Tag: movies

Film Review: One Night With Abigail Can End Your Life

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Abigail is a horror film that has a promising plot and some decent performances, but it could have benefited from a bit of restraint on the gore. So, who do we have to blame here? Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett share the director’s seat. Stephen Shields and Guy Busick are the co-writers.

A young actress named Alisha Weir plays the title role and is actually quite good. The cast includes Melissa Barrera, Dan Stevens, Kevin Durand, and Giancarlo Esposito. There is also another actor in the film named Angus Cloud, who apparently has recently died.

A group of criminals who do not know each other are assembled to kidnap a young girl after her ballet practice. She is apparently the daughter of a mysterious and dangerous crime lord. The ne’er-do-wells get an even bigger surprise to discover that pretty little Abigail is actually a vampire who has her own plans to feast. The whole caper turns into a gruesome fight for survival as Abigail shreds her kidnappers one by one.

Obviously, this film is pretty ludicrous on the outset. It’s not entirely a waste of time. There are some notable performances and moments. I did find that Abigail was very well cast. Weir is actually pretty compelling and amusing as the bloodthirsty little creature. She is convincingly frightened at first but delivers a few delicious moments of real menace at times. Other notable performances are presented by Barrera and Stevens. The head games that go on are pretty clever.

My main problem is that the amount of gore gets really distracting and unnecessary. It felt like the directors were going out of their way to break some record when it came to the gratuitous dismemberments and beheadings as well as the foul language. I really don’t have a weak stomach when it comes to either of these facets in some filmmaking, but there are moments that it feels like the writers and directors of this film are seriously too deficient on creativity to show some restraint and shrewd subtlety.

The film is not without merit, but I think leaving a little more to the imagination would have been a welcome improvement.

Film Review: The Twisters Hit The Ground Spinning

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Twisters is a disaster film that ended up being more entertaining than some would expect. It is billed as a sequel to the 1996, Twister, but it doesn’t really touch on that one, which I think was a smart call from the producers. Mark L: Smith is the screen writer with Lee Isaac Chung serving as directed. The story was apparently conceived by Joseph Kosinski.

The cast includes Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell, Maura Tierney, Anthony Ramos, and Brandon Perea.

Edgar-Jones plays a former storm chaser who had quit her favorite activity due to the tragic deaths of her team members. Five years later, she is working in New York as a meteorologist for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration when an old friend calls on her to join him on an effort to test a new tornado scanning device. Kate is understandably reluctant but decides to take the trip to Oklahoma. She then encounters a self-proclaimed tornado wrangler named Tyler Owens and his team. At first, they get along like chalk and cheese until they start to bond as the story develops. Kate has to put the past behind her as she revives her own experiments that were designed to tame the tornado, as she puts it.

I am dubious as to how the science behind the story is presented, and there are some typically outlandish escapes. The film works pretty well overall in spite of that. There is an issue with the predictability when it comes to how the relationships evolve. There are not that many surprises when it comes to these relationships. The actors are charismatic enough to pull it off. I ended up liking the ragtag group led by the reckless, arrogant Owens. Powell consistently manages to be likeable in spite of the immature arrogance of his character. Tyler actually reveals a more compassionate side of his nature that actually was portrayed rather believably. I am not that familiar with Daisy Edgar-Jones, but she also proved to be a good casting choice.

Some of the other characters were rather eccentric, but they managed to not be distracting enough for me to want to see them swept away by the tornadoes.

The visual effects and stunt work was well executed for the most part. My attention was pretty well captured through the whole film.

There are elements that are a bit ridiculous, but the film overall is quite entertaining. As far as popcorn entertainment goes, the film is one of the better ones and is a bit of a rare gem compared to much of the recent offerings coming from Hollywood.

Film Review: Axel Foley Turns The Heat Back On

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F manages to somewhat redeem the beloved franchise after the cinematic dumpster fire of its immediate predecessor. Eddie Murphy reprises the role of Detroit detective Axel Foley who keeps having reason to bring his distinctive style of mayhem to Beverly Hills. The screenplay was written by Will Beall, Tom Gormican, and Kevin Ettan. Mark Molloy is at the helm as director and at least does this with some competence and care for the series.

