Category: 2011

The Whisperer in Darkness (2011, Sean Branney)

Given the filmmakers are members of an organization dedicated to H.P. Lovecraft stuff, I’m going to assume the plot problems with The Whisperer in Darkness are from the source material. As in, the stupid stuff is in the original and they just left it in. Maybe they thought it was good, maybe they thought it was bad, regardless, Whisperer is pretty dumb.

Worse, it’s a mess as a film. It’s in black and white, but it’s shot on DV and DV is unforgiving. Why have CG monsters and electrical effects if you’ve got paper macho sets? It creates a disjointed visual experience and it is often jarring.

Speaking of jarring, it’s also disconcerting when director Branney doesn’t use a low angle shot or pan. He loves low angle shots and he loves panning. Whisperer‘s direction is tiresome.

Maybe if the film had been made as a comedy, it might’ve worked. But it’s serious and, sadly, it’s not even good at being serious. The silly visualization of disembodied heads, apparently in an attempt to fit in a forties style (along with the black and white), don’t match with the surprisingly good CG aliens.

Lead Matt Foyer is quite good. He wouldn’t have been able to sell it as a gag. Matt Lagan is also good. Actually, none of the performances are bad.

Also, Vermont hicks aren’t a scary villain group. It’s not Deliverance country… it’s Ben & Jerry’s country.

While interesting in its failures, Whisperer is a complete waste of time.

0/4ⓏⒺⓇⓄ

CREDITS

Directed by Sean Branney; screenplay by Andrew Leman and Branney, based on the story by H.P. Lovecraft; director of photography, David Robertson; edited and produced by Robertson; music by Troy Sterling Nies; production designer, Leman.

Starring Matt Foyer (Albert Wilmarth), Matt Lagan (Nathaniel Ward), Daniel Kaemon (P.F. Noyes), Stephen Blackehart (Charlie Tower), Autumn Wendel (Hannah Masterson), Caspar Marsh (Will Masterson), Barry Lynch (Henry Akeley), Joe Sofranko (George Akeley) and Andrew Leman (Charles Fort).

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The Thing (2011, Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.)

The big problem with The Thing, besides it being pointless (though it needn’t be), is its stupidty. While van Heijningen is a perfectly mediocre director, he doesn’t know how to add mood or make something disturbing. Some of it probably isn’t his fault… I can’t see him caring about the addition of Eric Christian Olsen’s third wheel in the romantic chemistry between Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Joel Edgerton, for example. It’s just the filmmakers in general. They aren’t bright.

For example, who casted Olsen as a smart guy in the first place? He’s clearly not smart. Poor Winstead and Edgerton try–and Winstead can sell the scientist pretty well–but they’re stuck in a terrible cast. Ulrich Thomsen’s mad scientist belongs in a Roger Corman knockoff.

The filmmakers seem to understand they shouldn’t be telling the story of some Norwegians in English, but whenever the Norwegians panic, they speak English. That detail seems somewhat nonsensical.

If The Thing were a traditional sequel or prequel (i.e. coming within ten years of the original), it might concern developing the original’s mythology. But coming almost thirty years later, with zero participation from the original filmmakers, it’s not… it’s a potential (and thankfully failed) franchise starter.

It could have been neat though, since it’s essentially a remake of the original Thing from Another World in terms of plot. Sadly, it’s not neat. It’s terrible and cheap.

Eric Heisserer’s script is asinine.

Watching it, I just felt bad for Winstead. She’s too classy for it.

0/4ⓏⒺⓇⓄ

CREDITS

Directed by Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.; screenplay by Eric Heisserer, based on a story by John W. Campbell Jr.; director of photography, Michel Abramowicz; edited by Peter Boyle, Julian Clarke and Jono Griffith; music by Marco Beltrami; production designer, Sean Haworth; produced by Marc Abraham and Eric Newman; released by Universal Pictures.

Starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Kate Lloyd), Joel Edgerton (Sam Carter), Ulrich Thomsen (Dr. Sander Halvorson), Eric Christian Olsen (Adam Finch), Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Derek Jameson), Paul Braunstein (Griggs), Trond Espen Seim (Edvard Wolner), Kim Bubbs (Juliette), Jørgen Langhelle (Lars), Jan Gunnar Røise (Olav), Stig Henrik Hoff (Peder), Kristofer Hivju (Jonas), Jo Adrian Haavind (Henrik), Carsten Bjørnlund (Karl), Jonathan Walker (Colin) and Ole Martin Aune Nilsen (Matias).

