Tag: film

Classic Film Review: The Strange Women of Limmeridge House

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

The Woman in White is a mystery drama film that was released in 1948 and is actually quite impressive in regard to the look but is a little slow on the plot development. Peter Godfrey is the director of the film while the screenplay was written by Stephen Morehouse Avery. The film was based on a well-known novel by Wilkie Collins, which was written in 1860. That could explain why the film feels a little slow at times.

Included in the cast are Alexis Smith, Eleanor Parker, Sydney Greenstreet, Gig Young, Agnes Moorehead, and John Abbott.

A man hired to tutor a woman on drawing walks from a train station to an estate known as Limmeridge encounters a woman in white in the night. The woman vanishes when a carriage approaches. The man, Walter Hartright, is told of an asylum nearby, and that a woman had just escaped. Hartright makes it to the house and meets the residents. He then meets Laura Fairlie, who bears a striking resemblance to the woman he encountered during his late-night walk. Hartright begins to learn some strange secrets of the house, including a cousin who disappeared some years before. There is a fortune at stake, and Hartright finds that he may have to free a woman wrongly imprisoned within the asylum and figure out which member of the house is capable of murder to protect their secrets.

Okay, this is a pretty strange and convoluted plot. The acting was pretty good though. I also was impressed with the set design considering the time when this film was produced.

It feels a bit of a slog to sit through this thing at times because I had a hard time staying focused on the gist of the story.

It is a film that take some concentration at times.

The costuming and set design were remarkably well done. It’s a very pretty movie to watch in spite of it being in black and white. That alone may be enough reason to give this another viewing.

Anyway, there are some challenges when it comes to understanding the motivations of the characters and some elements of the story, but it’s still a film worthy of some time.

Film Review: An Exorcism For The Road

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

The Conjuring: Last Rites is a decent enough send-off to this branch of the horror franchise that starred Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga. The film is directed by Michael Chaves, and the screenplay is written by Ian Goldberg, Richard Naing, and David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick with James Wan sharing story credit.

Wilson and Farmiga reprise their roles as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the reputed paranormal investigators who allegedly conducted several exorcisms over the years. Mia Tomlinson plays their only daughter, Judy Warren. Ben Hardy, Elliot Cowan, Rebecca Calder, and Steve Coulter are also included in the cast.

The Warrens have largely stepped away from exorcisms and major investigations in favor of writing and lecturing due to Ed’s heart issues. Their daughter gets drawn into the supernatural plight of the Smurl family, who have been dealing with various ghostly manifestations for several months that seen to be centered around a strange-looking mirror that was gifted to one of the daughters. Judy is also recently engaged, and the young man is pulled into this last dance with the demonic.

This film is actually pretty good. It is somewhat predictable, but I have come to enjoy the chemistry between the two lead actors here. I am not sure that I really believe in the legend of the Warrens, but I like the portrayal put forth by Wilson and Farmiga. The film also strangely seems to promote the benefits of a loving, committed marriage and even manages to not bash the Christian faith.

The jump scares are pretty standard but well done. The background of the spirits menacing the Smurls is pretty standard. Not much is done here to break new cinematic ground, but I didn’t necessarily mind that.

The performances were solid enough, and I felt sympathy for the people involved. It’s pretty obvious that quite a bit of artistic license was used, but the film worked well enough to shrug that off.

This film is not really any sort of masterpiece of the horror genre, but it gets the job done as far as being a reasonable diversion from the daily stressors of life. That’s just fine with me. Go see it with my blessing, for all that is worth.

Film Review: If Only It Was Just An Affair…

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Holland is a psychological thriller that has a few moments of almost being interesting but just couldn’t quite get there. Mimi Cave is the director of this mediocre cinematic effort, which was written by Andrew Sodroski. Nicole Kidman has the lead role and is accompanied by a cast which includes Matthew Macfadyen, Gael Garcia Bernal, Jude Hill, and Rachel Sennott.

Nancy Vandergroot is a teacher in the small town of Holland, Michigan, which is rather proud of its Dutch American roots. She is quite happy with her family until she starts to wonder if her husband, who travels a lot for work, is having an affair. She enlists the help of a friend and colleague to help her confirm her suspicions; however, the truth is something that is far worse.

