Monthly Archives: July 2020

Horror, Independent Feature, Movie Reviews, Movies, Thriller

REVIEW: “THE RENTAL” (2020) IFC Films

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Doing more for Airbnb’s already somewhat tempestuous reputation, “THE RENTAL” will have you thinking twice about booking that weekend get-away vacation we are all aching for.

Dave Franco’s directorial debut “The Rental” revolves around a simple set-up. Two couples, Charlie (Dan Stevens) and Michelle (Alison Brie) and Mina (Sheila Vand) and Josh (Jeremy Allen White), have the idea to rent a beautiful Oceanside rental house where they can do some hiking, relax some, and enjoy each others company, well sort of. Bringing along with them not only their emotional baggage but adding some party ‘favours’ into the mix to spice it up a bit and get them through the weekend might not be the best idea ever, but hey no one has ever turned away from a ‘good’ idea now have they… From the get go though, things are off and the feeling is some things just don’t seem right. There’s clearly some underlying issues between the couples, some lingering attraction between Charlie and Mina, and this sea-side getaway they have rented has seemingly more secrets than one can even imagine.

Adding in some racial and creeper-type tension is Taylor (Toby Huss), the caretaker of the house and so much more – because that is not the only tensity here. Franco does a really good job of slow boiling all the tensions together that are abound here from building up of the obvious sexual tension between Charlie and Mina, which could unravel in many ways, but how it does is all part of again, the build up and layers in what awaits us. As to what they don’t know about the house and slowly start to discover is but just an another added plot line that intertwines with the others so well. That they didn’t know that the very house in which they are staying, has some very invasive recording devices placed in some very private places is just part of it. The slow and precise reveal of all this is done by having a grip on us the viewer – to want to know and keeps our toes tingling in anticipation of how it all draws out.

On the acting level Brie, despite a slow start to her character, revs it up during the second hour of the film as the reveals start pouring forth. Stevens once again not speaking in his native accent but more of a whispery American one which once again he’s just not wholly successful at, but because of the genre of movie, it actually adds a little to it by doing so. Jeremy White as a screw up brother isn’t really a stretch of a character and he’s fine here, but does grow aggravating during a few spots. Vand’s role here is a great find though as she handles the biggest character evolvement of both good & bad, all the while keeping us completely on her side.

The movie also shows the effect that technology can have on our lives and how you never really know if or when you are being watched even in the most private of places. The film doesn’t rely on gore, but on the build up of tension to give us it’s scare. The direction from Franco is also well paced and while it could be argued there may have been a need for more depth on these characters, it’s a very slight one as Franco turns the tension up to the perfect level, delivering an ending that makes it all a notable pay off, most especially leading into the credits sequence which will send much worthy chills right down your spine.

All in all ‘The Rental‘ is most definitely deserving of a rental this weekend. 🙂

Grade: C+

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Review link courtesy of IFC Films

THE RENTAL | Opens In over 250 Drive-Ins + Theaters and Digital/VOD THIS Friday JULY 24

Comedy, Movie Reviews, Movies, Rom-Com, Romance

REVIEW: “PALM SPRINGS” (2020) HULU

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It’s no surprise that an Andy Samberg comedy is relentlessly funny here with “PALM SPRINGS” –but what was pleasantly unexpected was a deep examination of humanity in general. The film is a really funny, heartfelt romantic comedy that drew me in right from the start.

The premise here is a familiar one, think ‘Groundhog Day’, but then give it an entirely unique twist with new events throughout the story and a you are left with a remarkably fresh perspective.  When Sarah (Cristin Milioti) meets Nyles (Andy Samberg) at a Palm Springs wedding, she unexpectedly joins him in a time loop that sees them reliving the same day repeatedly.  J.K. Simmons is also part of the cast, taking a run at a comical character Roy who is also experiences the Groundhog Day effect, but uses his time to torture Samberg’s character Nyles. It all comes together and wraps up with a fun theory on Quantam Physics giving us a play here in a refreshingly unique story that takes a familiar idea and makes it its own.

While there are laughs throughout, the peak of the humour comes from a typical hijinx montage where instead of the typical cheap gags, there was a familiarization of the two lead characters adding to their chemistry. Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti are so good together. They were fun when they were supposed to be and when they were supposed to show a romantic energy, they did just that. Samberg not only relying typical his typical humour and charm here as he also brings a much understood darkness to the performance that managed to draw you in. Milioti also managed to show a large amount of pain and conflict in her character while successfully portraying her discovering the world around her. J.K. Simmons is always good and in this movie he goes through an incredible transformation and makes the absolute most of a criminally small role and the smattering of other supporting, Peter Gallagher, Jacqueline Obradors, Jena Friedman, June Squibb and Tyler Hoechlin all add oodles of fun to the all around plot of the film.

