After taking a couple weekends off from my movie frenzy, I’m back at it, and going today with an eclectic set of films. First up is Cyrano, a film I’ve been looking forward to, both because I’m typically a nut for historical dramas, as well as musicals. Combine them, and I’m game! This is obviously a new take on the classic play Cyrano de Bergerac, with GoT star Peter Dinklage in the title role. Cyrano is a master of sword and word, talking circles around any challenger, but able to defeat them in battle too if it comes to that. However, his diminutive size keeps him from the one thing he wants: the love of Roxanne. The lovely Roxanne only sees Cyrano as a friend, and is smitten with a man named Christian. Christian however is not a learned man and doesn’t have the wit to impress the intelligent Roxanne. Cyrano suggests writing letters to Roxanne in Christian’s stead; it will be Cyrano’s words that move her, while she believes the letters are coming from Christian. All goes well until the Duke, who also has eyes on Roxanne, sends Cyrano and Christian off to the war front. Gorgeous sets and costumes and a stellar performance by Dinklage unfortunately does not come together quite well enough. The music is sometimes sweeping, but more often forgettable, and to make matters worse, Dinklage really can’t sing. That’s a bit of a deal breaker for a musical. The movie does have its moments, but whenever I started to get swept up in it, I felt it crash back down. ★★½
Next are a couple films out of Denmark. A Taste of Hunger tries to take a dull idea and make it interesting, and while it succeeds in the beginning, it doesn’t manage to keep it going. Carsten (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, another GoT alum) is owner and head chef at a new restaurant, with dreams of landing a Michelin star and the success it would bring. Unfortunately, on the night that the reviewer comes to dine, Carsten’s understudy serves a poor dish, and Carsten thinks his dreams are dashed. His wife, Maggie (Katrine Greis-Rosenthal), refuses to give up, and goes out into the night to find the Michelin reviewer and beg for a second chance. As she chases him around town, we learn that she has been having an affair, and we see in flashbacks how she and Carsten first fell in love and raised their kids, and where their lives diverged. The setup was pretty solid, but I stopped caring long before the credits rolled, and the big “twist” in the end was too little, too late. Solid acting is wasted in this one. ★½
Wildland is a thriller about a teen girl, Ida, who’s just lost her mother to a car accident. To finish up school, Ida goes to live with her mom’s sister, Ida’s aunt Bodil, though the sisters were estranged and Ida hasn’t seen her aunt since she was a little girl. Also in Bodil’s house is one adult son, with another who comes over on a daily basis, and a third who happens to stay whenever he runs out of drug money. It is a caring house full of affection for each other, but all is not perfect. Bodil employs her sons as debt collectors, and not the kind that work at a bank. It isn’t long before Ida witnesses the brothers intimidating people who are late on payments. Will she buy into the concept of family above all, or will she break with them to go her own way while she still can? Interesting concept, and decent enough performances, but I couldn’t help but feel like I’ve seen this story before, or something very much like it, and for its source material, a lot of it felt contrived, and not very real at all. ★★½
Despite its middling reviews, I was excited to catch Last Looks, mostly because I’ve been a big Charlie Hunnam fan since his SoA days, and he usually doesn’t disappoint. This film knocked it out of the park for me. A murder-mystery with plenty of thrills, it is about an ex-cop named Charlie Waldo (Hunnam) trying to live his life off the grid, but his former life won’t leave him alone. He is visited by his ex-girlfiend Lorena (Morena Baccarin) about a job in LA. A famous British actor named Alastair Pinch (Mel Gibson, in a role showing he still has it if a good part comes his way) has been accused of killing his wife. Waldo tries to turn it down, but still, he is visited by some thugs that night, beating him up and warning him to stay off the case. The next day Waldo goes into town to make it clear to all involved that he wasn’t taking the case, but his instincts get the better of him and he starts digging. This film has more twists and turns than a mountain road, but in a good way. It is a true mystery, keeping the viewer guessing as much as our hero. And best of all, this film is FUNNY. There’s Alastair, an alcoholic with a penchant for beating up the extras on the film set (who are actually stuntmen put in place by the producers, knowing Alastair’s temper). There’s a different set of thugs (“Don Q” and his muscle, with the “strong” name of “Nini”) who think Lorena left something with Waldo, even though she didn’t, and they want it back. There’s a first grade teacher who is straight laced during the day, but wild at night. The only normal person is Waldo, and it seems the world is crazy around him. The most fun I’ve had watching a movie in awhile. ★★★★★
As a film lover, I don’t always mind if a move is heavy on style and light on substance, but it’s still gotta be good. The Novice unfortunately is not. It’s about a college freshman named Alex Dall who has serious problems with obsessive tendencies. The opening scene shows her taking a test in class, and when she finishes quickly, she goes back over all of her answers continually until class ends. Certifiable compulsions. Seemingly on a whim, she joints the novice rowing team at school (film never says why), and she throws that same kind of devotion into her training. Alex becomes obsessed with not only improving her personal records, but with making the varsity team, which is unheard of from the novice team. It is implied she doesn’t come from an athletic background, yet she sets the bar of other long-time athletes on the squad as her own goals, and pushes herself to beat them. She was already spiraling out of control by the time I gave up on the film 45 minutes in, and I can only assume it got worse from there, but the movie just wasn’t interesting enough for me to stick around and find out. I know it is only a movie, but I wanted to know where this girl’s friends and family were, and how come they didn’t see these problems before it got so bad. She didn’t just go batshit crazy in college; who let her go away to school with such issues! My ranting aside, the movie attempts to create this psychological thriller environment and I wasn’t feeling it. ½
- TV series currently watching: Dopesick (miniseries)
- Book currently reading: Dragons of Winter Night by Weis & Hickman
Jons Movie Takes 