film reviews, interviews, features | BRWC

Category: REVIEWS

Here is where you would find our film reviews on BRWC.  We look at on trailers, shorts, indies and mainstream.  We love movies!

  • Beast Within: Review

    Beast Within: Review

    August (Steve Morana) is a game developer of Werewolves Within, a mobile game based on the popular party game of Werewolf. At the launch party for the app there are a variety of guests including August’s best friend, Stan (Marco Timpano), his boss, Brian (Art Hindle), and Cheyenne (Holly Deveaux) a beautiful and mysterious woman he’s been talking to online who he invited to the party.

    However, as the guests all settle in and get to know each other better it seems that one of them is hiding a secret and that one of them may really be a werewolf.

    Beast Within is a horror movie that takes the premise for the original party game and opens it up into a real-life game within a movie with plenty of potential to show its audience how fun the game can be to those who’ve never played it. Unfortunately, Beast Within takes itself far too seriously and although set up in a self-referential scenario, the movie tries too hard to be a serious horror and forgets to have fun.

    Also, for a relatively short film, Beast Within does like to take its time to set up its players. In fact, it ends up taking a good amount of time into the movie before anybody realises that somebody has died and that there may even be a werewolf which is quite frustrating to watch.

    There are also a lot of missed opportunities in the dialogue and the connections between the characters is all but lost as they all only really come together once they’re in danger.

    A better script could have made their interactions much more realistic and perhaps even humorous as the characters start to turn on each other. It might have even helped to add moments to the script that reflected real games of Werewolf that could have made players of the game laugh.

    The best part is really the reveal of the werewolf in all its glory because there has been a real effort in the effects, it’s just a shame that the execution of the movie wasn’t as involved.

  • Vanguard: Review

    Vanguard: Review

    Vanguard is Jackie Chan’s latest Chinese action blockbuster, re-teaming the kung-fu star with frequent collaborator Stanley Tong. Despite the duo’s illustrious track record (the Super Cop films are among Chan’s best work), their latest actioner feels like a wayward effort. Indulging in tired tropes and bombastic tendencies, Vanguard’s chaotic energy never reaches its campy aspirations.

    Vanguard follows Tang Hauting (Jackie Chan), the leader of a covert security company. When an accountant becomes the target of a deadly mercenary organization, the Vanguard team is put to the test in a globe-trotting adventure.

    For a film that is jam-packed with frenetic action sequences, Vanguard is rarely able to draw the audience’s interest. Tong’s typically lively hand as a director is noticeably missing, utilizing clumsy effects-driven sequences over the well-crafted stuntwork of his heyday (there’s a CGI lion here that looks like it’s from a PS2 game).

    Colored with artificial backdrops and a frantic cluster of sped-up shots, every setpiece is presented with the same blandly-flavored aesthetics. They fail to muster a modicum of personality, poorly adapting concepts from far superior actioners. Some of these frames elicit a few cheeky fun moments (a flying jetpack trooper brings some much-needed chaos), but most of them feel too cheap and plain to register an impression. Eastern actioners often offer a fresh change of pace from Hollywood’s grandiose blockbuster, but Vanguard relishes in their worst traits. The dialogue often reads with a certain rigidness, straddling archetype characters with nothing interesting to say or do on screen (Chan seems half-asleep in his lifeless role).

    There’s also a bevy of contrivances that feel woefully out of date. Every female character is treated as a mere object (the one “badass” female agent is later utilized as bait to lure a male advisory), while the film’s jingoistic politics leave a sour taste in audience’s mouth. It’s one thing to implement a patriotic verve, but the blatant reinforcement of China’s oppressive police state feels rather icky to endure.

    Problematic politics aside, Vanguard is as disposable as a genre picture can get. If you’re a Chan film fan, just rent one of his superior older films instead.

    Vanguard is now playing in theaters nationwide.

  • Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom: The BRWC Review

    Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom: The BRWC Review

    Since swinging onto the big screen with the Jackie Robinson biopic 42, Chadwick Boseman exhibited a rare presence onscreen, utilizing his abilities to tell vital stories that still hold significance today (Black Panther left a sizable mark on the superhero genre). His final acting credit Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom highlights his commanding ability in full-force, often carrying a film that can’t quite live up to it’s potential.

    Set in 1920’s Chicago (and based on an August Wilson play), Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom follows a chaotic recording session of Ma Rainey’s band. As a forceful talent, Rainey (Viola Davis) looks to dictate music in her image, whereas her younger horn player Levee (Chadwick Boseman) wants to reinvent their old-timey sound. Tensions boil as the band comes face-to-face with their deep-seated discontentment towards the broken system they face.

    There’s a considerable amount of Oscar buzz surrounding Boseman’s final performance, with his effort thankfully displaying the renowned actor’s best qualities. As Levee, Boseman grabs the screen with an alluring, smooth-talking disposition, a charming veneer that soon morphs into something far more sinister. Once the character’s frustration boils to a point of mania, Boseman utilizes his once affable energy to aptly represent an unhinged spiral. Levee’s troubling journey is thankfully balanced with an impactful empathetic streak that humanizes his descent. The character stands as a victim of unjust racial conditions, damaged by years of mistreatment and disillusioned by his dreams of success in an unfair playing field. It’s a heartbreaking turn from Boseman, with his role performing the heavy-lifting for the film’s thinly-developed thesis.

