Category: Narrative

By Joe Bendel. Call it a simple improvisation rather than a simple plan. Nobody thinks too far ahead or particularly deeply in this criminal morality tale. As a result, there is a mess of trouble for everyone in David M. Rosenthal’s roughly passable backcountry noir, A Single Shot, which opens today in New York.

John Moon is an unemployed loser, whose wife Jess has filed for a divorce. Aside from some occasional farm labor temp jobs, Moon mostly puts food on his table through hunting. While stalking his game one fateful morning, Moon inadvertently kills a young woman squatting in the woods. Attempting to cover-up the accidental shooting he discovers a large stash of cash.

Now Moon has enough money to retain Pitt, the town’s slimiest lawyer, and throw some look-I’m-not-a-deadbeat-money Jess’s way. Of course, this is not exactly the best way to maintain a low profile. Suddenly he is on Cro-Magnon drug dealer Waylon’s radar, in a bad way. Everyone else around him is also acting rather suspiciously, but Moon is not so quick on the up-take.

Shot has a number of moody and atmospheric scenes that work quite well, but the tension always dissipates rather than growing and compounding. Perhaps the greatest problem is its dubious premise. An experienced hunter would never fire off the reckless shot that ignites this film. Someone like Moon, who has been hunting longer than Rosenthal has been making movies, knows never to pull the trigger unless you are absolutely certain of what you have in your sites.

Still, Rockwell is convincingly slow-witted yet simultaneously slow-burningly intense as Moon. It is largely his work that will keep viewers invested in Shot, at least to some extent. William H. Macy is rather amusing as Pitt, but he might as well be credited as a “special guest star.” In contrast, the potentially interesting Jason Isaacs is completely wasted as Waylon, buried under a Wookie’s worth of greasy locks.

There are no big secrets or revelations in Shot, so despite some well executed bits of skullduggery, there is little suspense overall. Basically, it is a bad idea to come between a drug dealer and his illicit cash. Nor is it a winning strategy to pick a fight with an anti-social mountain man who lives and breathes hunting. As a result, everyone learns something in Shot, except the audience, who come in way ahead of everyone on-screen. Just sort of okay but not great, A Single Shot opens today (9/20) in New York at the AMC Empire.

LFM GRADE: C

Posted on September 20th, 2013 at 1:22pm.

By Joe Bendel. The future will be nasty, brutish, and snowy. To combat global warming huge weather controlling machines were invented, but tragically they got stuck on snow—or something like that. On the positive side, summers in New York have become almost bearable. Cash out your 401K’s now, because if that all weren’t bad enough, cannibalism starts to spike in Jeff Renfroe’s The Colony, which opens tomorrow in New York.

So, its pretty cold out there. Only scattershot handfuls of humanity survive in underground colonies, hoping to somehow outlast the big freeze. Given their cramped living conditions, flu has become a matter of life and death. Basically, if you cough, you are sent out to die. The overzealous Mason is the one in charge of “quarantine,” a fact that does not sit well with Sam, the sensitive handyman. He takes the issue up with Briggs, Colony 7’s commander, who inconveniently has more pressing concerns.

Their sister colony sent a distress signal, ominously followed by radio silence, so Briggs takes Sam and an easily winded teenager out to investigate. After making the arduous journey past a series of surprisingly cool looking matte paintings, the expeditionary party discovers their allied colony was over-run by a pack of cannibals. Despite descending into savagery, they prove to be dashed difficult to kill.

It is rather ironic this tale is climate catastrophe is Canadian-made, because the weather will look rather temperate to half that country. Yet, the northern location shoots, filmed at an old, mothballed Canadian NORAD facility, are what work best for Colony. Likewise, the hulking, frost-encrusted weather machines are quite striking looking. Unfortunately, the script (credited to Renfroe and three others) feels like it was cobbled together from Roland Emmerich’s slush pile.

