Now Available: July 10, 2018

Posted on by Jeremy Calcara.

Welcome to Now Available, where we’ll give you a quick review of a film we didn’t cover when it was released in theaters that’s releasing for home viewing this week, along with a list of everything else and where you can see our coverage on it. 

Late on July 18, 1969, a vehicle driven by Senator Ted Kennedy swerved off of a bridge, landing on its roof in Poucha Pond on Chappaquiddick Island, Massachusetts. While Senator Kennedy was able to get out of the vehicle and safely make it to shore, his passenger, the 28 year old Mary Jo Kopechne, died in the vehicle. Kennedy fled the scene of the accident and didn’t report it for over 9 hours. Due to conflicting accounts over the years by Kennedy and his associates who were were with him both in the hours before and after the accident, as well as coroner reports that indicated Kopechne died of suffocation, not drowning, have led to much speculation over the past 49 years about what actually happened that night. Did the accident happen as described by its only survivor? If so, why did he wait so long to report it? Were Kennedy’s actions properly dealt with or was this a case where the influence wielded by one of the United States’ most powerful families allowed justice to be undermined?

John Curran’s Chappaquiddick efforts to retell this murky story in a way that focuses on established facts to show the social and political ramifications of the incident while responsibly filling in some of the holes in the official version of the story. Jason Clarke leads an impressive cast as Kennedy, proving to be more than up to the task of transforming himself into the “Lion of the Senate.” Most everyone has a generic Kennedy impression somewhere in their repertoire, but Clarke surpasses mere imitation by playing the character as a man weighed down by his perceived responsibility to be who his father expects him to be as the only surviving Kennedy son following the assassination of his brother Robert just a month prior to the incident. His brother John’s shadow also looms large in the film, as much of the background noise is of televisions and radios tuned in to hear about Apollo 11’s journey to the moon, an endeavor fiercely supported by the late president that occurred on the same weekend as the accident. Ed Helms gives a rare but capable dramatic performance as Joseph Gargan, the cousin to Kennedy who became the estranged from the family as a result of the incident. Gargan is the conscience of the film and most of the blanks filled in on the story are consistent with the real life Gargan’s recollections of the incident in the 1988 book Senatorial Privilege: The Chappaquiddick Cover-Up by Leo Demore. Jim Gaffigan gives a surprisingly balanced performance as Kennedy family friend and Massachusetts District Attorney Paul F. Markham, a man burdened by his loyalty to the Kennedy’s as he goes about the icky business of effectively spinning the death of a young woman in a way that would salvage a promising political career. Curran’s direction and the screenplay are tight, giving the film an even pace and the feel of a thriller. I’m always impressed when a director is able to make a well-known event feel like anything could happen, and Curran is able to accomplish that here. It’s a well balanced film that avoids promoting salacious conspiracy theories but doesn’t paint a flattering picture of the senator either. 

Overall Chappaquiddick is an impressive film buoyed by a dynamite lead performance by Clarke. It’s definitely worth the price of a Redbox. It’s probably even still worth it if you forget to return it for a day or two.

Also available this week:

A Quiet Place: Patrick and Aaron discussed this film with special guest Patrick Willems on Episode 104 of the podcast and Aaron wrote a review here.

The Leisure Seeker

Lean on Pete

211

Future World

Sweet Country

Jeremy Calcara is a contributing member of the Feelin’ Film team. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter to be notified when new content is posted.

Now Available: July 3, 2018

Posted on by Jeremy Calcara.

Welcome to Now Available, where we’ll give you a quick review of a film we didn’t cover when it was released in theaters that’s releasing for home viewing this week, along with a list of everything else and where you can see our coverage on it. 

It’s 1982 and Lebanon is embroiled in civil war. Former US Diplomat Mason Skiles (Jon Hamm) is compelled to return to the city where his wife was murdered ten years earlier to negotiate the return of a kidnapped former colleague. Racing against the timeline of the abductors, Skiles must attempt to meet their demands while navigating around multiple obstacles in the form of the State Department and the CIA.

Brad Anderson’s Beirut is a tense thriller that’s elevated by what may be my favorite film role in Jon Hamm’s career. For the most part, I’ve found Hamm’s dramatic film roles to be pretty bland, but as any Mad Men fan could tell you, playing a highly functional alcoholic with the keen ability to tell people what it is they want to hear is right in his wheelhouse, in fact it might be his wheelhouse. Rosamund Pike is, of course, great, and a little under utilized, as CIA officer and Skiles’ handler Sandy Crowder. When the story threatens to get bogged down with one too many complications, Hamm and Pike never let it become anything less than interesting. The cinematography is occasionally too dark, but for the most part it’s perfect in its dirty, gritty aesthetic. The story is intriguing, although occasionally it threatens to spin too tangled a web. Setting the story against the backdrop of an actual historical war is a nice touch that gives even the calmer moments a sense of urgency. 

