Movie Review

  • Goon (2011)

    Goon (2011)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, August 2013) What could be more Canadian than a comedy about hockey? Here, Seann William Scott turns in one of his best performances as Doug, a somewhat dim-witted bouncer who unexpectedly proves to be a more-than-competent hockey enforcer.  The role of goons in hockey isn’t glamorous –essentially, they’re there to protect more talented players or to target opposing players–, making Goon’s frequently sweet-natured off-ice atmosphere seem all the more remarkable.  While the film doesn’t shy away from bloody violence, Scott’s performance as Doug (a really nice guy who just happens to be good at fighting) is enough to balance the excessively profane comedy most frequently mouthed by co-writer Jay Baruchel.  Goon is relatively well-shot, decently scripted (especially in the details) and benefits greatly from Liev Shreiber’s late-film appearance as a veteran goon.  While the ending is abrupt, the romance less than convincing and some of the profanity/gore is excessive, Goon remains a bit of a pleasant surprise, and something that Canadians won’t be too embarrassed about.

  • Silent Hill: Revelation (2012)

    Silent Hill: Revelation (2012)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, August 2013) I’m not sure anyone was asking for a Silent Hill sequel, but there it is.  And there’s just about no reason to watch it.  The plot is instantly forgettable, the mythology is borderline-incomprehensible, the scares are decidedly ordinary and the actors are merely serviceable (although it’s fun to see Sean Bean alongside Kit Harington playing a teenager outside Game of Thrones, and Adelaide Clemens really does look a lot like Michelle Williams).  What Silent Hill: Revelation does have going for it are occasionally moments of oppressive atmosphere in the tradition of the first film.  They are farther apart that could be expected, though, as about half the horror set-pieces end up feeling contrived, badly adapted from other superior films or simply more grotesque than chilling.  Otherwise, that’s pretty much it.  Sharp-eyed viewers will easily spot that the film was shot in Canada (the bilingual notices on the school-bus being a dead giveaway) but that’s really not enough to warrant a look for such a dull film.

  • End of the World (2013)

    End of the World (2013)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, August 2013) I have come to loathe the “Original Syfy catastrophe movie” sub-genre after overdosing on four nearly-identical examples of the execrable form in summer 2012.  This being said, I’ll be the first one to point out that End of the World is quite a bit better than most of its counterparts by dint of sheer self-awareness.  The lead characters of the film are SF geeks who have memorized countless catastrophe movies in order to develop their own survival plan.  When the Earth gets hit by a sudden catastrophe, they use their knowledge to understand, survive and eventually defeat the problem.  Much of this SF/comedy hybrid’s best chuckles come as the protagonists react a bit more plausibly than is the norm in such films, and exchange dialogue that acknowledges the existence of catastrophe films in that universe.  Never mind the script’s convenient silliness (how would a video store specializing in catastrophe film even stay in business?) or the limits of End of the World’s budget: Director Steven R. Monroe does the best with what he’s got and if the result is in no way a particularly good film, it shines in comparison with the atrocious Ziller-directed specials that SyFy usually churns out.  Do not spend any money watching this film, but you can always glance at it if it’s available on a TV channel near you.

  • Garden State (2004)

    Garden State (2004)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, August 2013) For years, I’d heard about Garden State as being either a terrific voice-of-a-generation film, or horrifyingly self-indulgent emo-pop.  After seeing the film, well, I have to ask: why can’t it be both?  The first few minutes are unexpectedly skillful, as writer/director/lead Zach Braff sketches an efficient portrait of an emotionless young man forced back home after the death of his mother.  As he reconnects with old friends, the film gives him one epiphany after another and reveals his secrets until he’s supposed to be half-way normal.  It’s easy to make fun of such oh-woe-is-me-my-character self-flagellating filmmaking, but there are some really good directorial moments in Garden State, even though they get less distinctive as the film advances.  Natalie Portman gets to play an eccentric girl that would be insufferable in real life, but is here supposed to be charming beyond belief.  The soundtrack is a collection of meowing, moaning, self-pitying slow ballads (your mileage may vary) that show better than anything else how I’m not supposed to be the target audience for the film.  While I’d be interested in seeing other directorial efforts by Braff, he can probably leave the episodic journey of self-discovery by a damaged protagonist thing behind.

