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Tag Archives: Daniel Baldwin
The Guns of Navagroan
Come Out Fighting
by Daniel Baldwin
War movies have been an action cinema staple since the dawn of filmmaking and men-on-a-mission movies are perhaps the most popular form of war film. Writer/director Steven Luke has carved out a niche for himself on the DTV action circuit making bargain budgeted World War II tales. Come Out Fighting is the latest of these.
As he did in his previous outings, Luke has assembled a nice, recognizable cast of genre actors. You’ve got indie martial arts superstar Michael Jai White (Blood & Bone, Black Dynamite), Kellan Lutz (The Twilight Saga), Tyrese Gibson (The Fast & Furious Saga), and an ever-grizzled Dolph Lundgren (no introduction required). All in all, not a bad assortment of fisticuff-throwing fellas to send into battle against a Nazi horde!
On paper, Come Out Fighting sounds like a fun little flick. In execution, however, it is anything but. The good news is that all of the men above have roles that are larger than cameos. The bad news is that they’re all too good for this film. Try as they might to hold it all together, their collective efforts cannot turn the tide on a bad script and even worse direction.
Anyone who watches the occasional direct-to-video actioner of this type knows to expect things like production design, costuming, and special effects work to not be on par with similar studio-produced fare. The best directors in this field still manage to overcome such limitations with sharper scripts, small but still thrilling setpieces, and low budget movie-making ingenuity. Jesse V. Johnson’s Hell Hath No Fury is an excellent example of this, managing to check off that entire list in spite of its miniscule budget. Come Out Fighting, however, manages none of these things, instead serving up heaping helpings of bad blocking, poor scene geography, and some pretty glaring historical inaccuracies.
It does at least have something on its mind, as it digs into the prejudices that African American soldiers faced from their own white compatriots during the war. As commendable as that is, that simply isn’t enough to salvage an otherwise inept picture. If you’re in the mood for an engaging new slice o’ action-filled WWII entertainment this weekend, you’re better off seeking out the aforementioned Hell Hath No Fury or Jalmari Helander’s now-on-VOD revenger Sisu.
Work Is Murder
Employee of the Month
by Daniel Baldwin
Ines is a 45-year-old paralegal doing the work of five people and getting the salary of less than one. She’s worked for the same cleaning products company for almost two decades and has yet to receive a raise. Paired with her is Melody, a college student intent on finishing out her accounting degree by completing an internship at said company – EcoCleanPro – which has recently laid off her own mother to save a few bucks. EcoCleanPro is run by a bunch of lazy, greedy, chauvinistic men who see little value in the women who work beneath them, save for whenever they want coffee or for the toilet paper to be refilled.
Ines is, understandably, fed up. She hasn’t had a raise in over a decade and a half and no one at the office takes her seriously. Melody views her internship as a means to an end; a hardship that must be endured so that she can complete her degree and bounce as soon as possible. To say these women are not enjoying their time working at EcoCleanPro would be putting it very, very mildly.
When Ines finally confronts the office manager about all of this, a (perhaps not so) tragic accident occurs that results in death. From there, the situation only continues to snowball for Ines and Melody. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad thing, however, for as the body count rises, so too do their spirits and camaraderie.
Writer/director Veronique Jadin has crafted a biting black comedy that takes female workplace anxieties and unleashes them like a bullet from the barrel of a gun. There’s a delightful throwback nature to the film that calls to mind the similar darkly comedic thrillers of the ‘90s. Enough so that Employee of the Month would not feel out of place in a movie marathon that also contained the likes of Office Killer, Very Bad Things, Curdled, and (of course) Office Space.
The stars of the show here are Jasmina Douieb and Laetitia Mampaka as Ines and Melody, respectively. Both are equally compelling in their separate performances, but their chemistry together really makes Jadin’s and co-screenwriter Nina Vanspranghe’s script sing. Single location films of any genre are not an easy feat to pull off and to do so with a comedy is exceptionally hard. Douieb and Mampaka carry this one across the finish line hand-in-hand.
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This Property Is Condemning You to Death
The Tank
by Daniel Baldwin
Picture this: a loved one has passed away and you inherit a piece of property from them that they’ve never mentioned. You’ve been handed a house along the coast that comes with its own private beach. We’re talking beautiful, untouched land. An absolute dream come true, with no catch in sight.
Well, except for that weird water tank that’s hidden underground on the property. A tank that may or may not contain an ancient beast that loves to run amok when unleashed. That right, you didn’t just inherit your dream home. You inherited a horror movie as well. Congratulations!
Scott Walker’s New Zealand creature feature The Tank knows its tropes and revels in them constantly. If you’re rolling up to this coastal oasis of terror looking for heaps of originality, you’re going to swim away disappointed. However, if you’re the type that loves a good meat & potatoes monster movie, then you will find quite a bit to enjoy here.
