“Grandma” Revels in its Honesty

You have to give Elle Reid credit. She’s lived her life on her terms and made no apologies about it. However, now that she’s pushing 70 and her much-younger girlfriend has broken up with her, Elle’s starting to realize that there’s a cost for going your own way. To be sure, being part of the status quo requires a great deal of personal compromise and the cost of having your soul slowly die, day-by-day, is incalculable. So there’s something a bit noble in the way Elle’s eschewed a 9-to-5 job and followed the beat of her own drummer. But society doesn’t like what it doesn’t understand and there’s a price to paid for living out loud and being brutally honest with anyone who crosses your path, and that day of reckoning arrives for Elle at the most inopportune of times.

Paul Weitz’s “Grandma” is a physically modest film but one of grand emotional scope. Propelled by Lily Tomlin’s powerhouse performance as Elle, the movie is refreshingly honest in the way it deals with familial injuries that fester, relationships that are strained to the breaking point and damage that can never truly heal. Credit Weitz and his strong cast for rendering this material in a sincere manner, never once taking a maudlin approach or opting for a feel-good solution.

For a full review, go to: http://www.news-gazette.com/arts-entertainment/local/2015-09-24/chuck-koplinski-grandma-excels.html

 

Depp digs deep in “Black Mass”

 

Scott Cooper’s “Black Mass,” a gripping, entertaining film from first frame to last, chronicles the criminal’s rise to power, told by those who knew him best — his colleagues, his enemies and those he manipulated like so many toys at his disposal. Based on the book by Dick Lehr and Gerard O’Neill, the film has a familiar narrative arc. What makes it stand out in a sea of gangster epics are the brilliant performances from the veteran cast that’s been assembled, especially the two leads — Johnny Depp and Joel Edgerton — who bring life to a pair of men who were more alike than appearances would indicate.

“Black Mass” proves to be an engrossing examination of the corrupting influence of not only power but of personality as Bulger’s aura was such that he was able to tempt weaker men with the promise of the sort of life he had, all the while making it seem glamorous and justifiable. What those such as Connolly failed to realize was that in order to succeed as Bulger did, they had to be void of conscience, a quality that thankfully few men truly possess.

For a full review, go to: http://www.news-gazette.com/arts-entertainment/local/2015-09-17/chuck-koplinski-true-depth-depp.html

“Visit” a Modern Fairy Tale of the Grimm-est Sort

 

With “The Visit,” a spare feature made for $5 million, director M. Night Shyamalan returns to form with a horrific modern fairy tale, while managing to find some life left in the found-footage approach in the process. The film follows the misadventures of a brother and sister who go to visit Grandma’s (and Grandpa’s) house and find, much like Red Riding Hood herself, that appearances can be deceiving.

From out of the blue, our single mom heroine (Kathryn Hahn) gets a call from her estranged parents. Having left their home under a dark cloud at the age of 19, she’s stunned to hear from them some 15 years later and even more surprised when they ask if their grandchildren, whom they’ve never met, can come visit them.

Hoping this is the first step toward some sort of reconciliation, Mom agrees, and soon Becca (Olivia DeJonge), an aspiring artist who is filming the trip for a documentary, and Tyler (Ed Oxenbould), a wannabe rapper, are off for a weeklong visit to their grandparents’ farm.

Things get off to a good start, but the kids soon notice strange sounds can be heard right outside their bedroom door each night, and they’re told that they shouldn’t go in the basement, as it’s overrun with mold. Suspicious goings-on around the farm’s well and a rundown shed pique their curiosity as well.

For a full review, go to:http://www.news-gazette.com/arts-entertainment/local/2015-09-10/chuck-koplinski-visit-modern-fairy-tale-grimm-est-sort.html

 

Past and Present Collide in Haunting “Phoenix”

Nelly Lenz (Nina Hoss) is given what most of us would love to have — a second chance. Having survived life in a concentration camp as well as a bullet wound to her face, she’s undergone facial reconstructive surgery, and though she insists that she wants to look just as she did before the war, the surgeons can only do so much. She looks somewhat like her old self, but little touches here and there are just … a … bit … off.

Ignoring her friend Lene’s (Nina Kuzendorf) advice, Nelly sets out to find her husband Johnny (Ronald Zehrfeld), as the thought of being reunited with him was all that kept her going in the camps. Though things in postwar Berlin are in horrible disarray, she manages to track him down. However, the magical reunion she imagined isn’t to be when Johnny fails to recognize his wife, a devastating turn for Nelly but one she ultimately uses to her advantage when she uncovers a secret of Johnny’s and he finds himself attracted to her.

For a Full Review, go to: http://www.news-gazette.com/arts-entertainment/local/2015-09-03/chuck-koplinski-surprising-turn-phoenix.html

“Compton” Showcases’ NWA’s Vibrant, Angry Voice

If F. Gary Grey’s “Straight Outta Compton” does anything right — and for the record, it only errs in soft-pedaling the private lives of its dynamic characters — it’s that it accurately depicts the seismic impact NWA’s music had on the culture of the ’90s.