  • The Master (2012)

    The Master (2012)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, August 2013) There are times where I feel guilty of apparently not being able to appreciate the acclaimed genius of writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson, and then there are times where I’m comfortable not being enthusiastic about his films.  The Master clearly falls into the second category, as it meanders all over the place and almost forgets to actually tell a story.  Much has been made of the film’s connections to Scientology, but don’t read too much into it: While Philip Seymour Hoffman plays a decent L. Ron Hubbard stand-in, and while much of his cult’s teachings find resonance in Dianetics, Anderson doesn’t try to tell anything close to a true story.  The Master instead focuses on a man left adrift after his military service in World War II, and finding some purpose in associating with the burgeoning cult.  Joaquin Phoenix is remarkable in the lead role, radiating danger, pain and coiled aggression in nearly every frame.  Amy Adams is almost as surprising in a shrewish role far away from her usual good-girl screen personae.  And much of The Master’s cinematography is truly remarkable, evoking a deep sense of craft in the way the film is presented.  The problem is that none of those interesting things amount to an interesting story.  The pacing is deathly slow, the loose ends are numerous and the conclusion can’t be bothered to actually conclude.  There’s little here to satisfy fans of sustained narratives, nor clear meaning.  I’ll still give a chance to Anderson’s next film.

  • D-War [Dragon Wars] (2007)

    D-War [Dragon Wars] (2007)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On TV, August 2013) The film’s poster/cover promises dragons attacking downtown Los Angeles in full daylight.  What’s not to like?  As it turns out, almost everything else.  For some unexplainable reason, D-War takes forever to establish its cumbersome mythology before getting to the “dragon wars” part, and viewers can’t be blamed if they start mentally checking out at the blend of age-old mythology, predictable prophecy and meaningless word salad.  Bad dialogue, dull cinematography and laborious directing all add up.  It’s not just uninteresting: it’s executed in the bland plodding way most SyFy original films are made… something made worse by the fact that with a budget about ten times what SyFy movies usually cost, it’s not a SyFy original film.  D-War’s lone redeeming quality of the film is the 15 minutes or so in which the dragons do attack downtown Los Angeles: suddenly, the special effects get better, the human characters disappear, the spectacle ratchets up and the film finally gets a pulse.  Unfortunately, that doesn’t last long and it leads to a downer of an ending.  While Jason Behr and Amanda Brooks don’t completely embarrass themselves in the lead roles, there’s not much here to boast about (and seeing both Robert Forster and Craig Robinson in fairly silly roles is more surprising than anything else.)  If you do want to get the most out of D-War, fast-forward to the dragon attack, and stop whenever they disappear from the screen.

  • Witch Hunt (1994)

    Witch Hunt (1994)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, August 2013) This quasi-sequel to 1991’s Cast a Deadly Spell brings us back to an alternate 1950s Los Angeles suddenly awash in magic, but nearly everything else has changed: The noir aesthetics have given their place to bright Hollywood glam, the lead Private Investigator role is now played by Dennis Hopper and the tone of the film shifts from criminal horror to social commentary.  Recasting McCarthyism as literal persecution of witches, Witch Hunt does get to be a bit too obvious at times.  Still, there are a few things to like here and there despite the limited budget, including the background details and emphasis on a glamorous era for Hollywood.  Hopper isn’t too bad as the lead, while Julian Sands is arresting as an evil magician and Penelope Ann Miller has an eye-catching role as a threatened starlet.  The ending is a bit weak and obvious in its hurry to denounce witch-hunting for political gains, but the real fun of the film comes before then.

