// Category Archive for: Movie Reviews

DVD Review: Deadfall

By Less Lee Moore

Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures

Deadfall has the feel of a western and a horror film, an interesting dynamic made more so by the impressive cast. From the old school there’s Sissy Spacek, Kris Kristofferson, and Treat Williams. Olivia Wilde, Eric Bana, Charlie Hunnam, and Kate Mara are the new kids on the block, but there is no showboating here. This is a true ensemble and everyone is outstanding.

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Canadian Music Week Film Fest Review: AIN’T IN IT FOR MY HEALTH: A FILM ABOUT LEVON HELM

By Less Lee Moore

If you are a fan of The Band, then you already know that drugs and money are a bad combination. Ain’t In It For My Health doesn’t dwell on the troubled legacy of the group, but it doesn’t shy away from it, either. However, this is a film about survival, and the exceptional life of Levon Helm, drummer, singer, songwriter, father, friend, and legend.

Filmmaker Jacob Hatley shot the footage for Ain’t In It For My Health throughout 2007 and 2008. It encompasses Helm’s 2008 Grammy nomination for Dirt Farmer, the recording of Electric Dirt, his contributions to The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams, and the birth of his grandchild and namesake, Lavon. (Helm was christened as Lavon, but became known as Levon when no one in Ronnie Hawkins’ band could correctly pronounce his name.)

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Movie Review: The Call

By LabSplice

You would certainly be forgiven if you did not pay much attention to the release of The Call this weekend. The marketing material for the film seemed determined to highlight two actresses trending in the wrong direction: Halle Berry, who has seen her career lose momentum after her turn in the disastrous Catwoman movie, and Abigail Breslin, who is entering the awkward high school years that seem to break so many talented child actors. Like many movies within the thriller genre, the release of this film was preceded by stale casting and mediocre trailers. When the most noteworthy aspect of your film’s marketing campaign is the nuisance of Halle Berry’s introduction to the trailer, most moviegoers don’t feel they are missing out on the next big thing.

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Blu-Ray Review: Jack & Diane

By Less Lee Moore

If you were expecting a horror romance from Jack & Diane due to the trailer, you’ll probably be disappointed. If you approach it with an open mind, however, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

The film, written and directed by Bradley Rust Gray, is a slightly meandering glimpse at the romance between two young women, Jack (Riley Keogh) and Diane (Juno Temple). There are beautiful visuals that veer from hyperrealist to almost hallucinatory, and sometimes both at the same time. If that sounds like a contradiction, then it’s one that can easily apply to the film as a whole.

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Movie Review: Oz The Great And Powerful

By Lisa Anderson

Disney’s Oz The Great and Powerful opened strong on the weekend of March 8. Sam Raimi’s prequel to the classic film (based on the work of L. Frank Baum) had the biggest box office opening of the year. I was only one of many people who were intrigued by the prospect of James Franco taking on this iconic material, supported by such talented actresses as Michelle Williams, Mila Kunis, and Rachel Weisz. The eventual experience, however, was disappointing.

The story can be divined from the trailer, from start to finish, even if you somehow hadn’t managed to see the film or read any of the books on which it was based. A huckstering carnival magician gets swept by a tornado to the land of Oz, where he’s immediately greeted as the prophesied wizard who will save the place from the wicked witch that terrorizes it. He reluctantly grows into the role, finally maturing emotionally even though he’s already over 30 years old. It’s one of the least original stories there is, and this film doesn’t do anything new with it.

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Movie Review: California Solo

By Less Lee Moore

Photo © Strand Releasing

The catalyst in California Solo happens within the first few minutes of the film, before we even get to know its main character. On his way home from a bar, Lachlan McAldonich gets stopped and charged with DUI. Despite such boneheaded behavior, we like him anyway. Lachlan possesses a quiet charm; he’s not belligerent when the cop asks him where he’s been, and instead goofs around when getting his mug shot taken. What’s more unexpected is how much our feelings change as the film continues.

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Blu-Ray Review: Skyfall

By Less Lee Moore

Photo ©2012 Danjaq, LLC, United Artists Corporation, Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. All rights reserved.

Oh, James Bond fans. For everyone who was electrified by Daniel Craig’s debut in Casino Royale, there were at least two who loathed the follow up, Quantum of Solace. For all Bond fans, Skyfall should be a revelation. It fulfills the promise that Casino Royale made: that Craig’s Bond is one of (if not) the best, and that the character has finally arrived in the new millennium.

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DVD Review: Paul Williams: Still Alive

By John Lane

Bar none, one of the sweetest documentaries that anyone will view in a lifetime is Stephen Kessler’s Paul Williams: Still Alive, just released on DVD. The bar had been set extraordinarily high when 2010 saw the release of Who Is Harry Nilsson? (And Why Is Everybody Talkin’ About Him). After years of our culture pumping out salacious VH1 Behind-the-Music-style garbage about musicians, I had all but assumed intimate portraits with heart were doomed. The Nilsson documentary restored my faith that an honorable rendering could be done; Kessler’s film on musician/entertainer/actor Paul Williams solidifies that feeling for good.

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DVD Review: Compliance

By Less Lee Moore

It’s difficult to review a movie like Compliance. Usually the tag line, “Inspired By True Events” signals a couple of hours of cinematic hyperbole. Even documentaries aren’t immune from altering or omitting facts to suit the filmmakers’ agenda(s). What’s most disturbing about Compliance is how scenes that might trigger the viewer’s bullshit meter actually did occur. While much of the dialogue used to illustrate the events may have been created, the scenarios themselves are real.

Anyone who has worked in a fast food restaurant (or as industry parlance prefers, a “quick-service restaurant”) might immediately feel discomfort during the opening scenes of Compliance, not because of any horrific events taking place, but because of the remarkably authentic atmosphere of what takes place in those environments.

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Movie Review: The Sessions

By Maureen

TM and © Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

I knew very little about The Sessions going into it. I knew that it was about a man suffering from polio (John Hawkes) who hires a woman to have sex with him. That was enough to pique my curiosity, and so I watched it.

The Sessions is based on the life of a real-life man, Mark O’Brien, who contracted polio at a young age and has to spend all but about four hours per day inside an iron lung to keep him breathing. Even when outside this device, he is required to remain flat on his back on a gurney with portable oxygen.

He manages to work his way through an English degree at Berkeley, and when the story picks up in 1988, he is 38 years old and working from home as a poet and occasional journalist. He’s contacted about a news story about sex and the disabled, and his quest for professional research opens a world of personal doors and discoveries for him.

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