Lights Out (2016)

An alternative to saving on your power bill

By: JWBM

As a child, what do you do if your mother is just a tad bit strange? The kind that has a tall, dark friend, talks to herself, and says it all with a charming, nothing's-wrong smile. Well, you've got your older sister to protect you. She grew up in the same household—and might be more towards the normal side—but is still not all the way caught up with the rest of society to be the best of role models.

"Lights Out" introduces you to a creature of sorts that thrives in the dark. Let in even a shred of light, and she disappears. Though that doesn't stop her from lingering on the edges of the shadows till just the right moment. In turn, the filmmakers use this to create more jump and scare theatrics than one can count on their razor sharp talons.

There's a dark family secret that threatens to tear everyone apart. Whether they had anything normal at any point, it's hard to say. This leads to an overcasting theme of trust issues: either between son to Mom, from Mom to Dad, from daughter to Mom, or from girlfriend to boyfriend. Plus the dark. Hard to trust that anymore after what they've seen, or felt with searing pain.

The writing attempted to go for a natural progression to feel out the characters. Though it has tendency to be noticeably restrained by sprinkling crumbs of the story throughout. It's to the point of not flowing smoothly from scene to scene and stretching itself out. Then at some point, the meat of it just falls into the lap of the daughter with all of the secrets to the past in one convenient package. Guess it's just another way of cutting right to the chase instead of the age ol' horror trope of a homeless person popping out of nowhere to shed light on all of the mysterious things afoot.

The vengeful, dark-past of a villain, Diana, seems interesting in the way they keep her half-in, half-out of the spotlight. However, the same can't be said about the other characters. The daughter has the looks, but doesn't come across as adept or adjusted to anything in particular to have her stand out. The boy is a token piece to play out some childhood fears, and feels more there to create drama between the Mom and daughter. The boyfriend says all of the right things at the right time to win the daughter over. Subtract his character and you're not missing much, except for maybe emotional support and a cool leather jacket. The story attempts to take on mental health issues, but then ends up not saying much if anything at all about them besides using it and an out of place antique looking house to act as a catalyst.

"Lights Out" isn't a bad film. Though it feels like the pacing has issues shifting between its gears without puttering from time to time. It attempted to do all of the right, little tricks, but didn't come together with a reasonable amount of fluidity. The writing feels somewhat formulaic without actually overcoming that with something that would stand out: such as an outstanding concept after the more intriguing short film with the same name; being more than an excuse to make you superficially jump; or actually being concerned with its own drama, than just being something to fill in the spaces between to show the more alluring villain. Even that is not enough to overall save this.

Rating: 5.5/10

Director: David F. Sandberg
Actors: Maria Bello, Teresa Palmer, Gabriel Bateman, Alexander DiPersia
Info: IMDB
Trailer: Youtube

Prisoners (2013)

When the unthinkable happens to your flesh and blood

By: JWBM

Years back I used to stay up late to watch "Cold Case Files" and other similar shows about finding a killer after a real-life senseless act. It was never a good idea. The stories often stuck with you, even into the next day. A characteristic trait of these tales, is the search for the truth is often a pull and tug into different directions. Sometimes one path leads to a dead end, other times it leads to the right path—one with a resolution of sorts that is never easy, and one that often doesn't make it any better or make sense to someone with a conscience. Detectives and personnel look as if they're just doing their job compared to the distraught, all-tears loved ones. But after studying and dealing with so many horrific cases, some professionals come to the realization that emotions can blind us; can make us obsessive; can make us convinced about something that may or may not be there. Another thing that rings true, is emotions can bring us together, but also tear us apart in as little time as it took for said act to happen.

It's every parent's worst nightmare. The room is too quiet. You call out your child's name. Silence. You look everywhere. Nothing. It's tragedy in its purist form. All of those plans, dreams, and aspirations are frozen in time. Adults are sprinkled with choices and have ample opportunity to unlock different pathways throughout their lifetime. When something happens to our own flesh and blood—a little one no less—it can bring about deep emotions that would tear just about anyone apart. That is with the exception of a certain breed of predator. Someone whom you will never understand; someone whom you will never firmly step into their shoes. How do you find a monster? Become one yourself? To toss away reason, and replace it with a hurried, fractured logic that makes sense in the now but may be full of regret later. To fully do so, would be to transform oneself and toss away the remaining humanity inside of yourself and replace it with a determination that's as black as the corrupted soul that took said innocent one. Do you have it in you? Should you have it in you?

