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!

  • Elvis: That’s The Way It Is – Review

    Elvis: That’s The Way It Is – Review

    Elvis: That’s The Way It Is – Review. What can I say about Elvis Presley that hasn’t already been said? He is an artist among a small pool of unique icons. When we think Elvis we think of legends like The Beatles, Michael Jackson, The Rolling Stones, or Frank Sinatra.

    There will truly never be another Elvis. “Elvis: That’s The Way It Is” is a digitally remastered documentary from 1970 that follows Elvis’s journey and return to the stage in 1969 after he had been absent from concerts for a decade.

    We get to see Elvis in the recording studio and at his rehearsals up until the arc of the film when we finally got to see him on the Las Vegas stage. What was most interesting to me about this piece is that we got to see Elvis as he truly was, an artist.

    The name Elvis is synonymous with an image, much like someone like Marilyn Monroe, Elvis’s image has almost been overused to the point of abuse; I have to admit I even own a set of Elvis dishes, matching cups, and salt and pepper shakers I picked up at an estate sale not long ago. I think the novelty of Elvis really made people lose sight of who he actually was, a man of true talent from the golden days of music who was completely immersed in his craft and cared deeply about it.

    It would be difficult for someone like Elvis to be made famous today, his baritone voice so unique and rare that I can’t imagine modern pop record label executives wanting to invest money into developing his artistry, or even having an ear for it. Elvis’s music, voice, and performance style are unique and timeless. He is unforgettable, and so many of his songs ring true today.

    In the latter third of the film I was reminded of his song “In The Ghetto” which, as someone from and currently residing in Chicago, I really appreciated this song and felt Elvis’s awareness of these issues were not only pure and sincere, but also ahead of their time. This song is not only still culturally relevant, but for this type of artist to draw attention to the unfair and inescapable conditions people are born into was a big step for the music industry and entertainment as a whole.

    Elvis truly is the King. After a decade offstage for him to come back with such a mesmerising performance was a treat to watch. Not only was his voice still smooth and his performance flawless, but he had such a charm and great interaction with his audience.

    Though his fans put him up on a pedestal, Elvis literally leaned down from the stage to kiss them and show them appreciation and love. He even walked through the crowd, though this may be a move you couldn’t do in today’s world, it was nonetheless risky, but that seemed to be who Elvis was. A risk taker for his craft, his concerts, and his life. It is a shame the world lost an icon too soon, but thankfully Elvis’s memory lives, and we can always go back and marvel at the artist who spawned arguably one of the most unique images ever created in the music industry.

    At the risk of sounding cheesy, I tip my hat to the original filmmaker, the late Denis Sanders, and think I speak for all of us when I say “thank you, thank you very much.”

  • Magic Camp: Review

    Magic Camp: Review

    Whether its countless delays or a star’s controversial actions, some projects get lost in the anvils of time. Disney’s latest Magic Camp falls into both categories, finally seeing the light of day over two years after its initial release date (Jeffery Tambor’s presence likely played a factor). Unceremoniously dumped onto Disney+, this semi-pleasant title is, for better or worse, an ideal fit as a disposable streaming release.

    Magic Camp follows Andy (Adam Devine), a down-on-his-luck former magician who lives in the shadows of his old partner Kristina Darkwood (Gillian Jacobs). In an attempt to regain momentum for his career, Andy returns to his former stomping grounds the Institue of Magic. Along with competing with Kristiana, Andy begins to form bonds with his outcast students, including Theo (Nathaniel McIntyre), a talented young magician looking to find himself after his father’s passing.

    Unlike the seriously foul Artemis Fowl, Magic Camp isn’t the outright disaster that its tenuous release would leave you to believe. Adam Devine proves his worth as an affable leading man, dialing back his bold comedic energy soundly while carrying some of the film’s sensitive portions. The young stars, especially Nathaniel McIntyre, are above the standard norms of child actors, coloring their archetype roles without being overly-cutesy. There are also some surprisingly clever jokes scattered throughout, with the script occasionally utilizing its familiar “summer camp” set-up to poke fun through its magic-based lens (I loved the hawk named Ethan Hawke).

