Forget all you know, or think you know. That’s what Disney’s Maleficent asks of the audience right up front. Messing with a classic story takes ambition that’s for sure, especially when the studio in question doesn’t have great track record of as of late updating/reinventing popular stories or ones from their own catalog. From the first frame Robert Stromberg’s film struggles to do two things: reinterpret a well-known tale in a way that will engage new audiences, and then keep it interesting enough to make their version worth anything. Now Disney is known for re-branding popular stories as most of their landmark animated films are in fact adaptations and interpretations. Taking…
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G-S-T Review…X-Men: Days of Future Past
In the years since Bryan Singer left the Marvel universe, the iconic X-Men faced a trio of cinematic duds. But following on the heels of the successful X-Men: First Class the franchise is now back on track and looks to stay that way especially with Singer back at the helm for the foreseeable future. Taking inspiration the 1980s comic series that inspired it, X-Men: Days of Future Past shows us that the only way to save the future mutantkind is to revisit their past. Boy, doesn’t that just eerily parallel three of the last four X-based films we had to endure? Fans deserve better and Singer’s film not helps make…
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[USAFF Review]…Finding Neighbors
Director Ron Judkins draws from personal experience in his latest film, Finding Neighbors. His latest effort is a story about an author who has reached the end of his professional career. Caddyshack’s Michael O’Keefe (in the film) has rode out his wave of fame, and, over a period of 30 years, has seen all that the entertainment industry has to offer. Yet, after so much time, as he looks back he feels he’s been sleepwalking through it all. It’s only after waking up – three decades later, and in what feels like a hangover – he’s able to assess where he is in life. Suffice to say she’s not happy.…
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[USAFF Review]…Fading Gigolo
John Turturro writes and directs his fifth film, Fading Gigolo, and weaves an interesting narrative to say the very least. In short, Fading Gigolo is about John Turturro and Woody Allen playing, no joke, “a pimp and a prostitute.” Let that sink in, because you probably won’t believe it until you see it. No, this is not a ’70s revival film, nor is it a wacky Austin Powers inspired narrative. This is quite a sophisticated, upscale, and frank story about people looking for a connection, and a very particular one at that. With ‘Giggilo’ in the title, one might think that connection means sex and all the escapades that go…
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G-S-T Review…Locke
Steven Knight (writer Eastern Promises, Dirty Pretty Things) writes and directs this gripping one man show starring: everyone’s favorite screen sociopath, Tom Hardy. It’s a film reminiscent of the 2010 Ryan Reynolds film, Buried, in that it’s all about Tom Hardy, and revolves around a single important moment in his life. The film is simply about a man trying to make amends for one mistake, yet in attempting to set this one thing right, he’s at risk of losing everything else he has going for him. It’s an impressive character study. Some can argue the merits for and against his decisions at length, yet at the end of the day, right or wrong, what Ivan…
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[USAFF Review]…Frontera
Michael Berry, an actor and stage performer in a past life, comes out of nowhere with his directorial debut Frontera. A gripping drama, his passion project follows on the heels of just two short films, award winning though they may be. Frontera is an emotionally gripping narrative about a family in Mexico struggling to make it to America, by any means necessary, and it is as taut as it is sobering. Over the course of the film each of the characters deal with extreme hardships – the family of immigrants deal with problems crossing the border (difficulties finding a guide, coming up with the money, putting trust in someone they…
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G-S-T Review…Dom Hemingway
Richard Shepard’s brilliant character study Dom Hemingway is a down and dirty black comedy that’s equal parts bitter and delicious. Also, wasting no time giving credit where it’s due, this is his best film to date. But Shepard, a filmmaker not content to deliver just one kind of story, attempts to test out more than a few genres while chronicling this multifaceted former gangster. It’s crass and unapologetic and Dom himself is a walking calamity but he’s not completely without soul and that’s where Shepard attempts to establish a heartwarming through-line. That might make for a cumbersome story and, at times, Dom Hemingway has trouble finding its stride. Yet, as this all comes…
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G-S-T Review…Heaven Is For Real
In the film world, telling any story is going to have its difficulties and setbacks. Telling or, in this case rather, translating a true story to the big screen is another matter entirely. But when a film touts those five notoriously nebulous words “based on a true story” it’s unclear how much of said events actually happened. Why is that? Well that’s because studios, screenwriters and directors can use very broad strokes when painting a live action picture. They take liberties when and where they chose if they believe it makes the translation more appealing. Nothing new there. But more to the above point, when a religious movie is based…
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G-S-T Review…Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Marvel Studios continues their hit steak of their Avengers-based films with Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Following Chris Evans’s successful turn as Steve Rogers in Joe Johnston’s 2011, directors Anthony and Joe Russo trade old-fashioned heroics for a seemingly throwback ’70s themed spy film. This change in direction is refreshing and helps better align Cap with the other larger-than-life heroes in the Avengers line up – It’s also thrilling, suspenseful and action packed. Not just that but the film, with all the layers of depth (and secrecy!) to the story, and the execution of this very comic book styled plot are a fantastic second at bat for the character and the…
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G-S-T Review…Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel
Every great artist has a signature style or body of work that defines them. Like other great cineastes, Anderson has been approaching a masterwork such as The Grand Budapest Hotel for years. Life Aquatic, Fantastic Mr. Fox and Moonrise Kingdom were all exercises, just previews and the tip of the quirky iceberg that is Anderson’s talent. Anderson’s whole life has been leading up to this moment, this triumphant feature and The Grand Budapest Hotel is easily the best thing he’s ever done; it’s a Wes Anderson film on steroids. He takes everything he’s learned from his small but highly successful projects and channeled them into this gargantuan, and exceptionally detailed…
