More drive-in movies. Films reviewed: Shadow Force, Rust, Clown in a Cornfield
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
It’s finally getting warm outside and you’re probably unpacking your shorts and slides. Don’t you want to watch a movie outdoors? Well, this week, I’m looking at three drive-in type movies: a western, a slasher and an action movie. There’s a pair of super-spy-assassins… and their cute little son; a notorious outlaw… and his little grandson; and a small-town doctor whose rebellious daughter is being chased by a killer clown!
Shadow Force
Co-Wri/Dir: Joe Carnahan
It’s present day in the USA. Isaac (Omar Sy) is a defacto single Dad (his wife has disappeared) taking care of his young son, Ky (Jahleel Kamara). He likes driving around in his car with his son and singing along to middle-of-the-road R&B classics He keeps a low profile and avoids all cameras. He’s also hearing impaired, his eardrums shattered in an explosion. But when a random gang of robbers attacks a bank he’s in and threaten his son’s life, his years of training kick into action. He manages to disarm or kill all his attackers in just a few seconds. The footage goes viral and his identity is blown. You see, Isaac was once a member of an elite international paramilitary troupe known as Shadow Force. Their job? To keep G7 nations safe by assassinating anybody their boss wants them to. And who is this boss?Jack Cinder (Mark Strong) a ruthless killer. But when Isaac and another Shadow Force agent Kyrah (Kerry Washington) started dating and fell in love they both went AWOL. Fraternization is strictly verboten (except between Cinder and female members). And no one ever leaves the shadow force. The remaining members have orders to eliminate them both, and the one who kills them first gets a huge reward. But now Kyra and Isaac are back together and their son is in danger. With the help of their longtime CIA agents Auntie and Unc (Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Method Man) maybe they can rescue him, But with the Shadow Force closing in, what are their chances of survival?
Shadow Force is an extremely light and vapid action/thriller
with a bit of humour. The premise — a secret kill team run by the G7 — is totally ridiculous. What’s different about this one? It’s a husband-and-wife kill-team taking care of an innocent kid as they try to live a normal life. Also, they’re both Black, quite unusual in action movies. So there are lots of parenting jokes, and mundane husband/wife patter. The flight scenes are blurry or too close up, not great. The shooting scenes are only a bit better while some of the chases — like in a motorboat — are not that bad. I wanted to see this one because I like French star Omar Sy, and he was not disappointing. Nor was the rest of the cast; Washington, Strong, Randolph, and Method Man are all good (though much better actors than the crap material they’re forced to work with.)
Shadow Force is a passable action film and instantly forgettable.
Rust
Co-Wri/Dir: Joel Souza
It’s the 1880s in the old west. Lucas Hollister (Patrick Scott McDermott) is an orphan who lives with his little brother Jacob in the family homestead. Their Ma died of the fever and their Pa shot himself afterwards. Now it’s Lucas who provides for and protect Jacob — cook his food, buy the supplies and protect him from any dangers. But when an errant shot aimed at a wolf, accidentally killed a townsman, Lucas is arrested, tried and, though still a young boy, os sentenced to death by hanging. A local matriarch, Evelyn Basset (Frances Fisher) a great aunt, pleads for his release, but to no avail. But that night, an outlaw breaks into the prison, and after a shootout escapes on horseback with Jacob. The man is a gruff, grizzled and mean old cuss. But Harland Rust (Alec Baldwin) is also Lucas’s grandpa. He promises to find his brother, and take Lucas somewhere the law can’t reach him. The boy doesn’t like him but doesn’t want to die. So they start on a long journey southbound from Montana. But what they don’t realize is they’re being pursued by a large number of people. Wood Helm (Josh Hopkins) is a rare, honest lawman, who wants to bring them both back alive so he can hang ‘em. He’s got a posse to back him up. Then there’s ‘Preacher’ Lang a notorious, black-hat bounty hunter (Travis Fimmel), who had his start murdering escaped slaves for cash. Rust and Lucas are way ahead, but their pursuers are catching up. Will Rust fulfil his promise? Will Lucas ever get to know 
his newfound grandpa? Or will they both be caught and killed by the bounty hunters?
Rust is a classic, bittersweet western about an outlaw and his grandson being tracked by bounty hunters. It has everything you expect — an outlaw and a sheriff, shootouts, showdowns… the usual. The acting is OK and there’s a credible narrative, but much of the movie is a muddled mess, with lots of people shouting and shooting but you’re never really sure why and at whom. In case you haven’t heard, Rust is that notorious western where the cinematographer was accidentally shot and killed on set by Alec Baldwin due to a firearms mixup… The director was wounded, too. Three years later, they managed to reshoot missing scenes, recast some roles and cobble it all together. This is the result, released as a tribute to Halyna Hutchins, the woman who Baldwin killed, including some of the many incredible scenes she shot — all on film — against magnificent western skies. The lighting alone is exceptional.
