“Bang Gang (A Modern Love Story),” just by looking at its trailer, seems like the French version of “Kids,” but that’s not even remotely true. Based on a true story, a fact we don’t discover until the end credits, it follows a group of ordinary teenagers who live in the suburban neighborhoods of France and participate in sex parties they refer to as “bang gangs.” In the center of the sexual shenanigans is the beautiful George (Marilyn Lima), one of the main organizers of these parties and who experiences some intense inner turmoil. After being spurned by her would-be boyfriend Alex (Finnegan Oldfield) who goes after her best friend Laetitia (Daisy Broom), George begins feel increasingly isolated from everyone around her even as the parties become increasingly reckless. In short, this story will not end well. Or will it?
This movie marks the feature film directorial debut of Eva Husson whose previous credits include the short films “Hope to Die” and “Those for Whom It’s Always Complicated.” Many consider her one of many directors to emerge from the world of music videos, but she will be quick to silence you on that. Born in France, Husson earned an M.A. in English literature from the Sorbonne, and she would later move to America to pursue an M.F.A. at the American Film Institute. She did make some music videos along the way, but her focus has always been on writing and directing feature films.
With “Bang Gang,” Husson has pulled off an impressive debut filled with strong performances by a mostly non-professional cast, and she is aided by the lush cinematography of Mattias Troelstrup as well as the atmospheric music score by White Sea.
I got to talk with Husson while she was in Los Angeles to promote “Bang Gang (A Modern Love Story” which she described as “a movie about teenagers falling in love in the midst of a sexual apocalypse.” She explained how she pulled off the long tracking shot at the movie’s beginning which lasts for several minutes, why she put the term “based on a true story” at the movie’s end instead of the beginning, and she pointed out how the project was inspired by stories involving American teenagers and not French ones. She also spoke of why she had her cast watch Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Boogie Nights” and Lars Von Trier’s “Melancholia” before the film shoot began.
Please check out the interview above.
AN ULTIMATE RABBIT NOTE: This video interview was recently updated to eliminate any copyright issues which were never intended, and to make it available to the widest audience possible.
The problem with most disaster movies these days is they present their horrific scenarios with nothing but stock characters who end up spouting annoying clichés aided by a weak screenplay. While they have amazing special effects at their disposal, they are saddled with a conventional story filled with people we can never truly relate to, and they bend the rules of science in a way that’s shameless as filmmakers believe we won’t question what we see. But we do question what we see, and what ends up on the screen ends up being far more laughable than thrilling.
That’s what makes the Norwegian thriller “The Wave” so refreshingly effective as it has down to earth characters we can relate to, and it also deals with science in a way which is not insulting to the intelligence. The movie doesn’t break any new ground in the disaster genre, but the filmmakers still leave us on the edge of our seats throughout as they present us with a scenario which could very well happen before I finish writing this review.
The movie starts off with a documentary sequence which shows how parts of Norway, while stunning in their beauty, are always susceptible to collapse and utter catastrophe. This country saw one of its town decimated by a rock-slide tsunami back in 1934, and there was another massive tsunami in 1905 which killed 65 people. Scientists all agree this catastrophe will very likely happen again but they don’t know when, and this sequence hovers the rest of “The Wave” as we go into it knowing this beautiful Norwegian will soon be laid waste.
Kristoffer Joner stars as Kristian, a geologist who has worked in the small Norwegian village of Geiranger for the past few years and is about to start a new job at an oil company. His family is in the process of vacating their home to move to a new apartment in the big city, but on his last day at work he sees the substrata is shifting and things don’t feel right to him. But when he presents his concerns to his co-workers, they are not quick to alert the village’s inhabitants as they don’t see much of a threat based on the evidence at hand. Plus, the tourism season is at its peak and this town, just like Amity in “Jaws,” depends on this season to meet their financial obligations.
Watching “The Wave” reminded me of when I saw Roland Emmerich’s “The Day After Tomorrow.” While Emmerich’s movie was never boring, it’s take on science was hard to accept especially when the characters tried to outrun a weather freeze which immobilizes everything in its path. But the filmmakers of “The Wave” are not about to insult our intelligence and present us with scientifically sound facts, and that makes watching this movie all the more intense and anxiety-inducing as a result.
Going into this movie we all know that this town will be utterly destroyed, but the buildup to the inevitable catastrophe is worth it as, when it does hit, it leaves us as trapped as the characters as they desperately try to reach safety. Kristian is not out to be a hero as he warns others as he tries outrun the tsunami that will eventually wreak havoc on the defenseless village. Joner does an excellent job of giving us a protagonist who is an ordinary guy who recognizes the dangers this village will eventually fall victim to, and the reaction he has when a flock of birds flies away in anticipation of the massive rockslide tsunami is priceless.
Joner also has a family which includes his wife Idun (Ane Dahl Torp), his daughter Julia (Edith Haagenrud-Sande) who is fascinated by the world at large, and his son Sondre (Jonas Hoff Oftebro) who is NOT looking forward to being uprooted from his hometown even if his dad got a better job than the one he had. These are all people we understand and whose struggles we can easily relate to, and that makes this motion picture even more intense as we don’t feel like we’re watching characters; we’re watching real people.
