Review: It Follows (2015; Rated R)

*NOTE: This review nixes most story details in order to minimize spoilers and consequently maximize viewing pleasure. Enjoy!

David Robert Mitchell's stalker film It Follows is a deliberately crafted, disturbingly potent pastiche of suburban horror. Don't let the reviews fool you, it isn't the scariest film in years nor does it break any new ground for the genre, but what it does is effectively make the familiar feel grossly unnerving in a way that will linger with you long after the lights flicker on.

From the opening shot, It Follows establishes a menacing sense of nostalgia: Midwestern suburbia, fall. A high heel studded teenager bolts out of her house and down the street, chased by an unknown entity nobody else can see. Nearby adults look on, dumbfounded by this girl as she runs around. Sound familiar? That's because It Follows owes a huge debt of its bone-chilling success to the classic suburban horror flicks of the 70s and 80s: A Nightmare On Elm Street among the most obvious.

Like those movies, and most horror movies since, It Follows centers itself around a posy of young, hormone-enraged teenagers growing up in the middle-class bowls of America. Unlike most horror movies though, each of the kids have just enough personality and sense to make your emotional investment worthwhile once It starts to follow.

At the film's heart is a jaded love story starring Paul, played timidly by Keir Gilchrist, who you may or may not recognize from 2010's It's Kind of a Funny Story; and Jay, portrayed by the up-and-coming Maika Monroe, of last year's The Guest, starring Dan Stevens. These two share an awkward, though endearing long-lasting bond that grounds this otherwise Twilight Zone of a story. Credit to Mitchell and these fine, young actors for realizing a painfully truthful interpretation of the complex teenage love life.

As endearing as their apprehensive relationship may be, this film is about Jay and Maika Monroe's beautifully authentic performance. Not since Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween has a young lead given such a subtle, sincere portrayal in a horror movie. And although Curtis and Monroe play two different characters from much different eras, the retro influence on Mitchell's film is omnipresent.

This includes the evocative, eerie synth riffs that compose much of the dread-inducing score by Disasterpeace. The soundtrack here is crucial not only to the effectiveness of the frights, but to the identity of the film in general; reminiscent of the likes of Halloween or Psycho, composed by John Carpenter and Bernard Hermann respectively. Fans of the genre should definitely check this music out.

From the slow moving camera pans to its lead-footed antagonist, It Follows is deliberately crafted in the vein of an old school slow burn. Rather than rely on booming jump scares, the film draws its tension from Jay's vulnerability. She's not safe anywhere. Even if she gets in a car and drives far away, It is always walking straight for her. This realization slowly kills Jay's soul, which in turn will kill yours. It's all part of this film's brilliant uneasiness, which sets in during the prologue and steadily perturbs towards a hauntingly pensive conclusion.

If you can, see this movie in theaters. You'll thank me afterwards.

Grade: A

Review: Run All Night

Typecasting can (and usually does) spell the kiss of death for an actor's career. But not Liam Neeson's. His mainstream success has taken off in recent years as he has become the go-to man for an action-laden script. Sadly, Liam recently promised he will be giving up guns in the next couple of years. But until then, Liam leaves behind a string of mostly digestible, popcorn-munchin' fun. His latest, Run All Night, blends the mindless entertainment value of Taken with the dark, gritty tone of his recent A Walk Among the Tombstones. The result is, like many Action Neeson flicks, entertaining enough to warrant a once-thru.

What stands out about Run All Night is its interesting character work. Neeson does a wonderful job as Jimmy Conlon. Jimmy's done deplorable things as a hit-man working for his mobster best friend, Shawn, portrayed by the great Ed Harris, who now spends his life trying to drink away his demons.

After Jimmy's son Mike, played Joel Kinnaman (of The Killing and last year's Robocop remake), witnesses Shawn's son, Danny, played by Boyd Holbrook (also in A Walk Among the Tombstones), murder somebody, Mike finds himself as Danny's next target. You still with me?

Jimmy bloodies his hands yet again (speaking both metaphorically and literally here) by offing Danny in order to protect Mike. This sets in motion a tragic series of events that dismantles the life-long, brotherly bond between Jimmy and Shawn. As the body count piles up, so does the burden on their once flourishing friendship. It's a beautiful disaster to behold and both Neeson and Harris play it pitch perfect.

