A Walk Among the Tombstones: The latest Liam Neeson thriller may not be the breath of fresh air I expected

Today, I look at the latest thriller film starring Liam Neeson.

A Walk Among the Tombstones:
In 1991, alcoholic New York City cop Matthew Scudder takes down some thieves who shoot up a bar. 8 years later, he has now quit drinking and is working as a private detective. He is hired by a man to find his missing wife, but as the plot thickens, Scudder discovers there's more to this seemingly run-of-the-mill kidnapping than he was expecting.
       Now, despite being a relatively cliche thriller, I actually was very pleased with this film. Liam Neeson's whole "unstoppable bad-ass" persona is toned down pretty significantly in this movie, and he barely ever gets into shootouts or fist-fights, which was refreshing. The cast, made up mostly of people known for either TV roles or bit parts, does a pretty solid job. Dan Stevens of Downton Abbey, Boyd Holbrook, and Sebastian Roche are all very good supporting actors, and the child actor Brian "Astro" Bradley may have a pretty cliched role, but I didn't find him annoying at any point and actually cared about he and Neeson's relationship. The villains, played by David Harbour and Adam David Thompson, are very cheesy villains who are just a little too over-the-top for my tastes, but ultimately, they weren't enough to make me dislike the movie.
       The music by Carlos Rafael Rivera was a little bland for me and some of the choices for what music to set to some scenes felt a little off (especially the final shot), but ultimately it wasn't so much that it detracted from the overall story. The ending showdown at the cemetery was a really good way to end the film (only it technically didn't end there) and I liked that they actually built tension to the final fight rather than just have the whole movie be a string of constant fights and shootings.
      Although the ending dragged on for a bit and started to test my suspension of disbelief, it ultimately felt like a good way to end the movie. I also felt the mystery of the film was intriguing until about half-way through when you basically find out what the killers' motive is. There's also some unresolved questions and plot-holes, but unlike in some movies where that adds another layer of mystery which makes the movie more fun to analyze, in this it just feels like lazy writing and maybe some bad directorial and editing decisions.
      Overall, A Walk Among the Tombstones doesn't feel as fresh or exhilarating as Taken, but it also doesn't feel as stupid as Unknown. It's got a lot of thriller movie cliches and tropes, but it also does try to do some new things and provides Liam Neeson with an actual three-dimensional character to play and not just a one-dimensional caricature like in Taken 2 or Non-Stop. It's a nice little thriller and I definitely would recommend it to fans of slower action stories or fans of Neeson, and who isn't these days? 3.5/5 stars.

 (Image: Wikipedia)

Top 5 Horror Movies of the 1920s: Cinema's Silent Era At It's Best

Today, I look at what I consider the top 5 best horror films of the 1920's, the decade that really kick-started the movie industry and really defined the genres of action-adventure, comedy, horror, and sci-fi/fantasy.

Criteria:
Must have been made between the years of 1920 and 1929
Must be a horror film, or contain horroresque elements

But first, a little background...
     At the turn of the century, movies were beginning to gain a lot of traction, and replacing older art forms, such as vaudeville theater. Because of this, filmmakers began expanding their ideas, making them bigger and more fantastical. Movies went from five or ten-minute shorts to full-length features, with actual stories and characters. The movie star was born, with Lon Chaney Sr., Great Garbo, Rudolph Valentino, Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, and Harold Lloyd becoming the subjects of immense public interest. Chaney is the one I'm going to focus in on, as he's most important in the topic of horror films.
     Chaney was born to two deaf parents, and thus had to learn to express himself through sign language and exaggerated facial expressions. These skills lent themselves to his career as a silent film actor, and he became a star of horror films, due to his penchant for playing freakish people who are tragically misunderstood by society, and his talent for applying his own gruesome makeup. He can be considered the man who made horror films a big thing in the U.S., but over in Europe, filmmakers were a bit ahead of him.
    In Germany, in particular, surreal horror was thriving. German expressionist cinema was a perfect platform for Gothic horror- weird characters, dream-like atmosphere, and imaginative sets and costumes are all components of both expressionist cinema and classic horror. Filmmakers such as F.W. Murnau and actors like Max Schreck and Conrad Veidt were terrifying European and American audiences alike, and they can be considered the true creators of the horror movie.