Rust is not a great movie, but if you are curious like I was, now might be your only chance to see it on the big screen.
Clown in a Cornfield
Dir: Eli Craig
It’s Kettle Falls, a small town in corn country, middle-America. Quinn (Katie Douglas) is a city girl from Philly, who has just arrived with her dad (Aaron Abrams), the town’s new MD. He had a nervous breakdown when Quinn’s mom (his wife) died, so they’re relocating to somewhere less stressful. It may be more relaxing for him, but it sure isn’t for Quinn. Their house smells like dead bodies, and, most frightening of all, they’re in a no-signal zone! Luckily, their gigantic neighbour Rust (Vincent Muller) who likes huntin’ and fishin’ offers to walk her to school.
But things just get worse. She falls in a with the bad kids — who happen to throw the best parties — and is immediately given detention. Her new friends are Janet the snob, Ronnie the regular girl, Tucker the class clown, and Matt the dumb jock. And their undeclared leader, Cole (Carson MacCormac). He’s a self-described son of an oligarch; his family founded this one-horse town and own the only business — a corn syrup factory represented by the logo of a clown. But, Cole, like his friends, just want it tear it all down, and get out of this place. So Tucker and Matt have been creating short videos portraying Frendo as a evil serial killer, acting out gory scenes that go viral on the socials. But things take a drastic turn for the worse when the actual Frendo embarks on a murderous 
rampage… and the bad kids — including Quinn — are on his hit list. Is Frendo a ghost or is he a person? Why is he killing the teens? And who — if anyone — will survive?
Clown in a Cornfield is a classic slasher/horror pic about a killer in a small town. It’s bloody, scary and funny. The killer-clown — who appears after anyone uses a Frendo jack-in-the-box — uses a butcher’s hook, a bow an arrows and a chainsaw to decapitate and disembowel his various victims. It follows many of the typical slasher plot turns but with enough new twists to make it very enjoyable. I especially liked the generation-gap gags, like where the teens are trapped in a house but don’t know how to use a dial phone. The entire movie was filmed in Winnipeg with an all-Canadian cast… which makes me wonder: is Frendo an evil-twin version of the Nutty Club’s Can-D-Man clown?
I pre-judged this movie by its title as something derivative and stupid, but you know what? Clown in a Cornfield is a whole bunch of fun.
Shadow Force, Rust, and Clown in a Cornfield all open this weekend; check your local listings.
This is Daniel Garber at the Movies, each Saturday morning, on CIUT 89.5 FM and on my website culturalmining.com.
Daniel Garber talks with José Avelino Gilles Corbett Lourenço about Young Werther
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
Photos by Jeff Harris.
It’s a sunny, summer day at Toronto’s Union Station. Werther, a young dandy from Westmount, has just arrived with his neurotic, best friend Paul. Werther is there to pick up a family heirloom, and to explore the town. But soon after his arrival he meets Charlotte, a pretty, witty and kind young woman. It’s her birthday! They end up discussing Salinger, dancing a waltz together and smoking a joint. Werther is smitten: this is the woman he wants to marry! He plans to 
sweep her off her feet. But things are not so simple. Charlotte serves as a defacto mother to her six orphaned siblings, and is engaged to Albert, a much older and more successful lawyer. Can young Werther win Charlotte’s heart? Or is he headed for disaster?
Young Werther is a new Canadian romantic comedy based on Goethe’s famous 18th century coming-of-age novel, updated to modern times. It’s a love triangle full of passion and lovelorn loss. It’s written and directed by award-winning, 
Toronto-based filmmaker José Avelino Gilles Corbett Lourenço. José is best known for his short films and music videos but also has an accomplished history in advertising. This is his first feature.
I spoke with José in Toronto via ZOOM.
Young Werther had its world premiere at TIFF24 and is now playing in Toronto.
Bad destinations. Films reviewed: Borderlands, Only Flows the River, Cuckoo
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
Looking for fun and adventure? Look no further. This week I have three new movies from around the world: a supernatural thriller set in Bavaria, a dark mystery in northwestern China, and an action comedy that takes place…in outer space!
