aGuiltySoul Reviews

Ricki and the Flash (2015)

Great Music + Great Acting is not quite enough

[26 April 2016]

This is a competent film that nevertheless didn't seem to quite get a handle on what it wants to be: family melodrama or character study. I wish it had committed to the latter, because Ricki the California rocker is fascinating stuff. A disappointed but never say die guitarist and singer who clerks retail during the day to help pay her bills,she sacrificed her family for this. We find that she has big regrets but not enough to wish to undo the life she lives as an all but anonymous rocker playing cover songs with her band in a small bar. That film would have been on the level of The Wrestler, but this one surely is not.

The good stuff: Meryl's acting of course, the subtleties she brings to her character are amazing. Meryl's daughter who plays her character's daughter does a very fine job also. I very much like Rick Springfield who plays Ricki's boyfriend and fellow guitarist in her band. And the music is great. I could listen to and watch this put together band all night long.

But the less than good stuff: Kevin Kline is miscast. He doesn't gel as the ex husband or as the left behind father who raised the kids. The whole family dynamic seems to fall flat. Angst in the Midwest living in a large but sterile mcmansion. As I've already implied, this is the schizophrenic split in the film I did not like. Too stereotypical and been done to death. And, as much as I liked Ricki & The Flash performing, they devote a surprising long piece of the film showing it. The excess really added nothing to the plot or character. It was almost like they edited in the DVD extras to fill in the time.

Overall, fun to watch for the music but that and the acting doesn't rise it to the level of more than a grade C.

Secrets and Lies (2015–2016)

Lots of Secrets & Lies

[8 March 2015]

This show is entirely wrapped around the chief suspect in the murder of a little boy, that is Ben Garner, played by Ryan Phillippe. We follow him from the moment he discovers the body of a murdered neighbor boy during an early morning run, and through the ins and outs of the investigations. I say investigations because there is the one the police conduct (lead by a stoical woman homicide police detective played by Juliette Lewis in a surprising casting choice) and the other that Ben feels driven to conduct himself.

Ben watches as the constant media attention not only starts to destroy his life but also threatens his family, particularly the well being of his two young daughters. From the beginning, secrets are revealed, all of them damning in one respect or another. Ben's own first reveal not only sets him back but rattles his already shaky marriage.

We watch as Ben becomes a bit maniacal in his attempts to get ahead of the police and to protect his family. We have very little for us to go on to show us the progress or reasoning of the police. That make this series the opposite of a procedural, as well as a murder mystery with a highly emotionally invested central figure. I find that refreshing, but also a little exhausting. However, it's nice to feel so involved in what is happening on the screen.

None of the above would work if not for the quality of the acting which is very well done. That's the glue that holds this whole roller coaster ride together.

There are times you will find yourself yelling at the screen, "What are you doing?!?" Under the pressure of a trial in the court of public opinion and for the ultimate well being of his family, Ben doesn't always make the best decisions. But we do see what is driving him and ultimately it's too late to pretend disinterest. You find yourself very much wanting to see what happens next and how this all comes out in the end. Because at the end of the 10 episodes, we will know who killed that poor child as well as all the dark secrets the neighborhood has been harboring.

Addendum: We are 1/2 way through the series at this point and the drama and heightened emotions have stayed strong. This is an entertaining well done television show.

Catch Hell (2014)

What Indie films should be about

[17 October 2014]

Independent films aren't what they used to be. They rarely get much play. These smallish, low budget niche films famously launched newcomers and gave opportunity for more experienced performers to take risks, doing something new. At the same time the venue often times created films far more interesting than what the studios were financing. With the occasional exception, those days are all but gone.

