Autumn Road

Stop hearse-ing around.

(2021) Horror (Gravitas) Lorelei Linklater, Riley Cusick, Justin Meeks, Lar Park-Lincoln, George Welder, Maddy-Lea Hendrix, Ranger Lerway, Jonas Lerway, Jordan Wright, Kerry McCormick, Buddy Love, Maya Alexander, Sydney Aucerman, Matt Williams, Kenneth Fisher, Christian Baker, Rick Jezak, Gideon Bing, Damien Bannister, Madison Pine. Directed by Riley Cusick

 

One of the things many of us look forward to about October is the haunted house attraction. Walking through a maze of corridors, looking at scenes of disturbing violence (or the results of same), having actors leap out from dark corners to scare the bejeezus out of us, and the horrific (or sexy) costumes, not only of the staff but also of those in line to go through. It’s a familiar rite of autumn.

Twins Vincent (J. Lerway) and Charlie (R. Lerway) are the teenage sons of a man (Meeks) who has for years run such an attraction in a small Texas town. They are friends with Winnie (Hendrix), who has a crush on the shy and retiring Charlie. In turn the creepy and impulsive control-challenged Vincent likes Winnie but when it’s time to go trick-or-treating, Charlie bows out, remaining in the prop hearse in the front of the haunted house while Winnie and Vincent walk the town. Afterwards, Winnie goes into the hearse to chat with Charlie, and is never seen again. Did Charlie murder the girl, or did Vincent do it in a fit of jealous rage? I’m not telling.

Years later, Winnie’s little sister Laura (Linklater) returns to town after an abortive attempt to become an actress in Los Angeles is capped off with an unexpected and ghoulish tragedy. She’s not particularly eager to visit her mom (Lincoln), who fell apart after Winnie’s disappearance. At the local diner, she runs into Charlie and like her sister before her, takes a liking to the shy young man (Cusick), while feeling a little nervous about the still-creepy Vincent (also Cusick) who from time to time assaults patrons of the haunted house he and Charlie inherited. Her appearance triggers Vincent and Charlie, who have a secret to protect. But is it the secret you might think it is?

One has to admire the gumption of Cusick who not only wrote and directed the movie, but also starred in two critical roles. That’s a lot to take on – maybe too much, for the movie lacks a whole lot of focus, which had Cusick been less torn with all of the different roles he had to play for the film, he might have been able to see the movie with a bit more objectivity and correct some very basic problems.

One of the most glaring is the pacing. The movie is an hour and a half long, but feels much longer. Things take a very long time to develop and by the time we get to the climax, it’s more of a relief that you might feel after arriving at a service station after walking several miles to get there when your car breaks down. That’s not the feeling any director wants his audience to come away from his film with.

That’s not to say that the film is without merit. One place that Cusick does excel in is creating an evocative tone. Also worth noting is that there are some effective shocks, one taking place about 22 minutes in that will absolutely take your breath away. There are a lot of plot points that you never see coming, and that can be a good thing.

But there are also some plot points that are nonsensical, and some inconsistencies (like an employee of the haunted house who quits very forcefully and yet is back the next day without any sort of comment) and some characters whose behavior doesn’t make sense. Cusick the writer and Cusick the director could both do with a more judicious editor.

REASONS TO SEE: There is some genuine creepiness and some fairly shocking violence.
REASONS TO AVOID: The pacing is waaaaaaaaay ssssslllloooowwwwww.
FAMILY VALUES: There are some disturbing images, profanity and scenes of violence.
TRIVIAL PURSUITS: Linklater is the daughter of acclaimed filmmaker Richard Linklater.
BEYOND THE THEATERS: Amazon, AppleTV, Google Play, Microsoft, Vudu, YouTube
CRITICAL MASS: As of 12/30/21: Rotten Tomatoes: No score yet; Metacritic: No score yet.
COMPARISON SHOPPING: Hell Fest
FINAL RATING: 5.5/10
NEXT: Infinite

A Dog’s Way Home

Happiness is the love of a good dog.

