Headhunters
Starring: Aksel Hennie, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Julie R Olgaard,
Director: Morten Tyldum

A Headhunter risks it all to steal a valuable painting owned by a former mercenary

Roger Brown (Aksel Hennie) is a successful yet diminutive headhunter, short in stature with a taste for the finer things. A gorgeous wife a fabulous home and a mistress for on the side, the only problem for Roger is that although he makes good money he doesn’t make that good of money. Enter Rogers side job, when not trying to fill high profile positions he moonlights as an Art thief. Enter Clas Greve (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) a former mercenary who happens to be in possession of a painting that could be Rogers final score. In the midst of acquiring the painting from Clas’ residence he finds his wife’s cell phone, bringing into question her ability to be faithful.  The next thing Roger knows is he in the midst of a cat and mouse game and being hunted by Clas.

Headhunters is the first film based on the works of famed Norweigan Author Jo Nesbø, For those that don’t know Nesbø is considered to be the biggest author out of Norway since Stieg Larson. Headhunters is already being fastracked for an American adaptation with Mark Wahlberg rumored to be attached.

To go heavily into the plot would be to give away the constant twists and turns. The cast is stellar with Hennie (who can best be described as a Nordic Steve Buscemi) is able to exude such a level of empathy as Roger to ultimately win the audience over, slowly you find yourself pulling for the bug eyed art thief who is beyond being in over his head. Roger finds himself  going from one extreme situation to the next trying to outwit Clas, the Man who is Rogers polar opposite Tall, Handsome, Wealthy and well trained in military tactics, Clas is everything that Roger wishes he could be.

Morten Tyldum’s direction brings to the screen a darkly humorous and surprisingly violent thriller that is a wild ride from start to finish. Headhunters odd mixture of offbeat characters in over there head mixed with a criminal element can best  be likened to the works of the Cohen bros, Its Fargo meets The Thomas Crown Affair.

Grade- 91

 

Save your time on the Wicker Tree. If there is some slight interest rent or download  the Wicker Man, (for Nostalgia purposes only). life is precious and the time you spend watching the wicker tree is time you will never be able to get back. After you watch it your mind will try to black the experience out like you suffered a childhood trauma. Yes the Wicker Tree is as bad as getting fondled by a creepy uncle.

I can only imagine that Christopher Lee is repaying a debt as for his brief inclusion in this debacle. The acting is wretched,  Brittania Nicol and Henry Garrett as the southern fried bible humping pair of human Naivete will leave you begging for them to be killed off five minutes from their characters introductions.  The story is worse than  a weak re- imagining of the the wicker man, Neither scary nor thought provoking. This Wicker Tree should be clear cut like an Amazonian Rainforest.

 

Grade- 43

Kshay (US Title is Corrosion)

Starring: Rasika Dugal, Alekh Sangal, Sudhir Pednekar

Directed by: Karan Gour

 

A Womans need for an unfinished sculpture becomes an Obsession

Chhaya(Rasika Dugal) longs for a child unable to conceive she longs for an unfinished statue of Lakshmi the Hindu goddess of fertility, in hopes that she will be able to carry child. Wherever Chhaya goes she sees various images of Lakshmi further cementing the idea that she alone must aquire this Lakshmi. The only thing in her way is the 15,000 rupee price tag, The pressure is quickly put on her husband Arvind (Alekh Sangal) to come up with the money. With Arvind experience work difficulties forcing a career change Chhaya is left alone for 10 day while Arvind is out of town on business. Without supervision Chhaya is left to her own devices to come up with the money for Lakshmi.

Kshay is what would be classified as a micro budget film having been written, directed, produced, edited and scored by Karan Gour. In all it took four years to film with a crew of two. It is the epitome of the term independent. The entire film rests on the performance of Rasika Dugal who is the embodiment of a slow decent into obsession bordering on madness, and I buy what she is selling her  performance is understated, emoting through her expressive eyes. For such a small film it is beautifully shot with moments of visual strangeness, whether it be the unfolding lotus or her conversations with Lakshmi there is a uniqueness that can maybe only be compared with the work of David Lynch. The sound mix is superb engulfing the viewer while creating a feeling of discomfort at the same time. Kshay truly must be a labour of love as the finished product leads one to believe that a much larger crew with a much higher budget is responsible. It’s exciting to see such a new and unique voice come out of India.

Grade- 83

 

Starring: Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth, Anna Hutchinson, Fran Kranz

Director: Drew Goddard

Rated: R

5 Kids stay at a creepy cabin in the woods and find themselves dealing with the undead, You think you have seen this movie before you haven’t

 

Five stereotypical friends pack into an RV and head out to a cabin that if you cant tell from the title is located in the woods. The crew even gets directions from a chaw spitting backwoods hillbilly of a gas attendant. Upon finding the cabin it becomes quickly apparent that not all is as it seemed to be.

 

Director Goddard (Cloverfield) teams back up with nerd boy deity Joss Whedon (Buffy, Angel, Firefly, The Avengers) to cowrite the story which is hellbent on taking every genre convention and turning it on its head. TCIW provides a new slant and take on the tried and true classic horror genre of Teenage slasher in the woods films. The cast is laid out with your standard group of teens the Athlete/Slutty girl couple (Hemsworth/Hutchinson), the sensitive smart guy(Jesse Williams), the nice girl (Kristen Conolly) who is just hoping to have some fun with her friends and the stoner (Fran Kranz) keen on conspiracy theories and purveyor of the coolest bong to ever hit the screen. When the basement door opens and they find a diary all sorts of crazy starts to happen. Add to that a mysterious control room run by Sitterson (Richard Jenkins) and Hadley (Bradley Whitford) who seamlessly shift between mundane office banter to hysterical one liner, to a serious tone, Jenkins and Whitford prove to be a formidable pair, their dialogue is smart and brings an added an unexpected dimension, bringing to such esteemed actors into the movie was genius casting.

