Movie Review Stronger

Stronger (2017) 

Directed by David Gordon Green 

Written by John Pollono 

Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Tatiana Maslany, Miranda Richardson, Clancy Brown

Release Date September 22nd, 2017 

Published September 24th, 2017 

Stronger stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Jeff Bauman, a man who lost his legs to the bombing at the 2013 Boston Marathon. Before the marathon, Jeff was just an anonymous Costco employee who loved the Red Sox and wanted to reconcile with his girlfriend Erin (Tatiana Maslany) who dumped him because he rarely showed up when he was supposed to. On April 15, 2013, Jeff finally showed up at the Boston Marathon in the hope that his homemade sign cheering Erin on to the finish line might win her back.

Stronger was directed by David Gordon Green who directs the film with an aim for authenticity. The raw style of the early portion of Stronger is as powerful as the story itself as the look of the film captures a feeling of real life. Once the bombs go off and we know that Jeff has been badly injured the story turns to Erin who wasn’t sure that Jeff had come that day as he’d so often failed to show up. Her search to find out if he’d actually been there that day is incredibly affecting especially as she finds herself overrun by his brutish Boston family and friends who aren’t so kind to the girl who dumped their boy.

Maslany is a wonderful actress whose face communicates nearly as much as her words. She’s wearily beautiful, sad but strong. She feels guilt for having been the reason that Jeff was there that day but there is a limit to how bad she’s willing to feel about it. It’s a powerhouse performance and one that I hope will remain in people’s minds through the awards season. Maslany’s best scene is yet another break up between her and Jeff where she refuses to be his emotional punching bag and puts aside her pity for his loss in order to protect herself from his emotional abuse. The scene is raw and emotional and weighty, and Maslany is brilliant.

Naturally, however, Stronger lives and dies on the performance of Jake Gyllenhaal and it is yet another powerful and effective performance. Gyllenhaal crafts a wart and all performance as Jeff Bauman and the film is smart to embrace all sides of this complex man who refused to see himself as a hero who survived a terrorist attack but rather as just a victim. In his mind, all he did was get blown up, he doesn’t see that surviving was heroic in its own way and living beyond the loss and pain was inspiring.

Find my full length review in the Geeks Community on Vocal 

Movie Review: Destroyer

Destroyer (2018) 

Directed by Karyn Kusama 

Written by Phil Hay, Matt Manfredi 

Starring Nicole Kidman, Sebastian Stan, Toby Kebbell, Tatiana Maslany, Bradley Whitford 

Release Date December 25th, 2018 

Published December 22nd, 2018

Destroyer stars Nicole Kidman as Erin Bell, a former undercover cop turned burned out homicide detective. We get two sides of Erin Bell, her life when she was promoted from a Sheriff’s Deputy to being an undercover operative embedded in a bank robbery gang, to today when Erin looks as if life has her thoroughly defeated. Oftentimes simply being de-glammed is enough to make us take notice of a performance but Kidman brings a genuine edge that goes beyond her looks and manner in Destroyer.  

We meet Detective Bell when she arrives in bad shape at a crime scene. At the scene, a body is laid out and Bell indicates she recognizes the corpse. Other detectives give us a strong sense of how Detective Bell is viewed by the rest of her department, they want her to leave the crime scene and let them handle it. That's likely because she looks as if she hasn’t slept in days and is in no shape to work. They have no idea how right they are. 

Destroyer was directed by the ingenious Karyn Kusama who is best known for her debut feature, Girlfight, about a female boxer. That film was notable in a similar way to Destroyer in that Michelle Rodriguez took a traditionally male character and invested it with a uniquely feminine toughness. Kusama is also known for the horror movie Jennifer’s Body which in recent months has been getting another look from critics who’ve taken note of the strong feminist themes that run throughout Kusama’s work.

This is notable in Destroyer in how Kidman is playing the kind of hard bitten, cynical character usually reserved for male protagonists. Detective Bell has faults that we’ve seen before in male characters but that get flipped around with it coming from a female perspective and it does freshen up the cliche a great deal. Kidman doesn’t play up any mannish qualities, it’s just that the specific traits of this character are usually assigned to men. 

It’s a fascinating performance and while I have focused too much on Kidman’s looks, I am doing so because her looks, the features, the worn, lived in, well-earned wrinkles and generally dishevelled look is an important part of this character. She's unvarnished for a reason, she’s given up on the basic comforts of life. Something so traumatic has happened that she’s turned most of her life over to either her job or to the hard drinking that helps to cope with the job and her memories, fears and shame. 

She’s also neglected her daughter, Shelby (Jade Pettyjohn) who appears to be headed down a wrong path, one all too similar to Erin’s. The relationship between Erin and her daughter has always been strained; Erin found out she was pregnant on the same day that Shelby’s father was killed in a gun battle. I won’t spoil the role that this played in Erin’s undercover work or the dark secret she’s hiding throughout the film but all of it coalesces into Erin’s dark story in devastating fashion. 

