Clarice Starling

Extraordinarily creative. Eerie and claustrophobic nightmare where you can check out any time you like but you can never leave. The film that haunts me? This one. No blood or horrible violence… it’s just so creepy with excellent performances from the tiny cast.

I liked it. Costner, Hurt and Cook were outstanding. Demi Moore was the weak link and came across as somewhat unbelievable. It may have been the role itself but she reminded me of a Batman Villain,especially when she was escaping Dane Cook’s empty apartment. I’m a fan of this genre and I would watch this again (a positive if there ever was one.) It was well filmed and enough twists to keep the film moving along. It’s too bad that Costner would never consider a sequel because this was obviously part of the screenwriter’s intentions.

The only twist that was left out was Jesus showing up at the end with a choir of angels singing while Elvis reveals that he’s the killer.

If you’ve been hurt by loss and have felt the sting of mental health issues, you’ll get this movie’s point. I knocked a star off for the annoyingly unnecessary pop-music interjections that really interrupt the flow of the story. Kevin Klein, Melissa McCarthy and Chris O’Dowd play their rolls honestly and convincingly. The little starling is the impetus that moves the plot forward. This movie has no giant revelations or Earth changing message. It’s just a way of showing that all of us creatures are interconnected and can only control our own actions. We’d like to manipulate things for our own purposes but it’s flawed and instigates chaos. Each character in the film learns this truth in their own time. The starling is the only innocent one whose motivation is its survival. Using a bird to illustrate human frailty and our self destructive characteristics touched me. The negative reviews are not surprising. There’s a bit too much “made for TV movie” to get past. But it’s weaknesses are overcome by a great cast and an uplifting story of hope. We all could use a little of that. Finally and aside from the actual film review I’d add; I love birds. My best friend is a cockatoo and if you think birds are simple minded you’d be mistaken. I encourage you to do some Googling about bird behavior and join the enlightened population of us crazy bird people. It’s not only parrots who are geniuses. Even the simple starling can teach us how to respect each other’s differences and remember what it’s like to live in a less hostile world. I watched a hummingbird build a nest this past spring and I was awestruck, she built a masterpiece.

5 stars for stellar performances from Noah Jupe & Shia LaBeouf. It loses a star due to a LeBeouf’s inability to close the holes in a tragic plot. Yes, it’s his personal catharsis and I truly felt the horrific raw emotion but mainly from how genuine Jupe was able to just about relive LaBeouf’s traumatic childhood in front of the camera. If only I’d been given a slice of humanity or an explanation as to the lack of any adult intervention on behalf of Shia LaBeouf as a boy. This story needed a hero. It certainly wasn’t going to be the shell of a burn out dad or the mother whom we never saw. The hero could have come from the adult Shia who penned the script. He left us hanging as he struggled with his own addiction and his genius. I really wanted to see the loose strings come together but I got a tragedy that just seemed to go on. I was deeply moved but I was also left quite troubled by every single thing having to do with the relationship between father (I use the term generously) and his meal ticket of a son. Everyone failed this child. I guess my issue is how much of the story was left untold. How the ending really never came together. I love the adult LaBeouf as he tries to keep it together while going through rehab. As an adult survivor of my own tragic childhood, I identified with the scenes in rehab all too closely. I’ve since been sober but not due to a 12 step program which, for me, had no impact except to make me grow very tired of hearing the rehashed stories at meetings. Sorry if that’s offensive but it is my truth. I admire the adult Shia LaBeouf for every aspect of being able to forgive his father Jeff, because honestly, Jeff did little to earn his son’s loyalty. I only know any of this because I googled the recent history between these two. The movie couldn’t include this because they reconciled after the film’s release or at least toward the end of its filming. This film was extraordinarily painful for me to sit through and It likely deserves the critical acclaim it received. 4.5 stars in total and a standing ovation for breaking my heart and making me think.

The worst of what men can become is terrifying and this film exemplifies just how dangerous and evil a few men who are sorely lacking moral compasses just might be. But for every monster out there you can catch sight of a hero. Jeremy Renner portrays the hero of this story without over flexing. He plays to the camera in beautiful subtlety. This is not a slick movie filled with special effects. It’s reminiscent of old school westerns in a good way. It’s story builds slowly and there’s little confusion about the direction we’re headed. It’s about finding out who raped and murdered an 18 year old Native American woman on Federal land. Elizabeth Olsen is sent by the FBI to determine what’s going on. She is smart yet clueless about how to proceed. Smart enough to include animal tracker Cory Lambert, played by Renner, as her much more savvy right hand man. It’s not filled with twists but instead relies on a straightforward approach to tell a pretty simple story. Simple doesn’t mean boring. It’s actually quite gripping and some real tense moments had me on the edge of my seat. Great cinematography. I could feel the cold. It’s a psychological thriller kind of film. I recommend you give it a fair shake and decide for yourself.

