New Releases for the Week of October 31, 2014

NIGHTCRAWLER

(Open Road) Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo, Bill Paxton, Riz Ahmad, Ann Cusack, Kevin Rahm, Carolyn Gilroy, Leah Fredkin. Directed by Dan Gilroy

Down on his luck and desperate for a job, any job, Lou Bloom stumbles into the world of the nightcrawler – pseudo-journalists who go to crime scenes and get video of victims for local newscasts. It turns out Lou is really good at it but the more he sinks into the morass of compromised ethics and victims translated as cash, the closer to real trouble he comes.

See the trailer, clips, interviews and a promo here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Release formats: Standard (opened Thursday)

Genre: Thriller

Rating: R (for violence, bloody images and language)

Before I Go to Sleep

(Clarius) Nicole Kidman, Colin Firth, Mark Strong, Anne-Marie Duff. The victim of a traumatic accident is no longer able to form new memories; she wakes up each morning with all the events of the previous day erased from her mind. Instead of being surrounded by benevolent friends and family however, she may be surrounded by people who want to do her harm – and to make sure her memories remain erased.

See the trailer, clips, interviews and B-roll video here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Release formats: Standard (opened Thursday)

Genre: Thriller

Rating: R (for some brutal violence and language)

Horns

(Radius) Daniel Radcliffe, Juno Temple, Kelli Garner, Max Minghella. Suspected of violently raping and murdering his girlfriend, a man wakes up after a night of hard drinking with horns growing out of his head. He soon discovers that the horns can compel people to confess their sins and give in to their most selfish and perverse desires. Using this as a tool, he determines to discover the real culprit and make him pay.

See the trailer, promos, a clip and a link to order the full movie at Amazon here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Release formats: Standard

Genre: Supernatural Fantasy

Rating: R (for sexual content, some graphic nudity, disturbing violence including a sexual assault, language and drug use)

Missionary

(Freestyle Releasing) Dawn Olivieri, Mitch Ryan, Kip Pardue, J. LaRose. Katherine is an ordinary housewife separated from her husband and raising her kid alone. She gets romantically involved with a Mormon missionary and things seem to be looking up. Then, she and her husband reconcile. She attempts to break-up with her boyfriend but he doesn’t seem to be inclined to take no for an answer and will stop at nothing to keep her as his.

See the trailer and clips here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Release formats: Standard

Genre: Horror

Rating: R (for violence, sexuality and language)

The Zero Theorem

(Amplify) Christoph Waltz, David Thewlis, Melanie Thierry, Lucas Hedges. In the near-future, a gifted but damaged computer genius works in solitude on a project designed to prove that everything equals nothing. An odd cast of characters either help him or hinder him in his work. The latest movie from visionary director Terry Gilliam had a special screening earlier this year at the Enzian due to the movie having been written by UCF professor Pat Rushin. You can read my review of it here.

See the trailer, featurettes and a clip here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Release formats: Standard

Genre: Science Fiction

Rating: R  (for language and some sexuality/nudity)

The Zero Theorem

Qohen Leth parties like it’s 2099.

(2014) Science Fiction (Well Go USA) Christoph Waltz, Melanie Thierry, Matt Damon, David Thewlis, Ben Whishaw, Lucas Hedges, Tilda Swinton, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Rupert Friend, Peter Stormare, Dana Rogoz, Madison Lygo, Ingrid Bisu, Naomi Everson, Radu Andrei Micu, Tudor Istodor, Olivia Nita, George Remes, Iulia Verdes, Alin Olteanu, Margarita Doyle. Directed by Terry Gilliam

The more complicated life gets – and make no mistake, it grows more complex with each passing day – the more we struggle to make sense of it. If you think it’s bad now, just imagine with those living in the future are going to have to contend with.

Qohen Leth (Waltz) is an office drone who has all sorts of issues. He’s a bit of a hypochondriac, sure that he is dying. He refers to himself in the second person – we instead of I, us instead of me. He works for Mancom, a company that makes some kind of software that brings convenience – or nothing at all. He is a data cruncher which in the future involves a Tetris-like placing of data squares into geometric city-like constructions, while furiously pedaling a flywheel. Data is transferred in vials of liquid. Being an office worker in the future sucks.

