Author: Christian Sauvé

  • Dracula Untold (2014)

    Dracula Untold (2014)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, August 2015) Uh oh… I’ve got a problem.  I’ve seen Dracula Untold a few weeks ago, waited a bit too long to write my review and now I’ve got almost no memories of the film.  Worse: I’m not sure if what I remember is from this film or from the Underworld series.  Yeah, it’s that bad: Generic to a fault, once again obsessed with telling the origin story of a character that frankly doesn’t need any, Dracula Untold is as dull as the modern fantasy film can be.  About half a dozen other films have trod the same ground recently and they all fall neatly into the same unremarkable mold.  The special effects don’t add anything more to a dull story, and the film has the gall to end on a coda that suggests more installments.  (Heck, according to some rumors, this is the film that’s supposed to start an interlocking “Universal Monsters” film universe.)  Frankly, the studio is going to be lucky if anyone remembers this film a week after seeing it, let along years later for a sequel.  There is little in Luke Evans’ lead performance to create much sympathy for the vampire, or to inspire much in terms of appeal.  There’s nothing else in the script either, and the dialogues as the same kind of tripe we’re been hearing in all films of that subgenre lately.  I like Dracula, but in Dracula Untold they should have taken inspiration from the Untold part of the title and made another movie instead.  

  • Bee Movie (2007)

    Bee Movie (2007)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Netflix Streaming, August 2015) Bee Movie may be a silly animated comedy more or less aimed at younger viewers, it does feature a few twists and turns that few will see coming.  Starting out as the story of rebellious bee who aims to go beyond the strict confine of his society, Bee Movie spends a bit of time laughing at anthropomorphised bees before somehow ending in court as bees sue humanity.  Then it’s off to saving the biosphere with pollination.  It does feel a bit disconnected at times, and the anthropomorphisation of bees as a comic device often creates more incoherent nonsense than laughs, but Bee Movie at least gives it a fair shot.  There are a few good laughs along the way, a few cute cultural references, quite a bit of Seinfeldian humor along the way (considering the Jerry Seinfeld is the star voice actor and a producer/writer of the film) and some of the visuals sequences are pretty good.  Nearly ten years later, Bee Movie hasn’t left much of a mark, but it’s not such a bad film –I if anything else, it’s a bit less predictable than most animated comedies of recent vintage. 

  • Cop Land (1997)

    Cop Land (1997)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Netflix Streaming, August 2015)  It’s funny how time can polish some things.  If contemporary accounts are to be believed, Cop Land earned mixed reviews upon initial release, with a lot of people disliking Sylvester Stallone’s turns as a lumbering town sheriff dealing with a community of crooked cops on his watch.  But seen nearly twenty years later, the film has somehow accumulated a lot of qualities along the way.  For Stallone, his performance here still stands tall as a strong dramatic role, unglamorous and willing to play with the confines of a flawed protagonist.  (Meanwhile, isn’t it awesome to see Robert de Niro not playing a parody of himself?)  The dramatic heft of the crooked-cop themes is pleasant, as is the sense of morally-compromised characters trying to do the right thing even as they don’t understand who’s with them or not.  The premise of a town almost dominated by policemen creates a unique atmosphere, and the film does earn its happy ending along the way.  In short, Cop Land plays a lot better now that it seems to have done upon release, and it holds up as a solid police drama.  …and keep in mind that I seldom say nice things about Sylvester Stallone.

  • Gone Girl (2014)

    Gone Girl (2014)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, August 2015) While I like director David Fincher’s first movies more than his last few ones (Seven, The Game and Fight Club are classics; The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo remake less so), the world at large seems to disagree, his stature having grown steadily since the beginning of his career.  With Gone Girl, though, it looks as if I’m re-joining the critical consensus: It’s a terrific thriller, unsentimental and merciless with a lot of depth along the way.  It starts innocently enough, as a man reports the suspicious disappearance of his wife.  As the plot unspools, twists appear.  Many twists, eventually leaving characters as aghast as viewers.  Saying more would be a disservice, except to praise both Ben Affleck and especially Rosamund Pike for performances that play off their existing persona (in Affleck’s case) or their lack of it (in Pike’s case).  Fincher directs the film with quasi-alien precision, which feels just about right when Gone Girl reveals itself to be an acid commentary on marriage.  A genre-aware script by Gillian Flynn (based on her own novel) makes Gone Girl a terrific thriller, but nearly everyone involved in the film bring their best work: In smaller roles, Tyler Perry delivers a memorable turn as a mesmerizing defense lawyer, while Carrie Coon transforms a small confidante role into something far more interesting.  Still, it’s director Fincher who remains the star of the show, effectively presenting his set-pieces with a lot of technical polish.  Gone Girl may not be a pleasant film, but it’s almost impossible to stop watching from its intriguing opening to its nightmarish conclusion.  It’s just not (really not) a date movie.

