2.5 Razors

Wish I Was Here

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Wish I Was Here
  • IMDB: link

Wish I Was HereTen years ago Zack Braff wrote, directed, and starred in a little film called Garden State. Over the next decade the actor continued to work in front of the camera but other than directing a few episodes of Scrubs left the work behind the camera to others. With the help of a Kickstarter campaign, Braff returns to the big screen with Wish I Was Here which features many of the same quirks of his Garden State while focusing on sensibilities that have evolved over time.

Despite having a similar slice-of-life take on a character not too far removed from his own (here Braff stars as a struggling actor with an overworked wife and demanding children), Wish I Was Here is far less effective than Garden State. Co-written by Braff’s brother Adam, the new feature provides some great individual moments (including reminding us that Kate Hudson can act when called upon to do something more than braindead romcoms), but fails in becoming more than the sum of its parts by offering an overly simplistic ending to a messy (and increasingly cliched) life seemingly freed of all troubles in under two-hours.

…

Wish I Was HereRead More »

Wish I Was Here Read More »

Under the Skin

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Under the Skin
  • IMDb: link

Under the Skin

The line between a movie being artistic and pretentious is, like beauty, often in the eye of the beholder. Director Jonathan Glazer helms this tale of a beautiful woman (Scarlett Johansson) stalking lonely men in Scotland. Adapted from the novel by Michael Faber, Under the Skin has sharply divided audiences over the issue of style versus substance.

Stripped down to its core, Faber’s story, adapted here by Glazer and Walter Campbell, is incredibly simple leaving very little room for character or plot development. Putting all his eggs in one basket, Glazer uses an over-stylized look to enhance the story that never attempts to ask or answer basic questions about what Johansson’s character, or her equally unnamed biker partner (Jeremy McWilliams), need with the men trapped like mosquitoes in amber in their monochromatic domicile (which must come from Gallifrey as it’s infinitely larger on the inside than the unassuming exterior would have you believe).

…

Under the SkinRead More »

Under the Skin Read More »

The Shadow: Midnight in Moscow #2

/ / Comics

The Shadow: Midnight in Moscow #2While teasing us with the wanderings around London of the two enemy spies who will eventually come into conflict with The Shadow, The Shadow: Midnight in Moscow #2 is mainly concerned with Lamont Cranston finishing affairs in New York and preparing for his impending departure to England.

The second issue sees The Shadow start a gang war to weed out the ranks of two opposing families making it easier for the police to deal with the remnants of both organizations after he’s gone. Stoically the vigilante never considers the increased casualties caused by such extreme actions. We also see the dismantlement of The Shadow’s network of spies before he and Margo Lane board a ship and leave New York behind.

The first two issues represent one-third of Howard Chaykin’s tale, the point of which (other than Cranston leaving New York) is still murky at best. The idea of an older Shadow’s adventure in London is interesting, but two issues in Chaykin hasn’t sold me on that story that’s already cost me $8. That’s a problem. Hit-and-Miss.

[Dynamite Entertainment, $3.99]

The Shadow: Midnight in Moscow #2 Read More »

Pompeii

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Pompeii
  • IMDB: link

PompeiiJudged as an action film Pompeii isn’t awful, but there’s nothing all that remarkable about it either. Judged as a Paul W.S. Anderson film it’s actually better than expected. Gladiator-lite meets destruction porn in this tale of a Celtic warrior (Kit Harington) sold into slavery who makes his way to Pompeii on volcano day with just enough time to fall in love with a nobleman’s daughter (Emily Browning) and exact revenge on the men (Kiefer Sutherland, Currie Graham) who led the raid that killed every member of his village.

Teasing us with tremors and small quakes, the first two-thirds of the film center nearly completely on Milo’s gladiatorial life and Cassia’s (Browning) relationship with her parents (Carrie-Anne Moss, Jared Harris) on her return home from Rome and a Roman Senator (Sutherland) who follows her. The action is competently done, as is the eventually eruption of Vesuvius, but the movie certainly struggles to make the more dramatic scenes effective.

…

PompeiiRead More »

Pompeii Read More »

The Art of the Steal

/ / Home Video
  • Title: The Art of the Steal
  • IMDB: link

The Art of the StealWritten and directed by Jonathan Sobol, The Art of the Steal is your basic heist flick centered around getaway driver Crunch Calhoun (Kurt Russell) who, after spending seven years inside a Polish prison thanks to his brother Nicky (Matt Dillon), gets the old gang (Kenneth Welsh, Chris Diamantopoulos), his new apprentice (Jay Baruchel), and Nicky together for one last score.

The movie also includes a B-story involving a buffoonish Interpol agent (Jason Jones, hamming it up like a SNL skit) and his criminal consultant (Terence Stamp) which play much more lighthearted than the rest of the film giving it an inconsistent tone that doesn’t quite pay off.

Despite the cast (Baruchel being the stand-out and Dillon something of a head-scratching miscast), and some pieces of the story that work well, The Art of the Steal isn’t as smart as it thinks it is or as smart as it needs to be to pull of the big twists it has in store (most of which you should see coming).

…

The Art of the StealRead More »

The Art of the Steal Read More »