“Obscurities and What the Hell Was That?!?: The Stuff You’re Definitely Missing on NETFLIX”

“Obscurities and What the Hell Was That?!?: The Stuff You’re Definitely Missing on NETFLIX”

The following picks should keep you busy for the next few weeks; if not, you, like me, have way too much time on your hands… weirdo.  We should start a support group!  At least until “Luke Cage” comes out on September 30^th; then, I might be unavailable for a bit…

NEW ARRIVALS

TV/DRAMA

MARCELLA

(2016, TV-MA, 8 episodes, 45 Min. each, NETFLIX ORIGINALS)

Expect a nomination for Anna Friel’s performance of the mentally unstable Detective Marcella Backland, a woman on the brink of madness.  Well, it isn’t so much as a “brink” as it is “did she just freaking do what I think she just freaking did?!?”.  While there are a few unfortunate holes in this sometimes typical procedural, there are enough surprises and characters to keep you guessing.  This is a well-executed whodunit, with richly drawn characters and strong acting that never lets you down.  It is also one of the few shows with one of the most diverse casts you will find.  It is refreshing to see and hear the heartbeat of this story, indeed what I imagine the real London is actually like, in the ethnic and cultural diversity on display here.  No stereotypes, just well-designed lives with intertwining stories.  Oh, and a few lunatics.  The story itself is about Marcella re-joining the police force after her husband leaves her.  She gets caught up in the investigation of a serial murderer, the identity of whom you probably will not see coming.  Just don’t try to watch it all in one sitting; the story is pretty heavy, and should be taken in, say, no more than a couple of doses a night.  LIKE ME.

International/Drama/Independent

PAUL VERHOEVEN’S TRICKED

(2012, NR, 88 minutes, FCCE/AMSTELFILM)

The director of ROBOCOP, BASIC INSTINCT, and STARSHIP TROOPERS likes to stretch his limits.  In this production, he had screenwriter and fellow Netherlander Kim van Kooten write four pages of a script.  Then, they allowed the residents of their home country to complete the rest.  He and another writer sat down with all of the submissions, pulled the best stuff from all of them, and came up with a fifty-five minute film that is fun (and occasionally painful) to watch.  You would never guess, from the final production, that thousands of people had a hand in figuring this story all out.  All you need to know is that a family man, on his fiftieth birthday, and on the verge of losing his company, hits rock bottom when one of his girlfriend’s shows up to his party pregnant.  That is the first few minutes of the film, the original scripted part; the rest, well, is fun.  None of the people in this film are all that likeable, but that isn’t the point.  This is art, created in a way that is original and fresh.  In fact, the first half hour of the Netflix presentation is actually a documentary on how they did it.  You should not fast-forward, by the way.  Listen to Paul and the rest of the production team and watch as they create, ponder, come up with a color scheme for the ever-changing story, and eschew on the number of submitted pages they actually had to go through.  Then watch the film itself, and see if you aren’t surprised with how cohesive (and amorally rewarding) the story turns out.  And yes, it is subtitled, but you’ll feel smarter afterwards, so stop complaining and go watch the damn thing.

The LETHAL WEAPON Movies

(1987 – 1998, R, approx. 120 minutes Each, WARNER BROTHERS/SILVER PICTURES)

Someone at Fox Studios thought it would be a good idea to turn this beloved franchise into a TV show.  It doesn’t debut on the network until September 21^st, which gives you plenty of time to catch up on the classics beforehand.  The first film is interesting to watch in that it re-invigorated a washed up genre: the “buddy-cop” films.  Shane Black’s first released script (MONSTER SQUAD came out later in ’87) turns the typical odd-couple concept on its head, introducing a chemistry between the two leads that may have wavered in later films, but still kept the series going for four decent enough films.  The strongest is the second one, the weakest the third, but all are worth a watch.  Or a re-watch.  Do it before the show airs, to better judge the new cast (Damon Wayans and Clayne Crawford in the roles made famous by Danny Glover and Mel Gibson).  Besides, part of the third installment was filmed in Clearwater; watch and see if you can recognize the location.

