Tag Archives: movies

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Crazy Train

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The Commuter

by Hope Madden

In 2014, Jaume Collet-Serra directed Non-Stop, a Liam Neeson thriller that saw the down-on-his-luck Irishman with a particular set of skills trapped on a speeding vehicle with a killer, a mystery, and an outside force looking to pin some wrongdoing on him.

In 2018, Jaume Collet-Serra directed The Commuter. Same movie. Train this time.

This go-round, happily married devoted father Michael MacCauley (Neeson) gets chatted up by the lovely and mysterious Joanna (Vera Farmiga) as he heads home on his nightly commute. She poses a question: would you do one little thing—something you are uniquely qualified to do—if it landed you 100k and you had no idea of the consequences?

Well, it’s not a game and next thing you know he’s dragging his lanky frame up and down the train cars trying to find a mysterious person with a mysterious bag before his family is nabbed or someone else gets killed.

How many times do we have to see this movie? We get it, Neeson is not a man to be messed with. He’s savvy, noble and he can take a punch.

Farmiga’s always a welcome sight, plus Sam Neill and Patrick Wilson contribute as they can. But mainly it’s just you, Neeson and a host of stereotypes trying to test your mystery-solving skills but not your patience.

At its best, The Commuter is a B-movie popcorn-munching ode to the forgotten middle class good guy. At its worst, a boldly predictable waste of talent littered with plot holes and weak CGI.

It’s a Liam Neeson movie. What do you want?

New In Theaters, Slider

Must Never Be Silent

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The Post

by Hope Madden

It is Oscar season, people, and we have a big story to tell. Assemble the heavy hitters!

Spielberg – check.

Tom Hanks – check.

Where do you go from there when you’re making the Big Important Film? The one with potential blockbuster legs?

Correct: Meryl Streep.

It is official: The Post has it all, beginning with the almost-too-relevant story of a newspaper casting off its personal associations to hold the government accountable by sharing actual news with citizens of the United States and the world.

“If we live in a world where the government tells us what we can and cannot print,” says Ben Bradlee by way of Tom Hanks, “the Washington Post has already ceased to exist.”

The year is 1971. The New York Times has just published parts of the Pentagon Papers, a decades-long study that proves the government lied for years about what was happening in Vietnam. The Washington Post wants desperately to be seen as one of the big news outlets, so they’re working to publish similar content of their own when Nixon decides it’s in his purview to suppress the freedom of the press.

A timely reminder of the struggle to maintain an informed public, Spielberg’s latest is also a testament to Post publisher Kay Graham (Streep). The film offers an insightful image of her difficult road and her courageous actions.

Like Spotlight, also co-written by Post co-scribe Josh Singer (writing here with Liz Hannah), this story encapsulates a watershed moment in journalism. No, not the struggle for a free press. The introduction of profit into the mix. Part of the film’s tension comes from the fact that the Pentagon Papers became available at the same time that the Post was being made public, which introduces yet another powerful contributor toward determining what is and is not deemed appropriate news: money.

It’s a lot to tackle, but naturally, Spielberg has it all well in hand and he doesn’t limit his spectacular casting to Streep and Hanks. Look for great ensemble performances from Tracy Letts, Bob Odenkirk, Bradley Whitford, Sarah Paulson, Bruce Greenwood and about 30 others.

Spielberg’s passion and polish come together here as an expertly crafted rallying cry. He’s preaching to the choir, but he preaches so well.

For Your Queue

I Don’t Want to Go Out – Week of January 8

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Nasty weather getting you down? Nothing cheers a body up like a clown! That’s right, It comes home this week, along with some other bits of middling entertainment from 2017. Wouldn’t it all go so well with popcorn? Pop pop pop pop pop…

Click the film title to read the full review.

It

Marshall

The Foreigner

Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House

Friend Request

The Screening Room

The Screening Room: Ice, Ice Baby

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Some Oscar contenders out this week. The Screening Room helps you sort them out: I, Tonya, Molly’s Game, Insidious: The Last Key plus what’s new in home entertainment.

