Ron Livingston

‘The Conjuring’ Movie and 4K Review

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

The following review was written by Ultimate Rabbit correspondent, Tony Farinella.

When it comes to horror movies, you look for them to be written and directed by fans of the genre, as they bring a sense of passion and enthusiasm which might be missing by someone who is just doing it for the paycheck. James Wan burst onto the horror scene in 2004 with his directorial debut, “Saw,” which was written by his college best friend Leigh Whannel. He could have easily coasted with the “Saw” franchise and continued to keep cranking out sequel after sequel with it. Instead, he decided to get in touch with a different side of the horror genre with 2013’s “The Conjuring.” He also directed such films as “Insidious,” “Dead Silence,” “Death Sentence,” “Furious 7,” and “Malignant.”

Our film opens by introducing us to the Perron family, as they move into a farmhouse in Rhode Island which needs a lot of work. The Perron family consists of Roger and Carolyn (Ron Livingston and Lili Taylor), their five daughters, and their dog Sadie. As they are exploring the ins and outs of the house, they discover a boarded-up cellar, and that is when all hell breaks loose for this family. Their sanity, peace of mind, and sleep start to become disrupted, and it’s clear there is something in this house which is working against them. They need to fix it if they ever hope to stay together as a family. At this point, they decide to call Ed and Lorraine Warren, played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga. When you have a malevolent presence, they are the couple to call as they are the expert demonologists.

One of the biggest things “The Conjuring” gets right is the idea that even if they leave the house, this presence will still follow them. I’ve seen so many demonic movies where I ask myself, often out loud, “Why don’t they just leave the house?” It seems like the logical response to this type of activity, but oftentimes horror movies and smart characters don’t go together. Farmiga and Wilson bring humanity, warmth, and intelligence to their characters, as they are playing real people. It would have been easy to portray them as goofy, over-the-top, or silly. While the film has moments of lighthearted humor, it’s done during moments where the story needs levity, such as the introduction of Brad Hamilton and Drew Thomas (John Brotherton and Shannon Kook), a cop and investigator who have worked with the Warrens in the past.

It also helps that the Perron family are likable and grounded in reality and humanity. “The Conjuring” takes its time in allowing the audience to get to know them, spend time with them, and understand their dilemma. They are not just random lambs to be led to slaughter. The film is directed with style, mood, and dread by Wan.  It’s clear he knows how to create a sense of anxiety and uneasiness on screen. He doesn’t rely on jump scares either. Don’t get me wrong, jump scares are effective when done right, but they are like any other gimmick out there: If you rely on them too much, it’s clear you don’t have a solid screenplay. You are creating a haunted house or an amusement park, not a true movie.

“INT PERRON HOUSE – CELLAR Carolyn flips upside down and shoots up to the ceiling John Brotherton (Brad), Vera Farmiga (Lorraine), Patrick Wilson (Ed), Ron Livingston (Roger)”

It blew my mind to discover “The Conjuring” is now 12-years-old. They are set to release the fourth film in the franchise, “The Conjuring: Last Rites,” on September 5th. This is in addition to “The Nun” and “Annabelle” films, which are all part of “The Conjuring” universe. While not all of the films have been great or even good, more often than not, they have been well-made and have proven to be intense thrill rides. You have to give credit to Wan for being able to put his trust in other directors and other writers to showcase their abilities with these films. He has no ego, and he knows the key to remaining fresh is to have new voices in front of and behind the camera. With the original “Conjuring,” the groundwork was created for atmospheric fun, and scary horror movies have been staples of spooky season which is right around the corner. If you are looking to keep your horror movie collection going on 4K, “The Conjuring” on 4K is sure to satisfy the horror community this Halloween season. I hadn’t seen this film in a number of years, and it held up incredibly well on my recent viewing.

* * * ½ out of * * * *

4K Info: “The Conjuring” is released on a single 4K disc from Warner Brothers Home Entertainment. It has a running time of 112 minutes and is rated R for sequences of disturbing violence and terror. The film comes in either a 4K slipcover or a 4K steelbook, both of which come with a digital copy.

