Listen to the whole thing HERE! (Starts at 30:01)
Watch the whole thing HERE!
Watch the whole thing on X!
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
Watch the whole thing HERE!
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
CAST: Austin Abrams, Zach Cherry, Kali Reis, Paul Walter Hauser. Directed by Zach Cregger.
REVIEW: Set during one dangerous night, the reimagined “Resident Evil” begins with on a regular day for medical courier Bryan (Austin Abrams). Asked to do one more run, he agrees when he finds out, “It’s outside the zone, so it pays double.” As night falls, he sets off to Raccoon City General, precious cargo in hand, as a viral leak from pharmaceutical and biotechnology giant Umbrella Corporation turns people into violent mutants.
As the infected hunt for humans, Bryan tries to stay one step ahead during the chaos, as Umbrella attempts to contain and cover up the epidemic. Using borrowed phones Bryan unsuccessfully tries to contract the police and explain to his unimpressed girlfriend why he’s detained.
With his life hanging in the balance the bumbling Bryan must turn from hapless to hero.
“Resident Evil” delivers the thrills and gore you expect from “Barbarian” and “Weapons” director Zach Cregger, but it is its dark sense of humor that surprises. Darkly funny, the movie offers laughs and jump scares in equal measure as Bryan narrowly escapes the perils of a post infection world.
Horror fans will appreciate the genuinely creepy atmosphere. It’s a dark world that allows Cregger to explore the nasty stuff hiding in the shadows, showing just enough to set the viewers imaginations on fire.
When we do finally get a look at the tentacled creatures—think John Carpenter’s “The Thing”—or an acid-vomiting zombie, or the bloated blood sacs, they provide a primal blast of old-school horror that’s the good gory stuff horror fans buy tickets to see.
In other scenes when people get shot or squished, infected or otherwise, they don’t simply lay down and die. Instead, they explore in a fireworks pattern of plasma and viscera. It’s wet and squishy enough to make you simultaneously cringe and cackle.
At the film’s heart is Austin Abrams as everyman Bryan. He doesn’t have a lot of meaningful dialogue, he mostly mumbles to himself in frustration, but as a good guy in over his head, he’s easy to get on side with. Abrams, who is on screen for 95% of the film’s brisk 90-minute runtime, carries the movie with an exasperated everyman charm.
“Resident Evil” is a straightforward movie. Cregger, working from a script he co-wrote with Shay Hatten, keeps the story simple, refusing to let the action get bogged down by backstory or exposition. It’s an uncomplicated story of survival, buoyed by gloriously grotesque effects and a winning lead performance.
CAST: Justin Fletcher, John Sparkes, Kate Harbour, Richard Webber, Emma Tate, Simon Greenall, Andy Nyman, Anna Leong Brophy, Marcus Brigstocke. Directed by Steve Cox and Matthew Walker.
REVIEW: Mostly dialogue free, “Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom” relies on a sheer sense of mischief and sight gags to earn big, genuine laughs.
“Wallace and Gromit” fans may recognize Shaun the Sheep from the 1995 short film “A Close Shave” or his self-titled television series. He’s a resourceful, if impish sheep who lives with his flock at Mossy Bottom Farm.
The third feature movie in the Shaun the Sheep franchise, “Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom” begins in the days before Halloween. The animal residents of Mossy Bottom are excited for the festivities, but things go sideways when the Farmer accidentally destroys the Flock’s pumpkin patch.
Attempting to save the festivities, Shaun becomes a mad scientist, but his experiments spiral out of control and chaos reigns on the farm. The farmer goes missing just as a mysterious wild beast emerges from the woods of Mossingham.
“Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom’s” stop motion claymation characters, complete with their big, exaggerated faces and broad bodies, are expressive and filled with personality. They’re unique, lovable, with the warmth of favorite stuffed toys come alive on the screen, and live in a finely observed world, filled with fun details to fill viewer’s eyes.
Shaun and Co. are brought to vivid life by stop motion animation, painstakingly shot at one frame at a time. This isn’t the slick CGI of Pixar or Illumination, it’s a perfectly imperfect organic process that gives the movie a beautiful handmade feel.
The Aardman Animations style harkens back to the silent era, where physical action, expression and precision comic timing were first and foremost. Add to that a quirky English sensibility, endearing and eccentric, that sees place names like the mildy saucy “Mossy Bottom,” and a surreal streak that blends Shaun’s ridiculous experiments with the traditional British countryside.
Added together, that combo of elements makes for a charming and contagious good time at the movies for audiences of all ages.
CAST: Ethan Hawke, Russell Crowe, Julia Jones, Austin Amelio, Avi Nash, Lucas Lynggaad Tonnesen, George Burgess, Cameron Brady, Avy Berry, Alec Newman, Sam Hazeldine. Directed by Padraic McKinley.
REVIEW: A showcase for Ethan Hawke, “The Weight” is an effective historical drama elevated by the actor’s emotionally charged study of a desperate man pushed to the limit.
Set in 1933, four years into The Great Depression, the story focusses on Samuel Murphy (Ethan Hawke), a recently widowed War World I veteran and father to Penny (Avy Berry). A jack of all trades, he can fix anything with a motor but is having a tough time finding work or keeping a roof over his daughter’s head.
Arrested after misunderstanding, he’s sentenced to a hard labor camp while Penny is sent to foster care and will soon be put up for adoption.
Samuel’s obvious intelligence and problem-solving skills catches the attention of the plain-spoken Warden Clancy (Russell Crowe) who offers Samuel a way he could be released before Penny is adopted and gone out of his life forever. “I have a friend who needs a little help,” he says. “I don’t trust any of these boys, but I trust you. You do this thing, your time is done.”
The offer, however, comes with strings attached. Clancy wants Samuel, and three other inmates, to transport precious cargo across very unforgiving terrain. When the job is complete, the warden will sign Samuel’s release papers, and he’ll be reunited with his daughter. But if he fails, he may never see his daughter again. “You ain’t getting your kid back if you’re dead.”
“The Weight” contains elements of a survival thriller and a crime drama and does a nice job of painting a picture of The Great Depression, but those are just some colors director Padraic McKinley uses to create a vivid portrait of his main character Samuel.
On the page and through Hawke’s layered performance, we see a story of a desperate man, not driven by greed, but by his love for his daughter. It raises the emotional stakes and allows Hawke to reveal the width and breadth of Samuel, from his doting dad side to hardened WWI vet and tactician.
McKinley doesn’t hesitate to put Samuel in precarious situations. The action scenes are deliberately paced in keeping with the historical nature of the story, but a sequence on a rickety rope bridge strung high above a deep canyon is low fi, but packs a punch.
“The Weight” has atmosphere to burn and some visceral violence, but it is Hawke who elevates and entertains. Samuel is the film’s most interesting character, and it’s not even close. The rest of the ragtag crew are colorful but broadly drawn place holders who are overshadowed by Hawke and Samuel’s story of resilience and family.
