its own. Such artlessness turns what could be a quick, jaunty movie into a slog. By the end of a protracted attempted rape sequence, I was dismayed to discover that I was only halfway through its two-hour duration.“The Trip” is occasionally fun, but other films have handled gleeful gore and psychological torture with a far more skillful touch. The film pays clear homage to Michael Haneke’s “Funny Games,” a whip-smart commentary on cinematic violence. It doesn’t do itself any favors by inviting that comparison.The TripNot rated. In Norwegian, with subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 53 minutes. Watch on Netflix. More

    • 138 Shares199 Views

      in Movies

      ‘Noroît’ Review: In a French Vision, Pirates Inhabit a Jacobean Drama

      by

      When this unusual film, made in 1976 by the French director Jacques Rivette, opens in New York this week, it will be making its official debut here.After his masterworks of the early 1970s, “Out 1” and “Celine and Julie Go Boating,” the French filmmaker Jacques Rivette conceived one of his typically ambitious projects: a four-film cycle called “Scenes From a Parallel Life.” Like “Celine and Julie,” and so many Rivette films to follow, these pictures would center on female characters and offer alternate realities by (among other things) playing with genres ancient and modern. Two of the planned four were completed in 1976, both of which are being revived this week.The first, “Duelle,” proposes a kind of private mythology spotlighting the “Out: 1” stars Juliette Berto and Bulle Ogier. “Noroît” is a postmodern pirate picture, inspired by the Jacobean drama “The Revenger’s Tragedy.”The antagonists here are Geraldine Chaplin and Bernadette Lafont. Chaplin’s brother has died at the hands of buccaneers led by Lafont. Various intrigues are undertaken to get Chaplin close enough to Lafont to kill her.Gender-swapping of the central roles notwithstanding, In some respects this is a faithful adaptation. Onscreen titles provide act and scene numbers. Chaplin and her other co-star, Kika Markham, frequently declaim portions of the play’s text in its original English language.But “Noroît” takes a more meandering path than Jacobean drama in general, pondering, as Rivette’s films tend to, notions of life as performance and vice versa. When major plot events occur, the camera seems almost indifferent to them, inexorably and meticulously moving on.The movie is best appreciated as a record of formidable female performers vibing with and against each other. At least until its last 40 minutes or so, when it reels into delirium. Various elemental effects (monochrome tints, lens-aperture lighting effects, audio dropouts) drive home its sense of unreality. The movie’s intellectual provocations — mostly pertaining to the elasticity of cinematic form — remain as lively as they were many decades ago.Noroît Not rated. Running time: 2 hour 25 minutes. In French with English subtitles More

    • 88 Shares99 Views

      in Movies

      ‘Held for Ransom’ Review: Negotiating With Terrorists

      by

      This thoughtful hostage drama from Denmark depicts the events surrounding the capturing of Daniel Rye, a photojournalist, by ISIS in 2013.Like most films about contending with Islamic terrorists, there’s an ickiness to entertainment value derived from pitting white Westerners against big bad Muslims. Should you be willing to overlook certain intrinsic difficulties, “Held for Ransom” is a surprisingly thoughtful hostage drama given the blunt meatheadedness of its title.Based on the 2013 kidnapping of the Danish photographer Daniel Rye, who was held hostage by the Islamic State for 398 days, the film takes a holistic approach, drawing its beats from “The ISIS Hostage,” the book by Puk Damsgaard Andersen that first mapped out the journey to Rye’s release.A zippy opening shows the twist of fate that turned Daniel (Esben Smed), a gymnast, onto photojournalism, prompting a trip to Syria that soon goes awry. Rye’s is an inherently remarkable story involving a brief escape, brutalization at the hands of unbending torturers, and even bittersweet friendships with his fellow detainees — one of whom was James Foley (Toby Kebbell), an American whose beheading was captured on video in 2014.The filmmakers Niels Arden Oplev (Sweden’s “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”) and Anders W. Berthelsen unfold these events with tense ambiguity. Back home in Denmark, Daniel’s family wrestles with a very different kind of beast when they are forced to crowdfund 2 million euros on his behalf despite no real assurance that the people holding him hostage will hold up their end of the bargain. At the same time, a rugged hostage negotiator (Berthelsen) shuffles between the two countries, providing Daniel’s family with slivers of hope.Most intriguing is the film’s take on the prickly subject of “negotiating with terrorists” when Daniel’s family is denied assistance from the Danish government, which maintains a zero-tolerance policy. The tension of human toll versus ideological principle is conveyed with pathos and acuity. When Daniel finally crosses the border to his freedom, however, the camera jitters with the weight of his trauma — communicating this experience is ultimately the film’s greatest concern.Held for RansomNot rated. In Danish and English, with subtitles. Running time: 2 hours 18 minutes. In theaters and available to rent or buy on Apple TV, Vudu and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators. More