4K Video Info: This is an impressive 4K release with the HDR really popping during the dark and brooding moments of the film.  The presentation is crisp and vivid without looking too perfect. With a horror movie like “The Conjuring,” it is not supposed to look flawless. It is supposed to represent the vision of the director and the heart and soul of the movie. In every possible way, “The Conjuring” is a homerun.

4K Audio Info: While I would have certainly enjoyed a Dolby Atmos track for this flick, the audio is still noteworthy during the jump scares and the more intense moments. It’s a good audio track, but it could have been a great audio track. Subtitles are included in English, Spanish, and French.

Special Features:

Scariest of Them All (NEW)

Reflections on the Conjuring (NEW)

The Conjuring: Face-to-Face with Terror

A Life in Demonology

Scaring the “@$*%” Out of You

Should You Buy It?

HELL YES! I’ve been waiting for this film to get the 4K treatment for a long time now. I own “The Conjuring 3” on 4K, and I hope this will also inspire Warner Brothers to release the second film on 4K in the near future. I imagine the upcoming “Conjuring” film will get a 4K release after it’s done with its theatrical run. I absolutely love these films that encompass “The Conjuring” universe. It’s interesting because I’ve never really connected with the spooky horror films which involve an evil presence or things that go bump in the night. Slasher films have always been my preferred cup of tea. This all changed with the first “Conjuring” film, as I discovered when it was done the right way, they can be just as entertaining as the slasher movies I grew up with, if not more entertaining. This is a top-notch 4K release that also includes new special features in addition to an A+ visual experience. A horror film like this is perfect for the 4K format. This is a day-one purchase for horror fans who love to collect 4K’s on physical media.

**Disclaimer** I received a copy of this film from Warner Brothers to review for free.  The opinions and statements in the review are mine and mine alone.

Joe Swanberg on the Making of ‘Drinking Buddies’

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

WRITER’S NOTE: This article was written back in 2013.

Filmmaker Joe Swanberg has been a major figure in the Mumblecore movement, a subgenre of American independent film which is characterized by low budget production values and naturalistic dialogue. Among his films is “Hannah Takes the Stairs” which stars Greta Gerwig and was actually shot without a script. The way Swanberg works, he gives his actors an outline of the plot of what he wants to film, and they improvise their scenes from there. This way of filmmaking offers actors the opportunity to take a lot of risks and make the kind of movie Hollywood studios do not want to right now.

Swanberg’s latest film, “Drinking Buddies,” stars Olivia Wilde as Kate, an employee at a Chicago craft brewery who spends her days flirting with her co-worker, Luke (Jake Johnson). They would make the perfect couple, but Kate is already going out with Chris (Ron Livingston) while Luke is seeing Jill (Anna Kendrick). But when their significant others are out of town one weekend, both Luke and Kate begin to wonder if the feelings they have for one another will eventually come to the surface.

As with “Hannah Takes the Stairs,” “Drinking Buddies” was shot without a script, and the actors improvised all their scenes. Swanberg took the time to talk with us about the experience of making the movie while at the Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles, California as well as the fascinating world of craft beers.

What would you say is the difference between a microbrew and craft beer?

Joe Swanberg: Same thing, different terminology. The way that the world is soused out is basically in terms of how many barrels a year that places are outputting between micro-breweries and macro breweries. I would argue that you’re either there because you’re passionate about it, or you’re there because it’s a job, and that’s the difference between the two.

You mentioned “Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice” as one of your influences on this film, and that was a studio comedy with an adult point of view. Your films always have that great point of view and you keep going back to that well time and time again. What keeps you going back there, and what was your motivation to do this film?

Joe Swanberg: Well, a lot of it has to do with operating in a space where I can carve out a little area for myself to play in. Sadly, complex contemporary adult movies, there aren’t many of them. I’ve always been allergic to just doing what everybody else was doing, so it’s kind of just remained a place where there aren’t that many other things happening. I don’t have to be nervous that we’re sort of recycling the zeitgeist or anything like that, then it’s also just one I’m fascinated by. I think if you were to catch me most days of the week and asked me what I was thinking about, it would be a conversation my wife and I had about making time for each other to both be able to do our creative things, or some friend of mine who’s going through a breakup or something. I’m interested in people in that way, how we interact with each other. It’s very easy for me to continue to generate stories that are based around that because it’s kind of always on my mind anyway.

