Sundance Review: '99 Homes', Starring Andrew Garfield and Michael Shannon

When the recession hit, the majority of the population really felt the housing and real estate plummet. Many middle class families got stuck with banks who told them to stop paying their mortgages while they adjusted their rates to something more affordable. Suffice to say that they got screwed over big time while the banks got bailed out. Is it fair? Hell no. And director Ramin Bahrani turns this reality into a theatrical thriller with superb performances from Andrew Garfield and Michael Shannon.

Dennis Nash (Andrew Garfield) is a struggling father and caretaker who fell into hard times after every construction job he takes building homes falls apart because there is no money to do so during the most recent recession. This means that Nash doesn't get paid if the job doesn't go through. After trying to adjust his mortgage rate via the bank, they tell him to stop paying his mortgage while they sort all the paperwork out. Essentially, he gets screwed over by the bank and they foreclose on his home.

Enter Rick Carver (Michael Shannon), a real estate broker who is involved in evicting people and cheating banks out of their money. While many fall on bard times, Carver is raking in the cash. After evicting Nash, Carver, knowing Nash is desperate for money and not having any luck with jobs, he takes him under his wing in a strange turnaround. Nash struggles with the ethics of what he's doing but relishes in being able to provide for his mother Lynn (Laura Dern) and son Connor (Noah Lomax).

The film opens with a strong scene in which a man has committed suicide and the police are on the swarm, trying to find out what happened from no one other than Michael Shannon's character. So from the onset, the film is extremely intense, and if you've ever known anyone who's gone through something like a foreclosure or a short sale like I have, the topic at hand will most likely touch you in a very personal way. 99 Homes not only makes a statement about the recession, banks, and the world of real estate (and a very powerful one at that), but also speaks to the fact that desperate times sometimes call for desperate measures, but at what cost? 

Ramin Bahrani really knows how to keep the momentum going. The pacing moves at a wonderful pace, not too slow, and not so fast that anyone can't keep up with some of the technical lingo within the plot. There are moments when I hoped we'd get more of a real conversation between Andrew Garfield and Laura Dern's characters about what was happening, because he hides it from her for the same reason you hide anything from a parent: You know they'll be upset. We get some of the major repercussions for that, but nothing really concrete, as it's more focused on Garfield's character. 

Bahrani commits himself to the story and to painting these characters in gray at every turn. Since Garfield's character is at the forefront, we really sympathize with him, question some of his actions, but ultimately understand where he's coming from. He understands himself too, as he's always questioning himself ethically, and Garfield portrays this in a fantastic emotional portrayal, because this is where his character's head space is. He isn't being logical, but his decisions are made in an emotional manner. These decisions are the ones that bring in the most tension-filled scenes and also the most emotionally-triggering ones. Garfield is superb in this and really cements himself as a great actor, no questions asked. 

And since Bahrani knows how to get the best out of his characters, this is also one of Michael Shannon's best performances in recent memory. He's terrifying, a ruthless businessman who isn't into emotional attachments at all, and through helping Garfield, he's really helping himself, though I don't believe he's completely without a heart. He too is also fantastic in his role and whenever he and Garfield share a scene together, there's a palpable chemistry and spark of underlying tension in the air between their characters. Laura Dern does an excellent job as well as Garfield's mother, though my only complaint, as mentioned before, is that there wasn't all that much for her to do, her character in an extremely limiting supporting role. However, when there was something for her to do or to express, she was great.

99 Homes is one of those films that is sometimes hard to watch. The topic alone is close to home for many and the idea that this could even happen is hard to wrap your head around. Ramin Bahrani is a gifted director, knowing how to tell his story both technically and emotionally. There are moments where the film could have expanded on personal relationships (i.e. Garfield and Dern's mother/son dynamic), but this largely plays more of a role in the end and doesn't affect the film in a necessarily negative way. There's a lot to like in the film. There's drama, suspense, great storytelling, powerful performances, and an emotionally riveting tale of consequences, lawlessness, and piggybacking off of the people who are used and abused by the system. Solid and well worth watching.

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VFF Review: 'Wild' starring Reese Witherspoon

One woman takes the long, hard (and literal) road to self-discovery in Wild, Jean-Marc Vallee's adaptation of the empowering memoir by Cheryl Strayed. A book club favorite and a phenomenon inspiring millions of loyal devotees, the book caught the eye of Reese Witherspoon some years ago, planning at first to merely produce rather than star as the much-younger (at the time) Strayed, but it's to all of our benefit that she took on the role as it's easily the best she's had since her Oscar-winning performance in Walk the Line.

