All is Lost ****

Short Take: A man struggles to survive after being lost at sea.

Reel Take: All is Lost is a huge departure from J.C. Chandor’s last film Margin Call, the talky Wall Street drama. In this minimalist tale, Robert Redford plays a man on a solo sailing expedition on the Indian Ocean. The film opens with some of the only dialogue heard in the film. Redford’s voice, “I think you would all agree that I tried – to be true, to be strong, to be kind, to love, to be right …”

The film then switches to the events that precipitate the letter. ‘Our Man’ (how the character is billed in the end credits) awakens to water flooding the cabin of his sailboat. A cargo container which has apparently fallen off a freighter has rammed his boat, leaving a gaping hole.

The next hour shows Our Man patiently, diligently and methodically repairing the hole and doing what he can to keep the Virginia Jean afloat, if not quite sea worthy. With the electronics destroyed, his best hope is to get to the shipping lanes, where he’ll be spotted and rescued. The only thing more economic than his emotions is his words. He is strong, silent and practical. He endeavours to survive.

Never getting a break, he endures terrible storms. Eventually all is truly lost and he watches from the safety of his life raft as the Virginia Jean succumbs to her wounds and to the mighty sea. Our Man pushes away emotions that could potentially threaten his ability to stay strong and focused, as seen when he starts to open a card tucked in a box of special antique navigational equipment (obviously a gift) and then stops, tossing it aside. He charts the course of his drifting raft using manual the equipment and the stars. He desalinates salt water to survive and still he perseveres. At some point however the story must shift from the fight to survive to the will to survive.

The film is well done. The hand held but stable camera work, gives an intimate feeling to the proceedings and conveys the confined spaces of the boat and raft while never letting us forget about the vast ocean. Redford, now 76 and showing every well-lived year of it, is perfectly cast in this solitary tale. The only other person I could possibly imagine playing this part is Clint Eastwood (about ten years ago). People may underestimate the difficulty of taking on a project with so little dialogue. It is a daunting task, but Redford handles it almost two easily.

After the screening I attended, several of us (all reviewers) discussed how implausible it would be to be so stoic given the circumstances; we all confessed we’d have been cussing from the get go. But after thinking about it, to Our Man, wasting energy with muttering, cussing and talking to oneself would distract from the issue at hand, survival.

All is Lost is for a very limited audience. I would venture only die-hard Redford fans, sailors worth their salt, and certain art house film goers will enjoy the merits of this film.

Rated PG-13 for brief strong language.

Review by Michelle Keenan

Captain Phillips ****1/2

Short Take: The dramatic true story of Captain Richard Phillips who was taken hostage by Somali pirates in 2009.

Reel Take: Director Paul Greengrass’s talent for gripping suspense (The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum) is put to good use in the true life action thriller depicting the 2009 hijacking of the Maersk Alabama. Tom Hanks stars as the titular character and both he and Greengrass raise the bar on their own careers with Captain Phillips. With the exception of a painfully bad Boston accent, which fortunately becomes less pronounced as the action heats up, Hanks turns in a tour de force performance. The last 20 minutes of the movie will no doubt earn him a best actor nomination if not the gold statue itself, but I digress.

I knew going into the film that Greengrass would deliver a heart poundingly exciting adaptation of the story, but what I did not expect was to have a ruthless story to be layered with such nuanced humanity – a humanity saved not just for the captives but the captors. I don’t know how much liberty was taken with Captain Phillips’ story, as it’s presented here, but as I haven’t heard a whole lot of fussing about it, I’m presuming it’s a fair [albeit cinematic] treatment of the facts.

The film starts by showing Captain Phillips at home in Vermont preparing to leave for his gig on the Maersk Alabama. He’s clearly concerned about the threat of Somali pirates, but he keeps it to himself, instead talking about his teenage children as he drives to the airport with his wife. Meanwhile we are introduced to the young man who will be the ‘captain’ of the pirates who board the Alabama.

Muse is a fisherman whose village has been out of work because of commercial trawlers. Local warlords prey upon Muse, and men like him, to do their bidding on the high seas, with promises of riches. This is all the background we are given.

Greengrass builds the suspense brilliantly, from the first game of cat and mouse between the freighter and the pirate skiffs to the game of hide and seek within the ship; from the mind games Muse and Phillips play with one another to the game of chicken between the US Navy and the little band of pirates. The unexpected humanity of the film builds during the conversations between Captain Phillips and Muse. This is a rich element, drawing us in and making us care even more than we already do and building the climax to a fever pitch before its delivery.

First time actor Barkhad Abdi, as Muse, has a tremendous presence. He plays well against Hanks, giving the film believability and likeability because both men are so un-Hollywood. Hanks’s performance throughout is strong, but he reaches unexpected new heights and depth in the last half hour of the film.

Captain Phillips is astonishingly good. Put it on your must-see list, along with Gravity this fall. Captain Phillips does not have to be seen on the big screen, though it is certainly better if you do; if you are at all prone to sea sickness however, you may want to take a Dramamine first.

Rated PG-13 for sustained intense sequences of menace, some bloody images of violence and substance use.