I wasn’t excited about watching this. It just seemed like a dull topic. I’m very happy I gave this film an hour and thirty nine minutes of my time. It was riveting. Stephen Glass is a world class liar. He took a job that any journalist would have given their right kidney for and made fools of his editors and their magazine’s readers. It was, and is, an unforgivable sin. He took advantage of his profession and then had the nerve to be indignant when caught and exposed by a rival publication. The acting is superb and the story is anything but dull. As an aside: I really hope I never have the experience of meeting the real Stephen Glass; journalist turned lawyer. I was so disturbed by how the guy lied about everything. Things that were ridiculous to lie about, details that filled in between lies. I actually went online and dug up the original Forbes article and it was very close to the film’s script. This personality type fascinates me in the same way that other sociopaths draw my attention. A brilliant piece of film making. Deserves all 5 stars.

This is not what you expect. Seriously, it’s not even in the same ballpark as what you might think. It’s not an action film but it is. It’s not a comedy but it kinda is. It’s tense but in such a weird good way that you will watch to the end. You must. Dan Stevens plays David Collins, an army buddy of a family’s dead son. David drops in on the hapless & bereaved family to tell them some army stories and pass on some “I love you's”. This movie 100% depends upon Dan Stevens’ ability to sell his role and with that, I won’t include spoilers. I’ll just say, Stevens’ delivers. What a fun and strange story. I reserve the 5 stars for the great films and honestly, this jaw dropper deserves every, single star. I’d advise you to avoid any kind of spoilers because there are actual surprises.

I was pleasantly surprised by how engrossing this film is. Christopher Kelly does a superb job in the lead role as Frank, a man who wakes to find he’s been imprisoned and is being monitored by only a computer named Howard, voiced by Jesse Arrow. Kelly works his part like a pro. Frank has been trapped and by design of this prison, he’s not privy to why he’s there or what he’s locked up for. Howard can’t access any pertinent information but repeats that his sole purpose is to ensure that Frank stays alive. There are supporting actors who play a part in trying to get information from Frank about his alleged criminal act but they are clever placements in a repeated daydream world where Frank can only alter bits and pieces but cannot change the fact that he always awakens within the cell. The story is actually quite interesting and is conveyed brilliantly by the use of a few photos that are always in Frank’s waking nightmare/daydreams. Frank finds himself in quite a dangerous spot when Howard reaches the point where he can no longer provide Frank with food. Howard is confounded by this conundrum as he’s programmed to keep Frank alive. Frank is very clever and plays upon this catch 22 situation. The set is minimal and we really only see the prison from inside the cell and for a brief period there’s another prisoner next door who Frank interacts with. The other sets are all contained in Frank’s daydreams until towards the end of the movie. We wholly depend upon Kelly’s acting ability and a solid script to relate the story. It’s well crafted and an all around good film. If you’re looking for a big budget film with lots of fancy efx, this may not satisfy but if you want a good yarn told by a great performance and script, I recommend this gem.

If Mickey Spillane and Gene Roddenberry had a really ugly baby, it would be Reminiscence. It wants to be film noir with its very moody lighting and it wants to be Blade Runner but it’s just flat. It’s lackluster attempt to be a really big blockbuster left me feeling embarrassed for just about everyone who tried to work around a story of a man (Hugh Jackman) who is hopelessly infatuated by a cabaret lounge singer who’s hooked on the post apocalyptic, water world’s version of designer heroin. Hugh runs a shop that caters to people who want to relive their glory days or maybe just looking for a set of lost keys. There’s a variation of an isolation tank, called a pod, that allows the client to go back and remember. There’s 2.5 hours of hell, I mean movie and most of it is Hugh trying to figure out where his dream girl disappeared to. There’s zero chemistry between anyone. The acting is purposefully flat. No real emotion from anyone. It’s as if the director wanted to move pipe cleaner figures around in a diorama making the grey and darker grey tones of every set, the star. Lines are delivered identically no matter the situation, “Pass the salt” -“There’s only one rule, survive or die, go ahead and shoot me, you’ll never get what’s in my head.” are interchangeable. Cut to a grey room. Do not waste your time on this unless you’re a glutton for punishment. I wanted to like this but I couldn’t get past the mono-dimensional feel of this stinker. It gets two stars because I’m being super generous and I save one star ratings for MST3K bombs.