Let me start by saying: Adrift is a powerful movie. It will stay with you long after it is over. I was completely surprised by how moved I felt at the end and how many emotions it raised in me.
Adrift is the story of Tami and Richard, who met while sailing in the South Pacific, as they sail a friend's boat across the Pacific Ocean. There is a massive storm (Hurricane Raymond) they try to avoid but are unsuccessful. The ship is damaged, the mast broken and the sail torn; they are adrift.
This will be a shorter review because I won't spoil any plot details. I went in knowing exactly as much as I've outlined above and I think you should, too.
The story is told in two parts: before the storm and after the storm. We switch between flashbacks to events that Tami is remembering before she and Richard began their trip from Tahiti to California and events in the present. As the story progresses, we start to see the traces of their earlier experiences: we see where she got a dress, why he uses a particular phrase, or how to perform a task. I found it to be a very effective method of making the audience care about the characters. If I had seen the events happen in chronological order, I don't think that I would have been as affected. The story shows you the struggle to survive, it also shows you how far the characters have come and how deep they are digging to find that previously unknown reserve of strength.
Tami and Richard are accomplished sailors. They have many years of experience between them and have every confidence that they can sail across the Pacific Ocean. And in any other year, they would have been successful. In any other year, this story has a completely different ending. In any other year, this story would not have the emotional impact and resonance that it does.
Go watch Adrift. Both Sam Claflin and Shailene Woodley are great but Woodley herself is absolutely compelling as Tami. Leave yourself some time to process after it's over, too. I know I needed it.
Each year, Arlaine and I look forward to Summer Movie Madness. The blockbusters and silly comedies and cheesy action movies that alternate throughout the summer months, culminating in August Movies.
What is an August Movie? It is not merely a movie that is released in August, no, it is so much more than that. You can have an August movie released in any month, though I struggle to find an example of a truly August Movie showing up at any other time. Sound off in the comments if you can think of one, I'd like to read your take.
First and foremost, August Movies are cheesy. Truly and deeply cheesy and they know it. It's a movie that commits to the "blatantly inauthentic" nature of the story, the production, and the acting. It needs to be so bad, it's good. The kind of movie you hate-watch but kind of without the hate. You laugh, you cringe, you have a ton of fun, then immediately forget everything except the feeling of having been entertained.
August Movies also have a very simple premise. Think Snakes on a Plane (there are snakes, on a plane!), Premium Rush (courier needs to deliver a package by the deadline, or else!), and Piranha (there are piranhas! In unexpected bodies of water!). The story does not try to do too much. There's little character development, backstory, or growth. The problem is clear and the goal is to solve the problem. There's little deviation from the main story; we don't dive too deeply (if at all) into the lives of the secondary characters.
There might be a recognizable star in an August Movie but they're rarely a mega-blockbuster star. They are the source of credibility for the movie. You probably went to see Snakes on a Plane because Samuel L. Jackson was the star. You wanted to hear him say motherfucker and you wanted to hear him do that sort of half-shouted speech he does when he's explaining why some other character is so dumb that they're going to die if they don't fall in line and listen up. The story becomes a vehicle for the star but not in the traditional sense: the star isn't trying to raise their career profile with this epic masterpiece of cinema. They're probably paying the bills or fulfilling a contract they signed many years before.
What does this have to do with The First Purge, you say? Allow me to dig deeper.
The First Purge (RottenTomatoes and IMDB) is directed by Gerard McMurray and stars Y'lan Noel, Lex Scott Davis, Jovian Wade, and includes actors Marissa Tomei and Patch Darragh. The movie is the fourth in The Purge franchise and follows the events of the first purge night: a night where all crime is legal. Staged as an experiment by a psychologist (Tomei) funded by the right-wing political party New Founding Fathers leaders (Darragh). Limited to Staten Island in New York City, we see the tension between those who object to purge night, those who want to capitalize on an opportunity, and those who are truly invested in the success of the purge.