The best part about this comedy is it doesn’t overplay it’s hand. It brings laugh out loud comedy to tangible levels where your place in life is examined and how such difficulties can be handled. Besides the silly little comedic jokes which were still enjoyable, there was an underlying depth and intelligence to the humour itself, handling how we may deal with our own decision regardless of the consequences. Slower moments aside, Palm Springs is a complete blast – and if you don’t get the ending, that’s on you.

Grade: A-

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“PALM SPRINGS” IS AVAILABLE TO WATCH NOW ON HULU

Adult, Comic Books, Fantasy, Futuristic, Movie Reviews, Movies

REVIEW: “THE OLD GUARD” (2020) Netflix

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Twenty-Five minutes in and I knew Director Gina Prince-Bythewood‘s “THE OLD GUARD” was most likely based on some type of book/comic series that was not known to me. Sticking with the film though was a decent pleasure and doing a touch of research after gave me the insight needed.

Turns out ‘The Old Guard‘ is based on the recent 5-part graphic novel of the same name from Image Comics, and stars Charlize Theron as “Andy”, along with Booker (Matthais Schoenaerts), Joe (Marwan Kenzari) and Nicky (Luca Marinelli) make up the tight knit group of four covert mercenaries who fight to keep peace.  With a seemingly almost immortal mysterious inability to die, a trait that once exposed on surveillance tapes by supposed ex-CIA agent Coply (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who had ‘hired’ them for a job to save a group of school children who had been supposedly kidnapped, gains unwanted attention from eccentric British pharmaceutical executive Steven Merrick (Harry Melling), who plans to experiment on the four for the good of mankind aka ‘profit’.

Greg Rucka, creator of the graphic novel series, writes the screenplay, and it’s a bit of a mixed bag. The fleshing out of the team’s backstory brings with it some emotional ties to the past, which work effectively as without knowing any background, you’re able to follow along. All too often though, the dialogue falls into cliched and stale traps – like when they are trying to look all undercover while meeting in a local street bazaar, they end up standing out so completely that you almost have to have a laugh at it. But it feels particularly clunky when the team come to explain their unusual abilities to newcomer Nile (KiKi Lane), a young U.S. marine who discovers she is just like them while on duty in Afghanistan.
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KiKi Lane showcases Nile’s innocence and shock well, as she discovers she may not be quite like other marines in doing what they’ve clearly been doing for hundreds of years. Theron gives a plaintive performance, conveying the weight on Andy’s shoulders and the burdens carried through the years convincingly enough and at least they didn’t try to have her do too many of those floppy comic lines sometimes found in similar type features. Her fellow mercenaries though never really get as much of a chance to make their mark with the exception of what takes place between Booker and Andy. Theron really kicks ass in the well choreographed hand-to-hand combat scenes she does get as does Lane, and there are bouts of bloody action to enjoy, but these are over rather quickly, with the team never really feeling like they are in any kind of danger. In truth, it’s yet another Netflix release that falls into the usual category; not a classic by any stretch, but definitely a passable and watchable two hours.

Grade: C+

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“THE OLD GUARD” IS AVAILABLE TO WATCH ON NETFLIX

Drama, Family, Foreign Film, Independent Feature, Movie Reviews, Movies

REVIEW: “THE TRUTH” (2020) IFC Films

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If someone had ever told me I’d see a film one day with the brilliant and beautiful Catherine Deneuve and Ethan Hawke together, I probably would have made a very large wager that that would never happen. And yet here we find ourselves with just that film in Director Hirokazu Koreeda‘s “THE TRUTH” – where surprisingly enough this famed Japanese director takes on a French/English film. This film is not what one may expect as trailers leave one to think it’s purely a drama, but it’s mostly a dramedy with the leaning more towards comedy, but you have to be able to catch it and it’s inevitable that some just won’t.

The premise of the plot is that Catherine Deneuve’s character Fabienne Dangeville, wrote an autobiography where she not only disappoints her colleagues, but one is which she seems to embellish her past, specifically, her motherhood as well. Juliette Binoche’s character Lumir, her screenwriter daughter who came in from the U.S. to visit, soon finds about all this as she reads the book of what she feels appears to be a work of fiction. Mind you a work of fiction “based on a true story” according to her mother. She tries to talk Fabienne and seemingly never really gets the answer she’s looking for, but the film begs the question what is “the truth” really? Is it how we remember the past or is it unyielding and unbending?

