My Review: August: Osage County (5/10)

"I thought we were having a funeral dinner not a cockfight."

Based on Tracy Letts' Pulitzer winning play of the same name, August: Osage County is a dark comedy about a dysfunctional family that are reunited for their father's funeral and several secrets are revealed along the way. This is director John Wells' follow up to his 2010 film The Company Men, with Letts adapting the screenplay of his own play. Add a very talented cast to the mix and you have all the right elements for a successful film, but somehow it failed to engage me. The characters in this film are so unlikable and they treat each other so terribly that I just found this film hard to enjoy. This is one family I would like to stay as far away as possible, and therefor I never felt comfortable watching this. This is an extremely verbally violent film which proves the point that words can hit harder than stones. August Osage County does have several positive things going for it beginning with some terrific performances from Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts. It also has a very witty and sharp screenplay as several secrets revealed along the way come as a surprise. It is a powerful film, but one that I never felt comfortable watching due to the fact I despised the way these characters treated each other. It was a depressing film, much like Lett's previous adapted play, Killer Joe. Despite having some fun moments I still felt like I'd be better off keeping away from this depressing story.

The film opens with Beverly (Sam Shepard) interviewing a young Native American woman named Johnna (Misty Upham) for a position as a live-in maid. He tells her about his wife Violet (Meryl Streep) who has been diagnosed with cancer and her addiction to pills. He and his wife have made an agreement, he doesn't say anything to him about her addiction and she doesn't bother him for being an alcoholic. It's just the way they deal with each other and their problems. Violet interrupts the interview and seems disturbed because she doesn't think she needs anyone taking care after her. Several days later it appears that Beverly has gone missing. The first to arrive at Violet's home providing support are her daughter Ivy (Julianne Nicholson), her sister Mattie Fae (Margo Martindale) and Fae's husband Charlie (Chris Cooper). Violet spends most of her time drinking pills and criticizing her family, especially Ivy for still being single. Violet's oldest daughter, Barbara (Julia Roberts) arrives with her husband Bill (Ewan McGregor) and their fourteen year old daughter Jean (Abigail Breslin) just around the moment that they discover Beverly's boat is missing. Later that afternoon, the local sheriff arrives and announces they have found Beverly's body, saying that he committed suicide and drowned himself. Several days later the funeral is held and the rest of Violet's family arrives, including her other daughter, Karen (Juliette Lewis) with her fiancé Steve (Dermot Mulroney) . The stage is set as they gather together for diner after the service and chaos ensues as secrets are revealed and horrible things are said to each other.

Meryl Streep may have just played her meanest role to date. She is a paranoid and dysfunctional woman who clearly has affected her children in the way she raised them. Julia Roberts also holds her own against Streep as they share some very powerful scenes together. The dialogue is witty and funny at times, while revealing some surprises along the way, but it's just the way these people treat each other that makes you want to stay away from them. The performance from the entire cast was above par, and the film succeeds in portraying them as these despicable and hateful people. Benedict Cumberbatch and Chris Cooper being both perhaps the most sympathetic characters in the film, although they do have their flaws as well. Despite all the strong performances I do believe Roberts and Streep steal each scene they are in. They deserve all the recognition they've been receiving, but I just had a hard time watching this movie and getting through the entire thing. This is one of those stories that seem to have worked better as a play than in the big screen.

My Review: jOBS (5/10)

"If you don't share our enthusiasm and care for the vision of this company. Get out! You're done."

How could you make a biopic about an inspirational and visionary man in such a bland manner? The film lacked the very elements that made Steve Jobs such a creative entrepreneur. It's a shame because the subject matter alone almost guarantees you will watch a great film. Jobs has altered our lives; at this very moment I'm writing from one of his Mac computers while my brothers are chatting on their iphones and listening to music on their ipods. Somehow such great material got lost along the way and this Joshua Michael Stern directed film simply looks like a made for TV biopic. It is one of those movies that are so uninspired and consist of bad writing that you simply thought it was made for TV. Take for example The Social Network, a film about the creator of Facebook, a biopic I thought beforehand was going to be dull and boring, but was completely blown away by Aaron Sorkin's script. He made Mark Zuckerberg look completely appealing. But here we have a much more visionary person like Steve Jobs whose story we all want to see told on film and the result from Matt Whiteley's script is completely uninspiring. The film could be called Apple Inc because it felt like it focused more on his creation than on the creator. There is nothing innovative about this biopic, but the good news is that Aaron Sorkin is working on a script for another Steve Jobs biopic that hopefully will make justice of such an inspirational man. I can't even blame Ashton Kutcher for the failure of this film, because the main problem here was that the script  was so bland that all we had were one dimensional characters having uninspired dialogues. If I had never heard of Jobs before I would've thought that this visionary and charismatic leader was simply a dull and unloving person. You simply don't care for the Steve Jobs that's presented here.

