No Man of God is based on the final years of serial killer Ted Bundy, and the interviews he gave to FBI agent Bill Hagmaier while on death row. At the start of the film, Bundy has already been in jail for quite some time, and he’s refused to cooperate with authorities to name his other victims, of whom the cops suspect but need Bundy’s help to sew it up. The authorities just want to help the victim’s families find closure, but Ted hates federal agents. Hagmaier wants to get help for those families too, but more than anything, he wants to get inside Ted’s head. Hagmaier is looking to see what makes a serial killer tick, to help in profiling future murderers. As the film progresses, over the course of a couple years, Hagmaier is able to gain Bundy’s trust, mostly by being honest and not trying to trick him into lapses, which helps those families, as well as Hagmaier’s overall goal. Elijah Wood and particularly Luke Kirby are very good as Hagmaier and Bundy, but while the movie is billed as a crime mystery film, it ends up being light on the mystery, and even fairly light on the crime. It certainly sets up as Bundy being the focus, but the truly sensational parts of his killing spree are barely touched on, and the movie becomes more about Hagmaier’s goals. Despite the strong acting, the ending comes off as a letdown. ★★½
Old is the latest film from M Night Shyamalan, whose last film Glass was poorly received (though I enjoyed it). This film received mixed reviews, but like a lot of Shyamalan films, it has a great premise. While on vacation at a resort, two separate families are taken to a private beach by the hotel’s taxi. The beach is gorgeous and secluded, surrounded by cliffs. Seems like paradise, but they aren’t there long before they find a dead body. While accusations and fear are spreading around, the adults notice that their children are suddenly appearing much older than when they arrived. Soon everyone is rapidly aging, at the rate of a year every 30 minutes or so. When anyone tries to leave through the cliffs, the person develops a massive headache and blacks out, only to find themself back on the beach again. Crashing waves prevent swimming around to the next cove. As the children become teenagers and then young adults, and their parents become elderly, answers as to what they can do to escape continue to elude them. What should be great suspense (and there is some) is hampered by truly awful dialogue, and misguided attempts to force a series of dread for the viewer. Shyamalan has always had a problem with writing dialogue that feels natural, and this one is even worse than his norm. Good idea, but the movie just doesn’t deliver on the goods. ★★
I recently watched a film featuring Anna Magnani and was reminded how great she is, so I looked up the one film where she won a Best Actress Oscar. The Rose Tattoo was originally written as a play by Tennessee Williams and he had Magnani in mind for the lead, but in 1951, she felt her English wasn’t good enough. She kept practicing, and by the time the film version was made in 1955, she was ready to go. She plays Serafina Della Rose, an Italian immigrant with a philandering husband, but she is unaware of his pursuits. After he dies one night, killed trying to evade police while smuggling goods in his truck (again showing he is no saint), Serafina still honors his memory and raises their daughter on her own, stressing an abstinent upbringing. A couple years later, daughter Rosa is getting ready to graduate high school and is falling in love with an American sailor, which sends her mom Serafina into a tizzy. At the same time, Serafina begins to have feelings for a widowed truck driver, a hard working man also from Sicily, but who’s a bit of a dunce (she laughingly calls him a clown to his face). To this point, Serafina has refused to besmirch the memory of her dead husband, but will she keep to that virtue after she finally learns of his womanizing? The plot of the movie is only so-so, but Magnani makes the film. Her highs and lows are felt by the viewer, and she does an amazing job of pulling us in to her predicaments. ★★★
Werewolves Within is a comedy horror film, and reminds me a bit of Shaun of the Dead, in more ways than one. Finn Wheeler is a newly appointed forest ranger to the tiny town of Beaverfield, and no sooner does he arrive on the eve of a winter storm, that things start going strange. That is, stranger than what is expected in the town, where each of the quirky citizens is odder than the next. The only one that seems normal is the mail carrier, Cecily, with whom Finn immediately hits it off. The two become spectators to the antics of the others, but Finn is in for more than he signed up for: first an eccentric woman’s dog is killed, and then Finn finds the body of a missing man under the porch of the lodge. The dead man looks to have been mauled by a dog, and a strange visitor to town is convinced there is a werewolf at play. When the town’s generators are sabotaged, by an assailant leaving large claw marks, the citizens huddle together at the lodge and let their fears play out against each other. I wouldn’t call it an extremely funny film, but it is quirky enough to elicit plenty of chuckles, and while not scary, there’s enough spooky moments to keep you engaged. All in all, a better-than-average example of the genre. ★★★
Finch shows again that if you put Tom Hanks in front of a camera, like Cast Away 20 years ago, he can carry a picture all by himself. Instead of an island, this time he is a survivor of a solar flare which has stripped the earth of much of its ozone. Daytime temps can reach 150+ degrees, and the UV radiation burns skin in seconds. Finch Weinberg, a robotics engineer, survived the initial calamity because he was working in an underground facility the day it happened, and has lived there for the ensuing 15+ years. His only companions are a dog (named simply “Dog”) and a robotic pet who travels with him to the surface to scavenge for food and supplies. However, over the years and because of his surface travels, Finch has developed cancer, and he knows his time is growing short. When he’s gone, no one will be around to take care of Dog (who has stayed healthy, never having been to the surface), so Finch has created a new human-like robot to care for the pet after he is gone. Unfortunately their training is cut short when severe storms head their way, storms made worse without the ozone, and which will blanket the city for 40 days. Finch knows their dwindling supplies won’t last that long, so he, his two robots, and Dog head out in an RV for the west coast, traversing sun-baked lands where nothing lives except the dangerous other scavengers who come out at night. There’s some very funny moments as Finch tries to teach his new robot how to care for Dog and how to be safe in the completely unsafe world, and the visuals of a destroyed world are devastatingly beautiful, but Hanks’ performance is the true saving grace. Ultimately I don’t think the movie is very memorable, and doesn’t set itself apart from other films of this genre, but worthy of a watch for its star, who hasn’t lost a step. ★★★
- TV series currently watching: DC’s Legends of Tomorrow (season 6)
- Book currently reading: The Wishsong of Shannara by Terry Brooks
Jons Movie Takes 