Based on the trailers, you'd be forgiven for thinking The First Purge is an August Movie. (The movie itself has graphic elements. This is the green band trailer. You can decide if you want to watch.)
Mild spoilers ahead. Continue from this point after you've seen the movie or if you don't mind having some plot details described before you've seen The First Purge.
It looks like it should be an August Movie, right? It looks as though it has all the right elements: It looks really cheesy, it has a simple premise, and there's a couple people you recognize but no one who is a super-mega movie star. However upon closer inspection, the First Purge is more than an August Movie.
On the surface, this looks like a cheesy thriller/horror movie. There are costumes and masks and jump scares and gore. But that is the trailer. That's what gets you in the cinema. The core of the story is really about why the concept of a purge could arise in a population. There's some minimally veiled commentary on race and poverty. The story, the real story is about how people are being coerced into participating in something that will perpetuate all the negative stereotypes about their neighbourhood and the politicians who profit from it all.
The story is not subtle. It is the very opposite of subtle. There is a scene where a character is attacked and she escapes after using pepper spray, shouting at him "fuck you! pussy grabbing mother fucker!" (I'm paraphrasing here). I don't remember the exact line but she absolutely called him out for being a pussy grabber. Now, where else have you heard that phrase? That's right. There are also scenes where trucks full of men in full KKK costumes and gangs of bikers wearing Nazi symbols roam around and hunt people. They're hired by the New Founding Fathers political party to rile up the people, causing them to fight back and look like they're participating in the purge. The KKK and the Nazis are the people the politicians have brought in to stir the pot and cause people to join in the violence on purge night (regardless of whether it's self defence). Yeah, the story is not subtle. At. All.
Nor is it inauthentic. The characters don't have much of a back story, true, but they are genuine and earnest in their desire to protect their family, friends, and neighbourhood. They believe that people aren't as bad as the experimenters think they are. They gather at their church and take care of one another. They protest the experiment and try to convince people not to participate. When it's all over, the movie sticks with you. I remember sitting there when the lights came up thinking "wow, I can't believe they made that movie" because of the direct commentary on American politics I mentioned earlier.
The story is simple enough: the first purge night is happening and people are trying to survive. Politicians and psychologists are watching via CCTV from a safe distance (naturally) while the main characters are on the ground trying not to be killed (or worse). We see a couple short scenes in the days leading up to the purge experiment but the bulk of the story focuses on the hours where the purge is active. The tight timeline means we don't have to worry about the story going beyond what it should be: surviving the purge.
The First Purge might be a summer movie but it is definitely not an August Movie. It's a smart, albeit on the nose, commentary on American politics as it attempts to answer the question: how could this ever happen? We see that the purge was never meant to help those who are purging. It was always meant to be a means to control poorer people and generate profit for the rich who own the companies that provide the weapons, personal protection equipment, and home security systems that we have seen become the norm for many in the other movies of the franchise. The Purge series may have started as a gory thriller but it's grown into an intelligent allegory for the political tensions happening in America (and elsewhere, too) and even if you have never seen any of the movies in the franchise, The First Purge is a must see.
This week's Trailer Tuesday is dedicated to the first trailer for 2014's X-Men: Days of Future Past. This trailer was released last week and has me even more excited for the upcoming Marvel film. Check it out here:
Words cannot describe how incredible this film will be. Yes, I choose to be completely optimistic with the outcome of this film. Because we all know that this could also go completely WRONG. But I am hoping that director Bryan Singer wouldn't tackle this complicated storyline without having a good story to back it up.
In one of the most META films to be released in the past few years, Days of Future Past is a sequel to X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men: First Class, and The Wolverine. Yep, it's a sequel to THREE movies. And on top of that, the film will feature stars from all three movies. How is this possible, you might be wondering. Well, the film will feature two time lines that will, eventually, cross. So you will get to see both wonderful portrayals of Professor X and Magneto: James McAvoy and Sir Patrick Stewart as Professor X and Michael Fassbender and Sir Ian McKellan as Magneto. Amazing.