The film begins by introducing us to Steve Jobs (Ashton Kutcher) as he is presenting his latest creation, the ipod which will change the way people listen to music everywhere (as we already know). That is as far as the film goes as we jump back to the past and see Steve dropping out of college sometime during the 70's. He attended some creative classes simply as a drop in, but he spent most of his time getting high with his friend Daniel (Lukas Haas), with whom he also travelled to India for a spiritual visit. Back at the US, Jobs worked at Atari where he had trouble getting along with his coworkers. He was offered a special deal to create a circuit board and that is where he got his friend Woz (Josh Gad) to help him out. After having success, Jobs and Woz partnered together selling circuit boards and founded their own small business in his parents' garage. Along with Daniel and Woz, Steve hired Rod Holt (Ron Eldard) to help out with the engineering of the first Apple computer. Their next challenge was to get the funding needed to build the company, which they finally got from Mike Markkula (Dermot Mulroney). The film then goes on to focus on Apple's early success and later Steve's trouble getting along with the company's CEO, John Sculley (Matthew Modine), his forced retirement from his own company and then his return to Apple several years later. 

It's a shame the film focused so much on Jobs's turmoil years and left out the most creative period of his life: his successful return to Apple. I was OK with the fact that it showed his early beginnings at his garage because that is where the dream was born, but I wish the film would've focused more on his successes. Jobs wasn't portrayed as a saint either, and that is a plus, we see how turbulent and erratic his behavior was at times as a temperamental manager. Ashton Kutcher wasn't terrible as Jobs, he got some of his posture right (the scene where he walks across the hallway at Apple is near perfect) and at times the tone of his voice was also right, but I also felt that there were several scenes where he lost that voice and simply became Ashton Kutcher again. The narrative structure of the film didn't work either. I felt there were so many moments that seemed disconnected at times and rushed. It's like they got some details right, but the motivation behind Jobs' work was left out. His character lacked depth and so did everyone else's who simply come in and out of the film to set the next stage. I don't think that the perfectionist "Father of the Digital Revolution" would've approved of this movie if he were alive today. The biopic simply scratches the surface of Jobs' life, but stays away from his heart and what really motivated him to be the visionary innovator he was. I'll be looking forward to Sorkin's take on his life.

My Review: Stoker (9/10)

¨Sometimes you need to do something bad to stop you from doing something worse.¨

I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed Chan-wook Park´s first American film considering it hadn’t received as much critical acclaim as his Korean films did. I liked Oldboy, but wasn’t a huge fan like most people, but somehow I ended up being blown away with how artistic and well made this movie was. Park can take you to dark places and his movies can be disturbing. Stoker is no exception. Park creates a dark and provocative thriller that begins at a slow pace but the tension begins to rise as we get to the climatic and surprising ending. Park´s film is very stylish, and I don’t think I have seen better camerawork and editing in a film this year. I was blown away with the images and the twists that Park creates in this film. Stoker proves that it is not necessary to sympathize for any of the characters in order for the viewer to care for what is happening. None of these characters are likeable, but Park creates such a dark and twisted atmosphere that I wanted to know what was going to happen next. The slow opening scenes were very stylish and gorgeous to look at. I was completely hooked with the story from the beginning. I was surprised to discover that the script was written by Wentworth Miller (the actor from Prison Break and Resident Evil Afterlife) because the story was pretty gripping. I don’t know if it would have worked in another director´s hands, but Park made the script look good. If this was Park´s first American film, I can´t wait to see what he does next. This film also made me want to watch Oldboy again and see what I missed the first time considering I was a much younger viewer. Park will definitely be on my radar from now on.

India Stoker (Mia Wasikowska) has always been very close to her father, Richard (Dermot Mulroney), but has never connected well with her emotionally unstable mother Evie (Nicole Kidman). India isn’t a normal teenage girl herself; she is socially awkward and doesn’t like to be touched. She lives in a large family estate in a peaceful town surrounded by the woods. On the day of her 18^th birthday, she receives the news that her father has passed away in a freak car accident. During his funeral, India is introduced to her Uncle Charlie (Matthew Goode), Richard´s estranged brother whom he has never mentioned before. Evie invites Charlie to stay with them, and despite being attracted to him in some sort of bizarre way India isn’t happy with his presence in their estate. Charlie seems to have some ulterior motives, but everyone in the family acts in a bizarre way. This isn’t your typical family and everyone seems to have some disturbed troubled past. Charlie seems to be taken with India, but she distrusts his intentions. As the movie begins to unfold we discover some hidden secrets from the family´s past.