    Occasionally is the operative word though, as most of the screenplay is stuck in the doldrums of its conventional framework. Cobbled together by six writers, Magic Camp lacks any deviations from your standard family affair, masking its shades of self-awareness with a heaping of tired cliches. Whether its the outcast kids battling the elite bullies or the protagonist child dealing with the passing of his dad (seriously Disney, why so many dead dads), audiences are likely to be hit by a wave of deja vu throughout the film. It’s also a pity to watch talented supporting players straddled with thankless roles, with this likely being a forgotten paycheck for Gillian Jacobs and Aldis Hodge.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAmcupYhwKA

    The lingering sense of familiarity could be forgiven if there was a semblance of personality on display, yet Magic Camp encapsulates a bland flavor throughout. Mark Waters directs the film on autopilot, never finding a lively way to engage with the film’s magical set-up or well-suited cast. Matching these flat visuals, the character work is defined by simplistic traits, drowning any emotional moments in a mawkish array of score and heavy-handedness. There seems to be a nucleus of fun buried beneath the blandness, although Disney seems more interested in filling their quota of marketable family products.

    Equally inoffensive and unremarkable, Magic Camp is likely to vanish amongst the plethora of superior Disney+ titles.

  • Max Reload And The Nether Blasters: Review

    Max Reload And The Nether Blasters: Review

    Prospering from the massive success of Netflix’s Stranger Things, our culture has been surfing on an enduring 1980s nostalgia wave. This pastiche has generated a few pleasurable homages (Turbo Kid and It) as well as a fair share of derivative stinkers (The Babysitter and Summer of 84). The latest low-budget revival Max Reload and The Nether Blasters lands in a murky middle ground, never quite innovating its well-intended approach.

    Max Reload and The Nether Blasters follows Max (Tom Plumley), a confident gamer who spends his days questing and working alongside his friends Liz (Hassie Harrison) and Reggie (Joey Morgan). Their ordinary lives are flipped upside down when Max discovers a copy of a lost entry in the Nether Game series, sparking a malevolent entity that wreaks havoc on their town. Alongside the game’s storied developers Eugene (Greg Grunberg) and Bart (Joseph Reitman), the five-team up to save the world.

    Where some projects have the pretensions of becoming something grand, Max Reload differs by bringing a refreshing level of self-awareness to the table. Indie directors Jeremy Tremp and Scott Conditt maximize their low-budget assets with some cheekily designed VFX work, incorporating several clever 80s throwbacks with their lo-fi style and integration of two-bit animated sequences. Their efforts admirably harken to a finite period of 80s culture where heady RPGs generated fervent word of mouth from their dedicated fanbase. Tremp and Conditt’s nostalgic adoration creates some moments of infectious glee, especially with a few well-placed celebrity performances that deliver much-needed levity (Kevin Smith and Greg Grunberg are clearly having a blast).

    Max Reload is too earnest to condemn, yet this spirited effort can’t escape its lingering sense of familiarity. Conditt and Tremp jam-pack each frame with obscure references and immersive details, thoughtfully-constructed elements that can’t quite compensate for their flatlined screenplay. The story is as routine as it gets, resting on the laurels of dated cliches that are starting to show their age (the high-concept premise is thinly-constructed while the character work never renders substantive dynamics from its archetype personas). Numerous attempts at humor land with lackluster results, as several jokes come off as overwritten in their referential construction.

    Even as a dedicated fan of video games storied history (still dust off my old NES from time to time), I never found myself engulfed by Max Reload’s love letter to its distinct era. The film is often noisy and fast-paced, with this frantic energy deterring any attempts to unearth a warmly nostalgic throughline from its narrative. Conditt and Tremp’s may display filmmaking ingenuity throughout, but their efforts never escape the shadow of its superior counterparts.

    Max Reload and the Nether Blasters‘ good-hearted nature can’t equate to a satisfying low-rent 80s homage.

  • Gutterbug: Review

    Gutterbug: Review

    By Thomas White. 

    Gutterbug is the story of Steven Bugsby, known as ‘Bug’, a young runaway living on the streets. Together with his misfit punk friends, he decides on his twenty first birthday to return home, a quest that will ultimately lead to a catastrophic and life changing conclusion. 

    The film opens with a scene of frantic confusion, in the immediate aftermath of a serious car collision, a distressed emergency services voiceover and a medical resuscitation in transit. Like the adrenaline shot administered in the back of a claustrophobic ambulance, we are immediately injected into Bug’s turbulent, messy, sordid world, a turgid soup of blood, sweat, grime and chemical substances. 

    A large reason for this film’s promising reception is, I suspect, down to the gamut of themes and societal issues it tackles, thus targeting a wider audience. Rebellion, drug abuse, homelessness, family dysfunction, toxic relationships and violent crime are all on the agenda here, simmering away until eventually reaching boiling point. 

    While remaining appropriately raw and gritty in tone, director Andrew Gibson gives the film less of a bleak, fatalistic outlook and more of freewheeling, vivacious spirit, keeping the disenchanted nihilism balanced with moments of lightness and the exuberance of freedom. 