As for the wave of the movie’s title, it is a CGI creation which is rendered very effectively. Seeing it demolish everything in its path feels more terrifying than anything shown in “San Andreas.” Seeing the townspeople flee to higher ground as it approaches is anxiety-inducing as we know not everyone will escape its wrath. Some disaster movies throw a barrage of visual effects at us to where we don’t feel like we’re watching a real disaster unfold, but that’s not the case here.
Sure, the story is predictable as Joner is determined to find his wife and son who get trapped in the post-tsunami devastation, and the movie’s ending is no surprise at all. But thanks to the attention on character as much as spectacle, this is a disaster movie Hollywood can really learn a lot from. Don’t let the subtitles turn you off because this is an especially intense disaster movie which will have your heart racing.
“Green Room” is a nasty piece of work which sticks the knife into the viewer and sticks it real deep. Like “Assault on Precinct 13” (the original, not the remake), it is a siege movie but not the one you are necessarily used to seeing. The characters are really fleshed out to where the actors are inhabiting them more than acting, and the violence is not the usual PG-13 bloodless action. For those of you who like your movies seriously intense, ultra-violent and filled with characters who look and feel real, “Green Room” is one you want to check out. For those who do not care for violent movies in the slightest, you would do your best to avoid this one. If you thought “Harry Brown” was dark and bleak, wait till you get a load of this.
The movie opens on The Ain’t Rights, a punk band about to complete their long and largely unsuccessful tour, and their last show has them going to a rural place outside of Portland, Oregon. But upon arriving there, they discover it is a neo-Nazi skinhead bar located deep in the woods, far from the prying eyes of the police among others. Their show goes fine even though things get off to a rough start as they do a cover of Dead Kennedys’ “Nazi Punks Fuck Off” which has some audience members hurling beer bottles at them, but they still manage to get off the stage in one piece. But then they stumble upon a crime never meant for their eyes, and they soon find themselves trapped in the bar and at the mercy of the skinheads who, desperate to cover up their extra-curricular activities, have no plans to let them leave while they are still breathing.
There’s something endlessly fascinating about human beings being driven to the limit of survival. We start having what seems like an ordinary day which we often sleepwalk through, and then something happens which threatens our livelihood and activates our survival instincts to where they cannot be turned off. These punk band members are trapped in a horrific situation not of their own making, and they will soon find themselves acting in their most primal state as death constantly looms around the corner.
What surprised me most about “Green Room” was how real and complex all the characters were. These are not just a bunch of character types simply designed to infuriate moviegoers or immediately gain their sympathy. They all feel like real people caught up in a situation we hope never to be in, and they cannot escape the possibility of a grisly fate. Heck, even a simple negotiation between one character and another takes on a more sinister edge here as the intensity is ratcheted up to a level to where this movie feels like a blood relative of Sam Peckinpah’s “Straw Dogs.”
Plus, you cannot help but be deeply affected by the violence displayed here. Not once is it ever glorified as it is presented in an ugly and visceral form you will react very strongly to. One character gets their arm slashed in a way that reminded me of Naomi Watts’ gaping leg wound from “The Impossible,” and I could not help but gasp in response. Regardless of how many ultra-violent movies you have seen, you cannot leave “Green Room” feeling unaffected by what you have witnessed.
“Green Room” was written and directed by Jeremy Saulnier whose previous film, “Blue Ruin,” received a lot of critical acclaim. I have not seen that one yet, but you can sure bet I will be checking it out soon. He takes what is essentially a genre picture and upgrades it to one that feels far more potent than most. He also gives the punk band which occupies it an authentic feel as nothing they do onstage ever comes across as generic. Clearly this director has been around bands like these for a good portion of his life, and he knows how they operate as they work hard to keep their music from being easily corrupted.
Saulnier also benefits greatly from having a top notch cast which grounds their characters in a reality that feels all too real. Chief among them is Anton Yelchin who plays Pat and who is forced to get to his most primal state in a way he never expected to when he got up in the morning. Also effective is Alia Shawkat as Sam, the band’s sole female member who manages to control her fear enough to keep one step ahead of the skinheads looking to eliminate those in their path. Joe Cole and Callum Turner give memorable turns as the other band members Reece and Tiger, and Macon Blair leaves a strong impression as Gabe, a skinhead who actually grows a conscience in the midst of all the chaos.
One real stand out performance in “Green Room” comes from Imogen Poots who plays Amber. When we first meet Amber, she comes across as a helpless victim who is in over her head and becomes trapped with the rest of the band. But quickly, she becomes a very enigmatic character capable of violence the others are not. We only learn so much about Amber throughout, but Poots imbues her with what seems like a dark history filled with violence that she has somehow managed to survive in spite of her circumstances. Amber knows what’s at stake, and she’s willing to do anything she can to stay alive, anything.
