drtariqshadid Reviews

The Last Thing He Wanted (2020)

Mediocre meal despite top-notch ingredients

[6/10 · 28 February 2020]

When you go to a five-star restaurant, you expect a five-star meal. If, at the end of your dining experience, you find yourself feeling unsatisfied, your review of it will get an extra edge of harshness. I think this explains to a large extent why users and critics are attacking this movie with such little restraint.

I do agree that there are many things that could have been done better, but I think that rating it anything below 4 must be a result of the emotion I described above, and doesn't do the movie any justice.

I believe that with a different approach to the script and the buildup of the movie, the results might have been better. I guess it's always a challenge to try and "do a book". I'm pretty sure Dee Rees was aware of that, as she described Joan Didion's book as 'fragmented' and 'jumping around in time'. Since watching a movie is an entirely different experience compared to reading a book, choices must be made to clear up that fragmentation. It seems that Rees wanted to stay true to the novel, more than is good for her movie.

The result of this approach has been that established and experienced actors do not end up placed in the story in a way that allows them to shine and display their best talents. The ever-charming Anne Hathaway still did an acceptable job, but that's the thing. Your lead protagonist has to shine, always. There just aren't many exceptions to this rule, in much the same way as the lead vocal in a song has to be stable and clear in order for any song to be appreciated by its listeners.

This could have been a really good movie. You have the budget, you have a strong cast, you have great locations, you have good cinematography, and, let's not forget this: you have a good story. Yes, a good story. It's just hard to follow, and you can remedy that by reducing the disjointedness that apparently worked for the book, but pretty much buries the story if you use the same approach for a movie.

I'm sure that Dee Rees will learn a lot from this experience, and I am confident she will give continue to give us great movies in the future. I still have a good degree of sympathy for this film, which is why I rated it six stars. I didn't feel like I wasted my time. I had a meal that satisfied my hunger, but not the expectations that I started it with.

Family Games (2018)

Artful directorial debut

[9/10 · 19 July 2019]

This little gem of a movie, which is best watched without prior knowledge of the storyline, takes you to the countryside, and opens with Megan Boone (The Blacklist) and Derek Cecil (House of Cards) sitting in the back of a limousine driving up to a family estate. From the outset, it sets the atmosphere with eerie and raspy electric guitars in the background, and both characters clearly appearing tense and unsettled. They are a couple named Sloane and Barrett, and you can tell they have something to hide. The time has come to keep you guessing what the secret is, and that's what is going to pull you in until the very end.

As they arrive at the estate, they are welcomed by an elderly couple, played by Larry Bryggman (Spy Game) and Alison Fraser (In The Blood). It appears that the beautiful but visibly frustrated Sloane is returning home to her broken-spirited father, and something seems to be really off from the outset. Sloane is clearly harnessing a seething anger, but it is not immediately evident what emotional disturbances are hidden behind her embittered eyes.

As the story slowly unravels, writer and director Suzuya Bobo takes good care not to give too much away, in this intense slow burner which also happens to be her directorial debut. As most of the scenes take place inside the estate, the surroundings are cleverly utilized to emphasize and enhance the tense mood that keeps gradually building up throughout the story. Cinematography is kept simple and effective, probably in order to keep the viewer's focus on the personalities in the movie.

In many ways it can be seen as a character study, and as the film score is kept very limited, and many scenes are shot with silence in the background, it often has the feel of a theater play, requiring the actors to perform at the best of their abilities. Megan Boone shows off her capabilities as a mature and talented actress, giving Sloane a significantly different personality than the Elizabeth Keen she plays in The Blacklist. The cast has been chosen well, with Alison Fraser playing a highly peculiar, often dissimulating middle aged lady. Derek Cecil's bewildered facial expressions continuously challenge you to try and figure out what is going on in his mind, and Larry Bryggman plays the role of the father with the seasoned skills of a true veteran thespian. Towards the end, Margaret Anne Florence gets to play a smaller role as Stephanie, the elegant daughter of Sloane's father's new wife.

The family clearly is severely dysfunctional, and all interactions between each and every family member appear to be burdened by some kind of former trauma, or fractured relationship. It requires good directing and a well-considered choice of camera angles to manage to keep the tension building up, and to properly convey the multifaceted emotions of the characters, and Suzuya Bobo has done an excellent job at this. There aren't many cutscenes, and the majority of the acting takes place in real time. Not an easy job to pull off.

Watch this movie with an open mind, and in a comfortable environment, and you might catch some of the little clues that the plot writers have planted here and there, that may just help you predict what all this continuously increasing tension is leading up to. The genre is drama, although I feel it has a dose of film noir and dark comedy running through it, as some of the scenes have the characters bursting out in absurd behavior, when they succumb to the unbearable tensions caused by their dysfunctional interactions.

