Wright Now

Deception: A ‘List’ of Reasons to be Skeptical

                

When something seems like it’s too good to be true, it usually is.

Deception picks on loner Jonathan McQuarry (Ewan McGregor), an obedient and orderly accountant living in Manhattan, whose stale life becomes vastly more interesting when he meets a lawyer named Wyatt Bose (Hugh Jackman).

After a long day of auditing, Jonathan is bequeathed with Wyatt’s friendship and they share a joint and some laughs. Of course this meeting is all too random, but Jonathan is too trusting (and perhaps too desperate) to pay attention.

One tennis match and a friendly lunch later, the new friends accidentally swap phones. That night,  Jonathan gets an anonymous phone call asking “are you free tonight?” and is given an address of where to meet. This awkward introduction plunges him into an underground sex club where upper-crust, Wall Street-types meet up at some of the classiest hotels.

Johnathan falls for a girl from “The List” known as “S” (Michelle Williams), whom he’s also run into on the subway. After their first date, she goes missing and Jonathan must deal with violent demands involving lots of money.

When you watch heist-type films, it’s not necessarily about the end but the means; someone will get punished, but what we’re looking for is how many convincing twists the director can throw at us. Deception has its moments, but is not necessarily outstanding, which I’m guessing is why it seems to have gone unnoticed.

Highlights mostly had to do with Jackman playing the role of the villain; a dynamic that I’ve never actually seen from him before. Director Marcel Langenegger did an impressive job of showing numerous shots of Manhattan, and used stellar lighting to create a vibrant contrast between the characters and nightlife.

Watch the trailer here: trailers.apple.com/trailers/fox/deception/

Halloween has come and gone, but here are slides 6 & 7 

6.  The Grudge (Directed by Takashi Simizu): Japanese horror delivers some of the best and scariest psychological, tension-building plots. Karen Davis (Sarah Michelle Gellar) lives in Tokyo with her boyfriend as an exchange student studying social work. She kindly agrees to fill in for an outpatient nurse who didn’t show up to work. The assigned home belongs to an elderly woman named Emma who has a severe sleeping disorder. As the story thickens, you discover that those who enter the house become plagued with a curse that mercilessly ensnares its victims in a vengeful death. Karen soon finds out about the house’s past and the evil that never left.

                                      

7.  Sin City (Directed by Frank Miller & Robert Rodriguez, Quentin Tarantino - guest director) Not necessarily terrifying, but stylistically ravishing and undeniably evil. Sin City is a clever film noir and precise adaptation of three stories from Miller’s graphic novels.

The plot is ripe with dialog that mirrors the dramatic overtones conveyed by the black and white, gritty lens. An intricate storyline of corruption dressed as four distinctive forces: a muscular outcast looking to revenge the death of his beloved Goldie, a cop with a “bum-ticker” out to protect a little girl from a pedophile, a vigil ante, and a corrupt, ultra-violent cop out to make some extra cash.

                             

Zombies, deserted houses, and survivng an internal attack: Slides 3-5 on the Reel

3.   28 Days Later (Directed by Danny Boyle) I don’t really think I need to explain this one, zombies are terrifying and people should just keep their mouths shut when the viral apocalypse hits. No Cillian Murphy, there’s no need to say “hello?” when you suspect you’re not alone.

After animal rights activists release chimps infected with “the rage” from a research lab the infection spreads to the rest of the UK. Only a handful of survivors are left and must find safety.

In 28 Days zombies are fast and not the kind to meander forward with outstretched arms, looking sickly and slow. No, this is what Max Brooks had in mind.

                 

4.   Evil Dead II (Directed by Sam Raimi) The second stop on the crazy train, and arguably the best of the Evil Dead trilogy, embodies all that is legitimate horror with outstanding cinematographic technique and the genius of Bruce Campbell.

Ash Williams (Campbell) takes his girlfriend to a secluded cabin in the woods where he plays back  recordings from passages of The Book of the Dead that unleash evil spirits who are out for blood. Campbell’s animated facial expressions and wicked laugh are both hilarious and believable. Bulging eyes, menacing grins, and stealthy wielding of a chainsaw deliver some of the best highlights of Raimi’s sophomore effort. Low-barreling shots and close-ups create just the right amount of suspense.

This late 1980’s classic is one of my favorite films and one that I’m (finally) not too terrified to see again and again.

                                     

5.   The Thing (Directed by John Carpenter) 

“I know I’m human. And if you were all these things, then you’d just attack me right now, so some of you are still human. This thing doesn’t want to show itself, it wants to hide inside an imitation. It’ll fight if it has to, but it’s vulnerable out in the open. If it takes us over, then it has no more enemies, nobody left to kill it. And then it’s won,” said MacReady (Kurt Russell).

Imagine being attacked from the inside out?