 (2019) Family (Columbia) Ashley Judd, Edward James Olmos, Wes Studi, Bryce Dallas Howard (voice), Alexandra Shipp, Barry Watson, Chris Bauer, Tammy Gillis, Jonah Hauer-King, Farrah Aviva, Patrick Gallagher, Lucia Walters, Lane Edwards, John Cassini, Darcy Laurie, Benjamin Ratner, Motell Foster, Brian Markinson, Patrick Gallagher, Broadus Mattison, Christine Willes. Directed by Charles Martin Smith

 

Another in a recent spate of movies told from a canine point of view, this is also based on a novel by W. Bruce Cameron, who also wrote A Dog’s Purpose which, perhaps not coincidentally, got the sequel treatment in 2019 as well.

Here, kind-hearted med student Lucas (Hauer-King) finds and rescues a pit bull puppy living in a condemned property that an unscrupulous developer (Markinson) is trying to tear down. He and fellow VA intern Olivia (Shipp) who would look favorably on Lucas as boyfriend material, decide to keep the pup over the objections of Lucas’ PTSD-afflicted veteran mom (Judd) who gradually warms to the dog, whom they name Bella (Howard) whose thoughts we get to hear.

Lucas’ efforts to keep the developer from…umm, developing leads to him calling a favor from an equally unscrupulous animal control officer (Cassini) who is enforcing a Denver law banning pit bulls. Knowing that if Bella is captured by animal control she’ll be put to sleep, Lucas reluctantly arranges to give his dog to a family in New Mexico to care for, only to see Bella run home to her one true master. Along the way she meets people (good and bad), critters (good and bad) and tugs at the heartstrings at just about every available opportunity.

Being a dog nut myself, I tend to be overly lenient to such films and will be the first to admit that the ending had tears streaming down my jaded critical face. There are even moments for cat lovers – baby Bella is raised by Mother Cat, and along the road back home Bella meets a cougar kitten whom she dubs “Big Kitten,” turning into a not-so-good CGI apparition.

This is more-or-less harmless family viewing material with a nice sucker punch for dog lovers like me. It doesn’t really push any boundaries nor is it essential viewing even for kids, but it does make a nice hour and a half babysitter for parents and children alike during these stay-at-home days.

REASONS TO SEE: Ends up being heartwarming, but you would expect that..
REASONS TO AVOID: Not really Jack London, is it.
FAMILY VALUES: There is some dog peril and mild profanity.
TRIVIAL PURSUIT: The dog that plays the adult Bella, Shelby the Dog, was a rescue dog found liiving in a Tennessee junkyard.

BEYOND THE THEATER: Amazon, AMC On Demand, AppleTV, Fandango Now, Google Play, Microsoft, Movies Anywhere, Redbox, Starz, Vudu, YouTube
CRITICAL MASS: As of 5/28//20: Rotten Tomatoes: 59% positive reviews. Metacritic:  50100
COMPARISON SHOPPING: Call of the Wild
FINAL RATING: 6/10
NEXT: The Grey Fox

New Releases for the Week of October 9, 2015

PAN

(Warner Brothers) Hugh Jackman, Levi Miller, Garrett Hedlund, Rooney Mara, Nonso Anozie, Adeel Akhtar, Amanda Seyfried, Cara Delevingne. Directed by Joe Wright

J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan is one of the most beloved characters in the history of children’s literature but there isn’t much that is known about his early years. Director Joe Wright aims to remedy that situation, showing us the tale of a young orphan spirited away from the orphanage in London to a magical island ruled by the wicked pirate Blackbeard. To survive he will need to united the tribes of Neverland, led by the impetuous Princess Tiger Lily, but he won’t be able to win at all without the help of a ne’er-do-well explorer who happens to be a fellow by the name of Jim Hook.

See the trailer here.
For more on the movie this is the website.
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Fantasy
Now Playing: Wide Release
Rating: PG (for fantasy action violence, language and some thematic material)

99 Homes

(Broad Green) Michael Shannon, Andrew Garfield, Laura Dern, Clancy Brown. After being evicted from his home, a single father has only one chance of getting it back – by going to work for the despicable and ruthless businessman who evicted him in the first place. At first, he does it for his mother and children but as he gets further ensnared in the businessman’s web, he discovers that in selling his soul he’s been sentencing himself to a kind of purgatory on Earth, and extricating himself from that might even be more impossible still.