Overall, while it doesn’t do anything to really separate itself in the genre, strong performances make the film worth checking out. Beirut is a pretty solid choice for a quiet Sunday night on the sofa.

Also available this week:

Blockers: You can read my review of this fun twist on the teen sex comedy here.

7 Days in Entebbe

Borg vs. McEnroe

Finding Your Feet

Journey’s End

Ismael’s Ghosts

Another Wolf Cop

The Female Mind

The Cured

Jeremy Calcara is a contributing member of the Feelin’ Film team. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter to be notified when new content is posted.

Now Available: June 26, 2018

Posted on by Jeremy Calcara.

Welcome to our newest feature, Now Available, where we’ll give you a quick review of a film we didn’t cover when it was released in theaters that’s releasing for home viewing this week, along with a list of everything else and where you can see our coverage on it. 

They say that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned and Melinda Moore-Gayle (Taraji P. Henson) is a living embodiment of that statement. After spending 18 years supporting her deadbeat inventor husband only to see him hit it big after they split, she’s out to get the life she was promised at any cost. But is her assessment of the situation coming from reality or a damaged and skewed perception? These are the questions one is left to ponder in Tyler Perry’s Acrimony.

Since this is Feelin’ Film, I’ll start with the positive. Acrimony doesn’t telegraph where it’s going. What I mean by that is that with about 20 minutes left I said aloud to myself, “Hmm, how is this going to end?” I watch 300-400 movies a year. It’s not very often that I don’t know where a film is headed. Whenever it happens, it’s always a pleasant surprise. I’ll give Perry kudos for that. Furthermore, Henson is absolutely great in the film. I’ve been a fan of hers since she was a supporting character on CBS’s great Person of Interest and I’m ecstatic that her performances in shows like Fox’s Empire and movies like Hidden Figures have resulted in her being given more prominent roles. She absolutely deserves better than this. None of the rest of the cast makes any sort of an impression at all. They might as well not even exist. On top of that, the pacing is awful, which exacerbates its bloated 2 hour run-time. It continually breaks rule number one of storytelling, repeatedly telling us how bad Melinda’s temper is when they could’ve simply spent time showing the audience the lengths of her fury.  In the end, I think that Perry has some good ideas for his Fatal Attraction-esque tale of a damaged relationship leading to betrayal and rage, but he falls well short in the execution. A movie that kept me guessing throughout with a standout lead performance really shouldn’t leave me feeling both bored and relieved that it’s over. But here we are.

Also available this week:

The Endless: Aaron was a big fan of this one when he reviewed it here back in April and FF had the chance to spend some time with the film’s creators in an interview here.

Antarctica: In The Footsteps of the Emperor (a documentary by the director of March of the Penguins).

Gemini

In Darkness

Jeremy Calcara is a contributing member of the Feelin’ Film team. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter to be notified when new content is posted.

Now Available: June 19, 2018

Posted on by Jeremy Calcara.

Welcome to our newest feature, Now Available, where we’ll give you a quick review of a film we didn’t cover when it was released in theaters that’s releasing for home viewing this week, along with a list of everything else and where you can see our coverage on it. 

Taking place in the year 67 a.d., Paul, Apostle of Christ follows famed author and physician Luke (Jim Caviezel) as he interviews Paul (James Faulkner), the apostle responsible for writing roughly half of the Biblical New Testament, and interacts with the persecuted church of Rome lead by Aquilla (John Lynch) and his wife Priscilla (Joanne Whalley). Will he be able to use his pen to record the last words of the church father or will his presence attract the ire of Mauritias (Oliver Martinez), the Roman jailer tasked with keeping tabs on Nero’s prized prisoner?

I tend to be one of the faith-based film genre’s biggest critics. For the most part, besides their obvious deficits in terms of production quality, I find that they generally brashly wear their message on their sleeve…and their chest and their hat and their pants with the subtlety of the advertising on a NASCAR driver. While this film doesn’t completely avoid that pitfall, I found that it largely overcomes that with grounded performances lead by the always solid Caviezel and quieter, more contemplative musings on what it means to defend your faith. Filmed in Malta, it looks great and director Andrew Hyatt does a great job from the word go of allowing the audience to sense the danger in which these early Christ followers lived. Whether you’re a person of faith or not, Paul, Apostle of Christ shows a piece of history that is both fascinating and has significance for the world we live in today. It’s not merely good for the genre, it’s just pretty good in general.

Also available this week:

Pacific Rim: Uprising: See Aaron’s original review of this sequel here and hear the guys chat about it on the podcast here (if you’re like me and want to rewatch the original first, they talked about that one here).

The Death of Stalin 

Unsane

Midnight Sun

Jeremy Calcara is a contributing member of the Feelin’ Film team. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter to be notified when new content is posted.