Listen to the podcast HERE.

New In Theaters

Don’t Open the Door

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Insidious: The Last Key

by Hope Madden

The Insidious franchise—like most horror series—began missing a step about two films in. The fourth installment, Insidious: The Last Key, starts off with promise, though.

Thanks in large part to a heartbreaking performance from Ava Kolker, the newest Insidious opens with a gut punch of an origin story.

By Episode 3, we’d abandoned the core family of the first two films to follow ghost hunters Elise (Lin Shaye), Tucker (Angus Sampson) and Specs (Leigh Whannell, who also writes the series). As this film opens, we glimpse the beginnings of Elise’s gift, the troubles it brings, and the demon she unwittingly released into the world.

Though the minor characters are full-blown clichés, director Adam Robitel (The Taking of Deborah Logan) and his young actors create a compelling opening.

Can Insidious: The Last Key deliver on that promise?

No.

Is it the tedious jump-scare-athon with none of the exquisite delivery we’ve come to expect from James Wan (director of the original Insidious, and producer here)? Is it the mid-film move from spectral thriller to police procedural and back? Is it the creepy attention Elise’s goofball sidekicks pay to her young and pretty nieces?

Or is the problem that the whole cool sequence from the trailer—you know, with Melanie Gaydos and all the ghosts coming out of the jail cells?—is missing from the movie.

Yes—it’s all that and more. The film is a jumbled mess of backstory and personal demons, clichés and uninspired monsters. All of this is shouldered by the veteran Shaye, who is, unfortunately, no lead.

Shaye has proven herself to be a talented character actor in her 40+ years in film, often stealing scenes out from under high-paid leads. (Please see her in Kingpin and There’s Something About Mary, she’s genius.) But she doesn’t have the magnetism to carry a film, and The Last Key feels that much more untethered and pointless for the lack.

Everything runs out of steam at some point. Here’s hoping this franchise has run out of doors to open.

Outtakes

CoFCA Announces Best Films of 2017

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The Columbus Film Critics Association (CoFCA) gathered at that weird upstairs room at Ace of Cups last night to formally announce the winners of their 16th annual awards for the best in film of 2017.

Greta Gerwig’s coming of age indie Lady Bird racked up the most awards with a total of four: Best Film, Ensemble, Director (Gerwig) and Supporting Actress (Laurie Metcalf).

Jordan Peele’s Get Out, the second biggest vote-getter for both best film and director, also nabbed two first place nods for Peele, who came away with awards for Breakthrough Artist and Best Original Screenplay.

The Columbus Film Critics Association is collection of print, online and broadcast film critics based in the Columbus area. You can find them at cofca.org.

Complete list of awards:

Best Film
1. Lady Bird
2. Get Out
3. The Shape of Water
4. The Big Sick
5. Blade Runner 2049
6. Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri
7. The Post
8. The Florida Project
9. Dunkirk
10. The Killing of a Sacred Deer

Best Director
Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird

Best Actor
Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour

Best Actress
Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water

Best Supporting Actor
Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project

Best Supporting Actress
Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird

Best Ensemble
Lady Bird

Actor of the Year (for an exemplary body of work)
(Tie) Sally Hawkins (Maudie and The Shape of Water) and Tracy Letts (Lady Bird, The Lovers, and The Post)

Breakthrough Film Artist
Jordan Peele, Get Out – (for directing and screenwriting)

Best Cinematography
Roger Deakins, Blade Runner 2049

Best Film Editing
Jonathan Amos and Paul Machliss, Baby Driver

Best Adapted Screenplay
Virgil Williams and Dee Rees, Mudbound

Best Original Screenplay
Jordan Peele, Get Out

Best Score
Alexandre Desplat, The Shape of Water

Best Documentary
Faces Places (Visages, villages)

Best Foreign Language Film
BPM (Beats Per Minute) (120 battements par minute)

Best Animated Film
Coco

Best Overlooked Film
The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)

New In Theaters

An Artist’s Life

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Tom of Finland

by Hope Madden

Leathermen, homoeroticism, beefcake—three things you should not expect from the film Tom of Finland.

