Movie Review

  • The Girl Next Door (2004)

    The Girl Next Door (2004)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On TV, July 2013) I’m hardly the first person to comment upon the strange twisted relationship that American culture has with the pornographic industry (or sex in general): Any examination of the topic ends up revolving around a mixture of fascination, shame, immature comedy and half-veiled condemnation.  The Girl Next Door isn’t different, as this story of a high-school senior teenager falling for a porn star neighbor seems to borrow from John Hughes’ classic comedies (but even more so from Risky Business), even as it tries hard not to condone actual pornography.  It portrays porn as something both irresistible and immoral, the end message being that good guys (and girls) don’t really go all the way.  (Nearly a decade after release, The Girl Next Door’s biggest laugh is now completely at the film’s own expense: it’s the idea that a soft-core sex education film could sell widely to teenagers given the wide availability of hard-core content on the internet.)  Emile Hirsch is sympathetic as the all-American good kid while Elisha Cuthbert gets to smile and look pretty as the porn star (but never takes off her clothes; see “good girls don’t really go all the way” above), but it’s really Timothy Oliphant who steals the show as a porn producer who comes to ruin the hero’s life: it’s a fearless portrayal, and one that’s almost entirely magnetic despite the character’s menace.  By the usual standards of teenage sex comedies, The Girl Next Door is a mark above the rest of the pack: it’s well put-together, relatively amiable and has a heart where many similar film only have dirty thoughts.  Still, the ending half-hour shows the complex hoops a “safe” mainstream film aimed at teenagers must jump through in tackling pornography.  Now the question becomes: if the same premise was developed in 2014, would it make a difference?  One element of the answer: Watching this film on AMC is a strange experience, as much of the foul language is bleeped off… despite the film’s subject matter and occasional nudity.

  • One Life (2011)

    One Life (2011)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, July 2013) Beautiful, warm and yet curiously unmemorable, One Life is a collection of short nature documentaries strung together by the barest of excuses about wildlife finding a way to live despite difficult circumstances… which usually summarizes most nature documentaries.  Daniel Craig’s smooth narration is serviceable enough, and the images are often simply spectacular, but trying to find something more to say about the film is an exercise in frustration: Few people do nature documentaries better than the BBC Earth people (recent advances in high-definition digital filmmaking mean that they now sport impeccable cinematography and unusually powerful sequences), and even the heavy anthropomorphism of the script isn’t enough to distract our attention.  One Life is good stuff to watch by the entire family, but you may struggle to find much of distinction in it.

  • Robot & Frank (2012)

    Robot & Frank (2012)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, July 2013) At a time when most Hollywood Science Fiction blockbusters seem to be exercises in over-the-top action and densely dazzling visuals with little left for heart and compassion, it’s good to find an antidote in the form of a low-key SF comedy.  Here, five minutes in the future, an aging robber reluctantly forms a bond with his newly-imposed robotic assistant, to the extent of recruiting his new buddy for one last score.  Filmed with a surprisingly low budget, Robot & Frank even dispenses with extensive special effects work by using a simple robot suit worn by dancer Rachael Ma: it’s a film about relationships and subtle ideas, not really about spectacular visuals.  Frank Langella is essential to the film as the protagonist with a troubled past: he anchors the film in a believable reality and effectively acts as a foil to the entire cast as they all seem determined to do what’s best for him.  Meanwhile, Susan Sarandon is lovely as an aging librarian who becomes the object of his affection, and Liv Tyler makes the most out of limited screen-time as a daughter who learns better.  Much of the film is a slow burn, executed with calm and confidence.  It does builds up to an effective moral dilemma, though, and its exploration of memory (the tragedy of losing it, but also the curse of remembering everything) is as subtle as any film about aging could hope to feature.  While some late-film twists and revelations fail to convince, much of Robot & Frank remains charming in its own quiet way.  One of the best things about the mainstreaming of Science Fiction and the greater availability of filmmaking tools is that SF movies can now reflect a variety of viewpoints.  The blockbusters are here to stay, thankfully, but it’s good to know that there’s something else out there.