As far as taking away anything from this film, Jimmy and Shawn's crumbling friendship is it. The rest of the film plays out as you would expect, with little to no deviation from the classic noir, anti-hero narrative, with the talented Vincent D'Onofrio (Law & Order: C.I.)  getting a few lines as the last wholesome cop in New York who holds a moral grudge against Jimmy because of the people he's killed. Disappointingly, and predictably, that subplot never leads anywhere satisfying and probably could have been dropped.

As for the action, it's well-paced throughout and never feels hyper-extended, with the exception of the one car chase towards the beginning. There's enough here that you won't get bored.

Content. That's how I felt as the credits rolled and the lights went up. I didn't feel cheated nor was I aching for more. Like most of Liam Neeson's recent pow-bang endeavors, you get what you pay for.

Grade: B-

Circle Time: Predestination review

Predestination is the strangest, most unique sci-fi flick in recent memory and I mean that in a good way. After my initial screening, I immediately wanted to watch it again. It's that enticing. 

What was originally a short story by science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein has been diligently adapted to the big screen by Spierig Brothers (the same duo behind the disappointing sci-fi vampire flick Daybreakers). Their craftsmanship gives Predestination  its beautifully minimalist look, which allows its two core performances to take center stage.  

Recent Oscar Nominee Ethan Hawke gives an understated noir performance as The Barkeeper. He's a one of eleven temporal agents who can travel through time in order to prevent crimes before they happen; however, one terrorist has eluded The Barkeeper all throughout his career-- the notorious Fizzle Bomber. 

Finally, in 1970s New York, The Barkeeper corners the Fizzle Bomber, only to be horribly disfigured by one of the terrorist's titular explosives. Fast forward a decade and The Barkeeper finds himself on one, last mission, wherein he earns his credited title tending a young man who goes by the pen name The Unmarried Mother (Sarah Snook). The two hit it off, so to speak, and once the young man divulges his unusual back story, The Barkeep offers him the chance to go back and change history. 

The more the story unfolds, the crazier and more remarkable it becomes. It all builds to one of the most memorable movie endings you'll ever see. What's great is that even if you see it coming, you'll still be blown away. 

The Spierig Brothers give Predestination a sleek and simple visual style through a beautiful, "less is more" approach to the cinematography. Varying cool colors accent the different time periods and the sharp costume designs visually pop on these meticulously constructed sets.

Ethan Hawke suavely downplays the severity of his character's predicaments, which leaves open to interpretation his motives. This brings an edge to the Barkeeper, as his motives are never crystal clear. Opposite Hawke is Sarah Snook, who gives a breakout performance. She completely disappears into the many shades of her character and her performance is wholly genuine. We're sure to see more from this talented, young actor.

Grade: A

A shell of a robot: 'Chappie' review

From the beginning, it is obvious that Chappie has District 9-level aspirations. However, poor writing and an overwhelming sense that we've seen this all before crushes those aspirations and leaves Chappie feeling like an empty vessel.

Dev Patel, who has done great work in films such as Slumdog Millionaire and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, but isn't given a whole lot to do here, plays Deon Wilson. He's a robotics genius who's brought the city of Johannesburg the world's first autonomous police force, called Scouts. After spending a night drinking Red Bull and yelling at his discount WALL-E robot, Deon develops the code for artificial intelligence and steals the busted body of a broken Scout to test it out on. To nobody's surprise, the code works and Chappie becomes the world's first thinking, feeling robot. O brave new world!

Before Deon even gets started with Chappie, he's kidnapped by a band of thugs and seemingly has no option but to build Chappie for these unlikable losers who, for some reason, need a robot partner to help pull of some heist. The big problem here is, up to this point, we have not spent enough time with Deon to grow to like him and now Chappie is being raised by a group of unredeemable, gun-toting miscreants who do things like leave Chappie to be tortured by Scout-hating citizens of Johannesburg, shoot human policemen, and throw innocent people from their vehicles during an overstayed carjacking montage. As a result, Chappie grows to be a shallow jerk (that's putting it lightly), which leaves nobody for the audience to root for. Any sense of endearment that should exist watching Chappie learn his first words or paint his first picture is quickly overshadowed by how unpleasant he becomes.