-        T.S. Kummelman

You guys have been a little slow, lately… no challenges?!?  This is a lot easier than it sounds, kids; Netflix always throws some stupid sounding queues together for you (Quirky Bollywood Movies, Foreign Horror Comedies, etc), so think of something creative and make me hunt this stuff down!  Otherwise, I’m binge watching “Stranger Things” as many times as I can over the next few weeks…

The 'Not-So-Critical' Critic: MECHANIC: RESURRECTION

The 'Not-So-Critical' Critic: 

on MECHANIC:  RESURRECTION (2016, 98 minutes, R)

 

The Quick of It -

This is an ode to all bad action films.  Statham, you disappoint me.  Your parents should be ashamed.  I’m not even saying this because the film is a sequel, not living up to the original’s hype.  I say this because it was just a disaster from the start. 

I am a huge fan of Jason Statham, and have been without question.  He has been apart of some above-mediocre projects before, but this is by far the worst.  I do not understand how he could let this happen.  His stock in Hollywood should not be this bad! 

RESURRECTION continues his Arthur Bishop role, but is put into the trope of ‘bad guy kidnaps girl to make good guy do what he wants’.  Oh, how about we make him realize at the start that this is a trap?  How about we actually make them fall in love in a day’s time?  How about we make her more sympathetic by having her an ex-vet now schoolteacher at a school with kids who were rescued from human trafficking… in Cambodia?  Ok…

Oh, and the love interest… Jessica Alba.  Pleasant on the eyes, so should be a good addition… nope.  Do not be fooled thinking any super-hot love scene is incorporated here to push the bar up to make this worth seeing.  Oh, there is a scene… but could have been put on by some frisky Puritans for all I could tell.

And don’t think Tommy Lee Jones is there to save anything.  He is a ‘rock star’ arms dealer, with plenty of piercings and leather.  Looked like a reject of the Rolling Stones tribute band.  I love the man as an actor but this was ridiculous. 

Everything is wrong with the film.  At the start, the outdoor fight scene is clearly indoors and has some 80’s dressed bad girl confronting Bishop with a band of thugs.  But the fight sequence was good… so some hope.  Then they put us at his next hideaway, far from civilization.  More horrible dialogue, terrible story development, and crappy shot placement, sending me further down the spiral.  This looked like a film student trying to do his best, and failing.  Dennis Gansel, a German trained director, shows that he is still too green for any larger budget projects.  The screenplay writers Philip Shelby and Tony Mosher should hide their heads for a while, until the dust settles and everyone forgets. 

Spoiler examples you ask… sure!  How about the first assassination job, on an African arms dealer who is being detained on an island prison.  Oh, and sharks in the water, can’t forget the sharks.  The guy is about to be killed by a past lieutenant of his.  No… Bishop decides to kill the lieutenant right before the deadly blow, get invited to a private dinner, and then kill the guy there.  Ahh…?

Or, how about the second kill.  He is to kill another arms dealer who has a penthouse in a 70-story building, with a pool that hangs over the edge.  Cool concept for an accidental kill.  But once completed and Bishop slides into a room a few stories below, with the window closed, you can hear the guys screaming as he passes the window and then hit the ground with a splat… from 60-plus stories above…  Who knew?

The writing was atrocious, the acting could not save a clip of celluloid, and the plot holes were too numerous to count… and I’m not watching again to get an accurate count.  As an added insult to themselves, they knew how bad the holes were, they added scenes to try and fill some of the problems, making those awkward “oh, that was how it was done” or “that explains why or how he knew that”.  Yes, that bad.

Grade: D-

'Blu-ray or Bust' - THE NICE GUYS

'Blu-ray or Bust'

THE NICE GUYS (2016, R, 116 minutes, MISTY MOUNTAINS/WARNER BROTHERS)

Shane Black is one of those directors that leave an indelible mark on your psyche.

No one does a buddy-movie quite like him; his dialogue, his action, is all so recognizable that you know you are either watching something he wrote, directed, or both. LETHAL WEAPON, KISS KISS BANG BANG, THE LAST BOYSCOUT—all films that feature one main, recurring element that Black has always had a knack for: The Odd Couple.

Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe star as Holland March and Jack Healey (respectively), two guys following a simple missing persons case that gets a whole lot bigger as they bumble their way through the conspiracy. Gosling plays March as a private detective that gets through life by acting like he knows everything, whereas Healey is hired muscle whose answer to most of his cases is a solid punch to the face. Neither one is as smart as they want to be, and neither as good as March’s daughter Holly (Angourie Rice, the amazing young actress from THESE FINAL HOURS—an Australian end-of-the-world flick available on Netflix) (hint, hint) wants them to aspire to be.

