Tag Archives: movie review

The Disappointments Room (2016) Movie Review

The title of The Disappointments Room begs the question: Is The Disappointments Room a disappointment? The short answer: Yes.

The film begins similarly to Haneke’s Funny Games, only without the amazing sound cues. A couple (Kate Beckinsale and Mel Raido) and their young son (Duncan Joiner) move out to the country for a new beginning after a terrible accident. The house, which from certain angles looks more like a castle, is a mess: broken light fixtures, leaking ceilings, junk everywhere. We follow this nuclear family, unassuming and entirely banal, as they fall victim to a strange presence in their home (maybe; it becomes impossible to tell).

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The Disappointments Room is a film that is utterly basic. It checks all the boxes of a basic horror movie and then Continue reading The Disappointments Room (2016) Movie Review

Sully (2016) Movie Review

Sully is literally marred by explosions. They are the nightmares of the title character—pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger (Tom Hanks), who successfully landed a crashing plane into the Hudson River in 2009—a streaking jet plane striking into Times Square. These are the volatile internal demons of an outwardly calm man.

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Clint Eastwood’s latest directorial outing works on two levels of conflict. There is this internal struggle, and there is the closed-door politics of the man’s otherwise heroic actions. The divide between the two, stylistically, is two different movies. It is arguably more effective to Continue reading Sully (2016) Movie Review

Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World (2016) Movie Review

“Lo,” the first message ever sent across the internet. “Lo” as in “Log” without the g, as the computer sending the message crashed before the message could be completed. This is the beautiful irony of the internet that director Werner Herzog tries to capture in his new documentary Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World. The inception of the world wide web was at one point a “revolution” that was about to irrevocably change the course of the modern world, and it is at another point an inception that is as archaic-sounding as a recovered fossil.

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Video games that map molecules, cars that drive themselves, online class rosters that academically blow Stanford students out of the water. The internet is a mesmerizing world of possibilities that we all take for granted every day. The problem with this premise is that Continue reading Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World (2016) Movie Review

Blood Father (2016) Movie Review

John Link (Mel Gibson) is a sober ex-con who scrawls tattoos on upper thighs out of his trailer in the California desert. When his long-disappeared daughter suddenly re-enters his life with a criminal past trailing her, he must take drastic actions to protect her.

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Blood Father does not have a stellar narrative. It has a crass script with little nuance. But it is Continue reading Blood Father (2016) Movie Review

Imperium (2016) Movie Review

Nate Foster (Daniel Radcliffe) is an FBI new recruit working in counter-terrorism in Washington D.C. He is unassuming and isolated in his eccentric brand of intelligence. When a possible White Supremacist terrorist plot surfaces, Foster is called upon to go undercover within the group to stifle any attack plan.

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There is a fury to Imperium, first evidenced in an expository montage containing still images of real-life neo-Nazism. This fury becomes more Continue reading Imperium (2016) Movie Review

Bernie and Rebecca (2016) Short Film Review

Oh, the tale of the blind date. It is always equal parts sad, desperate, and inexplicably sweet. Bernie and Rebecca may take place at the tail end of such a story, but it still maintains these identifiable tones. It begins at Rebecca’s (Brianna Barnes) front door, where Bernie (Kyle Davis) explains that he does not go by the name Bernard. It is an intriguing opening monologue, explaining the personality differences between shorthand vs. formal names.

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The film continues with dialogue of this nature. It is what you would expect from date conversation, but it is not Continue reading Bernie and Rebecca (2016) Short Film Review

Hell or High Water (2016) Movie Review

Two brothers (Ben Foster and Chris Pine) lay waste to rural Texas, robbing banks at sun-up and hightailing it before the police (led by Jeff Bridges) can even get their morning coffee. In the midst of this blur of action that is the opening to Hell or High Water, we can notice a few things: brilliant staging, an adept grasp of setting and atmosphere, an engaging balance of tone.

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With each bank robbery, we learn more about the two brothers. Their characters are fleshed out to the point where it isn’t difficult to Continue reading Hell or High Water (2016) Movie Review

Morgan (2016) Movie Review

What is the defining characteristic of humanity? What separates us from the rest? Is it compassion? Love? Pain? Fury? These are the questions many science fiction films have grappled with, from 2001 to last year’s Ex MachinaMorgan is the next in line.

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Much of the tension in Morgan stems from Continue reading Morgan (2016) Movie Review

Game of Aces (2016) Movie Review

Game of Aces is a period piece that doesn’t suffer from that inescapable stench of the period piece. It isn’t stuffy with the air of a different time and place. Many times, a period piece drama, especially those centered around wartime, will have the distinct feel of a re-enactment: heavy-handed, taking itself too seriously, and yet still somehow superficial. Game of Aces, in spite of its clearly tight budget, gets by on its lighter tone.

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The film begins anachronistic to this idea. “There is no pain,” a downed fighter pilot (Werner Daehn) whispers to himself as he Continue reading Game of Aces (2016) Movie Review

Don’t Think Twice (2016) Movie Review

The improv comedy world is filled with community and “yes-and.” It is about being of one mind. What happens, then, when that camaraderie is put in jeopardy by success, or a lack thereof?

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Mike Birbiglia’s sophomore feature is an industry ensemble piece that explores the nuances of an entertainment medium that is often Continue reading Don’t Think Twice (2016) Movie Review