Papillon is one of those films that sounds a lot more exciting than it is. It is based on an autobiography by a man who escaped from the French penal colony Devil’s Island, off the coast of South American, in the early 1940’s. Henri is a thief who is framed for a murder and ends up in a rough prison, sentenced to life. He befriends a bookish man, Louis, who was a forger and counterfeiter. The two make several attempts to break out, which only ends up with Henri in solitary for longer and longer periods of time, until finally they are sent to Devil’s Island. The leads are played by Charlie Hunnam and Rami Malek. Malek of course is on a high right now from his awards from Bohemian Rhapsody, and I’ve always liked Hunnam from his Sons of Anarchy days, but neither has a chance to really show off their skills in this paint-by-numbers film. Neither thrilling nor dramatic, unfortunately just bland. There is a better reviewed film version from the early 70’s starring Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman, which I may have to check out some time.
I’m not one for dog movies, but something intrigued me about Alpha, perhaps because I’m a sucker for post-apocalyptic films and this one (though taking place 20k years ago) had that kind of feel. The previews showed a young man, not much more than a boy, on a journey with a wild wolf, implying that this was the beginning of the relationship of man and his best friend. I thought I had made a mistake after the first 20 minutes, where the film has the feel of an adaptation of a bad young adult book, but once our young hero is on his own, lost and trying to get back to his people, it starts to take off. The computer-aided visuals are absolutely stunning from the very first frames, and the lead actor is more than up to the task of making his on-screen presence feel just as big as he comes into his own.
We the Animals is the rare tender movie with edge. It follows three young brothers on the border of adolescence, in a poor family where the mom works as a bottler and the dad as an overnight security guard at a factory. It is a rough household full of violent parental fights, which leads to the dad leaving for days or weeks at a time, and the mother being too lost in herself to provide even food for the children. This leads to them having to go out to steal food. The oldest two are following in their parents footsteps, and are cussing and drinking even at a young age, but the youngest, Jonah, is definitely more introspective. He secretly writes and draws at night, but keeps his notebook hidden under his bed. While he shares everything with his brothers, he does not share this. The three stumble upon a neighbor, an older boy, who introduces them to porn, and while the eldest duo crack jokes, the younger starts to experience feelings he doesn’t understand. As the older brothers descend further towards being hoodlums, Jonah withdraws. A sharp and very personal film, though a heavy R rating and not for the faint of heart.
Juliet, Naked is a fantastic film, based on a book by Nick Hornby, who also brought us such great films as High Fidelity and About a Boy. It stars Rose Byrne and Chris O’Dowd as Annie and Duncan, a boyfriend/girlfriend in a long relationship. Annie curates a museum, while Duncan, a college professor, is obsessed with a 90’s musician named Tucker Crowe. Tucker made one hit album that still has a cult following 30 years later, but he disappeared shortly thereafter and was never seen again. Duncan is basically the head of the fan club, and peddles in conspiracy theories and rumors of sightings. When a previously unknown demo recording of Tucker’s surfaces, and Annie writes an unflattering review on Duncan’s website, Tucker finally surfaces and meets Annie. Tucker hasn’t been hiding on purpose all these years, he’s just been living an aimless, quiet life and living off his steady flow of residuals, though the reasons for his disappearance don’t immediately come out. The great actor Ethan Hawke is incredible as a tormented Tucker Crower, unable or unwilling to live with his status as a 90’s icon, and wracked with guilt for having abandoned his kids (from different mothers) when he was younger. It’s a rom-com that breaks through some of the traps this genre is often full of. Really brilliant and fun.
Mile 22 is a military action film starring Mark Wahlberg as head of a CIA special ops team in a mission to secure an asset and get him to safety, because he holds knowledge to prevent a chemical attack against the USA. The team’s slow move through a city in eastern Asia, fighting off hordes of the enemy, is the focal highlight of the film. All of the criticism leveled at the movie is true; it features rough editing, poorly developed characters, and shoddy dialogue that sometimes doesn’t even make sense in the situation. But by God I still enjoyed it. The filmmakers know what they have, they don’t venture from the tried and true action films of the past, and they deliver on the goods. And best yet, they don’t drop any hints of the explosive, unseen finale that rocked me. Not a deep film, nothing that will make you ponder the meaning of life, but a good action flick that shows off the behind-the-scenes military espionage that keeps us safe.
Jons Movie Takes 