2015 Films: #24. Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation

This was an iTunes rental that I watched on a flight from Baton Rouge to Chicago on December 21st. This installment marks the 5th installment of the Mission: Impossible Franchise with a 6th film to begin production in 2016. The picture was released on July 31st and took in over $55 million on its opening weekend and to date has grossed more than $682 million worldwide. Christopher McQuarrie wrote and directed this installment (he's worked with Cruise before) that has Cruise,  Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames returning to their roles. Rounding out the is Adam Baldwin as CIA Director Alan Hunley, Rebecca Ferguson as femme fatale Isla Faust and Sean Harris as the main villain Solomon Lane.

After nearly 90 seconds of opening logos, the film opens with Ethan and Benji trying to thwart a takeoff of some stolen Russian warheads. While Brandt is in a Senate hearing about the fate of the IMF program. The IMF has been without a Secretary for a few installments and the CIA Director Hunley is hot to shut the program down and roll it into the CIA. Hunley feels that the IMF operates without rules or accountability and any success is just luck. After the mission, Hunt is in London for his debrief and it captured. Hunt escapes and warns Brandt but Brandt informs him that the IMF has been disbanded. Hunt goes dark since he is now a wanted man.

Hunt ends up in Vienna and recruits Benji to help him (Benji has to undergo weekly polygraphs to prove to Hunley that he doesn't know where Hunt is) and they thwart an assassination attempt on the Austria Chancellor. While doing heroic stuff, Hunt runs into a mysterious woman, Isla Faust, who helped him escape in London. She informs him that she too is undercover and that they're both after Soloman Lane (the leader of the Syndicate, a global criminal organization that is the anti-IMF). Ethan throws her from the car to keep up appearances. However, the bad guys had a backup plan and blow up the Chancellor as he is taken away from the opera house. Ethan is in big trouble now. Brandt gets Luther and they go to help Ethan.

The gang ends up in Morocco where Ethan and Benji meet up with Faust to break into Lane's vault where he keeps some over complicated something that's bad for the world's spies. Of course the break won't be easy as it requires a ridiculously over complicated plan that relies heavily on incredible timing. Ethan nearly dies and Isla resuscitates him, only to steal the file or whatever and take off. The obligatory car/motorcycle chase through the very narrow and winding streets of Casablanca ensues. It's a cool scene but I there wasn't moment where the outcome was in danger. Ethan and Benji survive a horrific and unsurvivable crash and Isla gets away. Or does she? Ethan grabs a bike from a henchman who was going to kill him but was he himself killed when Brandt runs him over. Then Cruise gets into the contractual motorcycle chase but Isla does get away this time.

I can see where one could become distracted in a pursuit.

The finale takes place in London and it involves disguises, misdirection and some cool high tech stuff. Good guys win. Back in the States Hunley is named the new IMF Secretary.

The plot is straight from the 1st installment. Ethan is deemed a bad guy by the CIA and has to pull an elaborate heist in order to draw out the bad guys. He does the same thing here. How the film got a 93% Rotten Tomatoes rating is beyond me, It was fun to watch, the gadgets are cool,the visual effects were great and the stunt work was incredible. Much like the IMF themselves, the filmmakers used misdirection to cover up a an old plot. Cruise rides a motorcycle without a helmet, again and he ups the ante on the stunts by hanging from an airplane...

Give credit where it's due, Cruise does his own stunts and they get more dangerous (this is what you can achieve when you reach the level of Scientology that Cruise has). Cruise wants his films to succeed, or least make a lot of money, and he does all he can to make that happen. Another film where you're getting the same film as a previous installment. Since they don't call this film Mission: Impossible 5, there are moviegoers that may not have seen the original. Add the fact the original came out in 1996 and feel free to press repeat. Plus it seemed that they were desperate to beat Spectre to the global criminal organization thing. The Syndicate, that was unoriginal. Even Solomona Lane looks like Mr. White...

Mr. Lane, 

meet Mr. White, you guys should work together.

To be fair, the Spectre groundwork was being laid in Casino Royale in 2006. The scene where Ethan discovers the Syndicate is at an opera house in Vienna.Bond discovers Quantum, an offshoot of Spectre, at an opera. Both Ethan and Bond kill bad guys at the opera and then get blamed for killing someone. So the film is guilty of stealing from other franchises as well as its own. 

2015 Films: #25. Creed

December 23rd in Chicago. The 7th film of the Rocky franchise that has spanned nearly 40 years. In this installment Rocky takes a back seat to Adonis Johnson (Michael B. Jordan), the illegitimate son of former champion Apollo Creed. The film opens in a juvenile detention center where a young Adonis is in a fist fight with a much larger kid. Enter Mary Anne Creed (Phylicia Rashad) who informs Adonis she knew his mother and was married to his father, Apollo Creed.

Zoom to present day, Adonis quits his lucrative job a securities firm to pursue a boxing career (he's been fighting in Tijuana) much to Mary Anne's dismay. After getting turned down at LA's Aldephi Gym, he packs everything up and heads to Philadelphia to train with the only other "family" he has, Rocky Balboa. Rocky is reluctant to train Adonis but changes his mind after a quick guilt trip down memory lane. Rocky sets Adonis up at a local gym and after a few minutes of onscreen training, Adonis gets his 1st fight as "Hollywood" Donnie Johnson against the son of the gym owner where he briefly trained. After the fight it gets leaked that Donnie is Apollo's illegitimate son (Donnie wanted to forge his own legacy and wasn't keen on using the name).

The win leads to a fight with light heavyweight champ Ricky Conlan (Tony Bellow), who's facing a 7 year bid on a weapons charge and botched a previous fight by breaking the jaw of his opponent at the weigh in. While training for the fight, Rocky is diagnosed with cancer (surprisingly it's not a brain injury) but refuses treatment because Adrian went for treatment and she died. Donnie finds about it and confronts Rocky but the two have a falling out. Donnie then gets into a fight with the headlining act for his girlfriend's band (for the sole reason of showing that he's a hot head) but eventually makes up with Rocky while in his holding cell.

The conditions of the Conlan fight are that it will take place in Liverpool and Donnie has to change his name to Creed. The fight itself plays out like Balboa V. Creed I, overmatched underdog stays in the fight, keeps it close, loses the fight (barely) but wins the crowd at the end. The kid has arrived. Back in Philadelphia, Rocky is undergoing chemo and he and Donnie go up the steps of the Art Museum.

