Category: News/Opinion

LFM Reviews The Tall Man

By Joe Bendel. It is the town even country music forgot. It has the grim name of Cold Rock, Washington, but it might as well be called “Stimulus Village.” When the mine closed, the jobs disappeared, but that was just the start of their problems. A prolonged epidemic of child abductions continues to plague the town. Sketchy sightings of a shadowy figure have given rise to a new urban legend, but one desperate woman will confront the truth behind the bogeyman in Pascal Laugier’s The Tall Man (trailer here), which opened Friday in New York.

Julia Denning is registered nurse and the only remaining medical care-provider left in Cold Rock. While her late husband was a beloved pillar of the community, many of the locals never really warmed to her. Yet, she stays out of a sense of duty. Then one fateful night, she wakes to find little David has been spirited away. More resourceful than her neighbors, Denning gives chase, nearly reclaiming David from his abductor. However, when Lieutenant Dodd, the big city copper on loan to the overwhelmed small town, deposits the battered and distraught Denning at the local diner for safekeeping, she finds her fellow townspeople are acting suspiciously squirrely.

There is a huge game-changing twist in Tall Man, but Laugier drops it comparatively early in the game. Instead of an M. Night Shyamalan ending intended to make viewers feel stupid for buying into his films’ ostensive premises, Laugier allows at least a good third of the picture to explore the implications of his revelation. While the big surprise eventually leads to credibility questions that would be spoilery to explain, it is executed quite smoothly.

Jessica Biel in "The Tall Man."

As Denning, Jessica Biel plays a critical role selling the gotcha, rather decisively subverting the woman-in-jeopardy archetype. Stephen McHattie (star of Pontypool, probably the best zombie film since the original Night of the Living Dead) brings genre cred and a cool, steely presence to Lt. Dodd. Unfortunately, the rest of the ensemble is largely underwhelming as underwritten stock characters. Still, it is somewhat amusing to see William B. Davis, the cigarette smoking man in The X-Files, as the ineffectual Sheriff Chestnut. You wonder why they keep re-electing him, given the circumstances.

Tricky to categorize, Tall Man largely inhabits the zone where horror movies and dark thrillers overlap. Laugier is quite effective establishing the dark, eerie vibe, but his third act-denouement suffers from a lack of tension. Still, The Tall Man is far more distinctive than other disposable horror-ish films that stumbled into theaters this year, such as ATM and Beneath the Darkness. Soon to be an interesting VOD or rental choice, The Tall Man just does not quite have enough thrills or scares for current New York City movie ticket prices. Maybe worth keeping in mind for later, it opened Friday (8/31) at the AMC Village 7.

LFM GRADE: C+

Posted on September 4th, 2012 at 2:32pm.

Bombs and Bikes: LFM Reviews Quick on Blu-ray/DVD

By Joe Bendel. Safety first, kids. Remember, you never know what some psychopath could sneak into your helmet, so you are better off not wearing one – regardless of how recklessly you might race through the city’s streets. One biker turned messenger learns this the hard way in Jo Bum-gu’s Quick, which releases today on DVD and Blu-ray from Shout Factory.

In 2004, Han Ki-su broke up rather spectacularly with his girlfriend, Choon-sim. It is a heck of a pile-up. Seven years later, she has reinvented herself as Ah-rom, the lead singer of an up-and-coming girl group, while he has de-invented himself as motorbike deliveryman. Still fearless on a bike, Han delivers a bomb for a mysterious client unaware of its contents. There will be more where that came from. Unfortunately, his ex Ah-rom will become a part of the madness when she books Han to whisk her off to a gig. Putting on his helmet, she sees a rather ominous countdown clock where there shouldn’t be one. As the voice on Han’s cell phone explains, he has thirty minutes to make a series of deliveries or the helmet goes boom.

While Quick owes an obvious debt of inspiration to Speed, it could also be considered the motorized forerunner to Premium Rush – but with a more talented cast. There will be plenty of breakneck weaving through traffic and unlikely Evel Knievel jumps. There is also a yakuza backstory to the mad bomber’s crime spree so convoluted, even the cops can’t keep it straight. For stunt driving, though, Quick is hard to beat. The hospitalized stuntmen seen visited by cast members during the closing credits can attest to that.