John Ashton, Judge Reinhold, Paul Reiser, and Bronson Pinchot are the returning cast members from the previous films. Kevin Bacon, Taylour Paige, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are newer and effective additions to the world.

Axel Foley has managed to somehow stay on the Detroit police force for these past several decades. At some point since he was last seen on screen, he had gotten married, sired a daughter, and divorced. He and his daughter have become estranged in recent years. She has moved out to California and has become a defense attorney. Her latest case has her mired in a deep nest of police corruption and drug trafficking. When she is getting a little closer to proving a client innocent of murdering a police officer, she is threatened rather dramatically. Of course, that isn’t going to set well with the relentless Axel Foley, which brings him back to Beverly Hills, much to the chagrin of his daughter.

Foley manages to catch up with his friends, Chief Taggart and now private investigator, Billy Rosewood. Rosewood has landed into some trouble of his own since he was helping Axel’s daughter and was on the scent of some dirty cops before he disappeared.

Taylour Paige, who plays Foley’s daughter, holds her own alongside the undiminished charisma and talent of Murphy. There were some interesting character moments as the script tries to fill in the background between the estrangement of father and daughter. Although he is still recognizably Alex Foley, there is some evidence of maturity mixed into the familiar brashness.

The script does a good job of evoking the affectionate sense of nostalgia for these characters and showing that they are not frozen in time. Relationships ebb and flow, and circumstances are always changing. It was interesting to get a sense of what Foley would have been like as a father, and he wasn’t that good at it, but the audience can still root for him to be better.

The new cast members seem to be enjoying the experience as well. Murphy still looks somewhat believable in his action sequences, although he isn’t quite as acrobatic as he was in the previous films.

The actual plot is a bit of a mess, but that’s not unusual for this franchise. It’s still better than Beverly Hills Cop III, Overall, it was fun to revisit this world even if I am instinctively suspicious of Hollywood’s insistence on resurrecting these franchises decades later. It’s not a great film, but it’s reasonably entertaining.

Film Review: A New Horizon Beckons

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Horizon: An American Saga-Chapter One is the beginning of what looks to be a pretty engaging and beautifully captured film series directed by Kevin Costner. He also co-wrote the script Jon Baird as well as stars. The cast is huge and includes Sienna Miller, Luke Wilson, Sam Worthington Jena Malone, Will Patton along with many others.

The film begins in 1859 when the town of Horizon is established in the San Pedro Valley. Four years after that, the town is raided by a tribe of Apache. Many of the residents are scattered as the consequences of the raid start to unfold. This is one of those epics where there are many groups of characters to follow. Costner plays a horse trader named Hayes Ellison who gets caught up in one of the disputes. This leads to him killing a man who was about to threaten the life of a young woman he had met. Ellison and the prostitute named Marigold have to flee Montana before the dead man’s crooked brother catches up with them. Various groups of characters are apparently going to converge on Horizon as the series progresses.

I am not going to be too much into trying to describe this plot because that will really test my patience. Costner is attempting to revisit an epic style of cinema with this complicated, romantic western. Although the story could use a little tightening up in some ways, it’s still a laudable and mostly successful effort. The scenery and set design look gorgeous. I have no complaints about the cast or their performances. There’s a certain gritty feel to the piece that comes across quite authentically. Many important pieces to a good film do come together quite nicely.

It is still too easy to lose the timeline when watching this. There is the sense that Costner has bitten off more than he can chew at times. The shift from various situations and stories can be a little jarring and distracting. I almost felt like I needed to keep notes to make sure I kept some of the relationships straight.

I: do appreciate the ambition that Costner has displayed here, and he pulls off most of it. It could be that much of my impressions is influenced by this being a very early introduction to the overall story and the characters, and it will be easier to follow once the next films are released.

I do recommend that more people see this film because it is better than much of what has come out of Tinseltown lately. It is a celebration of American history and an homage to the grit and courage of those early pioneers. The Native Americans also are portrayed with some depth and complexity as well. Costner created something that attempts to avoid a lot of caricature and shallow stereotypes. There are moments of moving compassion in the midst of the cruelty of the times.