Even the terrific supporting cast is underutilized here. The great Hugh Jackman plays Vincent Moore, a soldier turned engineer who despises and distrusts artificial intelligence. Jackman's ugly side shines in a few, brief moments, but sadly Jackman's talent is suffocated by an overall lax script that reduces him to mostly scowling angrily from the shadows as he eavesdrops on Chappie and Deon. Sigourney Weaver, who made her name in sci-fi, hams up a few lines as the president of the robotics company that both Vincent and Deon work for. Her character exists merely to give Vincent the go-ahead to utilize the Moose, Blomkamp's version of the ED-209, after everything goes "tits up." She is so trivial that you can hear the "cha-ching" as she's cashing in her paycheck.

Visually speaking, Chappie is ripe with spectacle, as we have come to expect from Blomkamp's work. The motion capture animation on the Chappie character is splendidly detailed and the minimalistic approach to smoothly blending practical and top notch special effects still makes for an aesthetically satisfying experience. Unfortunately, visuals can only carry a film so far on their own.

As for substance, Chappie is pretty soulless for a film about having a soul. Instead of fleshed out, meaningful characters, Neil Blomkamp's latest South African sci-fi flick is full of irritable idiots who seem to lack any sense of decency or depth. It's near impossible to root for or even care about anyone in this movie. At this point we can only hang tight, wait for Chappie to blow over, and hope that Blomkamp's Aliens sequel does not suffer the same disappointing fate.

Grade: D

BOLD predictions...

This year, Neil Patrick Harris takes the stage at the Academy Awards Ceremony to honor the best films and filmmaking of 2014. Here's a quick rundown of the categories close to my heart as well as my five bold predictions for the ceremony:

Best Picture: Birdman


Best Director: Alejandro Inarritu, Birdman


Best Actor: Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything


Best Actress: Julianne Moore, Still Alice


Best Supporting Actor: J.K. Simmons, Whiplash


Best Supporting Actress: Patricia Arquette, Boyhood


Best Original Screenplay: Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel


Best Adapted Screenplay: Damien Chazelle, Whiplash


Best Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki, Birdman


Best Animated Feature: How to Train Your Dragon 2


Best Visual Effects: Interstellar


Best Original Song: "Glory," Selma


Best Makeup & Hair: Frances Hannon and Mark Coulier,  The Grand Budapest Hotel


Best Costume Design: Colleen Atwood, Into the Woods


Best Production Design: Adam Stockhausen (Production Design); Anna Pinnock (Set Decoration), The Grand Budapest Hotel


Best Film Editing: Sandra Adair, Boyhood


Best Sound Mixing: John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Walt Martin, American Sniper


Best Sound Editing: Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman, American Sniper

BOLD predictions:

1.) The Grand Budapest Hotel will walk away with the most awards.

2.) Boyhood will only win two awards (Supporting Actress & Editing).

3.) This year, the Academy Awards ceremony will bring in the highest ratings in five years and NPH will be back to host at least three more times.

4.) A Christopher Nolan movie WILL NOT win either of the sound design categories.

5.) Birdman will win Best Picture and Director, but its leading star will get shut out.

'Fifty Shades of Grey' review

Let's us, you and I, arrange our own contract of honesty. E.L. James' book is glossy porn guised by the veil of a romance. You can touch it up with socially acceptable words like "erotica" or even the "mommy porn," but it is porn nonetheless. It's about as well written as one too. The good news is that Sam Taylor-Johnson's movie is more than that, even if that isn't say a whole lot.

There isn't much of a plot and if you're reading this or have seen the trailer, you already know as much as you'll ever need to know in order to understand what's going on. Anastasia Steele is about to graduate college when she, in the stead of her roommate, is sent to interview Christian Grey, the young founder of a multi-million (or billion? It didn't clarify) dollar empire. A wildly dubious romance ensues.

I know 'Fifty Shades' amounts to a mere erotic fantasy, but that does not excuse the outrageous character decisions in this film. Early on, Christian becomes obsessed with Anastasia to the point where she should be calling the cops rather than begging for "enlightenment." He shows up to Anastasia's work, later to a club she's at, and even takes her to his place and changes her into pajamas after she passes out. Creepy.