What would you say was your favorite scene in “Drinking Buddies?”

Joe Swanberg: My favorite sequence in the movie is Jake and Olivia playing cards, he’s playing blackjack with her, and Ron and Anna are hiking in the woods. Just the start of the back-and-forth of seeing these two couples we’ve established in terms of each other sort of swapping a little bit and feeling out how to flirt with someone else. I feel like I have this experience in my own life within the context of my relationship with my wife where I’ll just be with another woman and you just sort of get to play make-believe for 45 minutes or something of “oh this is what it would be like if we were together and we went to get lunch or something. This is how we would relate to each other,” and it’s different than the relationship you’re in. These little daydream scenarios, that scene in particular is really fun to me to see play out. I also love listening to Jake and Olivia on the porch. Anna has fallen asleep and they sneak out. I’ve had a lot of those nights in my life where the floodgates open and you just start being really honest and it starts feeding into the other person’s honesty. Before you know it, you’re just talking about things you’ve never told anybody with someone you hardly know. It was fun to try get something like that into the movie and to let them share stories with each other, and I just get to bear witness to it.

Did you have this great cast in mind from the beginning?

Joe Swanberg: No. Usually I’m working with friends of mine so I do know exactly who is going to play the parts before I gear the thing up, but this was one where I just sort of had broad stroke ideas about who the characters were. It’s the first time I’ve ever done a casting process where I met with a lot of actors and try to think about chemistry and placing different people in different roles.

Why did you film in Chicago? Why not Boulder, Colorado?

Joe Swanberg: Well, I live in Chicago, so that’s a big reason. Also, there’s a specificity that I can give the movie because I know what kinds of apartments these people live in and what bars they would drink at. So, every choice gets be a real choice because I know them and I’m friends with them. I’ve been to places I’ve never been to before and done the same process, but then I either have to take somebody else’s word for it like where the hipsters drink, or where it’s just not specific at all. I’m just like choosing places that look nicer something. It was fun to do something at home where I could use the city is an indicator of certain things. Also, I have a kid now so traveling is way less appealing than it used to be. Going to sleep in my bed every night was a huge bonus.

Was the backpack scene in the woods between Ron and Anna when they have that awkward moment completely improvised?

Joe Swanberg: Yeah. It’s the first film that I’ve done where I had an art department and a props master and all these people, so it was really fun as a director to show up to the production office every day and have somebody bring in four different backpacks that I could choose from. It was just too funny to pass up. It says a lot about her (Anna Kendrick). It’s a really great use of a prop.

Beer wise, what are you drinking now especially after you’ve had this little bit of education?

Joe Swanberg: I’m still leaning on the hoppy IPA side of things, but it’s interesting because I didn’t drink at all until I was 25. On my honeymoon I had a beer. I guess I must’ve felt like “alright, I’m here,” so it’s new to me. It’s really been something that I’ve just gotten into in the last five years. It’s interesting because I remember drinking a really hoppy beer early on and just thinking it tasted disgusting, and now I really like the flavor so I’m really curious as to where my taste buds will lead me in terms of the stuff. I find that I go through cycles with it. There was a period of time where I just wanted to drink stouts and dark beers, and then I got into Belgian stuff and then went to the hoppy stuff so I don’t know what the next wave will be.

Any brands you like?

Joe Swanberg: Sure, but too many to even name. I’ll stick to the Midwest: Revolution Bar where we shot, Three Floyds, and Half Acre. We are very spoiled in Chicago. I think twelve new breweries opened this year. It’s a nice time to be in Chicago right now.

“Drinking Buddies” is available to own and rent on DVD, Blu-ray and Digital.

‘The Flash’ Movie and 4K Review

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

The following review was written by Ultimate Rabbit correspondent, Tony Farinella.

