The Babushkas of Chernobyl (2016)

Posted on July 13, 2016 by Phil Hall

In the 30 years since the Chernobyl catastrophe, a 1,000-square-mile Dead Zone surrounding the wrecked nuclear power plant is still one of the most highly radioactive places in the world. And while this section of Ukraine is guarded by the military and off-limits to most civilians, it is still home to roughly 100 elderly women that refused to leave their homes and successfully fought against evacuation from the area.

Filmmakers Holly Morris and Ann Bogart capture an extraordinary portrait of the resilience in the face of calamity. The eponymous babushkas happily go about their lives in their small homes in the woods around Chernobyl: they fish in a stream, collect rain water, grow fruits and vegetables in their gardens and make their own wine. Military scientists bring them bread while recording radioactivity levels as government welfare workers deliver pension payments—four months late, due to Ukraine’s political instability—as well as bags of food. Most of the women appear to be in vibrant physical and emotional health, despite the contamination to the water and soil, although one woman is evacuated after a painful fall left her incapacitated. (She later died in a nursing home.)

The film also presents insights on Chernobyl’s environmental legacy from Mary Mycio, author of Wormwood Forest: A Natural History of Chernobyl, as well as insight into the creation of a grand sarcophagus that will entomb the disabled reactor and prevent further radiation releases. The most unusual part of this film follows the clandestine antics of young rogues that call themselves “Stalkers” and slip into the Dead Zone to visit its abandoned structures and proclaim inanities such as “This is a post-apocalyptic romance” while viewing the ruined landscape.

This astonishing portrait of the three-decade-old residue of Chernobyl is utterly compelling. Even more amazing is the perseverance of the babushkas amid extraordinary circumstances—they are the funniest, brightest and most inspiring women ever captured on film. This production is one of the most fascinating and invigorating non-fiction films of the year.

Iron City Chronicles: Bitter Heart (2015)

Posted on July 12, 2016 by Felix Vasquez

NOW SEEKING FUNDING ON KICKSTARTER – It’s a real testament to Jason Turner’s talent that he’s able to pull off such a unique neo-noir with such a low budget. “Bitter Heart” is kind of a sequel to the original adventures of robotic private investigator Iron Joe. After being plagued with nightmares of a lost love, Joe is contacted by his ex-colleagues from Iron City’s police force when a young man is mysteriously assassinated. Linking evidence on the scene to a specific culprit, Iron Joe goes looking for the minds behind the murder and runs afoul a lot of interesting thugs willing to protect some secrets.

In particular, Iron Joe is on the track of a lead named Stoker, who is a CEO of Teknika, a corporation responsible for the robotic augmentations in the entire city. What link this assassination has with Stoker remains wholly ambiguous, but it’s intriguing to see how far Iron Joe is willing to go to take aim at corruption in the city. With some neat special effects both CGI and traditional, Turner unleashes this bold and unique wasteland where Iron Joe has somewhat bitten off more than he can chew with his assistant J.E.S.S. I hope we get to see how Iron Joe fares in the future, as “Bitter Heart” is a wicked prologue to an epic crime thriller.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016): Ultimate Edition [Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital]

Posted on July 12, 2016 by Felix Vasquez

From the man who gave us such rousing successes as “Sucker Punch” comes a new vision of Batman and Superman that’s pitch black, violent, and painfully stupid. Zack Snyder is a man with so much admiration for Alan Moore and Frank Miller, he spends the majority of “Batman v Superman” ripping them off wholesale. Snyder’s film is such a botched job he works in reverse, and takes the time out to deconstruct his vision of the iconic superheroes we haven’t even gotten to know yet. But hey, at least we get to see Bruce Wayne’s parents murdered in an alleyway once again. To make matters worse, the film is long, overstuffed, and painfully boring.

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Sentinel (2015)

Posted on July 12, 2016 by Felix Vasquez

NOW SEEKING FUNDING ON KICKSTARTER – Jason Turner’s “Sentinel” reminds me a lot of the Harry Canyon segment from “Heavy Metal” except so much more of a neo-noir cyberpunk love letter than the former. Presented as a motion comic, Jason Turner plays Ex-Cop Alex Calibourne, a man with enhanced body augmentations that lives in a crime ridden albeit futuristic city named Iron City. Calibourne lives and breathes by his robotic enhancements, and uses his artificial intelligence J.E.S.S., a sassy female AI, to guide him through his adventures in the underworld.

