There are plenty of films out there that envision a utopia, or something realizing a nearly optimal society. In James DeMonaco’s nail-biter the family of a well-to-do security consultant (Ethan Hawke) are terrorized in this highly fictitious home invasion thriller. But this isn’t about some random act of terrifying gratuitous violence like The Strangers (to which The Purge will easily be compared), no it’s part of a much larger world – the above mentioned utopia. In the year 2022 America is as close to perfection as possible, unemployment is at 1% and the USA is a nation reborn, thanks to an annual event called “The Purge”. In a society, or more…
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G-S-T Review…The Prey
The Prey can be best described as puzzling. That’s not to say that the film is complex; it’s actually remarkably simple and woefully boilerplate, so much so that every so often as you watch it, you may feel as though you’ve watched it already. The real mystery here is how the film managed to avoid being released straight on home video despite being just at the level of DTV quality. If The Prey does one thing well, it’s meet the physical demands of its numerous action scenes handsomely- you won’t be completely bored even while you experience deja vu- but it doesn’t have an original or intelligent thought in its…
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G-S-T Review…La Camioneta
Guatemala’s main source of transportation comes from drivers of colorfully painted, refurbished buses known as “camionetas.” These drivers and their decorated buses are responsible for providing the majority of Guatemalans a way to make a living by transporting them to and from work each day. For as long as he can remember, Ermelindo has had a dream of owning one of these buses, and to perform this service that is so essential to the people of Guatemala and their way of life. The documentary feature debut from Mark Kendall (www.markkendall.net), La Camioneta, follows the bus that will eventually serve to fulfill Ermelindo’s long-awaited dream, as it makes it’s way from…
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G-S-T Review…Now You See Me
Louis Leterrier. That name means different things to different people. But when telling a tale that’s a quasi-magical, quasi-heist film, he seems the perfect fit for this type of story. None of his films are known to contain very much substance, yet, on a cursory level, they are comprised of mostly breezy entertainment with a strong, and slightly fun visual sense. Smoke, mirrors, and misdirection are the tools of a magician and Leterrier works in the same medium, one where everything is an illusion; a hollow one with no great revelation behind the curtain, only disappointment. That sounds incredibly harsh as Now You See Me, for most of the duration at least, is…
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G-S-T Review…After Earth
I remember sitting the a crowded ballroom during the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con and listening to the panelists talk at length about the effort they put into the history of After Earth. They even went so far as describing a “bible” they created, so that they could put down any answers to various questions of who did what and why. Some 1,000 years into the future is when After Earth begins, where an elite military force known as the Rangers are the trailblazers after we left Earth. Ravaged, the planet was no longer inhabitable by our self-destructing human race so we fled and found a new planet to live on.…
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G-S-T Review…EPIC
What do you see when you walk through the forest? Most likely a serene cornucopia of flora and fauna. But what makes the leaves rustle and the animals scurry? No it’s not just the wind or your presence that startles the animals. If you look closely there’s a battle raging for the fate of the very same forest you might find yourself passing through and that, in a nutshell, is the very simple premise of Blue Sky Studios’ Epic. It’s an imaginative tale that tries to get adults, and kids, back to the days when wonder, intrigue and the sense of discovery that was found seeking adventure right in our own…
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G-S-T Review…Fast & Furious 6
Ladies and Gentlemen, the huge summer blockbusters are finally upon us. This year we arrive in style with a film franchise that would make most people scratch their heads and wonder. With the third installment the franchise was on shaky ground, only bringing Vin Diesel back for a cameo. But, when Vin Diesel and Paul Walker signed on for the fourth installment, the franchise was back in business. The box office take for the fourth installment was more than double that of the third; the numbers only go up from there. To date the Fast & Furious franchise has raked in $1.6 billion worldwide. That only accounts for box office…
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G-S-T Review…What Maisie Knew
How does a child endure the trauma of a volatile custody battle? What Maisie Knew, loosely based on Henry James’ 1897 novel of the same name, answers that question by putting central emphasis on the titular character, a precocious young girl caught between her two warring parents in the final days of their poisonous marriage. Sometimes, Maisie (Onata Aprile), is nothing more than a bargaining chip alternately used by her father, art dealer Beale (Steve Coogan, affecting his finely-tuned persona of self-absorption), and her mother, has-been rocker Susanna (Julianne Moore), in their legal and social skirmishes; at others, she’s a silent witness to the selfishness of grown-ups and, to a…
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G-S-T Review…Stories We Tell
Seven years after Sara Polley’s directorial debut, Away From Her, and only two in the wake of her follow-up, 2011’s Take This Waltz, the actress-filmmaker’s latest offering feels like something of a capstone at this juncture of her career. Limited as her body of work may be, Stories We Tell explains, or rather clarifies, her efforts as a narrator; it’s the film that elucidates her pursuits as an artist and even allows us to view them anew through a fresh lens. If her forays behind the camera raised any questions about the thematic drives and interests of her cinema, then Stories We Tell, both gracefully and bravely introspective at the…
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On Second Thought, Bill’s Take: G-S-T Review…Star Trek Into Darkness
There’s a vitality to director J.J. Abram’s latest foray into the Star Trek universe. While he may not be going where no man—or this series in particular—has gone before, it appears his goal is to give the series forward momentum that can be sustained even if he doesn’t return to the helm. Certainly, Abrams leaves the franchise in a much better place than where he found it. What you look for in a Trek film largely depends on what generation you belong to and outside of that, what series you most align yourself with. There’s a rich history through the various decades that Trek lived through on the boob tube.…