[Review] Cop Car
In the opening scene of Cop Car, writer/director Jon Watts establishes the two different worldviews that make his film a compelling thriller. There's the child world and the adult world. The child world is one of fantasy and games without consequences. Friends Travis (James Freedson-Jackson) and Harrison (Hays Wellford) have run away from home, and they think they can survive on their own with just a Slim Jim and their ability to curse without repercussions. The adult world, by contrast, is one of violence, manipulation, and murder. But Travis and Harrison don't know that yet. They will soon.
Cop Car's demarcation between the child world and adult world is so pronounced that it's almost like a fairy tale. Rather than crossing the village border for the dark woods, our nine-year-old runaways crawl past a barbed wire fence. Eventually they find an abandoned cop car and take it for a joy ride. Had Travis and Harrison not stumbled onto the cop car, they probably would have given up running away and been back with their respective parents by sundown. Instead, they wind up deep into the ugly adult world where it's unlikely that they'll make it through the night.
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Cop Car
Director: Jon Watts
Rating: R
Release Date: August 7, 2015
Cop Car has a lot in common with Coen Brothers thrillers like Blood Simple and No Country for Old Men. There's also a strong vibe of Jeremy Saulnier's lo-fi 2014 revenge movie Blue Ruin. Regular people wind up way over their heads in an uncontrollable situation, and they're forced to deal with it to survive. There's this black comedy that comes from confrontations with one's own ineptitude (or inflated sense of ability) during life or death situations. With the two child leads, there's this childlike sense of "No way!" when they steal the cop car and drive off, a kind of young incredulity about the unchecked freedom of adulthood. They speed, they drive on the wrong side of the road, they play with guns, they think they're invincible.
Then in comes Kevin Bacon, who plays Sheriff Kretzer, the cop whose car was stolen. Kretzer's shady backstory gets revealed slowly but not fully as the film unfolds. Watts is smart not to provide all the details and instead just gives enough pieces for the audience to reconstruct his crimes. It makes the world of Cop Car feel more lived-in. Like the child runaway plot and fairy tales, we're familiar with this kind of dirty-cop story too.
The kids think they're in control but wind up losing it. Kretzer's got the opposite arc of control, and spends early parts of Cop Car helplessly trying to cover his own ass with the people at police dispatch. There's something comically Benny Hill-ish about him running panicked through a open field when he can't find the car; you can almost hear an internal monologue of "oh crap, oh crap, oh crap" with each stride. On top of that, something about the mustache and his posture makes Kretzer look like a side character from Super Troopers. Yet Krezter is a good improviser, and he knows how to use the system to his advantage.
Bacon imbues Kretzer with a wolf-like menace. His desperation makes him seem like some raging animal in a frenzy, but he becomes more refined as the situation becomes clearer and he sees an opportunity to re-take control. When he's finally able to talk to the boys over the police radio, there's this stern, authoritative quality to Bacon's voice that conveys a clenching fist and gnashed teeth and a loaded gun. The Krezter character and Bacon's performance are rooted in the black comedy of sudden ineptitude and black-hearted desperation.
In addition to the child world being subsumed by the adult world, there's also an interesting inversion of dominance going on between Travis and Harrison. Travis seems more like the leader of the two boys. The smaller of the two, he's recklessly brave, more vocal, willing to drop and f-bomb and play mischief maker during their dalliance with running away. Yet as the situation becomes more dangerous and the boys find themselves deep in danger, Travis' young bravery recedes and Harrison needs to find a way to assume the lead.
Watts proves a capable director of actors as well as action, controlling his shots and dialing back extraneous sounds to get the maximum dread and tension from a moment. I found it surprising that he was tapped to direct the Spider-Man reboot for Marvel Studios, though. Nothing about Cop Car screams, "This guy is a perfect fit for Spider-Man." (With great Cop Car moments comes great responsibility?)
It seems like part of a pattern of promising indie directors being handed the reins to major studio tentpoles. Think Marc Webb on The Amazing Spider-Man and its sequel, Colin Trevorrow doing Jurassic World, and Josh Trank on Fantastic Four. It's a bit of a surprising trend, one that gives fledgling directors big breaks but may also break their spirits given the creative compromises required to work on a major studio film. As noted in our Ant-Man review, the MCU films are producer/studio-driven rather than director-driven. The cynical part of me thinks that studios believe these indie directors will be more compliant, that they're starving for the breakout hit and will do whatever they're told. That's not always the case. Selma director Ava DuVernay was offered Marvel's Black Panther but passed due to creative differences.
The worst thing that could happen to Watts on Spider-Man is reducing him to a journeyman director, draining him of his talent simply to deliver a competent film on time. I want to go back to Watts' debut, a 2014 horror film called Clown, to see what else his abilities suggest he's capable of. Cop Car makes me want more original work in Watts' future. One hopes his big-studio adventure over the barbed wire fence goes well.