Penned by the great novelist Nick Hornby, who has written a book or two about personal redemption, Wild details Strayed's extraordinary 1100-mile hike along the Pacific Crest Trail, an attempt to walk herself away from a history of bad choice and personal tragedies, in hopes of finding the woman she wants to be on the other side. We've seen these kinds of stories before, in fact one very recently in Tracks, which told nearly an identical true-life tale of redemption. The two share much in common from an aesthetic and thematic standpoint, but Wild is the more complete film by far, one that bristles with emotional resonance and enlightenment.

Beginning at a moment when her journey has taken an unexpectedly precarious (and bloody) turn, the story then splits two-fold, one in the present and another mostly in flashback. And there are plenty of flashbacks; flashbacks of every kind, in fact, but all are necessary to dot the points in Strayed's life that drove her to make such an audacious decision. She's not a hiker; or at least not an experienced one, and this is a dangerous trek for those who know what they're doing. What's obvious right away is that something terrible must have happened, either to her or caused by her, that led to this. When we see her struggling to even begin the hike, literally stumbling under the weight of her gigantic backpack (nicknamed "monster" by others), we know it's just the start of an arduous ordeal that she may not walk away from.

The particulars of her past are doled out in bits an pieces, flashes of memory blurred with reality. In actuality they aren't all that hard to figure out or understand. We see her loving and forgiving ex-husband (Thomas Sadoski), who she cheated on with multiple men while on a downward spiral of heroine abuse. The root cause of her self-destruction concerns her angelic mother (Laura Dern), whom Strayed both loves and begrudges. It's a little weird to think of Dern as Witherspoon's mother considering how close they are in age, but it works because their relationship they share is closer to that of siblings than mother and daughter. Casting isn't the issue; both women are phenomenal here, in particular Witherspoon in a grueling, captivating performance as vital as anything you'll see all year.

More troublesome is the fractured narrative and redundant use of flashback that makes it difficult for the film to find a steady rhythm. It's a small price to pay for a deeper understanding of Strayed, and we come to see the extent of her self-afflicted heartache. What's even more fascinating is her attitude about the choices she's made, suggesting at one point she'd do it all over again, the drugs and the random hook-ups, not because they inform who she is now but because they were enjoyable. They did what they were supposed to do which is serve as a diversion, but if Strayed wants a future those behaviors simply can't continue. Deeper shades of her personality peek out along the way,especially during her interactions with others, who are almost exclusively men. These encounters add a tinge of danger because, let's face it, she's a woman out alone in the woods surrounded by guys who may not have seen a female in months. So much about Wild works in just the right ways that what doesn't tends to stand out. Strayed's quoting of great poets comes off as a weak attempt at profundity which we never really see in Strayed, while the occasional appearance of a spirit animal is a little too on-the-nose for a film that strives so hard to stay grounded elsewhere.

Wild is another bold effort from Vallee, who directed Matthew McConaughey to an Oscar for Dallas Buyers Club. He seems to have the touch for pulling career-defining performances out of his stars (he gave Emily Blunt her breakout role in The Young Victoria), and Witherspoon proves more than up to the task. Raw, emotionally and physically fatigued, it's great to see her in something meaningful again. She may no longer be America's sweetheart like she was years ago, but roles like this could turn that around real quick. Beautiful panoramic views aside, there's little to the cinematography truly captures the dangerous terrain Strayed must tread; Mother Nature is never the constant threat we would expect her to be. She's not much of a threat at all, really. The real battle is within Strayed, urged by others and sometimes herself to quit; the perseverance she shows is infectious and makes us want to tag along on her journey.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

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Two Clips from Ramin Bahrani's '99 Homes' Starring Andrew Garfield and Michael Shannon

Ramin Bahrani's obsession with the plight of the common man has been felt mightily in his first four features, Man Push Cart, Chop Shop, Goodbye Solo, and last year's compelling if flawed At Any Price. That was his biggest film to date, with Zac Efron and Dennis Quaid starring in the heartland-set drama about farm workers. Bahrani's latest, 99 Homes, follows a similar tract as his prior movies and explores the disreputable acts that ruined lives during the housing crisis.

Andrew Garfield, Michael Shannon, and Laura Dern head up a small but strong cast for 99 Homes, and two clips have arrived to show how Bahrani plans to tackle an issue that is still plaguing America today. Garfield, taking a much-needed break from Spider-Man for awhile, plays Dennis Nash, the head of a family evicted from their home by Mike Carver (Shannon), a charismatic, unscrupulous real estate agent. When Carver offers Nash a ton of money and his home back to work for him, Nash is forced to do to other home owners what was done to him.

99 Homes recently had its premiere at the Venice Film Festival where it is competing for the prestigious Golden Lion award.