See the trailer, interviews and clips here.
For more on the movie this is the website.
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Drama
Now Playing: AMC Altamonte Mall, AMC Disney Springs, Regal Oviedo Marketplace, Regal Pointe Orlando, Regal Waterford Lakes, Regal Winter Park Village
Rating: R  (for language including some sexual references, and a brief violent image)

Big Stone Gap

(Picturehouse) Ashley Judd, Patrick Wilson, Jenna Elfman, Jane Krakowski. The pharmacist in a small coal mining town in rural Virginia has resigned herself to being alone for the rest of her life. She is in fact content with that fate, living a fulfilling life of use and purpose. However, she discovers a family secret that shatters her illusions and changes the course of her life forever.

See the trailer and clips here.
For more on the movie this is the website.
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Now Playing: Regal Oviedo Marketplace, Regal Pointe Orlando, Regal The Loop, Regal Winter Park Village
Rating: PG-13 (for brief suggestive material)

Coming Home

(Sony Classics) Gong Li, Daoming Chen, Huiwen Zhang, Tao Guo. In the midst of China’s Cultural Revolution, a dissident is sent to a labor camp. When he returns home, he finds that his beloved wife no longer recognizes who he is. Masquerading as a friend of her husband’s who was in the same camp, he tries to find a way to convince her that he is her husband. This comes from Zhang Yimou, one of the most honored directors in China.

See the trailer here.
For more on the movie this is the website.
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Romance
Now Playing: Regal Winter Park Village
Rating: PG-13 (for some thematic material)

He Named Me Malala

(Fox Searchlight) Malala Yousefzai, Ziauddin Yousefzai, Toor Pekai Yousefzai, Khushal Yousefzai. Most of us have heard the name of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate who courageously stood up for the education of girls in Pakistan and was targeted by the Taliban for elimination. Shot while returning home on her school bus, she survived her injuries despite overwhelming odds to become a symbol for the rights of women to make something better of themselves. This documentary not only tells her story but shows Malala at home as the ordinary teenage girl that she is, although truth be told she is something far more than ordinary.

See the trailer, clips and a featurette here.
For more on the movie this is the website.
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Documentary
Now Playing: AMC Altamonte Mall, AMC Disney Springs, Regal Waterford Lakes, Regal Winter Park Village
Rating: PG-13 (for thematic elements involving disturbing images and threats)

Ladrones

(Pantelion) Fernando Colunga, Eduardo Yanez, Miguel Varoni, Jessica Lindsey. The sequel to Ladron que roba a ladron follows the continued exploits of a pair of thieves turned crusaders for social justice. Now retired from the game, they come together for one last heist – this one against a ruthless family of land owners who are trying to wipe away an entire town in order to build condos. Putting together a new team of misfits, they’ll have to have cojones the size of watermelons to pull this one off.

See the trailer here.
For more on the movie this is the website.
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Caper Comedy
Now Playing: AMC Disney Springs, Regal The Loop
Rating: PG-13 (for brief strong language, some sexual content and historical smoking)

Meet the Patels

(Alchemy) Ravi Patel, Geeta Patel, Champa V. Patel, Vasant K. Patel. Ravi Patel is an actor/filmmaker who was born in America to parents who emigrated from India. He is rapidly approaching 30 and is single, having broken up with his white girlfriend of two years that he couldn’t bring himself to tell his parents about. They are anxious to have grandchildren and see their son married. Therefore they go old school; the parental matchmaking process. Captured on film by his documentary filmmaker sister, the film shows insights into the Indian culture and the heart of a loving family that is common to all cultures. This played at the South Asian Film Festival last weekend at the Enzian and is beginning a regular run; you can read my review of the film here.