This film started production in January of this year and was released on November 25, 2015. For such a short timeline between production and release, this was a pretty good film but it's not 93% rating on Rotten Tomatoes good. The film is essentially a 2 hour long Nike commercial. That's another thing, the picture has a 133 minute run time which is about 20 minutes too long (they definitely didn't need the fight scene at the club but it set up the Donnie and Rocky reconciliation which could've been done another way). Too many unneeded scenes. There are some funny moments and there's a connection between Donnie and Rocky. I thought it was a bit cliched to open up in a juvenile hall. I just didn't like that stereotype. Ryan Coogler wrote and directed this film and did a very nice job of keeping the film moving and telling a coherent story. My only issue with the story is that I find it hard to believe that Adonis would give up his life as a securities broker to become a boxer. It usually doesn't happen that way. This was Coogler's first major motion picture after he wrote and directed 2013's Fruitvale Station. Coogler looks to be a director that people should keep their eye on in the future.

2015 Films: #23. Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens

December 18th in Baton Rouge, LA, December 24th in Chicago and December 26th in Glenview, IL. I don't want to give too much of the film away because of the huge impact Star Wars has had on our society (at the very least on me). It's still opening weekend and I feel people should see this film. Especially people of my generation who grew up with Star Wars, remember how great the original trilogy was only to be disappointed by the prequels. J.J. Abrams was tapped to direct this film after his success with the Star Trek reboots. Lawrence Kasdan, a writer from the original trilogy, was brought back and helped write this picture along with Abrams. Here's the main cast:

Harrison Ford - Han Solo
Mark Hamill - Luke Skywalker
Carrie Fisher - Leia Organa
Adam Driver - Kylo Ren
Daisy Ridley  - Rey
John Boyega - Fin
Oscar Isaac - Poe Dameron
Lupita Nyong'o - Maz Kanata
Andy Serkis - Supreme Leader Snoke
Domhnall Gleeson - General Hux
Gwendoline Christie - Captain Phasma

The original trio return as do R2D2, C3PO and Chewbacca. There are all kinds of theories as to the origins of new characters or who's the offspring of whom. Did Luke turn to the Dark Side? Why is Luke not in the poster. You name it, there's a internet fan theory about it. That's not my concern. There are some serious flaws in this film, but it's visually stunning with great action sequences. The chemistry between the main characters is reminiscent of the originals. Rey and Finn have more chemistry in their 1st few scenes together than Padme and Anakin had in 2 entire films together. This is what happens when the director shoots on location instead of in front of a green screen. Abrams and Co. didn't stray too far from the the original trilogy for their storyline.

The film takes place 30 years after Return of the Jedi. The Republic that gave way to the Empire has been reinstated but the Empire transitioned to the First Order after Palpatine died. The Old Republic gave way to the galactic empire which gave way to a new republic. The Empire didn't disintegrate after Palpatine was killed on the 2nd Death Star. Leaderless, the remnants of the Empire become the First Order, led by the Supreme Leader Snoke. There isn't too much detail on the new Republic but perhaps the First Order and Republic have an uneasy existence. However there is a "resistance" that's funded by the Republic and has been engaged in combat operations with the First Order. The First Order are aware that the Republic backs the resistance and it puts a strain on any alleged "uneasy co-existence."

I'll get right to the point, this film's plot is a mash-up of plot points from Episodes VI-IV. The First Order's Starkiller Base is really just a planet sized Death Star...

You be the judge.

Instead of having the power to destroy a planet, the Starkiller Base can destroy entire systems (which it does). There's even a line in the film during a tactical briefing where a resistance official says that it's Death Star only to be shown a comparison of the two revealing the immense size of the Starkiller Base.

The parallels to the original trilogy do not end with the Starkiller Base.

Resistance pilot Poe Dameron is sent to Jakku (a Tatooine substitute) to obtain a map to the whereabouts of Luke Skywalker (he left after attempting to restore the Jedi backfired, we'll probably get more backstory in Episode VIII). Stormtroopers under the command of Kylo Ren destroy the village and capture Poe. Poe's droid BB-8 escapes with the map, and comes across a scavenger, Rey, at a junk trading post. Ren tortures Poe and learns of BB-8. Stormtrooper FN-2187, decides that stormtroopering is not his life's calling, frees Poe and they escape in a stolen TIE fighter; Poe renames FN-2187 "Finn" for the sake of brevity. They crash on Jakku. Finn survives, Poe is nowhere to be found and is resumed dead by Finn. He encounters Rey and BB-8, but the First Order tracks them and a chase ensues. Rey leads them to a ship in hopes of escaping but it is blown up by TIE fighters, leaving plan B, what Rey refers to as "someone's garbage," the Millennium Falcon. Despite the fact that Rey is not an experienced pilot by any stretch, she manages to elude the TIE fighters and escape into space.

Eventually the Falcon breaks down (SPOILER ALERT!), and is soon captured by a much larger ship, piloted by...

Ta-Da!

After some witty repartee (I would like to add that this scene blows away any scene containing the primary characters from the prequels. Whether it's Neeson/Portman/McGregor from Episode I or Portman/McGregor/Christensen from Episodes II and III) and some much needed exposition, Han's freighter is boarded by some of his disgruntled customers (think about it, was Han ever a good smuggler?). After a brief fight, the gang gets away in the Falcon and head to Takodana to meet Maz Kanata (who owns a space truck stop that's very similar to the cantina on Mos Eisley). Maz can help BB-8 get back to the Resistance, but Finn wants to flee on his own (he reveals that he's a First Order deserter). The gang is spotted by both Resistance and First Order agents. As they split up Rey finds her way into he basement and finds a lightsaber that gives her some creepy flashbacks (including her abandonment on Jakku) when she touches and flees into the woods. The lightsaber is Luke's from Episode VI and Maz decides not to give any clunky exposition as to how she got it when asked (I'm so interested in this backstory that I would love to see a film about it). Maz gives Finn the lightsaber for safekeeping as the First Order attacks.

During the battle Han, Chewie and Finn get captured but are freed when the Resistance counter-attacks, led by the very much alive Poe Dameron. After engaging in a running blaster fight with stormtroopers, Rey is captured by Ren and is taken back to the Starkiller Base. Leia (C3PO as well) show up and everyone heads back to the Resistance base on D'Qar after witnessing the destructive power of the Starkiller Base, it's massive! Here's where they come up with a plan to destroy the base before it can recharge on destroy the Resistance (the amount of time needed to recharge coincides with the amount of time left in the film and looks suspiciously like the amount of time the Rebellion had before the first Death Star was in range in Episode IV).

The subtlety of the references (if they were ever subtle) to Episodes IV and VI end when the Resistance comes up with a plan to destroy the Starkiller Base. The plan consists of the following:

• Infiltrate the base so that the shield can be lowered allowing for the Resistance to attack (Episode VI).
• Infiltration team consisting of Han and Chewie (Episode VI).
• The base's destruction will hinge on destroying a certain area that causes a chain reaction (Episodes IV and VI).
• The Resistance attack group is made up of small one-man fighters (Episode IV, but much less that the 30 Rebel ships that avoided the Death Star's turbo lasers).
• First Order has a numerical superiority in ship to ship for the dog fight (Episode I, remember the Naboo attach on the Federation? Episode IV and VI).