In order to be direct with the readers, I must admit two things before reviewing “The Flash” – I’m not at all familiar with the drama surrounding Ezra Miller and his off-screen antics.  I’m also not at familiar with “The Flash.”  Because of these reasons, I was able to go into the film fairly fresh, which is how I like to go into most movies.  The less I know about a movie or a character, the better.  I believe a film should be able to stand on its own two feet for the diehard fans along with the newbies.  When the movie accomplishes that tricky tightrope act, it has done its job.

Ezra Miller stars as Barry Allen/The Flash.  He’s just trying to get his energy for the day with a sandwich when he must help save a hospital, specifically the maternity ward, as babies are flying out of the window along with a nurse and a dog.  Barry even says to himself that he feels like the janitor of the Justice League. Meanwhile, he shows up late to his job at a research center, where his coworkers are none too pleased with his track record for being tardy. After work, he sees an old friend from college, Iris West (Kiersey Clemons). She’s a reporter who wants to find out how Barry feels about his father’s upcoming trial for the murder of his mother.  Barry maintains that his father is innocent.  This sets him on a mission to try to go back in time using his lightning speed and change the past.

If he can change the past, his father will not be in prison and his mother will still be alive.  Batman (Ben Affleck) warns The Flash about the consequences of messing with the past.  He says their past made them who they are, and they need to grow from it.  The Flash, however, believes he can right a wrong and is determined to change past events. When he goes back into his childhood home, he sees his mother, father, and a different version of himself.  He meets up with the second version of himself and tries to explain what he’s trying to do and how they are going to do it.

“The Flash” had a great opening sequence which was fun, exciting, and really well-done by director Andy Muschietti (“It” and “It Chapter Two”).  I thought the film was establishing a really good baseline of humor and emotion, especially in the scene with Barry talking to his father (Ron Livingston) on the phone.  I could feel the connection between Barry and his mother and what an important relationship this was to him.  It’s the emotional core of the movie.  Who amongst us has not wanted to go back in time and fix the past?  However, the middle of the movie is really bogged down with action sequences, Michael Keaton looking bored as Batman, and the film lost its way in the multiverse.  It ends on a high note with the emotion and heart from the start of the movie. At that point, we were two hours plus into this movie, so it was too little, too late.

Miller is entertaining in small doses here, but when there are two of him, he overplays it a little bit and tries way too hard to be funny.  Less is more with the multiverse angle in the film. The second version of Barry is incredibly grating, annoying and cumbersome to spend time with as an audience member.  When the first part of him is grounded in some form of reality, it’s really good. Overall, it’s a mixed bag with his performance.  The film loves nostalgia with cameos and callbacks throughout the film, but it didn’t work for me because it felt like they were trying to be a little too cutesy.  Overall, there is a good film in here somewhere, but it really lost its way in the middle.  Once it regained its footing, it was far too late.

* ½ out of * * * *

4K Info: “The Flash” is released on a single disc 4K from Warner Brothers Home Entertainment. The film has a running time of 144 minutes and is rated PG-13 for sequences of violence and action, some strong language, and partial nudity. It comes with a digital code for the film as well.

Video/Audio Info: The film comes with a Dolby Vision transfer and a Dolby Atmos soundtrack. I’m sad to report, this is not one of the better transfers I’ve seen for a new film. It didn’t stand out in any way, really.  It looks very lifeless and run-of-the-mill. The audio was solid, but the visual look of the film left a lot to be desired.

Special Features:

“The Flash: Escape the Midnight Circus” podcast – Six-part original scripted audio series featuring Max Greenfield as The Flash

“The Flash: Escape the Midnight Circus” Behind the Scenes

Deleted Scenes

Saving Supergirl – featurette

The Bat Chase – featurette

Battling Zod – featurette

Fighting Dark Flash – featurette

The Flash: The Saga of the Scarlet Speedster – featurette

Making the Flash: Worlds Collide – featurette

Let’s Get Nuts: Batman Returns, Again – featurette

Supergirl: Last Daughter of Krypton – featurette

Flashpoint: Introducing the Multiverse – featurette

Should You Buy It?