The film does have some elements that are somewhat interesting, but somehow the end result is still rather hollow. The exploration of Dutch American roots is something not commonly displayed in movies, so I thought that was a decent start. I think that I had a hard time really caring about any of the main characters. Kidman is usually a solid casting choice, and she does fine with this role, but there is nothing all compelling about her character. I had a hard time being all that interested in her plight that starts to unfold.

The plot of a seemingly dutiful husband’s double life is somewhat overdone even if the setting in this film was a little eccentric and unique.

The performances were not terrible, which was helpful, but also nothing was all that memorable. The town did seem to have some charm.

Although it’s hard to have any real criticism of the film’s technical elements, I just found that it was missing something that should have made it more gripping.

Film Review: A Step In The Right Direction

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is a somewhat encouraging addition to the Marvel Studios’ cinematic output and is directed by Matt Shakman. It took four screenwriters to come up with a reasonably enjoyable film, but they got there. Josh Friedman, Eric Pierson, Jeff Kaplan, and Ian Springer wrote the script with someone named Kat Wood sharing the story credit.

Pedro Pascal portrays Reed Richards also known as Mr. Fantastic alongside Vanessa Kirby as the Invisible Woman, Sue Storm. Ebon Moss-Bachrach plays Ben Grimm or the Thing. Finally, Joseph Quinn plays the Human Torch, Johnny Storm. Other cast members include Julia Garner, Sarah Niles, Mark Gatiss, and Ralph Ineson.

This story takes place in some parallel Earth in 1964. It has been four years since the space accident which transformed this family of astronauts and scientists into superheroes. Reed Richards and Sue Storm have discovered that they are about to welcome a new addition to the family. They are also warned by a Silver Surfer that a planet eater named Galactus is on his way to consume the entire planet. When the Fantastic Four take another space trip to find out what this guy’s problem was, they find an absurdly powerful being who is willing to spare the Earth in exchange for the child. Obviously, the Fantastic Four have some understandable objections to this plan and make a harrowing escape back to Earth to come up with a plan to defeat the oncoming. During the escape, the baby is born after Galactus induces Sue to go into labor. The Fantastic Four also have to contend with a growing panic among the people they have been protecting for the past few years. They have to unite the people and come up with a plan to send Galactus on his way with an unfulfilled appetite and without the new child.

This franchise has really struggled in the past couple of decades to gain a reliable cinematic audience. This iteration actually manages to be quite suspenseful and entertaining. The cast is more likeable somehow. The chemistry between Pascal and Kirby was also quite endearing. Johnny Storm was actually kind of funny at times.

The film seemed to have a pretty good mix of humor and heart in the performances. The 1960’s setting worked pretty well. I also appreciated that there was not much time spent on another origin story.

Obviously, there was some ridiculousness to forgive since it is a comic book movie, but it wasn’t quite as hard as it has been in recent contributions from Marvel.

Anyway, I am not generally a Fantastic Four fan, but I can still appreciate some success from the producers and studios when they come up with a reasonably entertaining product.

Film Review: A Hitman’s Mind Starts To Crumble

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Knox Goes Away is a 2023 thriller starring Michael Keaton, who also directed this movie. Gregory Poirier is the director. Keaton is joined by James Marsden. Ray McKinnon, Al Pacino, Marcia Gay Harden, and Suzy Nakamura.

Keaton plays a hitman John Knox, who has just been diagnosed with a very aggressive form of dementia and only has a few weeks before he loses his cognitive awareness. As he is making preparations for his inevitable decline, his son shows up with a wounded hand and in a panic. He explains that he had just killed a man who had lured his teenage daughter online and got her pregnant. The son, Miles, played by James Marsden, is aware of his father’s dubious and lethal profession and calls upon his expertise to help him get away with the understandable murder. Of course, Knox has yet to reveal his condition and is compelled to keep his sanity together as best he can in order to aid his son.