Other stars from the franchise returning include: Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Jennifer Lawrence, Anna Paquin, Ellen Page, Shawn Ashmore, and Nicholas Hoult.
The only unfortunate thing about this upcoming film is that both Cyclops and Jean Grey will not be featured as both of their characters were killed off (wrongly so) in X-Men: The Last Stand.
If the trailer doesn't get you hyped up for the upcoming Marvel film, check out the promotional posters that has been released:
For more on the upcoming superhero film, check out the wikipedia page here or the official movie page here.
I caught this film on TV the other day and couldn't help but watch it again. Originally, we (the Movie Geeks) had seen this film on the big screen during our Winter 2011 movie season. We took a gamble on it, and it paid off. I decided to re-watch it that lazy Sunday when it happened to come on TV and I was once again impressed with the outcome.
The Lincoln Lawyer
Director: Brad Furman
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Marissa Tomei, Ryan Phillippe
Released: 2011
Box Office Gross: $57,981,889
(USA) Throwback Review
The Lincoln Lawyer stars McConaughey, in a similar role as to the one that gave him "street cred" in 1996's A Time to Kill.McConaughey plays criminal defense attorney Mick Haller who operates in LA county out of his black Lincoln Town Car. Making a career on defending small-time criminals, Haller lands the case of his career when Louis Roulet (Phillippe), a rich playboy, is accused of the brutal beating (and attempted murder) of a prostitute.
Believing his client, Haller and his private investigator Frank Levin (William H. Macy), dig deeper into the case to find that not everything is what it seems to be.
I know what you're thinking: typical thriller/drama with McConaughey playing the charming, misunderstood title character who turns out to really possess a heart of gold. Usually, you can easily write-off this type of film by your first viewing of the teaser trailer. But you'd miss out on a very decent crime thriller.
McConaughey returns to his previous "decent actor" status with this "safe choice" role. But don't punish him for taking this safe path...it worked out in his favourite - it reminds audience why we became fans of his work in the first place.
Phillippe is good in the role of the playboy with a dark side. Not standout or memorable by no means, but not horrible. He didn't bring anything new to the role; was almost a mash up of some of his previous work (think I Know What You Did Last Summer meets Cruel Intentions).
Macy is his usual brilliant self. Not much to say about his role other than it was great.
Final Verdict: See it. Take this film for what it is - don't go into it expecting to see breakout acting or a stellar storyline. It's engaging. It's charming. It's bottom line: entertaining.
New Release Review Director: Ron Howard Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Daniel Bruhl, Olivia Wilde
Rush tells the story of two Formula 1 drivers and their rivalry during the 1970s: Nikki Lauda (Bruhl) of Austria and James Hunt (Hemsworth) of England. Starting in Formula 3, we follow their respective careers as they both work towards being selected for a professional Formula 1 team and achieving greatness by winning the driver's championship.
If you're not a fan of racing, Formula 1, or cars in general, you're still going to love this movie, I promise. Director Ron Howard has created a movie around racing that tells the story of Lauda and Hunt, two very different people with very different approaches to the sport of racing. For Hunt, life is a party and every time he gets in the car he's prepared to risk everything - even his life - to win. Lauda, on the other hand, races because it's something he's good at and therefore is not prepared to race where the risk of injury is over 20 percent. The tension stems from their competitive natures; each strive to beat the other and are pushed outside their comfort zones with surprising results.
The story is centered on, and narrated by, Lauda, so we get a little more insight into his actions and motivations. Yet we do see much of Hunt's side of the story, in fact we're introduced to him first, and we only meet Lauda through the eyes of James Hunt. It's interesting how your perception of Lauda is coloured by Hunt's initial impressions, and how we come to understand and appreciate both men as the movie progresses. Arlaine made an interesting observation after Rush was over and we were watching the credits: You don't have one character you're rooting for more than another. In other words, there is no hero/villain relationship established and that's what makes Rush so refreshing: it's a real story about real people.