I had high hopes for this film as I’m a big fan of director Andy Muschietti, and I thought he would bring a unique visual flair to it.  I also felt as though the film would do what I wish more superhero films would do, which is incorporate comedy and emotion with some fun action sequences.  Instead, it goes off the rails for a good chunk, and it doesn’t stick with what works in the beginning and end of the film. It also completely forgets about the love story between Iris and Barry, which was moving in a really good direction.  For the most part, this was a pretty dull and uninteresting viewing experience.  The 4K transfer also leaves a lot to be desired.  There are plenty of special features here, so if you did enjoy the film, you will have a lot to go through if you pick this disc up.  If you did like the film, I’d suggest waiting for it to drop down in price a little bit, as the 4K transfer doesn’t make this a must-own right away.  I wish it would have included the Blu-ray, as I would have liked to have seen the difference between the two formats.  Overall, if you haven’t seen this film, you aren’t missing anything. If you did see it and liked it, you have the special features going for you, but the visuals are truly underwhelming.

**Disclaimer** I received a copy of this film from Warner Brothers to review for free.  The opinions and statements in the review are mine and mine alone.

‘Tully’ Finds Jason Reitman and Diablo Cody Creating Unforgettable Cinema Once Again

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

Tully movie poster

Okay, as I write this review for “Tully,” the latest collaboration between filmmaker Jason Reitman and writer Diablo Cody, I have to confess I am not a parent. I have not experienced restless nights with a crying newborn who constantly needs a bottle of milk or a quick diaper change, and if I ever do become a parent, I am certain I will deal with it as well as my friends with kids have (which is to say, not at all). But after watching “Tully,” I feel confident in saying it is one of the more honest depictions of what a mother goes through before, during and after she gives birth. Whereas most movies conclude with the birth of a child, this one starts with one and goes from there.

Charlize Theron plays Marlo, a mother of two and with a third on the way. Her belly is so big to where she looks ready to burst at any second, and we also see how overwhelmed she is with everything and anything. Her son Jonah (Asher Miles Fallica) is an overly-sensitive boy who freaks out loud noises he is exposed to, and she is forced to give him more attention at the expense of her daughter Mia (Lia Frankland). When Marlo visits the principal at Jonah’s school and tells her this third child is “such a blessing,” you can tell she doesn’t fully believe it.

When Marlo does give birth to a girl she names Mia, it is one of the more unique birth scenes in movies. Most filmmakers treat the arrival of a newborn with unfettered joy, but “Tully” treats it dispassionately as Marlo is too wiped out and depressed to be happy about anything. For a moment, I feared this movie would venture into “We Need to Talk about Kevin” territory, but neither Reitman or Cody are out to make this story about a sociopathic child.

From there, Reitman presents us with a furious montage of Marlo constantly getting up in the middle of the night to take care of her crying baby, feed her, change her diapers (always an unappealing task), and pump milk out of her breasts. Sure, Marlo does have a loving husband in Drew (Ron Livingston), but he has yet to fully see the heavy toll motherhood is taking on her. It’s an unnerving montage as we keep waiting for Marlo to explode in frustration, and when she eventually does, you cannot blame her.

Marlo’s brother, Craig (Mark Duplass), comes to her rescue by offering to hire a night nanny. Marlo is at first very hesitant to let Craig do this as the thought of anyone else raising her children is terrifying, but one day after she is unable to stop Mia’s crying, she relents. The night nanny comes in the form of Tully (Mackenzie Davis), a youthful woman who quickly proves to be wise beyond her years. Once she comes into Marlo’s life, things begin to change for the better, but as the movie goes on, you wonder more about who Tully is and if she is too good to be true.

Watching “Tully” reminded me of many scenes in movies and television where I witnessed a mother losing her patience. We watched Marge Simpson roar like a lion at anyone who couldn’t possibly understand her frustrations, we were taken aback when Dee Wallace yelled at her son “alright I’ll get your daddy!” while being stalked by a rabid St. Bernard in “Cujo,” and we watched helplessly as Brie Larson tried to explain to her son what is really going with them in “Room.” Mothers will often explode in frustration, and many of the best movies about parenting portray this. As we see Marlo get upset with her kids, it is highly likely we will be reminded of the agony we put our own mothers through to where a long overdue apology may be required from us. “Tully” has several moments like these, and they are fully earned throughout.

