The best part of The Cider House Rules, the 1999 film by director Lasse Hallström (An Unfinished Life, Chocolat), is the sweet, uplifting score from composer Rachel Portman. When a movie’s score is the best thing you can say about it, that’s not always a good thing. That said, some excellent movie scores help make a good movie great or a great film near perfect. Examples that come to mind include Jaws, Rocky, Sicario, Jurassic Park, The Last of the Mohicans, Drive, The Social Network, Halloween, Far and Away, The Empire Strikes Back, and Braveheart, to name a few. Each is a movie I would consider, at worst, a B+ movie. Though a lower score likely wouldn’t change my impression of any of these films, one of the first three or four things that come to mind is the score. When I think of The Cider House Rules, I immediately think of Portman’s beautiful, Oscar-nominated score. However, unlike the movies above, its great score doesn’t make it great. An A+ score probably takes this C+/B- movie up to a B.
Category Archives: Year of Release
Unhinged (2020)
Deranged. Aggressive. Exorbitant. Implausible. Unhinged. Riveting. Adrenaline pumping. Wildly entertaining. Worthwhile Unhinged. Many adjectives describe Russell Crowe’s (Boy Erased, A Beautiful Mind), but words like well-crafted, consistent, or coherent don’t fit. It’s a diverting 90-minute escape from the cruel reality of 2020, and for that reason alone, I recommend it more than I would during a typical year. Starting with the film’s first scene, director Derrick Borte (American Dreamer, London Town) shows you the world he’s created around his leading character while setting the mood for what will be a relentless ride.
Jungleland (2019)
“Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.” – Murphy’s Law.
This quote could be the tagline for Max Winkler’s (Flower, Ceremony) third featured film, the intense and gritty Jungleland. Set against the backdrop of the heartland of present-day America, Bostonian brothers Stanley (Charlie Hunnam – The Lost City of Z, Papillon) and Lion (Jack O’Connell – Unbroken, Money Monster) travel from their Massachusetts home to San Francisco, where they will participate in Jungleland. Jungleland is a $100,000 bare-knuckles prize fight tournament in which a local gangster named Pepper (Jonathan Majors – Creed III, White Boy Rick) can secure a spot for Lion. Lion is a skilled lightweight boxer who is banned from traditional boxing matches after Stan, who also serves as his manager, is caught trying to bribe a referee. This incident happens before the start of the film, but it establishes Stan as a shady dealer who will do anything to make a quick buck. The main problem is that he makes terrible deals and ends up deeply in debt. The brothers work at a sewing factory, but this isn’t enough to get Stan out of the hole he dug himself. And while Lion is one of the best fighters, the back alley clubs that hold these unsanctioned fights can only pay their winners up to two hundred dollars per fight. It’s simply not enough to pay back what he owes and keep food on the table for the duo.
Ava (2020)
2020 has been a year with many movies either delayed to later in the year or postponed entirely until 2021. Films considered for Oscar awards this year are receiving an extension on their release dates. That extra time could be extended even longer, depending on events later this year because of the 2020 pandemic. Many movies have skipped theaters and gone straight to on-demand. One of those movies that will need to worry about Oscar consideration this year is Tate Taylor’s (The Help, The Girl on the Train) Ava.
Lakeview Terrace (2008)
In the mold of great thrillers like Unlawful Entry, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, Sleeping With the Enemy, Pacific Heights, Single White Female, and Deceived comes Neil LaBute’s (Death at a Funeral, The Wicker Man) 2008 underappreciated Lakeview Terrace. This movie is designed to elicit powerful reactions from its audience. While this movie never felt that far-fetched (until maybe its final scenes), it seems less like a fictional story than I believed it to be, given what we see daily about racism and racial violence as I write this in 2020.