 

Every once in a while a Horror Movie comes out that is a game changer or redefines a genre that has found itself quickly growing stale,while being completely self aware of the traditional parameters it is working within. The 90′s gave us Scream and now we have one for the 10′s minus having to slap people in the face with “rules” The Cabin in The Woods is able to take the audience on a mind bending trip, rather than being a straight horror film it utilizes the conventions of horror to take us on a completely new ride. Part horror film, part comedy and completely refreshing.

 

Grade-89

 

 

 

 

The Hunger Games

Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth

Director: Gary Ross

 

Set in the future where 12 districts must present a boy and a girl to the capitol so they can fight to the death on Television.

The Hunger Games is the latest Young Adult sensation to get the Silver Screen treatment based on the books of Author Suzanne Collins.  Set in a post apocalyptic world in a land called Panem formerly North America. Every year each of the 12 districts of Panem hold a lottery to select one boy and one girl to compete in what is known as The Hunger Games, When Prim Everdeen(Willow Shields) is selected as a participant, Her odler sister Katniss  volunteers as “Tribute” to take her place.

Quickly Katniss and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) are whisked away to the Capitol where they meet former winner and current degenerate Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson) who is to be their mentor, and Cinna (Lenny Kravitz) who is responsible for their Makeovers before they go into the woods with the rest of the children to kill each other.

For 80% of the running time The Hunger Games is a fun if not overly hyped film, a combination of the Asian film Battle Royale and the Stephen King penned Schwarzenegger classic The Running Man.  The time spent prepping for the games is actually more fun than the actual games. For a movie about killing everyone there is surprising little bloodshed on screen, even the most violent part is cut in such a way to never really show anything long enough for it to register.  Rather than see the kids get offed one by one you hear the roar of a cannon and a picture in the sky showing those who have fallen.  This is easily acceptable given the PG-13 rating, where the film lost me was the ridiculous love triangle, thrown in the latter half of the movie. For such a strong young woman as Katniss , I couldn’t help but be bewildered that she falls for Peeta over him giving her a soggy crust of bread back at home. Her boyfriend Gale (Liam Hemsworth) is back in district 12 watching out for Katniss’ mom and daughter while Katniss is playing paddy cake with the baker man. To add further insult the audience is force fed how Peeta is the Zartan of The Hunger Games and can camouflage himself like a gecko simply because he used to decorate cakes, Mind you this guy makes himself look like a river rock without any make up or a mirror. He should be training special forces teams not fighting other children to the death or pining for Katniss.

The Hunger Games sucked me in only to spit me out with the tacked on Twilight ending.  I didn’t care about Peeta or the love triangle I was more interested in the strange land and overcoming the insurmountable obstacle of battling to the death, or even contemplating the styling choice of Seneca Cranes (Wes Bentley) Facial Hair.  The Hunger Games has way more to offer than tween romance, but alas I realize that without that angle the Tweens and Soccer Moms of the world wouldn’t be as interested.

 

Grade- 86

 

American Reunion

Starring: Jason Biggs, Alyson Hannigan, Seann William Scott, Chris Kline,

Directors: Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg

Rated R:

 

The Class of East Great Falls 1999 reunites for their thirteenth Class reunion.

It’s been nine years since the latest installment of of American Pie, for the first time everyone from the original has reunited for a trip back to East Great Falls to gather for their thirteen year Class Reunion. What does this mean, awkward and unnecessary cameos and forced character back story explanations. As usual Jim (Jason Biggs) is the centerpiece of the core group of friends traveling back home to stay with his Dad (Eugene Levy) whose wife passed away three years ago. The first half hour is a huge slice of stale pie, you not only get to witness each character as they are now but then they meet and you get more unnecessary back story, if they were such great friends and have kept in contact they might not have needed such banal filler.

 

Jim and Michelle’s (Alyson Hannigan) love life is stagnant after having a son two years ago. Finch (Eddie Kay Thomas) is still the knowledgeable traveler going on about his worldly adventures, Oz (Chris Klein) is now a sportscaster who appeared on a dancing show, Kevin (Thomas Ian Nicholas) is still irrelevant and just as boring as ever, And Stifler (Seann William Scott) now works for a large financial firm.  Quickly the group realizes that they have all gotten older yet they can’t help but try to rekindle their teenage hijinx.

 

Directors Jon and Hayden are said to be huge fans of the original and it’s painfully obvious, they start out with a Jim masturbation sequence that is unfunny, then they add a Jim embarrassed in the kitchen sequence that doesn’t work either. It isn’t until Stifler is unleashed that any form of humor comes to the screen. It isn’t for lack of effort but where the first was original the latest installment just makes you feel like they asked the cast what they were up to and when they all said nothing at the same time they decided to make a movie.

 

As with every American Pie movie they push the sexual shenanigans until it’s time for the heartwarming ending,  and this one is no exception. American Reunion Tries way to hard to shock the audience and outdo previous installments in the series, resulting in forced unfunny moments for the majority of the film.  Klein whispers his way as OZ through the entire film, Channeling his inner Keanu Reeves, Thomas Ian Nicholas’ Kevin would have provided more on screen entertainment if they killed him off or gave him a lame Shannon Elizabeth style cameo.  All I can say is thank god for Seann William Scott, without him this is a straight to video crap fest, Stifler is the saving grace, He singlehandedly makes the film enjoyable.

 

Grade- 79