This film has a pretty intriguing plot, and Keaton’s performance is captivating. Knox handles his diagnosis with an impressive amount of stoicism. There is a certain subtlety to how Keaton portrays the lapses in Knox is experiencing as he tries to resolve this crisis and get his personal affairs in order.

Al Pacino plays Knox’s friend who ends up being the only one told about this condition. He is fine in this role, but there just isn’t much for him to do here.

The cast was pretty good overall. Ray McKinnon is one of these character actors who tends to leave an impression for some reason. Much like someone like John Goodman, he tends to make the scenes a bit better regardless of the size of his role. McKinnon plays Knox’s partner who takes the brunt of the consequences brought by Knox’s illness.

There is a fair amount of decent suspense that plays out effectively. One can feel a certain sympathy for Knox’s plight in spite of his terrible career choice.

I still wouldn’t call this a terrific film, but there is some effort at creativity. Keaton does a good job holding it together as both the star and director. It’s a decent enough diversion and has enough depth to keep one engaged.

Film Review: Who Let The Dinosaurs Out?

~ Peter Kanelis ~ 1 Comment

Jurassic World Rebirth continues the franchise began many moons ago by the late Michael Crichton who wrote the first novel, Jurassic Park. This is now the seventh film in the franchise, and my mixed reaction is likely not going to be surprising.

Gareth Edwards is the director of this film which was written by David Koepp. Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali, Jonathan Bailey, Rupert Friend, and Manuel Garcia-Rufo are included in the cast.

This story begins with a flashback in which an isolated island is the site of some questionable experiments involving the breeding of hybrid dinosaurs are being conducted. Of course, it all goes a bit awry when one of the experiments escapes and tears the laboratory to pieces before dashing off into the jungle.

Some years later, a team comprised of a couple of scientists, a snobby rich guy, and a few hired guns head out to the island to get some blood samples from various dinosaurs that could help cure some kind of heart disease. The team come across a family on a boating excursion who are attacked by some unfriendly and hungry prehistoric ocean dwellers. Everyone makes their way to the island after another harrowing attack to get to the lab where some hope of escape awaits.

Scarlett Johansson is in the lead as some kind of mercenary. Even though she spent some years playing Black Widow for Marvel Studios, I had a little trouble with being convinced that she was the right choice for this part. I guess I didn’t find her as intimidating as what the script seemed to call for.

The special effects were pretty cool, and dinosaurs were pretty well realized on the screen.

The film seems to have a slow start. but it does get somewhat better when the group makes it to the island. The family with Garcia-Rufo as the father actually got me more interested in the film. In recognized Garcia-Rufo from the Netflix series The Lincoln Lawyer, so it was kind of cool to see him in something a little different. He’s a decent actor and did well in this film.

The film does follow a familiar pattern established in the earlier installments. There are some new bells and whistles when it comes to the visual effects and set design, but the plot did not feel all that unique.

There is an innocent family in the mix, and a child who keeps getting threatened by the big, scaly beasts. Fortunately, I start to like the family. Even the slacker boyfriend of the elder daughter started to grow on me a bit.

The film manages to avoid being utter garbage, but it still isn’t one of the better ones of the series. It has some moments that are redeemable, it overall made me question the wisdom of the studio execs who keep on beating a dead raptor.

Film Review: The Multitudes Within Chuck Krantz

~ Peter Kanelis ~ 1 Comment

The Life of Chuck us in the running to become one of the best movies of 2025, in my humble opinion. Mike Flanagan is the screenwriter and director of this piece, which is adapted from a novella written by a not-so-new writer named Stephen King. Tom Hiddleston is in the lead role alongside the child actors portraying the younger versions of Charles Krantz. Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillan, Mia Sara, Mark Hamill, and Annalise Basso are part of the formidable cast.

The story unfolds from the end when Ejiofor’s character, Marty Anderson, notices some strange sights in the world around him. There is a serious increase in natural disasters, and the internet has completely collapsed. There are some peculiar advertisements cropping up depicting a picture of a man named Chuck Krantz, a seemingly normal accountant. As Chuck lies near death from a terminal brain tumor, the stars are blinking out, and the universe seems to be just shutting down.

