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Reviews
The Canyons (2013)
It's worth at least one viewing.
I was eager to see 'The Canyons' because of Paul Schrader, Brett Easton Ellis directing and writing respectively, and Lindsay Lohan as the lead. I'm not a LiLo fanatic by any means, but I have always thought that given the right script and director she would be primed for a comeback. And if she can clean up her personal life then maybe she deserves one. The film for me was neither horrible nor far from perfect. The movie opens with scenes of boarded up movie theaters's, and I don't quite get the symbolism there since Hollywood seems alive and well. It is puzzling to me though that the Schrader/Ellis team had to go the Kickstarter route to raise a minute $250,000 for the budget. As you probably know, the film center's around two couples- a trust fund 'doucebag' named Christian who hasn't even read the script for the movie he is helping fund and Lohan as his girlfriend Tara, and unknown to Christian, Tara's ex Ryan, who is now dating Christian's assistant. Ryan has also been cast as the lead in the movie, and he and Tara are still hooking up. You would think Christian wouldn't be jealous of Tara's sex life since he constantly invites strange men and women into their bedroom, but of course he is. He suspects Tara is sleeping with Ryan, and things spiral out of control from there. Much has and will be said about the sex scene's in the film, but for me what really worked was Lohan's performance. You can sense that the actress knows her career is in trouble, and when she talks about needing to be taken care of, and not wanting to go back to being poor, you start to wonder where the acting stops and her real life begins. The movie isn't perfect, and the performances are flawed. I'm not at all happy with the ending, but I still think it's worth watching.
The Vicious Kind (2009)
Great little film, give it a try.
The Vicious Kind may not be what it seems like from the title or the premise, but that turns out to be a good thing, in this little gem of a straight to video film that does pay off if you stick with it to the end. Disillusioned Caleb (Adam Scott), who chain smokes as he tells his newly smitten brother Peter (Alex Frost) that 'They're all whore's-' he's talking about women of course. But no matter how off putting and anti social he might seem at first, Caleb, well guided by Scott's first rate performance, is one of those character's you couldn't ignore if you tried. Peter's new girlfriend Emma Gainsborough (Brittany Snow) might have an upper class name, but we can tell she's not from wealth even if she didn't keep sneaking outside to smoke. But as much as she may be turned off by Caleb's many acts where he well acts out, (including leaving X rated pics of himself with a prostitute for her to find), we know that the bad brother has something to offer that the good one can't possibly provide, and while the third act of the film does not play out too predictably, it would be no surprise to most viewers what happens. But the performances above all make this film watchable, not the least of which comes from J.K. Simmons as Frank, the father who is estranged from Caleb, while inviting of Peter and Emma's budding relationship. Simmons turns in yet another dependable and likable character here, even with the least screen time of the four. Happy endings may not necessarily abound at the end, but at the very least the film leaves it's character's with the promise for a different path.
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008)
Utterly emotionally manipulative, but with no payoff for the audience!
Please stay away from this beautifully constructed, superbly acted, finely directed film that in it's finale will make you feel like you've been groped like a prom queen in the back of a limo. The first two thirds of this film will remind of a great Merchant Ivory movie, the last part will make you feel like you just left a screening of Hostel 3- but you won't even be able to find any comfort in the shower. Sometimes great movies fail to get proper appreciation by the studio, or sadly never get the chance to be seen in theater's- this one makes you wondering why the book's writer didn't tear up his manuscript in shame before ever sending it to a publisher. The entire ending of this film is flawed, and so all that comes before it, however proper and pretty, must be discarded as well.
Or (2004)
Brilliant-not to be missed
Just saw this movie and I was very moved by it. Like most foreign films, it will require the viewer to work a little bit, and be patient as the story develops, but you won't have to work at caring about the title character, Or. She's a normal girl mostly raising herself in a tiny apartment with a mother who would rather sell her body than get up in the morning to go to a normal job, (which her daughter has to find for her). But the filmmaker makes you care, somehow, even about the mother. Maybe it's because these are real characters, not caricatures, and there isn't a hip soundtrack for the audience to numb itself to half the time. In fact, there is absolutely no music in the film, that is until the final, fateful shot. You will ask yourself during the movie why a beautiful, bright girl with enormous potential would follow her mother into a thankless life of prostitution, but by the end of the film you will begin to understand that it is her perception of her potential that leads her to this end, and it will make you think. Find this movie, and encourage others to discover it's importance. You won't be disappointed.