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Tickled (2016)

Posted on July 11, 2016 by Felix Vasquez

It’s almost like something out of a Creepypasta, a documentary filmmaker who comes across a fetish video of men tickling one an other for sport, learns there is a deeper and more sinister tale behind it. He then risks all to throw down the veil behind a seemingly large web of scandal and dark shadowy figures. Rest assured the unusual and eerie events that occur in Dave Farrier and Dylan Reeve’s “Tickled” are very real and unfold in a bizarre and eerie experience. Much like “Catfish,” this documentary feature explores one facet of a story and completely transforms in to something so much more enigmatic and mysterious.

And even potentially life threatening, once our filmmakers find themselves incapable of turning back from the hole they’ve begun digging in to a darker side of humanity and the internet. “Tickled” follows Dave Farrier as he stumbles upon a seemingly odd fetish video involving young men tickling one another strapped down on to tables. What Dave learns is that there is an actual sport called endurance tickling. Confused and slightly fascinated, Dave makes it a point of contacting the founders of the sport, only to learn that they greet him quite aggressively with homophobic slander and slurs.

Despite the initial correspondence confrontation, Dave continues digging in to the topic of Endurance tickling and falls out of favor with two conductors of the sport. After inviting them to New Zealand for interviews, they greet him with immense anger and aggression prompting a storm of legal threats, potential lawsuits and the promise of his career ending should he pursue the topic further. Shocked at how dark the initial search for a film subject has taken, Dave and Dylan challenge any threats at their professional career and begins to dig ever deeper and more thoroughly.

What’s so compelling about “Tickled” is not the world Dave Farrier uncovers, but the legal threats lobbied against him that most certainly can destroy his career and livelihood if he doesn’t walk on egg shells. The sad fact behind the documentary is the very absolute idea that the law is on the side of the folks that Farrier investigates, no matter how much deception and scandal he unearths. “Tickled” is a fascinating and entertaining documentary that spirals in to a rabbit hole of a shady subculture, online harassment, and the destruction of many lives all of which are met with the clicking of a mouse. There certainly won’t be another documentary like “Tickled” released in 2016.

Now in Theaters in Limited Release.

Bachelor Games (2016)

Posted on July 10, 2016 by Emilie Black

Henry is about to marry the love of his life, so he and the guys go to Argentina for an epic bachelor party/trip. Once there, there’s booze, strippers, and drugs before a sobering hike in the mountains where they meet a mystical figure called The Hunter and things get bloody.

The film is written by Chris Hill and Sam Michell who created a believable group of friends with problems and normal lives. None of the five leads are perfect; they all have issues, giving them humanity when they could have easily been caricatures like in The Hangover series. These guys are close, or used to be, and it shows through their interactions. Of course, not all the situations they are put in are realistic given the Hunter figure but having built a believable setting with human characters, the mystical or paranormal works as well.

This script is brought to the screen by Edward McGown a mostly non-fiction director. His nature documentary eye shows in how he shoots the mountains in which the five men go on a hike. Here he crafts a movie that looks beautiful and is suspenseful once the creepy figure of the Hunter shows up. He also brings his actors together in a way that works, whether they are having fun or fighting.

The cast of Bachelor Games is good with a couple of very strong performances. Jack Gordon as the groom to be, Henry, brings many layers to his character that starts off happy and then shows conflict and worry. His character has possibly the most to lose and the most to learn in the bad situation they find themselves in. As Henry’s best man/friend Leon, Charlie Bewley brings layers of slightly off, slightly creepy, womanizing, party boy with no regrets over anything he’s done. That is until he starts fearing for his life and reconsidering what is important in life. Both of their characters have interesting arcs and their performances go with that.