But, of course, the biggest star in “Green Room” is Sir Patrick Stewart who plays a man who is the polar opposite of Jean-Luc Picard or Professor Charles Xavier. Stewart portrays Darcy Banker, the leader of this skinhead gang. What’s especially chilling about Stewart’s performance is how he makes Darcy into an ordinary guy capable of such insidious evil. Not once does he try to chew the scenery or turn Darcy into your typical skinhead villain drunk with power and hatred, but someone who has dealt with unfortunate situations like this before and has long since handled them in a calm fashion. Stewart never has to overplay the part as he conveys just how comfortable Darcy is in his belief structure and psychosis to where taking a human life is not all that different from swatting a fly.
“Green Room” is not high on originality and features situations we have seen in countless movies before, but arguing about this is a waste of time. It’s a heavy duty thriller that takes no prisoners and is unafraid in dragging us into an ultra-violent realm of society we would never want to see in person. If you like your movies claustrophobic and filled with an intensity which really jacks up your adrenaline, this one is for you. For those who do not like these kind of movies, don’t bother. Some movies are meant to be infinitely disturbing and effectively so, and this is one of them.
2016 has been a good year for pulse-pounding thrillers, and “Money Monster” is the latest example. While not as intense as “10 Cloverfield Lane” or as viciously gruesome as “Green Room,” it certainly gets the adrenaline running thanks to taut direction and terrific acting from a star studded cast. While the handling of the material is at times scattershot and you come out feeling like it could have been better, what ended up on screen makes for solid entertainment.
“Money Monster” opens up on the set of a cable show with the same name which is hosted by wall street financial guru Lee Gates (George Clooney), a man whose ego is bigger than his knowledge of stocks. During what seems like a normal day of filming an episode filled with tips for investors as well as dancing and graphics to keep viewers entertained, Kyle Budwell (Jack O’Connell) somehow makes it onto the set, fires a gun in the air and takes Lee hostage. It turns out Kyle invested in a company Lee was especially enthusiastic about, but he ended up losing his entire savings in the process. After making Lee put on a vest filled with plastic explosives which could level a skyscraper, Kyle becomes intent on making him apologize not just to him but millions of investors who lost all their money thanks to the “advice” they received on his show.
Watching this movie reminded me of others which dealt with morally duplicitous human beings who, whether they intended to or not, ran into monsters they created out of their own greed and lack of understanding. Costa-Gavras’ “Mad City” quickly come to mind, but “Money Monster” stands above it because the filmmakers don’t deal with the subject manner in such an obvious way. There’s more going on here than what we see on the surface, and this makes what seems like an average movie one of the more intelligent ones I have seen in a while.
Clooney is perfectly cast as a man whose over confidence has long since gotten the best of him, and he shows a lot of vulnerability as his character of Lee Gates is exposed for all his falsehoods. We watch as his regularly scheduled program is interrupted in one of the worst ways possible, and it forces him to think fast on his feet in order to stay alive. Clooney excels in this kind of role as he is not afraid to show the deep cracks in this man’s façade, and this is even after he is revealed to be a three-time divorcee, the kind we see a lot of in movies.
As Kyle, Jack O’Connell brings the same fierce intensity to this role as he did in “Eden Lake,” “Starred Up” and “Harry Brown” among others. It’s almost exhausting to watch him here as his he starts at such a high pitch of energy to where he can’t allow himself to go slack for very long. This is definitely an actor to keep an eye on.
After suffering through the hideous debacle of “Mother’s Day,” Julia Roberts rebounds here as Lee’s long-suffering director, Patty Fenn. Now Patty may not be the star of the show, but she’s the one who makes it a reality on a daily basis. Roberts doesn’t need to do much to show how much of a veteran Patty is at her job as it involves dealing with dozens of people in a high pressure environment, and she truly shows grace under pressure when Kyle turns everyone’s world upside down. Patty quickly becomes the voice that keeps Lee sane as she continues directing the show which threatens to be more unpredictable than it already it is. Roberts is riveting to watch throughout as she does her best to keep her cool while everyone else loses their own much too easily.
In fact, what’s notable about “Money Monster” is how the female characters are much stronger than their male counterparts. This is the case not just with Patty, but also with Diane Lester (the excellent Caitriona Balfe), a high ranking executive who shows little hesitation in digging through her boss’ dealings in order to get to the truth. Just watch as one of her male bosses attempts to fire her; she doesn’t even break a sweat. Or how about Kyle’s pregnant girlfriend Molly (scene stealer Emily Meade) who has a show-stopping scene where she brutally berates Kyle without any hesitation.
Many of the male characters on the other hand are quick to crumble as their egos cannot handle defeat easily. Some might look at this as a bit sexist, or maybe the movie and its screenplay just exposes the reality that women are stronger because they have more to overcome both in society and in the workplace.
“Money Monster” marks Jodie Foster’s fourth film as a director, and she does a very good job of keeping the tension ratcheted up high throughout. Along with screenwriters Alan Di Fiore, Jamie Linden and “Stakeout’s” Jim Kouf, she takes what looks like a predictable story and messes around with the elements to where second guessing what’s about to happen becomes pointless. At the same time, she does have some trouble balancing out both the dramatic and comedic aspects here, and the more comedic the movie becomes, the more it loses its dramatic power. It’s a strong movie for sure, but you do come out of it thinking it could have been even better.