  • Cast a Deadly Spell (1991)

    Cast a Deadly Spell (1991)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, August 2013) I like to think that I’ve got a pretty good mental encyclopedia of fantasy movies, but this one had completely eluded me until now: A made-for-HBO film taking place in late-1940s Los Angeles in which magic is real and a gumshoe works at preventing a monstrous apocalypse.  Fred Ward stars as the tough-guy private detective (named Philip Lovecraft, ha), and he gets a few crunchy lines in-between his narration and his one-liners.  Cast a Deadly Spell gamely tries to portray a suddenly-magical Los Angeles and blend it with noir aesthetics, but it’s hampered by a low budget and by a lack of internal consistency: it’s never too clear how magic is supposed to work, as the various fantastical elements blend together in a blur of self-contradictory events.  Still, the film works relatively well as an unassuming hidden gem, and if the final gag can be seen well in advance, it’s still good for a laugh or two.  Director Martin Campbell and femme-fatale Julianne Moore would go on to bigger and better films a few years later.  Cast a Deadly Spell was followed by the barely-related Witch Hunt in 1994.

  • Tank Girl (1995)

    Tank Girl (1995)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On TV, August 2013) I’m not sure how I went so long without seeing this oddball take on post-apocalyptic science-fiction, but I can say that while the film is uneven, it’s striking enough.  Lori Petty stars as the titular Tank Girl, an irrepressible punk-inspired heroine battling against an evil monopoly with designs on all remaining water in the world.  It’s not meant to be realistic: adapted from a comic book series, Tank Girl keeps, even today, a manic energy exemplified by energetic editing, unusual scene transition, caricatures in lieu of characters and a one-liner-spouting heroine that never has a moment of self-doubt.  That last never-say-die attitude eventually grates, as it’s hard to tell braggadocio from brain damage.  Still, Tank Girl (a rare SF film directed by a woman, in this case Rachel Talalay) has its share of odd and unique moments, whether it’s a sudden musical number, a heavy-metal-riffed tank-customization sequence or terrible kangaroo-human makeup.  Petti can be curiously sexy at times (when she’s not being annoying –no mean feat), but from a contemporary perspective the most interesting performances belong to Malcolm McDowell as an over-the-top villain, Naomi Watts as unglamorous “Jet Girl” and what appears to be a self-loathing Ice-T in a role best left undiscussed.  The films gets more strident and less interesting the longer it goes on, so this is one of those where if you feel the need to stop, it’s probably best that you do so immediately.  Still, Tank Girl remains worthy of a look for fans of cult cinema.

  • Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)

    Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, July 2013) The idea of septuagenarian Woody Allen writing/directing a romantic comedy starring a pair of young women may feel strange, but looking at the result in Vicky Cristina Barcelona, you have to give Allen all the acclaim he deserves.  The film features two Americans holidaying in Barcelona: Rebecca Hall as the sensible one with a clear idea of her future and Scarlett Johansson as the flighty one in search of direction.  The fun begins when they both fall (at different times) for the same man, and the repercussions that this has over both women’s self-esteem and sense of identity.  That, perhaps, is where Allen’s maturity comes into play: by the end of the film, few questions have been settled satisfactorily, even though everyone seems to know a bit more about themselves.  As such, don’t expect a conventional crowd-pleaser, even though Vicky Cristina Barcelona is light-hearted enough to qualify as a comedy.  Good actors easily make up for whatever non-ending the film may have: While Johansson is decent as the titular Cristina, it’s Rebecca Hall who’s the film’s revelation as the brainier and more conflicted Vicky.  Javier Bardem is scarily good as the tall, dark, handsome stranger that shatters the heroines’ world, while Penelope Cruz is almost as striking as the one force of chaos that upsets Bardem’s character.  While the film doesn’t have enough of a conclusion to fully satisfy, it’s easy to get swept in this unconventional romantic comedy, and to appreciate the sights that Barcelona has to offer.

