A Perfect Getaway

It's always the ones you least suspect.

What looks like a dream honeymoon for a lovely couple about to go horribly wrong because a man/woman killer duo is roaming the Hawaiian islands turns out to be a charade played by said duo, which is actually the couple honeymooning.

First, a set of decoys is sent in. Here they come in the form of a guy that looks, sounds, acts and feels like a very bad guy. He and his hippie girlfriend are neatly pushed out of the way by the real bad guy, who plants evidence on them and has an unsuspecting bystander alarm the authorities of this 'suspicious' couple of tourists.

Then there is the big-talking cool hunky dude with his girlfriend. They are into very much in love and into drugs. He is also very handy with all kinds of weaponry. They seem like the perfect for for murderous duo in paradise. Those two turn out to be the actual targets, though.

But thanks to the killer briefly losing all ability to hit anyone properly with his gun (and then suddenly shooting and killing four guys in quick succession without blinking an eye) and his woman suddenly growing a conscience and smelling the opportunity to finally get out from under his thumb (and we know she only ever went along with killing people because he had this spell over her) the two survive. They may be all bloody but they are still very much in love and supposedly set to live happily ever after. Awwww!

Side note: Milla Jovovich can pronounce the word "Wow!" so convincingly, she is made to say it what feels like fifty times within the first ten minutes. And she is not much of an actress, is she?

4/10

The Wolf of Wall Street

Well, this was surprising.

I did not actually want to see The Wolf of Wall Street. Then a couple of friends suggested to go see it together and I ended up actually sort of enjoying it.

Granted, it is long. And I mean very, very long. Too long even. Seriously, how many scenes of gang banging hookers and doing endless lines of cocaine does it take to get the message across? Two? Three? Surely not as many as there were, some even in slo-mo. Two hours should have been more than enough to tell this particular story.

Aside from the sheer endlessness of the film, there were moments of greatness and absolute hilarity.

The highlight of it all, which made me laugh so hard I was in stitches, was the main character making his way from a pay phone inside the lobby of a country club to his car parked outside. There are other laughs and chuckles along the way, but this one definitely takes the cake.

Ultimately, this was better than I expected.

7/10

20 Feet from Stardom

20 Feet from Stardom is one of this year's Oscar nominees for Best Documentary (up against The Act of Killing, Cutie and the Boxer, Dirty Wars and Al midan).

This is made up of archive footage and interviews focusing on backup singers. It features the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Sting and Mick Jagger alongside the (mostly) women that many of us have heard many times over, usually without appreciating the art and beauty they bring to the songs.

The film puts a handful of these talented individuals (predominately African-American) front an center. Most but not all of them tried to get into the spotlight themselves at some point, one, Merry Clayton, even putting out three record that never amounted to much but must have been really good from the few seconds we get to hear. Another interviewee is Judith Hill who participated in The Voice (and got voted off early and rather surprisingly).

Some other tidbits we learn...Phil Spector is not a very nice person. Luther Vandross once was a backup singer for David Bowie (on the Young Americans album). Backup singers are divas too.

Beautifully shot and a very interesting bit of music history.

7/10

Margin Call

This is about financial crisis hitting a big wall street company. Most of it happens during two days, starting with some major downsizing happening, than a rocket scientist (no, really) figuring out that something has been going very wrong lately and is about to hit the company in a big way, the ones earning the really big bucks dusting themselves off by distributing their potential losses down to their buyers and then they all suck it up for a few months and go back to business as usual.

Sounds dry?

Well, it could be with the financial humbug that none of the so-called 'little' people don't understand (this means the average movie goer). Luckily, the cast in Margin Call is stellar and makes this much more interesting than one might expect.

And when I say stellar I mean it.

Here are Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Zachary Quinto, Simon Baker, Jeremy Irons and Stanley Tucci. I love every single one of these men individually and love them even more in an ensemble. There is also Demi Moore, who is brilliant in her own right, of course, but my love for her is limited.