    • 113 Shares179 Views

      in Movies

      ‘Luzzu’ Review: Capturing Culture on the Coasts of Malta

      by

      This subtle drama follows a young Maltese fisherman torn between fidelity to his trade and the demands of a modern world.In the naturalistic drama “Luzzu,” Jesmark (Jesmark Scicluna) spends days bobbing and fishing in bright sea waters off the coast of Malta. Though fish are few and money is tight, Jesmark treasures his trade and the cheerfully painted luzzu — or quaint wooden fishing boat — that has been passed down through his paternal lineage for generations. But once he and his wife Denise (Michela Farrugia) learn that their infant son requires pricey medical care, Jesmark must negotiate between his fidelity to fishing and the demands of a modern world.As a character, Jesmark is familiar. He is strong, sullen and stubborn, a zealous laborer whose working-class upbringing left him with a sturdy moral code and a chip on his shoulder. Quarrels with Denise or his fishing buddy David (David Scicluna) often end in Jesmark storming off in a headstrong huff. Eventually, his stiff upper lip grows tiresome, and our hero’s slow road to redemption grows less important than the people and settings that surround him. Here, Alex Camilleri, the Maltese American writer-director, excels.In “Luzzu,” his first feature film, Camilleri demonstrates a sophisticated understanding of how small moments can build a sense of place: sandals on the salty floor of a fishery; a metal scraper peeling paint from a hull; a priest blessing boats for safe passage. Malta’s views are arresting, but the images Camilleri chooses would never be found in a travel brochure. In his subtle, vérité approach, he captures something special — not one man’s crisis, but a community’s culture.LuzzuNot rated. In Maltese and English, with subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 34 minutes. In theaters. More

    • 100 Shares189 Views

      in Movies

      ‘Son of Monarchs’ Review: Of Butterflies and Belonging

      by

      This lush Mexican drama tells a story about climate change and cultural identity using the allegory of monarch butterflies’ migration.“Son of Monarchs” is about immigration, but this is no ordinary story of border crossing. The film, from the director Alexis Gambis, resists the stereotypical formulas that Hollywood demands of Mexican immigration dramas. Instead, it harnesses the allegory of monarch butterflies to sketch an alternate journey of being and belonging.Mendel (a phenomenal Tenoch Huerta) is a Mexican biologist studying the monarchs’ genetic sequencing. He recently left his home in Michoacán, the animals’ winter refuge, for New York City. The narrative structure is a collage, with radiant scenes from Mendel’s wide-eyed youth and icy images of his austere life in the United States. Before long, the scientist’s psyche unravels as he grapples with leaving home, reconciling spirituality with science and piecing together the fragments of childhood trauma and subsequent estrangement from his brother.“Son of Monarchs” is ambitious and meditative, thick with philosophical musings from its characters about the environment, life cycles and identity. In its attempt to cover so much, it stumbles at times. While the slow pace demands patience, the cinematographer Alejandro Mejía’s gorgeous visual universe possesses immense gifts that are well worth the wait. Mejía’s camera is gracious, reverent of the bucolic green hills of Michoacán and the microscopic, irregular surface of a chrysalis. It’s a larger statement about the planet’s disappearing treasures under catastrophic climate change. The film’s rich imagery will be imprinted in your memory, returning to you in dreams.Son of MonarchsRated R for disturbing imagery and explicit language. In English and Spanish, with subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 37 minutes. In theaters. More