TheNorm's Movie Talk
TheNorm gives his personal thoughts on movies and making movies.
Friday, March 8, 2024
I'm Still Here
Monday, January 8, 2024
Anatomy of a Fall - Dead On Arrival
Rent on Apple TV, Amazon Prime, Google Play, and YouTube
In the 2011 mystery drama The Lincoln Lawyer, one of the best moments is when the titular character comments that the most terrifying client is an innocent one because if you fail to do your job as a defense attorney, your client ends up in prison for a crime he/she didn’t commit, and that guilt will torment you forever. By a similar token, the most terrifying film to review is one that you wish was better or at least liked more than you did because the last thing you want to do is come across as arrogant or unable to enjoy films that make an effort to focus on the essential things like characters, story, and especially the performances. In an age when expensive special effects extravaganzas unfairly rule the cinemas, it’s unnecessarily harder for smaller productions to make an impact.
Set in the snowy mountains of France, the story follows two artists and their blind son. He and his mother find their lives flipped overhead with the discovery that the father’s body had somehow fallen from the top floor of the house. Foul play is suspected but challenging to prove, primarily due to the father & mother's apparently rocky relationship and the son's inability to recall specific events well. As the trial proceeds, certain & seemingly irrelevant details begin to surface that may or may not determine the nature of this unfortunate incident while providing some possibly profound & precocious ponderings about life. Or at least it would if the film hadn’t been so incredibly sleep-inducing.
Despite featuring adequate performances, a clever enough mystery, and moments of sharp writing, the overall film is too long, static, uniform, and repetitive to profoundly impact anything other than the number of power naps needed to watch the whole thing.
The story can be told in about ninety minutes, but the film drags it out into a two-and-a-half-hour feature for no justifiable reason, padding its runtime with redundant scenes and seemingly drawn-out improvised moments. The cinematography lacks a compelling visual style with overtly broad uniform lighting, a severe lack of shot variety, and poorly motivated camera movement. Plus, while I usually favor ambiguous endings, murder mysteries are typically not the best place for them!
Anatomy of a Fall is a sad dud of a film. It is, unfortunately, dull, visually inept, and lacks any compelling or emotionally resonating reason to care. This is one mystery best left unsolved.
Don’t waste your time.
Ladies & gentlemen, I am TheNorm; thank you all for reading.
Tuesday, January 2, 2024
Retro Review - No Escape (1994)
Based on the novel The Penal Colony by Richard Herley, the story follows a young former soldier named Robbins (Ray Leotta) who was sentenced to life in prison for murder. Upon arriving at a maximum security penitentiary, the warden drops Robbins on a remote island populated by other prisoners divided into two factions: the Outsiders, a savage band of raiders and scavengers led by the charismatic psychopath Marek (Stuart Wilson), and the Insiders, a civilized colony lead by The Father (Lance Henriksen) and protected by their head of security, Hawkins (Ernie Hudson). Despite the promise of a decent life within the confines of the Island, Robbins' only desire is to escape. With the surveillance satellites watching the entire island and the rising potential of an all-out war between the two factions, escape may be impossible.
This movie is what I like to describe as good cheese or a high-ranking "B" movie. It's a quintessential example that just because you don't have to do a good job doesn't mean you shouldn't.
The action is one of the film's many selling points. Like most action movies before the year 2000, it doesn't rely upon shaky-cam and rapid-fire editing techniques to amp up the action artificially. Proper fight choreography, ample stunt coordination, and heavy reliance on practical effects (with a bit of CGI when needed) are the prime ingredients that make this a delightful action fest.
The performances carry the film's story in many entertaining and surprisingly nuanced ways. According to YouTuber Oliver Harper, the goal was to get a traditional action star in the lead role, such as Stallone or Jean Claude Van Damn. However, the film's tight budget made that impossible, as it could not accommodate such a high-rolling star. So, instead of getting known action stars, they cast talented character actors who could learn how to handle the action. It reminds me of movies like Con-Air or Predators: high-octane action films cast with unknowns and character actors who could carry both the action and emotional weight with ease.
Ray Liotta is especially noteworthy here. His character comes off as cold and distant, conveying the typical firm and silent type seen in most movies of this caliber. But underneath the surface is a fractured man with PTSD who is trying to make things right for his previous and dreadful actions.
The MVP award goes to Ernie Hudson for being his usual charming self and delivering an instantly likable and excellent character. He is also the source of the movie's many bonus points for not having the black character die in the story, an overused cliché I have never appreciated.
No Escape is, somewhat ironically, a fantastic and enthralling piece of escapist art. It delivers the goods with engaging performances, thrilling action set pieces, and a decently nuanced commentary on the human condition. If you've never seen this movie, you owe it to yourself to hunt down a copy and see it. Start off the new year with a bang!
Ladies & gentlemen, I am TheNorm; thank you all for reading.
Saturday, December 16, 2023
Leave The World Behind - Take Warning
Saturday, December 2, 2023
The Holdovers - A Different Kind of Holiday Cheer
“Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart.”
-Marcus Aurelius
The filmography of director Alexander Payne can best be described (so far) as mostly well-told stories with unusual commentary. I say “mostly” well told because his endings, more often than not, leave a bit more to be desired. A running theme of his work appears to be shining a light on the more minor and often overlooked aspects of the human experience that can significantly impact the world and ourselves. When his endings land well, you get masterpieces like Sideways and About Schmidt, but when they don’t, you get ambitious disappointments like Downsizing.
His latest offering, The Holdovers, stands out as one of his better films, with an ending that successfully hits the mark without a hitch. It is a classic coming-of-age story that somehow feels fresh in its classical presentation with a firm and tangible commentary on what “making a difference” can sometimes mean. Plus, it has a good chance of becoming a new Holiday classic.
Set in the 1970s at an all-boys boarding school, the story follows a disgruntled ancient history teacher named Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti), who finds himself unexpectedly tasked with staying on campus to care for the boys who cannot return home for Winter break. Among his handful of prepubescents is a teenager named Agnus Tully (Dominic Sessa), a massive pain in the butt for most of the school. Over the next two weeks, arguments will be had, secrets will be revealed, and everyone’s true nature will be exposed. How they may choose to react will be entirely up to them.
The most important thing to remember when watching this movie, and I recommend you do so, is that it will take a little while before it becomes genuinely engaging. The film's first half observes the characters at their most unlikable and unstable moments, which may cause unintentional boredom (for want of a better word). However, at some time, just before the mid-way point, the characters will peel back their armor, as it were, and reveal their true colors and why they are worth your time. Typically, this character introduction is less favorable as it diminishes an audience's ability to connect and invest. Still, I assure you, it will all be worth it.
The Holdovers is probably Alexander Payne’s best film to date. It has a solid story with enough comic relief to make the drama all the more digestible, and its committed performances from the cast will deliver a solid experience. This might be worthwhile if you’re looking for a new Holiday classic with some real humanity behind it.
Check it out.
Ladies & gentlemen, I am TheNorm; thank you all for reading.
Wednesday, November 8, 2023
The Fall of The House of Usher - The Master of Horror Cinema Strikes Again
Tuesday, October 31, 2023
Spooky Special - A Simple Plan (1998)
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