A group of scientists and workers at an American research base in the Antarctic are interrupted by discovery of an alien life-form that can assume the appearance of anyone it encounters. Trust is tested as and everyone is on edge with growing suspicions of who might be infected.

                            

I’m excited to see what Director Matthijs van Heijiningen Jr does with his 2011 prelude to Carpenter’s 1982 original. The prelude was released in theaters earlier this month on October 14th. Watch the trailer here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0905372/

You have less than ‘7 days’: Slide 2 on the Reel

2.  The Ring (Directed by Gore Verbinski) I really need to stop writing these late at night…Any conversation with friends about this flick and even the most lion-like of them agree that The Ring is indeed “one of the creepiest.” Unable to look away, we watch Rachel, an investigative journalist (Naomi Watts), as she pursues the mystery behind the death of her niece who dies one week after watching a video. After researching similar cases and watching the video herself, it’s a race against the clock before Rachel meets the same fate…Let’s just say you Google a picture on your own time and get back to me.

Halloween Countdown: A Daily Reel to Hold You Over

I have braved a very limited amount of horror/thriller films, precisely because my wimp-like nature forbids it—-however, there are a handful from this genre that I’ve managed to watch (through my fingers), that might instill just enough terror to keep you hiding under your covers till the big day. Here’s the daily skinny on what’s legit, in no particular order:

1. Drag Me to Hell (Directed by Sam Raimi)
   

Raimi returns to his Evil Dead stomping grounds on a much bigger budget that magnifies his signature hysteria-inducing methods and comic timing. Alison Lohman (Big Fish) stars as Christine Brown, an ambitious loan officer up for a promotion whose young life is blossoming with potential, everything seems to be lining up. The opportunity to impress her boss presents itself with a difficult decision to evict an old gypsy woman from her home…worst choice ever. (No need to be badass, Christine!)

Lorna Raver plays the devilishly vicious gypsy, wearing a malevolent eye and hacking acid-green phlegm: the kind of customer that makes you sorry you came into work. As Raver pleads for an extension, Christine calls for security, shaming Ms. Gypsy in front of the entire office.

A hiss of the Lamia hex is all it takes and Christine’s life plan is violently derailed, with nowhere to hide and no one to believe her. This is a truly brilliant horror film that keeps you on the edge of your seat, poised to hide your eyes, and generally promises that you’ll never deny a gypsy an extension…EVER.

                            

‘Beginners’: This Is What Brilliant Looks Like 2011

Arthur isn’t just a dog, he’s a pal that gets what you’re saying in “150 words” and can offer advice with just a look (and of course, witty penning from Director/Screenwriter Mike Mills).

A couple weeks ago, I saw Mills’ Beginners : an emotionally honest telling of a father-son relationship, with truly one of the best performances I’ve seen from Ewan McGregor.

Beginners has you from the moment you sit down, dig into your bucket of over-salted popcorn, and first sip your fizzling soda. You’re intrigued, this isn’t going to be your regular, run-of-the-mill cancer story, it’s going to have character.

Hal (Christopher Plummer) is Oliver’s (Ewan McGregor) gay Dad, only Oliver is 38 years old and ‘gay’ is the first of two major announcements Oliver is finally hearing. The second is terminal cancer. It’s hard to think that cancer can have character, but don’t tell that to Laura Linney—-and better yet, don’t tell Chris Plummer.

Oliver is a graphic artist whose naturally sullen demeanor is worsened by his father’s death, after the passing of his mother six months earlier. We learn through a series of flashbacks about Hals’ relationship with his younger boyfriend Andy, and about what growing up looked like to Oliver as a kid. You understand Oliver’s perspective on love based on Hal’s distant, cordial relationship with Oliver’s somewhat eccentric mother; and why Oliver never really believes relationships will work out.

Chris Plummer does an amazing job of being a cool, calm, and collected Dad who can hit up the gay bars and get a kick out of house music. His personal ad is charming and you get what Andy sees in him. Even with the big C looming over Hal, Chris plays the role with optimism and a sense of overall life fulfillment.

                        

Melanie Laurent (Inglorious Basterds) is Oliver’s beautiful French girlfriend. She shares the same wandering perspective on life since she has also had personal losses of her own. Their relationship is honest, smart, and vividly compatible.

What I immediately fell in love with is all the close-ups and use of soft color, it makes everything appear incredibly intimate, allowing us a closer look from behind the film’s grainy veil. I think what resonated with me the most was the parallels drawn between the slides of “this is how/what ____ looked like in ____” and the reality of the situation for Oliver. The scene where his record cover artwork of The Sads is rejected and eventually gaining approval from the artists seemed rather pivotal, everything trickles down. Practically everything in this film screams “rebirth,” and by the end we agree that this is self-discovery at its finest. 

Check out this link to an interview with Mike Mills: http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/24/mike-mills-o-beginners/

Volunteering at Newport Beach Film Fest

http://www.newportbeachfilmfest.com/2011/