The film is chock full of sarcasm and dark humor. Some of the best bits involve our two heroes responding to a particular situation the way any selfish cad would. If anything, Black is never all that kind to his main characters; he exploits their weaknesses, guiding them toward some sense of resolution that sometimes feels rather unfulfilling. And there are still some familiar scenarios which hint at prior works, almost as if he is giving himself a nod. The foul-mouthed daughter from BOYSCOUT? There are traces of her in Holly. Remember Riggs from WEAPON, and the dead wife subplot? It’s here, too.

And the surprising thing is that Black has had this script for years. He re-worked it a few times, finally setting the film in the 1970’s. The era works well for the story, and allows for a few jokes that play on how things are now, compared to that bygone era of disco hair and questionable ethics (like those don’t exist today—hell, my hair gets bigger every stinkin’ time I wash it). So he had plenty of opportunity to wash away some of those repeated similarities and subplots.

Yet the one thing that works best, as it does in every Black odd couple film, is the casting of the leads. There is an undeniable chemistry between Gosling and Crowe, which drives the film. Sometimes you don’t really care what’s going on with the plot, so long as you get to keep watching them interact with each other. And Rice is a wonderful accompaniment to the testosterone-driven story. She is our moral check; our guide to what should be the right way to do things.

The other standout in this film is the charismatic vileness of Matt Bomer (“White Collar”, “American Horror Story”). As assassin “John Boy”, he is one of Black’s more insidious creations. His is the sobering presence in the film, the one that begs the viewer to start taking the fatalistic violence a bit more seriously.

This is an absolute necessity on Blu-ray; it is an action film, and the soundtrack is complimentary not only to the era in which the film takes place, but also to the story itself. And there are explosions, and lots of violence, and that always looks better in high definition! There are two making-of documentaries, and while they don’t tell you a whole lot about the filmmaking process, they do exactly what they need to: tell you how this whole mess came together into such a nice, funny, bloody package.

Black’s last film was 2013’s IRON MAN 3; prior to that, he had taken an eight year vacation from Hollywood, possibly because of the lack-luster reception at the box office for KISS KISS—which was actually one of his best films. There are not many screenwriters in Hollywood that are capable of rehashing their own themes and still make them seem fresh. We should be thankful that Black gets back to basics here, as his next film is a reboot of the “Predator” series, and Predators tend not to bumble. Or crack wise. Or lock their kid in the trunk…

Grade: A

Special Features: B

Blu-ray Necessary: Abso-freakin’-lutely.

-- T.S. Kummelman

The 'Not-So-Critical' Critic: WAR DOGS

The 'Not-So-Critical' Critic:

on WAR DOGS (2016, 114 minutes, R)

The Quick of It -

This week I had choices.  You would think that there is a preferred choice, and that is mostly true.  This week's preferred choice should probably have been BEN-HUR.  While I am not a purest, and do enjoy a good Roman movie, this did not appeal to my sense of 'need' at the moment.  I needed something with a little more edge and possibly a laugh or two.

Of course as the movie is starting, I am questioning my choice... why wouldn't I.  WAR DOGS doesn't promise much but looks like it may have some decent moments.  We have Miles Teller and Jonah Hill playing an 'arms dealer duo' that is based on a true story - of David Packouz and Efraim Diveroli, who capitalized on the fall of the arms race era. 

The studio sold this as a comedy, which is not entirely true.  Yes, director Todd Phillips is known for the HANGOVERs and OLD SCHOOOL, but his was not in that vein of "ha-ha".  Instead, it was a blending of a true story style progression with comedy sprinkled in, and was the correct formula.  The movie was broken into chapters for better transitions and avoided the choppier formats prevalent in 'based on real events' movies.  Adding the narration of the lead character, Packouz, the final product felt more like a visual book.  I call that a win! 

The acting was above par.  There were some stereotyping going on for minor characters, some added character quirks to add flavor, and situational levity for attempts at uniqueness.  But this story has been told before... or so it would seem.  Hill's laugh for the character was by far the funniest part.  Every time... every time...  made me chuckle.  Seeing the ruggedly good looking Bradley Cooper in a pair of thick-lens glasses almost pulled off a Clark Kent.  You couldn't help but stare into those bulbous eyes.

