The Calling 2014 * * 1/2 Stars

Director: Jason Stone
Year: 2014
Rated R
Rating: * * 1/2 Stars
Cast: Topher Grace, Susan Sarandon

Before viewing 2014's The Calling, I did some research on whether or not it had a theatrical release. It did but the screen count was so small that nothing in terms of box office receipts, even registered. Basically, what's being reviewed here is yet again another generically titled thriller (isn't The Calling a band?) with a real good cast and a novice, unknown director to go along with it. That smells like straight-to-DVD right out of the gate. Time to plug in the microwave and fire up the Pop Secret. It's movie night people!

Shot entirely in Ontario, Canada, taking place in Ontario, Canada (the town of Fort Dundas to be exact) and having virtually no actors/actresses with any smidgen of a Canadian accent, The Calling subjugates itself as a serial killer vehicle mixing religious mumbo jumbo with the vanity arc of Jack Kevorkian. The proceedings begin by establishing a main character who is an alcoholic, pill-popping, suicidal policewoman (one of the all-time most used cop movie cliches in the book, the protagonist who is quote unquote "battling demons"). Susan Sarandon (as Hazel Micallef) plays said deputy. She lives with her mother, goes through a daily routine where virtually no crime ever occurs in her precinct, and shares her job with a rather pessimistic fellow detective (Ray Green played by Gil Bellows). She also works with a secretary (Katy Breier as Melanie Cartright) who basically exists to answer phones and break the tension by lightening the mood (another heavily used cop movie cliche, I looked it up).

As things progress, a series of murders occurs in Fort Dundas (the first set of them in four years) prompting detective Micallef to sense that it's the same person who committed all of them. She eventually acquires a new partner in Ben Wingate (Topher Grace) and so begins an investigation about a killer who is believed to have an interesting set of motives. When this person dispatches their victims, their mouths are left wide open. And along with this sicko's overly creepy MO, the crime scenes involved, are at times uniquely gruesome (a women's neck is virtually cut clean through, a man's stomach is extracted from him and thrown to a bunch of dogs, another dead man lies in a trailer park bed with a serious case of rigor mortis setting in, oy vey!).

Essentially, this is a routine thriller that borrows heavily from stuff like 1995's Se7en (the whole crime scene aftermath thing occurs without Se7en's haunting film score) and Fargo (the wintry setting, the identical looking police uniforms, the exterior shots that if you squint hard enough, look as if you're actually watching the Coen brothers 1996 Oscar nominee). There are some effectively chilling moments and I like the fact that "Calling" is a slow burning exercise that really takes its time. However, the antagonist is revealed way too early (Simon played by Christopher Heyerdahl who looks like a cross between a bloodshot Woody Harrelson and Jeff Daniels) and when you find out that his victims actually want to die, well the creepiness and mystery (that existed early on) eventually become a non-factor. As for "Calling's" ending, I won't reveal what happens but I will tell that what's on screen is laughable. It's tacked on and provides a mild shock. But really, it just feels like the filmmakers ran out of fresh ideas.

In conclusion, The Calling has decent acting and is passable for a weekend rental (or you could save five dollars by watching Criminal Minds reruns instead). At a running time of 108 minutes, I would "call" 40-45 of them worthy. Result: 2 and a half stars.

Written by Jesse Burleson

The Judge 2014 * * * Stars

Director: David Dobkin
Year: 2014
Rated R
Rating: * * * Stars
Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Robert Duvall, Vera Farmiga

Taking place in Southern Indiana (you can tell because the landscape is full of foothills) and directed by a guy who is known chiefly for making comedies, The Judge is a long yet briskly paced courtroom drama. The overall plot concerns a hot shot Chicago lawyer who must defend his own father (a longtime judge presiding in a small town via the Hoosier state) against a stone cold murder charge. This mean-spirited, resentful (you could throw in spiteful too) lawyer flies into town initially to go to his mother's funeral. He ends up staying longer than needed when his father's dim-witted counsel can't handle the intensity of the case, a case involving a death by hit-and-run. Robert Downey Jr. plays the big city attorney (Henry "Hank" Palmer) while the legendary Robert Duvall plays his tough as nails, not to mention bullheaded judge father (Joseph Palmer).

