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.

The Last Days on Mars

Ruairi Robinson, 2013

IMDB

2/5

On paper, The Last Days on Mars is a movie that I probably should have liked more than I did. A group of space explorers, led by Vincent Campbell (Liev Schreiber), stumbles upon an organic microbe on Mars that infects the astronauts and basically turns them into space zombies. Just the idea of space zombies is great. Not done a lot, a variation from the saturated horror sub-genre.

But Last Days is a film that's just lacking. Definitely not from a production standpoint. It's always amazing how, even bad space movies, always seem to have really elaborate production design. The spaceship and it's surrounding areas looks and feels authentic. You never are thinking that it's just a group of actors in space-suits sweating their asses off in a desert in Jordan (where it was actually filmed). You discover that their clock has basically run out on their mission, leaving them with an experience but with nothing really tangible in terms of a monumental discovery. This displeases them, particularly Kim (Olivia Williams). She was clearly hoping to be one of the explorers to really find something to bring back to planet earth. Something that would give them immortal status in the science world. When Marko (Goran Kostic) discovers microscopic life in the lab, he secretly dips out to get more samples. At this point the film really has you locked in, eagerly awaiting to see what is in the petri dish.

But the film becomes a far cry from Alien. Weak script is really to blame. This is a group of scientists, and nothing that ever really comes out of their mouth feels very scientific. When Vincent is lowering himself into a sinkhole, he sees some stalagmites. You would think his assessment of the organic matter would solicit some intelligent response, but instead he says something along the lines of "whatever it is, it's alive". Oh wow. Even Avatar managed to provide significantly more sophisticated dialogue when you were in that alien world. The film never manages to carve out it's own niche. It just becomes another horror film of the scary thing picking everyone off without any twists and turns. The film does manage to weave together an interesting conclusion. This is definitely a film that could be added to a list called "Bad movies that could have good sequels".

The Wave

Roar Uthaug, 2015

IMDB

4/5

The Wave does something that a lot of American disaster movies rarely do. It develops the characters to the point where you have a genuine investment in them. In this sense, the Wave doesn’t pile on the budget on CGI effects of landmarks getting destroyed by Mother Nature. The Day After Tomorrow, Armageddon, Volcano. They all leave you remembering some of the visual elements involved but don’t leave you remembering any of the characters really. The Wave is more generous. Because of its restraint, and it’s carefully executed construction, it gives you more walking away from it. It gives you some really memorable visual elements but also provides some characters that you will remember as well. And with the synergy of both, the actual disaster has more of an emotional impact and less of a simple feast for the eyes popcorn fodder. 

We discover quite quickly that main character Kristian (Kristoffer Joner) is in a transition in his life. About to leave a geology position that he is very personally invested in to take on a high paying gig with the oil industry. You realize that he is doing this as a sacrifice for his family, to try and give them an upgrade. Likely a giant sacrifice for him that he still struggles with. He finds himself not able to easily walk away from his position, and he couldn’t started the move at worse timing (or best depending on how you would like to frame it). In a perfect situation, Kristian leaves during a really boring period where there is no activity on the computer monitors. But up until the very last minute of him about to get on the ferry boat out of town, there is activity in the mountain. And he physically cannot turn his back on it. This makes sense, someone so passionate about their job, not being able to turn their back on something they spent so many years obsessing over. Even with the conflict that it puts him in with his own family, as shown when he leaves his kids in the car to embark on a helicopter survey of the mountain. He is a man who thinks of work first, and family second. Like a lot of fathers and husbands of course, but not many have the same type of position as Kristian. But it’s a juggling act for Kristian. He undeniably loves his family very much. It’s an internal conflict for him, never really able to balance it effectively.

The big event doesn’t occur until close to the halfway point of the film. The ten minute clock ticking is a terrifyingly short window to find a safe place. When things unfold at this point, it’s completely tense and gripping. There are lots of interesting things going on at this point too. The things they are doing with water and light are so remarkable here. Some imagery that I can still easily bring up in my mind, and probably will for some time to come.

A unique and thorough production, The Wave is one of the best disaster films to be released in the past 10 years or so without question.

Killer Joe

William Friedkin, 2012

IMDB

3/5

Two years before Matthew McConaughey wowed audiences with his Rust Cohle character in HBO's True Detective, he got some reps playing the morally obscure man of law enforcement in title character Killer Joe. Joe is a Dallas police officer who moonlights as a hit-man.

Chris Smith (Emile Hirsch) is in debt to some shady characters and he has reached the end of his rope with time to pay them back. He hires Joe to kill his mother to collect a $50,000 life insurance policy which would be split among himself, his father, and his sister after paying Joe off.

Killer Joe is a film filled with despicable figures. There is really only one redeeming person, that being sister Dottie (Juno Temple). Dottie is sort of written off by her other family members because she is of inferior intellect so she therefore gets some special treatment. But Dottie is surrounded by chaos. Their father (Hayden Church) is a heavy drinker / low-life. Brother Chris is just an untrustworthy dirtbag. Their mother is virtually out of the picture. Joe comes into the situation and it's interesting because while is slightly above them in terms of the social hierarchy, he is not too far above them in the sense that he gravitates to Dottie for companionship. You get a sense that Joe, while he may be a capable hitman, really doesn't have much going on in his own personal life.

It all ends up being a tornado of malevolent deception, with Dottie unfortunately too close to it all. It's an enticing story not because you are so concerned with the characters well-being but you just want to see how it all plays out. It's pretty clear early on that it's not going to work out well for everyone involved in the whole assassination scheme. One of the things I had heard prior to seeing this film was "you'll never look at fried chicken the same again". I had to bring that up, because they were so right. You won't.