Review by Michelle Keenan

Carrie ***1/2

Short Take: While Kimberly Peirce’s remake isn’t in the same league as Brian De Palma’s iconic original, it’s still not half as bad as some critics say it is.

Reel Take: I must admit I had grave misgivings before going to see Carrie. If there was a movie that didn’t need remaking, it was Brian De Palma’s iconic original. But it was made 37 years ago and, as much as it may have been a part of my age group’s movie consciousness, there are still people out there who know it only by reputation. When I went to see the remake there were a number of teens and twenty-somethings (almost all of them women) in the audience and they gasped and shrieked as if it were all new to them and most remarkable of all, quit texting during the movie.

I have been impressed with Chloe Grace Moretz ever since I saw her in the first Kickass movie and in Hammer’s remarkable Let Me In. When I heard that she was going to be cast in the title role I thought, if anyone could pull it off, she could. She is much closer in age to the character than Sissy Spacek was and can project the same kind of naïve vulnerability which is the key component to the character. Yet when it’s time for her to take over, she dominates the screen without the aid of De Palma’s split screen trickery.

Julianne Moore has the much harder job of playing Margaret White, Carrie’s mother. Piper Laurie played the character as if she were the Witch in Hansel & Gretel which made her a classic over-the-top villain. When it’s time for her to get hers, the audience cheers. Moore goes in the opposite direction and underplays the character so that we actually feel sorry for her and can understand where she’s coming from. When she does what she’s destined to do and pays the price, it comes as more of a shock.

It’s a good thing that Moretz and Moore turn in such dynamic performances for most of the rest of the cast are left behind and don’t have the panache of their 1976 counterparts. Gabriella Wilde and Ansel Elgort as Sue & Tommy (the good kids originally played by Amy Irving & William Katt) are so bland that you hardly notice them. Portia Doubleday tries hard as Chris the true villain of the piece but she lacks the self-assurance and downright shamelessness of Nancy Allen. Alex Russell in the John Travolta role makes no impression whatsoever.

Director Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don’t Cry) and screenwriter Larry Cohen (It’s Alive) stick close to the outline of the original film and just as far away from the Stephen King original. All of the expected scenes are there from the shower humiliation to the grand prom finale but Peirce injects a feminist undercurrent as Carrie is not only aware of her power but actively tries to develop it. When payback time finally arrives she knows who to use it on and who not to.

As I stated at the beginning, I liked Carrie a whole lot more than I expected to. While it is sufficiently updated to include cell phones and Facebook, the small town timelessness of the original is left intact. Should it have been remade? Probably not. The 1976 version is in no danger of being supplanted, but this remake is a lot better than it had any right to be.

Rated R for bloody violence, disturbing images, language and some sexual content.

Review by Chip Kaufmann

Escape Plan ***1/2

Short Take: Sylvester Stallone goes to jail. He does not pass Go. He does not collect $200. He does team up with Arnold Schwarzenegger and together they kick all kinds of butt.

Reel Take: Just as John Wayne kept at it until he was in his late 60s, action stars Sylvester Stallone and (no longer Governor of California) Arnold Schwarzenegger are following in his footsteps. Not that there’s anything wrong with that; I’m glad that they’re still able to make movies, but now I know what it felt like for my parents to see John Wayne up on the screen in his later years.

Escape Plan (originally called The Tomb and later Exit Plan) is a prison breakout film, another in a genre that goes all the way back to The Big House of 1930 and continuing through such films as Riot in Cell Block 11(1954) and Escape From Alcatraz (1979). Sylvester Stallone plays Ray Breslin, a former prosecutor who now tests the reliability of maximum security prisons. He is offered a multi-million dollar deal to test a new top secret prison known as “The Tomb”. Once inside he is drugged and imprisoned like the other maximum security criminals and must set up alliances if he hopes to find a way out.

One of these alliances is with a prisoner named Rothmeyer (Schwarzenegger) the other is with a Muslim inmate (Farin Tahir). They devise a complex plan to fool the sadistic warden (Jim Caviezel effectively cast against type) and are joined by the prison doctor (Sam Neill) once he is convinced that there is something fishy going on. In the meantime Breslin’s associates on the outside learn that the prison is operated as a for profit operation by the military and that his business partner (Vincent D’Onofrio) has been paid off to have Breslin incarcerated.

While Stallone and Schwarzenegger are certainly long in the tooth, they are more than capable of handling themselves in the action driven sequences. Watching them, I’m reminded of the 60 year old Burt Lancaster in 1973’s Scorpio who, despite his age, was more than a match for his younger pursuers. Swedish director Mikael Hafstrom, who in the past has directed such action fare as Vendetta and Derailed, knows how to manage the key set pieces. Like most mainstream movies today, Escape Plan goes on a little too long, yet thanks to the film’s characterizations, I was never bored. In addition to the actors and the action, special mention should go the concept and the execution of the sci-fi like prison design which is actually the most intriguing aspect of the movie.