This biopic, often gorgeously shot with a painterly eye that mirrors the talent of the protagonist, examines the repression and fighting spirit that mark the life of artist Touko Laaksonen (Pekka Strang).

Still, there is something lacking: the energy, the bravery and the daring sexuality of the art of Laaksonen—later known as Tom of Finland.

The hushed restraint of director Dome Karukoski’s film suits its opening act as Laaksonen, a WWII lieutenant in the Finnish army, struggles against the dangers of his homosexuality. Beginning early in the film, Strang portrays a self-defined, quietly defiant figure—never reckless, but unafraid to take chances.

A strong ensemble surrounds Strang. Jessica Grabowsky and Lauri Tilkanen are particularly memorable as the artist’s sister and lover, respectively.

He finds peace and some degree of identity through his drawings—sketches of hyper-masculine men. This treatment—this particular art as a lifeline into Laaksonen’s bleak, solitary existence inside a violently repressive Finnish culture—is echoed later in the film as the art finds a grateful and receptive audience around the globe.

Unfortunately, this is where Karukoski’s presentation loses footing. There are moments where you almost feel the joy and power in this leather-clad image of defiance that Tom of Finland’s characters became, but that tonal shift gets the better of Karukoski.

Though the film touches on powerful themes of identity, art as salvation, even porn as politics, Karukoski’s reserved approach robs the film of the very vibrancy—not to mention subversive vision—of the artist’s work.

Tom of Finland is a solid, finely acted tribute to an man whose bold artistry—self-preserving though it may have been—made him a cultural icon. It just could have used a little more of his fire.

For Your Queue

I Don’t Want to Go Out – Week of January 5

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Big, award-contending business available for slovenly consumption this week. Check out (with the biggest screen possible) one of the best films of 2017, along with a couple of other very strong flicks, all of which you can watch in your jammies without fear of arrest. Nice!

Click the film title for a full review.

Blade Runner 2049

Battle of the Sexes

American Made

So that happened...

So Many Movies Happened

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Hey! What did you guys do last year? Did you watch some great TV shows, binge some fabulous whatnot from Netflix? Maybe have a life? Not us! No, sir, we watched 352 movies. And you know what? It was awesome!

Here it is – MaddWolf’s year in movies.