Catch Hell is one of those exceptions. Written, produced, directed, starring, and promoted by Ryan Phillippe along with his partners, this is the little film that could. It rests on the shoulders of mostly unknown performers who give it their all and show the depth of talent that's available should the big film makers only take notice. Catch Hell is part horror, a little bit thriller, and most parts character study. It tells the story of a man who shares Ryan's initials and POV, an actor who is kidnapped while on rather remote location for a film he's been forced to sign onto because of a fading career. Mike, the older of the two kidnappers, believes the actor had an affair with his wife and has enlisted his passive yet young and strong nephew to help kidnap and torture Reagan Pierce.

Reagan is taken to a shack in the swamps of Louisiana, violently beaten, chained and held captive. Not just satisfied with maiming him, his captors use his phone and laptop to start posting homophobic rants in his name. He suffers several more beatings and is starved. The future seems grim and hopeless for Reagan.

While held captive Reagan spends most of his time with the nephew, Junior, played by Stephen Louis Grush. Junior is not very intelligent and seems to be more of an instinctive creature of the swamp than of modern civilization, but if you think that makes him a one note mental defect, you'd be wrong. One of the most intriguing parts of this film is how fascinatingly and, yes, even sympathetically, Junior is portrayed. Without relying on shallow sentiment or corny back story, but by virtue of performance and dialog alone, Junior quickly becomes the heart of this film, a strange little half man who the world has never known and will quickly abandon.

Ryan Phillippe has described this film as a simple short story. I can't disagree with that. Ultimately, Reagan Pierce survives his capture and the two kidnappers suffer primitive justice handed out by their desperate prisoner in order to escape. The story is pretty straightforward. But that doesn't mean it is shallow. It's a fascinating character study of the kidnappers and of Reagan Pierce. There are some beautifully done moments in the film: Junior's knowledge and kinship with the swamp, his preparation of gator stew, and Pierce and Mike, the older bearded kidnapper, having a drawn out conversation about Mike's wife. You can feel the testosterone fumes in air as these two men face off as Reagan in his outrage seems to have no regard for his helpless state. And, there is Junior's shy infatuation with his prisoner and the way Reagan starts to flirt with Junior as a way to lower Junior's defenses. It's a slow swamp dance that Junior thinks is in his control, but proves to be his undoing.

Ryan Phillippe layers his own character with a sense of what it is to be an actor in today's social media mad world. It's interesting to see how even Junior understands such things as the Internet and sites such as TMZ. Hmmm, could Ryan be giving us a statement on the mental acuity of the people who post such vile comments on various sites?

Tig Nataro, the comedienne, has a small part in this film as Mike's sister. She is so good that I wish her part had been larger. For all of the above reasons, this film shows that it is the hands of a new, but gifted filmmaker.

I can't close without remarking about two things. One is the beautiful way that the Louisiana swamp is filmed. The cinematography is overall beautifully done. And lastly, the closing credit sequence. Such a surprising choice. Funny as hell. A little tip of the hat from Ryan Phillippe to thank us for giving his film our time.

Philomena (2013)

High marks

[2 December 2013]

Philomena is undoubtedly a film and a story that pulls at our heartstrings. (Do hearts have strings? Seems I'm falling back into old fashioned rhetoric.) It's the story of great injustice, cruelty, that was doled out to young girls of 50+ years ago who had the misfortune in society's eyes to become pregnant out of wedlock. It's easy enough to say that this attitude is a byproduct of the Irish Catholic Church, but that would be like saying that antisemitism was German. It would be a misreading of both history and the facts. Thus, although the nuns and priests who were complicit here are not given a pass (you should have heard the quiet condemnatory outbursts from my fellow audience members) this is not a story of the Catholic Church vs. the more caring world, but rather a look back in time to a series of widely played events whose ramifications still echo today.