See the trailer and clips here.
For more on the movie this is the website.
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Documentary
Now Playing: Touchstar Southchase
Rating: PG (for thematic elements, brief suggestive images and incidental smoking)

Sleeping With Other People

(IFC) Jason Sudeikis, Alison Brie, Adam Scott, Katherine Waterston. Two college friends, who have gone on to lives of serial infidelity, reconnect and become friends again. Vowing to remain friends because they are terrible with relationships, they find themselves falling for each other against all odds. Look for my review on this tomorrow.

See the trailer here.
For more on the movie this is the website.
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Sex Comedy
Now Playing: Enzian Theater
Rating: R (for strong sexual content, language including sexual references, and some drug use)

Pick of the Litter – September 2015

BLOCKBUSTER OF THE MONTH

Everest

(Universal) Jake Gyllenhaal, Josh Brolin, Keira Knightley, Jason Clarke. In 1996, it was a busy season for mountaineers both professional and amateur out to summit the highest mountain on the planet – Mt. Everest in Nepal. Competing professional guide teams were leading their clients to the summit. On May 10, it was unusually busy as 34 climbers were attempting to summit the South Face at once. Delays due to ropes not being set up ahead of time as well as bottlenecks led to summiting taking place well after the cutoff time for a safe descent to Camp IV. When a blizzard hit, many climbers were caught in the open in conditions that were not survivable. The fatalities due to the blizzard would be the most for a single day on Everest until 20 years later. Journalist Jon Krakauer who was on one of the two main teams summiting that day, wrote a book about his experiences; this movie is based on that book. September 25

INDEPENDENT PICKS

Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine

(Magnolia) Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Bob Belleville, Chrisann Brennan. The late Steve Jobs is in many ways the embodiment of a tech baron; driven, exacting, inspiring and innovative, Jobs led Apple to the forefront of the personal computer revolution, and after having been ousted from his own company, returned to lead it to the forefront of the personal device revolution. Apple’s gadgets from the iPod to the iPhone to the iPad have revolutionized the way we interact with technology, for better or for worse. Yet the man who was the face of Apple wasn’t always a nice man; he was capable of great cruelty, deception and megalomaniacal behavior. He wasn’t a saint, he wasn’t a demon but somewhere in between and while the director of this documentary, Oscar winner Alex Gibney, has his own ideas of who Steve Jobs was, there is no doubt that his company has made an impact on the lives of each and every person reading this now. September 4

Coming Home

(Sony Classics) Gong Li, Chen Daoming, Zhang Huiwen, Guo Tao. During China’s Cultural Revolution, untold numbers of Chinese were arrested for a variety of offenses, significant and otherwise, real or imagined. Lu was one of those arrested; years later, when he is finally released, he eagerly returns home to his beloved wife Feng only to discover to his horror that she no longer remembers him, yet she still misses her darling husband Lu. He is forced to play a role in order to remain close to his wife, wondering if he will be forever sentenced to a different kind of exile. Director Zhang Yimou is one of the greatest ever produced by China; he creates works of extraordinary beauty and emotion and this looks no different. September 9

Durak

(Olive) Sergey Artsybashev, Nina Antyukhova, Pyotr Barancheev, Nikolay Bendera. The simple plumber in a run-down dormitory turned apartment building discovers that the structural integrity of the old highrise has been compromised and the building is on the verge of collapse within hours. He must evacuate the building – but the corrupt bureaucrats who allowed the apartments to fall into such a state of disrepair would rather see 800 people perish than their own reputations be besmirched. This award winning Russian film details the reality of life in the post-Soviet Russia. September 16

About Ray

(Weinstein) Elle Fanning, Naomi Watts, Susan Sarandon, Tate Donovan. I don’t think any movie being released this month could be this timeless. Ray is a teen transgender transitioning from his female birth body into his new male identity. His family is managing to cope more or less but his estranged birth father refusing to sign the paperwork that will allow Ray to have the surgery he needs. Could be an award contender later on this year. September 18

