"Retreat" Is A Film That You Should Seek Out

Single-setting thrillers are a sub-genre of film that require two key ingredients: 1) A plausible premise that keeps the action centered in one location. 2) A cast of talented actors who can fill the unblinking screen time with engaging and energetic performances. Carl Tibbetts’ Retreat definitely has the latter, with its cast of impressive actors (Cillian Murphy, Thandie Newton and Jamie Bell); however, when it comes to the former, the film definitely stumbles.

Murphy and Newton star as married couple Martin and Kate. After a suffering a devastating personal loss, the couple leave London to spend some quiet time in their remote cabin on Blackholme Island, off the west coast of Scotland. While at the cabin, the couple repeatedly try (and fail) to heal their respective scars and rekindle their marriage – but all their issues get put aside when a mysterious stranger (Jamie Bell) comes stumbling into view, covered in blood.

The couple take in the battered man and discover he’s armed with a gun. The stranger says his name is Jack, and that he’s a private in the military who made his way to the island in order to escape a deadly virus that is wiping out the populace. Without a second’s hesitation, Jack dictates to Kate and Martin that their only chance of mutual survival is to seal the cabin up; no outsiders can enter, and no one in the cabin can leave. Martin and Kate begin to panic, but cannot agree on whether they should believe Jack or not. From there, that old saying about “Two’s company, three’s a crowd,” plays itself out, as loyalty and sanity all get put to the test.

Retreat looks and feels very much like indie fare. The camera work and production values are bare bones, and Tibbetts (who is directing his first feature-film) is obviously trying to make the most out of what little he has. Lucky for him, one thing he has is a talented cast.

Newton is an underrated actress, though regrettably, her character here is very thin, cliched, and comes off as annoying for most of the story. It’s Murphy and Bell who really carry the film: the former has that quiet intensity hid behind icy blue eyes and a thin frame, and that keeps the buttoned-down Martin somewhat unpredictable in terms of what lengths he will go in order to survive. Bell is a strong presence in just about anything he’s been in, and he makes Jack a dominating, manic, yet still vulnerable and cunning man, whose motives and sanity are a constant question mark (Is he crazy? Is he lying? Could he be possibly telling the truth?). Not many young actors could pull such a pivotal role off in such an exciting, confident way, and Bell deserves credit.

The script (co-written by first-timer Janice Hallett and Tibbetts) is solid enough, and even manages a nice twist or two. However, the film definitely buckles under the weight of the questions it raises about the logic of the characters and their choices. A single-setting thriller has the hard task of making you accept that characters faced with an extreme situation would choose to – or are forced to – remain in one place, rather than simply walking away from the situation. Sure, technically you could nitpick any piece of cinema to death over the issue of believability, but if plot holes or questionable choices are distracting you while you’re watching the film, the scriptwriter has not accomplished his/her task as skillfully as they should have. Suspension of disbelief is doubly crucial in a single-setting thriller, meaning it’s doubly as problematic when disbelief and doubt overtake the viewing experience.

In the end, Retreat is a film that you should seek out only if you like the actors headlining the cast, or if you have a particular love of the single-setting thriller sub-genre. Otherwise, you’re likely to…(wait for it) retreat from watching this movie, before you ever make it to the twist ending.

"The Raid:Redemption"-The Epic Action Movie

In the The Raid:Redemption, highly-trained cop Rama (martial arts star Iko Uwais) leaves his pregnant wife at home and embarks on his first mission with a squad of elite cops. Their task? Infiltrate the slum stronghold of the ruthless Boss Tama (Ray Sahetapy), and bring the gangster to justice. The problem? The apartment complex the cops are invading is occupied by tenants who range from assassins to thugs to certifiable psychopaths – and all the other scum the slums have to offer.

The cops barely make it through the door before they’re spotted by the crooks, and from there it is an all-out war, floor by floor, as Rama and his teammates try to brave a nightmare of violence and destruction in order to make their arrest.
The Raid: Redemption has been hyped as one of the most thrilling and enjoyable action movies to come along in the last decade or so, and this is one of the rare occasions where the hype is actually well deserved. Put simply: this film is awesome. It is easily my favorite action movie of the last few years – and one I might rank as my #2 favorite behind Die Hard (blaspheme! I know). In my opinion, it’s just that good.

The film is a product of Welsh director Gareth Evans (who also wrote the script) and martial arts stuntmen / actors from the Indonesian film industry. (For those wondering, the film is in Indonesian dialect with English subtitles.) The Raid is also a fantastic showcase for the Indonesian martial arts style of “Pencak Silat,” which makes the “wire-fu” antics of other Asian action films look like child’s play. The fight choreography was designed by stars Iko Uwais (Rama) and Yayan Ruhian (who plays the villain “Mad Dog”), and I do not exaggerate when I say that there are certain sequences that will have you dropping your jaw or squealing in excitement about what you’ve just seen.