    Ma Rainey operates at its best when basking in its source material’s free-flowing nature. Ruben Santiago-Hudson’s screenplay keeps Wilson’s text mostly intact, allowing the tight-knit narrative to be told through a balance of lively conversations and hard-hitting emotional beats. Director George C. Wolfe compliments the material’s strengths with his precise framing, employing a cinematic streak without overwhelming the film’s low-key approach. These elements make a great canvas for the well-rounded cast to shine, with Viola Davis, Colman Domingo, and Glynn Turman all offering strong performance work (Davis grabs the screen as the boisterous Ma Rainey).

    Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom boasts strong qualities, yet the film lacks a definitive center to ground its strengths. Santiago-Hudson’s screenplay brushes past the material’s meaty ruminations, briefly touching upon the commodification of black culture while opting for overly-simplistic sentiments. The film gets so caught up in its busy dialogue-driven sequences that the purpose behind them can often feel quite thin (the final shot is asked to do much of the heavy lifting). Wolfe’s direction also displays clear limitations. His traditionalist visceral form works serviceably, but the lack of auteurship feels apparent during the film’s marquee moments.

    Does Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom convey the full extent of its material? Not quite, but the assured cast elevates this into a semi-compelling chamber piece.

  • The LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special: Review

    The LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special: Review

    The Star Wars Holiday Special stands as a forgotten relic, a TV event mainly regarded for its innate campiness over any positive qualities (if you want to witness the bizarre cringe-fest, it’s on YouTube). Considering its now-infamous history, few could imagine the possibility of Star Wars going back to the holiday well. That’s where Disney comes in, releasing a new The LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special on their Disney+ platform. While it likely won’t become a holiday staple, this warmly nostalgic celebration of Star Wars lore makes for an amusing fan-service experience.

    The LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special follows Rey, who leaves her friends on Life Day to gain a deeper knowledge of the Force. At a mysterious temple, she is hurled into a cross-timeline adventure, with Rey acquainting herself with several of her Jedi forefathers. Will she make it back in time for Life Day?

    Similar to the beloved video game series, The LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special meshes the best elements of its iconic brands. The blocky animation style allows director Ken Cunningham to inject humorous pratfall gags at every turn, often twisting iconic story beats from the franchise with a clever slapstick glow. I was also surprised to see just how meta David Shayne’s screenplay gets, appealing more to diehard fans than its target younger audience through a countless array of self-referential moments (the Obi-Wan “hello there” jokes had me rolling with laughter). The loving fan service is crafted with enough brains to strike a sincere chord.

    As shocking as this is to say, the Holiday Special presents a more cohesive narrative than last year’s feature entry Rise of Skywalker (although that may be damning with faint praise). Shayne’s script ties together the universe’s massive cast of characters, giving most of them a moment or two to leave a strong impression onscreen. The narrative crux of Rey’s personal journey as a Jedi Master weaves in nicely with the busy narrative framework, with Shayne effectively tying her journey in with the franchise’s familiar themes of self-acceptance and empathy. Where Rise spun a web of threads that never truly got untangled, it’s refreshing to see this special’s assurance in creating a cohesive tale.

    The LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special rarely strikes a dull chord, but the quaint special has a relatively modest ceiling. While its good-willed messages are delivered in earnest, their skin-deep impact leaves a certain level of hollowness. This special lacks the kind of Yuletide emotive streak that makes specials like How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Charlie Brown’s Christmas holiday staples. I was also taken aback by the inconsistency of the voice acting. While some characters are well-portrayed (Kelly Marie Tran and Billy Dee Williams reprise their respective roles), others seem wildly off from their big-screen counterparts (it took me a while to realize Jake Green was voicing Poe Dameron).

    Despite its limitations, The LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special makes for an affectionate Christmas diversion. I would recommend this, particularly for diehard fans, as those less aquatinted with the brand might not appreciate the special’s humorous, self-aware streak.

  • Run: Review

    Run: Review

    Run: Review – Chloe Sherman (Kiera Allen) was born very prematurely and because of that she has to live with multiple conditions that affect her everyday life including using a wheelchair. She lives with her mum, Diane (Sarah Paulson) and is home schooled, but as Chloe is turning Seventeen her thoughts turn to college and living independently. Although her mother is less than thrilled with the idea because she’s been with Chloe for every significant life event so far.

    Then one day Chloe discovers something that entirely changes everything she ever thought about her life. What’s worse, she starts to believe that the one person she thought she could trust, her own mother, may be deceiving her.

    Run is a horror movie co-written and directed by Aneesh Chaganty after the success of his directorial debut, Searching and coming exclusively to Hulu. It’s just unfortunate that Run doesn’t come across as anywhere near as exciting and inventive as Chaganty’s predecessor.

    Right from the start the audience is made aware that Chloe’s life is not what she thinks it may be, and that Diane’s trauma of having to raise a child who was so premature has taken its toll. So as much as the audience may want there to be something big that changes their perception of Diane, the movie plays out almost exactly as they may have expected as Chloe frantically searches for evidence against her own mother.

    Unfortunately, all of the evidence that Chloe needs is neatly dotted around her house and hometown making it feel rather contrived when she just happens to find exactly what she needs to forward the plot.

    Saying all that though and besides the predictable plot, both Paulson and newcomer Allen play well off each other with the latter seemingly able to match her on-screen mother toe to toe.

    Also, Paulson plays a good mixture of overwhelmingly caring and deeply menacing, perhaps channelling Annie Wilkes in Misery a little as her grip tightens around her daughter. A step down from the innovative Searching, but Run can entertain if you don’t try too hard to think about the plot.