[Tribeca] GORED's Reckless Bravery Offers Lessons for Creatives
Ido Mizhary's GORED provokes an innate morbidity. We're told that Antonio Barrera is not the most graceful of bullfighters. He's been gored a staggering 23 times. The documentary is framed by Barrera's final bullfight before retirement. Given all the cliches about death during a last job, it's unclear if he'll make it out unscathed.
We're also told that bullfighting at its best is like a dance. (If you can get past the animal cruelty and view this practice anthropologically, it makes sense on a metaphorical level.) Archival footage of famous Spanish matadors show off the grace that crowds expect. Slow movements, pure anticipation, no perspiration, and the illusion that the bull is a willing accomplice in its own demise. The struggle between man and nature is presented as a hypermasculine tango.
If you don't have grace as a bullfighter, you can at least be recklessly brave, which is what makes Barrera popular in Mexico. (Is this the bullfighter's version of being big in Japan?) There are lessons in Barrera's approach that go beyond bullfighting, and it applies to various artistic endeavors. Maybe there's a certain method that joins physical exertion and creative endeavors, or a common disposition that athletes and creatives sometimes share. Or maybe it's just the way that people define themselves and their philosophy of life by the work they do and the things they create, and the exterior form is a way of understanding the interior life.
[Review] Particle Fever
Science is a subject matter that most people, including me, would rather not wade around in. The insane creations and laws of the world all seem to take their toll on the feeble minds of the average person. However, this fails to stop interest in major inventions or discoveries that have a positive economic impact for all. We may not all express interest in science, but its omnipresence is undeniable.
As far as the science field goes, there appears to have been one theory in particular that has left scientists, churchgoers, and educators scratching their heads for years: how did the earth begin? Well, I guess most churchgoers will yell at you how it ACTUALLY started without even hearing other arguments, but Particle Fever would offer more to argue against it.
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Particle Fever
Director: Mark Levinson
Rating: NR
Release Date: July 1st iTunes VOD, July 15 all other VOD platforms
Particle Fever follows the likes of six different physicists from 2007 all the way up to 2012 as they work together on the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, or better known as the European Organization for Nuclear Research. For those who can remember, this is the large machine that would reproduce what happened at the “Big Bang” that frequented the news for years. This was the largest and most expensive experiment in the history of the planet. It brought together over 10,000 scientists from over 100 countries, some even rivalries politically. By the end of the over ten year old experiment, these brilliant scientists hoped to be able to recreate the events of the Big Bang and find the Higgs boson particle, which would essentially explain how all matter was created.
It wasn’t all fun and games for these hard-working scientists though. While their involvement may have been the honor of their lives, the upkeep with this 17 mile wide creation wasn’t always easy. Working 16 hours a day for years on end, it is actually surprising how they managed to keep their spirits up for so long. However, so much energy was encapsulated by each in Levinson’s directing, and a viewer couldn’t help but feel just as excited for this experiment to run for its first time as the people who were in charge of it.
The subject matter of the film is a little dense, yes, but when watching the film, it doesn’t take precedence of all it has to offer. Testimonies and beautifully displayed graphics from all of the scientists selected for the film clear up most confusion that viewers may have. However, this isn’t to say that one will become a master physicist after watching the movie. What I really liked about this film was its ability to make me feel like I was with these scientists over the years experiencing the same trials and errors that they all did. It’s execution was done with such energy, and I think this is what kept me going throughout.
Now, if you personally asked me how I felt about the film, I would praise it with high regard. Unfortunately, though, the density of the subject matter and it’s continual discussion throughout the film may come across as a drag to those who are not usually fascinated by the world of science. I felt at some moments of the film that it was kind of redundant, but at the same time the redundancy was necessary to make sure viewers could keep up with each stage of their large experiment. As far as documentaries go, it was most definitely one of the best ones I have ever viewed, and I hope that most will put their scientific indifferences aside in order to enjoy this optimistic work.
Mark Levinson has a few great credits to his name, but after watching this documentary, I can’t help but hope that this is something he will continue to pursue. I feel as if the explanation of science and its theories is something that could bore most, but there were very few moments where I wasn’t anxious to find out what was going to happen next. Particle Fever is a piece of work that defines a scientific generation. If there is any interest in defying religious values, definitely check out Particle Fever as soon as possible.