Still, “Money Monster” is an entertaining thriller that benefits from strong direction and terrific performances from its talented cast. It’s no “Network,” but it does have a lot to say about how money rules our lives and has us making rash decisions for the purpose of staying one step ahead of losing everything. While its ending is a bit too pat, it’s not just another mindless thriller. And in the end, it’s always nice to see wall street take a beating in any movie.
“Imperium” is being released not along after “The Infiltrator,” another movie dealing with an FBI agent going undercover and entering a vicious criminal organization in order to stop the bad guys in their tracks. Like “The Infiltrator,” “Imperium” doesn’t break any new ground in the realm of undercover cop movies, but it is a taut thriller which holds our attention as it throws a barely prepared protagonist into a den of snakes who are quicker to kill than trust.
Front and center in “Imperium” is Harry Potter himself, Daniel Radcliffe. Ever since playing the lightning-scarred wizard, the actor has taken on many challenges to prove to the world there is more to him than J.K. Rowling’s infinitely popular literary character. At first he seems out of place as FBI agent Nate Foster, but that’s kind of the point. Nate comes across as a bespectacled and bookish nerd who is more comfortable doing research than going outside of the office. It also doesn’t help he’s the butt of jokes by his fellow agents who have yet to take him the least bit seriously.
But then along comes agent Angela Zamparo (Toni Collette) who sees a strong potential in Nate for undercover work. She is also sick of her superiors devoting all their resources to foreign terrorism instead of putting just as much focus on domestic enemies. Angela brings Nate into her office, tells him what he needs to know and gives him a copy of “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie, the only book needed for undercover work. From there, Nate transforms himself into a war veteran turned skinhead and navigates his way into the dangerous underworld white supremacy.
I have to give writer and director Daniel Ragussis a lot of credit as he focuses on something I desperately want America’s politicians to focus on: domestic terrorism. When it comes to the “War on Terror,” much of the focus has been focused on international groups like ISIS or The Taliban, but the threat inside America has proven to be far greater these days. Ragussis makes this very clear as he features video footage and photos of Neo-Nazis at work, be it going on marches or committing heinous crimes against those people who are not white.
Radcliffe may still have the shadow of Harry Potter hanging over him, but this doesn’t affect his performance as Nate Parker in the slightest. He makes Nate’s transformation into an undercover agent not just believable, but at times frightening. Movies like these show their protagonists sinking so deep into their assignments to where they lose contact with who they are and develop strong friendships with criminals they are supposed to bring down. Radcliffe shows, a lot of times without words, just how desperate Nate is to get to the truth. We already know just how great an actor he is, and his performance in “Imperium” goes to show the kind of acting challenges he is willing to step up to the plate to take on.
But there’s also Toni Collette who proves to be every bit as good as Radcliffe in her portrayal of, Angela Zamparo. Collette makes Angela cool as they come, and it’s loads of fun watching her reduce her male colleagues to rubble as they can’t even begin to match her job efficiency. Collette made her big breakthrough back in 1994 with “Muriel’s Wedding,” and ever since then she has immersed herself so deeply into each role she plays to where you completely forget the ones she played previously. The scenes she shares with Radcliffe here are great as we watch a rookie and a veteran slowly start to figure one another out, and nothing is never as it seems.
“Imperium” has the requisite scenes where Nate has to think fast on his feet so his cover doesn’t get blown, and some resonate with intensity more than others. One of the best comes when Nate is going to a potential site for a party along with Andrew Blackwell who is played by “The Knick’s” Chris Sullivan. Blackwell brings his best poker face to this scene as we watch Radcliffe tremble in fear as he is made to feel death is just around the corner. Both actors succeed in creating an almost unbearably intense scene here as if they are about to make the most pivotal move in a chess game.
Now “Imperium” will not go down as one of the best undercover cop movies ever made, but it does get the job done. It also shows Radcliffe taking on a new challenge and growing even more as an actor. Both he and Collette are more than enough of a reason to check this movie out sooner than later. Writer and director Daniel Ragussis also deserves a lot of credit for focusing on domestic terrorism as it feels like a realm in today’s day and age which doesn’t get enough attention. Sometimes the greatest threat to a nation isn’t from outside of it, but from within. Seriously, look at what Donald Trump’s bizarre run for President has brought out into the open.
Robin Givens has graced us with her presence for years whether it be on television, onstage or on the silver screen. She caught Theodore Huxtable’s gaze on “The Cosby Show,” played the infinitely spoiled Diane Merriman on “Head of the Class” and gave Eddie Murphy a taste of his own medicine in “Boomerang.” Now she adds a faith based movie to her resume with “God’s Not Dead 2,” a sequel to surprise box office hit from 2014. In it she plays Principal Kinney, the chief administrator at Dr. Martin Luther King High School where a teacher, Grace Wesley (Melissa Joan Hart), becomes the center of controversy when she mentions God in a response to a student’s question. From there Principal Kinney is forced to decide whether to stand up for Grace or to stand by the school district officials who demand Grace to apologize for violating the “separation of church and state.”
