Movie Review Almost Paris

Almost Paris (2016) 

Directed by Domenica Cameron-Scorsese

Written by Wally Marzano-Lesnevich

Starring Wally Marzano-Lesnevich, Michael Sorvino, Abigail Hawk 

Release Date April 24th, 2016 

Almost Paris is a confounding movie. On the one hand, I like the characters; they’re consistently interesting people. On the other hand, some of the storytelling choices and the editing of scenes are so abrupt and odd that I can hardly make sense of the film as a whole. Directed by Domenica Cameron-Scorsese, Almost Paris is not a bad movie but it’s quite a peculiar movie.

Max (Wally Marzano-Lesnevich) has lost his job and is moving home with his parents, Claire (Susan Varon) and Richard (Adam Lefevre), in Oyster Bay, New Jersey. His sister Lauren and her husband Stephen (Ryan McCarthy) are already there with their five-year-old daughter Rosie (Lily Henderson) and things are strained in the family, to say the least. When everyone began moving back home, mom and dad were in the midst of selling their home to go to Paris.

Max’s return home is welcomed by his buddy Mikey-Mike (Michael Sorvino), a former baseball player who had a cup of coffee in the major leagues. Now, Mikey-Mike is divorced, barely sees his daughter, and fights with his ex-wife over a condo that Max helped them buy that they actually could not afford. Mikey doesn’t hold it against his old friend Max however, as Max remains one of the few people who can stand Mikey’s way of talking like a '90s teenage when he’s nearing 40. Mikey sounds like he would get on your nerves but the film sticks with his strangeness and it becomes endearingly doofy.

Find my full length review in the Geeks Community on Vocal. 

Movie Review Sheikh Jackson

Sheikh Jackson (2017) 

Directed by Amr Salama

Written by Amr Salama, Omar Khaled

Starring Ahmed El Fishawy, Ahmed Malek, Maged El Kedwany

Release Date September 11th, 2017 

Sheikh Jackson is a rare and wonderful movie. This Egyptian production directed by Amr Salama and co-written by Salama and Omar Khaled, tells the unique and touching story of a Muslim cleric who has a crisis of faith related to the death of Michael Jackson. The story is about a man confronting his faith, his past, his family and his very self and each step of the way, this measured and thoughtful drama rarely misses a beat.

Sheikh Jackson stars Ahmed El Feshawy as Sheikh, that’s what people call him anyway, a cleric, a prayer leader, who has found himself unable to cry recently. Tears are urgent reminders for Sheikh that he is in loving fearful worship of God. That he is finding himself unable to reach tears during burial ceremonies and daily prayers is a significant crisis; so significant that he seeks medical attention from a psychiatrist.

The story of Sheikh Jackson shifts back and forth in time with the modern Sheikh a deeply serious and pious man in crisis and the young Sheikh who was rebellious and came to idolize Michael Jackson as a way of getting closer to a girl he liked. There is also a connection between his love of The King of Pop and his late mother, but you will have to see the movie to find out more about that.

Sheikh’s crisis of faith happens to coincide with the death of Michael Jackson on June 25th, 2009. He doesn’t want to believe that something as superfluous and decadent as a teenage appreciation of an American pop star could cause the very foundation of his faith to be shaken but the journey, he goes on isn’t nearly that simple. It’s a journey home to memories of his mother and his brutish, bullying but loving father.

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Movie Review Insidious The Last Key

Insidious The Last Key (2018) 

Directed by Adam Robitel

Written by Leigh Whannell

Starring Lin Shaye, Angus Sampson, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Davison, Caitlin Gerard, Spencer Locke

Release Date January 5th, 2018 

I’ve finally figured out why I love the 'Insidious' franchise so much. It’s not that the franchise is all that better than most modern horror films, it still has the clumsiness and exposition laden dialogue and awkward humor that mark most low budget horror of the era. But, what 'Insidious' has over other modern horror movies is great characters. Genuinely likable, funny, and strong characters that we can really root for, especially Lyn Shaye’s brilliant Elise Rainier.