So my choice for this week was sort of a win.  Not sure even as I write this, but I was not disappointed either.  You get what you paid for here.  Hill is great, Teller can carry a lead role, and Phillips can shine as a director and story crafter.

Grade: B-

'Blu-ray or Bust' - THE LOBSTER

'Blu-ray or Bust'

THE LOBSTER (2016, R, 118 minutes, FILM 4/IRISH FILMBOARD/A24/CANAL +)

When I was a teenager, I identified with “Charlie” from “The Perks of Being a Wallflower”. He was quiet, reserved, didn’t have a whole lot of friends, but held close to the ones he had. He was a tragically triumphant character. He survived, and that compelled me, and gave me hope for surviving my own life.

And now I come across “David”, a man who after his wife leaves him for another man, finds himself swept away by a system that requires you to have a companion. Shipped off to a hotel, he has forty-five days to find love, or he gets turned into an animal of his choosing—hence, the title of the film. This remarkable adult fable feels like a Wes Anderson film; the situation is made plausible by the characters making their way through the story, and their reactions are absurdly perfect and identifiable.

Playing upon the typical social trappings of dating and relationships, David, whose only companion is his brother—who was turned into a dog on his prior stay at the hotel, finds himself at the mercy of the workings of the hotel. Said “workings” thrust him into his search for love with lessons played out on a stage by the hotel staff for the guests, social dances, and erection checks by the maid every morning. Yeah, I just said that.

But that is the charm (and occasional honest brutality) of the film created by writer/director Yorgos Lanthimos (DOGTOOTH, ALPS). Every emotion, from disassociation to love to devotion to fear and sadness, is laid bare. Sometimes comically. And at others, with a brusque shot of harsh reality. It is an allegory, it is an adult fairy tale, it is a terribly lovely look at love.

Colin Farrell (IN BRUGES, TOTAL RECALL) proves himself again to be the best actor to come out of Ireland in my lifetime. He captures David’s desire, his need, to find companionship with a devotion to the craft that proves his artistry; from his facial expressions to his halting speech, and his ways of trying to adapt to the person he is attempting to court. He will capture your heart, whether you want him to or not. Rachel Weisz (THE MUMMY, CONSTANTINE) narrates, and plays a character known only as “Short Sighted Woman” in the credits. But she is the other hidden heart of this film, capturing the emotion we would all rather not name at one point or other. Whereas many people jump straight into love, her namelessness remains a constant reminder that if love is not cautious, if it is not self-aware, it can be just as dangerous as that faithful leap from a cliff’s edge. There is water down there somewhere, but can you really trust that jump? There could be rocks at the bottom…

As this was filmed entirely in Ireland, this is a must on Blu-ray. The lush and lonely forests, the winding mountain roads; this is a movie in which the perfect settings are used, and it only accentuates the story and the characters inhabiting it. There is one “making of” documentary, a twenty-minute method-to-the-madness piece which shows you just how involved everyone was in this story, and how much trust they put into each other and Lanthimos.

So, yeah; now I identify with a hopeless romantic named “David”. Charlie from “Perks” gave me hope at surviving life, and David gives me hope at surviving love. If only I’d found David at the same time that I’d found Charlie…

And as much as I identify with him, I think I’d rather be a monkey than a lobster. Not many people eat monkeys.

Grade: A

Special Features: B

Blu-ray Necessary: Most Definitely

The 'Not-So-Critical' Critic: STAR TREK BEYOND

The 'Not-So-Critical' Critic: 

on STAR TREK BEYOND (2016, 122 minutes, PG-13)

The Quick of It -

A franchise that has now produced three new movies as a reboot comes under major scrutiny.  This is a challenge that requires some careful consideration.  Being that this franchise comes from a long line of source material, writers and directors must always feel that they are walking on egg shells, or balancing on a thin wire with rabid dogs looking up, hoping they fall.

STAR TREK BEYOND has to be a credit to Simon Peggand Doug Jung's brilliance to continue along the Trekking path.  Keeping this short, they reinvigorate the 'buddy triangle' between the three leads; Kirk, Spock, and McCoy.  This was something even Karl Urban (Dr. McCoy) knew needed to happen.  So much so, he was not on board to do another film since he felt Dr. McCoy was not being utilized properly.  The script and director Justin Linn (of FAST AND THE FURIOUS fame) changed his mind and made a great product.