I got to speak with Givens while she was in Los Angeles to do press for “God’s Not Dead,” and she could not have been nicer. Her family were huge fans of the original, and she jumped at the chance to appear in this sequel. She discussed what was most challenging about her role, how doing the movie affected her own faith and she shared her opinion about the fact that the movie not only opening on April Fool’s Day, but also National Atheist’s Day.
Ben Kenber: You play a high school principal in this movie. Did you do any research on principals at all?
Robin Givens: No, I didn’t too much and I kept thinking of my own. I didn’t have a principal. I had a headmaster, Dr. Paul Firestone. I kept thinking of my children so I approached one from the students’ point of view and then one from a parents’ point of view. It’s interesting when you begin to approach the character and you are actually in the school. We were in a very, very large high school, and however big the kids were makes you assume a certain posture. You really do assume a posture even physically, so that was pretty interesting for me.
BK: This is a sequel which has the director and screenwriters returning to it, but most of the cast from the original did not return. Did that concern you at all?
RG: No, no, not at all. My family and I are very big fans of the first one. I guess I was not surprised they were doing a second one based on its success which I’m sure even surprised them. You kind of get the feeling that they were going to camp it up a little bit. When I met Harold Cronk, the director, I just loved him so much so I was not concerned about it at all.
BK: What would you say was the most challenging aspect for you in playing this character?
RG: Just for me, what I believe versus what she believes. You can play different characters that have nothing to do with you; that’s the most wonderful thing about acting. But with this one, I kind of wanted to insert myself for the first time. I wanted to be on Grace’s side in helping her along, not just sort of walking the line or concerned about following the rules. So that was the big part for me that was difficult.
BK: It can be tricky because you don’t want to judge your character.
RG: Exactly.
BK: “God’s Not Dead 2” is being released on April 1 which is not just April Fool’s Day, but also National Atheist’s Day. Do you have any thoughts on that?
RG: (Laughs) Somebody mentioned that to me and I didn’t know there was a National Atheist’s Day. I think it’s interesting that it’s also April Fool’s Day and that April Fools’ Day is different from National Atheist’s Day, but they also mentioned the irony that they didn’t know that was the day when they decided to release it, so maybe that was God intervening.
BK: Perhaps. You said your character was torn between her job and her heart, and that makes her complex as a result. What would you say were the challenges of playing those complexities?
RG: I think it was really difficult for me to get out of the way, that’s what I would say. I wanted to not judge her, but I wanted to not play the subtext of this really isn’t me and this is not what I believe. Just letting myself get out of the way of it was really hard for me. If I could go to Harold now, and now that I know him better, I would go, “Could you write a scene that actually explains the difficulties she is having?” It’s like one scene for me is missing, you know?
BK: Was there anything you brought to this movie that wasn’t in the screenplay?
RG: I try to portray the difficulty she was having, that’s the choice that I made. So I tried to bring the fact that she did believe, but she was still wanting to do her day job well. I tried to bring the conflict she was having, and I don’t know if that was originally planned but I wanted her to be conflicted.
BK: Has doing this movie strengthened your faith in your own life a lot?
RG: I feel like, for me, it was one big God wink. A friend of mine gave me a book called “God Wink” which talked about how there are no coincidences. It was such an important movie in our lives, my family personally, that to be asked to do the movie a year later was almost like a big God wink or validation of like “I’m with you.” So in some respects, not that it changed my mind about anything, it just sort of brought validation.
BK: When Melissa Joan Hart’s character of Grace Wesley talks about God in the classroom, she is really talking about him as a historical being instead of a divine one.
RG: I love that! I don’t know how you feel about that, but for me I think that was so smart. I loved how they put Christ in a historical context with Martin Luther King and Gandhi. I just love that.
BK: There seems to be a lot of confusion about when or if you should bring up God in the classroom, and the way Grace does it is not really offensive at all. But if she was forcing people and saying believe in God or you will get an F, that would be a different story.
RG: Absolutely, and also when she’s talking about it she’s just talking about it in very simple terms: tolerance, being a better person and being kind. I think because she’s talking about it in such simple terms then how can anybody complain about this, but that it still creates an uproar is interesting and shows where we are at.
BK: Christianity is still the dominant religion in America, but in “God’s Not Dead 2” it is presented more as a minority because of the way certain Christians are treated. How do you feel about that?
RG: This is America; we have freedom of religion. You can’t be persecuted for what you believe. People come from other countries to this country maybe not for only that reason, but that’s a big thing. You get to believe the way you believe here, and sometimes we get so caught up defending other people’s rights that even things that have been the fabric of our country have gotten pushed to the side. I do think Christianity is a big thing in America still, and I think that’s why these films are so successful because maybe people shouldn’t talk about, but they love that they get to see themselves or what they believe are the discussion. I think people really do love it.
