Review: Midnight Special

Image courtesy of Warner Bros.

Jeff Nichols' films often flirt with genre but are - at heart - tales of people from Middle America who are living on the fringe of society. His brilliant "Take Shelter" was an unsettling story about a man living in an Ohio community suffering amid the economic downturn who receives eerie portents that something awful is coming and that he must build a shelter.

His previous feature, "Mud," was both a crime drama and a coming of age tale set in the South. And his latest, "Midnight Special," is undoubtedly a science fiction thriller, but also a story about criminals on the lam as well as a family drama. While it borrows elements from Steven Spielberg (most notably, "Close Encounters of the Third Kind") and John Carpenter ("Starman," but also the film's electronic score and certain shots that might have felt at home in the cult director's early 1980s output), "Midnight" is also very much Nichols' own, both in terms of story and style.

As the film opens, two men - Roy (Michael Shannon, looking haunted as ever) and Lucas (Joel Edgerton), a state trooper - have nabbed a young boy named Alton (Jaeden Lieberher in a great child performance) who appears to have some sort of special powers. His eyes emit intense rays of light that can stop satellites in the sky and his sense of hearing is highly evolved - during one scene, he speaks aloud words being said on a radio station that Roy and Lucas haven't even yet tuned into.

Alton had been staying with a man Calvin Meyer (Sam Shepard), a creepy cult-like leader whose followers live on a property known as The Ranch, where the young boy had been treated as some type of savior. Although the film only slowly divulges information, we learn that Roy and Lucas intend to reunite Alton with his mother, Sarah (Kirsten Dunst), and then take him to a specific spot in the United States on a particular date where - well, something - is set to happen. Could it be the end of days as Meyer and his followers believe?

Meanwhile, a sympathetic NSA agent named Sevier (Adam Driver) is among the many officials seeking the boy and his father, whose faces are plastered all over the news. And Meyer has sent two of his own men - both of whom are ruthless in their pursuit of Alton - to reclaim the child for the cult.

Although the film deals with close encounters that are indeed of the third kind, "Midnight Special" is a modestly scaled, intimate and moody low budget thriller. A majority of the picture takes place at night, which not only allows Roy, Lucas and Alton to stealthily drive with their lights off on highway roads, but is also required due to the boy's condition. In other words, he can't face direct sunlight.

When the special effects finally arrive during two scenes - one particularly intense one at a gas station and another at the film's climax - they are impressive, but without overshadowing the story and offsetting its melancholy mood.

Nichols is among the most exciting filmmakers to have emerged during the past few years. Although "Take Shelter" was only his second feature, it was directed with the hand of a master and with "Mud" and "Midnight Special," he has carved out his niche as a filmmaker, both in terms of content (Southern and Midwestern dramas that blend genres) and tone (subtle and moody).

For a genre film, especially a sci-fi movie, "Midnight Special" is a pleasant surprise. Its story is a familiar one, but its strong filmmaking, great cast and soulful tone make it stand out among your average example of its genre. The summer blockbuster onslaught begins in a little over a month, but I doubt any of this summer's big tent-pole genre movies will display the filmmaking chops that are so obvious in a film such as this one.

Review: The Brothers Grimsby

Image courtesy of Sony Pictures.

Not particularly funny and featuring gags so gross they'd make John Waters blush, "The Brothers Grimsby" is further proof that the very talented Sacha Baron Cohen is much better when unscripted and given free reign to improvise, rather than stick to a script. And, in this case, it's a script that's not very good.

In the picture, Cohen is Nobby, a rowdy but affable British soccer hooligan who has never gotten over losing touch with his brother after they were separated during childhood. And there's a reason for that: Sebastian (Mark Strong) is a James Bond-type super spy who can take out an entire group of men without breaking much of a sweat.

As the film opens, Sebastian is attempting to track down a super villain who has plans to spread a deadly disease around the world. Through circumstances extremely difficult to believe, Nobby - who has nine kids and is married to the randy Rebel Wilson - gets word that his brother will be attending a ceremony involving world health organizations and accidentally prevents Sebastian from stopping an assassination attempt. Naturally, Sebastian is blamed for the incident and the two brothers go on the lam, all the while concocting plans to halt the villains responsible for the mess they're in.

As I've said, a few mild chuckles aside, "The Brothers Grimsby" is not particularly funny, but there's no depth to which it won't sink in its attempts to provoke gasps. There's more than one joke involving a child with AIDS who, at one point, gets shot and later is dropped from a height in his wheelchair.
More than one woman gets physically assaulted and there's at least one gag I recall involving pedophilia. A joke involving Bill Cosby falls flat, while a later one that takes aim at Donald Trump gets, well, a mild smile.

