Bad Samaritan

First Hit: Although the title was a turn-off, this film is suspenseful and reasonably well done.

I had a lot of reluctance going to see this because the title sounded as if it would be a poorly made film.

I’m glad I went because it was much better than the title. The title reflects how poorly Sean Falco (Robert Sheehan) reacted to finding Katie (Kerry Gordon) masochistically bound to a chair in the house he was robbing. As a samaritan helping his fellow man, he failed by not freeing her nor did he do enough to bring in others to help her obtain her freedom.

Katie was being held in a home owned by a very rich Cale Erendreich (David Tennant). Cale, it seems, had some childhood crush on an older horse trainer and when she spurned him, he killed her horse. Cale was and is into control of people and the things around him.

You can tell early on, he’s done this to a woman before and in one scene we see the tools he probably uses to dismember his victims when they don’t act the way he wants them to.

Sean isn’t a horrible young man, but he’s taken to petty theft with Derek Sandoval (Carlito Olivero) to keep his photography dreams alive. He and Derek run a car valet business in front of Nino’s restaurant. With certain rich folks, they take that person’s car to the owner’s home use the keys to open the home and steal what they can. Bringing the car back in-time for the owners to use when they leave the restaurant.

This is how Sean runs across Katie, searching a home to steal something.

Sean also has a girlfriend Helen Leyton (Lisa Brenner) who has been fooled by Sean and ultimately, he ends up owning this and his behaviors to Helen.

The film being shot in Portland was fun, as Portland is a city I like visiting. The story is not necessarily new; however I liked the way it was told because Sean’s character of really being a good guy does come through.

Sheehan was very good as Sean. I thought his facial expressions and expressions of fear and determination really worked and made the character one I could believe. Tennant was excellent as the psychotically pushed person. His behaviors were right in line with an excessive control freak. I liked the moment when Sean tricks him to look at a phone and Sean takes a picture. Brenner was sweet as Sean’s girlfriend. Olivero was strong as Sean’s sidekick and fellow petty theft buddy. Condon was excellent as the captured bounded woman of Cale’s attention. I loved the end when she says, “it’s not enough.” Brandon Boyce wrote a strong screenplay which was effectively directed by Dean Devlin.

Overall: Film is sufficiently creepy and scary to keep your attention through to the end.

Breaking In

First Hit: The best part of the film was that the mother won.

As a suspense film it wasn’t great, however it definitely kept my interest and despite knowing the ending, Shaun Russell (Gabrielle Union) as the main character, gave the audience great intensity.

Shaun’s father Issac (Damien Leake), is a wealthy man who was being indicted in federal court for theft. Out for a run before going to court, he is killed by a truck driven by Sam (Levi Meaden).

Shaun, with her children Jasmine and Glover (Ajiona Alexus and Seth Carr respectively) go out to Issac’s country mansion to clean it up and removed things she may want before she sells it. This house is huge, far from the city and neighbors, and very high-tech.

However, upon reaching the house she suspects that something is wrong and soon finds out that four men are in the house looking for a safe. The killing of Issac, we learn, was planned so that Eddie (Billy Burke), Duncan (Richard Cabral), Peter (Mark Furze), and Sam could rob the home.

To leverage their power over Shaun, the leader Eddie, has the other 3 capture and hold her two children as hostages. The thieves’ hope is to leverage holding her children hostage for knowledge about the location of the safe.

There are several scenes where Shaun gets the better of her children’s’ captors. What didn’t work very well was Sam. In his role, although he tried to sound in control and menacing to both his work team and Shaun, there was a lack of strength and surety of his character. In other words he wasn't quite believable.

I think the house could have been used more as a character than it was. The amount of high-tech in the house and using it to trick or thwart the robbers could have made it more interesting, especially if the kids took control. They did a couple of times, but not enough to make it really stand out.

Union was strong as the mother you didn’t want to cross. She showed athleticism as well and intuitive intelligence in this role. Meaden was very good as the semi-reluctant thief although the idea to rob this home was originally his. Alexus and Carr were excellent as the children. They both created age appropriate interests and actions and the right amount of duress. Burke was good but there was one point in the film, I wondered why the other thieves didn’t just kill him and take over the robbery. Cabral was the best of the thieves. He show immense intimidating intensity. Furze had the smallest robber role and it was OK. Ryan Engle wrote a good script but, as I said, I would have like a better group of thieves and the house could have used more. James McTeigue did a good job of directing the actors in this script. It lacked a certain creativeness, but the film worked.

Overall: I like when the main character is rightfully and clearly driven to save the day, that it was a woman, a mother, made it better.

You Were Never Really Here

First Hit: Beautifully shot scenes, dynamic soundtrack, but this oddly paced film tells a story of redemption, salvation or deeper despair.

It isn’t easy to summarize this film except to say, its odd pace had me both engaged and patiently waiting for what would be next.

Joe (Joaquin Phoenix) erases problems and he’s got his own problems. He’s taking care of his aging, somewhat helpless mother, his job is that he finds and kills people, and he’s haunted by his military service overseas. The latter coming to him in flashes.

In the opening sequence, we see Joe completing a job. As the camera pans across what he’s cleaning up, we know enough that when he goes to the hardware store, he’s preparing to do some graphic damage to someone. His favorite tool is a hammer.

Accepting a new job, he’s been asked to find Senator Albert Votto’s (Alex Manette) daughter Nina (Ekaterina Samsonov). The senator believes she’s been taken and housed by a group that uses her as an underage sex worker. All he has is an address.

He stakes out the building and see’s that it is a high-end prostitution ring and that Nina is just one of many of the underage girls being used by wealthy men.

As the story unfolds, it gets complicated quickly because after rescuing Nina, she gets stolen from him. The story turns because Joe's vested into helping Nina.