As an originally conceived film with a title that averts to something John Grisham would approve of, The Judge didn't really remind me of any other dramas except for its mild sentiment towards certain cliches. You know, the aspects of a rich, well-off lad who comes back to his small hometown after he abandons his family and leaves behind the high school sweetheart that he once loved. And oh yeah, you can also throw in the cranky old timer who wasn't a good father and may or may not be a recovering alcoholic (a la 1982's The Verdict). No matter though. In essence, this is an absorbing, chaotic, messy, yet powerfully realized downer of a movie. It's depressing in its dysfunctional family dynamic and its ending is clearly anti-Hollywood (really not what you'd except). However, there is never a dull moment and at roughly two hours and twenty plus minutes, there's a lot of movie in this movie. You get what you paid for and then some.

The acting is top drawer, all down the line. Downey Jr. and Duvall have only been in the same flick one other time (1998's The Gingerbread Man) and clearly don't look related. But they work well together. Their performances in the lead roles hit you like a ton of bricks. Watching them spar in scene after gut wrenching scene, you feel as if they were actually bear and cub in real life. It's truly intense. And I gotta admit, Robert Downey Jr.'s "Hank" was tough to put up with for the majority of the running time. There's a lot of pent up anger there. There's also lots of moodiness, regret, and narcissism going on. Downey Jr. with his fast talking mannerisms and blatant Tony Starkness (you know, his character from Iron Man), looks like he's going to a bad place with this character. You feel like he could just explode at any minute. His performance is no doubt brilliant but gee-whiz, he could have possibly lightened up a bit. As for the rest of cast, they are solid especially Billy Bob Thornton exuding a sort of menacing cool. He plays the prosecutor in Duvall's character's case who is bent on justice (and the prospect of issuing a murder one charge to boot). Finally, we have Vera Farmiga effectively channeling the token, long lost love interest and Vincent D'Onofrio riffing off his The Break Up role by playing "Hank's" otherwise nervous older brother (Glen Palmer). Oh and by the way, did I mention the hard R language these characters carry off with totally relentless aplomb? This ain't no People's Court. This is indeed 12 Angry Men (and you can maybe count some woman too).

In conclusion, The Judge is pretty meaty entertainment despite a few hiccups along the way. I mean I could have done without a couple of scenes involving projectile vomiting and the sight of runny poop coming out of an 80 plus year old man (note to director David Dobkin: you're not making The Change-Up here. You're making a full-fledged, human drama). Also, I couldn't figure out why Downey Jr.'s "Hank" stayed at his father's storage room (at the Harper family home) during the opening funeral. I mean initially they hated each other, right? So I'm thinking that "Hank" could have at least found a hotel room (even in the small, fictitious hick town of Carlinville, Indiana). Regardless, this early fall release gets a recommendation from me. If you decide to take in a viewing, remind yourself that this film is not just a farce about the fate of a dying man through a handful of jurors. Think of what's on screen as a rekindling of fathers and sons by which the characters have extremely strong personalities and for the most part, are just too bad for each other. My final verdict on The Judge: Guilty, as in you're guilty if you don't check it out at a theater near you.

Written by Jesse Burleson

(Cole's Take) Gone Girl 2014

Director: David Fincher
Year: 2014
Rated R
Rating: N/A (Click on the rating link to see Cole's on-site review)
Cast: Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Neil Patrick Harris


Written by Cole Pollyea

Ah, hello film lovers. It feels good to be basking in the love of filmmaking again; forgive my absence, as I have been busy, but I thought I'd share with you some of my obsessive thoughts on a very recent film, Gone Girl. Something in this movie is so invigorating and genius that I couldn't avoid writing about it. Until next time, keep watching.

        Gone Girl

If you're thinking about seeing Gone Girl, think big. Think really big. Think Kubrick meets Frigidaire (that's right, I'm talking about the appliance manufacturer). Think satire and think deep. Think well coached, because that's exactly what every actor in this movie is. Think disturbing beyond anything he's made before. Think scenes that hurt to watch, and think scenes that make you shiver in awe of what you're watching. Think brutally honest themes packed into one outlandish debauchery of human nature. Think modernism, and think beyond the surface. Most importantly: think, because if you don't, Gone Girl will rip you apart, and you'll hate every second of it.

To answer your first question, is this Oscar Worthy material? You bet. I'm thinking a Best Screenplay nomination, and Best Actor nom for Ben Affleck, the man with the plan (from, you know, that one movie, Argo). The question is, is he playing another guy that contemplates what he's doing 100% of the time? The answer is no; no he's not. He's a guy whose wife goes missing. He's not a deep thinker. In so many instances, he is seen committing acts that a more composed, more intelligent man in his shoes would not. The problem is that we don't really see Ben Affleck as that guy. 

