I remember when I first saw A History of Violence in the theaters in 2005. It was not what I was expecting at all. I remember thinking the movie was decent, but not what I expected. This was also when I started to get into the Oscars. I remember being flabbergasted when William Hurt (The Doctor, Children of a Lesser God) received a Best Supporting Actor nomination. At that time, my beef with his nomination was that he was only in one scene (basically the last scene in the movie). To warrant this kind of acclaim, I felt that you needed to be on the screen for more than 15 minutes. As I watched it again (for just the second time ever) last night, I realized that he didn’t deserve the nomination, not because he was only on the screen for 15 minutes, but because his performance sucked. He was such a minor character, and anyone could have played this performance, and it wouldn’t have affected the movie. If anybody deserved a nomination for this movie, it would have been Viggo Mortenson (The Road, Eastern Promises), who, as he always seems to do, hit a home run as this movie’s lead.
Continue reading A History of Violence (2005)
Category Archives: Mystery
Bridge of Spies (2015)
Bridge of Spies. The ultimate cure for insomnia. Okay, okay, it wasn’t that bad. It actually started great. It was also based upon a true story, so it had that going for it. But Lincoln, War Horse, and Munich were all Steven Spielberg-directed movies, and I found all three of those to be incredibly dull. I’m a huge Spielberg fan, but after doing a quick scan of his filmography, he hasn’t directed a movie I’ve liked in a decade (2005’s War of the Worlds). And I get wanting to branch off from the science-fiction/action-adventure genre that really defined him, but he seems to be missing something when it comes to these dramas. Of course, there are exceptions to the rule. Saving Private Ryan was one of the greatest movies ever made. So while I appreciate his desire to recapture the glory he achieved in a movie like that or a movie like Amistad or a film like Schindler’s List, I must then wonder why he’s wasting his time on a film like Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Worse, based on how poor that movie was, why was he set to direct a fifth installment of the series? Long story short, this isn’t the same Steven Spielberg of the 1980s and 1990s. There will be fans of the style of films he seems to be mainly concentrating on now (heck, Munich, War Horse, and Lincoln were all nominated for best picture), but all three of these movies (as well as Bridge of Spies) just felt long and tedious to me.
Continue reading Bridge of Spies (2015)
Sicario (2015)
With three months left to go in 2015, we have a new contender for the best movie of the year, and the name of that movie is Sicario. This movie is a fantastic ride that will keep you thoroughly engrossed and guessing the entire time. Like many great movies over the last couple of years, the less you know about the movie going in, the more I think you’ll like this movie. For me, this has been the case recently with films like Ex-Machina, The Drop, The Gift, and Chef. All of these were surprises, and each is a movie that I plan on watching again in the future. The same can be said about Sicario. Once you know how the movie ends, you’ll want to watch it again to try and see it again through a new set of lenses. It’s intense. It’s filled with drama. It will leave you with your mouth hung ajar. That is if you let it. This is a movie where you need to pay attention. If you doze off for even a couple of minutes, you might miss something important. If you miss something important, you might feel lost. If you feel lost, you might get frustrated. But if you are willing to work as hard as the movie does, you’ll be rewarded with one of the most exciting, well-crafted, and original movies that you are likely to find this year (or any year for that matter).
Continue reading Sicario (2015)
The Visit (2015)
M. Night Shyamalan (Signs, The Sixth Sense) is no longer the master of terror. He seems to get progressively worse with each film. There are exceptions for some people, I think. For example, I liked The Village more than I did Unbreakable, and while other people panned The Happening, I thought it was okay. However, there is no denying that the man is a fraction of his former self. While he no longer deems it necessary to have a twist in every movie, his last few movies, especially Lady in the Water, The Last Airbender, and After Earth, have been dreadful. With The Visit, a film he both wrote and directed, he tries something new. It fails. Miserably. At least for me, it did. There is an audience for it, evidenced by its $25 million in its opening weekend alone and a 59% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. But those who remember the masterful Shyamalan from 1999-2002 are not the same people who will enjoy this. The Visit seems to be a mixture between The Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity, Funny Games, The Strangers, and Goosebumps. I’ll admit that this was the second movie of a Bryan Buser double and that it was the only movie that matched up when my first movie ended. I saw the film by default, and I was prepared to walk out at any point. I anticipated it. However, there was something about it early on that kept me interested. And then, when I looked at my watch, and I was already 30 minutes into a 90-minute movie, I knew I would stick it out.
Continue reading The Visit (2015)
Cop Car (2015)
Dark humor movies aren’t my thing. They have never been. They never will be. I want my comedies to my funny. I want my dramas to be full of drama. I do like a lot of dramedies, but, to me, dark humor movies don’t fall into that category. I also like movies that make me think, keep me entertained, or, preferably, both. Jon Watts’s (The Amazing Spider-Man 3, Clown) Cop Car did neither of these things for me. While I understand there are many critics of Indie films out there who will enjoy this film, this is a movie to avoid for the everyday moviegoer. I feel like this is the top movie for many movie fans that you’ll ask yourself how you can get those 90 minutes of your life back. For me, the film had promise. I felt that it was building towards something good. Unfortunately, it never came close to reaching what I had hoped for, at least for me. It actually didn’t come close.
Continue reading Cop Car (2015)