The rest of the film is about him finding  who stole Nina, where Nina is, who killed his mother, and settling the score.

All through this, the action comes in spurts, the flashbacks of Joe’s young life and his overseas service come at odd moments, and the quiet intensity of Joe permeates this story. His match is Nina. Her almost soulless stares, acceptance of what her path is, and the way she fixes it make them an odd pair.

Many of the shots in this film are reminiscence of some of the best Martin Scorsese shots in Taxi Driver. In ways this is a film that uses that story, a twisted older man helping a young girl, to deepen and create mixed feelings about the characters.

Phoenix is darkly effective. There is no way anyone would want to cross him and it shows in virtually every scene. His portrayal of being affected by his upbringing and service overseas worked. Samsonov is a revelation. She makes this film have a depth it would not have had without her almost soulless stares. Manette is good as the twisted senator. Judith Roberts, as Joe’s mother is wonderful. Her portrayal of a woman who is forgetful and dependent on Joe were perfect. Lynne Ramsay wrote and directed this dark complex film. The use of flashbacks was, at times, overly done and too brief to create enough context to understand. However, the use of Phoenix as the main character was perfect.

Overall: This dark complex slowly paced film borders on overdoing itself, but the actors made it stay with me afterward.

Beirut

First Hit:  I really liked the way this film was put together and came to fruition.

Some people don’t like Tony Gilroy films because he doesn’t lead the story with obviousness. The script for Beirut is the same way. However, I like his films (the Bourne films, Duplicity, Michael Clayton to name a few) for this very reason. Viewers go on a ride and must trust the storyteller and director to bring the film home satisfyingly.

In this film, there are two different time periods. The first one is the 1970’s and Beirut is a melting pot of people and religions. It opens with Mason Skiles (Jon Hamm) hosting a party in his Beirut home. As part of the US Government, there is a senator and other diplomats present. A young boy named Karim has been partially adopted by Mason and his wife.

Government agents come to collect Karim because his notorious radical brother Jassim/Rami (Ben Affan) is loose and they hope to use Karim to capture him. In the battle, Government plan goes bad, Mason’s wife is killed, and Karim is taken by Islamic radicals. The film then moves forward ten years.

Mason is a drunk, back in the United States, and mediating union/management negotiations. Sandy Crowder (Rosamund Pike) comes to collect Mason because Cal Riley (Mark Pellegrino) has been abducted by a Islamic group and there’s been a request for Mason to negotiate his release.

Mason reluctantly goes back to Beirut and the flood of feelings come back from his time there some ten years earlier.

The negotiations are tough and there are many people, even in the US Government, who have different agendas with this issue. In essence, it is now Karim (Idir Chender) who is negotiating for his brother’s release and they're using Cal as the bait.

The way the films shows the 70’s was perfect. I loved the detail used. Everything from the hair styles to the sideburns on Mason. The film quality also reflected the time, with the tint and style. I loved the way the audience falls into the story and isn’t given large hints or steps that telegraph the film’s direction.

Hamm was fantastic. His portrayal of the caring loving husband and then to the drunk who cares and doesn’t care is phenomenal. Affan was strong in this minimal role. Chender was excellent as the older version of Karim. Pellegrino was very strong as the kidnapped US Government service representative. Pike was excellent as the tough, thoughtful, and daringly intelligent agent. Tony Gilroy wrote an outstanding script. I loved how it slowly comes together in the end. Brad Anderson did a wonderful job of making this script come alive.

Overall: This was an excellent film and expressed the complications of the middle east quite well.

Chappaquiddick

First Hit: We all knew how despicable Ted Kennedy’s actions were, this film just puts pictures to it.

When the headlines came out that “Teddy” (Jason Clarke) had driven off a bridge with Mary Jo Kopechne (Kate Mara) in the car and he survived while she drowned, the nation was shocked. As the story came out that Ted did not report this accident well into the next day, Ted became despicable and his and the Kennedy family's credibility sank to a new low.

This film shows the privileged way that Ted acted based on his being a Kennedy. Ted’s father Joseph (Bruce Dern) ran the Kennedy family with a iron crooked fist. His team of people who were on-call to protect the Kennedy name only exaggerated the privileged arrogant family ways.

Recalling the original news in the newspaper and seeing film footage of Teddy wearing a neck brace to gain sympathy was horrible then and even worse in this film. His manipulation of his Chief of Staff Joseph Gargan (Ed Helms) was painful to watch.

From a film point of view, using true accounts and the documents from the inquest, what is presented appears to be a fair reenactment of this tragic event.

Much is said about the horrific events of his older brother’s untimely deaths, two through assassination, and how Joe Kennedy expected the remaining son to carry on the family legacy. All Teddy wanted was his father’s love and respect for who he was.

Does Teddy make up for his lack of integrity around this and other events? That’s a judgment call and even though he was called “The Lion of the Senate,” this film does little to shed light on his career. It is a film about his doing nothing for Mary Jo as she slowly suffocated and drowned in an upside-down car.

Clarke was OK as Teddy. I didn’t think he showed enough of the “lion” within him but maybe the “lion” came later in life. He did a great job of being arrogant and childlike in his decision making. Mara was very good. Unfortunately, she’s not in the film a long time, but her Mary Jo stays with you during the remaining part of the film. Dern was excellent as a handicapped and old Joe Kennedy. His looks of disdain towards Teddy were perfect. Helms was excellent as Teddy’s right hand man who finally couldn’t take being Ted’s slave and foil and therefore left. Taylor Allen and Andrew Logan wrote a good script that seemed to capture the time and the feeling of crime. John Curran directed this film.

Overall: This film only validated my feelings about Teddy as a guy spending his life trying to make amends for being an unthoughtful arrogant man from an influential family.