Han, Chewie and Finn succeed in lowering the base's shield, throw Phasma in a trash compacter and find Rey (who was actually doing fine by herself). They also use their charges to help blow up a crucial facility that will help the Resistance attack group destroy the base (more Episode VI). During the this scene, tragedy ensues and a main character is killed (Episode IV). While attempting to get the Falcon, Finn and Rey run into Ren who's not too happy about the base blowing up all over the place and he's looking to take it out on them. Ren forces throws Rey into a tree and engages the outmatched Finn in a light saber duel. It's over quickly but as Ren attempts to command Skywalker's Episode V lightsaber to him it nearly takes his head off as it goes to...REY!? Yep, the force is strong in this one and she decides to fight it out with Ren. She actually puts up a better fight than Finn despite the fact that she totally telegraphs every move and has never used a light saber. As a former storm trooper, Finn at least has had weapons training whereas Rey does not. When Finn engages Ren, he's got that "Oh sh*t, I made a huge mistake" look on his face...

To be fair, Ren was wounded in a previous scene but there's a moment in the fight with Finn where he puts Finn on the ground, he turns around, allowing Finn to get up when he could've easily killed him. Then as Rey disarms Ren and puts him the ground, the ground breaks apart and separates them. Rey and a badly injured Finn escape in the Falcon. Before the Starkiller Base explodes, Snoke orders General Hux to evacuate and bring Ren to him.

Back on D'Qar, the Resistance celebrates, R2D2 wakes up because he has another portion of the map to Luke. Rey, Finn and R2 go out to find Luke. When they arrive, Rey goes to the top of a mountain and offers Luke's lightsaber back to him. No words are spoken. Film ends.

The film has plenty of flaws but the action sequences are awesome and the visual effects are stunning. To date, I've seen this picture 3 times and a few more viewings are probably in the future. There was also an injection of humor that the prequels lacked. That probably had more to do with the chemistry between the actors than anything else. This was a fun movie. It's better than Episode I but it's not nearly as good as Episode IV, despite the fact that it borrowed heavily from it. It will be interesting how long Abrams will stay with the franchise, he's an executive producer for Episode VIII with directing duties going to Rian Johnson. The best film of the franchise was directed by Irving Kershner with George Lucas as Executive Producer.

2015 Films: #22. Ant-Man

Despite my opinions on Ant-Man, I viewed this film as an iTunes rental on a flight from Chicago to Baton Rouge on December 18th. This film was released in July of this year to a weekend opening of $57.2 million and had grossed over $180 million domestically so far and it got on 80% on Rotten Tomatoes. A lot of the witty things I would like to say have pretty much been covered already,

Yep, it's a shot by shot remake of Iron Man, but with more jokes and more racism. The film isn't bad but it's redundant and silly. I didn't like it but considering the production problems the film had it was ok. The problem I'm having with the MCU is that you're getting the same film over and over. The same training montages, the same sexual tension, good guys fight each other and everything. Only the characters change. Heck, the Avengers sequel was essentially the same as the 1st Avengers film. Why should this picture be any different. That doesn't seem to matter much since people like myself are going to see the films anyway.They're also shoehorning everything together haphazardly. The film opens up in 1989 with Hank Pym (creator of the "Pym Particles" which allows him to shrink) at a meeting with Howard Stark and Peggy Carter about SHIED wanting to weaponize Hank's discovery. Hank doesn't like the idea, beats a guy up and storms off. Which is just another way to get me to watch Agent Carter or Agents of SHIELD. Which I'm not going to do.

Here's what the cast looks like...

• Paul Rudd as Scott Lang / Ant-Man

• Evangeline Lilly as Hope van Dyne

• Corey Stoll as Darren Cross / Yellowjacket

• Michael Peña as Luis

• Tip "T.I." Harris as Dave

• Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson / Falcon

• Judy Greer as Maggie: Lang's estranged former wife.

• Michael Douglas as Hank Pym

The film is silly and makes little sense sometimes (I'm not even talking about the science fiction stuff). Scott Lang has a masters in electrical engineering but was arrested for hacking into his employers files to show what as*holes they were. This put him in jail yet he's somehow a master thief despite being thrown in jail after only one job (he's also a parkour expert as well, where do electrical engineers go to do that?). He gets released from prison and moves in with Luis into a flophouse more or less (though there's an apartment that's also a techno dance club?). I just didn't believe that the 4 guys living in the place (all ex-cons) could afford the rent in a downtown Sn Francisco flophouse. Or that there is currently an affordable flophouse in San Francisco. Lang admittedly hates violence and appears to have been a model prisoner. He spent 3 years in the stir and was released. He never once has to worry about his parole officer or anything.

The other major flaw I have is that the film is predictable. When Pym is training Lang with the suit, he tells Lang to never use the regulator or the suit will go "sub-atomic," which is science for extraordinarily small. Much like crossing the streams, this is bad (though in the DC Universe, The Atom does it all the time, take that Marvel!). Pym later gives exposition about his wife Janet (Hope's mom) died. Hank and Janet were on a mission when Janet went "sub-atomic" in order disarm a nuclear warhead streaking toward the U.S. Janet never came back and that's of course why he never allowed Hope to don a costume. Guess what happens in Scott's climactic battle with Yellowjacket a the end of the film? If you guessed he went "sub-atomic" in order to destroy Yellowjacket from with his own suit, you're correct! Naturally he comes back. Because they need him for next year's Captain America: Civil War and Ant-Man and the Wasp in 2018 (which are both revealed in the end credit scenes). The climactic final battle between Ant-Man and Yellowjacket also takes place inside the bedroom of Scott's 5 year-old daughter, because where else would it take place.

Again, the film isn't bad it just wasn't for me. Ant-Man didn't last in the comics back in the 60s but he somehow got his own film franchise? Ant-Man enters the Marvel Universe in 1962 in issue #35 of  Tales to Astonish by issue #49, Pym is now Giant-Man. When the Avengers came out in 1963, Pym was Ant-Man in the 1st issue but by issue # 2 he was Giant-Man. Ant-Man wouldn't be seen again until 1979 when Scott Lang was introduced. Of course the Guardians of the Galaxy was a pretty obscure title that will become a film franchise as well. I guess that's why I don't work for Marvel. 

