Film Review: Hyena Road (2015)

Copyright: Elevation Pictures

It�s not often that the international audience gets to see anything from a Canadian perspective, apart from how it is to live in a trailer park. But with Hyena Road, the film provides this and places it in the setting that is most un-Canadian: the war-torn Kandahar province in Afghanistan. The film follows a mixture of Canadian military personnel in the heart of this Asian land, looking to build a road through one of its most dangerous provinces and the heartbeat of the Taliban insurgency for decades.

As the joint work of a unit of special operators, a command & control team and an unorthodox intelligence officer begins to unravel, the audience is shown how treacherous this conflict is. Here, there is always a chance for a bullet to a head or an IED going off, while the Canadians possess their own versions of deadly deliveries that can be dispensed to the local insurgents (and other Afghans as well). 

The director Paul Gross, who also wrote the movie, tried like many before him to combine a war action film with a deeper analysis of a country that gave various invaders headaches (or cases of missing heads) since the time of Alexander the Great. 

When it comes to its action parts, Hyena Road constantly over delivers and under delivers. Sometimes, the muzzle flashes of the actors� rifles look like they were made by special effects intern and there are other equally lacking moments. At the same time, some action sequences are completely unpredictable and look very engaging, even sickening when it comes to the level of detail, similar to great war movies like Fury.

But, the film, like Gross� vision, really excels in presenting Afghanistan like a completely foreign place where almost none of those Canadians really should be there. Apart from the intelligence officers, the rest of the characters are more like astronauts living on Mars in their bases, which come out only to destroy or build something. But, no matter which one of these they do, they never really get the Martians and the things they want.  

Crowdfunding Push: The Last

An interesting psychological/supernatural horror is looking to crowdfunding to help its production. The film is called The Last and here's its story pitch:

A terminally ill man spends his last days coping with death and struggles to undo his past sins. While headed to a remote location he stumbles upon a woman. The two become stranded hundreds of miles from civilization. Secrets and lies quickly force them to be suspicious of each other's intentions. They soon discover that they are not alone. Something dark lives in the woods. Something not human and when it arrives there will be no survivors in its wake.

The plot and setup seem a bit generic, but the test footage looks a lot more promising for a basic horror, along with the fact that its crew includes experienced movie industry professionals. Check out the footage below, or see the campaign on its Indiegogo page is you wish to help The Last become a film.

Film Review: Last Shift (2014)

Copyright: filmotopia.com

Last Shift is, by all measure, a modest film. As a mystery horror that places a young policewoman in an empty precinct that is going to be abandoned the next day, it creates an environment that is perfectly suited for losing one�s mind in a violent manifestation of demonic madness.

Directed by Anthony DiBlasi, who already made and produced several horrors, Last Shift demonstrates as his strong suit an effective pre-production process and budget management.

The key location of the film is at the same time its only location. The single empty police station could be any communal building, from a DMV to an administrative office belonging to a high school.

Yet, the film does not feel �cheap� in any way. But, through the trials and tribulation of the main character, Jessica Lorren, a rookie policewoman who got her first job to guard the building for one night, the audience buys into the fantasy of a menacing place.

DiBlasi�s veteran status allows him to do this, even though many other elements seem too weak to make the film really believable. One of them is Juliana Harkavy who plays Jessica in a very meek way: to work, a movie like Last Shift has to have a strong lead and Harkavy just doesn�t have what it takes.

The script is also very generic and takes us places where we been many times before. The same problem is especially underlined by fresh and unique horrors like It Follows, which were also created with a small amount of money, but ended up being a lot more engaging. However, no one could call Last Shift a complete waste of time for a horror film. In many ways, it is the setting that pulls the most weight for the movie. This is enforced by the way that DiBlasi uses the camera to infuse the bland space with dread and tension.

Because of this, Last Shift is a modestly entertaining film for any horror aficionado. If you�re not one of these, feel free to take a pass for something like It Follows.

Film Review: Deadpool (2016)

Copyright: 20th Century Fox

Deadpool is a very talkative piece. From the first moment of the film right to the very end, the main character and the actor playing him continuous talk to everything, covering other characters in the film, inanimate objects, memories, and the audience. When it comes to A-production superhero movies, this is definitely not something you experience often. Even movies like Guardians of the Galaxy, which was exceedingly self-aware compared to the old standards seems like regular superhero stuff when it is placed next to Deadpool.

The same goes for the structure of the film, which is full of flashbacks and dialogue-based sequences, pretty uncommon for the genre. In general, all of them work as a comedy which happens to include a superhero-like character and some neat fight sequences. But these are only broth to the soup that is Deadpool.

The real essence of the film is the incessant comments made by Ryan Reynolds in the role of the main character and his observations about the superhero genre and the tropes which come with it. This is where the most of the energy of the cast when in, which is basically a series of comments.

The fact that the mainstream audience is so unused to seeing anything slightly out of the ordinary is a great homage to the grinding machine that is the Hollywood industry. Here, a film with a modest budget, posing as a superhero movie, made an incredible impact both when it comes to reviews and box office success by telling jokes where they are no usually found.

On a quick glance, some might conclude that similar to Kingsman: The Secret Service it had a seditious streak, but nothing can be further from the truth. Deadpool is like a jester in the medieval court: sometimes he might poke fun at the king, but deep down inside, it wants the king to live on forever.