For a derivative film, Laurence Fishburne’s performance as Briggs is largely derived from his work in the superior Event Horizon, but frankly, that is not entirely bad. Similarly, Bill Paxton recycles his “game over, man” persona for Mason, but with less successful results. Kevin Zegers and Charlotte Sullivan are pretty bland as Sam and his potential love interest, Kai, the seed archivist and computer specialist – but at least her character listens to Duke Ellington, so you have to tip your hat to that. Considering Dru Viergever’s character is only credited as “Feral Leader,” it is probably safe to assume not much of an awards campaign is being planned on his behalf. Nevertheless, he certainly looks the part.

To call The Colony a meathead movie would over-praise it. Visually, it accomplishes much with its limited resources, but never rises above mediocrity in any other criteria. Just kind of whatever (at best), it is hard to imagine anyone will pay Manhattan ticket prices to see it when The Colony opens tomorrow (9/20) in New York at the AMC Empire.

LFM GRADE: C-

Posted on September 19th, 2013 at 11:23am.

By Joe Bendel. It is hard for a comic book artist to navigate a Sex in the City world, especially a hopeless romantic like Sophie. At least her work provides her an outlet for her frustrations, but not a steady income. However, Sophie will finally meet her real life international man of mystery in My Lucky Star, Dennie Gordon’s stand-alone sequel to Sophie’s Revenge, which opens this Friday in New York.

Sophie is a talented artist, but the world’s worst travel agent. Her day job boss tells her so, frequently. When she wins the “My Lucky Star” sweepstakes’ luxury vacation to Singapore, her man-eating friends convince her to take the plunge. As soon as she arrives, the clumsy knockout stumbles into the arms of David Yan, who happens to be the spitting image of her comic book super spy. He also happens to be in the same line of work—a fact Sophie is painfully oblivious to.

Before long, Sophie’s attempts to pursue Yan put her smack dab in the middle of a caper involving a massive stolen diamond. It happens to be perfect for refracting a WMD laser, which is why the notorious Black Widow arms dealer is out to acquire it. Yes, she is also hot and Yan happens to have some complicated history with her. The indomitable Sophie will have to knuckle down if she is going to win the man of her dreams and save the world (or at least Bermuda).

The first domestic Chinese production helmed by an American woman (Gordon, best known for Joe Dirt and her DGA Award winning work on Tracey Takes On), Lucky incontrovertibly establishes Zhang Ziyi looks cute in a gondolier’s costume. You might have suspected as much, but here’s the proof. In fact, she has more wardrobe changes than Anne Hathaway hosting the Oscars. That is really what this film is all about: fab clothes, the picturesque opulence of Singapore and Macao, and a spot of vicarious romance.

Sophie’s Revenge was a monster hit in China, so producer Zhang’s title character is back to feed the appetite she helped create (but viewers need not be familiar with the first film to follow the second). However, for American audiences, it is rather ironic to see her playing a lovelorn klutz so soon after her exquisitely tragic, massively butt-kicking turn in Wong Kar Wai’s The Grandmaster. She is clearly versatile—and quite appealing in both very different films.

Wang Leehom, the American-born Taiwanese pop idol, is a game straight man, looking credible enough in his action sequences. Ruby Lin and Chen Yao also return from Revenge, adding attitude and sex appeal as Sophie’s BFFs. However, Terri Kwan sort of steals the show as the Black Widow.

Indeed, aside from an overbearing boss here and a henchman there, everyone in Lucky is outrageously good looking. This is definitely escapist fare. However, fans of Revenge will miss Sophie’s unapologetically macabre animated fantasies. Gordon doubles down on the slapstick humor instead, which, ironically, does not travel as well. Never particularly deep or memorable, My Lucky Star offers up plenty of sugary confections for the eye and a dash of plucky empowerment. If that suits your movie going purposes, it opens this Friday (9/20) in New York at the AMC Empire, courtesy of China Lion Entertainment.

LFM GRADE: C+

Posted on September 17th, 2013 at 11:50am.

By Joe Bendel. Nobody opens a comic shop to make their fortune or impress women. The co-owner of Deadhead Comics in Edinburgh is doing particularly poorly on both scores, but his knowledge of early superheroes will help him navigate a caper involving an ultra-rare comic in David Barras’s Electric Man, which releases today on DVD, with a VOD launch to follow this Friday.