2015 Films: #21. Spotlight

November 28th in Chicago, IL. This film opened to rave reviews and received a 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Directed and written by Tom McCarthy with an all-star cast that includes the following:

• Mark Ruffalo as Michael Rezendes
• Michael Keaton as Walter "Robby" Robinson
• Rachel McAdams as Sacha Pfeiffer
• Liev Schreiber as Marty Baron
• John Slattery as Ben Bradlee Jr.
• Brian d'Arcy James as Matt Carroll
• Stanley Tucci as Mitchell Garabedian, attorney
• Gene Amoroso as Stephen Kurkjian, Boston Globe general investigative reporter
• Jamey Sheridan as Jim Sullivan, an attorney representing the Church
• Billy Crudup as Eric MacLeish, an attorney

McCarthy and the cast do not disappoint. The picture is based on the Boston Globe's investigative reporting team's (it's called Spotlight, hence the title) uncovering of the the Boston archdiocese's sexual abuse scandal in 2002. McCarthy focuses the story on the tedious investigation of the systematic abuse. The more the team digs, the more the they uncover. The more people become disgusted and the more defensive people get. It also doesn't overlook the fact that there was a community wide cover-up that goes back to the 60s in the Catholiciest town in the United States.

With a run time of nearly 130 minutes, the film does not get boring, as McCarthy does a really nice job with the pace of the film. The cast had excellent performances all around, especially Keaton and Ruffalo. The subject matter of the film is disturbing and it made me cringe when they deduced that there were 90 potential abusers but, this film is a must see and wouldn't surprise me if it gets some nominations for the awards season. Any problems I have with the film are very minor and not really worth nitpicking. 

2015 Films: #20. Trainwreck

An On Demand viewing on November 27th in Chicago. A Summer rom/com released that got an 85% Rotten Tomatoes and grossed $110 million at the box office. Directed by Judd Apatow and starring Amy Schumer (who also wrote the film) and Bill Hader in the leads. There's also a bevy of comics (Colin Quinn) and cameos (John Cena and LeBron James) that round out the cast.

Amy Schumer plays "Amy," a hard drinking, weed smoking, journalist with a penchant for no strings attached sex. Which basically means that she sleeps with whomever she wants and never has any repercussions. Amy is a journalist and has a great apartment as every single woman in NYC has. While on assignment, she starts to date the subject of her article Dr. Aaron Connors (Hader). Connors is a work-aholic sports surgeon who naturally falls in love with Amy because she's unconventional or something. The issue with Amy is that she's a commit-a-phobe despite the fact that she really likes Dr. Connors. It's obvious that they like each other but can't stay together and then Amy performs a ridiculous grand gesture that gets them back together. Ta Da!

This is a formulaic rom/com with some laugh out loud scenes. John Cena and LeBron steal the show in their roles. Cena is Amy's workout addicted boyfriend and his scene where she asks him to talk dirty to her while in bed was hilarious. LeBron plays himself and he's quite good going up against comedic talents of Hader and Schumer.

What makes this a decent film is that it's rated R. There are several laugh out loud moments in this film that would not be as good if it was PG. The film clocks in at over 120 minutes and no rom/com should ever be more than 100 minutes. The film was a minimum of 20 minutes too long with scenes that didn't need to be in the picture. Then there's the fact that Amy is a free thinking woman who lives her life the way she wants to but in the end needs a man to "save" her from herself. There's also the standard "dudes shooting baskets" rom/com trope, the only thing that makes it funny is that it's Hader playing 1 on 1 with LeBron. Of course the play in an empty gym in NYC. If LeBron James is shooting baskets in a gym in NYC, there's people there. Colin Quinn is solid as Amy's foul mouthed father who basically teaches her that monogamy is bad in the opening scene of the film. There's several ridiculous scenes in this film that have no basis in reality but that's expected in an NYC based film.

This was a good but not great film. Apatow sticks to the rom/com formula but it runs too long. Schumer was good as the foul mouthed lead, Hader was a good lead and there's chemistry between the two but their relationship is unrealistic. I do not believe that a big time sports surgeon has the kind of free time that Dr. Connors has in this film. The film is a lot of laughs and worth watching but it's not breaking any new ground.

2015 Films: #19. Uncanny

This was an iTunes rental that I watched on the flight back to Chicago after the NHRA Auto Club Finals on November 16th. This picture interested me because it seemed similar to Ex Machina and I think that's one of the best films I've seen this year. A bit of research shows that Ex Machina was film in 2013 and released in early 2015 (U.S. release was April 2015). Uncanny was released during the January 2015 film festival circuit but didn't seem to do much after that as I hadn't heard of it until I was looking for viewing options a few weeks ago. So it looks like Ex Machina was the 1st indie sci-fi film about AI. Both films involve a new breed of artificial intelligence that its creators want to pass as human and a minimalist cast.

Directed by Matthew Leutwyler and starring Mark Webber, Lucy Griffiths, David Clayton Rogers and Rainn Wilson, the film opens with Joy Andrews (Griffiths) going to an exclusive interview a programming prodigy David Kressen (Mark Webber). Since graduating from MIT at 19 years old, Kressen has been a bit of a recluse working for Simon Castle (Wilson), the billionaire CEO of Kestrel Computing. Kressen has been working on a new form of artificial intelligence that is supposed to be near human. Joy arrives at the facility to interview Kressen for a week of unfettered access. Kressen introduces her to Adam (Rogers) and she marvels about how "human" he is.

Adam begins to notice the Joy and David are becoming enamored with each other and starts to exhibit some creepy behavior. Eventually David has Joy over for a date and she spends the night. Suffice to say Adam is not to happy with this and attacks David. As David and Joy try to escape the building, David succumbs to the effects of the attack and Joy is rendered unconscious. When Joy awakes, David is strapped to a table being vivisected by Adam. She pleads for his life and admits that she loves him. Let's just say there's a really big reveal here.

This isn't a bad film, the acting is fine and the story moves along well and the reveal was good but it was lacking something. That something was I had seen Ex Machina and this film wasn't as good. Uncanny went into a different direction than Ex Machina that I could kind of see coming, though the big reveal was surprising. I would recommend seeing this film but I'd recommend seeing Ex Machina more but why not see both films about AI so you can compare?

2015 Films: #18. Cartel Land

This title was an iTunes rental that I watched on my flight from Chicago to Ontario, CA on November 11th. A documentary directed by Matt Heineman that center around two vigilante areas involved in the Mexican Drug War, one in Arizona and the other in Michoacán, Mexico. In an Arizona town about 90 miles south of Tucson we have Tim Foley founder of Arizona Border Recon, a militia group that concerns it self with patrolling a stretch of the Mexico-Arizona border in order to stem the flow of drugs into America. Foley says that he started doing this because he was fed up with the flow of drugs through his community and how the police (90 miles away in Tucson) were powerless to help. He didn't feel safe so he and a handful of volunteers took it upon themselves to take the risk and do what they can.

