Movie Review The Boston Strangler

The Boston Strangler (2023) 

Directed by Mark Ruskin 

Written by Mark Ruskin 

Starring Keira Knightley, Carrie Coon, Chris Cooper 

Release Date March 17th, 2023

Published March 16th, 2023 

The Boston Strangler takes the perspective of the two real life reporters who put together the story of the killers behind The Boston Strangler. Keira Knightley stars as Loretta McLaughlin, an experienced reporter tied to the Lifestyle section of her paper. When her mother mentions the murder of an elderly woman in her neighborhood, Loretta's instincts take over and she begins to investigate, even before she's managed to get herself assigned to this story. In order to keep the story once it starts to get bigger and more complicated, Loretta is teamed with Jean Cole (Carrie Coon), a more experienced and connected Crime Reporter. 

Together, the duo of reporters follow disparate leads to multiple suspects all the while watching as the Boston Police Department fumbles the investigation. How bad are the cops on this case? The lead detective, Detective Conley (Alessandro Nivola) begins telling Loretta how poorly his bosses are handling the case. The film avoids making it appear that the reporters are better at investigating the case than the cops by simply being honest about the challenges that the cops were facing and the politics behind the awful decisions they were making. 

One cliche the movie cannot avoid is the spouse who gets upset when their successful wife/husband is spending too much time at work. Loretta's husband begins as an incredibly supportive and forward thinking, for the 1960's, guy. Then, when the movie needs to force some drama and deal with the fact that Loretta's marriage did end in real life, the script resorts to scenes that feel deeply forced and perfunctory about Loretta not being home for dinner a few times or missing a bedtime or two for their kids and blows these things up into world ending dramas. 

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media. 

Movie Review: A Scanner Darkly

A Scanner Darkly (2006) 

Directed by Richard Linklater

Written by Richard Linklater 

Starring Keanu Reeves, Robert Downey Jr, Woody Harrelson, Winona Ryder, Rory Cochrane

Release Date July 7th, 2006

Published July 7th, 2006

The work of Philip K. Dick, the much revered sci fi Author,  has been adapted many times. Some, like Minority Report, have been quite successful. Others, like Paycheck, have been Hollywoodized disasters. Surprisingly only two of Philip K. Dick's full length novels have ever been adapted. Blade Runner , published under the original title "Do Robots Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?", in 1981 and in 2006 A Scanner Darkly, Dick's dystopian drug tale from 1974, adapted in the highly unique fashion of director Richard Linklater.

For Dick, A Scanner Darkly was an examination of how the drug use of the sixties had taken so many of his friends and idols. For Linklater; this tale of drugs, corruption and paranoia is a jumping off point for a smart satire of modern paranoia and police state tactics. Keanu Reeves leads an awesome cast in A Scanner Darkly as Bob Arctor and Agent Fred. Bob is a drugged out loser living communally with other druggies in his former family tract home. Agent Fred is Bob's undercover cop alter-ego who is watching these druggies for possible trafficking in a drug called Substance D.

Fred's main target is a woman named Donna (Winona Ryder) who promises a major Substance D score but never delivers. She is supposedly Bob's girlfriend but she doesn't like to be touched so intimacy is unattainable. Bob/Fred's situation is worsened by his own growing addiction to Substance D which he has used to get close to his druggie pals. Robert Downey Jr. and Woody Harrelson round out the main cast of A Scanner Darkly as a pair of hopped up druggies. Given the well known, drug related, pasts of both actors the inside joke is obvious but still amusing. Downey gives a standout performance as a fast talking paranoid, conspiracy theorist who goes to extreme lengths to protect himself from unseen forces.

Paranoia is one of the many subjects of the broad satire of A Scanner Darkly. Paranoia, drugs, law enforcement, drug treatment; all are subjects of this highly literate animated head trip from director Richard Linklater. The universe of the film, set 7 years from now, is one in which a drug has conquered much of the United States. Police have set up elaborate surveillance systems and suspended many civil liberties in their attempts to curb the drug; with little success.

The organization used to rehab former users is corrupt and untouchable by even the cops. The paranoia in the film is most often drug induced but extends beyond that to a cameo by nutball conspriracy theorist and paranoia expert Alex Jones. Jones, who was also seen in Linklater's animated masterpiece Waking Life, has been good friends with Linklater for years which explains his inclusion in this film despite his many discredited conspiracies about 9/11, JFK and other such popular conspiracies.

The plot unfolds slowly because the focus of much of the film is the drug inspired verbal diarrhea of these literate but slightly askew characters. Once the film begins to develop a more cinematic form of storytelling the plot emerges almost mundanely. There is an element of police procedural beneath the head tripping rotoscope animation. Reeves' cop character under a mind bending disguise cloak does many of the things a cop in any other movie would do. He is slowly building his case for arresting his supposed friends.

