After the loss of one of my favorite horror icons, Wes Craven, I wanted to catch one of his films I hadn't seen before ... and had always been curious about Cursed (which I heard wasn't good, but I'm a sucker for a werewolf story). The film stars Christina Ricci and Jesse Eisenberg as L.A.-based sister and brother Ellie and Jimmy, whose lives are changed forever when a night-time car accident in the Hollywood Hills ends with a woman dead - and Ellie and Jimmy both wounded by what appears to be a large wolf. As Jimmy researches werewolf mythology, he and Ellie both start displaying symptoms that include heightened awareness, strength, and physical attractiveness, as something continues to stalk the siblings even as another night of the full moon arrives. Living up to its name, Cursed was supposedly beset with re-shoots and both major script and cast changes, and the film shows it; disjointed, slow-moving, bland, and unfunny when its shooting for laughs, this was a misfire that - sadly - never gets off the ground. (rated PG-13) C-
I love disaster flicks - which is why, even though 4 minutes into San Andreas I knew was going to hate this movie, I stuck with it anyway. But from the first time we see Dwayne Johnson, the sun glinting off his manly features as he (badly) utters his first line, to the moment shortly after when he calls a woman he's about to rescue "honey" (setting back women's rights about 30 years), the film turns into cliche after cliche via a horrible script and some very bad acting. The "plot" involves Johnson, as search-and-rescue worker Ray, ignoring the lives of absolutely everyone else when the San Andreas fault cracks open and levels Los Angeles (later San Francisco), in order to find and rescue his own wife in L.A. before flying his chopper blindly over the millions of injured to get to San Francisco, so he can get his own daughter out of a trapped town car in a parking garage (swear to God). The ridiculousness doesn't stop there, and even with good special effects I can't imagine how this film ever even got made. (rated PG-13) D-
The origins of Citizenfour began in January 2013, when filmmaker Laura Poitras began receiving anonymous, encrypted emails from someone claiming to have evidence of illegal surveillance programs being done by the NSA, often with the cooperation of foreign governments. These emails would lead her, along with reporters Glenn Greenwald and Ewan MacAskill, to Hong Kong several months later, where holed up in a hotel room they would begin interviews with the young man determined to make the world aware of the illegal electronic prying on their private lives ... former NSA employee Edward Snowden. You have to keep reminding yourself, while watching Citizenfour, that these aren't actors - that you're really watching Snowden; really seeing how this played out once the media got wind of it. But in the end, while at times riveting and always important, the film isn't likely to change your opinion on Snowden himself; what you do get, instead, is a portrait of a man who just wanted his fellow citizens to know the truth, even at the cost of his own freedom. (rated R)B
Crude, lewd (especially the unrated cut - whew!), hilarious, and more entertaining than most of the espionage films it parodies, Spy is final proof that Melissa McCarthy can 1) headline a film; and 2) create a character, over caricature, from the ground up. Here she's Susan Cooper, computer analyst for the CIA, backing up debonair agent Bradley Fine (Jude Law, channeling his best James Bond) until a disastrous mission sidelines Fine ... and has Susan, who's never been in the field before, volunteering for her first assignment: collecting intel on a possible nuclear weapons sale. The film is brilliant, McCarthy never funnier than when forced to change her alias to become foul-mouthed bodyguard Amber Valentine, as she gets ever closer to cracking the case. Avoid if you're prudish on things like foul language - otherwise wear something absorbent 'cause you might just wet yourself laughing. OMG, and Jason Statham; who knew that rock of an action star could be so freaking funny? (unrated) A
Burying the Ex stars Anton Yelchin as Max, a horror movie geek working at a Halloween/costume shop in L.A. who, one day, boinks his hot girlfriend Evelyn (Ashley Greene) in the back room there, after which Evelyn wishes on this weird devil statue that the two of them will remain together forever. Flash forward to Evelyn now living with Max, and being such a control freak Max finally works up the nerve to break up with her ... until she is struck and killed by a bus on her way to their fateful meeting. But a promise is a promise, and soon after Max starts getting involved with Olivia (Alexandra Daddario), zombie Evelyn digs herself out of her grave, determined she and Max will indeed be together forever - even if she has to make him a zombie to do it. While Burying the Ex is a decent horror-comedy, it takes itself too seriously at times and suffers from the casting of Yelchin in the lead (he's just not that believable, or lovable-goofy enough). Sadly, the film is just good enough to make you aware of how much better it could have been, if that makes sense ... (rated R) C+
Glad my reviews are brief; keeps me from turning this write-up into a smarmy tribute to Tom Hardy - who, let's face it, may be the most talented actor working today. Child 44 adds another formidable notch to his belt; here he plays Leo Demidov, a dedicated military police officer in Stalin's Soviet Union, circa 1953 ... until, disgraced over an incident involving his wife, Leo finds his safety further hampered when he sets his mind to solving a string of child murders in a land where such crimes don't exist, and are therefore written off as "accidents" in an all-is-well, pro-Stalin Russia. Despite increasing threats, Leo works behind the scenes to solve the horrible crimes, even as the killer continues unabated, in a film that so perfectly captures the isolation, desperation, and rampant paranoia of the Soviet Union at the time, the suspense builds tight as piano wire as you watch Leo heading toward redemption ... or doom. Incredible performances, led by the flawless Hardy, make this mesmerizing to watch. (rated R)A-
Taking place in real time on the desktop of popular high school girl Blaire (Shelley Hennig), Unfriended is off and running when Blaire and boyfriend Mitch (Moses Storm) have their flirty Skype session interrupted by friends Jess (Renee Olstead), Adam (Will Peltz), Ken (Jacob Wysocki) ... and a fourth person, sans Skype name or avatar, who claims to be fellow classmate Laura Barns, who killed herself a year ago. First seen as a bad joke, it quickly becomes clear - as Laura's taunts become threatening - that whether human or supernatural, someone is out to expose the secrets of this group of friends ... and punish them for their deeds. Unfriended works amazingly well; maybe because I actually watched it on my laptop, I loved the in-your-face intensity of the film; how it so connected you to what was going on, even the "unfriend" option gone missing from a Facebook profile page becomes unsettling. Original, fun and genuinely creepy, this is a low budget thriller that feeds into our intimacy with the internet - and the fact that none of us has any real privacy on it. (rated R)B