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Sector 7 (2011, Kim Ji-hoon)

Sector 7 is about twenty-two years late. It’s another “Alien with sea monsters;” 1989 had two and a half major entries in that genre. It does, however, add one interesting element.

Wait, I guess it’s more Aliens with sea monsters. The female lead, Ha Ji-won, is more Ripley in tough mode. Anyway, the interesting element is her love interest, Oh Ji-ho. He’s a standard action movie leading man. So Sector 7 has a couple of romantically involved action heroes. Sadly, Nick and Nora they are not.

The big problem with Sector 7, besides its nine or ten false endings, is cinematographer Lee Doo-man. It was also released in 3D, which must have been hideous, because Lee can’t match any of the CG backdrops with his lighting. Most of the time, he shoots dark (presumably to be cost effective with rendering the sea monster), but the bright daytime scenes are horrific.

Kim’s a fairly ambitious director when it comes to his composition and action. He’s lousy with actors, but it only really matters with Ha; she’s terrible. The rest of the cast carries through pretty well.

Oh is good, as is Ahn Seong-gi. Park Cheol-min and Song Sae-byeok are great as the surprisingly touching comic relief team.

The film shifts from being a gender workplace inequalities picture to a pro-oil drilling picture to a monster movie and, finally, to a political picture.

Plot confusion, Ha’s acting and Lee’s photography aside, it’s not awful.

1/4★

CREDITS

Directed by Kim Ji-hoon; written and produced by Yun Je-gyun; director of photography, Lee Doo-man; released by CJ Entertainment.

Starring Ha Ji-won (Cha Hae-joon), Ahn Sung-kee (Lee Jeong-man), Oh Ji-ho (Kim Dong-soo), Park Cheol-min (Do Sang-goo), Song Sae-byeok (Go Jong-yoon), Park Jeong-hak (Hwang In-hyeok), Lee Han-wi (Jang Moon-hyeong), Park Yeong-soo (Jang Chi-soon), Cha Ye-ryeon (Park Hyeon-jeong) and Min Seok (Yoon Hyeon-woo).

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The Suicide Forecast (2011, Jo Jin-mo)

For a while during Suicide Forecast—in the first act and third—it seems like the film will be about protagonist Ryu Seung-beom discovering he doesn’t want to be a soulless business success and redeeming himself.

But Forecast isn’t exactly about Ryu. A plot summary sounds like a perverse comedy—Ryu’s an insurance adjuster who discovers three people he’s signed up for life insurance are all suicidal and they’re about to get past their probation. The co-worker who convinced Ryu to sign them up? He’s also suicidal and Ryu just inherited responsibility for his policy too. What kind of antics will ensue when he tries to persuade them not to kill themselves?

Not many antics, actually. Instead, director Jo guides Ryu through difficult situations, ones where he can’t really do anything to help these people. While Ryu does learn things in Forecast, he doesn’t make any great personal discoveries. His character never goes through a profound change and the crises he averts are sometimes ones he creates.

Ryu’s great in the lead. Song Dong-il is his boss, who can’t seem to fathom the situation. Of the supporting cast, Park Cheol-min (as Ryu’s former co-worker), Im Joo-hwan (as one of the policy holders) and Kim Chae-bin (as a policy holder’s daughter) give the strongest performances.

Jo makes some cinematic great moments in Forecast, both dramatic and comic. He knows to reward the viewer for enduring the depressing drama. Forecast starts shaky and finishes solid.

3/4★★★

CREDITS

Directed by Jo Jin-mo; written by Yu Seong-hyeob; director of photography, Choi Sang-mook; edited by Shin Min-kyung; music by Kim-Hyung-seok; produced by Park Mae-hee; released by CJ Entertainment.

Starring Ryu Seung-beom (Bae Byeong-woo), Song Dong-il (Manager Park Jin-seok), Park Cheol-min (Oh Sang-yeol), Jeong Seon-kyeong (Choi Bok-soon), Seo Ji-hye (Lee Hye-in), Hwan Im Joo (Kim Yeong-tak), Younha (Ahn So-yeon), Kim Chae-bin (Jin-hee), Lee Ji-eun (Seon-hee), Lee Joon-ha (Mi-hee), Oh Eun-Chan (Ok-dong), Jung Sung-ha (Ahn Hyeok), Hong So-hee (Kim Yeong-mi), Kim Byeong-chun (Homeless guy Park) and Choi Il-hwa (Hwang Woo-cheol).