If it weren't for his own drug dependence Agent Fred would be a regular cop gathering evidence for warrants and preparing a case against the criminals around him. Unfortunately, like Jason Patric's undercover cop in Rush, he gets sucked in and subsumed in his subject. If not for the animation and the minor sci fi conceits this could be a very typical plot. There is a twist at the end that gives the film a bit more of a kick than an average undercover cop flick, but that mundane element is still there.

Rotoscope animation under the direction of Richard Linklater is mesmerizing to watch. It's use in A Scanner Darkly lifts what could be an average movie up to the realm of something artful but not exactly art. The film is, at it's core to simple and far too detached to be art. There is no passion outside of a passion for the technology used in painting real life actors with the watercolor tones of rotoscope animation. Beyond the animation there is this unique collection of actors to enjoy and that goes a long way. Each of the four leads are like old friends and watching them interact with one another is a treat. We have watched these four actors for so long that it's odd to think they have never worked together in a film before.

Downey, as I mentioned earlier, is the stand out of this ensemble but there is something to be said here for the maturation of Keanu Reeves. Joke all you want about his dunderhead reputation, that slacker cred plays to his advantage in this picture and I think I see him really beginning to mature into a real actor. He's using his persona more to his own advantage in recent films and that is a smart decision. This is not Philip K. Dick's A Scanner Darkly. What director Richard Linklater makes of Dick's novel is not really a sci fi exercise in metaphoric storytelling but rather, an often straightforward, if somewhat funky, detective story that is only sci fi in terms of its future setting and flashes of futuristic technology.

This version of A Scanner Darkly is fascinated by its own meandering rambles and meditations and especially its trippy visuals. That is not exactly a bad thing; the rambling is often funny and the animation eye catching but a little more of Dick's literate symbolism might have made for a meaty and interesting movie. As it is, A Scanner Darkly is attention grabbing but lackadaisical.

Movie Review Hart's War

Hart's War (2002) 

Directed by Gregory Hoblit

Written by Billy Ray, Terry George 

Starring Bruce Willis, Colin Farrell, Terrence Howard, Cole Hauser, Rory Cochrane, Sam Worthington

Release Date February 15th, 2002 

Published February 14th, 2002 

War movies are hell. Earlier this year we were bombarded by war movies with Black Hawk Down, Behind Enemy Lines, No Man's Land, and We Were Soldiers. And now, this week, Bruce Willis has a war movie for us. Set in a WW2 prison camp, Hart's War has Willis co-starring with hot young superstar Colin Farrell (According to MGM, Colin Farrell's name must always be preceded by the words "hot young superstar"). Farrell is Thomas Hart, a privileged lieutenant whose Senator father pulled strings to get him an office job rather than serving on the front. 

Hart is a map jockey, as my grandpa always called the guys back at headquarters. When an army major needs a ride, Hart offers to drive him but on the way German soldiers attack them. The major is killed and Hart is taken prisoner. After being tortured by German intelligence over his knowledge of American troop movements we are left to wonder if Hart gave up the info as he is sent to a military prison.

The American prisoners are presided over by Colonel McNamara (Willis), a third generation West Point grad. Although it seems as if McNamara has accepted his situation as a P.O.W, we find out that McNamara has far from given up the idea of fighting the war. In secret, McNamara and fellow P.O.W's are scheming to fight their captors. When Farrell arrives in the camp, he gets caught in the middle of suspicions over the escape attempts and a racial divide among the white American Officers and the African American enlisted men. 

Though the flyers are officers they are assigned to bunk with the enlisted men where racial tensions flare leading to one of the flyers (played by Reon Shannon) being framed and accused of attempting to escape for which he is executed by the Germans. This leads to a murder, with the other flyer (Terrence Howard) being accused. All of this is a build-up to the film’s climactic courtroom sequence, which is actually a cover for an escape attempt. That isn't any spoiler; you know that from the films over explanatory marketing campaign.

Filmed at a former Russian military training camp in the Czech Republic, Hart's War has the look of WW2 Germany down, the period is well realized. The film’s story, however, is not. The pace is slow and while Hart's War distinguishes itself from other recent war films with its lack of gory realistic violence, it lacks the urgency such violence portrays and what helps make people understand just how horrific war is.

The courtroom scenes provide a strong cover for the escape but in comparison they aren't nearly as interesting. The drama is with the guys going under the wire, not with the kid lawyer exercising his knowledge of military justice. Terrence Howard is effective with a fantastic monologue in the court sequence. Willis and Farrell however never come to life. Both characters seem like passionate guys but they both hide their passion behind glum masks, which distances the audience from the tension that should be building.

Hart's War is a slowly paced, slog through a courtroom story that is all a dull cliche. The war is never portrayed as the urgent activity it obviously was. The film begins slow and never gains speed. If you’re a Bruce Willis fan you might check it out, if not, I'd skip Hart's War.