Foley was a construction worker prior to the economic crash of 2008 and found himself unable to get work because Mexicans were working for less money. I got the feeling that while he may have started on this venture with some racist beliefs he realized that there are Mexicans who are in the same boat as him (or worse in a lot of cases). He does however have some blatant racists working with him (ideology is overlooked because he needs the help).

The Mexican portions of the film center around Dr. Manuel Mireles Valverde. Valverde founded his group Autodefensas because he felt the the Mexican was too corrupt to do anything about the rampant violence carried out by drug cartels. He slowly gathered a following of fellow fed up citizens who armed themselves against the cartel. They slowly began taking towns from the cartels and gaining new recruits. As the Autodefensas began to grow the Mexican government took notice and offered to bring the vigilante group in the fold after an assassination attempt on Valverde. Valverde doesn't trust the government but while he was laid up his 2nd in command took over and Valverde got left without a chair when the music stopped. It should also be noted that while Valverde was recuperating, the Autdefensas got a little rough with their methods and turned people against them (its pretty much inferred that they were pulling suspected "cartel members" off the streets and torturing them). It turns out that Dr. Valverde is quite the devout family man as we are led to believe. He's got a penchant for younger women, much to the dismay of his wife.

The film ends with Dr. Valverde being put in prison by Mexican authorities, Arizona Border Recon continuing their patrols and the cartels (who fund Autodefensas among others) going about their business. The cycle continues.

This an interesting picture about people who took matters into their own hands. I'm more sympathetic to Valverde than Foley and it's hard for me to comprehend what either has gone through. Without Valverde, Autodefensas became as bad as the cartels. Arizona Border Recon is quick to point out that they are neither militia nor vigilantes but have worked with Border Patrol. But Foley isn't in a position to turn down help and the time may come when his group becomes part of the problem instead of part of the solution (if there can be one).

2015 Films: #17. Spectre

November 4th in Miami, FL. So the marketing agency I work for has a client that had a advanced screening of Spectre for its customers. I was in Miami on some other work and offered to help out. It appears that they were desperate and the accepted my offer. After the sign-in I was able to stick around and see the film. This is Daniel Craig's fourth film as James Bond and there's been a lot of buzz about Craig not wanting to be James Bond anymore. I can understand that Craig may not want to get pigeon holed as he is a talented actor (his best non-Bond role to me is Layer Cake) but Craig doesn't become the international star that he is without Bond.

When the announcement came that this film was being released I was pretty stoked that 007's old nemesis was being revived. Spectre was last seen in 1971's lackluster Diamonds Are Forever and it's CEO, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, was killed off in 1981's For Your Eyes Only. With Sam Mendes returning to direct and a cast that includes Monica Bellucci and Christoph Waltz, I was going to see this film. I did miss the first few minutes of the film but I will probably view the film again in it's entirety at some point.

Now I don't want to go too much into the plot as it's very detailed. In all of the Craig bond films, there's been that hint of a larger criminal organization at work behind the scenes. In this picture, it all comes to fruition in the form of SPECTRE (Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion). A shadowy organization that has far reaching tentacles.

Hence the logo.

Bond starts of in Mexico, then travels to Rome (where he attends a Spectre meeting with the ring he took from a dude he killed in Mexico), Austria and Morocco. Leaving a trail of damaged equipment and bodies in his wake. Bond comes across the elusive Mr. White (again) and finds out that he was poisoned and fears for his long lost daughter's (played by Léa Seydoux) life. Whom Bond naturally vows to protect.

I often wonder how much Bond would "care" about the women he comes across if they weren't attractive.

The two wind up at at overly elaborate complex which houses Spectre and eventually Bond finds himself being elaborately tortured by Blofeld (who gave some overly elaborate exposition for his origin) and eventually gets away and destroys the lair. Then we go back to London for the final showdown that deals with MI6 going to shutdown the 00 program in favor of a massive surveillance system (remember the cell phone surveillance that Batman used in The Dark Knight? Kind of like that) that's secretly run by Spectre. In the final showdown there's some monologuing by the Blofeld, Bond saving his girlfriend and yada, yada, yada.

There were some dumb things in this film and it seemed like a lot of scenes were driven solely by product placement (there were several unneeded wardrobe changes that shouted, "look who James is wearing now!"). There were also a few scenes that were stolen (Hollywood prefers to call it an homage). For instance, there's a big fight between Bond and Spectre's top assassin, Mr. Hinx...

and it's very reminiscent of the fight scene on a train between Sean Connery and Robert Shaw in From Russia With Love. The film didn't seem cohesive to me, they tried to tie all of Craig's Bond films together and it didn't really work for me. After Skyfall, Spectre was a bit disappointing. Skyfall was tough to top given but they had over 2 years to come up with something and they fell short. I got the feeling that Daniel Craig didn't want to be in the film, he just didn't seem to care (IMHO). The quality of the even numbered films of Craig's run has seen a drop-off (Casino Royale has a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 95%, Quantum of Solace is at 65%, Skyfall is at 93% and this film is at 64%). Numbers don't lie. This is a decent film, nothing more but I had higher expectations. 

2015 Films: #16. Hyena

October 26th in Tampa, FL. This title was an iTunes rental that I watched on a plane from Chicago to Tampa. This is a British film that was released in the U.S. at the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival and received a 76% on Rotten Tomatoes. Written and directed by Gerard Johnson, the film is about a unit of London detectives that rack up arrests but are really crooked. The unit's leader, Michael (Peter Ferdinando) and the team are working for a Turkish drug smuggling ring. Things go south early into the film when Michael's Turkish contact gets brutally slain by some Albanians who are moving in on the drug trade.

Michael is pursued by an overzealous internal affairs inspector who wants him in jail. Michael is transferred to a sex trade task force to take some attention of him and his team. He ends up investigating the same Albanians that took over the Turk's operation (if movies have taught me anything is that Albanian mobsters are not to be trifled with, unless your name is Bryan Mills). Despite that Michael is a terrible person, he tries to help Ariana (Elisa Lasowski) but it just gets her in more trouble.  Eventually he rescues her because she can help put the Albanians away before they probably kill Michael. Remember that task force Michael was assigned too? That was all a ruse to set him up and let's just say that Michael doesn't handle it well.

This film is dark, gritty and very graphic. It's a good film with solid acting but it is basically an R rated version of The Shield. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Michael is the corrupt cop that has some good in him but he's in so deep he can't get out and he makes bad decisions yet somehow manages to escape until he runs out of luck. Hyena is worth watching but it's not breaking any new ground. 

