Mediocre Movie Club Movie Reviews

The Two Faces of January

9/28/2016

C-
1.67

An expat amateur conman helps out a pro and his wife in Greece.

Directed by Hossein Amini
Starring Oscar Isaac, Viggo Mortensen, and Kirsten Dunst
Initial Review by Sean Riley

Netflix describes The Two Faces of January as “A tour guide and part-time con artist finds himself caught in a dangerous arrangement when he meets a wealthy couple sightseeing in Greece” Genres: 20th century period pieces, thrillers, crime thrillers. Suspenseful.

Based on that description I added to my list and was excited. I loved Oscar Isaac in Ex Machina, Viggo Mortensen and Kirsten Dunst are recognizable so I was expecting a combination of excitement and beautiful scenery. We start strong. Oscar Isaac is very charismatic as tour guide conman Rydal and you can see all the girls on his tour swooning over him and his quick exchange rate swindles over lunch establish who he is. Viggo and Kirsten as Chester and Collette are introduced as the typical rich American tourists heavy on the cash and light on the local knowledge and language. The exchange in the bazaar when they overpay for the bracelet is brilliant. Rydal begins with throwing out a price that is more than enough then “negotiates” it down while tacking on a chunk for himself to the delight of the salesman as he gets paid and a couple American fat cats get screwed because they don’t know any better. So far I’m feeling like we’re getting a version of The Talented Mr Ripley.

6 Comments

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

9/20/2016

8 Comments

B-
2.83

A budding cinephile is guilted into spending time with a cancer-stricken classmate.

Directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon
Starring Thomas Mann, RJ Cyler, and Olivia Cooke
Initial Review by Phil Crone

“Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” might pander to critic sensibilities with the famous movie parodies and decidedly hipster references early on, but it’s a great story with a lot of heart built around three likable characters.

The movie lives and dies with its characters, and most of all with Greg. I could see Greg being polarizing, but I found him likable. He’s got a dry sense of humor, rattling off several great lines throughout the movie, and he’s the type of painfully-stunted introvert that I think is easy to root for. We’re getting the story through his eyes, and it’s interesting to see how the story morphs as Greg tells it. His opening line winds up being all we think we need to know about his ruined senior year and terrible movie that killed a girl. As we go along, we feel Greg soften to his situation of being forced into an awkward friendship with Rachel and how it helped him grow as a person. This gave me the sense that Greg didn’t realize how much he cherished his time with Rachel until he’s actually telling the story. This impression is only reiterated by the details as the story progresses. Early scenes feel very stiff, as they should, given the situation Greg and Rachel find themselves in. By the end, I get the sense that Greg began to soften and present a more distorted, lighter side to the affair. He even goes so far as to retract his opening statement of Rachel dying, attempting to convince himself more than the audience that the ending isn’t already written. Ultimately, this gives me the sense that we don’t know the whole story about Earl or Rachel, but in Greg’s version at least, they’re impossible to dislike.

8 Comments

The Invitation

9/13/2016

7 Comments

C+
2.43

Old friends reunite at the home of an estranged member of their group, who may or may not have ulterior motives.

Directed by Karyn Kusama
Starring Logan Marshall-Green, Tammy Blanchard, and Michiel Huisman
Initial Review by Lane Davis

“The Invitation” is a slow simmering pot of a film that rewards the patience of those that stay to watch it boil over. It’s a film that relies on mood, shadow, and atmosphere; sticking with it may be hard, because like any terrible party, you might want to find an excuse to leave. I resisted the urge to break the watching of the film up into two or more segments and I’m glad I did. Once the final port was poured, the uncomfortable dysfunction of the first hour and twenty minutes finally erupted into the chaos you knew had been brewing at the molecular level. Suspicions are confirmed and the viewer finds a perverse satisfaction in finally being able to say, “I knew that was going to happen!”

7 Comments

Four Lions

9/3/2016

11 Comments

B+
3.28

A satirical, slapstick look at four incompetent would-be terrorists plotting to wreak havoc across England.

Directed by Chris Morris
Starring Riz Ahmed, Kayvan Novak, and Nigel Lindsay
Initial Review by Bryan Hartman

Anti Surveillance!

My obsession with Drafthouse movies continues with Four Lions. Drafthouse films have a high production quality, but are off the radar enough to rarely be mainstream. Four Lions is a movie about five jihadi terrorists in London and their hijinx. Four Lions is satire to a T. It uses humor to expose contemporary issues.

Comedy is tough to review and even tougher to agree upon, but I think Four Lions has enough humor to entertain most viewers. Its largest obstacles being British-English and how many quick jabs are quite hilarious.

11 Comments

The Two Faces of January

C-
1.67

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

B-
2.83

The Invitation

C+
2.43

Four Lions

B+
3.28

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Archives

The Two Faces of January

C-​1.67

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

B-​2.83

The Invitation

C+​2.43

Four Lions

B+​3.28

Authors

Categories

Archives

C-
1.67

B-
2.83

C+
2.43

B+
3.28