This big movie story for us this week is definitely the death of Donald Sutherland. He's probably the biggest name Canada has ever sent out to the cinematic world. He was in over 200 films and TV shows and as Indie Wire headlined: "Appeared in Every Genre Imaginable — and Made Each His Own". His first were small English horror films. A surprise hiring for The Dirty Dozen got him noticed and classics like Klute, Ordinary People, JFK, MASH, Don't Look Now and 1900 followed. And don't forget he was in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all the Hunger Games films. His son Kiefer posted: "I personally think one of the most important actors in the history of film." Agreed.
And new at the movies this week we have ...
The Exorcism: 3 stars
Thelma: 4
The Boy in the Woods: 3 ½
Copa 71: 4
The Bikeriders: 2 ½
THE EXORCISM: Russell Crowe also takes on a wide range of roles. This is his second tangle with exorcism (after last year's The Pope's Exorcist). He's not the practitioner here, he's playing an actor playing one, in a re-make of the classic of the genre, 1973's The Exorcist. Sound meta? You're right. The director and co-writer is Joshua John Miller, the son of Jason Miller who played Father Damien Karras in that film. And the name of Crowe's character is Anthony Miller.
He's a tortured soul recovering from addiction (both drugs and alcohol) and terrified that those old tendencies are coming back on him. He ruined a movie career and is given a second chance because the lead actor in the re-make, now called The Georgetown Project, has died mysteriously. He has flashback memories of his deceased wife and a haunted childhood. He was abused as an altar boy and he may be possessed by a demon. Sounds like a manufactured plot but it works quite nicely because Crowe performance is so good as the doleful actor prone to angry outbursts.
Also the film is not a horror movie looking for scares but, as a character says of the re-make, “a psychological drama in the skin of a horror movie.” So his interactions with a daughter (Ryan Simpkins), a pushy director (Adam Goldberg) and a priest working as a consultant (David Hyde Pierce) are the heart of the movie. He's self-destructive and his director calls him: “irredeemable.” But Crowe makes us hope he can be saved. (In theaters) 3 out of 5
THELMA: Here's a charming celebration of old age. Surprisingly it's done through an action-movie approach and offers a message that it's never too late. Wishful thinking? Sure, if you're old or worried about that future but encouraging, even rousing, nevertheless.
June Squibb plays 93-year-old Thelma who gets taken in by a phone scam. She thinks it's her grandson calling for money, sends it and, when told that it's a fraud, decides to go and get it back. She's accompanied by another oldster (played by the late Richard Roundtree). They ride across Los Angeles on, not surprisingly, a scooter.
That's only one of the film's many references to old age. Pills are organized. A huge staircase has to be struggled up. Senility is mentioned. “We're not really like we used to,” is said. Malcolm McDowell, who just tuned 81, appears. And there's more but Thelma pushes on inspired by a newspaper headline Mission Possible about a Tom Cruise movie. She borrows a gun finds a post office box and then the owner at a cluttered second-hand store, along with his grandson who made the fake call. Interestingly, he has a credible reason for pulling off the scam. Calls like that happen. I got one not so long ago but didn't fall it. That's maybe an unconnected reason for why I liked this film. But OK. How about this then? June Squibb is terrific. (In theaters) 4 out of 5
THE BOY IN THE WOODS: This is a remarkable true story of survival. From the Holocaust no less. Maxwell Smart was 12 when the Nazis started clearing out the Jewish population from Eastern Poland. His mother, taken away by truck, told him to escape (a harrowing scene in itself) and go live with a farm family that agreed to take him in. When police and “Jew hunters” visited or threatened, the farmer (Richard Armitage) told Max to hide out in the woods. He showed him how to trap rabbits for food. That proved crucial as Max spent months, probably a year or so, living in a small cave and then a hut. The film doesn't give a feeling for how long he was there but focused instead on survival, berry picking, eating only the safe mushrooms and staying out of sight of more “Jew hunters”.
He's joined by another boy, Yanek, and teaches him how to live in the woods and to have hope. Telling him the Jewish legend of the golem, the protector, is helpful. They hear shots, find bodies, and a baby. It's alive; they take it across a river to safety. Max is captured a couple of times but gets away. The story is told from a time years later, after he had come to Canada, become an artist and wrote his story in a memoir that became a best-seller. Toronto-based director Rebecca Snow interviewed him for a documentary and realized his story was strong enough for an entire film. It is. Often gripping, often tense and very well-acted by Jett Klyne as Max, David Kohlsmith as Yanek and notably, Christopher Heyerdahl as a very scary police chief. Filmed in North Bay, Ontario by the way. It's not new in how the story is told but it is a strong one. There's an emotional coda at the end but you don't want me to spoil that for you. (In theaters) 3 ½ out of 5
COPA 71: Women's soccer is a well-known sport these days, and according to this film, the fastest growing in the world. It's wasn't always so. Back in 1971 it was banned in some countries, unsupported most everywhere and shunned by FIFA, the governing body. All of which makes this documentary such an eye-opener. It's story has been forgotten, maybe deliberately hidden for over 50 years. It's told with superb film from back then, old interview clips and new interviews with women who played back then.
The event was called the Women's Soccer World Cup (note, there's no FIFA in that title). It was a promotional event sponsored by Martini and Rossi to follow the huge success of the FIFA World Cup the year before. Teams from six nations played the tournament in Mexico including a final that drew a crowd of 110,000 fans.
In recently rediscovered film we get to see some terrific football by women who should be widely known, like Elena Schiavo of Italy, Carol Wilson of the UK and Susanne Augustesen of Denmark. There's also controversy, a rigging allegation, a brief strike by the Mexican team and some rough stuff. Misogeny isn't dwelt on; you'll have to think that in yourself. Enjoy the inspiration though from an event that was a major forerunner. James Erskine and Rachel Ramsay directed. Serena Williams is a producer and sometime narrator. (Video on Demand, starting Tuesday) 4 out of 5
THE BIKERIDERS: Not from a novel, graphic novel, comic book or any of the usual sources, this is based on a series of photographs. Danny Lyon took them of a Chicago motorcyle gang and Jeff Nicholls spun them into a fictional story about what he imagined they showed. His gang is called The Vandals. They're outsiders and display a variety of motivations. At first it's just friendship. “Everybody wants to be part of something” a character says. That's when it was merely a riding club. Other chapters form and swagger and power grows among the riders. A more sinister aura evolves, much like we imagine has happened with The Hell's Angels.
We see it happen through three main riders: Johnny the founder (Tom Hardy), Benny (Austin Butler), a wreckless type and Kathy (Jodie Comer) who is married to Benny. There are others like an original member Zipco (Michael Shannon) and the aptly-named Cockroach but the film centers on the three. Johnny knows he'll need to retire sometime and wants Benny to succeed him. But he's not interested and Kathy agrees. She sees the club as a competitor for his attention. “You can't have him,” she yells at Johnny. Also the stakes are higher now. Conflict and fights are growing. The film shows some of that but holds back on real gangfighting viciousness. Think of it as biker lite. It's well-acted though and throbbing with hit records and the deep rumble of the bikes. After delays by strikes and Disney's dropping it, it's now in theaters. 2 ½ out of 5
Comments