The Shape of Water

I had a hard time buying the romance between Sally Hawkins’ character and the water creature. After a while, though, I was surprised when it sunk in. Although it’s odd, the romance stuff does work.

The Shape of Water (2017)
R | 2h 3min | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy | 22 December 2017 (USA)

At a top secret research facility in the 1950s, a lonely janitor forms a unique relationship with an amphibious creature that is being held in captivity.
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Writers: Guillermo del Toro (screenplay by), Vanessa Taylor (screenplay by) | 1 more credit »
Stars: Sally Hawkins, Octavia Spencer, Michael Shannon

The creative sets are deftly made. I was not disappointed with the world put together by Guillermo del Toro. “Pan’s Labyrinth” was where I first saw into his creative genius. In writing, producing, and directing this, he has treated the audience to another world. In a sense he is saying: “I’ve had time to think of this, come on in!”

The creature is great. His gills slowly fan out like the infamous “Creature from the Black Lagoon.” His eyes look very animal like in a natural sense. I like Michael Shannon’s character for his scariness. You know from the get go he is not there to respect the creature, it seems he wants to destroy it. This is especially evident when the creature bites 2 fingers off. This is one to see in a relaxed frame of mind, expecting little other than fantasic movie art. Is that enough? Maybe not for me really. Still, it’s something worth seeing. Make up your own mind. 6.5/10

‘The Man Who Saved Ben-Hur’

themanwhosavedbenhurposter
STARRING: John Alarimo, Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, Sandra Dee
DIRECTED BY: Joe Forte
PRODUCED BY: Joe Forte
WRITTEN BY: Joe Forte
GENRE: Biography
RUNTIME: 54 Min
YEAR: 2016

I had a chance to see this film and I must tell you it moved me very deeply. It’s a difficult subject, growing old, but one each of us must face it sooner or later. The “wake-up-call” of this film is that we are all mortal. Questions like, “Who will care about me when I’m old?” resonate throughout the film like pebbles on a lake create ripples. It sticks with you. Because it’s not necessarily about Ben-Hur and rather about the golden age of Hollywood and a man who had a part in making many movies including Ben-Hur, I’m linking to a preview on the movie’s official website. There is also a treasure-trove of never before seen memorabilia, photos, and footage on their site’s page here.

Johnny-SandraDeeHere’s how I saw it: A man who worked in the golden age of Hollywood as an actor, singer, and director looks back on his life with his younger film-making 2nd cousin, Joe Forte. He reminisces and shares a lot of memorabilia he has accumulated through the years. There is a story he tells about how he, in essence, saved Ben-Hur when it was at a weak point but the main idea of the movie is not that, it’s about the impending sunset on all of our lives. This makes for a highly emotional, though at times “hand-held cam, slow-paced” film. It would be a great movie to see with a loved one and then get coffee after to talk about this highly taboo topic. What will become of us when the curtains of our lives close?

I think we all need to consider what worth our lives have.  My only criticism of this film is its title, I feel people will miss the point. It’s a film about aging gracefully and about the hard truths that go along with that. The Ben-Hur moments are few and far bewtween. Still, that is his calling card and legend if-you-will, so in that way, it makes a little more sense. At any rate, that’s the reason it lost a star with me. The other 4/5 I mean sincerely, this is a fine film on an important subject.

Johnny at home_02Even a huge film like Ben-Hur needed real people to make it work. But what happens when the director goes home and the actors are left to go to doctor appointments and such, try to make peace with old age? This film takes us soberly down that path. The memorabilia shown throughout the film along with stories from the golden age of Hollywood make it enjoyable. Other than that it is a theme as important as it is difficult to think about. The memorabilia and stories from this man ease the hard truth of aging. He brings the audience awareness of the past and the present which is priceless if we’re hoping to live in the now. I recommend this one. Here are some more photos from the film:

There are many ways to see this film. They are linked on the film’s official website: Watch & Purchase.

Explore more about the film through its website and social media:

www.manwhosavedbenhur.com

 Facebook:/manwhosavedbenhur

Twitter: @savedbenhur

Instagram: #manwhosavedbenhur

 

 

 

Zoombies

“I don’t want to play with the animals anymore.” -Thea

They can’t all be Oscar winners. They can’t all be big budget. Once in a while, they can be fun with the most minimal resources. Working with what it has, “Zoombies” is too much fun and who doesn’t want a movie like that?