  • The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 (2012)

    The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 (2012)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, July 2013) So there it is: the final conclusion of the Twilight “Saga”, after five seemingly-interminable films that were often more laughable than effective.  If you sense some weary resignation in the preceding statement, then you probably understand how the series divides fans from onlookers.  Fans will love it, while onlookers will wonder aloud at the series’ substantial plot holes, backward social attitudes and pacing issues.  Fans will go nuts for the overblown ending (complete with written passages of Stephenie Meyer’s novel, and a lavish slideshow of every single actors to have played in the series) while onlookers will wonder when the thing will actually end.  Plot-wise, the split of the series’ final book has taken its toll: After the events of the previous film, this one seems unsure of what to do: The villains announce their intention to come make trouble, then take weeks to come around –leaving the protagonist to mount a defense of sorts.  Various vampires with superpowers are brought in (and it’s hard not to laugh when emotionless protagonist Bella’s superpower is explained as being a really effective superpower wet blanket), various stereotypes are presented on-screen (Irish vampires with a drinking problem?  No, no, no…) and the film puts all the pieces in place for a big fake-out of a conclusion that wimps out just as it becomes interesting (and also has it both ways, almost).  Bill Condon does fine as a director with the material he’s given (he even gets to helm a large-scale special-effects sequence.), while the usual trio of Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner are up to their now-usual standards as the protagonists.  It goes without saying that this final installment, more than any others, is for the fans: If you’re still hating and watching after five movies, then there’s no helping you.

  • Sharknado (2013)

    Sharknado (2013)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, July 2013) I’m strangely conflicted about films that aim to be as ludicrously awful as possible.  Shouldn’t there be a limit to the amount of intentionally-bad filmmaking we subject ourselves?  Should we consider ourselves on holidays from conventional criticism when watching intended tripe?  Are we sending the wrong message to producers by supporting such abominations?  Suffice to say that in July 2013, SyFy-original TV movie Sharknado became a minor Internet phenomenon, celebrated as much for its insane premise (a tornado strikes Los Angeles… throwing sharks!) as for the cheapness of its execution.  Twitter went wild for #sharknado and the intensity of the frenzy made it easy to focus on the film-as-summer-phenomenon rather than the film as itself.  What many casual observers may not have known is that made-for-SyFy original movies are usually terrible, and just as often ludicrously high-concept (Sharktopus, anyone?)  Compared to those low-budget geeksploitation films, Sharknado actually doesn’t fare too badly: It’s terribly made, incompetently scripted and insultingly paced, but it has some panache when it comes to insane set-pieces, features reasonably competent actors, and at least shows us something we haven’t seen before.  (For truly dire and joyless films, look elsewhere in SyFy “catastrophe SF” roster)  Still, it’s practically impossible to appreciate Sharknado with a straight face, leading anyone to wonder once again: What’s the point of this?  At which point has anyone seen enough good movies to revel in bad ones?  Grump, grump.

  • Upside Down (2012)

    Upside Down (2012)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Video on Demand, July 2013) As a seasoned Science Fiction fan, I rarely have trouble with suspension of disbelief: if a film has an outrageous premise, I’m usually more than willing to grant it immunity from nitpicking.  But I have my limits, and Upside Down reached them in about thirty seconds with a triad of absurdly made-up rules about its invented universe.  I’m good with the idea of dual worlds facing themselves; I’m even willing to allow that objects from one world can only gravitate to that world.  But having stuff from opposite worlds catch on fire when held too long against each other?  That’s arbitrary to the point of ludicrousness, and things don’t improve once the film starts developing the world it sketches with its three opening statements: We’re supposed to believe in socioeconomic exploitation of one world by another when matter from one world can’t even enter in contact with the other one. (Hint: political allegory doesn’t work if the underlying metaphor doesn’t.)  The longer and the more detailed Upside Down goes on, the more ludicrous it becomes.  Now, a reasonable objection to this may be that the film is supposed to be a fable about two ill-fated lovers, and that’s true.  The problem is that the story itself is so well-worn and bare-bones as to leave plenty of time for world-building contemplation, with terrible results: the film feels artificial to a degree that even its spectacular visuals can’t overcome, and all of its wit in the presentation of its worlds can’t really compensate for the inanity of its premise.  Writer/director Juan Solanas has a good eye for arresting images, but the whole justification for them just isn’t satisfying.  It doesn’t help that Kirsten Dunst and Jim Sturgess are blander-than-bland as the romantic leads.  As much as I’d like to be kind about a Franco-Canadian film shot in Montréal (and even featuring remarkable local actors such as Holly O’Brien), there isn’t enough to Upside Down to earn more than a recommendation based on pure visuals.  The story isn’t there, and the premise simply doesn’t work.

