Welcome to the Nuthouse

Indie auteur Steven Soderbergh’s latest film is a ground-breaking experiment in method, tone and sheer minimalism.  While ‘Unsane’ may not the first film shot entirely with an iPhone, it is the first to garner a nationwide (albeit limited) release and much media attention thanks to the reputation and prestige of its director. Now there’s probably going to be legions of wannabe film-makers with smartphones thinking they’re the next Spielberg.  God help us.

 

On the surface, ‘Unsane’ is the story of a young woman named Sawyer Valentini (Claire Foy) whose visit to a psychiatrist turns into her worst (non-Kaiju, that is) nightmare as she found herself institutionalized against her will.  Haven’t we seen all this before in films like ‘Shutter Island’ and ‘A Cure for Wellness,’ you ask?  Well, not quite.  Like other Soderbergh movies, nothing is quite as it seems on the surface and the answers as to whether Ms. Valentini’s fears are real or was she simply imagining things (all in her head) are only revealed slowly as the tale unfolds.

 

The strength of ‘Unsane’ isn’t the story itself, which is simplistic and formulaic, reminiscent of the works of Alfred Hitchcock, Stephen King and even Brian De Palma.  What made ‘Unsane’ work and even effective is the execution and mastery in setting tone and atmosphere, which made this throwback '70s style thriller an exercise in slow-building tension and suspense.  This is even more remarkable for the fact that Foy’s character, whom she portrayed superbly in an intense and focused performance, is a singularly unlikeable and unsympathetic protagonist.

Grade: A-

 

Robots versus Monsters: Second Round

Although Guillermo del Toro’s Japanese-flavored 2013 giant robots-versus-monsters movie ‘Pacific Rim’ was considered a mild disappointment at the domestic box office, it performed well enough overseas to warrant a sequel.  So four years, eight months and 11 days later, ‘Pacific Rim: Uprising’ hits theatres in most major markets (including China).  With a similar budget and scope/ambition, PR:U promises even more Mecha versus Kaiju (not “robot vs. monster”) mayhem that would break down the defenses of any Ultraman or Godzilla-loving fanboy or girl like myself.

 

PR:U is set 10 years after the cataclysmic event which nearly wiped out mankind, the inter-dimensional breach beneath the ocean floor which unleashed our worst nightmares with nicknames like Knifehead, Leatherback and Otachi.  After narrowly “canceling the Apocalypse” thanks to the efforts and sacrifice of an international coalition of Jaeger pilots, the survivors are still picking up the pieces while being wary of another breach that could occur at any time.  This is the story of a new generation of Jaeger pilots led by Star Wars’ Finn (John Boyega), Clint Eastwood’s son Scott and unknown newcomer Cailee Spaeny as a spunky teenage girl who built her own mini-Jaeger out of scavenged scrap parts.

 

With its young and hip cast, PR:U comes across as a Disney-fied or Nickelodeon-ized, even more accessible film than its predecessor.  It is also aimed more at the Asian market than the US, as evidenced by its generous Asian cast and the Chinese megacorporation featured prominently in the film.  Regardless, PR:U suffers from a weak script and overabundance of “busy” action that whizzes by lightning-fast to an extent that’s mind-numbing and exhausting (except maybe to the ADHD-addled), in the same way all those Michael Bay ‘Transformers’ movies did.  And I was never a fan of the Jaeger and Kaiju designs of PR in the first place.  The former’s style is too similar to HALO Spartan armor and the latter look just plain silly.

Grade: C

Funny Masks

Horror movies without sequels are like dogs without fleas.  And why not?  Of all the popular genres in cinema, scary movies are among the easiest and cheapest to produce and have a ready-made, built-in audience.  Hence, even though 2008’s ‘The Strangers’ (starring Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman) wasn’t a particularly good movie according to most metrics,  it was only a matter of time (in this case about 10 years) before we see the inevitable follow-up.

 

‘The Strangers: Prey at Night’ follows a family of four including two teenagers forced to stay overnight at a trailer park on their way to a boarding school, at which the youngest rebellious daughter is involuntarily enrolled.  Over the course of the night, they are terrorized and victimized by three masked homicidal maniacs, two females and one male, nicknamed “Dollface,” ‘Pin-Up Girl” and the axe-wielding “The Man in the (Burlap Sack) Mask” according to the cartoony masks they wore.  As in the original movie, or any other slasher movies from the ‘80s worth their salt, these sadistic psychopaths require neither rhyme nor reason to do what they do despite their innocent victims’ tendency to vainly ask them the ridiculous question: “Why are you doing this???!!!”  And one of them actually answered it with another question. “Why not?” she replied, before meeting her maker courtesy of a point blank 12-gauge shotgun blast by the aforementioned rebellious teenage girl.  A good question deserves a good answer.

 

Given that ‘The Strangers: Prey at Night’ is an unapologetic throwback and homage of sorts to the beloved ‘80s slashers from my childhood, I simply couldn’t resist the temptation.  The movie shamelessly stole the creepy musical score of ‘Halloween’ and features a liberal selection of memorable ‘80’s pop hits in its soundtrack, including favorites such as Bonnie Tyler’s’ “Total Eclipse of the Heart” and Air Supply’s “Making Love Out of Nothing at All.”  But for all its good intentions, the movie is not scary and the people (including the victims) are not likeable, so it was ultimately unable to be anything more than a tedious exercise in clinical slaughter, utterly disposable and forgettable.