Then, the story moves earlier in the Chuck’s life to a strange but uplifting impromptu dance performance before a street drummer. Then, Chuck’s childhood is laid out. All of this is helped by a narrator, Nick Offerman, who does a fantastic job of guiding the audience on this strange journey.

The novella is part of a collection by Stephen King entitled If It Bleeds. The film probably follows the source material pretty closely. There are some interesting twists and a few surprises throughout the film

The performances were solid and believable. The significant cast members were well-chosen. There was a kind of interesting subtlety to some of the performances during some of the more emotionally charged moments of the movie.

The film does seem to have a bit of a slow start, but it gets more engaging as it unfolds in its unconventional timeline. The three kids who played Chuck’s adolescent years did a great job as well. Flanagan has done quite a few adaptations of King’s works and seems to be pretty reliable. I do not recall being disappointed in some of his other works.

I have not read the novella, but I imagine that it is an example of how King actually demonstrates some variety in his writings.

I will also admit that I did not really recognize Mark Hamill as Chuck’s grandfather until the end credits came up. I thought he was familiar, but I was not sure why. Hamill is not someone who I consider to be a stellar actor, but he did quite well in this one. Maybe, he has actually gotten better in immersing himself in a role over the years, and I just failed to appreciate it.

Anyway, this film does deserve the acclaim it has received. It is certainly better than most of the nonsense coming out of Hollywood these days.

Film Review: Some Accountants Crunch More Than Just Numbers

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Ben Affleck returns as killer accountant Christian Wolff in The Accountant 2 directed by Gavin O’Conner. Bill Dubuque is the screenwriter. Jon Bernthal returns as the estranged, and probably just as dangerous, brother, Braxton. Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Daniella Pineda, Robert Morgan, and Grant Harvey join in the fray. J.K. Simmons has a brief appearance in the beginning.

Christian Wollf is autistic and is high functioning in the most lethal ways. He is asked by a former ally from the first movie to help her figure out why her mentor was murdered. It doesn’t take Christian long to determine a pretty complicated human trafficking situation is going on. Another assassin named Anais is also in the game, but she has amnesia to go along with her own dangerous skill set. Christian calls upon his brother, with whom he has a troubled relationship, to bring his own deadly talents to the table. Now, the players are on the board, the hunt is on, and the Accountant is about to balance the books with a lot of firepower.

As far as sequels go, this is a better one. Affleck does pull off bringing a certain vulnerability to this character in spite of the brutality he exercises. I did find Bernthal’s performance a little too manic at times, but I did find the unconventional brotherly relationship rather interesting.

The fight scenes were pretty slick, even if they were a little fanciful. The climax of the film where the Wolff brothers just storm this compound where children were being imprisoned in Mexico was pretty cool. Some criminals just deserve the kind of brutal attention that Christian and Braxton are so good at dishing out.

The film does have its slow moments periodically, but there are some moments that are almost charming. A scene where Christian ends up line dancing with a pretty girl in a bar seems kind of odd, but it worked for me.

There were some moments where the brothers tried to connect a bit, and those moments were rather poignant.

If another film turns up, I don’t think I will roll my eyes with the same level of derision I have when these announcements are made.

Film Review: Sometimes You Need More Than One Sensei

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Karate Kid: Legends has some pretty cool scenes and character moments, but the plot logistics are quite questionable. Jonathan Entwistle directed this film, which was written by Rob Leiber. The new kid is played by Ben Wang, and he is actually a pretty good choice. Ralph Macchio returns to The Karate Kid franchise as Daniel LaRusso, fresh off the completion of the series Cobra Kai. Jackie Chan reprises his role of Mr. Han from the 2010 The Karate Kid film.

The cast also includes Joshua Jackson, Sadie Stanley, Ming-Na Wen, and Aramis Knight.

The movie begins with a flashback scene in which Mr. Miyagi explains to a young LaRusso the connection his family has to the Han Family. When we’re caught up to the present day, Mr. Han has returned to kung fu instruction fulltime and is doing quite well. One of his students is a great nephew named Li Fong who has been carrying a burden of guilt. His mother has accepted a job in New York as a doctor, so Li has another big adjustment to make in his life.