I´ve mentioned how much I liked Park´s direction and Miller´s script, but I also have to give credit to Wasikowska´s performance. She gives a very strong performance as this troubled teen who is struggling to accept her infatuation with her estranged uncle. She has some very difficult scenes here and she delivers at every turn. She is the highlight of this film, although Matthew Goode has some great moments as well and some strange sort of chemistry going on with Wasikowska. The film finds a perfect balance between being disturbingly dark and beautifully stylish. I was really hooked with this thriller and would definitely watch this film again. Stoker may not be as raw and shocking as Oldboy but it still has its twisted and disturbing moments. Park´s style may not be for everyone, but I enjoy his craft and artistic style.  

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My Review: The Grey (7/10)

¨Once more into the fray. Into the last good fight I'll ever know. Live and die on this day. Live and die on this day. ¨

Joe Carnahan directed Liam Neeson in 2010 when they worked together in The A-Team, and now they decided to reunite once again in wildlife survivalist movie, The Grey. This is a very different film from the action comedy they made in The A-Team. The Grey is a much darker film that deals with surviving the dangers of the wilderness (in this case surviving a pack of wolves in the winter of Alaska). The film has several flaws and you can find a lot of plot holes in the story`s logic, but I can`t ignore the fact that this movie was entertaining and thrilling. It had me at edge of my seat during several parts of the movie, although I did have some issues with the pacing of the film. There were several unnecessary scenes and dialogues I wished would`ve been cut off. What I did enjoy the most about The Grey is Liam Neeson. He is a true action star and he has proven himself in every film he stars in. You can just put him up against anybody or anything and you can have a decent movie. He is just that good. Ever since Taken, I was blown away with him. If I survived a plane crash and had to fight off a pack of dangerous wolves then I would definitely choose Liam Neeson as my companion. He is a true star and a bankable actor which is hard to find nowadays. Without a very great script, Neeson does the best and gives us an enjoyable movie. There aren`t a lot of good movies that tend to be released in January or February, and this is definitely above average so by all means see this unless you still have a lot of catching up to do with the late 2011 films.

The story focuses on Ottway (Liam Neeson) a hunter who is working for an oil company in the wilderness of Alaska. He isn’t proud of his life or his job. The film begins with a narration of a letter he is writing for his ex wife saying how much he misses her and how he wished he could be with her although it`s not possible any more. He then gets on a plane and while they are flying over Alaska with several other oil workers, the plane crashes. Only seven people survive the crash, and Ottway is among them. The other survivors are Hendrick (Dallas Roberts), Díaz (Frank Grillo), Talget (Dermot Mulroney), Burke (Nonso Anozie), Hernandez (Ben Bray) and Flannery (Joe Anderson). The seven are shaken up by the crash, but Ottway begins showing his leadership qualities by trying to find a way to survive the harsh weather. They soon find out that they aren`t alone when a pack of dangerous wolves who are protecting their territory attack them. The men try to stay together in order to survive the threat. Ottway tells them that they shouldn’t stay put because the wolves will surround them so they begin heading towards the woods. The wolves and the cold weather will put these men`s surviving skills to the test in the middle of the wilderness.

The screenplay was written by director Joe Carnahan along with Ian Mackenzie Jeffers who actually wrote the short story that this film was based on: Ghost Walker. I don’t know if I would’ve been interested in the story if it weren’t for Liam Neeson who made this a much better film than it really would be. He just makes this film so much suspenseful and better. I thought he was just great in the ending, and he just looked so cool and in control the entire time. We may not be able to control the things that happen to us, but we can choose how to face them, and Liam Neeson just does the best he can with the card that are dealt his way. The rest of the characters I could actually care less for. It was actually hard to distinguish who was who at times with all the heavy clothes they were wearing. I also had some trouble figuring out what they were saying at times. The scenery was beautiful, you could actually feel the cold weather penetrating, and the action scenes were ok although they pretty much left everything to your imagination as they cut several things out. The only thing I`m sure of after watching The Grey is that Liam Neeson can make almost any film work if you just let him take control of the film. This is what The Grey does best, it focuses entirely on him and lets him single handedly carry the film. The problem I has with his previous film, Unknown, is that they didn’t let him be in control of everything that was happening. He seemed kind of lost in that film, but here he is just secure and ready to act like in Taken. I really enjoyed this film.

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