If nothing else, Costner did accomplish something in that I am certainly looking forward to seeing the next installment.

Film Review: The Brat Pack Revisited

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Brats is an engaging documentary directed by Andrew McCarthy which explores the impact the moniker “Brat Pack” had on the group of young actors in the 1980’s who endured the unflattering label over the years,

The Brat Pack consisted of young actors such as Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, Ally Sheedy, and McCarthy himself who appeared together in certain films which launched a genre of films that depicted the angst and complicated relationships of those coming of age during the 1980’s. Films such as Pretty in Pink, Sixteen Candles, and of course, The Breakfast Club are considered the creme de la creme of this category. I almost forgot to mention St. Elmo’s Fire as well,

McCarthy reconnects with and interview some of his old colleagues. Many of them avoided contact with the others after the article published by New York magazine stuck them with the label. A couple of prominent members such as Molly Ringwald and Judd Nelson chose not to participate in the documentary, however McCarthy included them with archived footage.

McCarthy puts forth a pretty compelling examination of the past. He wanted to get a sense of what some of his fellow actors thought at the time and how some of their impressions have changed over the past few decades. McCarthy himself seems to have some complicated and nuanced view of the consequences of that article, and it was fascinating to see him wrestle with those emotions.

David Blum is the journalist who wrote the infamous article, and McCarthy sits down with him, which is great.

I have seen few of the movies themselves, but I was aware of the Brat Pack and generally enjoyed their works as separate films. Of course, I was too young at the time to appreciate the potential effect and consequences of the label at the time.

Emilio Estevez even agrees to talk to McCarthy. How long has it been since he has been in front of the camera?

It’s not the most earth-shattering documentary, but it is interesting and amusing. It’s even a little educational from a pop culture standpoint. McCarthy seems like a pretty nice fellow in spite of some of the lingering resentment over the impact on his career, which still ended up being pretty good.

Bigger fans of this group of actors will likely appreciate this film even more, however I was pretty impressed with the final edit. I still learned a lot and appreciated the sense of nostalgia the film evoked.

Film Review: Even The Eye Doctor Has Some Trouble Seeing The Light

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Sight is a pretty good biopic about renowned eye surgeon, Dr. Ming Wang. Andrew Hyatt directed the film as well as co-wrote it with John Duigan and Buzz McLaughlin. Terry Chen stars as Ming Wang with Greg Kinnear taking on the role of his business partner, Dr. Misha Bartnovsky. Fionnula Flanagan also stars as a nun who brings in a young girl who lost her sight at the hands of a wicked stepmother. The film is based on an autobiography written by Ming Wang and is likely quite compelling.

Dr. Wang had grown up during a period of time in China when there was a violent uprising against the Communist government. He had a thriving practice in Nashville, Tennesse after he earned his medical degree and worked alongside Dr. Bartnovsky. As Ming tries to help a young girl from India regain her sight, he struggles to put his painful childhood memories to rest. He is haunted by the memory of a young girl with whom he was friends who was torn from him by the dissidents, never to see her again. Ming is dedicated, but the dark memories are often on the verge of overwhelming him. It will take a young girl’s courage and sense of hope for him to develop a perspective that propels him to rediscover the drive to continue his mission to help as many people as possible out of their darkness.

Angel Studios produced this, and it is a pretty solid film. It is quite interesting and inspiring as intended. I also appreciated some exposure to some of the history and culture of China. The performances were quite compelling. Ming has a younger brother who is a bit of a mooch, and it’s not quite explained what happened there. The brother is a likeable mooch, but he feels like a bit of a loose thread as far as the story goes.

Angel Studios does a much better job of sharing their religious beliefs or biases without a lot of clunky or unrealistic dialogue. The producers and writers were smart to not have all of the challenges resolved in a perfect, glorious manner which would feel just a little too contrived. The ending is still heart-warming and seems to fulfill the message that the movie was trying to convey.

The film doesn’t drift into anything too incredulous. The book is still likely much better. The major purpose of this film seems to have been fulfilled quite effectively.

Basically, Angel Studios released a film that is not necessarily flawless, but it is still better than many Christian or faith-based films that have been produced in recent years.