Aside from the adrenaline-inducing fight choreography, The Raid has some of the most impressive camerawork seen in an action flick. Instead of fight sequences viewed at medium distance – or worse, indiscernibly filmed in “shaky-cam” style – Evans and his camera crew include the camera as part of the fight choreography. During a fight sequence (of which there are many), the camera dances around combatants in perfect synch with their movements and blows – even going so far as to circle around doorways and walls (should someone kicked kicked through one) or dropping down through floors (as combatants move to different planes by jumping down stairwells or holes).

With a few exceptions, the characters in the movie are somewhat thin and stereotypical – but really that’s par for the course if you look at any horror film. The main players are fleshed out nicely (namely, Rama and a few of the villains) and there are even some nice twists on certain characters that defy your initial expectations. The performances don’t require all that much range (it’s mostly physical acting), but the main characters are handled well by their respective performers. While the character aspect of the script is just okay, by the end of the film Evans does succeed in creating a larger mythos that will set the stage for an interesting and exciting sequel (which is currently in the works, BTW).

If I had to point out flaws, they would be things like some of the low-budget effects (CGI blood) or the aforementioned thinly-drawn supporting characters. However, these complaints are mere nitpicks (worth no more than half a star) – and when compared to the overall sense of enjoyment and thrills that The Raid offers, these nitpicks don’t even qualify. If you are an action movie fan, you will walk out of this film on an adrenaline high.

"Man On A Ledge" Is That Could Fall In Love With It

Man on a Ledge has a title that pretty much explains its central premise: escaped convict Nick Cassidy (Sam Worthington) re-surfaces in an expensive Manhattan hotel, and suddenly steps out onto the ledge outside his window. At first it seems that Nick is intent on ending his life, but a series of curious decisions (as well as an unusually composed demeanor for a potential jumper) lead disgraced police negotiator Lydia Mercer (Elizabeth Banks) to discern that this mysterious jumper is actually a part of something much bigger.

That “something” involves Nick’s former life as a prominent NYPD cop who was convicted of stealing from ruthless businessman  Deavid Englander (Ed Harris), and paid the price with a long prison sentence. With the help of his brother Joey (Jaime Bell) and Joey’s girlfriend Angie (Genesis Rodriguez), Nick tries to get justice for the supposed wrong done to him. But with a target on his head and the whole city watching, how does one desperate man find redemption?

Man on a Ledge is one of those B-movie single-setting thrillers that is so riddled with holes and logical inconsistencies that the pulling of any one plot thread will quickly unravel the whole show. Luckily, director Asger Leth keeps each scene in the film loaded with enough action and movement that it manages to hold the viewer’s interest – at least until it becomes apparent that script writer Pablo F. Fenjves doesn’t have that many tricks up his sleeve.

Every plot point in Man on a Ledge is pretty cliched and foreseeable, and the film ends up getting by on the inertia of tension and suspense. That is to say: you’ll probably see what’s coming, but watching it play out is still somewhat enjoyable. As events unfold, the implausibility of the entire situation only increases, and by the time that Nick Cassidy’s fate is decided, the story has pretty much gone off the rails.

Man on a Ledge is oddly miscast for a film of its stature – and by that I mean a lineup of solid performers working with some pretty undeserving material. Sam Worthington is still not the best leading man, and that’s not entirely a matter of acting. His hairdo in the film certainly doesn’t help invite the eye. Elizabeth Banks, conversely, is a likable screen presence, and brings a bit of sharp levity to her part – though her “dramatic” backstory plays out as somewhat ridiculous.

Actors like Kyra Sedgwock, Anthony Mackie, William Sadler and Ed Burns are wasted in their bit roles – with Burns being handed the especially strange task of playing a cop who stands around indifferent to all the things that are happening around him. Jamie Bell and Genesis Rodriguez play a “BF/GF” couple who might be the least convincing professional thieves, ever. In the end, the only actor who seems to have fun is Harris, who gets to play the hammy villain.

Visually the film isn’t too bad, with Asger Leth showing solid chops for basic film construction as well as action. A lot of the heist sequences manage to create some good tension, and the editing of Kevin Stitt (Cloverfield, The Kingdom, X-Men) is smart enough to keep things moving at a good pace without letting the mind settle for too long – which is the only way this movie functions at all. As mentioned, so much of what happens in Man on a Ledge doesn’t hold up under even a second of critical thought, so the fact that watching it all play out has even a semblance of enjoyment to it is somewhat of a minor miracle in and of itself.

People who enjoy a popcorn thriller that doesn’t offer much thought will be suitably satisfied with Man on a Ledge. Otherwise, this is one that could definitely stand to fall in the “rental” category.