This is the story of one woman, Philomena, as portrayed in her old age by Judi Dench. She is a stoical, quiet, but yet lighthearted woman who has an undercurrent of great sadness. We begin the story with her finally telling her daughter about the son she had at age 18 who was taken from her and adopted away. She had never spent a day in the ensuing 47 years without thinking of him and at last admits that she desperately needs to seek him out, "I just want to know that he was loved." We follow along on her journey, driven along by her daughter catching the attention of a journalist, Martin Sixsmith, who is at loose ends and rather reluctantly agrees to help her in her search using all the considerable skills of a long professional career. This is a true story in that there really is a Philomena Lee, whose son, Anthony, was taken from her at age three by the same nuns who had been sheltering them, and using her for free labor. And there really is a Martin Sixsmith, the journalist who helped her. The story takes some flights of fancy, playing with the facts as I understand from interviews with Philomena Lee herself, to keep it watchable, but the underlying story elements are correct and the emotions are authentic.

But what makes this film so very watchable are the performances. Judi Dench once again proves that she is one the finest working actors of our age. Her performance is absolutely exquisite. I found myself almost holding my breath in a few of the emotion laden closeups of her face. Steve Coogan, as Sixsmith, is also very, very good. And very much worth mentioning is Sophie Kennedy Clark who plays Philomena as a young woman. But as I frequently find with a film which contains such stellar leading actors, the supporting actors also all do a very fine job. I even like the glorified extras who played the hotel staff.

Much effort has been made to assure that this film is entertaining. It has humor, twists and turns, and real drama. I don't think anyone will be leaving the theater with a happy little gait. However, I think I can promise you will be profoundly moved as well as thoroughly entertained.

Straight A's (2013)

An interesting near miss

[20 January 2013]

I rather enjoyed this film. It's too bad it seems to have been given a half hearted production. The film has so much going for it, but seems to have stopped short of what it would have taken to really make a go of it, namely, cohesion and a really good edit. There were some problems with continuity too. Was Scott gone 9 or 10 years because both were mentioned and it turns out to matter. Mr. Phillippe's Scott seemed to also have had a tattoo that came and went. It's those little things that show a lack of attention that reflect a failure of…what? Talent? Devotion? Funding? I don't know. But the end product is unpolished. In fact it plays better as a series of scenes than as one film. It tells the story of one family, William(Luke Wilson), his wife Katherine(Anna Paquin), and their two young children. The marriage is struggling. They have all the trappings of wealth and status but William is constantly away on business and Katherine is becoming robotic and cold, just going through the motions. The children are responding with eccentric behavior. Charles, for instance, wears a suit and carries a brief case to elementary school. There is also William's father(Powers Boothe) living nearby who has succumbed to Alzheimer's. But most importantly for this film, there is William's brother, Scott(Ryan Phillippe), who has been missing for some years but shows up one afternoon riding a horse onto the property. This film is classified as a comedy and it is funny, but in the old fashioned comedic method of amusing circumstances rather than manic behavior or convoluted plots. The comedic circumstances all center around the character of the prodigal brother, Scott. He is definitely the cuckoo in the nest of this buttoned down family. He drinks too much, smokes pot and has very little censor. He is utterly charming man, but immature and often inappropriate, especially in his vocabulary. He soon wins over the children and has Katherine struggling with feelings she once had for him. Scott has returned home at the request, he insists, of his dead mother who tells him he is needed. And except for total lack of conformity and his habit of lighting up a joint and/or a cigarette constantly as well as trying to drink the drink cabinet dry, he's not a bad house guest. However that's not how Katherine sees it, he's rather more spontaneous than she can tolerate. Yet we see that people are like moths to his flame, and Katherine is no more immune than her children. I found the acting really well done, not surprising given the cast, but the supporting cast doesn't lag behind either. (How they managed to cast a little girl who looks so much like she could be Anna Paquin's daughter I don't know.) The musical score added much to the atmosphere. I'm a big fan of well done musical scores. I've mentioned this is funny; I laughed out loud several times while watching it. I enjoyed this film. It's been a long time since I saw Ryan Phillippe act with child actors and I want to point out that he does it singularly well. Overall his portrayal of Scott drives the whole film. But I'd have liked this effort to be more than a direct to video pass off. It seems a betrayal of all the work and talent that went into it. And last but not least the ending is a really hackneyed cliché. Hate that.