Borderlands
Co-Wri/Dir: Eli Roth
It’s outer space in a post-apocalyptic future dominated by a multi planetary corporation known as Atlas. The worst place in the universe is the planet Pandora, once prosperous, but now decrepit and desolate. That’s where Atlas CEO’s daughter still lives. Pandora is a mecca for treasure hunters looking for a legendary vault, one that will provide limitless wealth to its discoverer. Tiny Tina (Ariana Greenblatt) Atlas’s teenaged daughter, still lives there. But when she is kidnapped by Roland, an ex-soldier (Kevin Hart) and Krieg, a deranged, masked muscleman (Florian Munteanu) Atlas is furious, not least because his daughter may hold the key to that vault. So Atlas (Edgar Ramírez) approaches Lilith (Cate Blanchett) to bring her home. Lilith is a hard-boiled bounty hunter, notorious for her ruthlessness; she’ll shoot anyone who gets in her way. And she hates Pandora more than most, having lived a traumatic childhood there. But business is business, so when Atlas offers an enormous sum of money to compete this “simple” job, she flies off to rescue Tiny Tina.
Problem is it’s anything but simple. Tiny Tina doesn’t want to be rescued. She’s also dangerous: the cute teddy bears she carries are lethal explosives. Eventually they form a truce: Lilith, Roland Tina, and Krieg, along with Claptrap — a wise-cracking R2D2 — and Tannis (Jamie Lee Curtis) an academic with a sketchy past. But can they fight off all those dangerous treasure hunters? And who in this group can be trusted?
Borderlands is a science fiction action/comedy based on a video game. It’s filled with strangely shaped vehicles, scary monsters and cool weapons. It has pretty good special effects and a stellar cast. Unfortunately, the movie kinda sucks. It’s like a third-rate Mad Max. Eli Roth, is a competent, though gory, horror director, but he totally missed the boat with this one. The story stays close to the original game, but who wants to watch characters advancing to higher levels in a game you’re not playing? It just doesn’t translate into a movie plot: Cross a bridge before it 
collapses. Enter the elevator before the bad guys attack… Boooring. The jokes are not funny, the script is awful, the CGI is relentless, and the characters are shamelessly stolen from movies like Blade Runner, Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Tank Girl.
Perhaps fans of the game will enjoy seeing their favourite characters on the big screen, but otherwise I can’t see any reason to watch this.
Only the River Flows
Co-Wri/Dir: Wei Shujun
It’s the early 1990’s in China. Detective Ma Zhe (Zhu Yilong) is a recent arrival to Banpo, a rundown small town on the Yellow River. HIs wife is pregnant with their one child, He was an award winning cop back in Yunnan before transferring here and the ambitious Police Chief (Hou Tianlai) has high hopes. He wants to move the police HQ to an abandoned cinema. But first, Ma’s team must prove its crime-solving talent. Lucky for Ma a kid finds a dead body by the riverbank. It’s an old lady who tends her geese but rarely interacts with anybody else. She lives with a formerly homeless drifter she adopted, who people in the village call Mad Man. However any evidence was washed away with the flowing river. A similar killing is discovered a few days later by the river; a local poet, whose writing ties him to a single woman.
There are a lot of seemingly unconnected clues. A cassette tape found near a crime contains crucial information recorded on it. One interrogated witness admits his guilt —- but is he telling the truth? The more clues they find, the less sure Ma is. And the longer he takes to close the file, the more agitated his ping-pong-playing Police Chief becomes. Eventually, truth merges with fantasy until Ma can’t tell his dreams from reality. Can he regain his clear 
head and catch the real killer (or killers)? Or will this case be his last?
Only the River Flows is a policier portraying an earlier China that’s dirty and poor. Though it involves a series of killings, the mystery is less important than the mood: dark, wet and crumbling. There are some surprisingly memorable scenes: like a primitive CSI where they strike a hog carcass to determine which knife was used in the killing. The film manages to be cynical and satirical, without being out-and-out depressing, poking fun at things like the PRCs obsession with official banners and awards. The acting is good, but the camerawork and art direction is great, infusing the film with a miserable nostalgia. I’ve never seen a film by Wei Shujun before, but his reputation precedes him. And he was born after the film takes place.
Not bad at all.
Cuckoo
Wri/Dir: Tillman Singer
It’s the forests of Bavaria, in the not-so-distant past. Gretchen (Hunter Schafer) is a depressed and angry 17-year-old who carries a switchblade in her pocket. She likes scowling and playing goth music on her electric guitar. She was sent to Germany to stay with her divorced dad, his second wife and their kid Alma (Mila Lieu) after her mom died. They live in a modern house near a seedy, isolated resort — named after the cuckoo — that they want to develop. The hotel is owned and run by a slimy control freak named Herr König (Dan Stevens), who hires Gretchen to work at the front desk; We need more English speakers, he says.