Theron has long since proven to us what a phenomenal actress she can be. As Marlo, she gives a fully realized performance as a mother who looks like the joy she has for life has been completely sucked out of her. The Oscar-winning actress makes you feel the pain of Marlo’s situation as the character has long since reached her breaking point to where she seems like she cannot take another challenge thrown in her general direction. As the movie goes on, we see Marlo rise out of her depressed state to where she experiences happiness for what seems like the first time in ages. Theron makes us feel every note of Marlo’s anguishes and triumphs to where we cannot come out of this motion picture saying we were not the least bit moved.

As the night nanny, Mackenzie Davis proves to be such a luminous presence as Tully to where we realize this movie doesn’t just need her, it deserves her. A modern-day Mary Poppins, Tully predicts Marlo’s every move and need and gives her just what she needs to make it to the next stage in her life. Davis is best known for her work on “Halt and Catch Fire” and for appearing in one of my favorite movies of 2017, “Blade Runner 2049.” She gives off such a warm glow in “Tully” to where you just want to hug here and never let her go.

I also have to give credit to Ron Livingston who plays Marlo’s husband, Drew. It could have been a thankless role of a husband and father completely ignorant of his wife’s suffering, but the “Office Space” actor makes him more than the average movie dad. Even as Drew loses himself in video games which have him battling and killing zombies, Livingston makes us see he is a man with a good heart even with all his flaws. In his penultimate scene, Livingston doesn’t make Drew into a total schmuck who berates his wife when things go haywire, but instead into a spouse eager to admit he doesn’t know everything his wife is going through and is desperate to hear her out. I love it when Livingston says “I love us” instead of “I love you” as it shows the perspective and honesty Reitman and Cody are committed to giving this particular parental adventure, and it makes this moment between these two characters all the more special.

If I have any problems with “Tully,” they come in the second half when revelations are made to where we have no choice but to question everything we just saw I would tell you which movies these revelations reminded me of, but this would be giving away way too much. But while these revelations could have wrecked any other motion picture, they do little to take away from this one.

“Tully” marks a big comeback for Reitman and Cody after a few years of cinematic misfires. “Labor Day” and “Men, Women & Children” put a few dents in Reitman’s resume as a director, and Cody’s directorial debut “Paradise” and screenplay for “Ricki and the Flash” (0ne of Jonathan Demme’s last films before his death) were ill-received to put it mildly. But when these two artists come together, they create something which is never easily forgotten.

Reitman makes the struggles these parents go through all the more vivid without making them seem the least bit glamorous. “Tully” does not have the look of a motion picture to where you feel like you are watching one, but instead of a real life setting with all its messiness and imperfections on display. At times, I felt like I was watching a home movie, and this made everything I saw feel all the more powerful.

As a writer, Cody still comes up with some classic zingers like “abandoned trash barge” or describing someone as a “book of fun facts for unpopular fourth graders,” but her screenplay also shows her rising to another level of thoughtfulness and maturity. Being the mother of three children herself, Cody clearly understands the journey such a person ends takes to where the mother/newborn connection is not forged right away. There has been some controversy over “Tully’s” portrayal of mental illness, and it is never made clear if Marlo is suffering from post-partum depression or something similar. Cody, however, is not out to make Marlo a special case study, but instead to share the challenges she was forced to overcome to be the mom she is today.

I think it is more than appropriate that “Tully” has arrived in theaters just in time for Mother’s Day. Lord knows we owe our mothers a great deal of gratitude for all they have done for us, let alone all they have gone through to get us to where we are today. Sure, dads deserve a lot of credit too, but being a mother comes with a lot more challenges and obstacles to overcome. If this Reitman/Cody film cannot make you see this, then what will?

* * * ½ out of * * * *

Michelle Monaghan and Ron Livingston on the Making of ‘Fort Bliss’

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

Fort Bliss movie poster

Claudia Myers’ “Fort Bliss” deals with something we don’t see much in movies: the challenges of being a female soldier and a single mom at the same time. The movie stars Michelle Monaghan as U.S. army medic Maggie Swann who has just returned home after serving a tour of duty in Afghanistan. But instead of arriving to greet her son Paul (Oakes Fegley) at the air base, she instead finds him back at home with his dad, her ex-husband Richard (Ron Livingston), and stepmom, and he doesn’t really remember her much. From there, Maggie works to repair the bond between her and Paul before her duties in the military threaten to tear them apart yet again.