What We Learned this Week: March 18-24

Posted on by everymoviehasalesson.

LESSON #1: BE SMARTER AND SEEK SMARTER FILM CRITICISM— This video from Patrick Willems is amazing.  He nails the topic like an industrial nail gun with the safety off installing a roof of shingles in a 11 minutes.  As a self-made critic, the ideals discussed here are where I strive towards.  Always seek improvement.

LESSON #2: THE FLOODGATES ARE NOW OPEN. BE PREPARED— In the extended wake of all things Harvey Weinstein, the bankruptcy announcement of his studio company, The Weinstein Company, did more than just sink production.  All legal contacts connected to the company are now voided and that includes non-disclosure agreements.  Yes, THOSE non-disclosure agreements.  If you think you’ve heard an unimaginable amount of names and victims, get ready.  A tabloid tsunami is coming.

LESSON #3: LET’S PROMOTE TENDER MASCULINITY— From a seedy history of emasculation from Lesson #1, let’s bring in optimism.  I cross-publish my Every Movie Has a Lesson film reviews on the social publication platform Medium.com where I have discovered a multitude of very good writers operating their own worthy stumps of commentary on any number of subjects.  I really appreciated this recent piece from Terra Liore of Electric Lit entitled “In Praise of Tender Masculinity, the New Non-Toxic Way to Be a Man.”  Liore examined some of our favorite movie and literary characters who exemplify a healthier and more nuanced manliness away from machismo.  She cites films like Moonlight and Magic Mike XXL and characters like Samwise Ganges from The Lord of the Rings trilogy and Remus Lupin from the Harry Potter series.  It’s a great piece that I encourage you to check out.  We need more of this.

LESSON #4: SEATS ARE FOR BUTTS— When this ScreenCrush story (oh, the puns!) of a man dying after having his head trapped in an electric theater seat crossed the Feelin’ Film Facebook group, I thought it had to be from The Onion.  There was no way it was true.  Alas, condolences are needed and a few lessons needs to be learned.  The culprit was a dropped phone and a malfunctioning seat.  Go ahead and fire up the PSA printing press for one more reason to put your damn cell phones away at the movies.  Those massively connected and dense seats are indeed a labyrinth.  If you have trouble, get some help from the theater staff before trying to take matters in your own hands.  Finally, society may have a reason for employing those senior citizen drug store staple products of the grabbing extender thingamabob.  I think it’s time to arm every theater usher in America! Think of the lives (and phones) we can save!

LESSON #5: THE NUMBERS ARE IN AND JUSTICE LEAGUE IS IN LAST PLACE FOR THE DCEU— In the latest chapter of the eternal lesson of “too big to fail,” the final box office numbers came in for Justice League with a total worldwide gross of $647,924,295.  Man of Steel is next with around $660 million.  While that is more than double its reported $300 million budget where no one is loosing any fortunes or stock options, the cloud of disappoint still looms.  The knee-jerk time period has cooled and we can better ask and advise where Warner Bros. will go from here.  Right now, it’s up to Aquaman and Shazam.  “The Rock” makes everything better, right?

LESSON #6: PHYSICAL MEDIA STILL HAS A PLACE— Today, the favorite film of 2017 for many Feelin’ Film followers (and hosts), The Greatest Showman, becomes available for digital download.  This is the first chance to own the successful and celebrated film for home viewing.  The Greatest Showman will still be available on Blu-ray and DVD on April 10th.  We’re coming to a time where that is not always the case.  I know I was bummed to hear that one of my favorite 2017 films, Wonderstruck from Amazon Studios, was not going to receive a physical disc release and only be available on streaming platforms for the immediate future. Has manufacturing discs really become that low in profitability?  Maybe so, that linked Flavorwire article researched that numbers for digital sales (subscriptions, rentals, VOD, downloads) totaled $13 billion in 2017 compared to $4.7 billion for packaged products.  Businesses are going to jump at that earning potential even if they can have both.  To me, that’s one sign of many to a slow extinction for physical media.  I think discs are going to be a Criterion-level niche like vinyl records soon.  How many folks out there have gone more digital?  How many people are still steadily buying physical media of current films (don’t count those Criterion keepsakes)?  I know my number has dropped precipitously in the last five years.  Both that cited Wonderstruck link and this recent story from Collider implore consumers to stave off the coming extinction.  If you’re like me and enjoy the feel of possessing something special, give them a read.

DON SHANAHAN is a Chicago-based film critic writing on his website Every Movie Has a Lesson.  As an elementary educator by day, Don writes his movie reviews with life lessons in mind, from the serious to the farcical.  He is a proud member and one of the founders of the Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle.  As a contributor here on Feelin’ Film, he’s going to expand those lessons to current movie news and trends.  Find “Every Movie Has a Lesson” on Facebook, Twitter, Medium, and Creators Media.