San Diego Reader April 6, 2017 61


down on the side of actions — this after spending the entire film investigating the truth about her past, i.e., her memories. (In fairness, she also investigates a super- hacker — played with remarkable feeling, all things considered, by Michael Pitt — who sounds pretty self-righteous for a guy who brain-jacks lowly garbagemen and builds neural networks from human brains. But it all ties together.) Cyber: the notion that a company would build a robot super-weapon and not include a failsafe is a touch risible. As are many of the implanted geegaws that festoon enhanced humanity. Thriller: Peter Ferdinando puts the “vanilla” in “villain,” sidekick Pilou Asbæk can’t lock down his accent or his attitude, and the film lurches between mayhem and musing. It’s better with the former, which isn’t saying much. Some cool visuals, though. Directed by Rupert Sanders. 2017. — M.L. ★ (IN WIDE RELEASE)


Going in Style — Three senior citizens aim to augment their meager pensions with armed robbery, though not hav- ing much of either time or energy left to enjoy their spoils. A hearty dish of morbidity nearly ruined by smothering the characters in an attitude of pure sugar. The somber direction of Martin Brest, an outside-the-mainstreamer known in a small circle for his Hot Tomorrows, suggests that he personally would just as soon go the way of morbidity, but he supplies the characters with so little personality that they are inevitably taken over by the well-known and well-loved idiosyncrasies of the actors who play them: George Burns, Art Carney, and Lee Strasberg. 1979. — D.S. ★ (IN WIDE RELEASE)


John Wick: Chapter 2 — What a great opening! An olde-timey movie, projected onto an urban facade, showing an auto- motive crash. Pan down to a motorcycle, sliding on its side along the rain-slicked street — the crash has actually happened; the movie is reality. The bike’s owner scrambles into view, picks it up, takes off, and VROOM here comes his pursuer, skidding across the purple neon asphalt in a roaring muscle car. No further introduction is required: here comes John Wick (Keanu Reeves), avenging angel, out to tie up the last loose end from the lean, mean, ‘80s-themed first installment: the recovery of his stolen ’69 Mustang. But here’s the problem with avenging angels: after a while, their invincibility gets both boring and silly, and the viewer starts pin- ing for something recognizably human. (You wouldn’t want to make a drinking game out of every time Wick gets hit by a car/stabbed/shot/beaten up, only to shake it off and get back to work.) And this particular angel isn’t even especially righ- teous — his big decision about whether or not to honor a marker has less to do with integrity than pragmatism. The first chap- ter’s ‘80s efficiency and sincerity give way to ‘90s excess and jokey cool; body armor gets replaced by a bulletproof sportcoat; loving attention to the realities of reload- ing surrenders to outright fetishization of the gun. Alas: for John Wick: Chapter 2, reality is just a movie. Directed by Chad Stahelski. 2017. — M.L. ★ (AMC MIS- SION VALLEY; REGAL OCEANSIDE)


Julieta — Midway through director Pedro Almodóvar’s lovely treatment of guilt and its attendant sorrows, the titular character pays a visit to her parents in their new home on a small farm. Mom is failing in mind and body, and Julieta is quick to determine that Dad is getting more than help from the pretty live-in assistant. “Be a bit more generous and understanding with me,” he pleads, but Julieta can’t get over her resentment on Mom’s behalf — even though she herself


MOVIES@HOME Too Late


JAMES FRAZIER Semi-pro movie critic and reluctant adman


The Night of the Hunter


STERLING ANNO Film festival organizer and programmer


Silent, menacing, and oddly enticing all the same — this is how I’d describe the avant- garde documentary, Levia- than, which puts you in the POV of a North Atlantic fish- ing freighter amid a black, endless void of both nothing and anything. With neither dialogue nor narrative aside from the muffled voices of near ghostly crewman, it’s a sensory experience worth the plunge for its untradi- tional execution alone. Charles Laughton’s


sole directorial venture, The Night of the Hunter, pres- ents not only a visionary tale of cat-and-mouse, but also an exploration into religious hypocrisy and two-faced societal figureheads. Shot to near perfection and mas- terfully led by the always- compelling Robert Mitchum, this story of greed from Hollywood’s noir era flew well under the radar of its time. This uncovered classic is now readily streaming.


LEVIATHAN (USA) 2012, Cinema Guild Available on Fandor and iTunes


THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (USA) 1955, United Artists Available on FilmStruck and Vudu


had a one night stand with a man whose wife was in a coma, and conceived her daughter in the process. The ensuing estrangement proves karmic, and the moral of the story is clear: watch out for morals. They corrode the aforementioned generosity and understanding, leaving us lonely and bereft. (They may corrode other things as well: the only woman who actually advocates thwarting desire is also the only one who is not thoroughly


Too Late is a wicked little gem that went practically unnoticed last year. Rectify that immediately by check- ing it out. The film is a neo-noir about revenge and remorse told in five 22-min- ute takes. Don’t let the gimmicky sound of that fool you, as it looks great, and features a hard-boiled yet soulful performance by John Hawkes that proves he’s a national treasure. Speaking of neo-noirs,


there’s no time like the present to honor the late Bill Paxton by watching A Simple Plan. Directed by Sam Raimi and adapted by Scott Smith from his own novel, it’s the frostbitten tale of greed and murder that occurs when small-town accountant Paxton finds several million dollars with a dead body in the woods. Contemplative, bloody, and suspenseful, A Simple Plan also features impeccable, Oscar-nominated support- ing work by the great Billy Bob Thornton.