  • The Perfect Boss (2013)

    The Perfect Boss (2013)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, July 2013) Ever the optimist, I keep watching made-for-TV movies in the hopes that some of them will be better than the usual dreck that goes for those kinds of films.  The Perfect Boss certainly won’t do much to raise my future hopes: While the premise suggests an interesting antagonist in the person of a high-powered psychopathic female executive, the sad reality of the film doesn’t live up to even modest expectations: Jamie Luner is a complete dud as the antagonist, her face seemingly unable to move above the eyes, and the rest of her performance barely being more expressive.  The title of the film barely makes sense, as the conflict between the antagonist and the young-woman protagonist who pieces together her involvement in her father’s death doesn’t even allow the two to be in direct contact.  The script occasionally manages a few clever moments, but much of it is stock material out of anti-pharma diatribes and sociopath case studies.  The one kernel of interest that the film has for Ottawa-area viewers is that the film was shot at a number of locations around the city: Savvy viewers will spot a Vanier street, MacArthur Bowling, Tea Party and the conference area of Casino Lac Leamy.  Unfortunately, this really isn’t enough to make The Perfect Boss particularly compelling: while it’s not abysmally bad, it’s no really good either, and there are plenty of other, better thrillers out there.

  • For a Good time, Call… (2012)

    For a Good time, Call… (2012)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, July 2013) Saying that a comedy doesn’t have a lot of laughs is usually a bad sign, but not always.  Sometimes, a “comedy” only qualifies as such because it features sympathetic characters doing amusing things in ways that result for a happy ending for everyone.  Such films don’t need to be constantly hilarious to be entertaining, and that’ s how we end up talking about For a Good Time, Call…, a gentle good-natured comedy in which two young women end up starting their own phone sex line in order to make ends meet.  It’s a low-budget film that doesn’t entirely feel like one, due to a good script, competent direction and cameo appearances from well-known friends/family of writer/star Lauren Miller.  (The cast list features Justin Long and Nia Vardalos, as well as cameos from Seth Rogen and Kevin “Welcome to New Jersey!” Smith… and a small but remarkable performance by Stephanie Beard)  Still, this is truly Ari Graynor’s film, as she brings life to a tricky character and manages considerable chemistry with her co-star Miller, which becomes increasingly important as the two characters develop a platonic womance.  The subject matter including phone sex, adult toys and straight-up sex, it goes without saying that film does contain a bit of raunch.  Still, the film is far sweeter than crass (subject matter aside, there’s little here to warrant more than a PG-13 rating) and leaves viewers with a smile.  Which is all it needed to do.

  • Pitch Perfect (2012)

    Pitch Perfect (2012)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, July 2013) Once in a while, a truly good teen comedy pops up and makes us forget about the mediocre rest.  While Pitch Perfect stars college-aged young women rather that high-schoolers, it’s sufficiently close in tone to Bring it On and Mean Girls to warrant comparison… even though it may not quite be as completely successful as those two earlier films.  Taking place in the world of college a capella groups (mining Mickey Rapkin’s non-fiction book for background, but not plot) Pitch Perfect is a contagiously enjoyable blend of comedy and music that presents a number of musical numbers and at least two showcase acting performances by young actresses.  This is Anna Kendrick’s signature piece to date, as the lead role allows her to use both the sweet and sour side of her we’ve seen on-screen so far: she’s just wonderful, and she gets to sing/play along (witness her solo performance of “Cups / When I’m Gone”, burning up the charts as I write this.)  Still, even a good performance gets overshadowed by a great one, and Pitch Perfect’s breakout star is Rebel Wilson, who transforms a potentially difficult role as an extrovert overweight girl into a scene-stealing blend of braggadocio, hilarity and inappropriate behavior.  Coupled with a better-than-average script with a good density of one-liners, near-perfect editing, staggeringly enjoyable song/dance numbers and a tone that is heavy on pure joy (there are at least three moments of pure wide-smiled bliss in the film, and it’s hard to get even one in a single film these days), Pitch Perfect claims a strong place as one of the best comedies of the year.  It’s not perfect, mind you: the graphic emphasis on vomiting is off-putting, the lead romance feels bland at best (there’s more chemistry between the protagonist and another female character), and the end of the film isn’t particularly good at tightening up all of the plot threads.  Still, Pitch Perfect is distinctly better than a lot of other teenage comedies and remains surprisingly entertaining even for older viewers.