  • Psycho (1960)

    Psycho (1960)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, July 2013) More than half a century after release and its accession to the pantheon of pop-culture, is there something left to say about Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho?  When movies such as Hitchcock are a fictionalized making-of, when the infamous shower scene has been parodied nearly everywhere, when the basic twist of the film has inspired an entire sub-genre of psycho-killer thrillers, it would seem as if all has been said and done.  And yet…  the sudden shift in structure signaled by the infamous shower scene remains as unsettling as it was (even though you can argue that it robs the film of a good chunk of its narrative energy), while the film remains effective in its small details.  Hitchcock was a master craftsman, and while his technique has been widely imitated, Psycho doesn’t feel as dated as other films of its time.  In fact, the most dated thing about it isn’t the black-and-white cinematography, obvious set design, stilted acting style or period details: It’s the awful ending monologue in which a psychologist explains in excruciating detail what subsequent generations of filmgoers now take for granted.  Still, Psycho keeps much of its power nowadays, and even viewers who may think they know everything about the film may find something new.  (For some reason, I feel pleased-as-punch that the film features a prominent CANADA in the middle of the screen for a relatively long shot.)  Plus, the ending monologue is still remarkably chilling.

  • Stand Up Guys (2012)

    Stand Up Guys (2012)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, July 2013) Getting old isn’t easy, and that goes for actors as much as for criminals.  Stand Up Guys has the merit of addressing both by featuring Al Pacino and Christopher Walken as a pair of aging gangsters trying to figure out the rest of their lives during one particularly event-worthy night.  Pacino’s character is freshly out of prison, while Walken’s character has orders to kill him before the night is over.  What happens next is a blend of good screenwriting, decent directing and capable veteran actors: Stand Up Guys becomes a breezy way to pass an hour and a half, coupled with a few things to say about aging and how people can break free from their past.  Some of the humor is extremely easy (much of the bordello scenes read like wish-fulfillment for older men) but some of the rest feels on-target as a reflection of older-tired characters that can’t wait for the end to come.  After a slow start, Stand Up Guys improves midway through as Alan Alda joins the proceedings for a few faster minutes.  While the episodic structure of the film can’t patch over a few unfortunate narrative choices (such as the avenging sequence), the ending is strong enough to satisfy in a somewhat-predictable fashion.  Fans of Pacino and Walken will get plenty to like, although Walken’s conflicted arc is more compelling than Pacino outright bombast.  While this isn’t a classic-in-the-making, it’s not a waste of time either, and it joins a small “aging superstar thriller” sub-genre alongside now-franchises such as Red and The Expendables.

  • Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)

    Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, July 2013) The problem with not having seen some classic movies is that after finally watching them, you wonder what took you so long.  Breakfast at Tiffany’s is essential viewing for at least two reasons: First up would be Audrey Hepburn, as beautiful and lively in this film as she has been in 1961.  Photos of her in her “little black dress” may be iconic, but you have to see the film to understand what made her a star.  The second reason to see Breakfast at Tiffany’s would be her character, Holly Golightly: As the incarnation of a newly-created character in American culture (the single young girl, enjoying life in the city), Holly would end up being the template for decades of similar characters all the way to Sex and the City’s lead characters.  The impact of the film is considerable even today, and that’s partly why it can’t be missed even today.  (The showcase party sequence still feels surprisingly modern.) Ironically, the film also deserves to be seen for the ways in which it undermines its own cultural legacy: Golightly may have been made an object of admiration and imitation by latter generations of single women, but the film fairly clearly underlines the desperation of her life, meddling with the mob and borderline-prostitution in order to make ends meet, her bubbly facade barely concealing a child-like mind barely able to cope with her current situation.  A read of Truman Capote original bittersweet novella only serves to highlight the very thin veneer of fun that the film puts over a rather sad situation: it’s hard to watch the film’s happy ending and feel that it won’t last very long.  (It’s also hard to watch the film and not cringe at Mickey Rooney’s crudely stereotypical portrayal of a Japanese character: While that kind of thing may have been acceptable half a century ago, it’s the one single thing that most damages and dates the film.)  For all of these reasons, and probably a few more than I’m forgetting, Breakfast at Tiffany’s remains essential viewing well into the twenty-first century.