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Stay Still (2011, David James Kelly)

Stay Still has so many layers and so much texture, it’s hard not to appreciate it. Director Kelly opens the short with narration out of a fairy tale–knights and dragons–and introduces the viewer to two boys (Kyle McCaffrey and J. Michael Trautmann) listening to their mother fight with her boyfriend.

Trautmann, the older boy, intercedes and ends up running out to pick up drugs for the boyfriend to sell. McCaffrey inexplicably tags along and Kelly’s failing becomes clear. He clearly cast McCaffrey for his deep, sad, soulful eyes… and ignored his terrible acting. Trautmann’s great, however, and ably carries Still through its rough spots.

Kelly subtly works in racial angst along with implying the boys’ relationship with their mother (Krisztina Koltai), while never getting explicit in their circumstance. Koltai only has one big delivery but she’s great.

Still is exceedingly affecting, even if McCaffrey’s a terrible little actor.

2/3Recommended

CREDITS

Written, directed and edited by David James Kelly; director of photography, Topher Osborn; music by Christy Carew; produced by Kelly, Jessica McMunn and Alex O’Flinn.

Starring Kyle McCaffrey (Jake), J. Michael Trautmann (Dejan), Mousa Kraish (Jonathan), Krisztina Koltai (Danica), Danny Vasquez (Lucas), Chris Cheeks (Chris), Milo Stokes (Malcolm), Anna Roberts (Brittany) and Victoria Moroles (Kaela).

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Extranjero (2011, Crinan Campbell and Daniel Lumb)

Extranjero is some exceptionally pointless, exceptionally pretentious swaddle concerning an illegal immigrant (Cristian Cardenas) who can fly. He actually just hovers and then maybe disappears. About the only good thing about the short is the special effects of him flying. Otherwise, it toggles between boring and confusing.

Directors Campbell and Lumb do a fine enough job when it comes to composition, but they have fast editing and jerky camera motion to hide their utter lack of ability when it comes to narrative structure. They have no story, so it can’t have any flow; they at least realize they need to hide it… I guess that self-awareness is a good thing.

Extranjero also gets some credit for having brief end credits. It’s a five minute short and it gets long in the tooth around minute one. Long credits would just make it worse.

But the special effects work is impressive.

1/3Not Recommended

CREDITS

Written, directed and edited by Crinan Campbell and Daniel Lumb; music by Shervin Shaeri; produced by Jo Coombes, Hannah Cooper and Mark Farrington.

Starring Cristian Cardenas (Extranjero) and Evan Regueira (Man on Train).

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Sly Sylvester (2011, April Abeyta)

Sly Sylvester fails its lead actor, Richard Turgeon. He’s got a good costar in Jay Krohnengold, who plays his ornery landlord, but once his love interest arrives, Sly runs downhill.

Tiffany Gustafson, as the love interest, trips, stumbles and falls through Kim Nunley’s dialogue. Nunley puts in way too much exposition, but Gustafson talks so fast she sounds out of breath, like if she doesn’t hurry, she’ll forget her lines.

Opposite Turgeon, who’s wonderful, it’s awkward and uncomfortable. One watches, no longer involved with the story, wondering if Turgeon realizes Gustafson is ruining the short.

Director Abeyta has some great shots, but also some terrible ones. Some of the problem is her editing (but also Thomas Broening’s photography often not matching). It’s about a one-to-one ratio, up until the end with a great establishing shot and then a bad crane attempt ruining it.

Still, Turgeon makes Sly worthwhile.

Games People Play (2011, Two Trick Pony)

Given its outstanding ending, one has to wonder if filmmaker (or filmmakers) Two Trick Pony came up with the rest of Games People Play to tell one joke.

As far as the filmmaking goes, Games is almost indescribably good. It reminds a little of the Coen Brothers, played more for humor. Zephyr Muntari’s editing is exceptionally tight; the filmmakers have a complete understanding of how to pace shots.

