In his first directorial effort without his twin brother, Allen Hughes roots down into urban vice and sullied power corridors with Broken City, a muscular but middling thriller of sprawling political corruption whose reach exceeds its grasp. Starring Mark Wahlberg as a crusading, recovering alcoholic ex-cop gunning to bring down an ethically questionable mayor of New York City (Russell Crowe), the movie is gritty but narratively unconvincing in wide swatches, succeeding in tone and atmosphere more than the specifics of its conspiratorial plotting. For the full, original review, from Screen International, click here. (20th Century Fox, R, 109 minutes)
Daily Archives: January 18, 2013
Brief Reunion
A solid, smartly wound little psychological drama that digs into some of the knotty qualities of mid-life adult relationships, when old acquaintances best left forgotten can drift into a life and bring unexpected turmoil, writer-director John Daschbach’s Brief Reunion is a spare but engaging examination of personal character, and the vacillating nature of right and wrong.
The ordered, rural New England existence of Internet entrepreneur Aaron (Joel de la Fuente, above left) and his wife, Leah (Alexie Gilmore), starts to unravel when an old college classmate, Teddy (Scott Shepherd), shows up. Prior to his arrival, Teddy has tried to befriend Leah and others online — a sign that prompts a couple of Aaron’s friends to advise a strict “zero tolerance” policy of non-engagement. Teddy is, it turns out, is a morally dubious and socially awkward hanger-on, the proverbial turd in the punch bowl.
But Teddy runs into Leah and worms his way into Aaron’s birthday party, where he brings along his girlfriend, Simone (Kristy Hasen). It doesn’t end with one uncomfortable evening, however. Soon Teddy is popping up at Aaron’s work, and posting online old photos that Aaron would rather he not. Hinting that he knows about a dark secret related to the success of Aaron’s initial web venture — something that Aaron himself is uncertain of — the resentful Teddy tries, in his own passive-aggressive way, to re-litigate the past and pry some money for an investment opportunity from his old acquaintance. Arguments and threats ensue, and a woman (Francie Swift) from Aaron’s past pops up as well.
Unlikely as it seems, Brief Reunion tangentially recalls Lawrence Kasdan, actually — The Big Chill by way of Dreamcatcher, maybe, minus any science-fiction. It’s on the surface quite different than those films, of course — more streamlined, and not as chatty. But its basic interest in the gap between hidden and stated feelings, and how that distance swells or contracts accordingly, based on company, is the same as Kasdan’s. Daschbach’s focus is more tightly trained on a single, collapsible dilemma, but he’s interested in the human condition. To go into much further detail would ruin some of the movie’s twists and turns, but when one character spits, “I’m not going to prison for that [person],” it reveals how often scruples are dependent on extra variables, and not some fixed absolute.
The low-budget Brief Reunion is spare but attractive in its construction. Daschbach and cinematographer Joe Foley settle on a muted color scheme and stark lack of extras that complement the movie’s slowly ratcheted up claustrophobia, while still finding some ways to give their movie some production-value pop. Daschbach’s cast also turns in solid performances; especially noteworthy is Shepherd, who captures the weasely nature of a guy whose misreadings of personal space and connection goes beyond confounding and into the realm of borderline pathological — to the point that dealing with him arrests and erodes one’s sanity.
The phrase “character study” gets bandied around a lot. Decades ago this movie might have been the type of major studio release new talent cut their teeth on before tackling some highbrow genre offering or literary adaptation. Now Brief Reunion, in its uncomplicated complicatedness, is the type of film Hollywood has mostly ceded to independent filmmakers. That is of course a fairly unfortunate thing on many levels. Daschbach, though, makes it seem not so bad, at least for an hour-and-a-half. For the full, original review, from ShockYa, click here; for more information on the film, click here to visit its website. (Striped Entertainment/Kagami Films/Triboro Pictures, unrated, 88 minutes)
2 Days in New York (Blu-ray)
Nobody can push buttons of exasperation and pull levers of hair-trigger emotional reaction quite like family — those folks who know all of the faces of the past you’ve tried to shake and shed. That truth is borne out in Julie Delpy’s witty, winning new comedy of relationships and culture-clash, 2 Days in New York. A nominal follow-up to 2007’s 2 Days in Paris, in which Delpy played the same character with a different love interest, this rather delightful romp eschews complicated plotting to instead luxuriate in and connect via a fresh, fun, wound-up energy all its own.