Aside from the settings, Escape Plan offers nothing new. The protagonist gets in, is aided by like minded inmates, and then gets out and gets even. Caviezel is so despicable that you know he’s going to get it in the end. However predictability is not the issue, entertaining the audience is. Does Escape Plan entertain? Yes, and it’s not just my admiration for contemporary aging action stars talking (Stallone & Schwarzenegger have been making movies now for almost 40 years). The much younger audience was enjoying it just as much as I was. Escapism is alive and well in the aptly named Escape Plan.

Rated R for violence & language throughout.

Review by Chip Kaufmann

Gravity ****1/2

Short Take: Adrift after space debris collides with their shuttle, two astronauts endeavour to make it to the safety of a space station and a capsule that can deliver them safely to Earth.

Reel Take: Slipping the surly bonds of Earth, Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity goes where no other film has gone before. When a disaster in space renders two astronauts stranded, they try to reach a space station and a capsule to get them back to Earth. George Clooney is Matt Kawalski, the space-loving veteran astronaut on his final mission. Sandra Bullock is Dr. Ryan Stone, a NASA greenhorn and scientist who’s not entirely comfortable with being in space. Alone and drifting with a limited oxygen supply and the constant threat of space debris, the odds of our heroes’ survival seem insurmountable.

The circumstances may seem completely implausible, but while you’re gripping the arms of your seat and gasping for air right along with them,, it’s as real as real can be. The visuals are staggering, creating an overwhelming and confusing sense of the vastness and aloneness of space. Cuaron manages to give the audience the dizzying feeling they are right there with Commander Kawalski and Dr. Stone.

As two of the most beloved actors in Hollywood, the audience is immediately comfortable with both Bullock and Clooney. Clooney is as easy and comfortable in this role as he seems to be in life. He is fine in the role, but when I heard that Robert Downey, Jr. had originally been cast in the role, could just as easily see him in the role. The film really belongs to Bullock. She will most certainly and deservedly be a best actress nominee this year.

Ironically, for all its visual and technical prowess the story is very simple and very human, even schmaltzy and old fashioned, and that’s ok. It’s what Hollywood does so well – breaking new ground cinematically while preying upon familiar heartstrings and universal bonds.

Gravity is one of only three films I think must be seen in 3D (the others being Avatar and Hugo). The 3D effects are not always blatant, but when they are they are amazing, beautiful and even important. The use of 3D in Gravity absolutely enhances the experience. If you don’t want to cough up the extra bucks for 3D glasses, Gravity must at least be seen on the big screen.

Rated PG-13 for intense, perilous sequences, some disturbing images and strong language.

Review by Michelle Keenan

Machete Kills ***1/2

Short Take: Robert Rodriguez’ follow up to his highly successful 2010 film Machete (which began as a joke trailer in Grindhouse) has little to offer outside of Charlie Sheen and Mel Gibson as a James Bond style villain.

Reel Take: One man band Robert Rodriguez (producer-director-writer-cinematographer-composer) can knock out a film in no time at all thanks to all the hats he wears. He can also make his films very inexpensively because in addition to all of the above, he has a stock company of performers who work for him for scale. This is all very admirable. It recalls the days of Poverty Row studios like Republic and later AIP (American International Pictures), and he has his films distributed by their modern day equivalent, The Weinstein Company.

B movies, by their very nature, are a hit or miss proposition and Machete Kills is a miss. Part of the reason for this is that it is an obvious follow-up to the first Machete (2010) which was never intended to be a film in the first place. Rodriguez designed it as a joke exploitation trailer to accompany his and Quentin Tarantino’s homage to 1970s B movies, Grindhouse. However one thing led to another and with his usual efficiency and stock company in tow, Rodriguez turned out the first film (primarily to see if he could do it) and it was a big hit unlike Grindhouse. One could call it a happy accident. Lightning, however, rarely strikes twice in the same place.

What was brash & original in the first film seems completely tired & predictable in this one. Everything from the off-the-wall humor to the ultra violence (according to imdb over 100 people are killed in the film) even the stunt casting of Cuba Gooding Jr , Lady Gaga, and Antonio Banderas as the same character, a hitman known as The Chameleon came across as uninspired. Perhaps it’s simply the genre and Rodriguez did his job too well (I’m not a big fan of non-stop action films especially when they do stop to wink at me) but I found myself disengaged right after the first shootout.

Yet Machete Kills is not a total loss thanks to the antics and the personas of Carlos Estevez (Charlie Sheen using his real name) and Mel Gibson. Just the idea of Charlie Sheen as the President of the United States is funny, especially when you consider father Martin’s turns as the Chief Executive. He is appealing and appalling at the same time. Mel Gibson, on the other hand, is absolutely infectious and is having the time of his life portraying a classic villain in the James Bond mode. Too bad he doesn’t appear until halfway through the movie.

Just so you know, Machete (Danny Trejo) is saved from hanging by a phone call from the President who wants him to kidnap the head of a Mexican drug cartel (Demian Bichir). His contact is beauty pageant contestant Miss San Antonio (Amber Heard). It turns out that the drug lord is financed by a mysterious technology manufacturer who has really big plans. Both the drug lord and Machete are being pursued by The Chameleon. You know how it ends. The question is…do you want to buy a ticket for this ride?

Rated R for strong bloody violence, language, and sexual content.

Review by Chip Kaufmann