On a sidenote, I was recently enlightened on behalf of the difference between a problem and a predicament; a predicament is something that you're forced to compensate for, and a problem is something you can do something about. Ben Affleck's presumptuous complexion, behavior patterns in preceding movies that all point to an intelligent individual is not a predicament, and genius and previously praised (by myself and others) David Fincher has got the skills to re-articulate his manners, and it's just that he does. He coaches Affleck's character so incredibly well that I can't decide who deserves the real credit here. One thing's for sure, Affleck's stellar acting and even better coaching gets attention, gets the job done, and does exactly what this movie was aiming to.

What a vivid and beautiful movie Gone Girl is. It's a real pleasure to watch (or, in this respect, see); every other shot is a pan that captures seemingly perfect peoples' dazzling complexions or interior decorating that would knock the socks off of any decorator in the modern world.

Speaking of the modern world, I better stop speaking. I'm not a fan of spoilers and neither are you, but I'll say this in regards to what this movie is saying about the today's society: it's unsettling. So while I'm going to shut up, the movie won't. And don't let it, because it's got a lot to say. Those of you looking for a literal film, go watch Zodiac or The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (both Fincher films that I highly recommend). You won't find one here, and if you do, you should take another trip to the theater. Gone Girl is a seething satire that stings like a serrated blade when it clicks in.

As for the star rating, which I've completely abandoned in regards to this movie, my enjoyment can be exemplified by a three star rating, and the brilliance can be exemplified by a four star rating. I guess, then, my official rating is somewhere in between. You decide.

Written by Cole Pollyea

A Walk Among the Tombstones 2014 * * * Stars

Director: Scott Frank
Year: 2014
Rated R
Rating: * * * Stars
Cast: Liam Neeson, Dan Stevens, Boyd Holbrook

In Liam Neeson's latest endeavor A Walk Among the Tombstones, he does in fact do a lot of walking. He walks along sidewalks, past street corners, through graveyards (I'm thinking that's how the film got its title), and up on rooftops. He still gives you a daily dose of badassery, Neeson style. But this time it's not about the action, it's more about the emoting or fleshing out of his character. Don't worry, it's still his type of movie. He has a special set of skills, we know this. And you still get the obligatory phone call in which he tells off the villains kidnapping his friend, or his daughter, or his acquaintance, or whatever. Oh and by the way, he will find you, he will kill you, and so on and so on. Yeah, it's time to get Neesoned again and now, it's planned out in a sort of conventional, routine way.

Directed by the guy that wrote 1998's critically acclaimed Out of Sight and featuring a couple of psychopaths cutting off a woman's breast and amputating two fingers from a 14 year old (to get a certain amount of ransom money, oy vey), A Walk Among the Tombstones is a warped character study involving a retired cop in Matthew Scudder (Neeson). The film takes place circa 1991 and then fast forwards to fall of 1999, the Y2K era. Scudder is a private investigator who no longer works for any law enforcement. He's out on his own, doing quote unquote "favors" for people who need their loved ones found and their enemies brought to justice. Scudder's assignment: to find the killers of a drug dealer's wife (newcomer Dan Stevens plays the half-rich trafficker) who demanded $400,000 all the while eventually killing said wife.

Despite harnessing a hard R rating, "Tombstone" has a sick and twisted side without being as grotesque as most critics have led you to believe. Most of the torture scenes are masked. You think about them but you're spared the sight of the debauchery. That's a good thing because director Scott Frank is more geared toward being a mild film noir storyteller than anything else. His screenplay is deft and intelligent and although he exhibits some noir tendencies, he avoids filming anything in black and white (that makes sense because "Tombstone" wouldn't work as a 1940's/50's relic).

Now if you haven't seen A Walk Among the Tombstones yet, know that you're going to be taken back by its mild nostalgia. The opening credits have an old school feel about them, like a font from the 1970's or 80's. Then there's the film score that although written by Carlos Rafael Rivera, feels like something the late Michael Small would have thought up when he wrote the music to The Parallax View and Marathon Man. You also get to see its star the way you see other actors become human while taking a beating like a normal, vulnerable person. Remember when Clint Eastwood took a break from being Dirty Harry to be a mountaineer in The Eiger Sanction? Or when Harrison Ford donned his butt-kicking persona in Raiders of the Lost Ark to getting pushed around in Blade Runner? If you're a fan of Neeson's indestructible menace in Taken, you might view "Tombstone" and think "bummer". I say phooey! This is Liam emoting more so than breaking some paper villain's neck. It's him doing the Philip Marlowe thing, the Law and Order thing, the you know, detective thing. It's refreshing and it rises above the stale, sort of cliched material (another anti-hero, ex-cop who used to drink and has past demons) that "Tombstone" abbreviates for a majority of its running time.