TOO LATE (USA) 2015, Vanishing Angle Available on Netflix and Google Play


A SIMPLE PLAN (USA) 1998, Paramount Available on Hulu and EPIX


Rewind This!


KRISTIAN SMOCK San Diego artist


The Voices was virtually ignored when released but this hilariously insane horror comedy is destined to be a cult classic. Ryan Reynolds delivers one of his finest performances as a likable schizophrenic trying to be “normal.” His talking pets represent his internal struggles; the dog is sweet and kind-hearted, but the cat is wicked and murder- ous. Marjane Satrapi bril- liantly directs, and as dark as the premise is she keeps everything light and funny. Rewind This! is a fun,


informative walk down memory lane that documents the history of magnetic tape and the impact home video had in the ’80s, which ultimately changed people’s relationships with film and television forever. It’s a labor of love by director Josh Johnson. He does a great job documenting the rise and fall of VHS. Insightful interviews with filmmakers, producers, actors, and col- lectors make this mandatory viewing for serious movie buffs. Long live analog!


THE VOICES (USA) 2014, Lionsgate Available on Hulu and Amazon Video


REWIND THIS! (USA) 2013, Film Buff Available on Comic-Con HQ and YouTube


at least cough up a golden furball or two. He doesn’t. The result is a wisp of a film that barely sticks to the screen. The 80 minutes would be better spent at home scratching your best friends belly fur or tossing around a catnip mouse. Better yet, rent any of the Benji films to brush up on how to tell a story from a housepet’s POV. 2016. — S.M. ★ (LAND- MARK HILLCREST)


The Last Word — What is it about this grab-bag of contrivances, this last word in geezer porn, that attracted the likes of Shirley MacLaine? To set the plot in motion, the newspaper that leisure-class dowager Harriett Lauler (MacLaine) uses to blot up the wine spilled during her botched suicide attempt is conveniently open to the death notices. Not wanting to leave her obituary to chance, the control freak — she “put the ‘bitch’ in ‘obituary’” — hires the town necrologist (Amanda Seyfried) to jerry-build a memorializa- tion. Having firmly established his hero- ine’s disesteem, novice screenwriter Stuart Ross Fink attempts a complete character 180 that entails Harriet dragging Seyfried and an adorable at-risk youth (Ann’Jewel Lee), on a road trip to patch things up with Harriet’s estranged daughter (Anne Heche). The occasionally retired Ms. MacLaine is ever quick with a retort, but this is one lead-footed comeback we all could have done without. Mark Pelling- ton directs. 2017. — S.M. ★ (LAND- MARK HILLCREST)


Life — Okay, so it’s like Alien, in that a bunch of people in space wind up with a smart, deadly xenomorph on board and have to figure out how to stop it. And it’s like Gravity, in that one of those people would rather be melancholy among the stars than miserable on earth. And it’s like The Martian, in that smart scientists are constantly having to innovate and recalculate based on new difficulties. And it’s like Independence Day, in that the critter has tentacles and sort of a rudimentary face. And it’s like Deadpool, in that Ryan Reynolds cracks wise and suffers horribly. What of it? It’s also unlike all of those films, in that director Daniel Espinosa is capably doling out tension over horror, personal sacrifice over personal crises, the limits of intelligence over its glories, animal instinct over alien malice, and genuine, endless darkness over its chuckleheaded imitation. Here is a story that knows how to put the nihilism in the vast nothingness of space. If you’re into that sort of thing. With Jake Gyl- lenhaal, Rebecca Fergusun. 2017. — M.L. ★★ (IN WIDE RELEASE)


Find more S een on DVD re views at SDReader.com/dvd


gorgeous, and she’s miserable to boot.) It’s a seductive claim, especially given the director’s ravishing visuals and deep sympathy for the suffering souls in this amorality tale. You may have to narrow your vision a bit to accept it, but good- ness gracious, what a view. 2016. — M.L. ★★★ (DIGITAL GYM CINEMA)


Kedi — A feature-length alternative to a YouTube kitty video. It doesn’t matter


if one’s a cat person or a dog person; the film person inside all of us knows full well that just because humankind has reached a point in history where anyone with a phone can make a movie doesn’t mean they have to. This latest example of “shoot now, figure it out later” digital craftsman- ship finds Turkish documentarian Ceyda Torun dogging a half-dozen or so felines with a Steadi(cat)cam through the streets of Istanbul, hoping to find a hook — or


Lion — I’d be lyin’ were I to express indifference to Lion, the story of a young man who, twenty years after an unexpected trip on an decommissioned train car deposited him 1000 miles from home, uses Google Earth to reunite with his long-lost family. The task of wringing overpowering visuals out of the simple act of watching characters interface with a computer display has proved daunting to most. Screenwriter Luke Davies and director Garth Davis bypass the cliches with the greatest of ease only to be briefly set off course with a repetitive third act. How many pensive shots of a Christ- like Saroo (Dev Patel) staring into space do we need? Nicole Kidman as Patel’s adoptive mother from down under and Rooney Mara as his supportive girlfriend leave one wanting more of both. The same can be said of five-year-old Sunny Pawar, whose work as the young Saroo deserves major attention from Awards groups. 2016. — S.M. ★★★ (ANGE- LIKA FILM CENTER; ARCLIGHT LA JOLLA; LA PALOMA)


Logan — Director and co-writer James Mangold takes another stab at the


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