You know what else? This is a directorial (feature length) debut. J. C. Chandoor had one short film to his credit before this and has since made the equally impressive All Is Lost.

Bonus - beautiful shots of New York City by night.

8/10

Legion

Archangel Michael has a six pack and he is bad-ass. He knows martial arts and can handle all kinds of weaponry.

Don't believe me? Just watch Legion and you will see.

Archangel Gabriel is also kind of bad-ass and I am pretty sure that he has a six pack underneath all that armor, as well. Alas, we never get to see him shirtless.

But back to Michael, who has fallen (jumped?) from heaven because there is one task God asked of him that he is not comfortable with. You see, unlike the Lord, Michael has not lost faith in humanity and would rather save a baby than kill it. Yes, this here God is a vengeful one.

The setting for most of the film is a diner in the middle of nowhere (from the proximity to LA I would guess in the Nevada desert). The people inside get there first taste of the pending apocalypse when a little old lady comes in ordering steak that is practically raw. Then she tells the waitress that her soon-to-be-born baby (the one Gabriel is sent to kill) will 'burn', insults another customer (for constantly complaining) and bites the husband defending his wife's honor in the neck.

Shortly after, Michael comes, arms everyone and they all defend the diner. Or actually, Charlie, the soon-to-be-mother-of-the-coming-savior. There is some religious talk and lots of gunfire against the swarms of possessed (?) people surrounding the diner. It's like Feast, but without the humor and with a prettier cast.

Then, after the baby is born, there is one epic bar fight between Michael and Gabriel. The latter has the advantage of his armor and the wings, that appear to be sort of like an extra shield and kills his ex-colleague. But instead of dying like 'one of them' he dissolves into ashes and light to return a bit later, having earned his wings back and defeats Gabriel...but does not kill him.

So full of pathos and religious mumbo-jumbo but oh so awesome.

And did I mention Michael's six pack?

7/10

RoboCop

I know I have seen the original RoboCop. I mean, I must have. Right? What I remember from it is...nothing. So I went to the new version of it with a fresh mind and not expecting anything.

First off, I don't really know who the guy is that plays the lead character, Joel Kinnaman. Yes, I am aware that he is in the US version of The Killing (did anyone need that?) but beyond that, no idea. Playing RoboCop is not really the best means to show your acting range, though, now is it? The rest of the cast is really high profile in comparison. I haven't seen Michael Keaton in a while (last time would have been in The Other Guys), Gary Oldman is apparently in everything now, the totally forgettable looking Abbie Cornish is there and the great, underrated, underapprechiated and underused Michael K. Williams.

So far, so good.

Then, of course, there is Jay Baruchel. Why the hell is Jay Baruchel in this to ruin an otherwise enjoyable, fast paced, action packed, sprinkled-with-jokes film? His voice has an annoying quality that would only work for a muppet and he is not much of an actor. *sigh*

But lucky for me and the rest of last night's audience there is also Samuel L. Jackson. His involvement alone makes this worth seeing. He plays a right-leaning, opinionated TV personality with his own sorta political show. And he very much approves of robots let lose to guard the streets of US cities. And he gets to swear. A little. At the end. He is awesome.

Sure, the film is no revelation. Neither is Joel Kinnaman. Some of the shootouts are very, very noisy. But the in-between jokes and irony make this entertaining.

5/10

Philip Seymour Hoffman, 1967-2014

The world lost a brilliant actor today.

 

Maximilian Schell, 1930-2014

Maximilian Schell, who won an Academy Award for Judgement in Nuremberg and was in what I consider the greatest heist movie ever, Topkapi, passed away. Here is an obituary in Austrian paper Kurier (German only, sorry).

Seriously, though, if you haven't seen Topkapi do watch it. It also has the incomparable Peter Ustinov, who won an Oscar for his supporting role. Also, this has a scene that you will find familiar (if you have seen the first Mission: Impossible film).

edit: Variety has a story on Schell's death up now, as well.