  • The Awakening (2011)

    The Awakening (2011)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, July 2013) The British filmmakers behind The Awakening seem determined to uphold national stereotypes, as this quiet horror film manages to be successful in ways that bombastic American horror movies can’t quite manage.  The film start extremely well, as a professional skeptic in Post-WW1 Britain is asked to investigate mysterious happenings at a boarding school with a troubled history.  Much of the first half of the film is an effective demonstration of the power of good scripting, quiet scares, strong character work and effective atmosphere.  Rebecca Hall squarely carries The Awakening on her shoulders as the lead protagonist, a proto-feminist debunker who would love nothing more than to find proof of the supernatural.  Things take a left turn midway through, as the initial mystery is seemingly solved: suddenly, the protagonist realizes something else is in play, and the film shifts gears, realizing the potential of the film’s title and sending us in ever-unlikelier territory.  It all leads to a subtle ending that can be interpreted in two ways, to the pleasure or frustration of everyone.  Still, despite a somewhat weaker third act that depends on the quasi-magical powers of unsuspected amnesia, The Awakening is a successful horror film.  Rebecca Hall’s strong screen presence is complemented by other capable actors such as Dominic West and Imelda Staunton to improve the already-convincing atmosphere of the film.  It’s refreshingly free of gore, and given how it works in slightly different ways than most horror films, it’s worth tracking down for ghost-story fans.

  • Serbuan maut [The Raid: Redemption] (2011)

    Serbuan maut [The Raid: Redemption] (2011)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On DVD, June 2013) There’s been a surprising dearth of competent action-moviemaking lately; the rise of Bourne-inspired shakycam directing, coupled with the apparent decline of the Hong Kong film industry have led to more generic action movies without flair or excitement. But here comes relief from an unexpected source: Welsh expat Gareth Evans, working within the Indonesian film industry to produce a bone-crunching martial-arts extravaganza. The best thing about The Raid is its simplicity, as policemen stage a raid against a multistory mob safe-house. When things don’t go as planned, it’s up to a lone cop (Iko Uwais, quite credible as an action hero) to punch, kick and smash his way back out of the building, taking down a crime-lord along the way. (Yes, Dredd also worked along the same lines. In this case, similarity is not a bad thing.) The premise works best as a thread on which to hang the action set-pieces, all of which are directed with a generous helping of long takes allowing the action to shine. Those long takes also reinforce the brutal nature of the fights, the punishment endured by the characters and the sense that the stuntmen are truly earning their money on this film. There are a few extra flourishes of emotional connections here and there, but The Raid largely remains focused on the action scenes, and that works to everyone’s benefit. Lean and mean, The Raid is one of the strongest pure-action films of the past decade, and it brings to mind the heydays of the Hong Kong action film industry –high praise indeed.

  • Phantom (2013)

    Phantom (2013)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Video on Demand, June 2013) The submarine-movie subgenre is interesting in that there are only so many things you can do, story-wise, aboard a submarine.  Sense of isolation; claustrophobia; being stuck with an insane individual; nuclear weapons (sometimes); submarine fights; ocean dangers; the list is finite, and nearly every submarine movie ever made seems to play with the same ideas.  Phantom is no exception: while “based on a true story” (albeit the most incredible interpretation of events, with an added dash of magic science to make things even less plausible), it’s resoundingly familiar in the way it re-uses common plot elements.  That’s not necessarily a bad thing –execution is everything, and writer/director Todd Robinson does a generally acceptable job at transforming a fairly low budget into a cold-war nuclear thriller.  A good chunk of the film’s success can be attributed to a trio of capable veteran actors: Ed Harris as the flawed captain, William Fichtner as his capable lieutenant and David Duchovny as a potentially dangerous outsider.  The film has enough credibility to carry audiences across the less-believable moments, and the sense of tension that comes from being confined in such a small space for so long is also good enough to entertain.  But while Phantom is generally fine for audiences with an interest in its style or subject matter, “generally fine” isn’t enough to elevate it above its subgenre for a wider audience.  It doesn’t help that the film shoots itself in the foot with an ending that tries to fit narrative consolation with cold hard historical fact.  While the result will be just entertaining enough to satisfy those who are predisposed toward submarine movies in general, Phantom doesn’t have what it takes to reach a much bigger audience.