Pony’s composition is fantastic–Games is Panavision ratio and, after a somewhat slow start, it becomes clear Pony is going to use the whole frame to great advantage. Joel Pincosy’s photography is excellent.

So what’s the problem?

First, the writing. There are occasional amusing board game related comments, but by occasional I mean two or three in the entire short. Even when a joke’s funny, the accompanying dialogue is lame.

And Scott McCabe’s atrocious in an essential role.

Still, it’s beautifully made.

1/3Not Recommended

CREDITS

Written, directed and produced by Two Trick Pony; director of photography, Joel Pincosy; edited by Zephyr Muntari.

Starring Tory Stanton (Simon Simmons), Scott McCabe (Martin Bardley), Maria Giere Marquis (Jane), Linda-Ruth Cardozo (Lois), Ari Sigal (Gretchen), Bryan Quinn (Manny), Bradford Rex (Colonel Mustard) and Elizabeth Fomine (Daphne).

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The White Room (2011, Jake Schreier)

I once described Francis and the Lights–specifically the singer and songwriter, Francis Farewell Starlite–as Tom Waits meets Prince. The twenty-five minute “concert” film, The White Room, certainly shows the Prince influence. Concert gets quotation marks because there’s no one audibly in attendance to Starlite and his band’s performance. They perform on a stage, presumably in real time–director Schreier fades to black between each song, so it’s possible there are cuts.

Schreier (the former keyboardist for the band) treats the band as literal background for the first half of Room. It’s unclear what’s foreground, sometimes Starlite’s feet, which Schreier has projected huge behind the singer, showcasing the impossible motion during singing.

A critic once wondered what noises Eleanor Parker made during the opera scenes in Interrupted Melody (Eileen Farrell provided the eventual singing voice)–watching White Room, one wonders how Starlite can do it all.

It’s magnificent.

3/3Highly Recommended

CREDITS

Directed by Jake Schreier; written by Francis and the Lights.

Starring Jonathan Finlayson (Snyth), Kassa Overall (Drums), Max Tucker (Percussion), Jeremy Most (Bass), Raynier Jacildo (Synth) and Francis Farewell Starlite (Vocals and Keyboards).

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Butter (2011, Jim Field Smith)

Jennifer Garner plays a Sarah Palin-type evil Republican woman in Butter. There’s her character. She does a Sarah Palin in Iowa impression; nothing else. It’s easily the most useless performance in the film, but the film’s otherwise filled with good, rounded performances so it’s even more glaring.

And Garner produced the film too so she really just didn’t get it. It’s not all her fault, of course. Director Field Smith and writer Jason A. Micallef maybe should’ve understood you don’t make a wholly unlikable villain a main character, especially not such a real one. It’s not even possible to be sympathetic to Garner’s husband (an underused Ty Burrell) tomcatting around on her. Because his hooker of choice (Olivia Wilde) is human and not an evil monster.

On the flip side, Butter is also the story of a ten year-old black girl (Yara Shahidi) working her way through the all white foster care system in the state. She ends up with some well-meaning liberals (played by Rob Corddry and Alicia Silverstone) and they have all these profound, wonderful moments.

Shahidi’s half of Butter is amazing. Silverstone doesn’t have enough screen time, but Corddry does and he’s great in the muted comic role.

Wilde and Burrell are both good. Ashley Greene’s good as Garner’s stepdaughter. Hugh Jackman’s hilarious in an extended cameo….

But Butter can’t have it both ways. It should be a great film about race and family and belonging; Garner’s political spoof ruins it.

It’s a shame.

1.5/4★½

CREDITS

Directed by Jim Field Smith; written by Jason A. Micallef; director of photography, Jim Denault; edited by Matt Garner and Dan Schalk; music by Mateo Messina; production designer, Tony Fanning; produced by Michael De Luca, Jennifer Garner, Juliana Janes and Alissa Phillips; released by The Weinstein Company.

Starring Yara Shahidi (Destiny), Jennifer Garner (Laura Pickler), Ty Burrell (Bob Pickler), Rob Corddry (Ethan Emmet), Olivia Wilde (Brooke Swinkowski), Alicia Silverstone (Julie Emmet), Ashley Greene (Kaitlen Pickler), Kristen Schaal (Carol-Ann Stevenson), Hugh Jackman (Boyd Bolton) and Phyllis Smith (Nancy).

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