The Reflektor Tapes

(Arts Alliance) Win Butler, Regine Chassagne. Arcade Fire is one of the world’s most honored and respected bands. Their most recent album, Reflektor was by all measures one of their most popular and most creative albums. Their live shows on the Reflektor tour were a triumph of image and showmanship, hearkening back to some of the most memorable shows of rock’s bygone eras. Recorded around the world, we are given access and insight into the process that the band employs to create their music and unique stage show. This is a must-see not only for fans of the band but for anyone who loves great music and great spectacle. Here in Orlando, it will be playing downtown at the Cobb Plaza Cinema Cafe. September 23

99 Homes

(Broad Green) Andrew Garfield, Michael Shannon, Laura Dern, Clancy Brown. Desperation can make strange bedfellows of us all. When a man is evicted from his home by a greedy realtor, he is literally willing to do anything to get his home back – including working for the realtor evicting other families from their homes. Searing performances by Garfield, Shannon and Dern look to make this not only timely from a political and social standpoint but one of those movies that is going to make an impression on the film buff community. September 25

Stonewall

(Roadside Attractions) Jeremy Irvine, Ron Perlman, Joey King, Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Roland Emmerich is better known for big massive loud popcorn movies, not the sort of films that end up on this series, but here he is. Of late his movies have been met with some derision, so this is going to be an important movie for him. The subject is the Stonewall Riots, an event which has as much emotional resonance to the LGBT community as the Selma march has to the African-American community. It deserves a movie equally as somber and uplifting as Selma was; I just hope that this has the same reverence. September 25

American Reunion

Stifler’s mom and Jim’s dd – now why didn’t I think of that?

(2012) Comedy (Universal) Jason Biggs, Alyson Hannigan, Chris Klein, Seann William Scott, Eugene Levy, Thomas Ian Nicholas, Tara Reid, Mena Suvari, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Jennifer Coolidge, Natasha Lyonne, Shannon Elizabeth, John Cho, Dania Ramirez, Katrina Bowden, Jay Harrington, Ali Cobrin, Chris Owen, Neil Patrick Harris, Charlene Amoia. Directed by Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg

When we’re in high school, we are different people than we are as adults. We lack the life experiences that we gain as adults so we look back at ourselves back then and cringe, generally speaking, at how awkward and naive we were. Still, most of us tend to look back at our time back then with some nostalgia – in our ignorance we are kings of the world with everything we could possibly desire still stretched out before us. Perhaps this is why reunions are such big business.

The gang at East Great Falls High are getting together for their 13th reunion – apparently they’re a bit fuzzy on the concept – and some of the boys are getting a head start on the festivities. Jim (Biggs) and Michelle (Hannigan) are married with a two-year-old son who takes up all of their time, leaving none for romance and (especially) sex. Jim’s dad (Levy) is a widower and hasn’t quite gotten over the passing of his wife.

Oz (Klein) is a sportscaster on a 24-hour sports network who famously had a meltdown on a Dancing With the Stars-like show. His relationship with his girlfriend is strained and he is suddenly brought face to face with just how hot Vicky (Reid) still is and that the torch he has held for her still burns brightly.

Kevin (Nichols) is a somewhat emasculated house-husband whose wife Ellie (Amoia) has essentially turned him into a shell of his former self – which isn’t exactly what she had in mind. Finch (Thomas) has managed to get out of East Great Falls and gone on a series of adventures in South America which makes his mates just a little bit jealous of the freedom that he still has in his life.

The one person not invited to their mini-reunion is Stifler (Scott) who has a crap job at a securities firm for a douchebag he can’t stand, but in all other ways he is still the same Stifler they all know and love – which is precisely why he wasn’t invited. His penchant for getting them into trouble is exactly what they don’t need as adults with their responsibilities spelled out.

In a bit of an uncomfortable twist, Jim’s next door neighbor Kara (Cobrin) whom he used to babysit for has just turned 18 and filled out rather nicely. She’s always had a thing for her babysitter (who hasn’t) and has decided that his return to town affords her the excellent opportunity to fulfill her own bucket list dream – to have Jim be the one to take her virginity.