The List:

5. Haxan (1922): This Eastern-European masterpiece from Benjamin Christensen tells a tale of withcraft and devil worship, and although it was beloved in it's native Denmark, and is now considered a classic of silent cinema, at the time it was banned in several countries (including the U.S.) due to what was considered controversial depictions of torture, sex, or satanic worship.



4. The Golem (1920): This prequel to the 1915 film tells the original story of The Golem, a Jewish folklore monster, a creature made of clay who kills. With it's striking visuals and interesting background in ancient Hebrew lore, it's hard not to enjoy The Golem on some level.



3. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920): This German expressionist film is basically a surreal retelling of the Frankenstein story, with a nightmarish quality that looks like the visuals of artists such as Salvador Dali and Van Gough, as well as Tim Burton's black-on-white color scheme. It brought so many innovations to the world of movies: it introduced the idea of a scary movie, as well as perhaps having the first twist ending.



2. The Phantom of the Opera (1925): The only American film to make the list is undoubtedly Lon Chaney, Sr.'s best and most iconic performance. Adapting Gaston Leroux's eerie novel, the film tells the tragic and dark story of the lonely and possibly insane "Phantom" named Erik, who falls in love with an opera singer and intends to win her over, albeit in his own twisted way. Rare for American horror at the time, the monster is portrayed in a mostly sympathetic way that challenged many audience members. Not to mention Chaney's impressive and physically taxing self-made makeup job that still manages to creep under the skin today. When his character is first unmasked, audience members were said to have screamed in horror or simply fainted.



1. Nosferatu (1922): Undoubtedly the scariest film of the 1920's, this unofficial adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula was almost destroyed when Stoker's widow sued director F.W. Murnau for copyright infringement. The cinematography and Gothic look of the film are already impressive, but add in Max Schreck's eerie performance as the bat-like Count Orlok, whose inhuman appearance still sends shivers down the spine of moviegoers, and it's no wonder why this film is still heralded as one of the best vampire films ever made.

   (Images: Wikipedia)

Runner-ups: Faust, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, London After Midnight (lost film), The Cat and the Canary, The Bat.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Not as bad as "Transformers", but not great...at all

Last weekend, I got the chance to see the Michael Bay-produced TMNT reboot. 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:

In New York City, crime is at an all-time high with an urban terrorist group known as the Foot Clan on the loose. A young reporter named April O'Neill is trying to be taken seriously by her coworkers and decides to try and get some exclusive knowledge on the Foot. But she accidentally stumbles across a group of, well, teenage mutant ninja turtles, who try to protect her from the Foot and their fearsome leader The Shredder. 

    This reboot is able to be both mildly entertaining and absolutely laughable. It doesn't have the so-bad-it's-funny vibe as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, or the simplistic, nostalgic charm of the first two Jim Henson films from the 90's, so it just sort of falls in the middle. 

   The acting is pretty bad. Megan Fox is not the slightest bit believable as April, and she is just wooden, and she tries to be a strong character, and just fails miserably. Will Artnett brought comic relief as Vern Fenwick, April's partner. Johnny Knoxville is slightly miscast as Leonardo, but he's able to pull it off. Alan Ritchson is actually really great as Raphael. Noel Fisher is rather annoying as Michelangelo, who's supposed to come off as charming and funny, but here he's about as funny as Jar Jar Binks. Jeremy Howard does a great job as the nerdy Donatello. Danny Woodburn mo-caps Splinter, who is voiced by a surprisingly good Tony Shaloub, despite lacking a Japanese accent. I preferred Mako from the 2007 CG film, but Shaloub is fine. William Fichtner was supposed to be Shredder, but he's not. He plays a lackluster villain named Eric Sacks, who I suspected to turn out to be like Krang or something at the end, but nope, he's just some guy. Whoopi Goldberg is just sort of there as April's boss Bernadette Thompson. Tohoro Masamune plays Shredder, who is just awful in this movie; seriously. Taran Killam cameos as a newsroom employee, and K. Todd Freeman has a very brief cameo as fan favorite character Baxter Stockman. 

   I was surprised by Jonathan Liebesman's directing. He went from god-awful (Darkness Falls, Battle: LA, Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning) to generally mediocre (this film). Michael Bay is actually not as involved in the film as I thought he'd be, which is a plus.

   The action sequences are pretty well-done, with the exception of the bland and disappointing ending showdown with Shredder. However, the climactic snowy mountain chase was fun and exciting. 