  1. Camera Person
  2. Anomalisa
  3. Sing Street
  4. Weiner
  5. Bright Lights
  6. Live by Night
  7. Gozu
  8. The Autopsy of Jane Doe
  9. Patriot’s Day
  10. Silence
  11. Detour
  12. Trespass Against Us
  13. Split
  14. Don’t Knock Twice
  15. xXx: The Return of Xander Cage
  16. Founder
  17. A Dog’s Purpose
  18. Soul Survivors
  19. Comedian
  20. Resident Evil: Extinction
  21. Reckoning
  22. The Abominable Dr. Phibes
  23. Salesman
  24. Neruda
  25. Saving Banksy
  26. Rings
  27. The Space Between Us
  28. Hidden Figures
  29. La La Land
  30. House of Wax
  31. Monster squad
  32. Hell or High Water
  33. John Wick 2
  34. Oscar-nominated Documentary Shorts
  35. Oscar-nominated Live Shorts
  36. The Red Turtle
  37. The Last Horror Movie
  38. Sorcerer
  39. I Am Not Your Negro
  40. Theater of Blood
  41. Masque of the Red Death
  42. Love, Dance
  43. The Fall of the House of Usher
  44. Fist Fight
  45. Great Wall
  46. The Cure for Wellness
  47. Last Man on Earth
  48. House on Haunted Hill
  49. Dark Night
  50. The Girl with All the Gifts
  51. Get Out
  52. Collide
  53. A United Kingdom
  54. Socially Relevant Shorts
  55. Wolverine
  56. The Shack
  57. Logan
  58. Kong: Skull Island
  59. Stitches
  60. The Ottoman Lieutenant
  61. Staying Vertical
  62. The Lure
  63. Kedi
  64. My Scientology Movie
  65. Beauty and the Beast
  66. The Arcadian
  67. The Belko Experiment
  68. The Street Where We Live
  69. Hollow Child
  70. Two Trains Runnin’
  71. Capture, Kill, Release
  72. Trainspotting 2
  73. Power Rangers
  74. Chips
  75. Devil’s Candy
  76. Blackcoat’s Daughter
  77. I Am the Pretty Thing that Lives in the House
  78. Boss Baby
  79. Dutchman
  80. Ghost in the Shell (anime)
  81. The Unwilling
  82. Ghost in the Shell (live action)
  83. Raw
  84. Endor
  85. A Closer Walk with Thee
  86. Phobia
  87. Frantz
  88. Queen of the Desert
  89. Gifted
  90. Aftermath
  91. Going in Style
  92. Prevenge
  93. The Void
  94. Demons Don’t Knock
  95. Mission Control
  96. Rupture
  97. F8 of the Furious
  98. We Are What We Are
  99. Free Fire
  100. Personal Shopper
  101. The Devils
  102. Born in China
  103. Hounds of Love
  104. Colossal
  105. Eraserhead
  106. Three Dead Trick or Treaters
  107. Dry Blood
  108. Three Dead Trick or Treaters
  109. You’re Next
  110. Graduation
  111. Below Her Mouth
  112. The Transfiguration
  113. Sleight
  114. The Circle
  115. Guardians of the Galaxy 2
  116. Norman
  117. The Dinner
  118. Titticut Follies
  119. The Haunt
  120. Murder Made Easy
  121. King Arthur
  122. Antichrist
  123. Snatched
  124. The Wall
  125. Hounds of Love
  126. David Lynch: The Art Life
  127. Lovers
  128. Everything, Everything
  129. Bay Watch
  130. Alien: Covenant
  131. Chuck
  132. The Survivalist
  133. Pirates of the Caribbean 5
  134. Berlin Syndrome
  135. Violet
  136. Wakefield
  137. Wonder Woman
  138. Mulholland Drive
  139. It Comes at Night
  140. The Mummy
  141. Cousin Rachel
  142. Megan Leavy
  143. The 9th Configuration
  144. Lunacy
  145. Stonehearst Asylum
  146. Things Fall Apart
  147. House Sitters
  148. Hell of a Night
  149. Cars 3
  150. 47 Meters Down
  151. They Look Like People
  152. Free to Ride
  153. The Bad Batch
  154. All Eyez on Me
  155. Glass Coffin
  156. Rough Night
  157. The Beguiled (1971)
  158. Memory of a Murder
  159. Among the Living
  160. Transformers: The Last Knight
  161. War for the Planet of the Apes
  162. Baby Driver
  163. The Beguiled (2017)
  164. Beatriz at Dinner
  165. Okja
  166. Happy Hunting
  167. Found Footage 3D
  168. Despicable Me 3
  169. Spiderman: Homecoming
  170. The House
  171. Romeo’s Distress
  172. Two Pigeons
  173. Samurai Rauni
  174. Unnuyayuk
  175. The Hero
  176. American Valhalla
  177. The Big Sick
  178. Tony