  • True Story (2015)

    True Story (2015)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Video on Demand, August 2015)  Having both James Franco and Jonah Hill headline a film would suggest a comedy, but True Story is far from being lighthearted and, as such, represents a bit of a departure for two actors who, while having demonstrated some dramatic chops in the past, are usually associated with big laughs.  Revolving around a tragic multiple murder, a journalist disgraced by accusations of invention and sociopathic manipulation, True Story feels stark and grim, especially when it starts poking at viewer assumptions.  Based on indeed,  a true story, the film can be a fascinating case study of two actors circling each other like their characters, never trying to betray the harsh source material through ill-placed comic relief.  Its last fifteen minutes feel like an extended nightmare, so twisted do the agendas become.  If the film has a flaw, it probably that we don’t quite get to feel the betrayal of the protagonist: True Story doesn’t invest much time in trying to make us believe in the initial lies, making some of the revelations feel flat.  Still, it’s a troubling film, and as the hero and the villain eventually stat matching wits, the film does get a bit better toward the end.  Both Hill and Franco do fine with dramatic roles, to the point where few will assume that their next film will be a comedy  

  • I Love You Phillip Morris (2009)

    I Love You Phillip Morris (2009)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Netflix Streaming, August 2015) The second half of Jim Carrey’s career has been marked by its fair share of easy roles, either riffing off his established persona or taking on a bland everyman role that anyone else could have played.  But if I Love You Phillip Morris may not have had the visibility of some of his other projects, it’s a joyously amoral comedy that sees Carrey stretch a bit and take on the kind of role that still feels faintly daring even years later.  Playing a gay ex-cop turned con man who falls in love with another inmate (Ewan MacGregor, also quite good and willing to extend his already inclusive persona) and then stops at nothing (big-time embezzlement, wilful convictions, cell-block favors, fake death) to be reunited with his love and live comfortably, Carrey is able to parlay his manic sweetness into a lot of sympathy for an anti-hero capable to lying his way to the top but ultimately brought down to earth by True Love.  The script is witty, the direction is energetic and the result is simply a lot of fun despite some rather dark themes brought up along the way.  Criminally under-seen but certainly worth a look, I Love You Phillip Morris may do much to improve your perception of Jim Carrey, especially in the latter body of work.

  • American Heist (2014)

    American Heist (2014)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Video on Demand, August 2015) I actually wanted to like this movie, and I wanted to like it the way it was meant to be: a straight-up B-grade crime thriller, the kind of thing that follows likable anti-heroes as they rob a bank and try to salvage their audience sympathy along the way.  Unfortunately, American Heist is about as generic as its title suggests, with little to make the film in any way compelling.  There’s a bit of interest or two to see Adrian Brody show up, ripped, to play a tattooed career criminal.  It’s also interesting to see formerly-big actors such as Hayden Christensen and Jordanna Brewster pop up in relatively important roles.  Alas, that’ it as far as distinctions are concerned: the rest of American Heist plays like Generic Heist Film with few deviations from the template.  Worse yet: the film can’t pull off any kind of moment-to-moment interest beyond advancing the story further.  The dialogues, characters and events are all instantly forgettable and the picture soon blurs into forgettable mediocrity the moment the end credits roll.  There’s little to recommend it –especially since the heist sub-genre has produced some stellar examples of the form lately.  The Town this isn’t –and there must be another half-dozen heist films that are more instantly memorable than this one.

  • Mirrors (2008)

    Mirrors (2008)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On TV, August 2015)  A common failing for horror movies is to fail to match the surface shocks with a coherent background acting as explanation.  Some filmmakers aren’t even interested in doing so, and their films feel like a series of shocks untroubled with justifications.  But I trust that viewers like a bit of substance to go with the scares.  Mirrors, to its credit, almost gets it right: its surface shocks have to do with reflective surfaces and what can reach characters from behind the mirror.  The gather good atmosphere supports an effective sense of dread (especially during its very end), and the film’s various gags get to have a bit of fun with the concept of “mirrors”.  As Mirrors develops its mythology further, though, we’re asked to believe in increasingly arbitrary details, inconsistent powers and a rather dull origin story.  Keifer Sutherland does what he can to keep things interesting, and Paula Patton does her darnedest in an underwritten role, but there really isn’t much more here than a few showpieces for director Alexandre Aja.  Mirrors is far more interesting in small disconnected moments than as a coherent whole, and even a few effective shots don’t make more of a lasting impact if they’re impossible to place in an effective story.  