Granted, Kang Ye-won is considerably less annoying than Sandra Bullock, but her character’s initial diva act is a bit cringy for a while. If nothing else, having a bomb attached to your head ought to inspire clarity of thought. Still, she looks good in vinyl as her character eventually settles in and gets serious.

Frankly, the humor in Quick is rather broad and does not travel well. Fortunately, Lee Min-ki never goes for laughs as Han, mostly brooding like a rebel without a cause, except when he is raging against their tormentor. As biker movie protagonists go, he is pretty good really. However, since the identity of the evil mastermind is kept secret until well into the third act, Quick does not have a lot of moustache-twisting villainy.

To recap, Quick has a whole lot of explosions and chase scenes. It is also nice to see the fim’s shout out to the stunt personnel, given the rate the Korean film industry chews them up and spits them out (at least according to stuntman-filmmaker Jung Byung-gil’s documentary Action Boys, which screened at NYAFF four years ago). Never lacking adrenaline, Quick is easily recommended for action fans. It is now available at most online retailers from Shout Factory.

LFM GRADE: B-

Posted on September 4th, 2012 at 2:30pm.

LFM’s Govindini Murty on Lars Larson’s National Radio Show

LFM Co-Editor Govindini Murty was on Lars Larson’s national radio show Friday talking about The Ambassador and other new releases. Special thanks, as always, to Lars and his staff for inviting Govindini on. She always has fun appearing on his show.

Lars’ show is broadcast on over 200 stations nationwide, and runs at different times across the country, so to find his show be sure to check out his website here.

Posted on September 4th, 2012 at 2:29pm.

LFM Reviews Jet Li’s Flying Swords of Dragon Gate in IMAX 3D

By Joe Bendel. It was a time when eunuchs terrorized the land. However, a handful of wandering knights are willing to challenge them, even at the cost of their lives. Good multi-taskers, they will still find time for a bit of treasure-hunting in Flying Swords of Dragon Gate, Tsui Hark’s monster 3D return to the legendary Dragon Gate Inn world, which opens a special two-week IMAX-coming-straight-at-your-head limited engagement this Friday in New York.

Sort of but not really a sequel to Raymond Lee’s 1992 Dragon Gate Inn (produced and co-written by Tsui), Flying 3D picks up three years later in movie time. Dragon Inn burned to the ground and the femme fatale proprietress disappeared under murky circumstances, but since there was a demand for a sketchy flophouse right smack in the middle of sandstorm alley, the inn has been rebuilt by a gang of outlaws. While they might roll the occasional guest, they are really more interested in the legend of the fabulous gold buried beneath the sands.

Two mysterious swordsmen calling themselves Zhou Huai’an will find themselves at the remote outpost after tangling with the corrupt eunuch bureaucracy. One Zhou has just rescued Su Huirong, a potentially embarrassing pregnant concubine from the forces of the East Bureau. This Zhou also happens to be a she and she has some heavy history with the man she is impersonating. For his part, the real Zhou Huai’an has just barely survived a nasty encounter with the East’s top agent, Yu Huatian.

The doubling continues when fortune hunter Gu Shaotang shows up at the inn with her partner Wind Blade, a dead-ringer for the evil Yu. Add to the mix a group of rowdy, hard-drinking Tartar warriors, led by their princess Buludu and you have a rather unstable situation. Before long, sides have been chosen and a massive gravity-defying battle is underway, as the mother of all sandstorms bears down on Dragon Gate Inn.

Frankly, the 3D in Flying is so good, the initial scenes are a bit disorienting. Tsui probably has a better handle on how to use this technology than just about any other big picture filmmaker, dizzyingly rendering the massive scale of the Ming-era wuxia world. Flying is also quite progressive by genre standards, featuring not one but three first-class women action figures. When the headlining Jet Li disappears from time to time, he really is not missed. Of course, when it is time to go mano-a-mano in the middle of a raging twister, he is the first to step up to the plate.