[Review] Friended to Death
Do you ever have them nights where you're sitting around, hanging with your boys Ben and Jerry, and question everything in your life? No? Oh yeah, me neither... Anyway, for those of you who may have, perhaps you thought about a lot of things, like "Why aren't any of my friends texting me?" or "Should I order pizza too or is that too extreme?" Maybe you even thought deeper down into a dark place where you grow a curiosity for the hypothetical. In this state, you may have thought about death, but did it ever cross your mind to think about who would be at your funeral? Friended to Death, the latest dark comedy from Sarah Smick and Ian Michaels, tells the tale of a man who goes to extreme lengths via Facebook to find out. While it may not have been the most amazing comedy to be put on the market, I found an appreciation for the lighthearted nature of a topic that could be taken down an extremely serious route.
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Friended to Death
Director: Sarah Smick
Rating: R
Release Date: May 2, 2014
Michael Harris (Ryan Hansen) is a ticket-crazy Los Angeles parking enforcement officer who is just as obsessed about posting his ticketing adventures on Facebook as he is about administering tickets. What seems like a perfect day for him turns into a downward spiral with unemployment and the loss of a very good friend. However, Michael isn't the kind of guy to do nothing about this. With the help of friend Emile (James Immekus), he creates an alter ego of sorts using Facebook, the one thing he trusts the most in order to gain back the attention of Joel (Zach McGowan), the friend who left him to bite the dust. For a man who seems to be extreme, it only seems appropriate that he would go to the length of faking his own death in order to see who actually cares about him.
If you're looking for a comedy that will keep you laughing out loud to the point where you can't breathe and you regret buying popcorn because now you're choking on that, you probably won't get that out of this. Regardless, it should be kept in mind that that wasn't the goal of this film. It's very tounge-in-cheek, and I appreciate the cheesiness that emulates from it. With a character as ridiculous as Michael, it's not something that is supposed to be taken seriously, and I think it is a nice way of bringing to light a big social media addiction that seems to be rising up around the world.
This was Sarah Smick's first feature length directing gig, and I think that she was able to capture this character's ridiculousness and antiheroism in a way that left you somewhat pitying and relating to him on a level. I think that's a pretty impressive task considering not too many of us would go to the lengths this character did to pretend he is no longer alive. Talking about the cinematography, I think the colors are awesome. It's a very vibrant, cinematic film, and it really does justice to adding to this 94 minute satire. No, you won't see wild angles that have never been done before, but why would that be the point of making this anyway? I really think that the coloring of this contributed to this film in a very refreshing manner.
While I thought that the film was nice in its lighthearted selections, there was a point in the film in which I was kind of twiddling my thumbs because I was almost too annoyed by this guy's antics. It felt like he was going on with this for too long of a portion of the film. If there were to be improvements made, I would hope for a really big curveball that would seem impossible for him to get out of. This isn't to say that I didn't find enjoyment from watching how this all works out for Michael, but I think something needed to save me from my impatience.
Overall, I would definitely say that this film captured the light I was expecting to feel from it. Poking fun at the issues that many people are facing everywhere when it comes to social media and its addictive qualities, I would say it is just a film defending something I really like to rant about. I hope to see more from Sarah Smick and Ian Michaels as they create more movies, and I think they will only get better over time.
[Interview] Sarah Smick and Ian Michaels (Friended to Death)
Friended to Death is a dark comedy that embraces the age old curiosity of who would show up at your funeral if you were to die. Although, this creation from Sarah Smick and Ian Michaels encompasses this question in a whole new light: What if you were to fake your death so you could find out? A story about a man whose reliance on social media might just be a little extreme, the film is light hearted in a sense, regardless of its drive from multiple antiheroes. I was fortunate enough to get to interview Sarah and Ian and find out what it was like for them to work on this feature length film together!
[Review] Fading Gigolo
When I write my reviews, I feel as if it seems like I hate most romantic movies. However, that definitely isn’t true; rather I had yet the opportunity to see something recent and noteworthy in this genre. Without a doubt there remains a very simple essence to these kinds of films, and I dread the kind of movies that drag out the predictable end. I am a firm believer that good cinema exists in every genre. It’s only by those who can challenge the normal standards who will find progression. Fading Gigolo, with John Turturro and Woody Allen, maybe follows somewhat of a formula, but each scene describes the essence of just what it’s like to find your soulmate with the utilization of original thought and idea.
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Fading Gigolo
Director: John Turturro
Rating: R
Release Date: April 18, 2014
Fiorvante (Turturro) agrees to becoming quite the Don Juan due to his lack of financial sources after Murray (Allen), who is also an older man was just looking for a bit of cash. The attraction of women into this industry was simple enough with the charm of a few of Woody’s kind words, and his capability to get them to tell their darkest desires put him in line to be Fiorvante’s own “manager” or “pimp” of sorts. Like most things, though, money can’t buy a person love, and the pair finds themselves caught in between the cross fire of both the desire for money and love.