Movie Review Empire Records

Empire Records (1995)

Directed by Allan Moyle 

Written by Carol Heikkinen 

Starring Liv Tyler, Renee Zellweger, Robin Tunney, Debi Mazar, Anthony LaPaglia, Rory Cochrane 

Release Date September 22nd, 1995 

Published September 21st, 2015

Sugar High

Sometimes you love a movie beyond any rational reasoning. This movie speaks to you in a way that it does not speak to anyone else. The film speaks to something personal for you and regardless of objective viewers that find flaw the film is strangely perfect in your mind. “Empire Records” is one of those movies for me; I love it beyond my ability to weigh its quality objectively.

“Empire Records” tells the story of nearly a dozen characters over one truly eventful day. We begin the night before the big day. Lucas (Rory Cochrane) has been given the rare honor of closing Empire Records for the day. It’s a simple task, count the money and don’t touch any of the boss’s beer, cigars or his drum kit. Lucas will violate each of these rules before absconding with the day’s take of more than 9 grand and heading off to Atlantic City.

Record Town

Lucas’s heart was in the right place. You see, Joe (Anthony La Paglia)  is being forced to give up the store and let it become a ‘Record Town;’ a lame chain store with rules that will likely mean the firing of all of Lucas’s friends and co-workers. He’d hoped that a good night in A.C would earn the money to buy the store and save everybody’s job. Instead, he loses everything and sets the table for a very long day.

The following morning Joe arrives at Empire to confused calls from his bank and an angry call from his boss Mitchell (Ben Bode) wondering where the money is. Meanwhile, Lucas has disappeared and A.J (Johnny Whitworth) is pestering Joe for advice about telling Corey (Liv Tyler) that, after 5 years working together, he’s in love with her.

Rex Manning Day

Corey meanwhile has other things on her mind than poor, heartsick A.J. Today is ‘Rex Manning Day’ at Empire Records and Corey intends on giving her virginity to the washed up pop star, played with oozing smarmy charisma by “Grease 2” star Maxwell Caulfield. Corey is egged on by her best friend Gina (Renee Zellweger) a girl who knows a little something about throwing herself at boys. Gina is the smutty yin to Corey’s innocent yang.

In another of the film’s subplots Robin Tunney plays goth goddess Debra who makes a splashy first impression arriving at work with a full head of hair before shaving herself bald in the bathroom. She also has a bandage on her wrist from a failed suicide attempt that may or may not have something to do with her relationship with Berko (Coyote Shivers) a fellow employee and wannabe rock star.

Special Appearance by 'Warren Beatty' 

Rounding out the cast is Debi Mazar as Rex Manning’s unhappy assistant, Ethan Embry as the gregarious metal head Mark, Kimo Willis as vinyl connoisseur Eddie and Brendon Sexton, now one of the stars of the stellar AMC mystery series “The Killing,” as a shoplifter who claims the name Warren Beatty after getting caught stealing. None of these characters has much of a character arc but each is given a moment and each takes full, entertaining advantage of it.

This wonderful ensemble gels perfectly under the direction of Allen Moyle who’s best remembered for the 1990 teen angst drama “Pump up the Volume” and the 1980 teen comedy “Times Square.” Moyle never had a real hit movie but his contribution in the world of movie soundtracks cannot be diminished.

Pump up the Volume

Moyle’s soundtrack for “Pump up the Volume” introduced a generation to the odd qualities of Leonard Cohen on the same soundtrack as Richard Hell, Bad Brains with Henry Rollins, the Beastie Boys and Sonic Youth. The soundtrack to Moyle’s “Times Square” may have been the reason that film was made at all. That soundtrack included Joe Jackson, The Cars and, most notably, the first U.S appearance by The Cure.

Naturally, the “Empire Records” soundtrack is also packed with great music. The Cranberries, Evan Dando, Gin Blossoms, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Edwin Collins and Cracker each contributed a song as did star Coyote Shivers whose song “Sugar High” is also performed in the film with additional vocals by Renee Zellweger.

A Musical Interlude

Not included on the soundtrack but in the film itself is music from The The, Dire Straits, Throwing Muses and AC/DC. There are times when Empire Records stops for a momentary musical interlude. The cast dances and sings along for a moment and then we are back into the story. It’s awkward at times but also appropriate, this is a record store after all, there had better be some great tunes.

I love the music and the musical interludes of “Empire Records.” As ridiculously indulgent as the music moments are, I am drawn to them because the cast is drawn to them. I want to be a part of their fun. That’s why I love “Empire Records,” it’s a harmless fantasy about what you wish work could be, friends listening to music, occasionally dancing, falling in love and generally having a good time.

Rock n' Roll Fantasy

Empire Records is my fantasy workplace filled with hot babes like Liv Tyler and Renee Zellweger and mentors like Rory Cochrane’s Zen weirdo and Anthony La Paglia’s inconceivably loyal boss. I want to work with these people and love with these people and join their independent family and listen to music with them.

My love for Empire Records is irrational from a critical perspective; I could find flaw with the filmmaking and storytelling if I wanted but I choose not to. It’s just one of those movies that slips past my guard and reaches a place in my heart that is beyond rationality. I’m sure you have an “Empire Records” of your own.