The Lincoln Lawyer (2011)

Well made, entertaining film with a really compelling story

[28 April 2011]

Brad Furman, the director, has managed to take an old fashioned genre and make it feel new and modern. The movie stays sharp and interesting throughout. Helping out is a fantastic musical score. From the first moments that you hear the downbeat playing over the opening credits you know you're in for something you my not have known you've been missing. Craft and art perfectly melded.

The cast is superb and the acting first rate. Matthew McConnaughey creates layers for his character, Micky Haller, taking him from suave and slick through troubled and desperate all the way to cold and diabolical. Excellently done. We meet many interesting characters in this film and no performance lags behind. But chief among them is Ryan Phillippe as Micky's client , Louis Roulet, who places Micky into an unfamiliar, ultimately dangerous crossroads of conscience. Phillippe evolves his character as the story progresses, from wide eyed wealthy playboy to someone much darker and frightening. I've read people reactions to his performance with the ultimate compliment, "I wanted to punch him in the face." Yes, he's authentically slimy. Well done.

Although not 100% faithful to the book, of which I am a fan, what film is? It captures all the energy and hits all the plot points of the novel and takes the story to a new level. I know Michael Connelly has said how happy he is with the final product.

All in all this is a thrilling ride and very entertaining.

Franklyn (2008)

Unique, fascinating and visually spectacular

[16 August 2009]

This is a film that benefits from multiple viewings. Not that it is so obtuse as to require it, but there is so much to look for and savor. The coming and goings of the same actors in smaller parts and different roles, sometimes in the background, sometimes in the fore, is intriguing. It made me hunker down and become riveted to the screen.

This film has a visual sense unlike many others, so that watching closely is a distinct pleasure. Gerald McMorrow has headed up a team that used sets, costume, lighting, cinematography and CG to the greatest affect. The word genius comes to mind.

The actors are all equally fantastic. Sam Riley provided the same effortless quality of acting he displayed in "Control." Eva Green showed me a new side; she is intense but delicate. Bernard Hill is pitch perfect for his part of the intelligent, caring, concerned parent. His character provides a guide through this film's winding story. And, lastly, Ryan Phillippe's largely physical role is very well tuned. His role, after all, is the lynch pin that holds this film together and his performance solidly provides it as he shifts, late in the story, from Preest to David.

This film is not for everyone. For anyone expecting a standard comic hero, or a fantasy, this will disappoint. But if you like intelligent films that draw its audience in as collaborators, you will enjoy this film as much as I did.

Five Fingers (2006)

When it's good, it's very, very good....

[2 August 2009]

This is a tense psychological drama. A Dutch banker travels to Morocco to set up a food program at the behest of his Moroccan girlfriend. He is kidnapped by a group of extremists who hold him captive and ultimately torture him for information. But who, we wind up asking, is ultimately who? And what truly are everyone's motives? It's a tough film to watch as it deals not only with terrorism and our assumptions about terrorists but also with the challenging topic of torture as a means of obtaining information.

The best parts of the film involve the intense dialogs between the three main characters of the captive, Martijn (Ryan Phillippe), the captor, Ahmat (Laurence Fishburne), and the captor's accomplice, Aicha (Gina Torres). These three actors' performances are outstandingly authentic and riveting. There's no question that if you love to see actors at the top of their game that you shouldn't miss this film. Ryan Phillippe's role as Martijn, however, is the most demanding and he never falters. As the focus character, Ryan's performance creates an incredibly intelligent and complex character.

But this, nevertheless, is a flawed film. It sometimes stumbles over itself. There seems to be some serious issues with editing and pacing. That's too bad. But this is still definitely worth watching if you can handle it's frank look at modern man's sojourn into primitive behavior.