LowTekGuy Reviews

Mr. Right (I) (2015)

Sam Rockwell could turn A Clockwork Orange into When Harry Met Sally

[7/10 · 21 April 2016]

Not since Mr. and Mrs. Smith has a screenwriter tried to bolt so much violence onto a rom-com chassis.

**mild spoilers ahead*** This is one of those films that's almost more psychology experiment than entertainment, trying to see how far your suspension of disbelief can be stretched before it snaps.

For instance, can two people on a date eat hot dogs together then go snuff out some thugs? Sure, why not? Can a couple make out by throwing knives at each other's heads to see if they have a kindred level of eye-hand coordination? Kinky, but we'll allow it.

Anna Kendrick seems to be channeling Jesse Eisenberg throughout, though she is far too adorable and quick-witted for us to hold that against her. But the great Sam Rockwell is what this flick is all about. He's the reason to watch it from start to finish. Talk about "Mr. Right," here is an actor who makes everything right about every movie he's in, every time. Even one in which he is 17 years older than his leading lady! Hm...kinky, but we'll allow it.

10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)

Put 3 Actors in a Room and Make a Movie!

[7/10 · 18 April 2016]

I don't know about the extended Cloverfield mythos and so forth, but sticking three actors in a room and expecting a gripping theatrical movie to result--well, that's ambitious.

So this film deserves massive respect for doing a lot with very little in the way of space, budget, etc. It's a "stage play on film," and as with any narrow-band sci-fi story, you wonder if there will be contrived situations, melodramatic character quirks, and outlandishly convenient coincidences. But if you're willing to be just a tiny bit generous to the filmmakers you will marvel at how adroit it is, and love how much confidence it has in its own believability.

Kudos to John Goodman, who goes enthusiastically over-the-top, making his character a 900-pound gorilla trapped in a phone booth with two squirrels. Good for him. We're going to be staring at this guy for 90 minutes, so don't be boring. He's crazy, but is he CRA- zy? Either way, he nails it.

This movie is never obvious, and stays more than air-tight enough through its series of underground twists and turns. Gotta respect a tense locked-room thriller that has the guts to be a sci-fi movie too!

Criminal (2016)

It must have sounded so...not awful in the pitch meeting.

[4/10 · 18 April 2016]

No one objects to a big star like Kevin Costner playing his "aging-actor-career-extension" card, right? So what if Liam Neeson called and wants his gravelly vocal delivery back? Not even Mickey Rourke would ask for the return of the haircut.

**mild spoilers ahead**

The screenplay tries to skate along a Bourne-type action path, with just enough sci-fi-ish novelty to support a catchy tag line and get financing. Unfortunately the result is criminal for audience and actors alike. The evidence:

Gary Oldman, as Special Agent in Charge of Everything That Happens in Europe, is made to say and do more foolish, self- defeating, contradictory, openly stupid things than any actor should ever be saddled with.

Tommy Lee Jones plays a medical genius named Dr. What Movie Are We Shooting. His job seems to be to show that someone has a SAG card with more sags than Mr. Costner's.

Both the good and the bad guys have laptops and wall-screens that show perfectly framed video of everything that is happening in all places, public and private, except for the agent's home where the World's Most Wanted Man is hanging out for long stretches.

About halfway through, the guy who can launch any US nuke at any moment decides he doesn't want that capability to fall into the wrong hands after all. Maybe just give it to the Russians.

Either the production tried to save money by eliminating all use of tripods and dollies or someone kept bumping into the cameraman a LOT.

Finally there's Kevin Costner, whose head aches horribly because he is holding the intelligence of two separate people in his brain at once. They both should have turned down the role.

It's hard to believe the people who wrote this screenplay once wrote The Rock. Welcome to the action movie business of today--where good writing is not welcome, but big stars compromise themselves just to keep their hand in the game, and pray for a couple of quality acting moments per flick.

Faint Praise Dept.: Everyone plays it straight here, and while the actors look confused about their motivations on a moment- by-moment basis, they really aren't just mailing it in. in fact, Gary Oldman may actually be trying to have fun (but I'm not certain about that).

Like its main character, this film wants to be bad-ass, not simply bad. But if it does get a sequel, that would be Criminal, too.

Midnight Special (2016)

If You Build It Up, They Will Come

[6/10 · 18 April 2016]

This story is all about the build-up to a mystery-clarifying ending that should (it is implied) blow everyone's mind. That's a tall order for any story to fill.

The ending of Midnight Special has the conceptual oomph to knock our socks halfway off--but not completely off. That would still be OK if by then we are so engaged in the characters that seeing them reach a conclusion or an epiphany is enough to satisfy our hopes or fears for them.

Unfortunately, the understated story withholds so much information-- so many logical and emotional details--that I didn't receive enough return on my investment. To succeed, this film needs you to walk out saying "Wow, that movie had a point that I will not soon forget." Well, the movie was certainly not dull, but I have to say that its point was.