But she soon discovers this guesthouse is no picnic. Female visitors are prone to vomiting and keeling over in the lobby. Strange noises and powerful invisible waves, coming from nowhere, wreak havoc with their brains. And when Gretchen rides her bike home one night — over Herr Konig’s objections — she is closely followed and nearly killed by a terrifying hooded woman — with round glasses and grasping claws — running all the way. She narrowly escapes by seeking refuge inside the local hospital. But the police dismiss her scary experiences as a prank by local kids. Her family and their friends (except her mute half-sister Alma, and a bearded detective named Henry) seem to have turned against her. The longer Gretchen stays there, the more beaten up she gets, with an arm in a sling and gauze across her forehead. But every attempt to escape is thwarted by invisible forces, fueled by time gaps in her memory. Can she ever get away from this godforsaken place? And who are the scary people here: Demons? Vampires? Werewolves?
Cuckoo is a highly-original story of a sensitive teenaged girl 
trapped in a bizarre situation. It’s a fantasy thriller/horror but different from anything I’ve seen. It’s not set in any particular era but probably the 1990s. (Picture older hospital rooms, endless rows of filing cabinets) Writer-Director Tillman Singer also composed some of the songs. The acting is excellent, and more than that, the actors really seem to enjoy their strange characters, especially Hunter Schafer (Euphoria) and Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey). Cuckoo is funny, sexy, scary, totally unpredictable and weird as all get-out.
I loved this one.
Borderlands, Only the River Flows, and Cuckoo all open this weekend in Toronto; check your local listings.
This is Daniel Garber at the Movies, each Saturday morning, on CIUT 89.5 FM and on my website culturalmining.com.
60s, 70s, 80s. Films reviewed: Cocaine Bear, Jesus Revolution, Metronom
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
This week, I’m looking at three new movies. There are spiritual revolutionaries in California in the 1960s, teenaged dissidents in Bucharest in the 1970s, and a crazed animal in Georgia in the 1980s.
Cocaine Bear
Dir: Elizabeth Banks
It looks like a typical day in 1985 in the Chattahoochee National Forest in Georgia. Two little kids are playing hooky, three skateboard-riding teenage delinquents are looking for some petty crime to commit, a pair of Scandinavian backpackers are on a hike, and a middle-aged forest ranger is dressed to impress a guy she wants to date. But everything changes when a prop-plane pilot drops a dozen duffel bags of uncut cocaine into the woods… and then promptly dies. Suddenly the supply chain is broken, and out-of-state traffickers looking to retrieve their supply — and the cops who want to nab them — all descend on the park at once. And here’s where the 
actual movie starts: a huge black bear sticks its nose into the duffel bag and emerges as a frantic, delirious, coke head, forever on the lookout for more snow to blow. Who will find the drugs — the cops, the gangsters, the delinquents, or the children? And who will not be eaten by the bear?
Cocaine Bear is a low-brow, high-concept comedy that’s basically 90 minutes of extreme-gore violence. I was a bit dubious at the beginning, but about half an hour in it started to get really funny. I know it’s stupid-funny, but it still made me laugh. The all-CGI bear is one of the main characters, but there’s a great assortment of humans, too, played by an all-star cast: Margo Martindale as the forest ranger, the late Ray Liotta was the gangster, Alden Ehrenreich as his diffident son, O’Shea 
Jackson Jr as his henchman, and Keri Russell as a mom searching for the two missing children. It’s hilariously directed by TV actor Elizabeth Banks. Cocaine Bear easily beats Snakes on a Plane and Sharknado as best movie based solely on its title. Supposedly inspired by true events (yeah, right) it has lots of room for ridiculous 80s haircuts, music and other gags to good effect. Stoner movies are a dime a dozen and half of the movies coming out of Hollywood are clearly made by cokeheads, but this may be the first comedy about cocaine I’ve ever seen. If you’re comfortable laughing at blood, gore and gratuitous violence, along with lots of base humour, I think you’ll love this one.