Zoombies (2016)
Cast
Ione Butler

as Lizzy

Andrew Asper

as Gage

LaLa Nestor

as Thea

Directed by
Glenn R. Miller
Written by
Scotty Mullen
Other Info

Action, Horror, Sci-Fi
TV-14
1h 27min

This film is pure fun. It doesn’t try to be “Jurassic Park” but borrows from some of its conventions. The same might be said of it borrowing from “Pet Sematary” and “The Night of the Living Dead.” How about that scene in M Night’s “The Happening” where the lion chews the zookeepers arm off? That was dime. Excellent effects. Scenes like that are mimmicked with low-budget and mixed effects. It was done on the same sort of budget those Discovery Channel dinosaur shows have. It uses canned CGI along with mediocre camera techniques to tell the story. It was funny and exciting, though it could have been funnier.

It all takes place in a new zoo that is doing some testing before it opens to the public. It’s a good thing too because somehow a monkey has been infected with a zombie virus. What happens next is the standard action, zombie, animal film (if there is one). I don’t know but I certainly knew what was coming next. My eight year old and I had some laughs eating popcorn and watching zoo animals wreak havoc on a team of Zoo workers and volunteers. Some ideas are so silly and fun, you could entertain people with puppets.

Don’t expect much from this film, you’ll have a chance to love it that way. I thought of funnier ways to make it but I’m no director. If the idea of animal zombies sounds funny and cool to you, this film is right up your alley. I recommend it.

Logan (2017)

Logan“In the near future, a weary Logan cares for an ailing Professor X in a hide out on the Mexican border. But Logan’s attempts to hide from the world and his legacy are up-ended when a young mutant arrives, being pursued by dark forces.” -IMDB

Cast

Hugh Jackman Logan
Patrick Stewart Charles
Dafne Keen Laura
Boyd Holbrook Pierce

Directed by
Written by

James Mangold, Scott Frank

Other Info

Action, Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
R
Fri 03 Mar 2017 UTC
137min
IMDB Rating: 8.6

Director James Mangold was at the helm of movies such as Girl, Interrupted (1999), Walk the Line (2005), which he also co-wrote, the 2007 remake 3:10 to Yuma (2007), and The Wolverine (2013). The range of films show he can do just about anything. Perhaps the slow drama aspects of the first hour were meant to be deep and soulful like other work he has done. Unfortunately, it felt out-of-place for me.

So many people love this movie, I imagine I am in the minority in grading it lower. I gave this reveiw a lot of thought so don’t think I just reacted from my easy chair after getting right back from the film.

Hugh Jackman is not much different in this film than in his other Wolverine incarnations. He does take on a pseudo-dad role which is awkward and certainly not worthy of being called a dad role in any way. This is nowhere more evident than in a scene where the “daughter” calls him “daddy.” Patrick Stewart is painful to watch. I know fans of his character Charles Xavier may appreciate what happens in this film but for me, a more passive fan, it was droll and shameful dialog for a master such as he.

There is a mutant little girl. She has large eyes. I can’t tell you more than that, there isn’t much to tell. This little girl is part of a small gang from a Mexican hospital. They were “engineered” for a government purpose. Hmmm. Could this be for a sequel? That’s all the summary need to give really. It’s a bare bones script.

FINAL THOUGHTS
The best thing about this movie for me is that there will be no more Wolverine films. I can’t recommend this film, it isn’t a fraction of what it could have been. Still, staunch fans of the franchise will undoubtedly like it and add their “likes” to a sometimes misleading social media.

‘Hello, My Name is Doris’

Hello, My Name is Doris is a dramedy about a sixty-something named Doris who gets a crush on her co-worker who is at least 20 years younger. She also has just experienced the death of her mother wh she has taken care of for years. This leaves her with time to fantasize and re-examine her hoarding issues she developed while being a caretaker.For the most part, this is a lighthearded film but there are times when the subject matter grows dark. It sets out to be
“sing-song” so I can’t fault it for being that way most the way through. It does tackle some serious issues and I respect the wrters for that.

Tyne Daly plays Doris’ friend which adds a lot to the film. We should all be so lucky to have such a friend at that time in our lives when the sun is starting to set. If you do see this film, and I do recommend it, I hope you enjoy the ending scene as much as I did. It is truly a creative approach to an ending and it’s done in the space of just a minute or so.