Both Monaghan and Livingston dropped by the SLS Hotel in Los Angeles, California for the “Fort Bliss’” press day, and it was fascinating to hear about their experiences making this particular movie. This was a very low budget production, so there wasn’t much time for anyone to waste. I always wondered how actors deal with the lack of time because we are led to believe they are used to working on movies which allow them to take a nap in their trailers between takes while the crew sets up for the next shot. But while having fewer resources can seriously affect some actors, Monaghan and Livingston did not let any limitations stand in their way.

“There’s something really exciting about the idea that they just don’t have time to micromanage you in your performance, so there’s a lot more responsibility to just show up,” Livingston said. “Your first take on it is gonna be the take that goes into the movie by and large unless it’s really egregious because there’s not a lot of time to waste tinkering with it, you know?”

“It is true that you don’t have a lot of time to play with it,” Monaghan said. “I think that’s why the prep time becomes so essential for an independent film. It’s your responsibility as an actor or a director or a writer to really play your part. You can’t just turn up and expect all these experts to show you something on the day. That’s really, really important. That’s a part of our job, and also we shot this movie in 21 days. It was so incredibly exciting because we were living, eating and breathing it. We shot in two different locations in and around Los Angeles and then Fort Bliss (in El Paso, Texas) with the help of the Army. With all their resources, the production value looks by far more than what we had for it.

“21 days with combat sequences is pretty incredible,” Livingston noted.

Again, I imagine some actors would have preferred to have more time to prepare for the roles, but they don’t always have that opportunity. When it comes down to it, they have to work with what they are given instead of complain about what’s working against them. For Monaghan, the fact there wasn’t a lot of down time on the set of “Fort Bliss” didn’t affect her too much.

“There’s not (a lot of down time), but I always tend to find that I feel the strongest about performances in general when they’re shot in that way because you’re in it,” Monaghan said. “You are in the thick of it, and to say that I go to sleep at night and dream about the character and the role, you are. It’s 21 days where you’re attacking it for that period of time, and you don’t have time to think about it. Good things tend to come from that.”

One of the best scenes in “Fort Bliss” comes at the beginning when Maggie and dozens of other troops are returning home from Afghanistan. It looked like the production succeeded in hiring the best background extras they could find as they looked so incredibly enthusiastic in welcoming the soldiers home, but it turns out there was a lot more authenticity involved than we realized.

“When you see the coming home scenes at the beginning, it was truly people of soldier’s families, military wives, husbands, and children that two days prior had just welcomed one of those big planes home,” Monaghan said. “Fort Bliss sent out an email saying, ‘Would you guys come back two days later to shoot a scene?’ So they brought back all their signs and it was amazing. The military band was there and even the Harley Davison guys came back and all the former vets with their bikes and everything. Everybody was so proud to be there. That’s so profound to be able to have that experience and to feel that energy of what it’s like and everybody hugging one another. To be able to have that access and that resource was so invaluable. We constantly had that throughout the process of filming. I say this film has been so blessed, but it has. I’m so grateful to everybody in how far reaching the efforts that everybody has gone to.”

“Fort Bliss” may be coming in under the radar, but it is truly deserving of your attention. It deals with the female perspective of war and how women still have a stigma attached to them whenever they serve in the military. Many expect women to stay at home and be a mother to their children instead of fighting wars overseas, but life continues to be more complicated than we expect it to be, and nothing is ever that simple.

You can also check out this video interview I did with Monaghan and Livingston which I did for the website We Got This Covered.

The 5th Wave

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

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“The 5th Wave” comes to us not long after the conclusion of “The Hungers Games,” and it is the latest in a seemingly endless line of young adult book to film adaptations. As a result, I came into this movie feeling worn out even before it started. While the novel it is based on, written by Rick Yancey, might be an interesting read, what unfolds onscreen feels like the same old thing. Only the names and places have been changed to protect the filmmakers from potential lawsuits.