    This is less Requiem for a Dream, but closer to films like The Basketball Diaries, with a protagonist we can feel justified in rooting for, a lost soul who has turned down a road and been sucked into a world they never really belonged to. The feeling of the central characters is that of ‘us against the world’, a certain innocence endearing us to their vivacious unity, a tribe of outlaws keeping each other afloat whilst battling their own demons. 

    For all their narcissistic, remorseless qualities, they are not so despicably vile or contemptible that we don’t enjoy spending time in their company. The self-absorption comes with a zestful, youthful spark of life. 

    Andrew Yackel, who plays Bug, brings both a troubled and thoughtful side to the role. In the scenes where he is alone we see a reflective, almost regretful side to his character, a side not shown in his two cohorts, the caring but self-serving Jenny, played by Hannah Mosqueda, and the rather more garrulous Slim, played with erratic relish by Justin Pietropaolo. There is little compassion elsewhere, save for the collective day to day interactions of those living on the fringes of society. 

    Gutterbug puts us through the wringer as we follow through the trajectory of Bug’s journey, an exhausting and exhilarating barrage of character defining moments and life altering events. Eventually brought to face his own mortality, he comes to realise he must first acknowledge his former delinquencies and wrongdoings in order to find redemption. If you like loose ends that tie up neatly then rest assured, you will be rewarded with closure from each of the narrative strands, the lack of ambiguity sparing us any dissatisfaction in that sense, if at the expense of its final veering towards sentimentality. 

  • Tesla: The BRWC Review

    Tesla: The BRWC Review

    Weaving a diversified portfolio of assured stylistic choices, Michael Almereyda’s career has undeservingly gone under the radar with mainstream audiences. Whether he’s reinventing classic Shakespeare in a modern portrait of Hamlet or infusing a 4th-wall breaking sensibility with Experimenter, the writer/director has never been afraid to pursue unique storytelling avenues. Similar to the latter film, his latest biopic Tesla unearths an inventive and well-realized portrayal of its titular subject’s overlooked history.

    Tesla follows the arduous journey of Nikola Tesla (Ethan Hawke), starting from his days working under scientific juggernaut Thomas Edison (Kyle MacLauchlan). After he trail blazes his own path with breakthroughs in electricity, Tesla sets his eyes on groundbreaking ideals while sharing a complicated relationship with JP Morgan’s daughter Anne (Eve Hewson).

    Where most filmmakers are partisan to Hollywood’s biopic formula, Almereyda cleverly eschews and often mocks those standard conventions. He skillfully implements a subversive edge that colors in its central figures with impact, avoiding the standard “big” moments by painting around the crevices with intimate detail (a great tracking perspective shot captures Tesla’s angst before a big speech, with Almereyda then cutting away to spare us from the overly theatrical). Whether its well-constructed 4th wall breaks or cheekily conceived frames that double as effective character-building (Tesla singing “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” is cinematic bliss), I greatly appreciate an auteurist director who brazenly explores new avenues of creative exploration. It helps that his craftsmanship is exceedingly impressive, with the implementation of bold colors and pastille-painted backgrounds rendering an alluring vision.

    For all his showmanship, Almereyda never forgets Tesla’s central focus. The audience gets a keen sense of Tesla’s inner turmoil, seeing an idealistic pioneer whose prophetic vision of a connective future lied frustratingly out of his grasp. Ethan Hawke’s subdued performance and mousy presence unearths much of the figure’s driving forces, whether it be conquering a sense of inadequacy from his humble beginnings to growing a wide-eyed ambition after years of belittlement from his superiors. These complexions are meshed together by a quiet sensitivity that’s skillfully imbued into the character, rectifying Tesla as a tragic introvert who couldn’t see past his own obsessions (Hawke continues to prove himself as one of the industry’s standout talents). Strong supporting players like Eve Hewson, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and Jim Gaffigan round out a stellar cast, with Gaffigan’s dramatic turn being a welcomed change of pace for the standout comedian.

    Tesla’s bold approach isn’t without its missteps. Some of Almereyda’s stylistic choices can feel perfunctory, failing to add the depth or humor that they intend to. I also think the writer/director bit off more than he can chew from a narrative perspective, as he often dances around Tesla’s inner-circle in ways that don’t really enhance Tesla’s journey (while the relationship between he and Anne is well-constructed, his infatuation with a starlet actress goes nowhere).

    Michael Almereyda’s go-for-broke vision elevates Tesla into a fresh change of pace for the biopic genre.