  179. Killing Ground
  180. Easter Sunday
  181. After Image
  182.  I Saw the Devil
  183. Wish Upon
  184. Maudie
  185. It Stains the Sands Red
  186. Dunkirk
  187. Defiant Ones
  188. Dawson City
  189. Girls Trip
  190. A Ghost Story
  191. First Kill
  192. Valerian
  193. Little Hours
  194. Gracefield Incident
  195. The Code
  196. Atomic Blonde
  197. Landline
  198. The Emoji Movie
  199. Creature from the Black Lagoon
  200. Down Terrace
  201. Goon 2: Last of the Enforcers
  202. An Inconvenient Sequel
  203. Detroit
  204. Dark Tower
  205. Kidnap
  206. Detroit
  207. Midnight Son
  208. Ice Cream Truck
  209. Big Lebowski
  210. Annabelle: Creation
  211. The Reflecting Skin
  212. A Ghost Story
  213. The Glass Castle
  214. Nut Job 2
  215. Good Time
  216. The Ghoul
  217. Hitman’s Bodyguard
  218. Whose Streets?
  219. Dave Made a Maze
  220. Wind River
  221. Logan Lucky
  222. 2001
  223. Nosferatu the Vampyre
  224. Bushwick
  225. Thale
  226. Dance of the Dead
  227. Lemon
  228. Leap!
  229. Ingrid Goes West
  230. Patti Cake$
  231. Logan Lucky
  232. The Trip to Spain
  233. The Oath
  234. Texas Chainsaw Massacre
  235. Salem’s Lot
  236. Beside Bowie
  237. Charismata
  238. Megan is Missing
  239. It
  240. Crown Heights
  241. Home Again
  242. Mothman of Point Pleasant
  243. Twins of Evil
  244. Devil Rides Out
  245. Brides of Dracula
  246. Columbus
  247. Dracula: Prince of Darkness
  248. Vampire Lovers
  249. Red Christmas
  250. Menashe
  251. Frankenstein Created Woman
  252. Ginger Snaps
  253. mother!
  254. The Spawning
  255. Loon
  256. The Muse
  257. Hostile
  258. Torment
  259. She Was So Pretty 2
  260. Nightmare
  261. Woodshock
  262. Battle of the Sexes
  263. Super Dark Times
  264. Nothing Bad Can Happen
  265. American Made
  266. Rabies
  267. Feed
  268. Blade Runner
  269. Gerald’s Game
  270. Blade Runner 2049
  271. Dead Alive
  272. Le Accelerator
  273. The Mountain Between Us
  274. New Nightmare
  275. Rock, Paper, Dead
  276. Flesh of the Void
  277. Tragedy Girls
  278. Greasy Strangler
  279. Marshall
  280. Happy Death Day
  281. The Foreigner
  282. Professor Martsen and the Wonder Women
  283. Hellions
  284. Brawl in Cellblock 99
  285. Spielberg
  286. Blade Runner 2049
  287. Capture, Kill, Release
  288. Jungle
  289. Only The Brave
  290. Mark Felt
  291. Snowman
  292. Same Kind of Different as Me
  293. The Florida Project
  294. Suburbicon
  295. Thor: Ragnarok
  296. Bad Mom’s Christmas
  297. Wonderstruck
  298. Blade of the Immortal
  299. Killing of a Sacred Deer
  300. Jigsaw
  301. Goodbye Christopher Robin
  302. LBJ
  303. Thor: Ragnarok
  304. El Topo
  305. Daddy’s Home 2
  306. Murder on the Orient Express
  307. Big Bad Wolves
  308. Mayhem
  309. Poor Alice
  310. Hex
  311. The Square
  312. Lady Bird
  313. Justice League
  314. Wonder
  315. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
  316. Strange Frequency
  317. Deadtime Stories
  318. From a Whisper to a Scream
  319. Creepshow
  320. The Man Who Invented Christmas
  321. Who Is Lydia Loveless?
  322. The Disaster Artist
  323. Coco
  324. Roman J. Israel, Esq.
  325. The Post
  326. Bombshell: The Hedy Lamar Story
  327. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
  328. Lady Bird
  329. BPM
  330. Sweet Virginia
  331. Downsizing
  332. Last Flag Flying
  333. Thelma
  334. The Big Sick
  335. I, Tonya
  336. Wonder Wheel
  337. War for the Planet of the Apes
  338. Shape of Water
  339. Star Wars: The Last Jedi
  340. Jane
  341. Frailty
  342. Ferdinand
  343. Call Me By Your Name
  344. Loving Vincent
  345. Darkest Hour
  346. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
  347. Pitch Perfect 3
  348. All the Money in the World
  349. The Greatest Showman
  350. Molly’s Game
  351. Mudbound
  352. Mom and Dad