On top of all this, Deneuve’s character has accepted a role in a movie solely to work with an emerging actress who resembles a now deceased friend of hers. This is a thought-provoking piece of work even if it’s not completely understood at all times. There isn’t much plot development but the character depth is wonderfully exposed. Who was loyal? Who was faithful? There are moments in it where you have a hard time distinguishing between it all. But the acting is as good as one would expect seeing the cast list. Particularly impressive is the bilingual dialogue, especially from Binoche who seems to speak both English and French as a native. Also outstanding is the child actress playing Binoche’s daughter Charlotte (Clementine Grenier).

A point of notice from me – the female characters receive most time and adulation in the movie and I found that wonderful as they are what brings this story to life. Not only Deneuve’s and Binoche’s, but also Manon Clavell’s character of Manon Lenior, the actress who Deneuve works with and has that mysterious allure of her long dead friend, the one we really never find out too much about though she is alluded to throughout the film. All have a central role in the story. Ethan Hawke’s husband character Hank, is the only one that truly feels tossed to the side and frankly irrelevant as he stumbles along with very few lines, and has to rely on a sometimes maybe too exaggerated set of gestures to come across.

With a few tweaks on the dialogue this film could have been a great heart warming comedy with some wonderful dramatic undertones had the time been taken to add the depth it needed – as is – it wanders just a bit to much even with the wonderful acting.

Grade: C+

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Review screening link ~ Courtesy of IFC Films

“THE TRUTH” IS NOW AT SELECT DRIVE-IN’S AND ON VOD

Comedy, Movie Reviews, Movies, Music

REVIEW: “EUROVISION SONG CONTEST: THE STORY OF FIRE SAGA” (2020) Netflix

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“EUROVISION SONG CONTEST: THE STORY OF FIRE SAGA” is the story of two clunky but charming singers, who chase their pop star dreams to perform for their country in the very popular International Eurovision song contest. We see Lars (Will Ferrell) as a child watching ABBA at the 1976 Eurovision and from that moment on in life, he aspires to be everything like them. Singing along to ‘Waterloo’ is too amusing for his family as they all laugh at him, this upsets young Lars and he loses their respect, especially from his father Erick (Pierce Brosnan) who does a wonderful, darkly comedic portrayal of one of those dads who had zero faith and belief in his son on this lifelong endeavor.

Fast forward to 2020 and we see Lars teaming up with his childhood best friend and local singer Sigrid (Rachel McAdams) who along with Lars are ‘Fire Saga’, the hometown band in their small town village in Iceland. They have a few fans at local bars but they are dreaming big and are entered into a knockout competition to have the chance to sing at Eurovision. Sigrid wants to get close to Lars, but he thinks it would get in the way of the music and would be a distraction. When the other contestants are blown up, Lars and Sigrid are Iceland’s only chance left and off they go.

On this wild ride that ensues their journey through the Eurovision contest and predicaments they find themselves in, they meet their crazy fellow contests, attend some wild parties where Sigrid finds she has herself an admirer in the Russian favourite, the arrogant and flamboyant Alexander (Dan Stevens), who gives an downright amusing performance here. He comes between Sigrid and Lars who have a love attraction, until Lars decides to not perform and goes home where he not only feels lost, but realizes that Sigrid is his true love and he must return to her – well that and OMG they actually qualify for the contest itself.

As someone who has never watched more than 10 minutes of a Eurovision contest, I must confess that the film is just a little much needed diversion from everything serious happening all around us on a daily basis. And while we shouldn’t just BOOM! forget everything, we as people can do two things at once at take a momentary diversion for a hot second to enjoy this as it doesn’t take itself too seriously and is a hilarious satire of all that Eurovision entails.  The over the top performances, the voting fix of neighbouring countries, the notable guest starring roles of past contestants, and yes, the noticing of that Britain never gets a vote, just all add up to a gaggle of tidbits to make this comedic enough for all of us to at least crack a smile at.

All of it’s in good fun though you might not get a complete laugh out loud moment, you will be charmed by this one as even the Icelandic accents are funny, done in a very tongue-in-cheek manner. Again, the characters are more enjoyable and charmingly funny rather than a “ha!ha!” laugh-out-loud type funny. But with some sporting singing from both McAdams and Ferrell to close it all down, makes it one to check out.

Grade: B-

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“EUROVISION SONG CONTEST: THE STORY OF FIRE SAGA” IS AVAILABLE TO WATCH ON NETFLIX