I thought this movie was absolutely beautiful. Turturro nailed every little detail about the film. A movie full of sex, lust, and love, it seemed only appropriate that the cinematography be utilized in order to keep the overall color of the film a sensual, sunset-like tone. And the soundtrack was perfect as well, for each song properly captured that optimistic feeling of the fall and dating around in New York City. The acting was impeccable as well. Woody Allen and John Turturros’ characters just bounce off of each other with an undeniable chemistry, where as the females in the film (Vanessa Paradis, Sharon Stone, and Sofia Vergara) have a fantastic delivery of their roles as well. I think that the film took the essence of something so seemingly simple and made it its own with such ease, and it’s hard to not like the slight charm throughout.
As much as I loved this movie, there are a few things that could use a few improvements. The biggest issue I noticed, however, was the seemingly abrupt ending. Now, I have no intention on spoiling it, but the final minutes of the film were the least expected. Sometimes surprise is nice, but little to no support as to why Turturro chose to end it how he did left a lot of viewers, including myself, wondering why he went down the route that he did. All of this aside, I think that the filmmaker’s project has evolved into something that can be remembered well by all of those who get the chance to see it.
[Review] Tasting Menu
I’m a huge fan of cooking, but have never found myself to enjoy films that center around someone who enjoys the same hobby as I do. Regardless of my stubborn belief, I always do my best to keep an open mind to things that I have already labeled as pointless by giving them another try. On this note, I decided to view Tasting Menu, and just like with my food, I was disappointed when I discovered the lack of spice this film brought to me. It’s attempt at complexity was diminished with the over-utilization of plot lines, and to be honest I still have no idea what I was supposed to take away from my viewing.
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Tasting Menu
Director: Roger Gual
Rating: PG-13
Release Date: April 18, 2014
At the height of her success, Chef Mar Vidal (Vincenta N’Dongo) has decided that she is going to close down her world famous restaurant. Marc (Jan Cornet) and Rachel (Claudia Bassols) made a reservation at this restaurant a year beforehand without the knowledge that it would also be the last night of the establishment’s existence. The event, for this reason, makes the occasion even more important, yet Marc and Rachel are no longer together. The dinner is the first reunion between the pair since their split a year earlier, and neither of them were stubborn enough to give up their seats at the coveted restaurant. The night is still young, and it seems that everyone in the restaurant is going to have a memorable experience on this evening of conclusions.
The initial premise of this film sounds kind of charming. A couple rekindling their lost fire of a relationship over a once in a lifetime opportunity dinner seems like something that a person could relate to in one way or another. However, on top of this plot there’s a lot of other minor ones, such as a widowed countess who was close friends with the chef and two Japanese men escorted by a Spanish girl who becomes interested in Marc. Not to mention Rachel’s boss shows up with the hopes of extending their relationship to a very new level. Because of all of these different plot lines, I endured the whole film hoping that they would all come together to make one. To my dismay, I felt as if I endured a whole 90 minute introduction into what could potentially be a few good movies. In fact, it felt like I was just getting a few samples from a Tasting Menu of the whole film.
I thought that there were a lot of ideas from this film that could have been very great as different films. The countess’s relationship with the chef would have been a nice coming of age film about sharing old experiences with youth, the escort of the Japanese men could have possibly been the other woman in a shaky relationship with a woman and her ex, or it could have solely centered around the woman and her ex. Regardless, these are all very strong plot points that might just have been too independent to bounce off one another. In the end, the movie came off to me as a collection of cliches, and unfortunately I still have no idea what I was to take away from my viewing of it. Potential lies underneath the surface of all of these different plots, but it’s too scattered to follow. A bit of narrowing in topic choice would turn this film that was very bland and two-dimensional into a work that is a bit more full of life.
[Trailer] God's Pocket
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Philip Seymour Hoffman was a man of so much talent, and his unexpected death was one that shook not just those involved in Hollywood, but also fans around the world. With a variety of works under his belt ranging from the acclaimed Capote to the successful Hunger Games, he has displayed his large range of capabilities and thus capturing the attention of people everywhere. While the great actor may no longer be here to create new works, he has left a few films behind that have yet to be viewed. He will appear in Anton Corbijn’s thriller A Most Wanted Man later this year, but first he will be featured in John Slattery’s latest drama God’s Pocket along with John Turturro.
Based on the novel by Pete Dexter and including Christina Hendricks, the film features Hoffman as Mickey Scarpato, a man who works to cover up his stepson’s death by claiming it as a “construction accident.” While the cast is excellent and the trailer looks great in my opinion, those who saw the film at Sundance, including RH’s very own Geoff, say it's a film that isn’t quite sure which direction it wants to take. It is still managing to pull a large amount of interest from critics, though, and I hope that it has been improved a bit since its shaky Sundance debut.
Whether you are a fan of Hoffman or not, I think that this would be a film worth checking out. It arrives in theaters on Friday, May 9, 2014.