As usual, he meets a pretty girl and runs afoul of her ex-boyfriend, who is a karate expert. Li is also quite skilled in the martial arts, but this adversary may be better. Mr. Han eventually shows up in the Big Apple to lend a hand in training his nephew for the expected big tournament. He feels that he could use some help and take a quick trip to California to recruit Daniel LaRusso to give his expertise to Li’s training.

There is a lot in this film I liked. The newer characters were actually pretty good. Sadie Stanley was pretty entertaining as Mia, the cheeky but charming love interest. Her relationship with her father, played by Joshua Jackson, was pretty endearing as well. A friendship between Li and the father develops as well, which seems to be a break from the trope in these types of stories.

Ben Wang has quite a bit of charisma to go along with his martial arts skill. It was also great to see Ming-Na Wen in the role of Li’s mother. The mother was pretty dead set against her son continuing his martial arts study, but one can have a bit more sympathy for her once the reason is revealed. Also, Wen is just great to watch. It’s pretty hard to believe that she is just over sixty, but she is Asian and obviously takes well care of herself.

The fight scenes are unrealistic but still fun to watch. The good-natured bickering between LaRusso and Han was also well played by Macchia and Chan.

For the most part, I enjoyed the film, however the plot needs some serious examination. First of all, it’s not really clear what is so unique about Li’s situation that Han felt compelled to seek assistance from LaRusso. The whole idea to get the two sensei in the same place seems rather strange and frankly hard to swallow.

I could almost buy a more coincidental meeting more than Han taking a quick trip to California to make his pitch to LaRusso.

The film does hit the right chords of nostalgia, but I had to fight for that enjoyment since I was pretty distracted by the weak elements in the plot.

Anyway, it’s another one in which I did not find terrible, but a better, more credible reason needed to be found for Han and LaRusso to meet.

Film Review: AI Versus The IMF

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Mission: Impossible-The Final Reckoning is a pretty fun cinematic experience as long as one doesn’t examine the actual plot too closely. Tom Cruise returns as super operative, Ethan Hunt, leader of the Impossible Missions Force, with Christopher McQuarrie as director. McQuarrie also co-wrote the script with Erik Jendresen.

This film continues the storyline which began in the immediate predecessor, Mission: Impossible-Dead Reckoning. Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames also return as Benjo Dunn and Luther Stickell, respectively. Hayley Atwell is back to help Ethan against the battle against a powerful Artificial Intelligence known as the Entity. Angela Bassett, Esai Morales, Pom Klementieff, and Greg Tarzan Davis are included in the cast.

When the film starts, Ethan Hunt has been in hiding for a few months after taking possession of a vital component to controlling the Entity. He rejoins his team and spends much of film trying to stay ahead of Gabriel, played by Esai Morales, who is trying to stop Ethan from achieving his ultimate goal of neutralizing the Entity. Ethan will have to decide who or what may be sacrificed in order to save the world from the Entity’s dominion.

As usual, there are some astonishing and sometimes ludicrous action sequences that are definitely eye-catching. Cruise puts out a strong performance which is likely his last turn as Ethan Hunt. This film is being touted as the final one in the franchise, but when it comes to Hollywood, who can say for sure?

The film is a bit of a jumble when it comes to the plot. There are some engaging callbacks to the earlier installments. Rolf Saxon reprises a role from the first film that was not much more than a cameo, and he has much more substantial part to play here.

There are times when the transition to different locations seems a little jarring, but the film is pretty long anyway. McQuarrie throws in quite a bit of death-defying moments in this film that almost makes it to three hours.

The problem is that Hunt at times seem too superhuman for the suspension of disbelief to be maintained. Although these films are not really designed to be grounded in reality, it is still a bit distracting when Hunt gets himself in some of these outlandish predicaments.

I thought Morales was pretty well cast as the main villain. There was nothing too spectacular about his performance, but he was not particularly bad either.

Overall, I was glad to have made it to the likely end of this franchise, or at least the end of this phase. It’s a film with some flaws and falls short of any real artistic greatness, however it was an enjoyable diversion from the daily pressures of real life. It certainly is better than many of the recent films I have seen.