The last few scenes of the movie incorporate some great footage of the actual Lauda and Hunt and wow, did they ever get the casting right. These two actors look a lot like the people they're playing which was a relief. I was concerned that Hemsworth only got the role because of his Avengers/Thor star power but in addition to his looks and star power, he brings depth to the character who lives a lot of life on the surface. Daniel Bruhl also was exceptional in the role of Nikki Lauda, adding some softness to the serious personality for which Lauda is known. (Bonus points for having the real Lauda give a stamp of approval on the movie and the portrayal of characters)
Verdict? See it. On the biggest screen you possibly can. The racing scenes have some amazing camera angles that you just don't see on TV broadcasts of races. We saw it in "Ultra AVX" and it was totally worth it.
Director: Bennett Miller Writers: Stephen Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin, Stan Chervin, Michael Lewis (Author of "Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game") Starring: Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Robin Wright Released: 2011
Moneyball is based on the real-life story of Billy Beane (played by Brad Pitt), General Manager of the Oakland A's (Athletics) major league baseball team and his attempt to create a championship team using a controversial statistical method based on computer modeling. Essentially, each player's performance is reduced to a series of values using sophisticated formulas and then the 'perfect' team is created by adding together each player's performance values. For the purposes of Moneyball, Beane is most interested in a player's on base percentage (the number of times he gets on base per at-bat) as that is what his economist-turned-baseball-analyist Peter Brand (Jonah Hill) has determined to be the most influential factor in winning games.
Still with me? Good, because I don't like baseball. Like, I really don't like baseball. I don't like watching it. I don't like playing it. I just don't. like. baseball. I also am not a huge Brad Pitt fan. I find he's getting more interesting roles as he gets older but overall he's not a box-office draw for me. Having said that, I truly enjoyed Moneyball. It's a fantastic story of using your available resources to create the best product possible within the confines of a fundamentally unfair system. In this case it's a baseball team and in spite of the sports focus you find yourself rooting more for Beane and Brand than the team itself, as the two make last-minute trades to craft the perfect team and struggle against the team's manager (played by a suitably apathetic Hoffman).
After an extreme delay in new posts, Don't Sit Next To Us is back!
A newly release trailer for the 2014 remake of RoboCop has sparked my creativity and has resulted in this week's edition of Trailer Tuesday! Check out the trailer here:
At first I was very apprehensive about this remake. And I will admit, I am still skeptical about whether or not this film can actually do the original justice (the stigma of the remake of Total Recall is strong) after seeing this trailer, some of my worries have been lifted.
I can't get over the cast. Though we have seen in the past that a great cast does not equal a great movie, I have faith that this particular cast (that includes Gary Oldman, Michael Keaton, Jackie Earle Haley, and the biggest bad ass of all time, Samuel L. Jackson) just might be able to carry this film.
The title character will be played by Joel Kinnaman, a relatively unknown Swedish actor who is probably best known for his role in The Killing. In true Hollywood fashion, numerous A-list actors were rumoured to play the part, including Keanu Reeves, Tom Cruise, Michael Fassbender, and yes, even my husband Johnny Depp. But it was Kinnaman who won the role and frankly, I am relieved. It's the type of role an established A-list actor cannot take on. We need a fresh face, someone who can essentially BE RoboCop in the audience's eyes. Not Neo, Maverick, Magneto, or Captain Jack AS RoboCop.
The actual storyline seems pretty true to the original save one major detail - RoboCop's suit will be BLACK! Whoooaaa now! Hold the press!
I think it's safe to say I am now excited for this film and will happily add this to the Winter 2014 Movie List.
The film is set to be released on February 7, 2014 (a month known for it's unexpected film hits ala August) and will be directed by big screen newcomer Jose Padilha.
For more information on the upcoming sci-fi action film, check out the Wikipedia page here or the official movie page here.
Be sure to check out Don't Sit Next To Us for all the latest updates on the film!
