Review: Blue Caprice

Image courtesy of Sundance Selects

Alexandre Moors' "Blue Caprice" is a disturbing, often compelling and slightly enigmatic take on an event that is known about by most, but understood by few - if any.

That event is, of course, the Beltway sniper murders that took the lives of 10 people and injured three others outside of Washington D.C. as well as in Maryland and Virginia in 2002.

This new film is not a moment-by-moment reenactment of the incidents in the vein of "United 93," but more similar to Gus Van Sant's terrific Columbine-inspired "Elephant" in that it sets the scene for the known incident, but comes to the conclusion that there is no logical explanation for it.

"Blue Caprice" is pretty effective and features some solid performances, including Isaiah Washington, who portrays John Allen Muhammad, and Tequan Richmond as Lee Boyd Malvo. Tim Blake Nelson and Joey Lauren Adams provide some solid supporting work as a couple that provides a place to crash for the duo, who, in the film, play out a twisted version of a father-son relationship.

At the film's beginning, Malvo is living in Antigua with his rarely present mother when he meets the alluring Muhammad, who is on a vacation with his children, whom he has managed to smuggle away from their mother, from whom he is divorced. It's easy to see why Malvo is taken in. Muhammad is - at least, at first - a pretty convincingly loving father figure.

It's not until Muhammad has sort of adopted Malvo, brought him back to the United States and begun engaging in all manner of paranoia that we get a closer glimpse of who the man truly is. The film is a chilling portrayal of a dominating personality and the apostle willing to go as far as it takes to please him.

The film is set in post-9/11 America, but Muhammad's mission is not politically motivated. Rather, he is out for revenge, but it is unclear against whom he is seeking it. He is angry that his wife has kept his children from him, but the plot to randomly murder people at gas stations along the Beltway appears to be an effort on the killers' parts to bring about chaos, rather than make a statement or achieve a means to an end. In other words, you won't find any easy answers here.

"Blue Caprice" is muted - at times, perhaps, a little too much so. But the film is an effective piece of true crime filmmaking that views its subjective with an investigative eye, rather than a critical one, and is all the better for it.

Review: Riddick

Image courtesy of Universal Pictures

Those who like their science fiction to alternate between overly ponderous sequences and grotesque, but dopey, violence with a touch of a sexual assault vibe and a visual style that could best be described as a "spray tan," then "Riddick" could be just the film for you.

For those of you who thinks this sounds torturous, it probably will be.

For those unfamiliar with the franchise, David Twohy's picture is a follow up to 2000's "Pitch Black," a minor sci-fi horror film that helped propel the career of Vin Diesel, who would soon become a star with the "Fast and the Furious" films and "XXX." That film was followed by "The Chronicles of Riddick," a bland outer space action film.

Now, in this latest movie, the violent planet-hopping criminal Riddick (Diesel) has landed on a planet that appears more coppery than anything in "300" with a group of bounty hunters following close behind. But first, we must experience the film's first 20 minutes or so in which Diesel pals around with a mangy coyote-looking thing and battles off some bland serpents that keep emerging from the water.

Then we get to the aforementioned bounty hunters, who are a decidedly mixed lot. There's the Bible quoting pretty boy (Nolan Gerard Funk), the meathead muscle (Dave Bautista), the sleazy leader (Jordi Molla) and others. The one thing they have in common is that most of them - Riddick included - make really blatant advances and rape threats against the film's one female character (Katee Sackhoff), whose purpose here is to show some skin and occasionally punch out one of the men, delivering tough dialogue in the process.

After the bounty hunters spend about a quarter of the film deciding how to handle Riddick, they are attacked by those boring serpents from before, only there are about a thousand of them at this point. People and serpent alike are maimed and killed in grotesque ways.

There's very little to recommend here. When "Riddick" is not moving at a snail's pace, it's a sound and fury action movie that's only slightly more involving. Here is the year's most obligatory sequel. And yes, I do recall that "Grown Ups 2" was released this year.

Review: Passion

Image courtesy of Entertainment One

I can simultaneously appreciate the artistry and style behind Brian de Palma's "Passion," which is a remake of Alain Corneau's "Love Crime," and still find the picture to be a not completely satisfying experience.

It's not a bad film, per se. De Palma is a master of provocative thrillers, including "Blow Out," "Body Double" and the notorious "Dressed to Kill."

And yet, I felt a bit underwhelmed by "Passion" as I did with de Palma's last few pictures, including "The Black Dahlia" and "Redacted." I'm still hoping he has in him another "Femme Fatale," which, for me, was the last great movie by the director.

If you've seen "Love Crime," de Palma's film stays pretty true to the story before veering off slightly at the end. Noomi Rapace plays Isabelle, a young woman working in the world of advertising whose concepts often overshadow those of her boss, Christine (Rachel McAdams), a back-stabbing ice queen.

