Author: Rudie Obias

Don’t Look Away: The BRWC Review.

While all genres have tropes and clichés, horror is a special breed that embraces conventions and you have to go with them on a movie-to-movie basis—just like all films. It’s how the filmmakers work with those conventions to create something new and fun.

Although the film Don’t Look Away delivers some effective tension and thrills, the overall byproduct feels held back by its limitations in clunky storytelling and raw performances. However, despite those shortcomings, the movie also manages to create a genuinely scary and creepy horror concept—a killer mannequin.

Written by Michael Mitton & Micheal Bafaro A.K.A. The Michaels (​​Amber’s Descent, Ascension) and directed by Micheal Bafaro (The Barber, Embedded), Don’t Look Away follows Frankie (played by Kelly Bastard in her feature film debut), a young woman who is haunted by a mysterious figure after a hideous car accident. It follows her back to her home and life, as it infects her boyfriend and group of friends with the same cursed visions—which cause unexpected and grisly deaths. But if Frankie can just not “look away” from the horror, maybe she can survive. 

As conventional as this premise sounds, Bafaro does a good job injecting it with a few artistic flourishes in framing and editing that really get into the main character’s paranoia and mindset. It really wears its influences on its sleeve with direct references to It Follows, Smile, and The Shining—especially with the Stanley Kubrick film. However, it doesn’t come off as hacky, but rather as an homage that made this reviewer chuckle from time-to-time.

In fact, there’s a general goofiness about Don’t Look Away that’s appreciated in the horror genre. It’s likely that you’ll laugh more than be terrified or scared, while it’s not completely clear if that’s intentional or inept.

Although the killer dummy is the highlight, the film seems to fall flat with pacing, performances, and lore. There’s simply not enough to keep this premise going for a feature length movie, even at a short 83-minute running time. It seems padded and not fully baked at the same time, while big chunks of it feel as lifeless, and wooden as the mannequin itself.

Overall, Don’t Look Away has some thrilling highs, especially with its bookends, and fun concepts with an unsettling, yet fun, killer figure as its centerpiece. However, its elements just don’t come together in a satisfying way with clumsy writing and dry performances. And much like the mannequin, it’s recommended that you approach this film with caution. 

Nazis are the ultimate bad guys. And in movies, you can instantly spot them as villains and you never feel bad when they get what’s coming to them—especially if it’s bloody. Although making a movie about Nazi conspiracy theories (this is a true work of fiction, by the way) is usually positioned for a good time, the Icelandic film Operation Napoleon is just not one of those times. It does have some very entertaining and exciting moments as an espionage thriller, the movie gets so bogged down with plot that it simply can’t handle the weight of its own story.

Written by Marteinn Þórisson and directed by Óskar Þór Axelsson (Black’s Game, I Remember You), Operation Napoleon is based on the novel of the same name by Arnaldur Indriðason. It follows the discovery of a crashed Nazi plane on the Vatnajökull Glacier in modern day Iceland. A small group of hikers find the old plane, while the CIA and Icelandic officials, led by William Carr (played by Iain Glen), want to cover up and retrieve artifacts from the failed World War II mission that resulted in the crash.

However, Elías (played by Atli Óskar Fjalarsson), one of the hikers, secretly text messaged photos and videos of the plane wreck to his sister Kristín (played by Vivian Ólafsdóttir), a lawyer who gets caught up in a bizarre international conspiracy. She is joined by her former lover Steve Rush (played by Jack Fox) to unearth the mystery behind “Operation Napoleon.”

While the story is intriguing and the photography looks great, as it highlights Iceland’s natural beauty, the film is pretty clunky and convoluted — even though the plot itself is pretty straightforward. It feels so episodic, as if I’m watching chapters unfold in a book instead of a movie. It’s a trapping that comes with a mediocre adaptation of a spy novel. If the movie was tighter, it would feel more engaging, but rather Operation Napoleon hits the ground running setting up the conspiracy and the players involved, but then lands with a thud as it quickly becomes an “and this happens, and then this happens” story.

One of the big drawbacks is that the movie doesn’t reveal its main plot device as soon as it should. While this stylistic choice might work in movies like Pulp Fiction, Ronin, or North By Northwest, the story and characters aren’t strong enough to carry the plot or suspense. Ultimately, “Operation Napoleon” is a Macguffin, which is fine, but there’s just not enough there there to keep an audience engaged — especially since its true reveal comes really, really late in the movie.

Overall, Operation Napoleon has some really good moments with sharp entertainment value, but the film’s sensibilities don’t match with it. Plus, you add in a lackluster and sluggish pace and you have a recipe for a dud. It just feels too cold and icy to really enjoy.

Kokomo City: The BRWC Review. By Rudie Obias

Documentaries like Streetwise, Born into Brothels, Buying Sex, and others are often a source of true-to-life and harsh realities of people living off-the-radar. A film by director D. Smith sheds light on the underground lives of sex workers in the documentary Kokomo City, which is her directorial debut. It’s short at just 73 minutes, yet it’s an impressive film with a rawness that’s humbling, funny, deeply sad, and eye-opening to the world of trans women and the closeted and not-so-closted Johns who they service.

The documentary follows Daniella Carter and Dominique Silver, two sex workers in New York City, as well as Koko Da Doll and Liyah Mitchell, two other sex workers in Georgia. The format is simple: All four trans women tell stories of being sex workers in their respective cities, while intercut with cheeky re-enactments. The film also has interviews with a few of their Johns, who are comfortable enough to share their stories.