None of them are the same people they were in high school and yet all of them have those people buried deep inside them. As the weekend goes on, they are forced to deal with the changes that growing up has wrought in their lives and struggle to find the bonds that tied them together in the first place. Still, those bond are strong and perhaps nothing can’t be solved when you have a dish of American Pie for desert.

Hurwitz and Schlossberg, who co-wrote and helmed the Harold and Kumar trilogy (and perform the same duties here) manage to capture much of the essential elements that made the first American Pie films work – the genuine bonds between the characters that have been made even more unbreakable by the passage of time.

While the first films were raunchy comedies about teens feeling their way through the minefield of sexuality with often varying results, this is a different kind of rite of passage. Having had the privilege of attending my own high school reunion earlier this summer, I’m perhaps in a more sanguine frame of mind when it comes to reviewing a movie about the subject – I get the nostalgia and the warm glow that comes from it. We tend to look back with rose colored glasses to a certain extent, glossing over the monotony of homework, the agony of broken hearts (and nothing is quite so unbearable as unrequited teenage love or worse, a broken teen romance) and the chafing against parental authority. Instead, we tend to focus on the friendships, the good times, the epic failures that were nevertheless noble for their audacity, and what it all meant.

Seeing this is a bit like a reunion for those who had a fondness for the first movie or its two sequels (there were four direct-to-video sequels but they featured essentially completely different casts). Most of the actors in it have gone on to careers with varying degrees of success but we can recall the characters pretty clearly particularly as introduced here. The actors seem to have developed bonds of their own for each other – the chemistry between them is the kind that comes from genuine affection rather than from the script. You can’t fake that kind of thing and it shows here that they don’t.

This is clearly an ensemble film and all of the characters are given their moments to shine; if you had favorites from the original films you won’t be disappointed with the amount of screen time they get. There are a number of references to the earlier films, enough that those who are unfamiliar with them might get a little lost.

Also, like the first films, there is some heavy raunchiness going on here and if that isn’t your thing chances are you aren’t going to be reading this review anyway since chances also are that you have no intention of seeing this or any of the other films in the series. Ever.

If you liked the other movies in the series, you’ll more than likely like this one too. If you didn’t, you won’t like this one either. The same elements are all here that made up those films – the sometimes uncomfortable wisdom passed on to Jim by his dad, the outrageous attitude of the Stifmeister, the sometimes awkward antics of Finch and Kevin and of course the gorgeous girls who have grown up to become gorgeous women.

I liked this a lot more than I expected to but looking back, I’m not sure why my expectations were so low to begin with. This isn’t rocket science, after all – this is life and the common experiences most of us share. Sure, we don’t necessarily have our sexual failures broadcast on YouTube or sleep with the moms of one of our best friends – at least I didn’t – but all of us have had some awkward moments dealing with sex and attraction as teenagers, and experienced the disappointment of our lives not turning out how we expected them to. Hopefully, you’ll be granted the wisdom to accept that however our lives turned out that they are what we make of them and that good friends and loving family will make them bearable no matter what.

WHY RENT THIS: Surprisingly warm and fuzzy. Nice to see “the gang” after so long.

WHY RENT SOMETHING ELSE: Relies on crude humor like all the films in the series. Cliché-heavy. Too many references to previous films in the series for newcomers to jump comfortably in.

FAMILY VALUES:  Well, it’s crude. And obnoxious. There’s nudity, foul language and all sorts of sexual humor of varying degrees of grossness. There’s also some teen drinking and drug use.

TRIVIAL PURSUIT: Levy is the only actor to appear in all eight American Pie films including the direct-to-video ones.

NOTABLE HOME VIDEO EXTRAS: There’s a look at how the producers were able to re-assemble nearly all of the original cast, a mini-featurette focusing on the cast’s predilection for punching each other in the balls (I couldn’t make that up if I wanted to) and finally, an interactive yearbook in which you can click on various characters, find out information about them and see interviews with the actor who played them.

BOX OFFICE PERFORMANCE: $235.0M on a $50M production budget.

COMPARISON SHOPPING: Grosse Point Blank

FINAL RATING: 6/10

NEXT: The 13th Warrior