"The Lorax" In An At Times Moving And Thought-provoking

Universal’s 3D feature film adaption of Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax is actually the second time the beloved writer’s story has been brought to the screen – the first time being an animated short that premiered on TV back in 1972. In that 40-year span between Lorax adaptations, the issue of environmental preservation has continued to rage, and so the tale is (unfortunately) as relevant today as it was decades ago.
But is a 3D movie rife with musical numbers, slapstick comedy and a “hip” modern edge really the best delivery system for a message to kids about environmental responsibility? Or is the presentation of the message at odds with the message itself?

In this expanded take on Dr. Seuss’ tale we meet Ted (voice of Zac Efron), a resident of “Thneed-Ville,” an encapsulated city of complete artifice, where even the “trees” are mechanical, and fresh air is a commodity sold by diminutive tycoon, Mr. O’Hare (voice of Rob Riggle). Ted likes a girl named Audrey (voice of Taylor Swift) and Audrey wants nothing more than to see a real, live Truffula Tree, and Ted wants nothing more than to be the man who brings it to her. On advice from his Grandma Norma (voice of Betty White), Ted does the unthinkable: he ventures out of the mechanical bubble that is Thneed-Ville into the wastelands to seek out “The Once-ler,” a mysterious figure who Grandma Norma claims is the only man who knows what happened to the trees.

Ted tracks down the Once-ler (voice of Ed Helms) – a grungy shut-in with a few screws loose – and manages to get him to tell the tale of his younger years as a would-be entrepreneur, who came to the valley to harvest Truffula Tree tufts (the furry top of the tree) for an all-purpose invention called a “Thneed” (which looks hilariously like a smaller version the Snuggie). When the young Once-ler topples his first tree, he brings forth The Lorax (voice of Danny DeVito), a guardian spirit of the forest who warns the Once-ler that his desecration of the tree will have grave consequences.

At first the Once-ler heeds the warning, but when the Thneed miraculously becomes a hit, the high-demand and ample profits give the Once-ler all the reason he needs to harvest the Truffula Trees nonstop. As Ted listens to the tale of the Once-ler’s eventual downfall, he quickly realizes that his quest to find a tree may have more importance than simply landing him the girl he likes.

The Lorax is a strange mix of (sometimes conflicting) ideas and elements, but it ultimately works as a solid animated feature, which offers a positive message for the juice box crowd to take home. The film starts off looking like any other big-budget animated feature cooked up at a major studio, with kooky cartoon characters, frantic onscreen action to hold the kids’ easily-diverted attention, high-production musical numbers and a toned-down, demographically-friendly version of Dr. Seuss’ often strange imagination. It’s around the middle of the film that the gears shift, and we get into the more adult (and potentially politically-divisive) ruminations on Randian principles of big-business weighed against environmental ethics – with a song titled “How Bad Can I Be?” offering a child-palatable rundown of those conflicting views, which have been debated in socio-political discourse for decades now.

For those worried about the film pushing a political agenda: Dr. Seuss intended the story to be one of environmental awareness, so it’s an unavoidable part of the film’s DNA. The movie stays grounded in its view of the Once-ler and his mistakes; he’s not depicted as a monster, just a misguided guy thinking only of the short-term. The final third of the film wisely invests more effort into preaching environmental responsibility on a personal level, than it does condemning big business or pushing a larger environmental political agenda. If you’re ok with your kids wanting to help plant trees and/or keep their neighborhood clean, then The Lorax is no threat to your values or politics.

As stated, The Lorax may be a movie with a message, but it’s not necessarily a bad one, and the film does a good job of conveying it in an at times moving, at times thought-provoking, way. The fact that it indulges in studio-sanctioned silliness when not being poignant and pointed was a minus for me; but maybe bells and whistles are what’s needed to keep the kids interested long enough to get the lesson.

Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes Is A Shocking Movie

Rise of the Planet of the Apes is not your typical summer actioner. It's not an action film at all, actually. There is one spectacular extended set piece, but this is old-school science fiction filmmaking. It's about mood setting, about planting seeds -- much like the original Planet of the Apes was. Director Rupert Wyatt takes his time unrolling his movie -- a bit too much, it should be said -- but what he lays out for us is a fascinating look at the consequences of scientific ambition fueled by personal feelings. This movie takes us to the very beginning, to show us how it is that the human race would find itself in the evolutionary pickle depicted in the original picture.