Qohen lives in an abandoned church infested with rats and pigeons, leaking from the roof and looking inside like a bomb hit it. He sleeps in the pipe organ and really would prefer to work at home, having no love for his fellow man. He’s also obsessed with a phone call he is sure is coming – one which will explain to him What It All Means and what his place in the grand scheme of things is. He’s twitchy, neurotic and in short, the very model of a modern Major General.

He asks his boss Joby (Thewlis) to get him permission to telecommute which doesn’t seem likely; the company likes keeping track of its workers. Qohen also meets Bainsley (Thierry) at a party thrown by Joby that Qohen goes to reluctantly, mainly to try and get a one-on-one audience with Management (Damon), the reclusive CEO of Mancom. He doesn’t know how to handle the forward Bainsley and although she gives him her card, there doesn’t seem to be any future for a relationship there. However, he is successful in getting time with Management (who wears clothing to blend into the decor) and at last is given a project he can work on at home.

New equipment is installed in his cluttered cathedral, mainly by the genius level Bob (Hedges) who turns out to be the son of Management (now doesn’t that sound like an office-based horror flick?) who addresses everyone as Bob because he doesn’t have time to learn their names. But he really isn’t a bad sort.

In the meantime Qohen is doing strikingly well with the project and getting close to making it work and things with Bainsley are turning out superbly, particularly when they meet on a digital beach where the sun is eternally setting. Life is good online at least.

But the closer Qohen gets to completing his project, the more frustrated he gets and the more he begins to retreat back into his shell. As it turns out, the project is about mathematically proving that everything equals nothing, which proves that there’s no point to life. The chaos this will create Mancom will profit from. And so it goes.

This has director Terry Gilliam’s thumbprint all over it, from the details, the somewhat wacky atmosphere that has marked all his work from his time as the only American member of Monty Python’s Flying Circus through his visionary career. Gilliam is certainly an acquired taste; not everyone gets his sense of humor and clearly his films don’t make a lot of money with few exceptions (Time Bandits being one). However, his work can be startlingly good and when it works he is one of the best directors living today. Even throwaway lines – an advertisement for the Church of Batman the Redeemer – can bust me up laughing.

Waltz, head shaved and twitchy, is terrific here. You get the sense that this is an individual who is in deep pain and takes great pains to make sure he remains so. There are some hints that give background into his psyche  but clearly this is a man who in our society would be undergoing all sorts of therapy and might well be committed. He seems to fit in real well in the future.

He gets some fine support, particularly from Hedges whose Bob becomes good friends with Qohen in an oddball way, and Thierry who is beautiful and charismatic as the love interest. All of the characters show some sort of vulnerability at some point, wearing masks to hide their pain. Qohen is a little more up-front about it. Management, being management, shows no weakness.

Visually this is an amazing movie, from majestic scenes of a black hole to the rotting interior of Leth’s home and the clever scenes of what is supposed to be London (maybe) in the near future but is more than likely Bucharest. There is a definite steampunk look to the film which is kind of a thing this year in indie films.

This hasn’t received any sort of release yet, although the movie’s website is promising a summer release. I hope that the distributors deliver on this; this is a movie that should be seen, by Gilliam’s fanbase if by nobody else. This is among his very best films which makes it a classic in the making, so serious film buffs should check this out even if they aren’t especially fond of Gilliam’s work.

REASONS TO GO: When it hits the mark, it’s mind-blowing. Terrific set design and Waltz is terrific in a very different role than you’re used to seeing for him.

REASONS TO STAY: As Gilliam films are prone to do, they can meander sometimes. If you don’t like Gilliam’s films, you won’t like this.

FAMILY VALUES:  There are some expletives here and there as well as some sexuality and brief nudity.

TRIVIAL PURSUIT: During the park scene, screenwriter Pat Rushin (who also teaches creative writing at the University of Central Florida) can be seen on a bench writing on his briefcase; he’s actually writing motivational lines that scroll across the computer screen in the cubicles during a different part of the film. His wife can also be glimpsed reading a newspaper.

CRITICAL MASS: As of 5/2/14: Rotten Tomatoes: 54% positive reviews. Metacritic: 51/100.

COMPARISON SHOPPING: Brazil

FINAL RATING: 8/10

NEXT: The Railway Man