When the picture is not trying - and failing - to find humor in tragedy, it indulges in long, drawn-out gags involving bodily humor. Some films - such as "There's Something About Mary" - have struck comic gold with such material but, alas, this one does not. If you're not put off by the punishingly long and fairly graphic scene in which Cohen must suck venom from Strong's scrotum, then you'll likely have had enough by the time the two of them hide out in an elephant's womb, which is shortly thereafter penetrated by a male of the species.

Cohen is a very funny guy, which is evidenced in his extensive work on British television and the hilarious and culturally astute "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan." But when saddled with scripts that don't allow him to improvise and run wild with unsuspecting victims - such as this film and "The Dictator," another misfire - it doesn't work as well.

The film has a who's who of great talent - aside from Cohen and Strong, there's also Wilson, Penelope Cruz, Isla Fischer, Gabourey Sibide and the great Ian McShane - so the entire enterprise wreaks of being a missed opportunity. And it's also one you'll most likely want to miss.

Review: 10 Cloverfield Lane

Image courtesy of Paramount Pictures.

Dan Trachtenberg's "10 Cloverfield Lane," a kind-of but not exactly sequel or spinoff to 2008's J.J. Abrams-produced "Cloverfield," is basically two movies in one, the first of which lasts approximately an hour and 20 minutes, while the second one only kicks in during the film's last 20 minutes.

I'm not going to give away what transpires in the last 20 minutes of the film - although you've likely already guessed when glancing upon the picture's title - nor am I going to be coy and evade the fact that this film, as Abrams himself puts it, "exists in the same universe" as the 2008 found footage thriller.

The picture's opening is reminiscent of Hitchcock's "Psycho" as a young woman named Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) packs up her belongings and flees what we later are given to believe is an abusive relationship. The opening sequence is tense, despite there being little in the way of story at this point, due to its combination of an eerie score and virtually dialogue-free scenes.

Michelle's car crashes and she wakes up to find herself with an IV in her arm and handcuffed to a bed in the bunker of a man named Howard (John Goodman), who may or may not be telling the truth about the apocalyptic event that took place outside the bunker during the time when she was unconscious, but who is obviously a tad disturbed.

The third person in the bunker is a young man named Emmett (John Gallagher Jr.), a neighbor of Howard who lends some credence to his story, but not quite enough to be reassuring. Two-thirds of "10 Cloverfield Lane" involves the three characters attempting to learn to trust each other and becoming accustomed to life underground. Due to Goodman's committed and creepy performance and Winstead's solid leading work, most of the film is a taut and suspenseful viewing experience.

Inevitably, the action will eventually make its way outside the bunker and while there are some exciting and creepy moments to be found there, the picture gets a bit too literal in its final moments. Trachtenberg's film is much more effective when dealing with monsters of a more human nature than those of an otherworldly type.

That being said, "10 Cloverfield Lane" is a clever, fun and tightly contained thriller. Those expecting some sort of direct sequel or spinoff to "Cloverfield" may instead find something a little more low key and relying more on character than visual wizardry.

Review: Cemetery of Splendor

Image courtesy of Strand Releasing. 

The films of Thailand's Apichatpong Weerasethakul are difficult to define or categorize - and in a good way. The director, who goes by "Joe" considering the length of his name, makes pictures that often deal in dream logic and combine stories that feature elements from the past and present, fantasy and reality, human and otherwise.

His latest, "Cemetery of Splendor," is a little more restrained than usual and, as a result, not among his best films. It's a picture to admire for its often lovely cinematography and, especially, use of color, even as its story never quite gels.

Set in a remote hospital somewhere in Thailand, the film's narrative revolves around soldiers who lie on cots, asleep all day for reasons unexplained. At one point in the picture, one of the film's leads is told that the location of the hospital is on a former cemetery of kings and that the soldiers' energy is being zapped by the dead kings who continue to wage war on one another underneath the ground. Nobody exactly refutes this explanation.

Jenjira (Jenjira Pongpas, a Weerasethakul regular) is an older woman with one leg longer than the other, requiring her to walk around on crutches. At the hospital, she befriends two people - a young psychic who is rumored to have been recruited by the FBI and is at the hospital in an attempt to contact the sleeping soldiers and one of the soldiers - a man named Itt (Banlop Lomnoi), who occasionally awakens to have conversations with Jenjira before drifting back to sleep.

In terms of story, that's pretty much it, although Weerasethakul's films often focus more on tone and dreamy visuals than narrative. And there are some great ones in "Cemetery," especially a sequence during which a variety of places are lit by tones across the color spectrum that recede and are replaced by others. The shots include an escalator full of people, a building front and the room housing the soldiers.