Two girls during low-key Thanksgiving festivities end up missing with few clues to go on. Dad goes into full protective mode to find them; mom goes full comatose from all the unanswered hows and whys swirling in her head; detective turns over every stone to find them. You've seen this type of drama-thriller before. An exceptional, callous thing happens, a few creepy scenes occur to get under your skin, and eventually the final revelation and resolution of it all is wrapped up into another fava-beans-and-Chianti package. Well, not exactly here. "Prisoners" feels less slick, more moment by moment, more centered on resonating emotions than surface thrills, and more like the characters could be your neighbors and this your neighborhood. It's still gripping and engaging, though it still doesn't feel like your typical cinematic experience for the first half in how it lays one brick at a time to build its story. Take the music for instance. It's all about those menacing tones, than it is about creating a soundtrack to hum on a road-trip. It's like the director wanted to explore complex human emotions to stick with the viewer over just a focus on being aesthetically pleasing.

Another mode to this film that I thought was brilliant is how the characters are tied together with a common theme. When something out of the ordinary happens to us as humans, there are many that attempt to hide their bruised egos. We become afraid to ask for just a simple thing: Help. A share of problems would be solved if we swallowed our pride and reached out to ask for a hand. Especially to someone whom we should ask for help. It's a strange but common set of circumstances that I feel the writer nailed with this story. It's finely layered in how it's done—enough that it didn't hit me till after the fact when I was piecing it all together. I haven't seen too many other films that weave it into their story as well as this did.

As much as "Prisoners" delved into and examined the emotional turmoil of this event, it also wrapped up its loose ends in a rather quick dust of the hands. The movie does have some heartfelt soul to walk away with though. It's not an easy watch—some portions are downright uncomfortable—but it's acted and portrayed well for this harrowing subject not everyone wants to outright talk about. I mean, unless you're John Walsh, or someone like me who wants to examine the more challenging things of this strange and sometimes cruel world.

Rating: 8.5/10

Director: Denis Villeneuve (Maelstrom, Polytechnique, Incendies)
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis, Maria Bello, Terrence Howard
Info: IMDB
Trailer: Youtube

A History of Violence (2005)

Protecting the American Dream

By: JWBM

How much time can go by until the realization sets in that you don't really know someone? Most of us are on our best behavior due to following similar routines and habits. It isn't until a situation falls outside of a person's comfort zone that you notice something unusual that may have been hiding there all along. Getting to know how someone acts is knowing their routines; knowing how someone reacts is knowing the inner person.

Stories such as "Deliverance," for instance, dealt not just with the wild perils of nature, but about bringing out a side of ourselves that we never knew was there if not for a dire set of circumstances that tested our limits and boundaries. "A History of Violence," as the namesake suggests, is an evolution of our complex behavior as human beings with an everyday man who's established the perfect family life for himself—right down to the locally owned diner, and station wagon—until that's threatened to be taken away when backed into a corner. Other movies have scraped the surface of our protective nature as an excuse to get the action going—though this film slowly digs its claws in with more of a subtle look at our subdued primal instincts in the modern day. We're used to seeing animals act out what's natural without batting an eye, but what happens when those things called rules, laws, and safe-guards are taken away from a small town family living the simple life?

The tone has a dark and violent side when it calls for it, though the pacing is played out with more of
a slow burn than a non-stop visceral attack on the senses. For instance, the opening scene is a continuous shot that reminds me of some of Takeshi Kitano films, in how the camera rolls uncut and we're left to read the what-just-happened, what's-gonna-happen on our characters' faces. The story gives a simple build up, and then some layers are intertwined for character development concerning the growing tension amongst this howdy-good-morning family from small town middle of nowhere. This leaves room for the characters to naturally react to the situations at hand without seeming rushed or cut and dry as just a buffer for a John McClane-like action moment. It's not always what's said, compared to how it's portrayed in the face and body language. Mortensen does an authentic job at fleshing out Tom Stall: a man caught between his past and protecting his family in the now. The line "Then we deal with it" about sums up his mild-mannered, spring-to-action demeanor.

This takes a closer look at violence no doubt, though it's also a tale dealing with undercurrents of change, bond, and growth. What makes "A History of Violence" rewatchable, is the filmmaking is more along the lines of a timeless piece—having neither trendy music, catch-phrases, or shameless, I-remember-that advertisements. Cronenberg has a particular directorial style to his films. A knack for conjuring up the surreal and making it seem real when played out in front of your eyes. This is still more rooted in reality over, say, "eXitenZ" of a few years earlier. He's both at the far end of the spectrum of reserved and then effectively point-blank at other times. It can make the experience easy to chew at times, and then hard to swallow at others. What's remarkable is how he can take a basic story about a basic family, and still make it a memorable experience to walk away with.

Rating: 8.5/10

Director: David Cronenberg (Videodrome, Crash, eXistenZ)
Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello, Ed Harris
Info: IMDB
Trailer: Youtube

Trivia: Reported to be the last film to be printed on VHS by a major studio (on March, 14th 2006).