Mountain Men

Cameron Labine, 2016

IMDB

3/5

The relationship between siblings can be complicated and volatile over the course of a lifetime. When we are children, we spend so much time together because we all live under the same roof and will take what we can get in terms of company. Whether we are sharing a bunk-bed with that particular sibling or they live across the hall, we have a live-in playmate that may have different interests but for the most part we overlook the difference at that age and will be flexible for the other person. Then we get older, we grow apart. Sometimes years go by before we see each other. Sometimes it takes more than the holidays to bring everyone together. Sometimes its a wedding or, in this particular story, a death in the family.

Toph (Tyler Labine) and Cooper (Chace Crawford) have lost touch over the years. Coop has built some success on his own, living in New York disconnected from the family. Toph is more of a burn-out, living in his hometown. He is quick to say he's a professional DJ but the only actual income he has is from selling weed to the local pot-heads. Their mother gets remarried shortly after their father's death. While at the wedding Toph manages to convince Coop to venture to the family cabin to evict a squatter rumored to be residing there.

The get stranded in the snow-covered mountains and have to rely on each other (and their fathers wisdom) to return to safety. Mountain Men manages to capture some of the nuances of brothers. Abrupt fighting. Preying on weakness. Bringing up embarrassing memories of childhood. Part of the built-in authenticity of the film is probably due to the fact that director Cameron Labine is real-life brother of star Tyler Labine (also the stand-out role in the film). Mountain Men succeeds because it focuses more on the brother dynamic and less on trying to be a purely unique film. It's a predictable movie, and that's okay. The chemistry between Labine and Crawford feels real and that's enough to make it an entertaining watch. Crawford's Coop character is clearly the more introverted type and it contrasts well with Toph's goofy but likeable personality. The funniest most memorable shot of the entire film is the sudden jump to the cabin burning down. That's something that I will be laughing about inside for some time. Mountain Men is a nice little film, a fun watch.

You're Next

Adam Wingard, 2011

IMDB

2/5

In an age of mediocre horror films about the group of people stuck in the house with the attacker outside, You're Next fits right in without standing out a whole lot. It starts off by playing with the oh-so-common dysfunctional family dynamic and instead of doing something artful or unique with it, it just decides to keep it simple. It's guilty of relying on slasher conventions and ultimately comes off as an uninventive, wasteful affluenza story. It's dumbed down, it panders to the popcorn-gobbling horror audiences. It's a shame, because indie-lovers see mumblecore harbinger Swanberg on the screen and hope for something creative. But it's just an odd placement for Swanberg, where he is confined to playing the douchey brother consumed by bitter exchanges with his brother. To be fair, the camera work is actually quite good. The performances are just okay, acceptable and probably above-average for the genre. The story is the real destroyer. It even disappoints in the final moments of the film, where the credits could roll right after a phone pickup, and instead of doing that the story drags on for another ten minutes. Movies like this almost feel like a group of twenty-somethings found a bag of unique masks in a flea market somewhere and decided to make a horror movie. If this movie gives you anything to walk away with, it's a reoccurring song that will be stuck in your head for hours.

Awful Nice

Todd Sklar, 2014

Can I Stream It?

3/5

Brothers Jim (James Pumphrey) and Dave (Alex Rennie) reunite at their father's funeral and learn that they have both inherited the family lake house located in Americana-riddled Branson Missouri. Jim is hoping to turn over the property to local slimy businessman Jon Charbineau (Christopher Meloni), get paid, and return home to his wife and child. He reluctantly lets Dave accompany him on the trip to Branson and they soon find that the property is not in any condition to be sold that quickly.

The modern slapstick comedy has quite the mountain to climb to achieve any kind of notable status. For every There's Something About Mary, there are twenty bad ones that are probably starring Rob Schneider. Usually it's just a bad story with bad acting with overused premises. But sometimes one can pass through by not trying go over the top and not attempt to break any kind of new ground. Awful Nice succeeds in being a 90 minute junk food comedy session that doesn't require any real heavy thinking. The simple premise pits two highly competitive brothers against each other and lets them duke it out. It wouldn't work if there wasn't some real chemistry between the two, fortunately there is. Their sibling rivalry feels very real, as if they were actual brothers and were improvising their brutal exchanges through the entire picture. From chugging contests, to arm-wrestling, to all-out physical brawls, it's the battles between the two that keeps you engaged. Of course the picture is not absent of any imperfections. Christopher Meloni's attempt at being an Elmer Fudd-sounding crook doesn't really hit the mark. In fact you never really buy into his character and just write him off as Meloni with a hair piece on. He's no Les Grossman to say the least. The Russian crime family that controls the service industry in the city of Branson feels like an unnecessary distraction at times. And there's probably one too many montages of the two brothers engaging in many senseless activities. But when they are busting on each other, the confrontations feel fresh and should pull a few laughs out of you. How can you not laugh at a grown man taking Doggie heartworm pills hoping to get high?

Mistaken for Strangers

Tom Berninger, 2014

Can I Stream It?

4/5

Underachiever Tom Berninger, the less successful younger brother of indie-rock band The National's front-man Matt Berninger, joins the band's crew as a roadie while also attempting to shoot a documentary about the band with Matt's blessing.

Anyone who has a brother understands the concept of sibling rivalry. There is a sense of relentless competition that never really fades with age. As you get older, you have different successes. As you see these particular successes it's not difficult for you to still envision your brother as the child-version of himself. It's no different in the Berninger family where Tom has seen his brother go from gaunt Ohio boy to the lead singer of one of the biggest bands in the modern Indie Rock scene. Since then, Tom has largely lived in Matt's shadow. While Tom is not without his own artistic abilities (his impressive comic-like work posted alongside his brothers abstract piece in his mothers office), much of his life has consisted of listening to Heavy Metal on head-phones in his parent's basement while attempting to complete several low-budget indie horror films. He is someone that has some interesting thoughts and ideas but never manages to organize them enough so that they materialize into something constructive. When he decides to create a documentary focusing on his brother's band, you don't get an immediate sense that it's a well-thought out production. It could easily become another one of his unfinished projects. You soon see that Tom's documentary is not so much about the band much more about the dynamic between himself and Matt. He humorously interviews the band-mates who find it odd that he continues to press them on questions about Matt and not about the music.

But Tom's experiment largely succeeds because he has a bona fide charm to him, a sense of innocence. While he may be annoying the various staff associated with The National, he is inadvertently capturing some fascinating moments and providing some accessibility to a band that is mostly known for Matt's baritone vocals and melodramatic tones. Tom doesn't ask the typical interview questions. He doesn't let the camera hang on the stage and bore you with an obligatory music video. Peaking behind the curtains as the band is sleeping on the tour-bus. Capturing that moment where Matt loses his temper and pushes over a curtain rack because he is unhappy with that nights performance. He even effectively captures his own inner conflicts and shortcomings with the band's production crew, as he finds himself complicating matters rather than simplifying them. When you see Matt jump off the stage and venture into the crowd with the microphone, you see Tom following him not far behind attempting to grasp the mic cable which is so beautifully metaphoric.

Mistaken for Strangers may not be Tom Berninger's coming out party, but it's certainly a great piece of work that he can hang his hat on. His extraordinary eye combined with his impressive editing abilities manages to create a film that Michael Moore has said is "one of the best music documentaries I have ever seen". Moore is a polarizing figure known to embellish, but is not off base with that particular comment.