  • The Break-Up (2006)

    The Break-Up (2006)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On TV, August 2015)  I have now seen too many so-called comedies about breakups and they all share one common characteristics: They are depressing, unfunny, unpleasant and almost a chore to go through.  The Break Up may be directed by Peyton Reed –who, in between Bring it On and Down With Love, once seemed such a promising director), it’s not particularly funny, compelling nor all that insightful regarding human relationships.  The basic premise has something to do with a couple breaking up but being forced to live together for some reason, but the basic dramatic arc here is one of likable people being quite unlikable with each other, and I suppose that I’m really not a good audience for that kind of stuff.  It doesn’t help that the lead couple is played by Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston: I’m not a big fan of Vaughn even in the best of circumstances, and I find Aniston to be a dull actress, usually playing parts that could have been far better handled by many other actresses.  Such comedies often live on the strength of secondary characters and comic set-pieces, but there is almost nothing of interest to find here –The Break-Up is just a sad film, and the longer it goes on, the more unpleasant it gets.

  • Into the Woods (2014)

    Into the Woods (2014)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, August 2015)  I honestly thought I’d enjoy Into the Woods a lot more than I did.  Having a pre-schooler running around the house means watching a lot of Disney films, so the thought of a musical parodying classic fairy-tales has a certain appeal to it if only as a change of pace.  To be fair, Into the Woods does have its good moments.  Princes dueling for attention while signing dramatically; Anna Kendrick with a singing role; Meryl Streep playing a demented witch; clever twists and turns of plot –especially in the first section of the film.  But then comes the second section of the film, which seems determined to frustrate even viewers hungry for parody – the tone turns far darker, the musical number get less interesting, heroes are revealed to be villains and the film sort of degenerates into a mush of unsatisfying endings.  Cue my flagging appreciation.  And that’s not mentioning the various missteps along the way, not the least of them being Johnny Depp showing up as a lecherous big bad wolf.  But much of the so-called flaws of the film are intentional, and so is its intention to frustrate those looking for more conventional fare.  The bigger surprise here is to realize that Into the Woods is a Disney production tweaking the nose of fairy tales closely associate with Disney itself.  I suppose that, given Disney’s recent willingness to remake even its animated classics into live-action films, that an affectionate tweak on those same classics wouldn’t be out of place. 

  • Just Married (2003)

    Just Married (2003)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On TV, August 2015) Mix the mismatched-couple trope with the ugly-American tourist clichés and suddenly you’ve got Just Married, a rather dispiriting “comedy” in which a likable newly-wed couple sees their relationship disintegrate into loathing during their European honeymoon.  Starring Ashton Kutcher and Brittany Murphy, it’s not much than an average broad comedy film with plot points so unlikely as to court disbelief.  It’s all about laughing at European countries, misunderstandings and humiliation… the kind of thing that plays better to a younger or less demanding crowd.  For everyone else, the film does work in isolated moments, either as chaos engulfs the couple or they confront unexpected developments.  Still, it’s a good thing that we’re virtually assured of a happy ending, because otherwise the film would be quite a bit harder to watch through the progressive fighting.  Insubstantial by design, purposefully unsophisticated, Just Married is just good enough to entertain, but nothing more.

  • The Fault in Our Stars (2014)

    The Fault in Our Stars (2014)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, August 2015)  I really wasn’t expecting to like this film as much as I did.  Or even, having recently seen a friend die of cancer, to like it at all.  But The Fault in Our Stars prides itself on being quite unlike any of the other cancer movies out there in telling us about two teenagers meeting at a cancer support group.  The sarcastic dialogue and caustic gallows humor that follows is almost immediately charming in its own way, with both Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort being likable teenagers stuck in terrible situations.  Heartwarming without being cloying, merciless without being hopeless, The Fault in Our Stars makes much out of depressing material – it’s an enjoyable and funny film about something terrible and sad.  The stars motif is interesting, the comic set-pieces are memorable, and Willem Dafoe brings an element of mystery, then frustration in the mix.  The script is on-point and if the film does feel a touch too long during its Amsterdam segment, it’s ruthlessly curt coming back from it as it destroys expectations.  Telling you more about the film would be a disservice; take a look and enjoy it for yourself.