Chloe Grace Moretz stars as Cassie Sullivan, a young teenager (is there any other kind?) who lives a normal life with her family, attends high school where she’s a cheerleader and constantly deals with unrequited love like any other child held prisoner by adolescence. But suddenly an alien ship, which looks like something out of “District 9,” appears in the sky, and the Earth goes through four waves which leave it decimated and on the verge of extinction. All Cassie has left is her brother whom she ends up getting separated from, and from there she is determined to save him from a fate many others have suffered.

This movie does not get off to a good start as the visual effects used to convey the various waves are shoddy CGI, and some scenes end up looking like outtakes from “Independence Day” or any other Roland Emmerich production. When the plot finally gains momentum, Cassie finds herself on the run and forced to defend herself in ways she never planned. She’s also looking for her brother whom she is very close to. Doesn’t this sound like something we just saw?

It’s a shame because the movie does have Moretz who makes this mess more bearable than it should be. Her breakthrough performance in “Kick-Ass” was no fluke and she continues to do strong work in each film she appears in, regardless of whether they are good or bad. She makes Cassie a strong heroine and one whom kids around the same age will easily relate to as she fends for herself in the dangerous world everyone has been thrust into, and Moretz makes you root for her throughout. But even she can’t save this routine young adult movie which has come out way too late.

Actually, what’s especially interesting about “The 5th Wave” is how the female characters are far more interesting than the male ones. It also helps they have such terrific actresses inhabiting those characters, and each of them clearly relishes the opportunity to bring them to life. Maria Bello, sporting a very funky hairdo, makes Sergeant Reznik a slyly manipulative soldier as she forces the children to see the alien threat her way to where getting them to fight for the human race is easy as cake. Maika Monroe, so good in “The Guest” and “It Follows,” makes her character of Ringer a wonderfully tough warrior, and she also skillfully unveils the other layers of Ringer to show us a person who is deeply broken. Along with Moretz, they keep “The 5th Wave” from becoming a complete bore.

The male actors, however, don’t have much to work with and their performances suffer as a result. Nick Robinson plays Ben Parish, the high school football hero who, when he is forced to enlist in the military, is nicknamed Zombie. Zombie proves to be an appropriate name as Robinson has little choice but to give a one-note performance as much of the emotion Ben has experienced in life has long since been drained from his psyche. Then there’s Alex Roe who plays Evan Walker, a man who may not be all that he appears to be. It seems like the screenwriters had some trouble in trying to figure out what to do with this character, and that leaves Roe with little choice but to make Evan far more enigmatic than the character has any right to be.

And let’s not leave out the great Liev Schreiber, wonderfully understated in “Spotlight,” as the movie’s main antagonist Colonel Vosch. It’s no surprise Schreiber can give us such a menacing villain, but there really isn’t much of a character for him to play here. Vosch is merely here as an obstacle for Cassie to overcome, and as a result the actor is wasted in a role which is too unworthy of his talents.

Then there is the love triangle between Moretz, Robinson, and Roe, and after having been subjected to a very similar one between Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth in “The Hunger Games,” I could have cared less about it. I imagine it will give audiences much to swoon over, but it’s a romance that is bland as the male characters in this movie.

“The 5th Wave” was directed by J Blakeson who previously gave us “The Disappearance of Alice Creed,” a neo-noir thriller about the kidnapping of a woman by two ex-convicts. His direction on that film was much lauded by the press, and it makes me wonder just how much control he had over this project. Clearly, the studio is setting this up to be another franchise of movies for young adults to become obsessed over as a sequel to “The 5th Wave” has already been published and a third book is on the way. But it all depends of course on how this one does at the box office and considering how we are all still getting over the end of “The Hunger Games” movies, I’m not sure everybody is in a rush for yet another franchise like it.

Perhaps the target audience for “The 5th Wave” will enjoy it the most, but even they have to be outgrowing these kinds of movies at this point. Sooner or later we have to realize kids grow up and become adults, and even adults can save the world and their little brothers too.

* ½ out of * * * *