  • So Undercover (2012)

    So Undercover (2012)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, June 2013) Now that Miley Cyrus has transformed herself from a Disney icon to a blonde badly-coiffed strumpet [September 2013: …who twerks a lot, advocates drugs and has chosen the easy over-sexualisation route to fame], her intermediate star-vehicle So Undercover looks increasingly out-of-place.  It stars Cyrus as a tough Private Investigator who’s asked to go undercover at a college sorority in order to protect a potential assassination target and identify a criminal.  Or something like that, because by the middle of the third act it’s obvious that plot is about the last thing the screenwriters cared about: So Undercover is really about the usual fish-out-of-water jokes when a less-than-feminine protagonist is plunged in the vapid back-stabbing world of a stereotypical sorority.  The script may not be all that good (it peaks at “your balls are amazing.”) but Cyrus actually does quite well in the lead role: it’s not a transcendent performance, but she’s fairly amusing and the long auburn hair is now like a glimpse at an alternate more respectable career path for her.  Still, let’s not fool ourselves: the film exist as a big casting stunt (seeing Cyrus share scenes with Kelly Osbourne as her roommate is a bit of stunt-casting nerdvana) and there’s preciously little here to distinguish So Undercover from so many other undistinguished college comedies aimed at high-schoolers. 

  • Seven Psychopaths (2012)

    Seven Psychopaths (2012)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Video on Demand, June 2013) Writer/director Martin McDonagh clearly isn’t happy doing the usual or the expected: With this crime comedy, he plays around with structure, experiments with form, and uses a comic crime thriller to reflect on the place of violence in movies.  Collin Farrell is low-key but effective as a screenwriter who turns to a friend in order to get some inspiration for his next screenplay.  Sam Rockwell is quite a bit flashier as said friend who finds himself creatively inspired, and starts bringing the screenwriter into his own criminal enterprise, where we meet an unusually reflective Christopher Walken.  It quickly leads to a clash between true psychopaths, repentant ones and unexpected ones.  McDonagh’s dialogue is as good as could be expected from a playwright, and his directorial technique feels a bit more natural than in his previous In Bruges.  Seven Psychopaths takes a turn toward meta-fiction in the third act, as it tries to reconcile the impulses of thrill-seeking viewers with the humanistic instincts of a filmmaker trying to avoid gratuitous violence.  While the result feels a bit more scattered than it should, it’s an unusually intriguing film, and one that has quite a bit more thematic depths than the usual crime thriller.  As a bonus, it’s also quite funny… except when it decides not to be.

  • Bachelorette (2012)

    Bachelorette (2012)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Video on Demand, June 2013) The success of raunchy female-centric Bridesmaids has (sadly?) led to the realization that there was a market out there for crude R-rated comedies featuring uncouth damsels rather than frat-minded bros.  This makes it easier for films like Bachelorette to be marketed: suggest that it’s kind-of-like The Hangover and Bridesmaids and, voila, instant interest.  Fortunately, Bachelorette is a bit better than this capsule marketing tactic.  Yes, it’s about a trio of disrespectable female leads doing bad things while on a wild night in town.  But it’s written with quite a bit more wit than most comedies out there, and it dares takes chances with characters that aren’t made to be liked.  Kirsten Dunst, Lizzy Caplan and Isla Fisher do great work here, and Rebel Wilson adds another good performance to a short but impressive list.  What’s perhaps just as interesting are the subtle background choices made by writer/director Leslye Headland: A significant portion of the film takes place in a working strip club, for instance, and yet no nudity is shown.  The male characters are interestingly flawed and don’t overshadow the female leads.  This shouldn’t be revolutionary stuff, but in today’s comedy-film scene is almost feels as if it is.  Offbeat without being disgusting, Bachelorette is worth a look for those looking for a bit of wit to go along their unglamorous comedies.