    The writing can be very clunky, filled to the brim with forced sentimentality, plot holes, bad jokes, and scenes where characters blatantly state things the audience could figure out themselves. There's also an awful lot of blatant product placement, although not as bad as Transformers. There are a few clever jokes for people who know the history of the franchise (including a jab about a terrible hip hop Christmas VHS special featuring the Turtles released in the early 90's, and another about the rumors that the Turtles would be aliens in this reboot). 

    This isn't so much a complaint about the film itself, but my theater experience. Because it's a Nickelodeon-produced film, I had to sit through a plethora of previews for terrible kid's films, including the awful-looking Spongebob Squarepants sequel. There was also a kid in my particular theater, who I'm pretty sure was one of two things- mentally handicapped, or he was just fucking around, because he was making a good deal of noise the entire time, and he was at least 9 or 10, and at one point the characters say that they are "heroes in a half-shell", and he couldn't help but say, completely out loud, "Turtle Power!" 

   There's also a very irritating and unnecessary rap number at the end of the film that plays over the credits which I thought was just awful. Not to mention the completely unnecessary and strange changes to the lore, like turning(Spoiler Alert, like it even matters) the Turtles and Splinter into April's childhood pets, or making Eric Sacks, this random made-up character, Shredder's apprentice and adopted son. 

  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles doesn't have enough charm or action to constitute second viewings or even a sequel, but it's harmless. Better than either Liebesman or Bay's previous efforts (at least Bay's recent ones), but not so much that it blows expectations away, I'd say maybe take your kids or younger siblings to it if they want to, but otherwise, just stick with the originals. 2.5/5 stars.

 (Image: Wikipedia)

Boyhood: Richard Linklater's unique drama film

Last week, I had the opportunity to see the new film from director Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused, A Scanner Darkly, School of Rock).

Boyhood:
Made over the course of 12 years, the film follows the journey of a young boy from age six to age eighteen, and see his evolution from boy to man.
    Despite dragging on a bit too long and being a bit too self-indulgent, Linklater's landmark effort is something I recommend most people see.
    Ellar Coltrane does a satisfactory job as the lead character Mason. Linklater's daughter Lorelei does a fair job as Mason's sister Samantha. The stand-outs are Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke as the parents, Olivia and Mason Sr., respectively.
    The cinematography in the film is exceptional, and the soundtrack is pretty great as well. My main complaints are the sometimes clunky writing and rather annoying and pretentious main character. My other complaint is that there are key scenes in the film that feel like they're setting up for something (two key scenes are a scene where the main character and his friends are drinking and goofing around; and a scene where the character's on his phone while driving) and lead nowhere, which was very disappointing. There's also a running theme that Mason Sr. is very politically opinionated and that could have an affect on how his kids view the world, and I thought that would go somewhere, but it never did, it was just sort of there. In fact, certain segments of the film could have been scrapped entirely and would have benefited the film immensely, as it wouldn't feel so bloated. This isn't just me, many people I spoke to agreed they were expecting something catastrophic to happen in those sequences that would have actually made things more interesting.
    There's also the issue that the title isn't actually that relevant. Sure, we do see the main kid grow up on screen, but there's not a lot of life lessons in this film, which I would expect from a movie claiming to be about a boy's developmental years. Overall, the "made over 12 years" thing is pretty amazing, but ultimately, at least to me, came off as a William Castle-esque gimmick more than anything, because the more I thought about it, the actual story isn't particularly impressive.
    Overall, Boyhood (like a good portion of Linklater's work) is obscenely overrated, but it is something I would say is worth a watch. Modern classic? No. (Despite many critics disagreeing with me.) Entertaining? Yes. 3.5/5 stars.

Great review (SPOILERS): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lampOM4AhAk

 (Image: Wikipedia)

R.I.P. Joan Rivers

Today, the world lost one of the icons of modern comedy, and one of the most influential comediennes of all time. Joan Rivers may have been as equally famous for her extensive plastic surgeries, but she undoubtedly had an immense effect on modern pop culture. Funny enough, I always confused her for Phyllis Diller (another famous comedienne who passed away in 2012). Her tragic death during a complicated surgery today leaves her daughter Melissa Rivers without a mother, so I give her my condolences. We will never forget her signature comedy style, sharp wit, and even her jabs at herself.

                                                                    Joan Rivers
                                                              1933-2014 (age: 81)
         
                                                        (Image: Wikipedia)