2015 Films: #15. Bridge of Spies

October 16th in Grapevine, TX. This wasn't my first choice when arrived at the cineplex but I needed to think fast and this is what came up. On the surface a "based on a true story/inspired by actual events" film directed by Steven Spielberg, written by The Coen Brothers and starring Tom Hanks would be a cinematic no-brainer.

The events in the film take place between 1957-1962. Soviet spy Rudolf Abel is arrest in Brooklyn in 1957 and is put on trial for espionage. In order the for U.S. government to give the appearance of a fair trial, the U.S. taps insurance lawyer, and former member of the Nuremberg trials prosecution team (according to the film at least), James B. Donovan. Despite the Donovan's best efforts, Abel is convicted of espionage but Hanks manages to convince the judge to sentence him to 30 years in prison rather than the electric chair. Donovan's argument for leniency is that in the not so distant future, an American spy cold face a similar circumstance and Abel can be used as a bargaining chip.

Entering almost on cue is Francis Gary Powers and the CIA. Powers is a handpicked Air Force pilot asked to fly reconnaissance missions of the Soviet Union in the new state of the art  U-2 spy plane.

You were expecting Bono and the Edge?

This supposedly undetectable plane is naturally shot down on it's 1st mission. In a scene which had to have defied physics, Powers is unable to self-destruct the aircraft and is eventually taken into Soviet custody as a spy.

I am not a pilot and have never been shot down at 70,000 feet. In real life that had to be a harrowing enough experience that it didn't need to be embellished. Let's just say the scene was embellished.

Now Powers has a lot of classified information in his head and the CIA needs him back before the Russians can break him. Since Donovan did such a nice job in the Abel case, why not send to East Berlin and negotiate a trade (Donovan received a letter from Abel's "family" that started the chain of events), Powers for Abel. Then there's also an American grad student Frederic Pryor who manages to find himself on the wrong side of the Berlin Wall construction and it taken into custody by the East German Police. Naturally the CIA doesn't care that much about Pryor but Donovan is going to get them both out in a 2 for 1 deal. Because he's an American litigator!

The last portion of the film takes place in East Berlin and Spielberg does a heavy handed job of hammering home that point. It's grey, cold and not hospitable (East Berlin still has not recovered from WWII). Donovan simultaneously negotiates with the Soviets for Powers and the East Germans for Pryor. The East Germans want to be recognized as an independent communist power maybe (apparently East Germany and the USSR aren't the best of pals) and the Soviets are quite frankly, the Soviets. As if the outcome was in doubt, Donovan negotiates a successful 2 for 1 trade. Pryor will be released to US authorities at Checkpoint Charlie and the Powers for Abel exchanged at Glienicke Bridge (hence the title).

Bridge of Spies received a 93% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. In all honesty, thats a bit too high. This is a good film and Hanks delivers a solid performance and Spielberg tells a nice story but it's not either's best work. My theory on Spielberg is that he's so good at what he does that he can coast through films. I feel he just coasts on this film. The outcome is never in doubt (which is pretty much a common problem with fact based films) he goes out of his way to show how great democracy is compared to communism. It was borderline propaganda. In East Berlin it's cold, void of any color but grey and so awful people get gunned down trying to get out. There's a scene where Hanks/Donovan feels lousy and goes to the Hilton (product placement!) for an American breakfast. There's so much color in the scene it jumps off the screen. Hanks even orders a double breakfast but doesn't eat it because he's an American and we waste food (he let the CIA fellas eat it so it did get eaten). F*ck you communism! Bridge of Spies is not as good as Munich. Munich is a very good spy thriller, Bridge of Spies not so much. Munich's R rating allows it to be grittier (the subject matter has a lot to do with it as well) than Bridge of Spies. Make no mistake, when Spielberg wants to make a masterpiece, he can and he's done it several times. But not here.

Hanks has the same problem. He's probably one of the best actors of his generation and a consummate professional. Hanks just seems (to me) that he gives you the same solid performance in every film. He's believable in just about every role. Hanks can give a B+ performance without trying to hard. That's my point. If you want to see an outstanding Hanks performance, check out Saving Private Ryan, Castaway or Captain Phillips.

This is not a bad film. It's just not that great and talk of this film as "Oscar bait" is disturbing. Thank you for your time.

2015 Films: #14. The Duke of Burgundy

October 3rd in Chicago, IL. This was an iTunes rental on a Saturday night. There's a bit of a backstory here as well. I travel a lot and I was looking for a film to rent on an upcoming flight and I stumbled upon this title and I read the opening line of the description to my fiance, "sex, bondage and butterflies: two women explore the extremes of carnal desire in this kinky, deliciously twisted tale of erotic obsession." SOLD! I joked with my fiance about watching this while away and then she said, "why don't we watch it together?" After hanging out in the West Loop in the afternoon, we got some ice cream and settled in to view this film.

This is a European film that saw it's U.S. release on January 23, 2015 to 3 screens and then jumped to 9 screens on February 8th. Suffice to say, not too many people in America saw this film much less even heard of it. The picture was written and directed by Peter Strickland and received a 92% on Rotten Tomatoes. The film has a very small cast and centers around the relationship between the older Cynthia (Sidse Babett Knudsen) and her younger lover Evelyn (Chiara D'Anna). At first it seems that Evelyn is merely Cynthia's maid but she's subjected to strict behavioral restrictions and very high standards for cleanliness. Cynthia really comes off as a bitchy, rich snob. As the film goes on, a different light is shown on their relationship. Cynthia and Evelyn are lovers, with Cynthia as the dominant and Evelyn as the submissive.

Get the idea?

However, we start to see that maybe it's Evelyn who's the dom as she leaves notes for Cynthia that basically contain a script for Cynthia. Evelyn gets sexual pleasure from the punishments she receives for either bad behavior or failing to complete a task (Evelyn gets punished for not cleaning all of Cynthia's panties and the punishment is not seen onscreen but it was a bit unsettling when I realized what the punishment was). The relationship is a routine that both go through and it slowly wears on Cynthia as she fails to deliver her lines or does not appear "cold enough" for Evelyn. Evelyn's desire for more strict and bizarre punishments starts to take a turn towards the weird. Evelyn wants to be tied up and put in a trunk (Evelyn wants to have a special bed made where she sleeps in a drawer underneath Cynthia but refuses the gift because it will take 8 weeks to make and she settled on the trunk). Cynthia continues to play along only to placate her lover.

Cynthia resents the separation when Evelyn sleeps in the trunk, she even remarks that it's more fun when they sleep together. Evelyn wants none of that and she even criticizes Cynthia for wearing a pair of comfortable pajamas. Eventually it comes to a head when Cynthia finds out that Evelyn has been polishing the boots of another woman (apparently a big no-no in this world). They seem to make up and agree to have a more conventional relationship. However, the film ends with the Evelyn coming to the door and repeating the routine from the beginning of the film.

