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Flash Movie Review: Flee
AT ONE TIME OR ANOTHER, I believe each of us has planned an escape. From something as small as an uncomfortable conversation to leaving one’s home. When I was sending applications out to colleges, I felt I was working on an escape out of the hard times I was experiencing in high school. I purposely chose schools out of state, to get as far away as I could and reinvent myself to no longer be the victim. It was a hard adjustment at first because it was the first time I was ever away from my home. What I learned in my new environment helped me immensely. The knowledge I gained helped when two of my friends wanted to leave their husbands. One friend who I will refer to as Carol, had been married for nearly 20 years and grew tired of the mental and physical abuse inflicted on her by her husband. His physical abuse was confined to pushing and squeezing, at least that is what she told me. I did wonder though when I would catch a glimpse of her arms and see a bruise or two. It came to a point where she needed to get away from him; I did my best to provide her with emotional and mental support through the process of leaving him. The difference in her once the divorce was final was amazing; she was filled with joy and happiness. MY FRIEND, LET ME CALL HER, Mary was married for years also. She had a low level of confidence in herself, so the relationship was one-sided in my opinion. She let her husband make all decisions and believed whatever he said was true. Through the years she started working on herself through therapy and personal growth avenues, to the point she started feeling confident. As you might imagine, it caused conflict between them because she was for the first time voicing her opinion and discovering not everything her husband said was right. It came to a point where she wound up staying with me until she could figure out her next steps. In this case, they both started couples therapy and are still married to this day in a healthier place. Of course, there are other reasons a person feels they must leave a situation. I met a man who left his family and home because the religion he was born into did not accept him. There is more to it, but I want to respect his privacy. The main character in this Oscar nominated, Sundance winning film had a good reason to find an escape; you might want to see it for yourself. WITH HIS COUNTRY BEING TORN APART, the family of Amin, voiced by newcomer Daniel Karimyar, had to find a way to get to a safe place. The effects of their plan would have a lasting effect. With Riz Ahmed (Sound of Metal, Encounter) voicing the adult Amin, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (The Silencing, Game of Thrones-TV) voicing Rasmussen, newcomer Milad Eskandari voicing 8-year-old Saif and Belal Faiz (Rita-TV) voicing 13-year-old Saif; this animated dramatic documentary based on a true story was extraordinary. This was a new fresh way of telling a story via animation and live footage. The story was incredible and the way it was told fascinated me. Scenes of present times were separated by memories of the past; it really brought me into the story. When an animated film is nominated for an Oscar like this one, I assumed the animation would wow me. That was not my reaction at first because the animation was kept simple; however, its simplicity made the story more vivid for me. Also, I saw the English version of this film; in the original Danish, Dari, Russian and Swedish were spoken with English subtitles. With its other nomination for best international film, this picture is a strong contender in getting the Oscar award. This movie might just be one you do not want to escape you. This is not a film for children.
3 ½ stars
Flash Movie Review: The Silencing
I HAD NOTHING TO OFFER FOR advice except to tell her she would have to let go. It was easy to say but I knew it was a hard thing to do because I had been in the same situation as her. My friend was upset because a close friend of hers had suddenly stopped talking to her. I asked her if they had gotten into an argument or disagreement, but she said not at all as far as she knew. One day they were talking on the phone like they normally have done and then one day her friend stopped returning those phone calls. My friend texted her and when that did not produce any results, she emailed her to ask if she had done something to hurt her feelings. Her requests were met with dead silence. Now she knew her friend had not died because her work phone was still accepting voice messages and her recorded greeting was being updated every day with the new date. My friend said she would rather have been told off or called names or given any type of acknowledgment, that it would have been better than not giving a reason for the silent treatment. I agreed with her; I had experienced it with someone I had been seeing. WE HAD BEEN DATING FOR 3-4 months. I remember our last date was when I was invited to meet them at their place of business. They took me around to introduce me to their co-workers. A week later my calls and texts were going unanswered. I replayed in my mind the visit to their workplace, to see if there was something I said or did that triggered one of the co-workers to say something negative about me. Nothing came to mind, I thought I was cordial and pleasant. It was frustrating not to get a reason why our relationship was ending. In the past whenever I was breaking up with someone, I always made it a point to tell them face to face, or at least tell them on the telephone. To not give a reason