BK: Was there anything in regards to religion you really wanted this movie to have?
RG: I think that probably lies a lot on Melissa’s shoulders in terms of what she wanted it to have. I was there to sort of help her in many respects to find her way and help her character find her way as opposed to my own beliefs.
BK: This movie has quite the cast with actors like Ray Wise, Ernie Hudson and Fred Dalton Thompson in what turned out to be his last role before he passed away. Did you have the opportunity to work with Fred?
RG: No I didn’t, but I always think of Fred Thompson when he was running for office which is like, it’s so cool. I’m a big fan not only of his acting but also politically. He was so thought-provoking in many respects, so I’m just happy to have been in the film with him.
BK: You mentioned that your mom goes to church every Sunday and that she saw “God’s Not Dead” and it made the family very happy. I imagine they were very happy to hear that you were involved in “God’s Not Dead 2.”
RG: Oh my God. My family doesn’t know where I’ve came from just in terms of the entertainment business. They are never too into it. But they loved it and they couldn’t believe it. It was something we did together as a family, so when she went to see it (“God’s Not Dead”) and then we all went to see it as a family there was a certain irony there. But it made them very happy.
BK: What would you say your mother got out of the first movie?
RG: It was a difficult time in our lives as a family, and I think that what everybody needs is just faith. I think certain things can always trigger what’s going on in our own lives, so just to have faith I think was a big thing.
I want to thank Robin Givens for taking the time to talk with me. “God’s Not Dead 2” is now available to rent or own on DVD and Blu-ray, and you can visit the movie’s website at www.godsnotdead.com.
“Anthropoid” is kind of like a cousin to “Valkyrie,” another movie about soldiers looking to take out a high ranking Nazi. Like “Valkyrie,” it will not go down as one of the most memorable World War II movies ever made, but it is an entertaining film which engages us with noble characters, interesting questions about the price of war and a furious climax where resistance fighters make their last stand. More importantly, it deals with a true life event (yes, it is “based on a true story”) many probably don’t know about but should.
The movie starts in 1941 with two Czechoslovak exile soldiers, Jozef Gabčík (Cillian Murphy) and Jan Kubiš (Jamie Dornan), parachuting into their occupied homeland. Upon meeting the resistance fighters and their leader, “Uncle” Jan Zelenka-Hajský (Toby Jones), in Prague, they reveal that they are here to execute Operation Anthropoid which involves the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, a high ranking Nazi who was one of the architects of the Holocaust and whom Adolf Hitler described as “the man with the iron heart.” Do they succeed in their mission? You’ll have to watch the movie to find out.
“Anthropoid” gets off to a bit of a slow start as Jozef and Jan try to settle in and not stand out among everyone else in town. They even recruit two lovely ladies, Marie Kovárníkovasá (Charlotte Le Bon) and Lenka Fafková (Anna Geislerová), to help them carry out their mission, and they are more than willing to help. Just watch as Lenka makes clear to the men how she can handle a gun.
There’s a subplot where Jan ends up getting engaged to Marie, and it just comes out of nowhere to where this section feels rather awkward. A number of characters are not developed fully enough to where “Anthropoid” threatens to feel like a missed opportunity. But what elevates the material are the performances which are very strong.
You can never go wrong with Cillian Murphy as he has yet to give a bad performance in any film he appears in. As Jozef, Murphy’s steely eyes stare into others with an intensity which wipes the smiles off their faces as he makes clear this is no ordinary mission. He also makes Jozef a most determined soldier who is infinitely determined to carry out this operation, but even he can only take so much before he falls apart emotionally.
Jamie Dornan shows more life here than he ever could have in the dreadful “Fifty Shades of Grey.” This is especially the case when his character suffers a brutal panic attack which has Jozef desperately trying to calm him down from. It’s way too easy to look like a fool when portraying such an emotional moment as the camera never lies, and it says a lot about Dornan that he was able to make this panic attack such a genuinely anxiety ridden moment.
There are also a number of other terrific performances to be found in “Anthropoid” like the one from Toby Jones. Then again, seeing him in a World War II movie these days instantly reminds us of his “Hail Hydra” character from the “Captain America” movies.
“Anthropoid” really kicks into high gear when an assassination attempt is taken and the Nazis come down hard on a particular group of people to where sympathy isn’t much of an option. It gets to where everyone wonders if killing one Nazi will have any effect on the war. With the world closing in on the main characters, the intensity keeps building and building all the way to the very end.
The last half of “Anthropoid” has the protagonists holing up in a church, and they are discovered by the Nazis to where a violent standoff ensues. Director Sean Ellis, who helmed the Oscar nominated short film “Cashback,” stages an impressive standoff which has us completely riveted. While the first half feels routine, the last half really does keep us on the edge of our seats. With “Valkyrie” we had a very good idea of things would turn out, but with “Anthropoid” we don’t. Bullets fly all over the place and emotions are shattered to where we can’t look away, and this is aided by a pounding music score composed by Guy Farley and Robin Foster.