All kinds of fierce yet genuinely vulnerable, Zhou Xun is fantastic as Ling Yanquiu, the Twelfth Night-ish Zhou Huai’an. Likewise, Li Yuchun is a totally convincing action co-star as the roguish Gu, nicely following-up on the promise she showed in Bodyguards and Assassins. Yet Gwei Lun Mei upstages everyone as the exotically tattooed, alluringly lethal barbarian princess. Her Buludu is both more woman and more man than Xena will ever be. In contrast, Chen Kun is a bit of a cold fish in his dual role, which suits the serpentine Yu just fine, but does not work so well for Wind Blade.

Throughout Flying, Tsui chucks realism into the whirlwind and never looks back. If you are distracted by scenes that look “fake,” many of the CGI fight scenes will have you beside yourself. On the other hand, if you enjoy spectacle, you really have to see it. Surpassing its predecessor in nearly every way, Flying Swords of Dragon Gate is a whole lot of illogical fun. Highly recommended for everyone still reading this review, it opens for two weeks only this Friday (8/31) at the AMC Empire.

LFM GRADE: B+

Posted on August 30th, 2012 at 1:25pm.

LFM Reviews The Bullet Vanishes

By Joe Bendel. In the 1930’s, forensic science had not really caught on yet with the Shanghai police force. However, Song Donglu is no ordinary copper. As an assistant prison warden, his interest in criminal psychology spurred him to challenge many convictions. To be proactive, or to spare themselves further embarrassment, his superiors have transferred him into the field to help the Shanghai police get it right the first time. He will be initiated with a particularly sinister case in Lo Chi-leung’s The Bullet Vanishes (trailer here), which opens this Friday in New York.

There has been a shooting at the local bullet factory—several actually. It might be a testament to their craftsmanship, except the bullets in question seem to disappear upon entry. Many of the workers believe it is really the curse of a worker unjustly accused of stealing product. The autonomous factory owner dealt with the case per their traditional method: a friendly game of Russian roulette. When those who wronged the woman start turning up dead, the other workers get a bit spooked, setting production even further behind.

Song does not believe in ghosts. He is a man of science. Still, he has some rather mysterious circumstances on his hands, like corpses with gunshot wounds but no discernible bullets to analyze. Before long, he will also have to wrap his head around a classic locked room murder. At least his new partner, Guo Zhui, has his back. They can’t say the same for their superior officers.

Mi Yang in "The Bullet Vanishes."

Though there are a lot of familiar Holmsian elements in Bullet, Lo and co-writer Yeung Sin-ling consistently give them a fresh spin. Perhaps most intriguing is Song’s ambiguous relationship with a convicted black widow murderess (played by a glammed down but terrific Jiang Yiyan), who could either be his Irene Adler or Hannibal Lecter. Determining which could be fertile ground for a sequel.

In fact, Bullet is pretty unusual for a big screen murder mystery, because it values atmosphere and procedural process (as antiquated as it might be by our standards) over formulaic chases and phony suspense. Viewers might have a general sense of where it is headed, but at least the film makes an effort to hold onto its secrets. There are still several well mounted period action sequences sprinkled throughout the film, but the overall vibe of Bullet is refreshingly cerebral.

With Song, Lau Ching-wan brings to life a great character. Yes, he is a bit socially awkward at times, but the detective is his own man, far more compassionate than Holmes ever was, particularly in his scenes with the mariticidal inmate. As the more action-oriented Gui, Nicholas Tse is in his element, also developing some nice romantic chemistry with Mi Yang’s Little Lark, the fortune teller. Together as cops with contrasting styles, Lau and Tse have an appealing give-and-take rapport going on. As for Boss Ding, the primary villain and focus of viewer scorn, Liu Kai-chi certainly is not shy chewing the scenery, vaguely suggesting elements of both the psycho and comedic Joe Pesci. That is not a bad thing.

From Chan Chi-ying’s stylish noir cinematography to Stanly Cheung’s natty 1930’s-era costumes, Bullet is a great looking film. It is also smart and old-fashioned in a good way. Recommended with enthusiasm for mainstream mystery fans, The Bullet Vanishes opens tomorrow (8/31) in New York at the AMC Empire and Village 7, as well as in San Francisco at the AMC Cupertino and Metreon, courtesy of China Lion Entertainment.