Directed byMichael Showalter

Produced by
Daniel Crown
Kevin Mann
Riva Marker
Jordana Mollick
Daniela Taplin Lundberg

Written by

Michael Showalter
Laura Terruso

Starring

Sally Field
Max Greenfield
Beth Behrs
Wendi McLendon-Covey
Stephen Root
Elizabeth Reaser
Natasha Lyonne
Tyne Daly

Running time
90 minutes

The Benefactor

This film was written and directed by Andrew Renzi who is a relative newcomer. Unfortunately we see the same sort of “bare all” ugly reality side Richard Gere gave us in Time out of Mind, and it doesn’t work as well.

benefactor_ver3

The Benefactor (2015)
Cast

Dakota Fanning, Theo James, Richard Gere

Directed by

Andrew Renzi

Written by

Andrew Renzi

Other Info

Drama
Rated R
1hr 33min
Riley’s Rating:

The more you know about addiction the more you know the difference between a schedule I drug and a schedule V. No addict is groping for a fix of a schedule V drug, although some kids these days are mixing them to get high. Richard Gere is showing us addiction in a very in-your-face way. He seems to be creating these roles for himself at his current age which I believe is around 60. Time Out of Mind is where I saw it recently. He is bare-boned and raw in that one suffering the effects of homelessness and early-onset Alzheimers. You can see his pain in that film, in fact, you fan smell it, even feel it as your own. It’s uncomfortable in that film as it is in The Benefactor. I’m fairly certain Mr. Gere is trying to show he’s a great actor by baring his yellow teeth, so to speak. In other words, he’s not holding back in his portrayal of character these days and he wants you to come along on the journey with him.

The Benefactor isn’t just about addiction but rather the personality flaws and types that make people become addicted. We can say to ourselves, “He’s an addict by choice, that would never happen to me.” We say it every day about the disheveled brutish person begging for a dollar in front of Starbucks. We say it about our friend’s teen who just entered rehab. We judge and prejudge and post-judge and become disgusted when we hear about the lengths addicts go to in order to obtain a fix. This film looks at one man and who he is in a singular way. In the beginning you could argue we are meant to hate him. Middle and end,  one could argue the same.

He’s the head of a hospital, a pushy benefactor to an unwitting twenty something Olivia, played by Dakota Fanning of many movies you can look up if you don’t already know her. He is also a general piece of shit to her fiancee, Luke, played by Theo James known for the Divergence series. Let’s visit a tiny bit of plot to see why he acts this way: Franny (Gere) was in a terrible car accident with Mia (Cheryl Hines) and Bobby (Dylan Baker) and Mia and Bobby were killed. Franny was like an uncle to Olivia and after recovering from the accident and becoming addicted to pain pills, he extends financial help and a space in his mansion-like home for Olivia and Luke to live. The trouble is, his money has strings attached and he needs a lot of attention.

We see Franny go through withdrawals from Morphine and through many embarrassing situations where he begs for drugs from many people in the movie, including Olivia and Luke, who by the way is an oncologist doctor. Watching the film is uncomfortable to say the least. As I noted earlier in my review, Gere seems bent on showing every ugly (real?) side to the audience these days. It may be there is no better side. Whatever the reason, this film is the second in a series of films where he chooses to be ugly and in-your-face. It’s telling in fact after the final generic title flash which indicates the end that we see flashes of Gere shaving his scraggly, overgrown white beard with a razor. I actually stopped watching there because I was so on edge with what he would do to himself throughout the movie, I thought he might cut himself on purpose just to show us his true blood.

This is an ok story but a strange convoluted script. Gere is meant to be hated and he is. I had no compassion for him in the little pharmacy desperate to get a refill. He screams, he cuts himself, he says mean hurtful things to olivia and her fiancee, it’s not a happy go lucky movie like Pretty Woman that’s for darned sure. He’s moved way beyond that as an artist and I think he wants you to know it. If he could have developed the other characters a bit more it might have been better. We never get the backstory on what Olivia has been doing as he was healing. Well, she’s pregnant so we know one thing she was doing. Movies with a hate-able protagonist work better when you get other perspectives. As it is, the whole movie is a camera right up Gere’s nose. That detracts from the story.

Another problem is the script given to Gere. I don’t “buy it” when he’s trying to be tender with a kid in the cancer wing, hiding under the blanket and playing good doctor. I don’t buy it when he’s trying to be sweet with Olivia. He doesn’t strike me as an uncle or even a friend. For her to move in with him, risking her marriage and her pregnancy, it would need to be a safer place. It feels tense from the beginning. Another odd non-sequitur is the fact that Luke just up and moves in with Franny because Olivia wants to. If Luke is a doctor, couldn’t they afford their own place? Finally, by the end of the film, we hate Franny almost to the point where we want him to disappear. Yes, he’s that annoying. Still, when he wakes up, the orderly nurse escorts him to the maternity ward to see Luke and Olivia’s child? What? Based on the story I sat through for 1hr 30mins, that would not be appropriate at all. I kept expecting it to all be a dream and he’d wake up in rehab. Unfortunately, you’ll find an alternate to my expectation. There isn’t anything smart here. I think if you really love Richard Gere in movies, you may have a reason to go. You’re gonna see everything about him at 60, well, not everything. Hopefully that won’t get back to him and give him any ideas.