Inexplicable situations abound. A group of people watching the trailer for a silly martial arts horror movie randomly stand up and stare as the screen goes blank. Jenjira sits watching with widened eyes as a group of young boys play soccer on an excavation site. At one point in the film, Jenjira visits a shrine, where she pays homage to the statues of two female goddesses. A few scenes later, two young women approach her and tell her that they are the goddesses and this does not give off the impression of being out of the ordinary, especially for a Weerasethakul film.

But I wouldn't advise viewers unfamiliar with the director's oeuvre to start with "Cemetery," which is a decent film, but far from his best work. I'd highly recommend "Tropical Malady," in which a young man is obsessed with another boy who, during the film's second half, is transformed into a tiger, or the Palm d'Or winning "Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives," during which a man's dead son is reincarnated as some sort of wooly forest creature with glowing red eyes. Moviegoers with patience and a taste for the peculiar will likely be entranced by the work of this singular artist.

But while "Cemetery of Splendor" is a pretty good movie, it's a far cry from Weerasethakul's finest work and certainly not the starting point for the uninitiated.

Review: Knight of Cups

Image courtesy of Broad Green Pictures.

Terrence Malick is one of the cinema's most unique and original voices and some of his films - most notably, 2011's miraculous "The Tree of Life" - offer visions so ambitious and entrancing that the term "Malickian" has come to describe works that are ethereal, ponderous and visually dazzling.

His latest picture, "Knight of Cups," certainly meets at least one of those requirements - it looks amazing. But similar to his previous venture, "To the Wonder," Malick's newest feature feels as if it is missing something. While "Wonder" was a solid film that was a little lighter on content than previous Malick films, "Knight" is merely a decent enough picture, but mostly only due to its spectacular cinematography.

If Malick has begun to veer away from straightforward storytelling in recent years ("Tree" was often fragmented, but there was never any question as to what was taking place or what it was about, so to speak), the director started to lean toward the experimental with "Wonder" and, with "Cups," he's gone full blown in that direction.

What appears to take place in "Knight" is that a Hollywood hedonist - and apparent screenwriter, although there's little evidence to support that claim - known as Rick (Christian Bale) has decided to look inward after living a mostly empty and debauched life and make some necessary changes.

The picture opens with a quote from "Pilgrim's Progress" and a story about a king whose son was sent on a quest to find a rare pearl, but became entranced by pleasures of the flesh and soon forgot not only his mission, but also that he was the king's son.

This, of course, describes the story of "Knight of Cups" fairly accurately and Malick does a good job of setting up Rick's alienation and loneliness through a random assortment of images - impersonal highways with speeding cars, a studio lot door closing and blocking out the sun and, my personal favorite, a party in a glass-windowed apartment viewed by an obviously lonely eye from across the street.

If Bale is the son in question, then Brian Dennehy is the king and Wes Bentley is the troubled brother. I've read in various places that Malick himself had a younger brother who died young, so it makes sense that the clash between fathers and sons as well as brothers is a recurring theme in his work. It was utilized to its maximum effect in "The Tree of Life" and provides for some of the strongest scenes in "Knight." In fact, the relationship between Bale and Bentley, who have good familial screen chemistry, could have likely made for a good feature in itself.

The film, which has a title referring to a Tarot card, is broken up into various sections and a majority of the picture involves flashbacks to various love affairs between Rick and a menagerie of Hollywood's most beautiful and talented women - including Cate Blanchett, Natalie Portman, Freida Pinto and Teresa Palmer.

So, it's unfortunate that Rick's scenes with these women make for the movie's weakest sections as most of them appear to serve only as window dressing. While Rick gets to wander around pondering his existence and trying to shake himself out of his malaise, the women merely serve as his objects and rather than giving any of them much of a personality, they merely frolic in the way Malick's waifs tend to do, spinning around on beaches and in rooms with billowy curtains.

There are numerous passages in "Knight" that captivate due to the combination of the film's gorgeous photography and Malick's dreamy tone and there are even a few that are funnier than what you'd typically expect from the reclusive auteur. I especially liked one involving a flamenco dancing Antonio Banderas as a party's host.

But while "Knight of Cups" is just good enough to recommend to filmgoers with adventurous tastes, it doesn't stack up to the great films for which he is responsible: "The Tree of Life," "The Thin Red Line," "Badlands" and the stunning "Days of Heaven." The picture is a perfect example of a minor film from a major director.

Review: Gods of Egypt

Image courtesy of Lionsgate.