Jason “Jazz” Archer is the responsible one. His partner Wolf is the unlikely goofball ladies man. They were kind of sort of making a go of it with their comic shop, but now find themselves on the hook for 5,000 pounds worth of repairs. That sum is simply beyond their means, but they carry on hoping lightning will strike out of the blue, which it does.

Electric Man (a.k.a. Edison Bolt) predated the Man of Steel by one year. A gritty depression era hero (whose origin story is related in the cool motion comic opening credit sequence), his premiere issue regularly fetches 100,000 pounds at auctions. At their latest comic show, someone stashed a stolen copy of Electric Man #1 in their boxes. Hoping for a business-saving finder’s fee, Archer attempts to track down the rightful owner. The trail leads him to Lauren McCall, the mysterious daughter of a wealthy collector, her thuggish uncle, and a slightly cracked American Electric Man fanatic.

Electric is an affectionately knowing valentine to geeky cult culture, choked full of clever references and a generous helping of local Edinburgh color. Shot for pocket change, its cast is a bit of a mixed bag, but Toby Manley is engagingly earnest as Archer. Likewise, Jennifer Ewing (online host of Crazy Sexy Geeks) has the right look and presence of a comic convention femme fatale. As the scheming Uncle Jimmy, Derek Dick (a.k.a. Fish) looks and sounds like he could have stepped out of a Ken Loach movie, which is a good thing in this context. Unfortunately, Mark McKirdy is rather annoyingly shticky as Wolf, never convincingly realizing his supposed scruffy charms on-screen.

Despite the occasional limitations of cast and resources, Electric is a light hearted romp that consistently inspires gentle chuckles rather than gut-busting laughs. A refreshing respite from special effects, gross out humor, and grimy social realism, Electric Man should amply please its target ComicCon demographic. Recommended for comic readers and fans of understated indie comedies, Electric Man is now available on DVD and hits VOD this Friday (9/13), via FilmBuff’s platforms.

LFM GRADE: B

Posted on September 10th, 2013 12:30pm.

By Joe Bendel. In a country where women are forbidden to drive cars and movie theaters are prohibited, this is obviously a significant two-fer. Not only is it considered the first feature film produced entirely in Saudi Arabia, it was also directed by a woman. (It should be noted that the film was partly backed one of the prince’s companies, lest you suspect that the Zionist conspiracy was working overtime.) It might not drag Saudi Arabia into the modern world, but at least Haifaa Al Mansour’s Wadjda is a good film well worth seeing when it opens this Friday in New York.

Ten year old Wadjda’s attends a hardline Islamist girls’ school that has little to teach beyond the Koran. Bless her heart, she is a terrible student, but obviously much more interesting than her docile classmates. Everyone is rather surprised when she enrolls in the school’s Koran reciting competition, but she has plans for the prize money. She is determined to buy the sparkling new green bicycle that caught her eye.

Of course, biking is strictly not allowed for girls. After all, those narrow seats might rob them of their virtue. Seriously, that is the justification. Nevertheless, Wadjda convinced her neighborhood friend Abdullah to secretly teach her how to ride his bike. Thanks to the circumstances of her family life, she will have plenty of time to spend with him. Her loving mother works on the other side of town, forced to rely on her surly driver to shuttle her back and forth. In contrast, Wadjda’s father is an infrequent presence in her life. He lives with his mother, who seems to be plotting a second marriage for her son. Wadjda’s mother lives in fear of this nuclear option.

Wadjda is a gentle coming of age story, but it is bursting with telling moments. Perhaps the greatest eye-opener is the extent to which women, such as Wadjda’s shrewish head mistress Ms. Hussa, enable and promote their society’s institutionalized misogyny. Time and again, Wadjda’s mother faces major dramas over what would be mere day-to-day chores for women in the west, because of her gender restrictions. It is also hard to see what use Wadjda’s Islamist education will ever be, but that is obviously the whole point.