  • The Apparition (2012)

    The Apparition (2012)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, July 2013) Here’s a bit of autobiographical content in order to make sense of this review: Growing up, the TV listings for movies broadcast in the Ottawa area included short critical appreciations by a service named Mediafilm, which ranked films on a scale of 1 (“Chef-d’oeuvre” or “Masterpiece”) to 7 (“Minable” or “Pathetic”).  Since Mediafilm ranks on a bell curve, very few movies earn either a 1 or a 7, and seeing one was a bit of an achievement. (For French-Canadians my age, the word minable itself remains closely associated with Mediafilm’s 7 rating.)   Mediafilm’s ratings are still used today, most visibly on cable provider Videotron’s online guides.  All of which to say that The Apparition is probably the first time in a long while that I approached a film (an actual film released in theaters, no less) knowing that it had received a minable rating.  The opening minutes of the movie easily confirm that it’s far from the upper end of the spectrum, as two separate prologues do a poor job at establishing an atmosphere of dread.  Soon enough, we’ve stuck with two young adults as they house-sit a mansion for relatives.  Given that this is a haunted-house kind of movie, strange and supposedly terrifying things start happening.  Somehow, though, the two characters remain far more terrified than the audience, all the way to a muddled conclusion in which taking refuge in a Costco display tent (no, really) fails to delay the inevitably grim ending.  Once the credits roll, the verdict is easy: The Apparition doesn’t have anything new, effective or even mildly entertaining to offer to horror-movie fans.  All of its plot components have been taken from other better movies, the execution is hilariously inept, the cinematography is strikingly ugly and director Todd Lincoln doesn’t have any idea how to make the most of the elements at his disposal.  At its best, The Apparition has a striking shot of a house in which the furniture has been re-arranged in twisted forms… and that’s it.  Sure, Ashley Greene looks good in a shower, and Tom Felton should ham it up in as many movies as possible, but none of this actually excuses The Apparition’s basement-bargain approach to haunted-house horror.  This is the kind of horror movies that give a bad name to the genre, string along the worst clichés of the form and barely presenting anything original, competent or engaging about the results.  While I’m a bit skeptical of Mediafilm’s 7 ranking (The Apparition is dull, but it’s not as stridently offensive as other terrible movies), I have no qualms at calling this film like it should: minable.

  • Imitation of Life (1959)

    Imitation of Life (1959)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On TV, July 2013) Dipping into Hollywood’s back-catalogue can be a strange experience, as films developed for an earlier generation can become interesting for things they didn’t intend.  So it is that Douglas Sirk’s Imitation of Life becomes fascinating as much for its period background detail than for its subject matter.  From a contemporary perspective, it’s certainly not a tightly-plotted feature film: The story jumps forward abruptly, doesn’t quite know what story it’s trying to tell and ends abruptly, leaving a bunch of threads up in the air.  Still, the point isn’t the story as much as the emotional problems that the characters have: The film’s most compelling plot strand has to do with a mixed-race teenager rejecting her racial heritage, and while the film’s dialogue may feel a bit melodramatic by today’s standards, there’s no denying the impact of lines such as “How do you tell a child that she was born to be hurt?” The film’s other plot, about a suddenly-successful actress ignoring her daughter and leading on a suitor, is almost insufferably dull… except for studying bits and pieces of the decor and imagining being back in the 1950s.  Lana Turner is nice-but-boring in the lead role (much the same can also being said about Sandra Dee as her daughter) but the film’s most compelling performances easily belong to Juanita Moore and Susna Kohner as the estranged mother/daughter pair.  Imitation of Life has held up better than many films of its era not for the melodrama, but for the substance underneath.