French-born photographer and artist Marion (Delpy) lives comfortably with her radio talk show host boyfriend Mingus (Chris Rock) and their two children from previous relationships. But on the eve of a big show — the centerpiece of which is a conceptual piece in which she’s offering up her soul for sale, for $10,000 — Marion gets plenty of extra stress when her family arrives for a visit. This includes her over-sexed sister Rose (Alexia Landau); her sister’s outrageous, weed-obsessed boyfriend Manu (Alex Nahon), also one of Marion’s exes; and her merrily bizarre and gregarious father (Albert Delpy), who thinks showers “deplete the immune system.” Falling back into old patterns, Marion starts spinning out of control, and this new glimpse of craziness puts Mingus further on edge.
Delpy collaborated on the script with Landeau and Nahon — each of whom also reprise their characters from Paris — and it’s clear that their offscreen rapport informs much of the rapid-fire bickering and gussied-up misunderstanding that fuels the movie’s comedy. Yet Delpy’s worldview and tone — neurotic, but knowing — also echo a female Woody Allen by way of Lina Wertmüller, funky and funny without tipping over into tedium or speechifying. Much of this balancing act owes to her directorial style, which is light and playful throughout, incorporating photo montages and a bouncy score of her own composition.
The pairing of Rock and Delpy is also a true delight. It gives Rock a chance to stretch a bit and do something different while also playing to his verbal strengths. Mostly, though, 2 Days in New York simply provides a showcase for the unexpected mash-up of Rock and Delpy’s respective styles and rhythms. It’s the same premise, basically, behind Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell‘s casting in Bewitched, except that Delpy’s loose-limbed, lived-in movie is actually funny. 2 Days with this brood — in addition to what’s probably the year’s most inspired cameo appearance — will put a smile on one’s face.
Housed in a regular Blu-ray case, 2 Days in New York comes to the format via an AVC-encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, with a DTS-HD 5.1 audio track that more than adequately handles the film’s fairly straightforward aural demands. Its supplemental extras include a five-minute EPK-type piece which intersperses interview footage with clips from the movie, the film’s original theatrical trailer, and a collection of interviews with Landeau, Nahon, Rock and the Delpys from the movie’s Sundance Festival presentation. There are also two separate interviews with Rock and Delpy, the latter of which — at 22 minutes — is the disc’s crown jewel, spanning casting inspiration to production. To purchase the Blu-ray via Half, click here. Or if brick-and-mortar retail is still your thing, by all means, rock on with your bad self. B (Movie) B (Disc)
Thor: Legend of the Magical Hammer
Middling animation and an erratic tone weigh down director Oskar Jonasson’s Thor: Legend of the Magical Hammer, a so-so family offering that offers up a different spin on the tale of the headstrong son of Norse god Odin.
Originally titled Legends of Valhalla, this foreign-produced effort finds village blacksmith Thor, empowered by a talking hammer that falls from the sky, battling an evil Ice Queen and her army of vicious giants threatening his village. The additional rub? Said Ice Queen has kidnapped Thor’s mother… so it’s personal as well!
The animation here leans toward that of the Aardman variety, but without as much skillful shading or nuance. Likewise, Fridrik Erlingsson’s screenplay seems like a catch-all grab-bag, informed as much by Shrek-style rude humor and attention-deficit-disorder-dictated action sequences as any of the mythological underpinnings of its actual narrative. Brisk (it clocks in at just over 80 minutes, inclusive of credits) but throwaway entertainment, this Thor makes Kenneth Branagh’s recent version look like the high art its visual vocabulary and framing wanted it to be; only those in need of some video babysitting need apply.
Housed in a regular plastic Amaray case in turn stored in a complementary cardboard slipcover with raised lettering, Thor: Legend of the Magical Hammer comes to DVD presented in letterboxed widescreen, with a Dolby digital 5.1 English language audio track. While the transfer is solid and free of any artifacting or edge enhancement issues, there are no supplemental bonus features included herein. For more information, click here to visit the movie’s website. C- (Movie) D (Disc)