Nonetheless, both Wadjda and Abdullah (played by Waad Mohammed and Abdullrahmin Algohani, respectively) represent the promise of youth. Given her extensive screen time, Mohammed is particularly impressive, largely carrying the film with aplomb, but they are both immensely likable, blessed with natural screen charisma. Watching their chemistry develop gives viewers hope, but they are only two kids.

While Wadjda the film is understandably small in scope, there are considerable stakes involved for mother and daughter alike. Monsour tells a timely and compelling story with a sure directorial hand and a sensitive touch.Indeed, the indomitable Wadjda is a remarkably engaging character who ought to win over art house audiences. Highly recommended, particularly for those interested in global women’s rights issues, Wadjda opens this Friday (9/13) in New York at the Lincoln Plaza Cinema.

LFM GRADE: A-

Posted on September 9th, 2013 at 3:44pm.

By Joe Bendel. In North Korea, loyalty is only for the little people. In contrast, the state owes them nothing for their faithful service and sacrifice. A trio of DPRK sleeper spies learns this lesson the hardest way possible in Jang Cheol-soo’s Secretly Greatly, which the Korean Cultural Service will screen for free this Tuesday in New York.

Won Ryu-hwan is one of the most lethal commandos ever forged by the North Korean military. Folks in a sleepy South Korean town know him as Bang Dong-gu, the village idiot. To maintain his deep cover, Won follows a strict regimen, such as regularly being seen in public doing both number one and number two. It is a real bummer for Won when the lovely Yu Yu-ran sees him doing his duty (if you will), but at least he will have some comrades to commiserate with when two new sleepers arrive in town.

Lee Hae-rang is supposed to be a hipster-rocker, but he cannot play the simplest of chords. However, he is well connected as the illegitimate son of a high ranking general. On the other hand, Ri Hae-jin makes a convincing high school student, because he is still a teenager. Of the three, only Ri has seen any action, carrying out the assassinations of several defectors.

With the change at the top of the regime, the sleeper agents suddenly look like a potential liability, resulting in a general self-termination order. Of course, Won will do anything his government demands, but first he has the gall to ask for some assurance the Party will take care of the beloved mother he has not seen for years. Right, do you want the bad news first or the really bad news. Regardless, his old commander Kim Tae-won has been dispatched to personally handle the three newly dubbed “traitors.”

Based on a web-comic, Secretly is unusually forthright about the nature of the Communist North. Characters often refer to work camps as a punishing fact of life. Yet, it also portrays the soul crushing impact of the lifetime of propaganda Won has absorbed and still desperately clings to. Nevertheless, the first half of the film mostly hits comedic notes, often approaching outright slapstick.

Of course, when the DPRK turns on its former heroes, the film pivots into much darker territory. When it is finally go time, action coordinator Park Jeong-ryul delivers some spectacularly cinematic but seriously down-and-dirty fight scenes. Bear in mind, Secretly was a blowout hit at the Korean box office, so you can also expect some tragedy down the stretch, but that is also rather realistic. Pyongyang does not do happily-ever-afters.

Kim Soo-hyun fully commits himself to Dong-gu’s cringy humiliations, perhaps even overdoing it a tad. Still, he is a credible action figure when Won gets down to business. Park Ki-woong is a bit more restrained as would be rocker Lee, while Son Hyun-joo is all kinds of badness as the conspicuously scarred military heavy. Although is a small supporting role, Lee Chae-young also has some fine moments as the town tramp, nicely bringing out Dong-gu’s inner tensions.

Secretly has no illusions about the dehumanizing nature of the DPRK, but it is not so crazy about the ROK government, either. Arguably, the most sympathetic figure of officialdom is Kim Soo-hyuk, the unreconstructed but fundamentally decent cold warrior charged with capturing the sleeper spies. Altogether it is a strange mix of broad comedy, gritty action, and cynical intrigue that works far better than it might sound. Recommended for fans of spy vs. spy beatdowns, Secretly Greatly screens tomorrow (9/10) at the Tribeca Cinemas, free of charge, courtesy of the Korean Cultural Service in New York.

LFM GRADE: B+

Posted on September 9th, 2013 at 3:35pm.