Brimming with life, energy and anger, the driving beat of the group’s reality raps is the soundtrack of their lives as well as a generation, a time where authority was questioned and words were as dangerous as a loaded pistol. The sense of unaffected emotion that’s so prevalent in NWA’s work serves as the foundation for this effective biopic, one that concentrates on the most important thing in these young men’s lives, their music.

For a full review, go to: http://www.news-gazette.com/arts-entertainment/local/2015-08-20/chuck-koplinski-actors-make-end-tour-worthwhile.html

No Crying “U.N.C.L.E.” in Spirited Reboot

Fortunately, much as he did with the two Robert Downey Jr. Sherlock Holmes films, director Guy Ritchie brings a sense of style and energy to this project, taking what was a moribund property and creating a vibrant piece of pop entertainment. With one foot planted firmly in the Cold War era, the other in the now, the director presents the spy game shenanigans of that time with an air of quaint nostalgia, making a lark of a movie in the process whose sole mission is to entertain.

The film makes no bones about being the first in what Warner Brothers hopes will be a profitable franchise, and Cavill and Hammer are so good together that I wouldn’t mind setting out on another adventure with them. Of course, that will be determined by a generation that might see this throwback to the early James Bond films as pass. Here’s hoping those who fondly remember the U.N.CL.E series will give this new version a shot as it captures the feel and look of Cold War espionage movies and programs of this sort with a reverence that’s surprising and welcome.

For a full review, go to: http://www.news-gazette.com/arts-entertainment/local/2015-08-13/chuck-koplinski-no-crying-uncle-one.html

Actor, plot offer a shrewd take on “Mr. Holmes”

The time is 1947, and Holmes is living in retirement in the rural environs of Sussex, tending bees and helping his widowed housekeeper Mrs. Munro (Laura Linney) raise her son Roger (Milo Parker). Though in his 90s, he stays active, attempting to get to the bottom of why many of his bees are dying, as well as trying to recall details of his final case, an affair he can’t remember completely, but knows its resolution was unsatisfactory.

Condon, Cullin and McKellen pull off the impressive feat of paying homage to Holmesian conventions yet simultaneously deconstructing the character. The detective goes out of his way to discount the many embellishments Dr. Watson and others have made, the most humorous coming when Holmes stumbles into a movie theater to see a film adaptation of one of his adventures, scoffing at the inaccuracies throughout. (The actor playing Holmes in this movie-within-a-movie is Nicholas Rowe, who portrayed the character in “Young Sherlock Holmes.”)

For a full review, go to: http://www.news-gazette.com/arts-entertainment/local/2015-07-23/chuck-koplinski-actor-plot-offer-shrewd-take-mr-holmes.html

Daring Performances at Center of “Overnight”

The Overnight Movie Poster

“The worst-case scenario, it’ll be a long, boring night.”

As written and directed by Patrick Brice, The Overnight is a film that slowly reveals itself, a modern comedy of errors that questions today’s sexual mores and suggests that modern definitions of love and marriage are far too narrow for the enlightened times we live in. It’s also very, very funny due to Brice’s sharp writing and the let-your-hair-down performances from the game cast. That it was shot in 12 days works to the film’s advantage, as it lends an authenticity to the production that helps underscore the awkward tone that drives the premise.

Edgy, witty and manipulative — the better to put us in Alex and Emily’s shoes — The Overnight is a constant surprise that hits home in unexpected and meaningful ways. While the film’s sensational aspects are at the forefront, it’s the questions it asks regarding fidelity and love that stay with you. Brice’s work effectively draws the viewer’s attention to their own values, creating an entertaining and intriguing “What if … ” situation through which the audience will be able to cathartically insert themselves.

“Amy” a Devastating, Moving Tribute to a Lost Soul

What makes Asif Kapadia’s documentary Amy so remarkable — and ultimately so devastating — is the vast number of video resources the filmmaker is able to pull from in order to construct this powerful portrait of pop singer Amy Winehouse. Drawing from home movies, videos of club dates, concert footage, interviews and personal digital files, the filmmaker is able to present the full arc of the singer’s life, adding a powerful sense of poignancy to the tragedy that unfolds. In a sense, this is a landmark documentary, a true product of the 21st century that provides the sort of intimate portrait that is only made possible by the proliferation of portable video and the willingness of the owners of this footage to share it as a tribute to the friend they miss so much.

If anything, Kapadia shows that a perfect storm of toxic elements formed around Winehouse, cutting off many of her avenues of escape. The footage of her behind the microphone, especially during a captivating sequence that sees her recording with her idol Tony Bennett, underscores once more not simply the tragedy in regard to the loss of her talent but that a sensitive soul was tragically cut down before it could fully mature. Captivating as well as infuriating, Amy is a film that allows us to see the talented, troubled young woman behind the sensationalist media image to devastating effect. This vivid chronicle of Winehouse’s quest for success and her undoing due to the fame she never sought proves to be one of the best documentaries in recent years.