'99 Homes' Clip #1- Andrew Garfield, Michael Shannon, Ramin Bahrani by Punch Drunk Critics


'99 Homes' Clip #2- Andrew Garfield, Michael Shannon, Ramin Bahrani by Punch Drunk Critics

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Review: 'When The Game Stands Tall' starring Jim Caviezel, Michael Chiklis, and Laura Dern

When the Game Stands Tall stars Jim Caviezel as Coach Bob Ladouceur who led the De La Salle High School varsity Football team to a 151 record-setting winning streak and what happens as the streak effects his life and those of his family and players. See here’s the thing; most people, me included, are pretty easy to please with a sports movie. Especially a HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL MOVIE! This is America and we love football. Here we have a movie with Caviezel portraying this almost perfect coach in terms of his moral standing and reasoning for coaching these kids. These kids are perfect at least the ones in the beginning of the movie. The seniors that are leaving are great, demigod-like athletes with wholesome attitudes like they all came from Smallville, Kansas. After the first 15 minutes or so just about every bad thing that can happen to the team happens, just as they are beginning to be led by a new group of flawed senior athletes. It’s all serious; old players die, some players lose all their family, and some experience major incapacitating injuries.

It begins to feel like a little too much as major sad events are piled on and a Christian-themed message is forced into the story. They all feel out of place and like the movie doesn’t know what it wants to be. Does it want to be a sports movie or a spiritually uplifting movie? I don’t know if the film makers know themselves. The movie is also totally too long and poorly paced throughout. The movie would’ve been a lot better if they would’ve just focused on the team’s fall from grace and the need for the team to rally together in time for a major game against the country’s best team. What happens is that the story’s true climax happens in the middle of the film.

There are a lot of well-filmed football scenes throughout the movie along with some decent performances. What they are performing doesn’t always make a lot of sense, but what is worse is the team’s triumph doesn’t feel earned at all. It’s a movie where you watch a great high school football program that won 151 times lose a game and then goes right back to winning.  It’s not like watching the underdogs come up and reach the championship or something like We Are Marshall where something completely terrible happens and the whole community comes together to support the players on the field. It’s just like watching Johnny Manziel not get picked first in the draft. Like am I supposed to feel sad? Really?

In the end I’m just surprised that a sports movie could be this lackluster in every way imaginable. Somewhere it’s like a whole lot of people really liked this true story and tried really hard to make a movie out of it. The saddest part is that to me they totally failed at doing it and I think the real people in this story deserve way better.

 Rating: 1.5 out of 5

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Review: 'The Fault In Our Stars' Starring Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort

One of the great things about John Green's novel, The Fault In Our Stars, is that it isn't a typical cancer story. It isn't a typical anything, really, and even loosely considering it a "cancer story" seems like a momentary injustice. Nor does it quite conform to our traditional notions of sappy, angst-ridden teen romances. There's something quite extraordinary about the novel; its realized characters and full-hearted story of exceptional love, both of the romantic variety and the unbreakable love a parent has for their child. And because of all the things the book gets so right, the fact of Josh Boone's big screen adaptation nailing them so perfectly makes the film all the more special.

Right away the lead character, Hazel Grace Lancaster (Shailene Woodley) lets you know this isn't going to your average everyday story, either. Hazel is a brilliant, witty, well-read young woman who also happens to have thyroid cancer that has spread to her lungs. Because of it she carries an oxygen tank around with her and has little tubes connected to her nose. But her outlook on the situation is more acerbic than grim, with her clever and funny observations on "cancer perks" drawing the attention of Augustus "Gus" Waters (Ansel Elgort), a handsome, 18-year-old she meets at a cancer support group. Not exactly the ideal meet-cute, but then again nothing about their situation is truly ideal, which makes them finding one another such a thing of pure magic.

See, Augustus is currently in remission from osteosarcoma, ending his basketball career when the disease took his leg. Like Hazel, he has a somewhat offbeat perspective on life, and where she's a bit bleak he's of a sunnier disposition. They complete one another and learn from one another in just about every way imaginable. A voracious reader, Hazel introduces Gus to her favorite book, An Imperial Affliction, an extensive tome from a reclusive author now holed up in Amsterdam. Gus loves Hazel almost immediately, ingratiating himself into her life and charming her parents (Laura Dern and Sam Trammell), even though Hazel remains distant in an effort to hurt as few people as possible.