LFM GRADE: A-

Posted on August 30th, 2012 at 1:24pm.

LFM Reviews Ornette: Made in America

By Joe Bendel. Ornette Coleman won the Pulitzer Prize for musical composition and performed live on Saturday Night Live. Although neither event is covered in Shirley Clarke’s classically idiosyncratic documentary-profile, viewers still get a memorable sense of the artist and his music in Ornette: Made in America, which opens in New York this Friday at the IFC Center, as part of Milestone Films’ Project Shirley restoration and rerelease program.

Explaining Coleman’s place in the jazz world would take some doing, especially in 1985, before his late career Grammy and Pulitzer accolades finally came cascading in. Coleman was one of the pioneers of the Free Jazz movement, whose legendary engagement at New York’s Five Spot club sharply divided the jazz world. However, you will not find his creation story here. Instead, Clarke’s approach to Coleman the man and the musician is deeply rooted in the then-current moment, yet is also rather timeless.

In the mid 80’s, the establishment (broadly defined) was just starting to understand that Coleman was a force to be reckoned with. As the film opens, the mayor of Fort Worth presents Coleman with a copy of the key to the city (the original, he explains, had been sent up into space or something), in the hours before the alto saxophonist-multi-instrumentalist will debut Skies of America, a major new composition integrating a symphony orchestra with his avant-garde electric combo Prime Time. Hizzoner’s speech might strike New York hipsters as a bit corny, but his drummer-manager-son Denardo is quite pleased his father is finally being recognized.

In fact, there is something all-encompassing and Whitmanesque about Coleman’s deeply blues-influenced music that is perfectly represented by a title like Skies of America, as well as the mayor’s patriotically Texan remarks. Shrewdly, Clarke uses this fairly accessible work as the musical centerpiece for the film, much like Sonny Rollins’ concert premiere of Concerto for Tenor Saxophone and Orchestra dominates Robert Mugge’s Saxophone Colossus.

There was probably no documentarian better suited to Coleman’s personality and aesthetic than Shirley Clarke. Her style of filmmaking perfectly reflects his music—fragmentary and baffling to the willfully uninitiated, but with a strong compositional conception underlying it all. Her visual sensibility might be far from infallible (a kid with an iPad could put her space age special effects to shame these days), but she demonstrates a rock solid command of Coleman’s acutely syncopated rhythms, and had a keen insight into his creative milieu.

Indeed, except for perhaps Clint Eastwood, no filmmaker can equal Clarke’s position as a filmmaker whose work promotes and is informed by America’s great original art form. The Connection, which launched Project Shirley, is a milestone (if you will) of independent filmmaking, in large measure due to Freddie Redd’s absolutely classic tunes. Likewise, her viscerally naturalistic social issue drama, The Cool World, derives considerable power from Mal Waldron’s soundtrack (which in turn was rerecorded by Dizzy Gillespie’s combo for the official OST LP version). There was even the non-narrative short, Bridges-Go-Round, featuring the music of Teo Macero. Ornette is sort of a summing up of her jazz evangelism, shining a spotlight on one of the most controversial yet at the time underappreciated artists to ever set foot on the bandstand.

Time and again, Clarke alternately emphasizes Coleman’s blues roots and hardscrabble early life (even filming young actors portraying the alto saxophonist in dramatized vignettes of his formative years) and his compulsively forward looking – almost futuristic – orientation. The fact that most of Coleman’s philosophizing makes little to no sense is hardly important. No, he never really explains his theory of harmolodics in Ornette and she wisely never pushes him.

The Coleman seen in Ornette matches the accounts I have personally heard from musician-friends who have had conversations with him and say it was the coolest thing ever, even though they have no idea what he said. Any film conveying that experience is worth seeing, but Ornette has considerably more to offer. A highly entertaining time-capsule of a jazz documentary, Ornette: Made in America is recommended for anyone who wants their ears stretched a bit when it opens this Friday (8/31) at the IFC Center.

LFM GRADE: A-

Posted on August 28th, 2012 at 12:15pm.