There are two true stars of this bestial B-movie endeavor, with the first being the practical monster effects work on display from WETA Workshop. Their efforts here are just as good as you’d expect coming from the imaginative minds that brought forth the cinematic beasties on display in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, 30 Days of Night, District 9, and the cult classic Black Sheep. Richard Taylor and his team are in fine form, serving up a cool monster and delivering delicious creature carnage.
The other star is actress Lucianne Buchanan. While the other performances in the film are fine, Buchanan stands tall above the rest, gifting us with a new horror heroine to root for in family matriarch, Jules. Between her turn in this and her leading role on the recent hit Netflix action series The Night Agent, Buchanan is one to keep your eye on.
The Tank does have its issues. The pacing in the first two acts can be sluggish at times, the color palette can get a bit monotonous, and the family drama subplots don’t really amount to much. Of course, that’s not what we’re here for. The Tank promises you some lean, mean, and low budget monster escapism. For the most part, it delivers on that promise, so if this type of movie is up your alley, give it a look.
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Forbidden Photo of a Man Above Suspicion
Ran Mi Lowo (Help Me)
by Daniel Baldwin
The synopsis for writer/director Akorede Alli’s Ran Mi Lowo describes a film about a young lady, Yemisi (Omowunmi Dada), in high school within Nigeria who is tasked with solving a mystery. That mystery? Exactly who is sexually assaulting her fellow female students, including her best friend, and threatening their lives if they expose who he is to anyone. Nearly all of the victims quit school shortly after their assault, with some committing suicide…or were they murdered?
Yemisi believes that the perpetrator has a connection to the school, but the administrator won’t take her concerns seriously. But who is doing it? Is it the lecherous gatekeeper who constantly hits on the female students as they arrive every morning? Is it one of the male teachers? And if it is one of the teachers, would anyone even believe Yemisi (or the victims) without hard evidence? After all, they’re respectable members of the community and how often do people actually believe women in these circumstances? If they won’t believe them, then what is Yemisi to do?
If you’re thinking that this Nigerian film is a hard-hitting drama…you’re wrong! As deathly serious as all of the above sounds, Ran Mi Lowo couldn’t be further from awards season-style brutal dramatic fare. In fact, its closest cinematic cousin is that of the ‘70s Italian thriller, aka the giallo!
Many of the classic gialli hallmarks are on display here. There’s the protagonist with a connection to the arts, as Yemisi wants to be an investigative journalist. She’s surrounded by an overly-horny cast of characters. There are occasional swirling camera movements and POV shots. We’re also presented with weird dolls, strange subplots with no direct connection to the main story, and even the director’s own hands being those that commit onscreen murder. Speaking of the the festishistic fiend, once revealed they even give an appropriately-twitchy psychotic performance and lay out a traumatic backstory befitting the subgenre.
This is not to say that Akorede Alli entirely nails the subgenre. The writing falls flat at times and while gialli fans can appreciate superfluous subplots and (intentional or not) wonky subtitles, those aren’t exactly the best things to copy from the decades-old subgenre. Still, it’s a surprising and intriguing debut from Alli. One worth seeing for those who appreciate wilder foreign genre fare.
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Kindness Has No Borders
A Handful of Water
by Daniel Baldwin
Jakob Zapf’s quiet drama A Handful of Water revolves around grieving widower Konrad Hausnick (Jurgen Prochnow) living out his days going through his usual routine in a very cold and robotic manner, with the only light in his life coming not from his adult daughter and her new family, but instead from his fish-filled basement aquarium. He is a man who has found himself unable to move beyond his sorrow, nor to find room in his heart for the joy of others. Enter Thurba Al-Sherbini (Milena Pribak).
Thurba is a 12-year-old Yemeni refugee who is on the run . She set off into the world on her own when German police come knocking at her home, forcing her to leave her mother and two siblings behind. Per German law, the family cannot be deported back to Bulgaria unless all members are accounted for. If you’re guessing that Thurba manages to take up residence in Konrad’s home, you’re right on the Deutsche Mark!
A young person managing to bring a bereaved aging man out of his shell is a tale as old as time. Sometimes it comes in the form of fantastical animation like Up!, a violent comic book blockbuster like Logan, or a soaring sports drama like Creed. And sometimes it arrives in a much smaller package, as it does here. This is a tried and true formula because it’s one that often sings and that holds true for this film as well.
Those of you who are primarily used to seeing Prochnow vamp it up in a villainous manner across decades of genre cinema are in for a treat here, as this is a very different side of the man. Jurgen has rarely been better than he is as Konrad, and his performance is matched pound for pound by newcomer Pribak. They are the heart and soul of the film. It doesn’t matter if you can guess where things will go at almost every turn, as the flavors they add to the journey make it worthwhile.
A Handful of Water might not contain very many surprises, but it also avoids the pitfalls of many dramas of this type. It’s never too on the nose with its message and it’s never too saccharine for its own good either. Zapf, Prochnow, and Pribak get the recipe right from moment one and the end result is a fine little drama.