Insidious: The Last Key stars Lyn Shaye as Elise Rainier. Elise is a psychic who can speak to the dead and she’s made a business of it with her partners, Specs (Leigh Whannell, also the series screenwriter) and Tucker (Angus Simpson). Together they battle demons but their latest investigation is one that hits close to home, quite literally for Elise; this haunting is in her childhood home in Five Keys, New Mexico.

In an exceptional opening scene we are introduced to Elise as a child, played by Ava Colker). We find that Elise has always had the ability to speak to the dead, an ability that her mother encouraged and her father punished, quite violently. The opening scene finds Elise locked in her basement by her abusive father and suffering an immense tragedy in the fallout. The opening is exceptionally well-staged with a terrific jump scare and a genuinely moving bit of tragedy that only deepens our connection to Elise our franchise heroine.

Cut to Elise awakening from a dream in her home in California. Each dream for Elise is a piece of a puzzle she can use when she goes into 'The Further' that place between life and death where she battles demons for the souls of those who are taken. It is then that Elise receives a call from a man in New Mexico who has a haunting that happens to be in Elise's childhood home. The demons are calling her back to the place where her gift first took hold.

Find my full length review in the Horror Community on Vocal 

Movie Review The Post

The Post (2017) 

Directed by Steven Spielberg

Written by Josh Singer, Liz Hannah

Starring Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Bob Odenkirk, Sarah Paulson, Tracy Letts, Bradley Whitford

Release Date December 22nd, 2017 

The Post is an of-the-moment history lesson about the important role of the media in America. Steven Spielberg has made arguably the most relevant movie of our political moment, given the way that President Trump has made attacking the media a staple of his public discourse. Casting two of America’s most beloved and respected actors in the lead roles only deepens the importance of The Post.

The title The Post refers to the Washington Post, which in 1971 battled the Nixon White House over the so-called Pentagon Papers. The Pentagon Papers refers to a study commissioned by then Secretary of State MacNamara, who tasked members of the Pentagon, including young genius, Daniel Ellsburg (Matthew Rhys), to study the state of the Vietnam War.

After not getting the positive returns that they had hoped to get, MacNamara lied to the media and tried to bury the report. Ellsburg then stole a copy of the report from Pentagon partners, The Rand Corporation, and made copies which he leaked to the New York Times. The Times began publishing the report in early 1971 in pieces before the Nixon White House took the Times to court to stop them.

This is where the Washington Post comes in. Spielberg picks up the story with a desperate Ben Bradlee (Tom Hanks) hammering his reporters to find out where the New York Times is getting their information. He wants a copy of the report so that the Post can publish them as well. While his reporters are scouring their sources, Bradlee’s boss, Katherine Graham (Meryl Streep) is battling with the board of directors over her position as owner of the company.

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Movie Review Raw

Raw (2017)

Directed by Julia Ducournau

Written by Julia Ducournau

Starring Garance Marillier, Ella Rumpf, Laurent Lucas 

Release Date March 15th, 2017

I hate the movie Raw. I hate every second of the movie Raw. This challenging cannibalistic French horror movie put me through the ringer for 99 challenging minutes and I hated it. And yet, I can’t say it isn’t a damn brilliant film. Director Julia Ducornau directs this movie with such surety, such confidence and with such undeniable wit that I have to admit my appreciation of the film as a work of art, even as I will never watch Raw ever again.

Raw stars Garance Marillier as Justine, an innocent young girl headed off to veterinary school. There, she is immediately subjected to hazing as the students are pulled from their beds by the upper classmen and are dragged through the halls before being taken to an all-night rave. There, Justine finally finds her older sister Alexia (Ella Rumpf) who was supposed to meet her earlier but left her to be found by the upper classmen, per the annual school ritual.