As summer blockbusters and big budget action and sci-fi extravaganzas have continued to become more self-serious and humorless, it's somewhat of a relief to stumble across one as unrepentantly silly as Alex Proyas' "Gods of Egypt." Please don't mistake that for an endorsement as the picture represents a probable low point for a filmmaker whose career has included some very good genre films, such as the woefully underrated "Dark City" and the solid comic book adaptation of "The Crow."

Filled with absurdly inappropriate dialogue relative to its time period as well as the bizarre stylistic choice of making the gods - who walk among mankind and rule them in ancient Egypt - several feet taller than their human counterparts, Proyas' picture borders on camp and it would appear as if this were entirely intentional.

At the film's beginning, the sinister Set (Gerard Butler, hamming out of control) wrests control of Egypt by murdering his brother and maiming his nephew, Horus (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), who was supposed to become its next ruler and has now been sent into exile.

Meanwhile, on the other side of town (sorry, couldn't help myself), a mortal and thief named Bek (Brenton Thwaites) has resolved himself to stealing a powerful jewel that can restore Horus' health in exchange for the exiled leader bringing back to life Bek's lover, Zaya (Courtney Eaton), who was struck by an arrow, died and ended up in the underworld.

Much of the film is a road trip movie during which the grouchy Horus and good natured Bek do everything but bond as they make their way back to Cairo, where Horus intends to slay his uncle. They are occasionally joined by others, including Horus' former love and the god of knowledge (Chadwick Boseman), who comes in handy when getting riddled by the Sphinx. Meanwhile, Set concocts a nefarious plan to bring about the end of days, rule the world, blah blah blah. Geoffrey Rush makes a cameo as Ra and is given equal opportunity to serve up a helping of fresh ham.

Some of the picture's visual effects - of which there are many - are impressive enough, although the humans frequently look out of place as they are dodging them. The film looks expensive, but it has a B-movie feel to it throughout, especially when one notices such things as how modern the vendors selling clothes on the streets of Egypt appear to be or how all of the film's conflicts are settled with two people slapping each other around atop mountains.

"Gods of Egypt" is not a particularly good film, but it's at least not as sadistic as "300" or self-serious as "Exodus: Gods and Kings." And in terms of authenticity, it has about as much to do with the Egyptian tales of lore as that Bangles song. You could do worse, although I'd advise you not to attempt it.

Review: Triple 9

Image courtesy of Open Road Films.

John Hillcoat's "Triple 9" has such a terrific cast that it's a shame they are mostly wasted on spouting exposition in a cop thriller that gets more plot heavy as its twists are revealed. The film, which gives Atlanta the treatment L.A. and New York were used to in the 1980s, is a grim, violent and occasionally exciting crime story that never quite rises above its material.

The picture, which borrows themes and styles from better movies by Michael Mann, Sidney Lumet and William Friedkin, follows the exploits of a group of dirty cops who have staged a series of violent bank heists to retrieve information that might set a notorious Russian mobster free from prison. His vicious wife (Kate Winslet, nearly unrecognizable) is in charge of these operations, but it's up to a former special ops guy named Atwood (Chiwetel Ejiofor, playing the rare unlikable character) to run the show.

There is an obvious reason why Atwood leads these increasingly dangerous robberies, which include banks and vaults: his son is being held sort-of hostage by Winslet's mobster, whose sister is the mother of the child. It's not so clear why the crooked cops played by Clifton Collins Jr. and Anthony Mackie or the two brothers - Norman Reedus and Aaron Paul - involved in the heists have agreed to do so.

The film's title refers to a police code for "officer down." This figures into the story as Mackie's dirty cop figures that Atlanta's police will be drawn to the killing of an officer and, therefore, allow for he and his pals to make their most daring robbery. The cop to be shot down is his new partner (Casey Affleck), whose uncle (Woody Harrelson) is a big wig in the police department.

One of the problems from the film's outset is how most of the characters are vaguely drawn. We don't get much of a sense of any of them, other than Harrelson having a drinking problem, Ejiofor wanting the custody of his son and Paul's junkie ex-cop feeling increasingly guilty at the prospect of setting up Affleck, whose character is hinted at having some sort of rough and tumble background that is never elaborated.

The heist sequences and a few of the film's chase sequences are well staged, although one in which the robbers take over a highway, shooting up the entire scene and then escaping borders on being ludicrous.

Hillcoat's oeuvre has primarily been filled with grim stories such as these, including the far more successful "The Proposition" and Cormac McCarthy adaptation of "The Road." "Triple 9" is more in line with his previous feature, "Lawless," another American crime drama that never quite clicked.

The price of admission for Hillcoat's latest can nearly be justified by the fact that there is so much talent onscreen. However, they are given little to do in a film that settles for following crime movie and police drama cliches through and through. This could have been a much better film considering the talent involved, but it's mostly just routine.