Films like Kick-Ass, Defendor and Super brought a bigger punch to the comic-to-film movie industry, but no one cared too much about that. It seems that we all needed Deadpool to break the fourth wall and the new age of comic book adaptation can begin with truckloads of the same old.

Film Review: The Gift (2015)

Copyright: STX Entertainment

Concepts of a thriller movie and a mystery movie are often strongly connected, especially when it comes to impressive films which encompass both notions. If done right, the source of the tension and suspense can arise straight from the plot�s core mystery.

The Gift is a film that combines these two in the right manner, but also does it in a low-key manner, gradually building up seemingly irrelevant facts on upon the other.

As the image begins to make sense, the film revs its engines to full power, making the experience of a flawless thriller that is both modern and vintage when it comes to its delivery. In more ways, the film hooks the viewer slowly and with utmost precision, which is why you cannot feel the sting until it starts to lure you in.

The story of the film examines a young couple, Robyn and Simon, who are expecting a baby. They moved to a new city so Simon can begin his new job while Robyn is focused on her pregnancy. But, one day, they stumble into Simon�s old friend from school, Gordo. Apparently happy to see his high school buddy, Gordo becomes involved in their life through a simple gift he leaves on their doorstep. But, as time goes by, their relationship becomes more odd and complicated, as different bits and pieces from the lives of the two friends become known.

Directed by Joel Edgerton, who also wrote the script and stars as Gordo, the film makes a fine trip into several psychological domains, mainly memories and true personalities. As the interplay of the main three characters intensifies, the audience is driven to ask a multitude of questions, whether they want this or not. Fueled by the always solid Rebecca Hall and a surprisingly believable Jason Bateman in a non-comedic role, The Gift starts to unwrap as a present that part of you wants to leave unopened.

Ever since The Animal Kingdom, it was clear that Edgerton had some real talent and a layered quality to his acting style. The Gift, as an excellent mystery thriller shows that the same quality definitely spans a lot more areas in the cinematic domain.

Film Review: Legend (2015)

Copyright: Universal Pictures

For some complex and subtle reason, gangster movies became something that is not easy to make. It could be that the ever increasing demands of the viewers have forced directors and writers to try and push the limits of the genre, but as recent films clearly show, this is not going well. Just like Black Mass, another high-end gangster film based on real people, Legend is also lacking in engagement, in spite of some great acting and plenty of style.

The story of the film is set in London in 1960�s where the Kray brothers rule as criminal princes. 

One has a strategic mind that desires to grow and expand as peacefully as possible, while the other has a violent mind clouded by a multitude of psychiatric issues. Both are played by Tom Hardy and both are played quite well. As a whole, they create the Kray gang which becomes one of the key factions in the London underground.

Sure, Legend has a lot of sway about it, featuring suits, walk and talk of the era, making it slick film. Hardy too has the ability to carry almost any project on his shoulders, as the movie�s director, Brian Helgeland knows very well. In The Revenant, he was the man who stole the show, even though the people from the American Academy did not agree with this. But, Helgeland was not able to differentiate between what Kray story was needed to be told, and which one is irrelevant.

By focusing on the private life of the sane brother and his wife played superbly by Emily Browning, he made the film a series of short events which mix in a bunch of stuff, including rival gangs, US mafia syndicates, failed nightclubs and much more, but do not follow through on any of it.

The end, when it comes, simply wraps it up, as if the police themselves were watching the film and at one point said �OK, that�s enough, let�s get this over with�. This way, Legend just fails to be anything regal even though it does tell the story of a pair of very colorful rules of the underworld. Because of this lack of impact that the film has, maybe future gangster films could try to use the factual stories as inspiration, but then, base the films on their imagination, not the bleak and pointless reality which true crime usually boils down to.

Film Review: I Smile Back (2015)

Broad Green Pictures

There�s plenty of terrible mental and emotional spaces in the I Smile Back movie. As an exploration of a well-meaning but critically damaged woman, who is played by Sarah Silverman, it goes deep into territory that will make people feel uncomfortable, even though 

I doubt this was the intended purpose of its makers. Its director, Adam Salky, decided to place its plot in a perfect household, where Laney and Bruce, a young and successful couple have two perfect children and live in a beautiful house.

In that environment, however, the main character of Laney feels an endless torrent of negative emotions and thoughts which push her into alcoholism, drug use, and promiscuity. At one point, the situation begins to deteriorate and she starts to lose control, which triggers an onset of fear about the prospect of losing her family. 

Salky boldly dissects the suburban world that Laney inhabits, but does not try to present it as a nicely decorated emotional hell, like Sam Mendes did in the American Beauty. Instead, it is Laney herself who constructs the hell on her own, knowing that her behavior leads to a dark place, but still has no way to stop it. From a psychology perspective, the film is a stellar success and builds up Laney as a very coherent character when all of their past and present is gradually revealed. To do this, Salky uses her own actions, but also subtle hints, stories told by other characters and many more inventive storytelling techniques. All of them combine in a collage that presents a person who has all but still feels as if she has nothing. 

With its short runtime of 85 minutes, Salky does all that he intended to do and does not waste even a minute. But, it is Sarah Silverman who makes Laney into a real person. Her character is reliable and somehow right there, living in it all without any false dramatization or overacting. It�s obvious that Silverman�s talent for dramatic roles has been perfectly hidden until now.

Finally, it is the decision of Salky not to provide any possible solution to Laney�s conundrum which makes the film a great work of art. It would have been easier to wrap up I Smile Back in some predictable fashion, but instead, Salky does something a lot more visceral and powerful.