Parts of “Anthropoid” may not stay in the conscious mind long after you have seen it, but the parts which do make it worth the price of admission. Many made tremendous sacrifices which can no longer be swept under the rug, and this movie gives those soldiers the respect they have deserved for the longest time. It also looks at the many costs of war and of how soldiers can only keep their cool for so long until they break under the pressure. It’s a bleak movie in many ways, but it also shows just how far the resistance fighters were determined to end Hitler’s genocidal reign.
When it comes to David Ayer, you know he’s not going to slack off when it comes to researching his movie’s subject matter. His movies like the brilliant “End of Watch” and the underappreciated “Sabotage” had characters dealing with a vicious reality which they are forced to contend with on a regular basis, and Ayer makes us feel how frightening this reality is whether we want to be a part of it or not. That remains the case with “Fury,” a war film which takes us all the way back to the final days of World War II. It features all the usual characters we expect to see in a war film from the hardened Army sergeant to the innocent rookie, but you come out of it knowing what it feels like to be in a tank.
Brad Pitt stars as Don “Wardaddy” Collier, the commander of a five-man tank crew which is ordered to make a final push into Nazi Germany during World War II. Don is saddled with a battle ready crew which includes Boyd “Bible” Swan (Shia LaBeouf), Cpl. Trini “Gordo” Garcia (Michael Pena) and Grady “Coon-Ass” Travis (Jon Bernthal). After losing one of their members, they are suddenly saddled with the most baby-faced rookie imaginable in Army Private Norman Ellison (Logan Lerman). Don doesn’t like Norman’s presence one little bit as he feels it threatens everyone’s safety, but his superiors force him to take him on regardless of his objections. As a result, Don is forced to make Norman grow up a lot sooner than he wants, and it’s all in the name of survival.
For a time, I thought that Norman was going to be like Jeremy Davies’ character from “Saving Private Ryan” in that he would be the wimp who wouldn’t have the nerve to kill the enemy until the very end. Don, however, doesn’t have the patience to wait for Norman to grow a pair and forces him to kill a Nazi prisoner early on. Lerman gives a tremendous performance as Norman, and it’s fascinating to watch him go from being an anxiety ridden soldier to a hardened war veteran who doesn’t hesitate to take out as many Nazis as humanly possible.
There haven’t been many tank movies in the history of cinema. The only ones I can think of are Kevin Reynolds’ “The Beast” which came out in 1988 and the Israeli war film “Lebanon” which depicted warfare as witnessed from inside a tank. It’ll be interesting to see how they compare to Fury which puts you right into these characters’ mindsets as they lay waste to their target without the benefit of ear protection. You come to feel as battered and hardened as the crew does during their patrol through enemy territory where they find themselves outnumbered and outgunned.
It’s hard to watch “Fury” without thinking of Pitt’s performance as Aldo Raine in “Inglorious Basterds,” but he does succeed in making “Wardaddy” distinct from that character whether he is sporting facial hair or not. I always enjoy Pitt’s performances when he’s all dirtied up and free of his movie star looks, and this is one of them. You believe Pitt as a war veteran who has seen countless battles and has long since been worn down by them. But for Don, his main concern is keeping his crew alive, and Pitt is great at making you feel his character’s barely hidden vulnerability which is always on the verge of being exposed for all to see
Pena is an Ayer regular, having worked with him previously on “End of Watch,” and he has yet to disappoint in any role he takes on. As Trini, he gives us a character who was one of the many Latino military officers who fought for America back in the 1940’s. From start to finish, Pena makes Trini a war weary character who is not far from falling apart, and it makes for an intense performance.
I also give applause to Bernthal whose performance as Grady may not get all the recognition it deserves. On one hand Grady is a loathsome character we cannot stand to be around, but on the other he’s just a soldier trying to survive this war anyway he can. It’s rare to see an actor who makes you despise and sympathize with a character simultaneously, and Bernthal succeeds in pulling it off.
Another impressive performance in “Fury” comes from Shia LaBeouf as Boyd. Like Private Daniel Jackson in “Saving Private Ryan,” this guy is a trained killer but also quick to spout off passages from the Bible. Even after taking out a Nazi tank, he will still quote passages from that book with a great passion. LaBeouf got a lot of press for the method work he did on “Fury” which included pulling out a tooth, but seeing this movie is to be assured that all the work paid off for him.
Whether or not you consider “Fury” to be one of the best World War II movies ever made, it is one of the strongest to come out in the past few years. Ayer makes you feel the anxiety and exhaustion these soldiers go through while in battle, and you come out of this movie feeling as battered as they do. I very much liked what it had to offer, and I liked how Ayer didn’t try to sugarcoat reality for anyone in the slightest. That’s what makes his movies so unique and visceral.
“Krisha” is one of those movies which can be best described as emotionally pulverizing. It starts off with a close up of the title character’s face as the sound builds to a feverish crescendo, and this is enough to tell everyone this movie is going to be a psychological endurance test for the audience watching it. It’s a powerful motion picture which is as emotionally cathartic as they come, and it’s one of the best movies of 2016.