Christine takes credit for one of Isabelle's best ideas, setting off a chain of events that lead to infidelity, a corporate cat and mouse game, humiliation and, eventually, a brutal murder.

Of course, de Palma would not have taken on this story if a few twists and turns were not involved - and there are more than a few. No character is completely innocent and the film includes a fairly masterful series of sequences during which one character sets up the perfect murder.

But most of De Palma's best thrillers have something lurking under the surface, whether it's the held-over 70s paranoia in 1981's "Blow Out," the psycho sexual themes of "Dressed to Kill" or the Hollywood satire of "Body Double."

While "Passion" is set within the cutthroat corporate world, it really has very little to say on the matter. It's basically an exercise in style, albeit not a bad one by any means. It's just not the triumphant return for de Palma for which I've been waiting.

Review: Getaway

Image courtesy of Warner Bros.

Based on the song by Earth, Wind and Fire... Sorry, I couldn't help myself.

Courtney Solomon's "Getaway" is a loud, mostly obnoxious and incredibly repetitive new action movie that wastes the talents of Ethan Hawke, gives Selena Gomez a variation on the same line to repeat for nearly 90 minutes and shows disturbing close-ups of Jon Voight's mouth speaking in what I believe is supposed to be a Bulgarian accent.

I'm sure that the filmmakers are hoping to present some sort of existential crime drama in the vein of Walter Hill's "The Driver" or Nicolas Winding Refn's "Drive," in which nameless characters take on nameless villains for nebulous reasons, but "Getaway" is clearly not on par with those films.

At the beginning of the picture, Ethan Hawke - a retired race car driver - comes home to find his home in shambles and his wife missing. He gets a phone call from Voight's mysterious kidnapper, who gives him a set of instructions that include driving full speed through a crowd of Christmas revelers in Sofia, where the film is set, and leading cops on a series of wild car chases. You might be infuriated when you hear Voight's absurd ulterior motives at the film's end.

During these mostly lackluster proceedings, Hawke's driver picks up a car thief (Gomez), who spends a majority of the film yelling "Oh God," "No!," "Stop!," "What are you doing?," "I hate you!,"and the like as Hawke drives wildly, knocking over everything in sight with his vehicle.

The film is shot in that frenetic style typical of most Hollywood action movies that gives me the impression that, if slowed down, the filmmakers would be afraid that the audience would realize that there's not much to gaze upon.

"Getaway" is all sound and fury - signifying nothing - or sturm und drang or whatever other cliche you might want to apply here. Regardless, I'm sure it's fitting.

Review: The Grandmaster

Image courtesy of Annapurna Pictures.

"The Grandmaster" is a visually stunning martial arts epic that - in typical Wong Kar Wai fashion - blends genre elements - in this case, kung fu - with a tale of unrequited love.

In the film, Wong regular Tony Leung portrays Ip Man, whom you may know as the man who went on to train Bruce Lee. But the movie legend only makes a brief appearance here as a boy in the finale.

Wong's latest is an historical film set during the golden age of martial arts amid the Republican era following China's last dynasty.

Ip is a master of Wing Chun, a martial art that his opponents will describe as simplistic, consisting of basically three moves - and yet, the man is undefeated.

As the film opens, northern China's grandmaster is seeking to set up a competition between the country's two halves and Ip is the man he chooses to represent the South. But the fight never materializes as the Sino-Japanese War sets in, forcing Ip to flee his home and relocate to Hong Kong, where he becomes a teacher.

The heart of the film, however, is centered around his friendship with and - taking a page from Wong's majestic "In the Mood for Love" - unspoken love for Gong Er (Zhang Ziyi), a rival who is hunting her father's killer.

For those familiar with the director's work, it should come as no surprise that "The Grandmaster" is never anything less than visually rapturous. A fight between Ip and a group of challengers in the rain is the most amazing kung fu sequence I've seen since "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and another sparring match between Ip and Gong Er on a staircase is presented almost as a ballet.

If the film fumbles at all, it's in its insistence on scenes in which characters discuss every form of kung fu known to man and skimping slightly on Ip's story. The death of his two daughters from starvation, for example, is a mere footnote.

While I preferred "The Grandmaster" to Wong's other kung fu spectacle - "Ashes of Time," which is among my least favorite of his works - it doesn't quite compare with the director's great films - "In the Mood for Love," "Happy Together," "2046," "Fallen Angels," "Chungking Express" and "Days of Being Wild."

And yet, I defy you to find a film that looks this incredible. Even if "The Grandmaster" is more of a minor work for the great Hong Kong director, it's still more than worth a look.

Review: You're Next

Image courtesy of Lionsgate.