Toby Kebbell plays the main antagonist in Destroyer, a figure from Erin’s past whose return triggers a series of violent outbursts and leads to several bodies piling up. It’s a battle of wills with greed and revenge at the heart. Kebbell is a rather minimal presence physically in the film but his legend and his crimes hang over the entire story to the point where his appearances come to feel as if he is literally haunting Erin. 

It’s an exceptional and unique way to tell a revenge story. Destroyer is minimalist in story presentation with dialogue building Kebbell’s villain into a monster and Kidman delivering on making Bell desperate and feral like a cornered animal as she pursues him. The way the story plays out is a shocker and a real clever one. Pay close attention or you might miss a couple key details that play into the ending. I can tell you, it’s both satisfying and bleak. 

Destroyer is not a fun movie, it’s not an easy sit. The film is combative and pushy but Kidman’s performance makes it highly compelling. Kidman is Oscar-worthy not for her deglamorized look but for the grit that she brings to this character which combines vulnerability and street toughness into one of the most unique and yet familiar characters I’ve ever seen. It’s not just the novelty of a woman getting to portray characteristics typically assigned to male characters, Kidman makes Bell a uniquely fascinating figure, and for that, I recommend Destroyer. 

Movie Review Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed

Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed (2004) 

Directed by Brett Sullivan

Written by Megan Martin

Starring Tatiana Maslany, Emily Perkins

Release Date January 30th, 2004 

Published February 17th, 2004 

Why is it that so many crappy horror flicks get 2000+ screen rollouts while a number of very good horror films are sent straight to video? Films like House Of The Dead get major rollouts while brilliant horror films like May and the original Ginger Snaps were shuffled off to low-key video releases. This makes absolutely no sense and now with the release of Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed, we have another example of a brilliant horror film going to video as a number of bad movies crawl into theaters.

Brigitte (Emily Perkins) is back, having survived her sister Ginger’s (Katherine Isabelle) attack, which nearly killed her. Unfortunately, she too is now fighting the transformation. Using some kind of witch's brew, Brigitte is able to stave off her inner-werewolf. However, she has other problems, another werewolf is on her tail with thoughts of mating. As she dodges the werewolf she accidentally OD's on her potion and is mistaken for a junkie. This lands Brigitte in a drug clinic where, separated from her drugs, she can't fight the beginning transformations.

While in the clinic, she meets a strange girl named Ghost (Tatiana Maslany), who is in the clinic with her grandmother who had a curious accident. Ghost helps Brigitte escape and get her inner-werewolf under control. The girls escape to Ghost's family cabin where they make a last stand against the werewolf.

The setup is quick and easy to explain but there is so much more to Ginger Snaps 2 than its plot. The genius of Snaps is the subtle humor, the dark comic atmosphere and the serious horror film gore. These are some of the genre’s best blood-soaked horror scenes in a good long while. Director Brett Sullivan was the editor on the original Ginger Snaps and clearly he learned a lot while doing it. His touch and style perfectly evoke the first film without ever seeming like a direct copy.

The script by first time writer Megan Martin is whip smart, funny and scary and as played by the terrific cast it works as straight horror and ironic, hip dark comedy. There is a lot of subtext in the script about drug use and promiscuity and such but it's played with great wit and there are no lessons learned, or morals taught. Just a great horror comedy.

What really makes Ginger Snaps 2 work is the performance of Emily Perkins as Brigitte. For a horror film, she does a lot of emotion and a lot of real acting. This is no shrinking violet, Perkins really digs into this material and makes you believe every moment she's on screen that she is serious. Perkins is playing both straight horror and deft subtext and she does both very well. Tatiana Maslany as Ghost is equally effective in a far different role than Perkins. Maslany is playing the story on two different levels, as a scared kid and fascinated onlooker. To say anymore is to give away too much.

Fans of the original will be happy to hear that their beloved Katherine Isabelle is back as Ginger, though only in a cameo as a figment of Brigitte's imagination.

The only problem I have with Ginger Snaps 2 is its ending. The ending is surprising but it's not quite the ending audiences are hoping for. It functions as a setup for another sequel, which isn't exactly a bad thing given the high quality of the franchise thus far. Still, it’s a little too modern Hollywood for my taste. Ironically Ginger Snaps 2 was shot back to back with not a sequel but a prequel which will reunite Ginger and Brigitte in the 19th century.

Ginger Snaps 2 is yet another example of the ridiculousness of the Hollywood system. Large scale releases for House Of A Thousand Corpses or Cabin Fever infest theaters to lukewarm reactions but gems like Ginger Snaps languish on video store shelves. Rent it with the first Ginger Snaps and May the next time you see a major Hollywood studio unload some lame attempt at a horror film into your local multiplex.