I must admit, after Christian and Anastasia spend more time together, the film opens up a bit and explores the chemistry between its two leads. Though Jamie Dornan does a fine job portraying the meditative masochist, it is Dakota Johnson's committed performance as the shy, devoted Anastasia that shines. It's truly a genuine performance that gives you someone to root for when things get drab. And boy do things get drab.

The poorer writing of the film is exposed through the character of Christian. A lot of the things he does don't always make sense and are never explained beyond "This is who I am." One moment he's infatuated with Anastasia and the next he's begging her not to fall in love with him. It feels more like a scapegoat for lazy writing than a believable character trait. Towards the end, Christian's biggest mood swing is perhaps the most puzzling and ultimately leads one to ponder: "Is that really it?"

More on the technical side of things, there are a handful of obvious editing errors and many shots throughout the film are unfocused for no real reason. Though they don't distract completely, it is something that should be taken into account when criticizing this film. It's filmmaking 101.

Perhaps you're wondering why I have not addressed the elephant in the red room? Well, simply put: The film doesn't make much of it. The first half of the film lingers on too slowly and by the point the kinky, unconventional behavior rolled around, my energy and interest were gone. Not to mention the film wimps out on the sexy stuff. Where it could have and should have challenged its audience with explicit insight into this taboo sexual lifestyle, 'Fifty Shades' settles for a basic R-rating. Sure, there's more nudity here than in any number of typical Hollywood sex scenes, but masochism is about more than being naked and this movie sure isn't going to change anyone's mind about it.

Leaving the theater, I wasn't haunted by Fifty Shades of Grey like I should have been. It doesn't linger with me, save for this review. What could have been a tool for expanding the public mind turns out to be a mostly dissatisfying romance with a lovely performance by Johnson and lot of spanking.

Grade: C

Jupiter Ascending review: What goes up, must come down

Jupiter Ascending is one big exposition dump that somehow still manages to confuse. From the very first shot we get a mildly long voice over narration in which Mila Kunis' Jupiter Jones divulges her back story involving being born on a freight ship to her poverty-stricken family, the astrological signs which foretell of great things for Jupiter, her parents' back story, and even Jupiter's personal feelings about astrology. All before the title slide. Yeah.

Things don't improve much from there. Even as Channing Tatum's Caine Wise is introduced and the story picks up, some form of explanation is always being crammed in, in between the cheesy dialogue and admittedly entertaining action sequences. The material here isn't awful, it's just a lot to swallow at once. The Wachowskis would have fared better adapting their idea into an HBO television series as opposed to a two hour-plus film.

As I alluded to earlier, the writing in this film tends to feel a bit awkward and hammy. Typically, some level of ham is expected when you bill Channing Tatum as your star, but Jupiter Ascending struggles tonally, sometimes opting to take the darker, more serious route. One scene Jupiter's flirting with Caine, obviously trying to get him in her pants by dropping such gems as "My inner compass always seems to point towards Mr. Wrong," and the next she's using a crowbar to bash in the skull of one of the many bad guys.

Jupiter Ascending also suffers from what some like to call Too Many Villains Syndrome. Over the course of the film, Jupiter meets each living member of the Brasax family. The Brasaxes are the family who owns the rights to all the planets in the universe, having been the ones who planted life on all of them with their magic life-sprouting ooze. Each sibling in the Brasax family is somewhat of a jerk, as you'd expect, and in what feels like chapter-styled confrontations, Jupiter takes each one down. Why this is such a problem for this film is because each confrontation ends the same way: with Tatum's Caine blasting through the wall and saving the day. I thought the film was going to end about three different times.

It isn't all bad, though. The Wachowskis' latest has its highlights. One of which is its many action sequences. This directing duo is known for their well-choreographed, stylized action and there is no shortage of them here. The film is also impressive from a technical standpoint. The special effects are first-rate and the makeup, costumes, and set design all help the film to pop visually. It's definitely going to earn a few Oscar nods for its work in these areas.

After seeing the film, it's easy to see why Warner Bros. pushed it back so far. It definitely could have benefited from some fine editing and a more consistent script. As it is, Jupiter Ascending is an overly-long exposition dump with some entertaining action and gorgeous visuals.

Grade: C