When I saw Adam Wingard's 2011 horror film, "A Horrible Way to Die," I thought the picture was far from perfect, but that the director held some promise and could likely become an exciting new voice in the horror genre. I've now seen his follow up, "You're Next," and I feel like I'm still waiting.

His latest film is undoubtedly more high energy than his previous work and it has a fair amount of chutzpah. But it's also imperfect, occasionally derivative and a little mean spirited.

Thematically, you might think you're on board for something unique as the picture opens. A rich clan of siblings - without a doubt, a group of one percenters - gather for a weekend retreat at a secluded home to celebrate their parents' wedding anniversary. One of the brothers, Crispian (AJ Bowen), has brought along his Aussie girlfriend, Erin (Sharni Vinson), who becomes the picture's heroine.

The cast features a Who's Who of indie horror talent and mumblecore regulars, including Ti West ("The House of the Devil"), Joe Swanberg ("Drinking Buddies"), Amy Seimetz ("Silver Bullets"), Barbara Crampton ("Re-Animator") and Larry Fessenden ("Wendigo").

As the group sits down to dinner, a group of three men wearing creepy animal masks launch a brutal attack on the house, using bows and arrows, hatchets, axes, machetes and all other manner of blunt instrument.

As the wealthy family members get picked off in increasingly gruesome ways - including a barb wire to the neck, a machete to the head, an arrow to the forehead and an axe to the skull, Erin unveils a secret... that I won't divulge. Let's just say the killers may have picked the wrong house.

And, of course, there are a few major plot twists - aside from Erin's - as the movie nears its climax, but they are not as revelatory as the filmmakers appear to think.

"You're Next" is slightly better than your average slasher film, but it's not going to revolutionize the genre as some critics appear to believe it will. It's no "Scream" and it's no "Cabin in the Woods." It's greatest strength is that it gives audiences a final girl - and shit kicker - for whom we can truly cheer.

On the other hand, the film's execution is pretty by the numbers. It's gruesome and not just in the typical fashion of films of this kind. The murders are grotesque and a bit crueler than you'd typically expect and, seemingly, for no other reason than Wingard and company had extra funds to spend on buckets of gore.

Horror fans could do worse than "You're Next," but they could also certainly do better.

Review: The World's End

Image courtesy of Focus Features.

"The World's End" caps off director Edgar Wright's Cornetto trilogy, which began with the - in my opinion - overrated "Shaun of the Dead," moved on to the significantly better and funnier "Hot Fuzz" and ends with this third film.

The films are a trilogy not because there are any recurring characters, but at least two of his cast members - Simon Pegg and Nick Frost - have been in all three movies. And all three pictures blend comedy of a very British sort with violent action and, often enough, horror and science fiction elements.

This final film in the series is my second favorite of the bunch - better than "Shaun" but not quite as good as "Fuzz."

The picture is split in to two very different halves, the first of which works wonderfully and the second, while certainly amusing, with slightly less success before culminating in a strange ineffective ending.

Pegg plays Gary King, that type of guy whose charm and carefree spirit in high school has translated into a somewhat pathetic adult existence. He still drives the same car, listens to the same mix tapes - populated with Soup Dragons and Suede songs - and has the same outlook on life as he did in 1990. He's also an alcoholic.

The film opens with a funny, but also sorta sad, sequence in which he describes the greatest night of his life with his mates during which they attempted the Golden Mile, a pub crawl that was supposed to end with the titular dive, but was never completed. We then realize that his retelling of the story is taking place at an AA meeting.

Gary decides to give the pub crawl a second go and rounds up his reluctant friends - most of whom he hasn't seen in years - who are played by Frost, Paddy Considine, Eddie Marsan and Martin Freeman. While Gary has never really grown up, his pals are holding down jobs and relationships.

It's during this first half that Wright's film works best. There's a certain poignancy to Gary's belief that the gang will be welcomed back with open arms to their hometown of Newton Haven. And then there's the reality that most of us face when going home again after so many years - life in your hometown has gone on without you and most people don't remember you.

Then, the second half kicks in and so does the film's "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" type scenario. The town has been taken over by - well, I won't spoil it for you. Suffice it to say that Gary and friends must fight their way out of a peculiar situation and that the themes from the film's first half still remain in play. And the otherworldly plot line that comes to the forefront has a certain satiric element to it that mostly works as a parody of consumer culture and the Starbuck-ing of our modern age, as one character puts its.

So, it's unfortunate that the film's finale is sort of a dud. I'm not referring to the scene in which Gary and crew speak to the leader of the extraterrestrial presence against which they are fighting. That scene is sort of funny. I'm talking about the post apocalyptic sequences that follow.

All in all, though, "The World's End" is a good time. It's often very funny with witty repartee displayed by all and often coming at you like a barrage of machine gun fire. And as a character study of a guy who just can't get his act together, it mostly works. It's certainly better than all of the other end of the world movies as of late.