This was a very interesting film and not something that I would normally watch. Strickland does a nice job with the Cynthia/Evelyn relationship and showing that it wasn't what it originally seemed. The plot also contains some Lepidopterology context and imagery that I had a hard time wrapping my head around. Cynthia gives lectures about the subject (she has several collections in her home) and we get scenes where a group of women are listening to lectures about moths and butterflies. In one scene the camera pans the audience and there is clearly a dressed up mannequin in in the gallery. I have no idea what that meant. It was deliberately left in there and it's in all the lecture scenes but it goes nowhere. Perhaps there's something to do with chrysalis when a caterpillar changes into a moth/butterfly but it doesn't reflect in the characters since Cynthia and Evelyn revert back to the old routine. There's no change.

I have no idea what this means.

This film is definitely not for everyone and is very art house. It's an interesting character piece that's worth watching. 

2015 Films: #13. We Are Still Here

This was an On Demand viewing on a Saturday night September 20th. This picture was released on June 5th and received a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes. Screenwriter Ted Geoghegan wrote this film and makes his debut as a director on it as well. Taking place in 1979, the Sacchetti's move to a New England town in the dead of winter after their college aged son dies in a car crash in hopes of getting some closure. Weird things start to happen and Anne (Barbara Crampton) thinks it's the spirit of their dead son. Her husband Paul (Andrew Sensenig) isn't quite convinced but that doesn't stop Anne from inviting over her alleged psychic buddy (Lisa Marie) and her Jack Nicholson-esque husband (Larry Fessenden).

Things start go bad when the Lewis's son and girlfriend are brutally slain at the house while everyone is in town having dinner. When they arrive back at the house, the men have a seance while the women are grocery shopping. Here's where things heat up, Jacob Lewis gets possessed and eventually kills himself. It turns out that the spirit that Anne thought was her son, is in fact the spirit of a family murdered in the house back in 1859. Every thirty years, a new family needs to be sacrificed in order to appease the demonic family (the demonic family was murdered by the townsfolk in 1859 after an incident where they should've only been run out of town and since they were wrongfully slain, the patriarch of the group put a curse on the town). In order to ensure the sacrifice takes place the townsfolk charge the Sacchetti house and things get messy.

By messy I mean the walls are literally painted with blood.

This picture is simplistic and very minimal until the end where the walls of the Sacchetti house are literally painted with blood. The picture runs 84 minutes long and it never drags (a lot of the action takes place in the last 15 minutes or so). Geoghegan does a nice job with the lighting when there are shots of creepy things moving around in the basement and keeps the demonic family under wraps until the big reveal at the end.

Surprise everyone!

There's not a lot of original thinking here but it works. Geoghegan seems to take some ideas from John Carpenter's The Fog and numerous other films of this genre. This was a fun film to watch with some good scares. A 94% rating seems high to me but it was good and I'd recommend over a lot of zombie films that I mistakenly took the time out to watch.

2015 Films: #12. Straight Outta Compton

September 4th in Indianapolis, IN. This picture has gotten a lot of hype since its release a few eeks ago. Suffice to say the hype is well deserved. With a 90% rating on Rotten tomatoes, this is a really good film. Veteran director, and former Compton resident, F. Gary Gray does a great job of weaving the history of N.W.A. within in the tapestry of the origins of hip-hop (it was called rap throughout the 80's by the way). The film isn't fast paced per se, but it moves along at a nice pace and flows very well. The real flaw was that the picture has a running time of 2 hours and 24 minutes and could've gone through the editing room one more time. That's not to say that the film was too long or I lost interest, on the contrary, it still would've been just as good about bout 2:05. The actors were near brilliant in their performances. The standouts were O'Shea Jackson, Jr. as Ice Cube,  Corey Hawkins as Dr. Dre, Jason Mitchell as Eazy-E and R. Marcos Taylor as Suge Knight.

In most "based on a true story" films the re's usually a little poetic license but from the very little I've seen, there were more omissions than exaggerations.  Glaring omissions. The film takes place from 1986 to 1995, from when Dre, Ice Cube and Eazy-E 1st got together, along with Wren and Yella, to Eazy-E's death. Back in the day I always felt that Dre and Cube were the creative force behind N.W.A with Eazy-E being less talented. As it turns out Eazy-E had quite a bit more to do with the group than I thought (the fact that the film was produced by Eazy-E's widow along with Dre and Cube made sure that he got a place in the trinity). After the guys release Eazy-E's single Boyz in the Hood, Eazy-E is approached by Jerry Heller to manage the group. Heller gets them the studio space as they put together the seminal album, Straight Outta Compton and the tour that followed.

Things start to slowly unravel as their album gets more and more popular. Police departments don't like them, the FBI threatens them, Dre's little brother dies and Jerry is seen as a bit of a snake to Cube and Dre. Eventually the strain is too much and the cracks become full blown breaks. Cube leaves over what he feels is mistreatment from Jerry and goes solo, much to the chagrin to the rest of the group. Soon, even Dre becomes disenchanted with Jerry, meets Suge Knight and leaves Ruthless Records to start Death Row with Knight. Things go back and forth between the trifecta (Cube, Dre & E), each dealing with success and failure. Dre and Cube continue a meteoric rise while E struggles with the responsibility of running Ruthless, culminating in a break with Jerry once he learns of how Jerry managed him (a fate that many artists have suffered from). We see Dre working with Snoop Dogg while recording The Chronic, his work with Tupac and his inevitable split with Knight. The three reconcile and there's talk of an N.W.A. reunion but the dream fades when Eazy-E passes away from an AIDS related death.

As I stated before, this was a really good movie that's worth seeing, especially if you're my age. I was around when all this went down (on the East coast) and I knew nothing about West Coast rap. The only LA based rap artist that I knew prior to going to college in 1988 was Ice-T. It was amazing to see the forefront of a genre that didn't really exist and struggled with being taken seriously. Not the case anymore.

N.W.A was also involved (whether directly of indirectly) in a very historical and turbulent time and the film did a very nice job of reminding me of that. The members of N.W.A are seen as hassled by police at any time (I don't know how much of this was true per se but it's pretty much fact that a young black male in the mid to late 80's was considered a gang member and subject to being searched by police) for just being black and young (sadly things don't seemed to have changed all that much). This part of the film was not lost on me and I wanted to mention that.

2015 Films: #11. Zipper

August 30th in Chicago. It appears that I managed to view two films over the weekend that both began with the letter Z that was On Demand. What are the odds. To be honest I thought this was a sexy political thriller but there weren't enough thrills, plenty of sex though, it moved a bit slow at times and despite being only 103 minutes, my attention faded in and out.Which stands to reason  because Rotten Tomatoes gave it a rating of 19%.