I highly recommend this movie to people who are into character study type of storylines, and who have the patience to lean back, watch closely, and try picking up on the many intriguing and puzzling little details this artful flick has to offer. I would say: a great start for Suzuya Bobo as a director. I'm ready for the next one.

The Midnight Man (I) (2016)

The Midnight Man: an excellent movie that deserves wide exposure

[10/10 · 22 March 2016]

The Midnight Man is a movie that I accidentally stumbled upon, without any previous reference and without ever having heard about it before. I watched it with barely any expectations of what it would be about, but it certainly took me by surprise when it forcefully grabbed me and dragged me into its imaginative storyline, right from the beginning.

From the very start, this adorable and humorous crime movie picks up a steady pace that it maintains until its very last scene, and that has you constantly wondering what will come next. When I was done watching, I had enjoyed it so much that I just had to go and find out more about it, and that's when I was in for a few more surprises.

I had not expected this to be the work of independent movie makers with a limited budget. I watch movies frequently, and I am able to appreciate the art of independent movie producers just as readily as that of high-end blockbusters.

I think that what we are dealing with here, first and foremost, is a combination of excellent writing, directing, and acting. The unique amalgam of these talents that is presented in this movie manages to keep the focus of the viewer on the storyline, in a way that cleverly distracts your attention from any setbacks that might be caused by budget limitations or lack of resources. It is pure talent and brilliance, in my opinion, to be able to make a film that way, and to do it so successfully.

I discovered that much of what we are seeing and experiencing is depending on the talents of Brinna Kelly, who plays the secondary lead role in the movie, or the 'co-lead', if you like. As it turns out, her contribution to this film goes far beyond that, as she is also the (co-)writer of the story, and the producer. Since, in my opinion, the storyline with its witty (sometimes hilarious) dialogs is such a major factor in the excellence of this flick, I believe that her contribution to its effectiveness must have been of cardinal significance. She skillfully and elegantly plays a surprising, fascinating, and somewhat hard-to-fathom character named 'Zan' in this film, providing an excellent balance against the role of the lead character, Grady, charismatically played by the British actor Will Kemp.

I think that Grady was actually done so well, that another story could be written around his character, as a sequel to this film. I probably feel this way mostly as a result of Kemp's excellent acting, but it must also be a matter of good writing, and good casting. He manages to remain believable throughout the movie, provided that the viewer is tuned in to the subtly sarcastic sense of humor that permeates this movie from beginning to end. The humor has a distinctly British feel to it, while the movie itself has more of an American air and style. It may well be that the 'Britishness' is Kemp's own effect on the script. That said, the tongue-in-cheek dialogs are absolutely delightful, and contribute strongly to the attractiveness of the entire movie. When it comes to the acting in this film, Will Kemp 'makes' it; Brinna Kelly adds the magic.

D.C. Hamilton is the director and co-writer of this movie, and apparently has a background in TV production and editing mostly. His previous work with Brinna Kelly was on a short movie called 'The Midnight Monster', which I have not yet had the pleasure to watch. When I found this title, I was amused by the fact that apparently, an allusion to that movie is being made in 'The Midnight Man'. Given the pivotal importance of the director in making a good script come to life, D.C. Hamilton undoubtedly deserves a huge portion of the credit. It certainly looks like the Hamilton-Kelly combination forms the basis of a powerful team with a promising potential for putting out superb works of art.

Although I believe that all actors were excellently cast, and did a wonderful job, two of them specifically deserve to be highlighted here. Doug Jones plays a bone-chilling role as 'torture-expert' Vick, and William Forsythe impresses as the intimidating villain Fairbanks. Both these talented actors shine brightly, effortlessly immersed in their roles, as true veterans of the film industry.

Last but not least, I think the movie score plays an important role in giving this movie that 'big feel'. It helps set the right mood, is never too prominent or pushy, and is woven seamlessly into the fabric of the storyline, the dialogue, and the action scenes.

I think that The Midnight Man suffers only from one thing, and that's simply: not enough people seeing it. I watched it again, shortly after having seen it for the first time, and this time with the pause button under my finger. Truth be told, I was now able to see how and where a bigger budget would have been able to lift this movie to even higher levels, even though none of this had even come to my mind when I watched it the first time around.

Nevertheless, this doesn't take away anything from the credit that these talented filmmakers deserve for what they proved to be able to create with what was available to them. On the contrary; it underlines even more that we are dealing with people of true artistic talent, who are inevitably going to make a serious impact in the movie world if they keep putting out such wonderful labors of love.

Bottom line: watch The Midnight Man, and invite others to watch it. Take my word for it, you will enjoy it. Then, join me in looking out for this awesome team's next work.