kellym40 film review

Tarantino serves up bloody justice in ‘The Hateful Eight’

Rating 3.5/5

In viewing this latest feature from the mind of Quentin Tarantino, it might be safe to say that there is probably not another storyteller quite the same. In saying that, Tarantino is probably an acquired taste to most people. I am always engaged in his unique style and use of dialogue and camera movement. The Hateful Eight is Tarantino’s eighth feature film and holds nothing back. Although, it was a bit different than some of his other films it still delivered despite being a bit more expository through most of the film. All of the elements come together here to bring this Western whodunit mystery to life.

The action takes place in Wyoming during a blizzard where the characters are gathered together, much like an Agatha Christie mystery. Much of action takes place at Minnie’s haberdashery. Passengers from a stagecoach, on its way to Red Rock, take refuge from the brewing storm. Maj. Marquis Warren (played magnificently by Samuel L. Jackson), an ex-Union soldier of the Civil War, a rough bounty hunter John Ruth (a whiskered Kurt Russell), his handcuffed prisoner Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason-Leigh), Chris Mannix (a wonderful Walton Goggins), who claims to be Red Rock’s new sheriff, and the coach driver O. B. (James Parks) come in and meets another motley group at the haberdashery like Tim Roth, who plays Oswaldo Mobray, the new hangman of Red Rock, cowboy Joe Cage (Michael Madsen), Bob (Demián Bichir), a Mexican who claims to be keeping an eye on the place for the absent Minnie, and Sanford Smithers (Bruce Dern), a Confederate general.

As mentioned, it took a while for the story to really get going but Tarantino’s skillful use of dialogue, camera shots, and suspense building kept the story moving right down to the moment when we find the coffee poisoned, bullets start flying, blood spurts, and finally even a good old fashioned hanging. The way this story is told seemed somewhat reminiscent of Hitchcock and his way of building suspense. And when the story starts to unravel the mystery – BAM – the audience is pulled back and flashes back to the early part of that day before we meet estranged characters from the stagecoach. I was kind of waiting for this part too. In most of his films, he does not use a conventional linear line of storytelling (as this one was beginning to look like). He seems to jump and shift time to bring another sense visual storytelling.

As the flashback conveyed, it tied the story together in an intriguing way. And we finally find out why the characters have to keep nailing the front door shut every time someone enters or exits the building. We are fortunate to meet Minnie (Dana Gourrier), Six-Horse Judy (Zoe Bell), Sweet Dave (Gene Jones), and Domergue’s brother Jody (Channing Tatum) and a few others. The acting was excellent in bringing Tarantino’s words to life in his usual, in your face, entertaining way.

The Hateful Eight was a little different but still had the signs of a classic Tarantino film. That style is not seen often in many of the great visual storytellers of today. His creative mind always culminates in a style that can be pleasing and maybe a bit unnerving at the same time. He may not be for everyone, but he certainly doesn’t let that stop him from bringing his visions to the screen.

 

 

kellym40 film review

‘Mirrors 2’ fails to cast same reflection as its predecessor

Rating 2/5

Two years after ‘Mirrors’ was released, the sequel came and did not carry over any characters or story from the first film, but created new characters and a new story. However, the story and plot were very similar to the original film from which it is based, ‘Into the Mirror’ by Sung-ho Kim. A few changes where made to some of the characters’ backstory and plot lines, but the film did remain similar in tone and plot as the original ‘Into the Mirror.’

As I wrote in my review of the remake, ‘Mirrors,’ the original film droned on more like a slow moving suspenseful political thriller. But from the opening sequence of the 2010 remake to its final moments, ‘Mirrors’ captured my interest. This film didn’t. I think it was due in large part that it was very similar to the original. So, this sequel was basically a remake of the original, whereas the first remake was a little more inventive and creative in the retelling of the story.

The film centers around a man, Max Matheson (Nick Stahl), who is recovering from a traumatic car accident in which his fiancé is killed. This differs from the original Korean film and the 2010 remake in which the main character is a former detective recovering from the fatal accidental shooting of the main character’s former partner. In both the original and the 2010 remake, the main character has to deal with that incident and takes a job as a night security guard in the process.

Rounding out the cast are Emmanuelle Vaugier, Christy Carlson Romano, William Katt, Lawrence Turner, Jon Michael Davis, and Stephanie Honore’. These are the key players in the film. Katt plays Max’s father who gives him a job as a night guard at a new store reopening after a fire destroyed the first store. The store is called the Mayflower, as in the original. Here Max begins to see images of a girl, Eleanor Reigns (Horore’), and tries to unravel the mystery of her identity. Vaugier plays Elizabeth, Eleanor’s sister, who is trying to find her Eleanor. Three of Max’s work associates; Keller Landreaux (Turner), Jenna McCarty (Romano), and Ryan Parker (Jon Michael Davis), are all tied in with the girl’s disappearance.

I believe the film suffers here from Matt Venne’s script, which was trying to return to the original source and basically telling the same plot with a few changes. Victor Garcia directed the film at a pace that just appeared unimaginative and seemingly uneventful. I didn’t feel the characters were drawn out and three-dimensional enough to really care about them, except for Max, but even Stahl gave a lackluster performance.

To me this film’s ending seemed to wrap up the film in a somewhat happy ending. Although it was fairly gratifying to see it end as it did, I just didn’t care enough about the characters throughout to really appreciate it. The only seemingly redeeming quality was the fact that it was shorter than its predecessors and ran just under 90 minutes.