Film Review: The Apes Rule Again

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is the latest in a franchise that actually has managed to stay reasonably solid for the past few years. The Planet of the Apes brand was rebooted in 2011, and this installment continues the story after the main protagonist’s death.

Wes Ball serves as director of the script that was written by Josh Friedman. The film is based on characters created by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver. Pierre Boulle wrote the original novel in 1963. The cast includes Owen Teague, Freya Allan, Kevin Durand, Peter Macon, and William H. Macy.

Caesar has died and is remembered by many of the intelligent apes with reverence. Some of his teachings have been maligned and distorted creating a society of some pretty dictatorial and ruthless apes. The protagonist in this one is a young ape named Noa. He seems a pretty amiable sort of simian with friends and family. His father is the leader of the village. Life is pretty good for Noa and his clan.

Well, that life takes a pretty startling turn when his village is raided. Noa manages to escape the clutches of another tribe under the leadership of a tyrannical ape named Proximus, but his tribe has been abducted. He allies himself with another lone, sagacious ape named Raka as he tries to locate his loved ones. They are joined by what they think is a mute human woman they initially name Nova. Nova, however, turns out to be more gifted and intelligent than they realize and certainly isn’t a mute.

Nova is on a quest of her own, and her allegiance to her newfound companions come into question at times. Noa learns some uncomfortable aspects of the history between humans and the apes, and he will have a big fight on his hands to reclaim his tribe and rebuild their homes.

Obviously, the big draw is the visual effects, and the execution here is first-rate. The scenery is quite majestic at times. I know that a heavy reliance on CGI is sometimes a contentious issue among movie fans, but this effort was first class. The performances were quite good. I was not familiar with much of the main cast, but they were well selected. William H. Macy was the only one I could recognize on sight, and as usual, he was quite good.

Freya Allan was also quite compelling as the somewhat dubious Nova. The relationship between Nova and Noa gets a little complicated, and I do not mean in the romantic sense. Fortunately, nothing that weird goes on in this film.

There are times when the movie drags a bit. It’s a bit on the longer side, and it feels like it sometimes. When the pace picks back up, the time is worth it.

Overall, the filmmakers did a pretty good job. There are some moments that are quite moving. I grew to like and sympathize with the heroes. The story does bring up some intriguing questions if there were two species with competing intelligence and motivations and what that would look like.

There are apparently plans to produce another trilogy and this film does the job as far as making me intrigued enough to catch the next one.

Film Review: Possession Or Insanity…Who Can Say?

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Nefarious had an intriguing idea, but this supernatural thriller didn’t quite pull off the execution onscreen. More than likely, the book written by Steve Deace is considerably better.

Chuck Konzelman and Cary Solomon wrote and directed this film. Sean Patrick Flannery and Jordan Belfi are the leads alongside Tim Ohmer and Glenn Beck, who makes a special appearance toward the end of the film.

The film starts off with a psychiatrist who commits suicide by throwing himself off a building for some inexplicable reason. His protégé, played by Belfi, takes his place interviewing a death row inmate to determine if a notorious killer is legally sane, which would allow the execution to proceed. Flannery offers a fairly chilling performance as the killer known as Edward Wayne Brady. Beady explains that he is actually a demon in possession of this body. Brady was actually coerced into committing the murders that have landed him in this predicament. Of course, the shrink is an atheist, and what follows is a pretty lengthy match of verbal jousting which ended up being somewhat predictable and rather clumsily written.

Anyway, the film is apparently billed as a Christian film, which becomes more evident when social issues such as abortion come up. I don’t actually disagree with the position the writers and producers apparently take. I do sort of question the whole demonic possession angle, but some of the theological points made did resonate with me. I just wish there was some better skill in the writing.

I will say that the transformation Flannery undergoes for his character is actually quite impressive. I actually had to recognize his name to realize that I had seen him quite often before. Flannery is a pretty good actor, but I always kind of considered him a pretty boy. That wasn’t there in this one.

Overall, I appreciate the effort for some of these studios to put out some more faith-based content, and this film is not that bad. It just isn’t that great either. It had a low-budget feel to it, and the writing just wasn’t strong enough to overcome that.