  • Authors Anonymous (2014)

    Authors Anonymous (2014)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, August 2015) I am, as noted elsewhere, an almost-helpless sucker for movies about writers.  Notwithstanding my own delusions of authorhood, my decades-long involvement in science-fiction fandom in two separate languages means that I’ve met and befriended a lot of writers, giving me a bit of insight into the profession.  As such, it’s hard to watch Author Anonymous without noticing the very broad stereotypes used in the film, the dumb jokes, the rather unidimensional ways the writing characters are presented, and the somewhat acid conclusion.  The premise has something to do with a documentary about a Los-Angeles-based writer’s group, but there are serious issues with the useless mockumentary conceit – the film isn’t all that interested in keeping that illusion going, and the interview-with-the-writers material could have been presented more elegantly.  Still, Authors Anonymous does have plenty of small chuckles to offer, mostly playing off the delusions of the characters: The military guy (Denis Farina, in fine form) idolizing Tom Clancy and resorting to self-publishing; the brooding young man emulating Bukowski without ever writing more than a page; the bored housewife seeing writing as an affectation; her enabling husband (Dylan Walsh, effortlessly charming) confusing ideas with actual writing; and a bubblehead (Kaley Cuoco, playing her own sitcom role) who manages to put a book together without having read one before.  There is a protagonist of sort played by Chris Klein as an honest author afflicted with writer’s block and being jealous of an unlikely success, but the film doesn’t really care all that much about him.  As you may imagine, this is the kind of weakness that can limit a film’s success, and Authors Anonymous is perhaps more tolerable as a string of cheap jokes and stereotypes about writers.  Never mind the conclusion or some of the ways it gets there.  Non-writers may or may not appreciate the film as much as writers will or won’t.

  • The Dukes of Hazzard (2005)

    The Dukes of Hazzard (2005)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On TV, August 2015) My memories of the original Dukes of Hazard TV show are dim enough that there was no chance that a remake would offend me.  Early on, The Dukes of Hazard does get to (re)establish its premise: Redneck humor, Southern-US rural charm, that iconic Dodge Charger, those voiceovers still frames… it doesn’t take much for the film to fall into kind of dumb charm, something helped along quickly by Seann William Scott’s sweetly likable performance as a soft-witted young mechanic well on his way to becoming a good-ole-boy.  (Meanwhile, Johnny Knoxville is unremarkable in the other lead role.)  The Dukes of Hazzard, big-screen version, does get a lot of mileage out of its own charm, but the effect gets a bit dulled as it becomes clear that the film won’t have as many car stunts as the premise would imply, and once the dumb corn-fed humor of the film becomes less surprising.  The conclusion feels underwhelming, although it consciously tries to feed the comic assumptions of the viewers.  So is it as good as it could have been?  Certainly not.  Is it watchable?  I’d say so.  Whether one outweighs the other is something that viewers will have to decide by themselves.

  • The Invention of Lying (2009)

    The Invention of Lying (2009)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On TV, August 2015) It’s clear, almost from the very beginning, why The Invention of Lying will never completely work.  As the voice-over laboriously explains its alternate-universe in which humanity never managed to evolve the concept of lying, the film just as quickly shreds its premise’s credibility.  Telling the truth and oversharing aren’t the same thing, and while the second makes for bigger laughs (the things Jennifer Garner says early on…), we know five minutes into the film that this is not going to make a single bit of sense.  So The Invention of Lying takes place in absurdity early on, which would have been fine if the film hadn’t tried to develop a romantic plot or an abrasive take on religion.  Writer/producer/director/star Ricky Gervais is a notorious atheist, and while there is some interest in seeing him work out some justification for religion (as comfort to the masses given the empty void of existence), much of the film’s second half, in which religion is invented, seems filled with easy pot-shots, not-particularly-funny moments and laboriously drawn-out dramatic potholes.  A bunch of comedians in quasi-cameos makes the film more interesting that it otherwise could be (Tina Fay gets a small but striking moment as an honestly resentful administrative assistant.)  You can see flashes of interest here and there in the film’s extrapolation of its ground rules (the inner workings of a film studio when fiction doesn’t exist are amusing), but just as often, The Invention of Lying showcases what happens when a smart person becomes convinced of the hilarity of an idea impossible to sustain over 90 minutes.  (For instance, there’s a running gag about hereditary concerns being at the base of any relationship that’s almost clever but handled too bluntly.)  It doesn’t help that the film is directed and assembled flatly, without much in terms of color or filmmaking prowess –it makes everything feel even blander.  There’s a lot of wasted potential here, but there’s no use denying that the film simply fails to meet its own expectations.  (This being said –and can I be completely truthful here?–, I’m aware that if I ever ended up making a movie, it would probably feel a lot like The Invention of Lying –a bunch of amusing imaginative concepts bogged down by poor execution, ultimately failing to reach anyone else but me.)