Jesus Revolution
Dir: Jon Erwin, Brent McCorkle
It’’s the late 1960s in California, where young people everywhere are tuning in, turning on, and dropping out. One of these kids is Greg Laurie (Joel Courtney), who attends a military academy but would rather be drawing cartoons. He lives in a trailer with his Mom, a glamorous but alcoholic barfly. He meets a pretty girl named Kathe hanging with the hippies outside a public high school, and decides that’s where he’d rather be. But Kathe is from an upper-class family whose parents frown on Greg. Meanwhile, Chuck Smith (Kelsey Grammer), a local pastor, wonders why no one is coming to his Calvary Chapel anymore. It’s because your a square, his 
daughter tells him. So she introduces him to a unique man she met at a psychedelic Happening. Lonnie Frisbee (Jonathan Roumie) is a charismatic, touchy-feely type who talks like a hippie and looks like Jesus. He emerged from the sex-and-drug world of Haight Ashbury with a mission from God, and now wants to spread the gospel. Chuck Smith is less than impressed, but decides to give him a try.
Soon there are block-long lineups to hear what Lonnie — and Chuck — have to say. This includes Kathe and Greg, who barely survived a bad acid trip. Lonnie gives Greg a place to live and invites him to join the church. Calvary Chapel is attracting people from everywhere, 
culminating in mass baptisms in the Pacific ocean. But as their fame grows, so does the friction. The more moderate Chuck frowns on Lonnie’s in-your-face style — from faith-healing to his talk of being closer to God. Can Greg find a place in this world? Will Kathe’s family ever accept him? And is this a movement or just a flash in the pan?
Jesus Revolution is a retelling of the unexpected upsurge in grassroots Christianity among baby boomers in the 70s. The film is clearly aimed at evangelical church-goers, a subject in which I have absolutely no interest. Zero. Which is why I’m surprised how watchable this film is to a general audience. It’s not preachy — it shows, not tells. It’s well-acted with compelling characters and a surprisingly good story. No angels or miracles here, just regular — flawed but sympathetic — people. I think it’s because the Erwin Brothers (American Underdog, I Still Believe)have figured out how to make mainstream, faith-based movies that are actually good. The film is based on real people, so I was a bit surprised they never mention that Lonnie Frisbee was actually a gay man who later died of HIV AIDS. I guess it doesn’t fit the story they want to tell That said, if you’re involved in a church or a fan of spiritual films, this might be just what you’re looking for.
Metronom
Wri/Dir: Alexandru Belc
It’s 1972 in Bucharest, Romania. Ana and Sarin (Mara Bugarin, Serban Lazarovici) are a beautiful couple still in high school, and madly in love. They both come from “intellectual” families, who are given special privileges in Ceausescu’s communist regime. They go to an elite school together, and hope to pass their Baccalaureates to get into an equally good university. They meet in front of a WWII heroes monument dressed in stylish trench coats and school uniforms. So why is Ana crying? Sarin and his family are emigrating to Germany. That means they’re breaking up for good and will probably never see each other again. Ana is crushed — her world is broken. Which is why she has no interest in going to an afternoon party at a friend’s house, but changes her mind at the least minute. Her father, a law professor, is easy going, but her mother absolutely forbids it. So Ana sneaks out of the apartment and heads to the get-together. This is her last chance before he leaves to make out with Sarin and express her eternal love.
The party is centred around listening to music — Led Zepplin,
Hendrix, The Doors — as played on a radio show called Metronom on Radio Free Europe. Western music is underground, subversive and illicit. They decide to write a letter to the show and pass it on to a French journalist. But two bad things happened. When they make love behind a closed door, Sarin won’t say he loves her. And the party gets raided by the secret police and all the kids are arrested and forced to write confessions. But Ana is so caught up in her relationship she barely notices the interrogation she has landed up in. Who ratted them out to the authorities? And what will happen to Ana?
Metronom is a passionate story of young love in the 1970s under the omnipresent gaze of an authoritarian government. It’s a coming of age story, about heartbreak and the loss of innocence as the real world reveals its ugly face.
If you’ve never seen a Romanian film before (such as Întregalde, Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn, Poppy Field, The Whistlers, The Fixer, One Floor Below), this is a good place to start. They all have this feeling of tension, corruption, mistrust and unease, whether they’re set during Ceaucescu’s reign or long after his fall. This one also has hot sex, good music, stark cinematography, and terrific acting, especially Mara Bugarin as Ana. It manages to be a thriller, a romance and a coming-of-age story, all at once.
This is a good one.
Metronom is now playing a the TIFF Bell Lightbox; Cocaine Bear and Jesus Revolution open nationwide this weekend; check your local listings.
This is Daniel Garber at the Movies, each Saturday morning, on CIUT 89.5 FM and on my website, culturalmining.com.
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