The rest of the cast does well too, Jake Doolan does a convincing drug-addicted bro as Terrence, Mike Noble shows sensitivity as Roy, and Obi Abili brings us an attempting-to-be happy army man with potential PTSD. However, viewers should not be fooled by these performances as almost nothing is as it appears here. The film works as a drama and as a mystery/thriller, it even works as a horror film as it has a lot of elements of the genre in it. The Hunter figure is creepy and adds a chilling element while its design is beautiful. The film has some blood but no real gore to speak of. The blood looks really good and real, even in bright light. They do not shy away from it or hide it in darkness, the violence leads to blood as it should and is clearly shown.

Also worth noting for this film is the cinematography by Lucio Bonelli who brings extensive film experience to director Edward McGown’s documentary experience to get the film to look beautiful and creates an almost dreamlike feel to the images, particularly when in the mountains. Some of the images are a bit on the over-exposed side, but it works with the settings and with the mysterious circumstances, bringing more to them and showing that creepy and mystical creatures can be just as effective in bright daylight.

While Bachelor Games is not the scariest film, it’s well-crafted and entertaining. The story has a twist but it’s early enough to not be annoying or film destroying, it actually adds to the film. The performances are good to very good; the writing brings a potentially very basic story into a more interesting one. The film is shot beautifully and makes you want to travel even with the risks shown. The whole of the film is good and worth a watch for sure.

Bachelor Games is now on VOD.

Saving Mr. Wu (2015) [New York Asian Film Festival 2016]

Posted on July 10, 2016 by Emilie Black

In 2004, actor Ruofu Wu was kidnapped and held for ransom in China. With his blessing (he has a prominent part in the film), director Ding Sheng adapted his story into film for Saving Mr. Wu. The cinematic version of the events follows Mr. Wu as he is kidnapped by Zhang Hua and three accomplices as he comes out of a karaoke bar. The kidnappers pretend to be cops to get him to cooperate but it becomes clear very quickly that they are taking him to pocket a ransom.

The actual police catch Zhang Hua while he’s gone to retrieve the ransom. As the police interrogate him, Mr. Wu attempts to use his skills to survive and help the other kidnapping victim survive as long as possible and not lose hope. Director Ding Sheng co-wrote the film with Alex Jia. Their script is an adaptation and fictionalization of the real kidnapping case most likely to make it more entertaining.

As with most adaptations if this kind, not all parties involved have the more exciting or exciting at all side of the story or even want to share it, so they add to fill in some gaps and spruce up some parts to make it more captivating. The characters are based on real people but also have been tweaked to make them all interesting.

The cast of Saving Mr. Wu is composed of the original Mr. Wu, Ruofu Wu, who here has the part of one of the men charged with saving Mr. Wu, cop Cao Gang. Wu does great work here and shows much interest in saving the movie version of himself. As the character of Mr. Wu, Andy Lau gives a layered performance of a man who is scared, worried, wants to fight, tries to help is co-kidnapped. His performance is one of the center pieces of the film, having the whole story revolve around him. Lau’s acting is superb here. The other very important performance is that of lead kidnapper Zhang Hua who spends a good part of the film gleefully being interrogated.

Qianyuan Wang plays this part to the fullest, not holding back and just going for it with the madness of the criminal he is representing. His presence on screen is captivating. His main interrogators are played by the aforementioned Ruofu Wu and Ye Liu as Xing Feng, an overworked father with a sick son he needs to get to. The film rests on the strength of its cast mainly as the majority of the scenes are a lot of dialogue including the scenes between Mr. Wu and his kidnappers, Mr. Wu and the other kidnapping victim, the interrogation of Zhang Hua, et al.

There are a few actions scenes but they are not the main focus of the film, however they are very well done nonetheless. The filmmakers gave these scenes plenty of attention, even hiring a car stunt coordinator, Bruce Law, who has close to 200 credits. The car sequences here are great and slightly reminiscent of the low-shot car scenes in Luc Besson written films. The other stunts are coordinated by Jun He and very well done as well. The camera does not shy away from the action and shows the cars, the hits, the whole thing without constantly cutting away or over-editing.

Saving Mr. Wu is a tense crime thriller with a true story background that keeps the viewer interested and connected to the story with good characters and great performances. The film is not build in a straight-forward manner, having its story skip forward and backwards in the timeline of the kidnapping which may require more attention but is absolutely worth it in the end.