The parts that make the whole demonstrate that there are more stories to tell in the Star Trek universe.  The settings go from interesting to mind-blowing!  The Starbase Yorktown was 'beyond' anything I have seen in a long time in space movies.  Visually, the layout and cinematic shots were incredible.  This alone makes it worth the watch.

 The story is simple enough, with a nod to past storylines, safe character directions, and a friendly twist at the end.  But I did not find this to make for bad storytelling. The Enterprise has been on an extended deep space mission and everyone is suffering from the mental stress.  Also with other home issues (not to spoil things here), Kirk and Spock struggle with remaining on the Enterprise.  Then following a distress call, the direction of the plot only puts them further into the unknown, and facing a new enemy.

My delay in making time for this film seems now like a bad call.  I could have missed seeing it on the silver screen, and that would have been a shame.  I am still thankful for JJ Abrams for making this possible, and believe he has done better with Star Trek than with Star Wars.

Grade: B+

'Blu-ray or Bust' - CRIMINAL

'Blu-ray or Bust'

CRIMINAL (2016, R, 113 minutes, SUMMIT ENTERTAINMENT/MILLENIUM FILMS)

Smart action thrillers should be celebrated when they are done right.

They should be held above the regular action crap that Hollywood throws up every summer, regurgitating ideas and one-liners like an old lady that ate too much bad potato salad at the Bingo Hall Pot Luck. Occasionally, one of those pieces of fluff turns out to be a lot more entertaining than you’d expect—when the first THE EXPENDABLES came out, it was a hell of a lot more fun than it had any right to be. By the third one, the idea had worn thin, and the “franchise” had become just another bad side dish in the same genre it poked so much fun at in the beginning.

But I’m talking SMART action films—ones that have intelligence in the writing, the plot, and the characters. Classics are DIE HARD, THE TOWN, and half of the “James Bond” and “Jason Bourne” films. There is a different feel to all of them, a certain sophistication to the choreography and the set-pieces, which all compliment the characters and the actors playing them. Done right, the smart action thriller can be emotional, edge-of-your-seat entertainment.

CRIMINAL tries hard to live up to some of its predecessors, and while it falls short in a few areas, it proves itself to be a rather smart addition to the genre. Kevin Costner plays “Jericho”, a prison inmate that is implanted with the memories of a dead CIA operative (Ryan Reynolds). Jericho is a bad dude, and having the memories of a good guy screws up his head. Costner is like a social Frankenstein, and watching him grapple with suddenly having a conscience where he once lacked all sense of right and wrong is fun to watch. Seeing Costner struggle with the invading id is what gives this film its heart, and keeps you watching. It is when he isn’t on screen that the film starts to lose focus.

The villain, a loco Spanish guy that wants to topple the various governments of the world, is played with a bit too much insanity by Jordi Mollà (RIDDICK). He does his best to derail the mood and atmosphere of the film, but thankfully, we have Costner to fall back on. Besides the star of the film, there is another saving grace—that of the subtle brutality of Antje Traue’s (MAN OF STEEL, SEVENTH SON) “Else”, a hit-woman which proves that not every right-hand goon has to be a testosterone infused male. Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Oldman round out the cast, but they are one-note characters, playing parts not much different than they have before.

The special features include deleted scenes, and a forty-minute long “behind the scenes” doc that talks to just about everyone in the cast and the folks behind the cameras. Any doc that includes a look into the composing of the soundtrack gets a big nod from me; usually, it is just a bunch of actors stroking each other’s egos backstage (there is some of that here, of course, but there are also some interesting facts about this particular cast you might not have realized at first…). This is an action film, so if you are going to watch it, you should do so on the Blu-ray format. The explosions are pretty, London is pretty, and the soundtrack is just as essential a component as the other technical aspects.

While CRIMINAL may not be the best film ever made, it certainly deserves your attention. Without Costner as the lead, this would have been just another summer flick. Enjoy the casting genius before Stallone starts hiring him.

Grade: B

Special Features: A

Blu-ray Necessary: Definitely

-- T.S. Kummelman