Krisha Fairchild stars as the Krisha of the movie’s title, a deeply troubled woman returning home to the family she abandoned years ago for a life of drug addiction and self-destruction. It’s Thanksgiving and everyone welcomes her back with open arms, prepared to forgive her trespasses, but right from the start there is a palpable tension in the air as everything seems off. While her family is happy to see Krisha, they are still unsure of whether or not she can be trusted. As for Krisha herself, we find she is still struggling with her demons and may not make it through the night in one piece. She’s also cooking the Thanksgiving turkey, and the turkey is just a time bomb just waiting to go off.
It should be noted that the movie’s writer and director, Trey Edward Shults, based its story on a similar family situation he experienced when his cousin Nica came home for the holidays. She was in the throes of her own drug addiction which would end her life prematurely two months later. For Shults, making this movie was a way to confront this tragedy, and he cast many of his family members who had been through the same situation as well.
But the one family member who stands out here the most is Shults’ aunt, Krisha Fairchild. Fairchild is not playing herself here even though she shares the same name of her character, but this makes her performance all the more extraordinary as she plumbs the depths of a drug addict struggling to prove to her son and family everything is okay with her now. As crazy as she gets in this movie, Fairchild still makes Krisha a sympathetic character who we cannot help but feel for. And when she puts on a red dress which looks a lot like the one Ellen Burstyn wore in “Requiem for a Dream,” she goes all out for an emotionally shattering climax.
The rest of the cast does terrific work, and this especially goes for Bill Wise who plays Doyle, the family member who proves to be its biggest personality and asshole. Doyle sees right through Krisha and tells her flat out, “You are an abandoner. You are heartbreak incarnate, lady.” And then there’s Robyn Fairchild who plays Krisha’s sister, the most stable of all the family members. When Robyn breaks down after a protracted argument with Krisha, it’s impossible not to feel her pain and emotional exhaustion as we all know strong family members who eventually reach their breaking point after holding it together for so long.
“Krisha” is Shults’ first feature film, and it is an incredible debut made all the more amazing by the fact he shot it all in just 8 days. He makes the film look like it was shot a lot longer and cost more than it did as he balances many different elements with a director’s masterful touch. Shults is also aided tremendously by the almost dreamlike cinematography by Drew Daniels and the abstract sounding music score by Brian McOmber which illustrates the increasing tension bubbling beneath the surface. This movie is an emotional powder keg just waiting to go off, and Shults never lets anyone off easy.
There have been countless movies made about drug addiction and the effect it has on the family members of the addict, and “Krisha” certainly feels like one of the most effective. It also rightly reminds the viewer that an addict will only seek help when they want to stop. We can’t make them stop. We can only hope for the best and pray for the addict to see the light and make a conscious decision to seek help. Watching this movie makes you want to see Krisha succeed and put her past behind her, but when things begin falling apart for her we can’t look away. Deep down we would like to, but her suffering is all too real to ignore.
“Krisha” shook me in a way very few movies do these days, and it marks the arrival of a gifted feature film director named Trey Edward Shults. Now that we have seen what he can do with the smallest of budgets, it will be interesting to see where he goes from here. As for Krisha Fairchild, she is an actress whose work has been under the radar for years, and here she gives one of the most unforgettable performances the world of movies has seen in some time. All good things to those who wait.
Actor Jeremy Sisto co-wrote, co-produced and stars in “Break Point” as Jimmy Price, an over the hill and unapologetically brash doubles tennis star who realizes his days in the sport are numbered. The sports comedy starts with his latest partner dropping out on him, and it doesn’t take long to see just how many bridges he has burned while on the pro circuit. His last and only chance to make it to a grand slam tournament is to partner up with his estranged brother Darren (David Walton) who used to play doubles tennis with him until they had a falling out. The question is, can they move past their deep-seated resentments of each other to work together effectively as a team? With the help of 11-year-old Barry (Joshua Rush), they just might have a chance.
Sisto has been acting since he was a kid, and he made his film debut in Lawrence Kasdan’s “Grand Canyon.” Since then we have seen him grow up before our eyes in movies like “Clueless,” “Thirteen,” and he even got to play Jesus in the television miniseries “Jesus.” Many know him best from his role as William Chenowith on the HBO series “Six Feet Under” where he played an artist suffering from bipolar disorder and occasional bouts of mania. In 2008 he joined the cast of NBC’s long-running “Law & Order” as Detective Cyrus Lupo, and he stayed with the show through its final three seasons during which he acted opposite Jesse L. Martin and Anthony Anderson.
Sisto sat down with me for an interview at the “Break Point” press day held in Los Angeles, California, and he talked about how he and the filmmakers wanted this sports movie to stand out from others like it. Sisto also discussed how he managed to make the difficult transition from child actor to adult actor, the challenges of getting “Break Point” made, and he shared his experience of working on “Grand Canyon” and of how special the making of it was for him.
Check out the interview above and enjoy! To find out how you can watch “Break Point,” please sure to visit the movie’s website for more information (www.thebreakpointfilm.com).
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