The film was written & directed by Mora Stephens and has a pretty good cast that includes; Patrick Wilson, Lena Headey(Jeannie), Ray Winstone (Coaker) and Richard Dreyfuss (whom I thought quit acting). Yet somehow the film just isn't that good maybe not as bad as a 19% rating but not that good.

Wilson plays US Attorney Sam Ellis, a no nonsense prosecutor who appears to be the ultimate family man. He's such a family man that he's got issues with porn. The issue being he likes it. A lot. When deposing a witness who happens to be an escort, Sam is not only turned on by the lovely escort but his interest is piqued about  escort services. Eventually Sam grows tired of masturbation and decides to give an escort service a try (predictably so) when his wife and son leave for the weekend. I will never understand where the workaholic male protagonist in film gets the time time to have extra-marital affairs and who has a beautiful wife at home whom he feels the need to go out and cheat on despite the fact the wife gives no indication that she's not interested in sex...

 It must be so such a difficult life. I can totally see why Sam would want to step out n Jeannie.

Sam has 2nd thoughts during his first "appointment" but eventually he caves in and even goes as far as becoming a regular customer. Sure enough, Sam becomes so obsessed with escort sex and he maxes out his credit cards. Things come to a boil when he spots a surveillance van outside the hotel and gets hits by a car when he aborts his "appointment." Sure enough, his wife Jeannie gets jealous and sends Coaker, a political reporter who's a family friend, to do some digging. Sam dodges a bullet when the investigation that he could have gotten snagged in comes up empty. But before he can breathe a sigh of relief, Coaker confronts him with his infidelities. Sam is ready to come clean, give Coaker the story he's drooling for, resign his position in the Justice Department and give up his political career. Before Coaker can publish the story, Jeannie makes a last minute deal with Coaker and he changes the story to what a great politician Sam would make. Try and guess what Jeannie offered to get Coaker to change his mind...

Coitus. The physical act of making love.

Fast forward to where Sam is now a US Senator and he's meeting with Richard Dreyfuss and Dreyfuss tells him that he needs to get his"zipper" problem under control. Same tells him that its no longer an issue but the last scene sees Sam in a hotel, taking off his wedding ring about to knock on the door.

It would appear that the moral of the story is that sex addicts will remain sex addicts. I guess. The film tries to be a sexy political thriller but it fails It's not even a cautionary tale because Sam doesn't change (the parallels to Eliot Spitzer are pretty heavy handed). In the end, I didn't really care abiut any of the characters. None of them were redeeming. Sam is a cheating husband, Jeannie wants the image of a politicians wife (she comes from a politically powerful family and has delusions of Jackie Kennedy) and Coaker is the sleazy reporter who compromises his integrity to sleep with Jeannie.

The film essentially hits a fly ball that you think has a chance to be a home run but it doesn't have enough to make it the warning track. Pass on this.

2015 Films: #10. Z for Zachariah

August 28th in Chicago, IL. While cruising the internet looking for knowledge, I came across this article on current films in the theater that should be seen. Two of the three were not appealing but the 3rd one was and it just happened to be OnDemand and I convinced my fiance to watch it. The film is based on a book by Robert C. O'Brien. Set in the post-apocalyptic future (I've got a thing for this theme) where radiation has contaminated everything except for this lone valley. The caretaker of the valley is a young girl Anne (Margot Robbie), who is the last survivor of her family (her family farm is located in the valley). She farms, she hunts, she has a homemade radiation suit and leads about a normal a life as possible in this situation. Make no mistake though, she is alone but not overcome by the isolation which has lasted for about a year. She ends up running into a dude (Chiwetel Ejiofor) in a pond and informs him that the pond is contaminated. The dude suffers from radiation poisoning but eventually he gets better with Anne's help.

He recovers at Anne's house and the mysterious dude explains that he is Loomis, an engineer who was holding out in a government fall out shelter until he decided to make his way out of the darkness. Loomis proves to be useful (as engineers can be) by getting fuel for the tractor and proposing a plan to get electricity from the contaminated waterfall (Anne has an uncontaminated fresh water supply in the form of a well from an underground water supply) but it would meaning cannibalizing the wood from the church where Anne's dad used to preach and Anne isn't too keen on the idea. There are a couple of awkward moments between the two, once Loomis gets drunk and kind of almost crosses the line into sexual assault. Then in another scene, Anne offers herself to him but he abstains from sex which confuses Anne so the share the same bed instead.

Then one day, hunky stud Caleb (Chris Pine) shows up (just when Anne thinks she's alone in the world, her valley turns into a post-apocalyptic Grand Central Station) and upset the delicate balance at Anne's house (now there are three really good looking people at the house)...

Caleb was a miner when the sh*t went down and made his way into the valley. Right off the bat Caleb and Anne are attracted to each other (it's a real stretch I know) and it doesn't go unnoticed by Loomis. There's more than a bit of tension between Caleb and Loomis in regards to Anne (there's a scene when the two are hunting, they place a wager and the stakes are "jokingly" Anne). I don't think I'm giving too much away when I mention that Anne and Caleb do it. Loomis seems to be ok with this (he gives Anne the ok to "explore" if she wants to) but he's really not that ok with it. Eventually, the three of them use the wood from the church to make the water wheel and place it near the waterfall. Caleb and Loomis go out to administer the final touches and BOOM! Electricity. Except that the two of them went out and only Loomis came back. Loomis explains to Anne that Caleb left to search for an alleged sanctuary, leaving all his gear back at the house.

First off, this film is not for everyone. The story is designed not to move very fast, the pacing is what it should be for this type of film, and there's no big action. The film got an 80% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and it's well deserved but there's a reason that this film didn't get a wide release. The film was directed by Craig Zobel, who does a nice job with small casts and minimalist settings (check out Compliance a film he wrote and directed). The dynamic between the three actors is very good and the acting is also very good. Though I did feel that Chris Pine was miscast but I can't place my finger on it. He did a fine job but I didn't buy into him being that character. Ejiofor gives his standard excellent performance (this guy is real good and I hope that he continues to attach himself to good projects) and Margot Robbie is not just eye candy as she is very convincing as Anne.

Since this picture is based on a book that I never read, I'm sure there were changes. However, there were some stuff that seemed kind of obvious as to where the plot was going. Once a 2nd good looking guy is introduced, it's not a stretch to imagine that something will go down with the additional sexual tension. Also, we can't have the black guy and the white woman do it. They can share the same bed as long as there's nothing is going on (this may have been a theme in the book about Loomis and Anne not coupling).

This was an interesting picture and something that I may not normally see (something I'm trying to do more of). I don't believe the film has a mass appeal but to me it's worth watching.