Of note: I dug the spot-on, clean cut direction of "Tombstone" by Floridian Frank. And as much as I worship my favorite Irish actor, I couldn't get over the missteps in his stance as a independent, non-affiliated private investigator. Within the film's conclusion (spoiler alerts), he kills a bunch of bad guys, leaves a bloody mess, and doesn't get questioned by real cops with badges. He eludes them, gets on a subway, and goes to his apartment as if nothing ever happened. Whatever. And what's with him using a twelve-step program as a mindset to infiltrate the maimed killers? The familiar or better yet similar concept worked in Frank's The Lookout (you know, the phrase, "whoever has the money, has the power!"). Here, it just feels out of place and juvenile by comparison.

All in all, despite silent flashbacks that somewhat deflate any dramatic tension, a couple of irrelevant side plots involving alcoholism, and the slight befriending of a homeless kid by the protagonist, I'm gonna recommend this thing strictly because of the ripe, 62 year-old Neeson. As long as he stays away from comedy, I feel that his performances in action/crime dramas are as reliable as daylight savings time and as comfortable as a pair of worn out loafers. If you wanna see another Taken, you won't get that here. You'll have to wait for the third one which is coming out in January of 2015. In regards to his current release, A Walk Among the Tombstones, it's not going to blow you away or change your view of sadistic, gloom and doom crime thrillers. It is however, a form of normalcy when it comes to your everyday genre conventions. What we have here is for the most part, a solid "walk" to remember.

Written by Jesse Burleson

(Jesse's Take) Gone Girl 2014 * * 1/2 Stars

Director: David Fincher
Year: 2014
Rated R
Rating: * * 1/2 Stars
Cast: Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Neil Patrick Harris

Warning: this review contains spoilers. If you like your reviews sans spoilers, I would suggest you read no further. I apologize for this but in order to justify a mixed, two and a half star rating, I have to include a few of them from time to time.

On that note, I just wanna start off things by saying that David Fincher is for the most part, a brilliant director. If you tap him to helm films that are based on true stories or events, he shines. 2014's Gone Girl is his latest foray into all that's dark and dangerous. Unfortunately, it's not based on true events but rather on a best selling novel by Gillian Flynn. Along with "Gone" (the flick I'm reviewing) and 2011's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (another novel turned into cinematic fodder), Finch dives into themes that although look good on paper, left me uninterested, exasperated, and in need of a shower. Sure his marks as a prominent taskmaster are all over the project (lots of wide shots, great musical score collaborations with Trent Reznor, smooth camera tracking in terms of movement) and "Gone's" first forty five minutes are moody and involving. But because his newest release has to stay so faithful to the novel it's based upon, well we get a plot point that completely deflates any dramatic momentum that could have been sustained. If you've seen the trailers, you've probably figured out that this movie is about the disappearance of an unemployed, female writer. At a screening Saturday night, I found out early on that's she's not dead and I guess hasn't really disappeared. This kept me at arm's length from coming up with any sort of reason to a recommend this thing. It's well done, well acted, and stylish. But despite all this, it still manages to come off like a limp Forensic Files episode coupled with a thriller masquerading as soap opera innuendo.

Produced by Reese "I need a hit movie stat" Witherspoon and clocking in at roughly two and a half hours, Gone Girl chronicles a married couple living in rural Missouri. The Dunnes (Nick and Amy Dunne played by Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike) are initially living a quiet life as they move from New York City to the Midwest. They are there mainly to take care of Nick's dying mother. They are sort of unemployed and their marriage is I guess, on the outs. One day on their fifth wedding anniversary, Nick's wife goes missing and everyone assumes that he either killed her or kidnapped her. This causes some cold-hearted detectives to get involved and an unnecessarily large media frenzy to develop. Nick is interrogated to the point where it's repetitive and the cops are constantly camped out at his house looking for forensic evidence. Eventually, he is forced to live with his ill-tempered, twin sister (Margo Dunne played by Carrie Coon) until everything eventually blows over. In truth, Affleck's Nick gets put through the ringer throughout. To say that this dude is having a bad week, is a glaring understatement.