Grade: C
 

Red Sparrow of the Kremlin

Jennifer Lawrence’s latest starrer is the Cold War-esque (because we all know that the Cold War is over, don’t we?) spy thriller ‘Red Sparrow,’ code-name for the pretty little agents provocateur trained in the fine art of seduction to compromise prospective assets.  In our current political climate of suspected Russian meddling in our democratic process and collusion at the highest level of government, ‘Red Sparrow’ is timely and resonates with some of us if nothing else.

 

In RS JLaw portrays Dominika, an accomplished dancer of the famed Bolshoi Ballet whose career is cut short by a tragic “accident.”  Needing to care for her cancer-stricken and bed-ridden mom, her vulnerability was exploited and she was unwittingly recruited by her uncle, who happens to be the deputy director of the Federal Security Service (FSB), the successor of the infamous KGB.  Unwillingly enrolled in the “Charm School” (or “Whore School” as she called it) for spies, she soon displayed a singular aptitude and talent for spycraft, not because she’d grown to enjoy it but because it’s simply a matter of kill-or-be-killed survival.  And as she’s proven in her breakthrough film, the depressing and somewhat difficult to watch ‘Winter’s Bone,’ not to mention the ‘Hunger Games’ quadrilogy, that one’s a true survivor.

 

Based on the 2013 novel of the same name by Jason Matthews, ‘Red Sparrow’ is a good old fashioned Cold War espionage yarn in the tradition of ‘The Cardinal of the Kremlin’ and John le Carré novels.  Not having read the book, I admit I was expecting another fast-paced action-packed take-no-prisoners “La Femme Nikita” style killing spree of a movie similar to  Angelina Jolie’s ‘Salt’ or Charlize Theron’s ‘Atomic Blonde,’ but I was pleasantly surprised that it's more of a slowly unfolding character-driven story with only occasional scenes of extreme violence even as I foresaw the movie’s twist of a final act.

Grade: B

Blood Red Sea

When it comes to war movies, I can be a discriminating critic.  In fact, I haven’t seen a truly memorable one since ‘Saving Private Ryan’ and maybe ‘Black Hawk Down.’  But what about ‘Dunkirk,’ you ask?  While ‘Dunkirk’ wasn’t bad, I found its uneven pace and non-linear story structure disorienting.  And while the recent spate of post-9/11 contemporary “War on Terror” films such as ‘Lone Survivor,’ ‘American Sniper,’ ’13 Hours’ and ’12 Strong’ were competently made for the most part and had their moments, they can also be quite a bore.

 

So I wasn’t exactly expecting very much when I decided to see ‘Operation Red Sea’ on a whim.  As the Dragon rises in the east and China becomes a regional military power, a steady stream of war movies has been enjoying great success at the Chinese box office, such as ‘Wolf Warrior 2’ (think “Chinese Rambo”) and ‘Sky Hunter’ (think “Chinese Top Gun”).  ‘Operation Red Sea,’ loosely (by which I mean very loosely) based on the evacuation of Chinese and other foreigners from Yemen back in 2015, is perhaps best characterized as a “Chinese Navy SEAL’s” movie akin to Chuck Norris’s ‘The Delta Force’ and ‘Missing in Action’ film franchises from back in the ‘80’s.

 

Directed by Hong Kong "Gun-Fu" veteran and John Woo protégé Dante Lam (‘Operation Mekong’), ORS is a robust, adrenalized and realistic war movie that holds no punches and takes no prisoners.  Over the course of its bladder-stretching two hours and nineteen minutes running time, the film is jam-packed with fast and furious firefights and explosions galore that would make even ‘Black Hawk Down’ blush.  But it's much more than just another mindless bloodbath of a movie with a high body count; ORS gives us a brutal,  uncompromising, and often thrilling look at modern squad-level combat that doesn’t shy away from the gory details. 

Grade: A
 

Max and Annie's Big Adventure

Okay, I have a confession to make.  I’m a bit of a sucker for R-rated comedies, not so much the raunchy ‘American Pie’/’Hangover’ variety as the violent ‘Pineapple Express’/’Spy’ kind.  So when I saw the trailer of the new Jason Bateman movie ‘Game Night,’ about an average Joe party game enthusiast whose night of innocuous fun takes an unexpected and deadly turn, I was immediately intrigued.  And to top it off, its certified “fresh” rating of 82 percent on Rotten Tomatoes didn’t hurt either.

 

GN is the story of Max (Bateman) and Annie (Rachel McAdams), who share a fondness and ultra-competitiveness for game night activities such as “Trivial Pursuit" and "Charades."  The couple hosts a weekly game night and invites their like-minded friends, except the creepy cop neighbor with all the personality of a wooden 2-by-4 who wanted to join in the festivities.    When Max’s successful Wall Street tycoon brother, Brooks (Kyle Chandler), whom he has an inferiority complex towards, visits and invites the couple and their friends to a game night to remember, a live-action role-playing “murder mystery” party, Max and Annie discovered to their chagrin that they may have bitten off more than they could chew.

Scathingly funny, sharply witty and a bit bloody, GN is an immensely entertaining and deeply satisfying dark comedy about all the ways an innocent night of fun and games can go wrong, so very wrong.  Bateman’s Max and McAdams’s Annie have great chemistry, and it's great watching them cope with the numerous obstacles and life-threatening situations they face throughout the movie.  And I dare say McAdams has never looked cuter.  I first saw her as the snotty “Queen Bee” in the 2004 film ‘Mean Girls.’  Never would I have imagined in a thousand years at the time that she would develop into a versatile actress and enjoy the success she’s having now while “good girl” Lindsay Lohan is the one to self-destruct.  Fate can be a fickle mistress indeed.

Grade: A