Writer/director Ron Morales gives us a new spin on a familiar kidnapping yarn but tells a story that’s so believable and grounded you’d think it was a documentary. A superbly paced and intense flick, this is the kind of film we don’t get to see every day but would wish there were more of. In a world where we have films like Ransom and Taken, people walking out of Gracelandmight likely comment that Morales’ film is taken, er, taking its sweet time because this is a slow film. Yet that’s the point, it’s not about wiretaps, SWAT teams, a Tony Scott style of camera work, or an adrenaline-fueled rescue. Not at all. The focus of Morales’ film…
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G-S-T Review…The Place Beyond the Pines
Derek Cianfrance’s The Place Beyond the Pines is a viscerally pensive film and an enthralling multi-generational drama. As equally well-crafted as his highly received Blue Valentine, Pines is a complex and engrossing film that takes a look at legacies and what we leave behind for our kids. Further it shows us that those legacies, whether we want them or not, can sometimes make life choices for us without our say in the matter. It’s an ever-escalating, multilayered, emotionally bold familial drama that has all the makings of an instant classic. Cianfrance’s sophomore effort tells a sobering story about love and family and further one that despite the best of intentions may all end in a dismal trail of…
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G-S-T Review…Drafthouse Films’ WRONG
It doesn’t matter what side of the bed you wake up on when the alarm clock gets you up at 7:60 every morning. In Quentin Dupieux’s Wrong, everything in the main character Dolph Springer’s world is just that, and further a bizzare journey into the absurd. At nearly every corner of this dreamlike film there is a story line and likable characters somewhat reminiscent of the very off-kilter nature of Wristcutters: A Love Story and Dog Tooth topped off with Terry Gilliam’s surreal shooting style and sense of humor. Wrong is more than a bit askew but also funny, easily more accessible than Dupieux’s Rubber and is best described as being an odd delight. There’s an aloofness and complacency to the absurdity that…
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G-S-T Review…G.I. JOE: Retaliation
We at GoSeeTalk are but some of the few out there who really enjoyed Stephen Sommers’ G.I. JOE: The Rise of Cobra (read our review from way back); even if it was a mess it was still a lot of fun. In this highly anticipated follow up Jon M. Chu, known for his strong visual style and over-the-top action, ups the ante and makes G.I. JOE: Retaliation bigger and a little more believable than its comic origins. The sequel (penned by Zombieland writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick) embraces the JOE namesake yet only finds a few characters/plotlines returning from Sommers’ popcorn fueled romp. Retaliation embodies some of the more cartoon elements but goes about telling its story…
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G-S-T Review…The Host
Stephenie Meyer’s post-Twilight film The Host is a highly ambitious sci-fi yarn. It’s the tale of an alien invasion, a benign one at that, and as much as there is the potential to be a great story about rebellion and survival it’s really about life in the aftermath of said invasion. In short, they’ve won so what story is there to tell? It has a complex set-up/backstory, one with fantastically grand world-building yet we only see a very small portion of it. So how can that be engaging? Enter Andrew Niccol, director of equally simple sci-fi films like Gattaca and In Time. Here he lends his visually simple but elegant creative muscle to Meyer’s story and…
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G-S-T Review…Stoker
You owe yourself to give a film a chance beyond the first few minutes. Whether it is finding its own rhythm or for you to allow it to weave its web, the opening experience isn’t always going to be the best foot forward. That’s exactly how I felt while watching Stoker, Park Chan-wook’s English-language debut. In fact, I was caught by the mixed emotions I had felt towards the film afterwards. Somehow I had gone from gently laughing at the film to joining in on its zaniness about half way and downright enjoying myself by the end. In just under 100 minutes, Stoker grew on me by leaps and bounds.…
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G-S-T Review…Oz the Great and Powerful
Who wouldn’t want to travel to the wondrous and imaginative worlds we’ve seen grace the silver screen? Chief among the most magical candidates has to be the Land of Oz. In this prequel to the 1939 classic, Sam Raimi shows us how the “Wizard of Oz” became so Great and Powerful. Usually it’s with extreme hesitation that one would chose to add to the mythology of property as legendary as The Wizard of Oz. Others smartly leave well enough alone. After all, the sequel and TV spin offs have yielded results paling in comparison to Victor Fleming’s film. Since going back has been done before the only place to go is back to the beginning, right? How very contemporary. The film…
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Off the Shelf…'Wreck-It Ralph'
Disney and director Rich Moore’s fantastic arcade themed adventure blazes to life on this solid 3D Blu-Ray release. Had you not seen this fun filled adventure in theaters, along with the now Oscar-winning short film Paperman, and manage to see Wreck-It Ralph blind and with no knowledge of its source of origination, you might be inclined to credit the film to Pixar. And while that wouldn’t be an unreasonable guess, you’d be wrong. Ralph has all the bearings of Pixar at its finest, yet Rich Moore’s first feature length effort comes to us from none other than the Mouse House itself. Arriving six months after the release of Brave, Ralph gives weight to the theory that both…
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G-S-T Review…A Good Day To Die Hard
Confidence in critiquing a film is often fleeting. You feel inspired to write about certain points, but are unclear of the intangible things that make a film ultimately enjoyable or flat. That’s part of the process of reviewing and being able to adequately touch on those aspects. A Good Day to Die Hard makes it easy to pick apart. The villains are flat and ultimately unworthy. The highlight of the film, a car chase showcasing an enormous military vehicle and various others through crowded Russian streets, utilizes seemingly endless camera angles to thoroughly confuse you before settling into a zany rhythm five minutes later. We are provided action sequence after action sequence, as both star Bruce Willis…
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G-S-T Review…Beautiful Creatures
If Warm Bodies is a sly mockery of everything Stephanie Meyer started when she wrote Twilight and assisted in its transition from novel to screen, then what can we make of Beautiful Creatures? The lesson here, I think, is that not every post-Twilight YA movie will improve on the formula; in point of fact, some of them will wallow in it. Beautiful Creatures, lacking all of the heart and wit Levine brought to his own spin on the young adult blueprint, blithely tumbles into the latter category; it’s almost impossible to enjoy even on a trashy, so-bad-it’s-good level, though bless Jeremy Irons and Emma Thompson for trying to bring the film to that sort of plateau.…