In present-day San Francisco, research is happening that could lead to a breakthrough in the treatment of Alzheimer’s. The drug developed by an ambitious scientist named Will Rodman (James Franco) looks to be the magic bullet. We'll learn later in the movie that it has unintended and dire side effects. But when the prize test subject, the ape called 'Bright Eyes,' (a tip of the cap to the nickname Charlton Heston's 'Taylor' had in the 1st Apes movie) is killed by security guards after an outburst, Will is forced to take his work home with him. He sneaks Bright Eyes' baby out of the drug labs to keep him from being put down when the entire research project is scrapped. Caesar, we'll soon learn, has inherited the experimental drug's properties from his mother. Will is actually caring for two. John Lithgow plays Franco's father, whose life and dignity is being dismantled by Alzheimer’s. The drug however, causes immediate improvement in the elder Rodman. We spend a lot of time watching Caesar grow, from a precocious young primate who can sign, to an Ape with a grasp of basic human emotions.

Like curiosity, and compassion. Like during the moment where Lithgow’s character, falling victim again to the onslaught of Alzheimer’s, can’t remember how to use his fork during a meal. Caesar reaches over and gently turns the fork around. No words are exchanged, just knowing glances, but the bond between the two is clear. But no amount of domestication can change the fact that beneath all of the intelligence is beastly rage. Those moments grow intensity as the film progresses. And it works beautifully, thanks to the genius of Andy Serkis. There is no overstating Serkis’ performance as Caesar, the unnaturally intelligent and cunning ape at the center of the film's simian uprising. Think about the stones it takes to put your big-budget possible franchise re-launcher square in the hands of an actor whose face you'll never see once in the movie. Because make no mistake, as Caesar, Serkis is the star.

It only works because of his mastery of performance capture acting allows him to stretch the boundaries of CGI work to unknown levels. Instead of grand, dramatic gestures, Caesar is all about subtlety. The menacing glare, the dismissive sneer, the acknowledging head nod; Caesar is the Frank Morris of the Ape prison. He runs the yard, not because he's the biggest or strongest. He's neither. But he has the most respect. By the time he's ready to make his play, his simian soldiers are prepared to lay down their lives for Caesar. As he signs to his baboon confidante, 'Ape alone. Weak. Ape together? Strong.' So begins the revolution. Director Wyatt Easter eggs his movie with several nods to Planet of the Apes. Some, like the TV footage of a space mission to Mars, are subtle. Is that supposed to be the same astronaut crew that will travel into the year 3978, crash landing on an Earth run by Apes?

Others are not quite as discreet. Tom Felton gets to utter the franchise's signature line, but his tone is a lot different than Charlton Heston's when he says, 'get your stinking..' oh hell, do I really need to actually write it out? As the doctor whose personal stakes push him to the boundaries of ethical research, Franco is empathetic. His relationship with Caesar is well drawn. However, once Caesar is taken from him, the movie shifts toward Caesar's evolution. Franco and his girlfriend, the woefully under-used Frieda Pinto, become strictly cameo players. Even Brian Cox gets pushed aside for monkey business. Whenever he shows up in a movie like this -- and if you've seen X2: X-Men United or Troy, you know what I mean -- you almost start a countdown to his onscreen comeuppance. Instead it’s Harry Potter alum Felton who gets to play the role of 'sadistic human.' But it doesn't matter, because what you want is to see what happens to the apes. As the movie finally arrives at its crescendo, it does so with drums banging. The jailbreak, followed by the mad chase through the streets of San Francisco and over the Golden Gate Bridge, is some kind of awesome. Northern California comes into play in this climactic fight between the ape army and human law enforcement. Caesar uses the fog and the natural surroundings to his advantage; He's a primate Patton, who outfoxes his upright opponents effortlessly. Yet he also manages to maintain a certain sense of honor. As the film concludes, the threads for future stories are clearly laid out.

And it should be said, it's done with a clever plausibility, at least as plausible as a scenario can be in which Ape ousts Man. The only way an Ape army survives against man's superior firepower is to seek shelter where those weapons can't touch them, somewhere that puts the battle in the apes' favor. Hello, Northern California Redwood forests. The final scene offers even more signs of impending bad news for humanity’s future, but we won't spoil that here. Is this a great movie? No, it's not, but it misses by just a little bit. Certain story lines are started and discarded. Franco, Pinto and Cox aren't given enough to do in the last half of the picture.

And the first 45 minutes sometimes feels like you're watching "Leave It to Caesar. But Rise of the Planet of the Apes is ambitious. It raises moral questions and makes the kind of statements about relevant social concerns that great sci-fi has always done. In tone, pace and spirit, it is the Apes movie that most closely resembles the film that kicked off the franchise. The big difference between the two movies is of course, that aside from Vera and Cornelius, a human -- Taylor -- was still the most compelling character in the 1968 movie. The tables have turned in this one. It was as if, during the editing process, Wyatt realized the best, most human characters in his movie weren't the actual humans; it was the computer-generated apes.