We are told that every freshman goes through a Hell Week like this where they are forced into all-night parties, must follow bizarre dress codes, and are covered in a substance that looks like blood. One of the hazing rituals requires the previously vegetarian Justine to eat the raw kidney of a rabbit. She refuses, but her sister steps in with force and she eats it. This sets off a series of shocking events that rise as the narrative rises and begins to turn your stomach.

I haven’t had an experience like Raw since I first saw Eli Roth’s Hostel. That film, however, lacks this movie’s precise tone and remarkable artistry. Where Hostel was shock for the sake of shock with the intent of making audiences vomit, Raw has a serious point on its mind, with allusions to women’s sexual awakening and freedom to the ways in which our society grinds up those who can’t compete to be consumed by those more prepared for a cutthroat world.

Find my full length review in the Geeks Community on Vocal 

Movie Review In the Fade

In the Fade (2017) 

Directed by Faith Akin

Written by Faith Akin

Starring Diane Kruger

Release Date November 23rd, 2017

Fatih Akin’s In the Fade was among the contenders for the Palme D’or at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival and is now the German entry for nomination for Best Foreign Film at the Academy Awards. It’s a well-accomplished film centered on a strong, emotional performance from Diane Kruger of Inglorious Bastards fame. I’m left to wonder unfortunately, if the film gets more attention for its shock ending than for much of what takes place in the narrative.

Diane Kruger stars in In the Fade as Katja. We meet Katja on her wedding day via shaky cam footage of her inside the prison where her fiancée, Nuri (Numan Acar) is being held on drug charges. Cut to several years later, Nuri is out of prison and owns his own accounting business. The couple now has a son named Rocco who Mom drops off with Dad before heading to a spa date with her sister.

When she returns to the office, it is surrounded by police and the offices is in flames. Someone bombed the office and police want to know if it is related to Nuri’s past as a drug dealer or perhaps due to ties with Kurdish Muslims from his home country, Turkey. What police fail to look into initially is a young, German, blonde who left a bicycle unattended outside the office that day. Katja saw her and remarked on her obvious Aryan heritage. The implicit answer is Nazi.

In the Fade starts at something of a crawl but picks up speed when we arrive at the trial which is tense and well filmed. Director Akin has well cast every part of this courtroom drama and I found it impossible not to become riveted, especially when Katja takes the stand and finds herself under the intense scrutiny of the Defense Attorney, played by Johannes Krisch.

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Classic Movie Review Westworld

Westworld (1973)

Directed by Michael Crichton

Written by Michael Crichton

Starring Yul Brenner, Richard Benjamin, James Brolin

Release Date August 17th, 1973 

Listeners to the Everyone is a Critic Podcast know that I have a strange relationship with Westerns. On more than one occasion I have spoken of not being a fan of the genre only to then end up praising movies like Open Range, Rio Bravo or, one of my all-time favorites, 3:10 to Yuma. This bizarre relationship to the Western has a lengthy and unique history.

When I was a kid, I told my dad that I didn’t like Westerns. Being a fan of the genre himself, he wanted to try to get me into it. I refused and protested and would not brook watching them quietly. His last attempt to get me into the gunfighting, horse riding genre was rather clever. He said, “What if we watch a Western that also has robots and sword fighting?" The movie was Westworld, and it became the first time I willingly accepted liking something remotely part of the Western genre.

Westworld starred Richard Benjamin and James Brolin as a pair of rich guys who take a vacation at a futuristic park called Westworld. Westworld is one of three rich guy playgrounds where a company called Delos has employed robot technology to recreate the experience of the past. There is Westworld, set in the dusty saloons and whorehouses of the old west. Roman World where patrons indulge in the excesses of ancient Rome and finally Medieval World where guests play around with Arthurian legends.

The first half of the film cleverly plays on the fun of playing dress up and having it appear so real. It’s a wonderful sort of amusement park where Benjamin and Brolin can throw down in a gunfight one night, spend the night with prostitutes at a bordello in the next and have an old west style barfight in the next. All these things are wonderfully fun until they're not.

Find my full length review in the Geeks Community on Vocal