 

 

 

kellym40 film review

Reflections present a world of suspense in ‘Mirrors’

 

Rating 3.5/5

 In 2008, Alexandre Aja directed ‘Mirrors’ in which he co-wrote with Gregory Levasseur, and based on the film ‘Into the Mirror’ by Sung-ho Kim. ‘Mirrors’ did improve upon the seemingly droning original from 2003. And it wasn’t due to the fact it was Korean and subtitled.

The original played more like a slow moving suspenseful thriller than a horror film to me. ‘Mirrors’ took elements from the original and made a more intriguing story. I feel it still played more like a suspense film, but it contained more elements of horror and a little action thrown in for some good measure. From the opening of this film to its final moments, ‘Mirrors’ captured my interest.

The film stars Kiefer Sutherland (“The Lost Boys,” the “Young Guns” films, and most notably from acclaimed television series “24”) as Ben Carson, a former detective who is on leave for killing his partner in an accidental shooting. This follows the original film as well. Estranged from his wife, Amy (Paula Patton) and children Daisy (Erica Gluck) and Michael (Cameron Boyce) since the dismissal from the force while the matter is investigated, Ben crashes at his sister’s place, Angela (Amy Smart).

Ben attempts to build his life after taking to drugs and alcohol since his dismissal. He lands a job as a night watchman at a once regal department store, the Mayflower, which caught fire. As he begins his new job, he notices strange things happening and seeing other reflections in the mirrors that aren’t there.

Without going into great detail and avoiding many spoilers, an evil spirit inhabits the world inside the mirrors in which Ben systematically uncovers facts about the world behind the mirrors. The evil begins to target Ben’s family. This storyline differs from the original where it was focused on the main character who did not have a family as Ben Carson does in this remake. However, I’ll be remiss to not mention this film spawned a sequel in which the plot and story remained a little closer to the original.

As I mentioned, this remake by Aja (who previously teamed with Levasseur and wrote and directed 2006’s “The Hills Have Eyes”), brought in a different storyline that brought more into the film. I don’t think the film was perfect, but still brought an element of suspense and horror that the original failed to do. I think it nearly created the kind of suspense as Alfred Hitchcock in that it seemed to build the mystery and suspense throughout the film, which kept me in it. Although, I don’t think there is anyone who built suspense as well as Hitchcock did. Where the film somewhat failed was in the characters. While I do believe the film had good characters and they all played a part in the developing story, some of the characters seemed a little underdeveloped for my taste. Since the story revolved around Ben and his family, those where the primary characters, but Ben’s wife and sister did not appear as three-dimensional as I thought could have been.

I also feel the film’s ending was, to some extent, ambiguous. That part of the film remained close to the original’s ending, but I’m not sure if it was warranted with the overall theme and story of the remake. The special features from this film showed an alternate ending, which I think I liked even less. I do think the ending they chose was a little more gratifying than the alternative though. Overall, I enjoyed the film. I found it to be interesting and entertaining with a good concept, story, characters, and dialogue.

kellym40 film review

Hitchcock presents crafty suspense in ‘North by Northwest’

Rating 4/5

In the 1950’s, there were a string of suspenseful thrillers by the Master of Suspense Alfred Hitchcock. Starting in 1950, he released “Stage Fright,” followed by “Strangers on a Train” the next year. Then came “I Confess” (1953), “Rear Window” (1954), “Dial M for Murder” (1954), “To Catch a Thief” (1955), “The Wrong Man” (1956), “The Man Who Knew Too Much” (1956), “Vertigo” (1958), and finally “North by Northwest” in 1959. All of these films have elements of suspense within them, while some lean more towards being strictly in the murder mystery/thriller genre.

The latter serves the suspense genre well. A simple logline for “North by Northwest” is given from the Internet Movie Database (IMDB): A New York advertising executive is mistaken for a government agent by a group of foreign spies, and is pursued across the country while he looks for a way to survive.

The plot tells the story about Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) who must unravel the mystery of why he is being mistaken as a man named Kaplan. Grant has a charm about him. His physique seems remarkable for a man in his 50’s and plays Thornhill as kind of an action hero in this particular film, which seems to sort of contrast the look of today’s contemporary action hero like John McClane (Bruce Willis) in the “Die Hard” films. Through this journey, he meets Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint) who appears to be a pleasant woman he meets on a train, then turns out to be someone else, who turns out to be someone else. All the while, not knowing if Thornhill should trust her. Grant and Saint have chemistry together and work well as she joins his quest to unravel the mystery to his mistaken identity.

The cinematography work so well in this film and add to the story from grand hotels and estates to the United Nations, and from a train ride across the country to a corn field fleeing from a mysterious plane out to kill him to the climactic scene on Mount Rushmore. Hitchcock’s use of sound in this film (and all of his films), also adds to the thrilling suspense and action as depicted by the musical score or by the simple silence used as Thornhill stands on the side of the road as he waits for the mysterious Kaplan. The only sound comes from a few passing vehicles and another car on the other side of the highway. A man steps out and waits as the car speeds away. Thornhill crosses to him and strikes a conversation. He is not Kaplan, just a man waiting for the bus. He notices a plane in the distance dusting crops and states, before he boards the bus, “That plane’s dusting crops where there ain’t no crops.” Thornhill then notices the plane getting closer and closer and lower, thus leading to the iconic sequence as he runs and ducks from the plane.

Hitchcock weaves the story elements, character and plot of the script by Ernest Lehman into an engaging suspenseful yarn as he tells his story, revealing little by little until the climactic ending with single camera shots. He focuses on objects, people, and things to tell the story of this masterful tale. It did seem the story slowed in places but quickly picked up in another exciting chase or dramatic action. I believe Hitchcock skillfully paces the film as to keep the audience entertained and informed about the story and plot while not revealing too much at one time.