Green's novel, written with incredible care and emotional heft, does much of the heavy lifting for screenwriters Michael H. Weber and Scott Neustadter (500 Days of Summer and The Spectacular Now); both old hands at penning romances that are a little off the beaten path. They also know how to work with Woodley, who is content presenting Hazel and all of her flaws and quirks. Despite this being a story with a somewhat inevitably heart-wrenching conclusion, none of the characters are treated with kid gloves. Hazel has her issues; she's as stubborn and moody as she is funny and passionate. And while Woodley is careful not to make Hazel too precious, Elgort has the difficult job of making the all-too-perfect Gus seem like a real person. A boy with a fondness for grand symbolic gestures, Gus will give you flashbacks of Say Anything's Lloyd Dobbler, and Elgort's performance on par with John Cusack's. Elgort, who played Woodley's brother in Divergent just a couple of months ago, exudes confidence without being brash. Both he and Woodley capture the frailty and strength in these wonderful, unforgettable characters. Beyond the terrific pop culture references there are so many quotable lines that you'll want to try them out on your significant other.

There are a few small changes from the novel that don't completely work, mainly in the streamlining of the relationship between Hazel and Gus. It's almost too planned, too preordained the journey they are on. As wonderful and heartbreaking as the performances by Dern and Trammell, there needed to be more of Hazel's relationship with her parents, who are on just as much of an emotional roller coaster. But these are small quibbles, and to include more would detract from every cherished moment with Gus and Hazel, and we simply can't have that. The Fault In Our Stars isn't a story about two people dying from cancer, but of two people who lived and loved to the fullest extent despite it. Everything that made John Green's book so great is here, so maybe just this once the world really is "a wish-granting factory."

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Trailer for Football Drama ''When the Game Stands Tall'

As the glitz, glamor, and fat paychecks of the NFL splash onto the big screen with Draft Day (review of that here, by the way), some may prefer to go back to a time when football was simpler. The first trailer for When the Game Stands Tall has been released, telling the inspirational true story of Northern California's De La Salle High School football coach, Bob Ladouceur, played by Jim Caviezel.  Lacouceur had led his team to the longest winning streak in history, spanning 12 years and 151 straight victories, but when they finally suffer a loss, he must deal with the self-doubt and backlash that follows.

Thomas Carter (Coach Carter) directs, with Alexander Ludwig, Laura Dern, and Michael Chiklis co-starring. When the Game Stands Tall takes the field on August 22nd.

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Review: 'Jurassic Park 3D'

The year of 1993 was pretty awesome in terms of years in pop culture. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers started, Mortal Kombat II was released into arcades and politicians nightmares, and A Tribe Called Quest released 'Midnight Marauders'. But in film it should be of note that Steven Spielberg changed the game of film once again with Jurassic Park that summer. It was one of the most built up movies at the time from the release of the trailer at that point no had seen CGI that real before on screen or on anything else.  This film was a phenom, it was released during the times when a film would be in the theater for months on end and it wasn’t on home video in 10 weeks.  Now in 2013 on the 20^th anniversary of its release they are bringing it back in 3D.

So for those that might be a bit foggy on this twenty year-old film, Jurassic Park is a theme park owned by John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) CEO of InGen. After a mishap where a park employee dies on the job the investors wants experts to visit the park to certify if it’s safe. Hammond goes and finds paleontologist Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neil) and Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern). The investors are being represented by attorney Donald Gennaro who brings mathematician Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) who is also a chaos theorist to be the investors’ expert. The park is unlike any other park since its main attraction is that it has real live dinosaurs. As Hammond shows the scientists around and explains how they were able to bring dinosaurs back to life, Hammond’s two grandchildren join them in touring the entire park.

So really what do you say about this film that is a cinematic classic? What is there to critique now? Clearly the film stands the test of time and is also one of the most influential films in terms of the
history of special effects. The one thing that is very open to critique is the addition of 3D to the film. To tell the truth the 3D really adds nothing since it’s never consistent throughout the entire runtime. A lot of things that they tried to add depth to is really unnoticeable , as it's mostly in the viewer’s peripheral vision.

Another thing that’s an issue is that there are long segments of the film with really no noticeable 3D going on the screen. It makes it feel that this decision was rushed to do this and that even though it’s a quick money grab you’d hope that the people doing the conversion would take a bit more care to actually make it impressive and awesome enough to compare with the many other 3D conversions coming out all the time.

One great thing about seeing this re-released in 3D is the chance to not only re-experience it in the cinema again, or the first time for some people, is the chance to see this landmark film in IMAX. No
matter your feelings on post-converted 3D films being shown in the format it’s still really cool to see this film with dinosaurs on a screen that large. It makes something already larger than life even grander. This is a film that still holds up well after 20 years and even though the 3D really isn’t worth the price of admission the film itself totally is.

The film score

3D score

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