Film Review: The Titans Get Ready To Rumble Once Again

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire has awesome visual effects, great monster fight scenes, and almost impressive mediocrity in any other basic elements of filmmaking. This is the ultimate in a mind-numbing popcorn flick.

It took three screenwriters for this one to underwhelm me. Terry Rossio, Simon Barrett, and Jeremy Slater concocted this exercise in screenwriting shallowness. Adam Wingard directed this latest addition to the Monarch storyline. Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Dan Stevens, and Kaylee Hottle are the human leads. Kaylee Hottle, the teen-ager who has a unique friendship with King Kong, is probably the most interesting character, Jia. Jia is the last survivor of a tribe that resided on Skull Island and is deaf, as is the actress herself.

While Godzilla is either sleeping in some ruins in Rome or wandering the globe protecting humanity from less agreeable Titans, Kong has set up camp in Hollow Earth where he looks for any survivors from his species. Kong discovers an unknown region of Hollow Earth where he starts a new exploration. In the meantime, the scientists studying these Titans notice that Godzilla is seemingly powering himself up to face a threat that he has suddenly sensed. They have also encountered a signal that has been traced to Hollow Earth. A new threat is rising to the surface, and Kong and Godzilla have to join forces to protect humans from a very big, very ancient enemy.

The film is not terrible, but I hard time caring about the characters. Somehow, Godzilla and Kong seem to have picked up some moves from WWE and Jackie Chan films. I know these films are going to have some natural absurdity and should be shown some grace considering the genre, however the overall lack of originality in the human characters makes it hard to pull that off. The CGI was quite stunning, and big giant creatures smashing buildings is almost always a fun treat, but there was little else that worked with any consistency.

The cast is talented enough and did the best they could, but the material was no real help to them or the audience.

Film Review: The Ghostbusters Break The Ice

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is a decent continuation of one of the most popular cinematic franchises in recent decades, but as expected, it doesn’t quite measure up to the original 1984 film.

Gil Kenan directed this film as well as cowriting it alongside Jason Reitman. Original Ghostbuster stars, Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, Dan Aykroyd, and Annie Potts return to the firehouse alongside the cast portraying the descendants of Egon Spengler. Paul Rudd, Carrie Coons, McKenna Grace, and Finn Wolfhard reprise their roles from the most recent predecessor, Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Kumail Nanjiani and Patton Oswalt also get in on the mayhem for this installment. William Atherton returns as another familiar face from the original film, the officious, snobbish Walter Peck, who somehow is the elected mayor of New York City. Even though there a lot of familiar elements from the original film, I was relieved that we actually got a brand spectral adversary as the main villain.

Callie Spengler has returned to New York with her two children and apparent boyfriend, Gary Grooberson, and has revived the Ghostbusting business with the help of Winston Zeddenore, who has become some uber-rich business mogul who has helped upgrade the Ghostbusters equipment. The new superpowered specter is some dark god who unleashes a deadly chill when he is feeding on people’s fear. He can also control the minds of other ghosts and wants to recruit the spirits being held in the Ghostbusters’ containment unit. This thing can be defeated by a group of sorcerers known as Fire Masters, and the Ghostbusters encounter a hapless, somewhat shallow descendant of one of the Fire Masters, who may be the key to defeat this latest phantasmal being.

The film has some pretty good moments, but nothing really stands out as being terrifically mind-blowing. The return of the surviving members of the main cast of the original film provides a decent helping of the warm fuzzies, and I actually have come to like Paul Rudd and Carrie Coon in the leads of the newer Ghostbusters. McKenna Grace is a bit of a scene stealer at times, but she has such a distinctive and eccentric role as Phoebe Spengler, that it seems easy to predict that would be the case. Still, Grace’s performance is actually pretty compelling even though she is only about 16 years old when this was filmed. I really have little to criticize about the performances, and I enjoyed revisiting most of these characters from both the original film and Afterlife.

The special effects were pretty good, but that doesn’t appear that hard to accomplish with the technology available for movie magic these days.

Overall, this film serves the purpose as an adequate fun distraction, but it’s not going to be much more than that. The expectation that the sequel almost never touches the joy of the first time out continues to hold true this time.