The end result is a documentary that is cleverly edited and briskly paced that respects the humanity of all the subjects involved. The film is free from judgment, while D. Smith navigates and weaves together a revealing portrayal of street life, joys in self-discovery, violence, and tragedy — especially when real-life events creep into watching this film.

A few months after Kokomo City premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah back in January 2023, Koko Da Doll (Rasheeda Williams) was brutally murdered from a gunshot wound at age 35 in Southwest Atlanta. It doesn’t get any more raw than that. Throughout the film the four sex workers talk about being in near-death experiences, while trans people as a whole remain targets. There’s a chilling awareness knowing that one of the subjects’ life was cut short in a grim and cruel way. 

Filmmaker and music producer D. Smith, who is a trans woman herself, expertly ties these stories together with sharp and deep black-and-white photography that’s hyper-aware of her subjects, their backgrounds, and settings. Kokomo City feels fresh and experimental that fits with the tradition of subversive filmmaking, such as Marlon Riggs’ Tongues Untied and Jennie Livingston’s Paris Is Burning — depicting the real joys and drama of marginalized peoples.

Kokomo City offers the Black experience from a Black point-of-view without the prism of White America. The film also offers up unapologetic queerness through the lens of humanity and equality (and equity). But overall, the documentary is real, very funny, and natural. The film feels very comfortable with itself.

The heist genre has been a staple in movies since The Great Train Robbery in 1903. It’s been part of movies for so long that its clichés have clichés. While there are a lot of really good heist movies out there like Ocean’s Eleven (2001), Inside Man, The Italian Job (1969), and others, The Channel is not one of them—which is unfortunate because it has a lot of promise, but gets blinded by its weight and ambitions.

Written and directed by William Kaufman (The Brave, Daylight’s End), The Channel—which refers to the Irish Channel, a neighborhood in New Orleans, Louisiana — follows a smash-and-grab bank heist gone wrong and two ex-marine brothers Jamie and Mick, played by Clayne Crawford (The Integrity of Joseph Chambers, The Killing of Two Lovers) and Max Martini (Fifty Shades of Grey, 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi), respectively, are on the run from police and federal agents led by Special Agent Frank Ross, played by Nicoye Banks (The Gods 2: The Dark Side, The Walk). Although the premise is admirable, the ambition is surpassed by talent and budget.

It’s pretty standard fanfare in the bank heist gone wrong sub-genre, The Channel has some entertainment value as a b-movie action film. However, it completely wears its inspirations on its sleeve. And while just about all movies are inspired by other movies, this reviewer would enjoy watching said inspirations more than watching this movie any day.

If you watch The Channel, then you can clearly see that Kaufman was inspired by movies like Reservoir Dogs, Heat, Den of Thieves, 21 Bridges, and especially The Town. But the movie doesn’t seem to do anything with those genre elements, but rather just re-creates them with a different cast and a lower budget. It feels like a cover song instead of a hit song.

The Channel just feels really small instead of a city-wide manhunt. For example: Jamie and Mick spend most of the movie running from law enforcement. The film keeps telling us that this is a big city-wide search that makes national news. However, it only seems like maybe six law enforcement officers are in hot pursuit of the brothers and maybe four or five police cars are searching the entire city of New Orleans. The film tells us it’s a big manhunt, but on-screen, it looks small.

Overall, The Channel has some genre thrills and heavy action, but it just feels so repetitive and dull. There’s nothing new here, while the film suffers from a lack of momentum and oomph. Instead there’s just a bunch of character and story clichés that might have felt worthwhile in better hands. And really, just watch the movies The Channel was inspired by instead, it will be more rewarding and thrilling.

The Last Rider: Review.

The sports documentary is tried and true, while stories of overcoming adversity are aspirational. There’s a lot of drama already baked into sports since it’s inherently a competition with just one outcome. At times it almost feels like sports is “scripted” since it can feel like a movie. However, real life is just more dramatic and heartbreaking than any movie, especially when there’s real setbacks, tragedy, and triumphs

In the documentary The Last Rider, filmmaker Alex Holmes (Stop at Nothing: The Lance Armstrong Story, Maiden) takes a look at cyclist and racer Greg Lemond, the only American to officially win Tour de France (Note: Lance Armstrong’s wins were stricken from the record after he admitted to using performance enhancing drugs throughout his career).

Set in throughout the ‘80s, The Last Rider starts with an introduction to Greg Lemond’s early life before competitive cycling. He fell in love with the sport at an early age and was considered a natural, as he quickly grew in the ranks as a teenager; when he also met and fell in love with his wife Kathy. He had opportunities to join teams in Europe, where cycling is one of the most popular sports on the continent—especially in France.

At the height of his success after winning the Tour de France in 1986, Lemond was accidentally shot by his brother-in-law on a turkey hunt during Thanksgiving weekend the following year. A majority of the film is spent with Lemond during his journey and recovery.

The film is where it really kicks into high gear in the last hour of its 96-minute running time. After two years in recovery and out of the limelight, Greg Lemond comes back to the Tour de France just to see if he can still compete. Holmes showcases day-by-day of the ‘89 Tour de France in a very gripping, well-told, and expertly edited sequence with archival footage and talking heads of the race leaders. This adds a bit of drama to the race and its stakes as a racer, while it explains the race itself for people who aren’t familiar with just how grueling it is to win.

Although The Last Rider is a pretty standard documentary—especially in a world with ESPN’s award-winning 30 For 30 documentary series—it offers a big screen story with an engaging story and relatable “heroes and villains” in the cycling world during the ‘80s. It’s an inspiring comeback story that serves as a good ride along for failure and success.