Posts Tagged ‘Josh Hamilton’

THE LONG WALK: 4 STARS. “the extremes despairing people will go in search of hope.”

SYNOPSIS: Based on a Stephen King novel (written under the alias Richard Bachman) of the same name, “The Long Walk” is set in a world so hopeless that, ironically, a march to the death is the only option to obtain a better life. “One winner,” says the Major (Mark Hamill), “no finish line.”

CAST: Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, Garrett Wareing, Tut Nyuot, Charlie Plummer, Ben Wang, Roman Griffin Davis, Jordan Gonzalez, Josh Hamilton, Judy Greer, and Mark Hamill. Directed by JT Mollner.

REVIEW: “The Long Walk” covers a lot of ground. The story of march to the death is a harrowing look at authoritarianism and the extremes that despairing people will go in search of hope.

Set in a dystopian United States after a war has left the country struggling financially under a totalitarian government, the film centers around a televised endurance contest meant to inspire work ethic in the downtrodden public. Like “The Hunger Games,” but without the costumes or folk songs, the titular walk sees fifty young men volunteer to, as the Major (Mark Hamill) says, “walk until there’s only one of you left.”

“Anyone can win if you don’t give up!”

Fall behind or failed to keep pace you get a ticket, as in, get your ticket punched.

As the title suggests, “The Long Walk” is just that, a long walk punctuated by character insights, explosive diarrhea and the odd gunshot. It’s a horrifying situation, but despite King’s name attached to the project, this isn’t a horror film. There are no jump scares, nothing supernatural—unless you regard the walker’s ability to stay awake for five days on their 300-mile marathon as mystical—and the only monster comes in the form of a very human, totalitarian ruler known as The Major.

With a minimum of fuss director Francis Lawrence, who directed three of the “Hunger Games” movies, presents the story for what it is, a talky literary adaptation. The characters put one foot in front of the other and speak reams of dialogue, but Lawrence trusts the material to organically provide intensity as the audience gets to know and become involved in the lives and deaths of the characters.

It’s an ensemble piece, with a large cast of Hollywood up-and-comers like Tut Nyuot and Charlie Plummer, but it’s Cooper Hoffman as the resilient Raymond Garraty and David Jonsson as the loyal Peter McVries that stand out. They become the de facto leaders of the Walkers, and the guides who remind us that there are humans at the heart of the movie’s dehumanizing ordeal. Although they come to the Walk with differing motives, as friendship blossoms between Ray and Peter it suggests other King relationships born out of adversity, like John Coffey and Paul Edgecomb in “The Green Mile” or “The Shawshank Redemption’s” Andy Dufresne and Ellis “Red” Redding. Their connection and empathy stand in stark contrast to the bleak backdrop of the Walk.

“The Long Walk” may be overlong and Hamill is one note in his portrayal of evil, but in the telling of the tale is a relentless intensity that builds until the film’s final, explosive moments.

EIGHTH GRADE: 4 ½ STARS. “a slice-of-life portrait that feels completely authentic.”

Ever wonder what it must be like to come-of-age in an era of information overload, motivational YouTube videos and school-shooter drills? With “Eighth Grade,” a funny, blistering look at life in junior high, director Bo Burnham gives you a peak, morphing from creator/star of MTV’s “Zach Stone Is Gonna Be Famous” into the modern day John Hughes.

Elsie Fisher is Kayla, a newly minted teen struggling through the last week of grade eight. “The hard part of being yourself is that it’s not easy,” the thirteen-year-old says in one of the many inspirational YouTube videos she posts to the web in a search for friends, validation and most of all, likes. Trouble is, she’s no JennaMarbles. Despite being glued to her phone and coining a perky catchphrase—“Gucci!”—she has no social media presence to speak of. “The topic of today’s video is putting yourself out there,” she says, “but where is there?”

It’s not much better in IRL. Ignored by schoolmates, she’s only invited to the popular girl Kennedy’s (Catherine Oliviere) pool party because her mom (Missy Yager) has a crush on Kayla’s father Mark (Josh Hamilton). Speaking of her long-suffering dad, he spends his time trying to make contact only to be met with monosyllabic grunts as he desperately tries to distract her from her ever-present phone.

Ultimately “Eighth Grade” is all about Kayla’s attempts at feeling connected and finding a place in a world where screens separate people. “I’m nervous, like I’m waiting in line for a roller coaster,” she says. “I never get the feeling of after you ride the roller coaster.”

“Eighth Grade” is an unvarnished, pimples and all, look at adolescence and the anxiety that comes with it. Kayla may not always be able to exactly articulate the way she’s feeling but the movie has no such problem. It’s a study in her innocence and awkwardness that uses carefully selected moments to highlight Kayla’s mindset.

A pool party scene, where she has to wear a bathing suit in front of the cool kids from school, wordlessly displays her insecurities while her excited, sweet reaction to being invited to hang at the mall by an older friend is genuine and heartfelt. Later, a game of Truth Or Dare contains as much suspense as any action sequence we’ve seen this year.

Those scenes, combined with the discomfort Elsie Fisher brings to Kayla’s day-to-day, and the very dramatic music that underscores the highs and lows of her life and you have a slice-of-life portrait that feels completely authentic.