Of note: I think the acting in Gone Girl is close to being of the highest order. I mean I've never thought of Ben Affleck as anything special (except for his triumphant turn as a bully in 1993's Dazed and Confused) but he is very effective here. His character is easily vulnerable and manipulated. You can clearly see the distention in his face. In fact, he's probably the only person in "Gone" I considered likable. Everyone else played their parts well. However, they were intolerable to the nth degree (the script might be the culprit). For instance, lets examine Tyler Perry's character, Tanner Bolt (Nick's attorney). Perry is quietly efficient in his role as Tanner but he is constantly seen giving Affleck's Nick bad advice. He tells Nick to stay married to a cold blooded killer for money, huh? Plus, he throws candy at Nick while he's trying to practice an interview for a television appearance. What a jerk. Then we have Nick's wife Amy played by budding star Rosamund Pike. She's good enough to garner an Academy Award nomination in the same vein as Rooney Mara did with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It's physical appearance, it's physical transformation, and just plain weirdness that might get her the nod. There are scenes where I caught her looking into the camera that really chilled me to the bone. Veteran actress Kim Dickens really comes into her own playing a nagging detective who seems to badger Affleck's Nick at every turn. She gets the film's best dialogue but she's about annoying as anyone you're likely to find in a crime thriller. Her Rhonda Boney is like a pestering gnat that just won't go away. But hey, I'm thinking Dickens could possibly get an award nomination of some sort. Just a hunch. Finally, there's Affleck's character's sister played by Carrie Coon. She overacts, overreaches, and you want her to just stay completely out of frame. First she's with Nick, then she's against Nick, then she's yelling at Nick, then she's joking with him, then she's looking to persecute him. Just go away woman! Go away!

Now for the most part, Fincher has always been solid with his actors and with as much creative control as he can handle, this Denver born director employs a lot of aptitude from his more better films (to facilitate "Gone"). For instance, he adds flashbacks here like he did almost completely in The Social Network ("Network" is in fact one giant, brilliant flashback all together). He also adds a lot of nervous, biting humor like in his 2007 killer thriller, Zodiac. "Gone" falls short of the aforementioned vehicles because at times, the script by actual writer Flynn contains dialogue that doesn't quite sound the way actual human beings talk. And it doesn't help that Flynn's screenplay is littered with (not intentionally I suppose) laughable sex scenes between Affleck and Pike's spousal couple. Look for a tryst where they indiscreetly get it on in a library. Talk about bad manners.

Queasy, suggestive dialogue and cartoony sex scenes aside, I found it interesting that this whole movie is bent on harassing Affleck's Nick and insulting our intelligence into thinking that he actually killed his wife. And when his eerie looking better half is the one who ends up committing actual murder, well she gets off scot-free without any real investigation. Her psychotic behavior is clearly on video and it blatantly shows her cutting some one's throat with your standard box cutter. Nonsense. Pure nonsense I tell you.

I mean let's face it, "Gone" is absurd to the point where it takes itself way too seriously. The events depicted seem to be the only darn thing on the television (playing loudly in the background of almost every scene). In reality, the story of this married couple wouldn't really be fleshed out, national news. Pike's Amy is what you call an B-list celebrity (she wrote children's books I guess) and Affleck's Nick, well he's a stultified bar owner. Amy Fisher and Joey Buttafuoco they surely ain't.

In conclusion, director David Fincher can do no wrong when he is able to take a simple subject, darken and deepen it a bit, and develop what's on screen into a full blown masterpiece. With Gone Girl, the material is already sullen and twisted enough. As a result, his vision gets compromised and it resorts to being fully overblown. It basically becomes too much. "Girl" will inevitably arise as 2014's poster child for psychological mumbo jumbo overload. Instead of being mesmerized and taken by it, you'll just feel icky inside (I know I did). I mean, I literally felt guilty wanting to know how things were going to end. And to be honest, you shouldn't by swayed by the title. Gone Girl doesn't really involve a missing person. It's about a female character who is far too "gone" and needs to be put in some sort of institution. Am I accurate in saying that Pike's Dunne is your typical cuckoo bird crazytown? I sure as heck hope so.

Written by Jesse Burleson