and simply ignore the person is something I consider rude and, in some instances, cowardly. I have always told my friends I would rather have someone call me names to my face or tell me they can’t stand something I do than simply say nothing and walk away. Dealing with the unknown is harder than dealing with the reality of a situation. And I know everyone handles such a thing differently. The main character in this action, crime thriller had his own way of dealing with the unknown. WITH HIS PROPERTY UNDER CAMERA SURVEILLANCE, a hunter spots a trespasser. Going out to check it would begin a dangerous game of cat and mouse. With Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Gods of Egypt, Game of Thrones-TV) as Rayburn, Caleb Ellsworth-Clark (The Handmaid’s Tale-TV, Wynonna Earp-TV) as taller brother, Josh Cruddas (Anything for Jackson, Business Ethics) as shorter brother, Annabelle Wallis (Tag, Annabelle franchise) as Gustafson and Zahn McClarnon (Doctor Sleep, Strike One) as Blackhawk; this movie’s story started with a good idea, albeit not quite original. There were elements to this film that I liked; however, there really was nothing new presented within it. The cast was okay though Nikolaj was the only one who stood out for me. My overall impression of this picture was that it was done on the cheap. I honestly cannot imagine it ever opening at a movie theater; it came across as something I would have found on TV while channel surfing late at night. The characters were never properly developed and the intensity was not strong enough in my opinion. Chances are some viewers may get a slight thrill out of a couple of scenes; but overall, this movie will quickly fade from your thoughts afterwards.
1 ¾ stars
Flash Movie Review: Gods of Egypt
There is not a day or two that goes by where I do not hear or see in print the term “OMG.” Usually it comes from younger people, but I have heard folks older than myself uttering it. I am willing to bet some of the individuals who use this term are only using it as an expression of surprise or disbelief, not making a statement about their faith. There is another term, “God’s gift,” that I do not hear as much these days; it always had negative connotations associated with it as far as I could tell. When you heard someone say, “That person thinks they are God’s gift,” what was implied was that person thought they were better than other people. Have you ever encountered such a person? Unfortunately I have met more than my share of such people; I refer to them as demigods. This may be a broad use of the term for it could refer to that person who thinks they know more than you, always telling you what you “should” do; or it could be used for an individual who looks down at you, believing they are better or the things they have are superior to yours. I find it sad, especially when that demigod assumes they have more power because they think they are better. Sadly in my life’s experiences I have seen more corrupt people in positions of power than kinder ones. It bears repeating because I find it so true: absolute power corrupts absolutely. DECIDING it was his turn to rule Set, played by Gerard Butler (Chasing Mavericks, Olympus Has Fallen), defeated his nephew Horus, played by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Mama, Game of Thrones-TV), who was the rightful heir. The city’s citizens would be subjected to a new period of oppressive dark times. It has been reported this action fantasy had a budget of $140 million dollars which I found absolutely startling. For that much money I expected to be wowed by the special effects that played heavily in this story. What I saw instead was cheap looking effects covering a poorly written script. With Brenton Thwaites (The Giver, Maleficent) as Bek and Geoffrey Rush (Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, The Book Thief) as Ra, I found the characters bordering on buffoonery. Geoffrey’s character and the place he resides in was ridiculous enough to make me wonder who would write such a character in that way. Now the fact this adventure film was not released early for reviewers, I did not have high hopes when I walked into the movie theater. However, I would have settled for a light fun fantasy picture with decent CGI effects; this film was boring in parts and in fact, it almost seemed as if it was pieced together in random order. If it is true what I read recently that the movie studio was hoping this film would kickoff a new movie franchise, then I am sad to say this fantasy really is a fantasy of the studio.
1 3/4 stars
Flash Movie Review: The Other Woman
There are two kinds of lies, the good ones and the bad ones. Before you tell me there are no good lies, let me explain. A good lie is telling your friend you need them, just to get them out of their house long enough for their spouse to decorate it for a surprise birthday party. Or a friend asks you if they already told you about their business meeting and you tell them no because you know how proud they were of their recent success; so, it was worth hearing again to see how excited they got by telling their story. To me these are acceptable lies or what some people say are “white” lies. They are not meant to hurt or deceive someone for personal gain. Now the bad lies can be hurtful and drastically alter a person’s life. Your boyfriend or girlfriend telling you how much they love you while they sleep around with other people; I consider this a bad lie. Meeting a date for the 1st time who showed up 20 years older and 30 pounds heavier than they claimed would not only be a bad lie, but an ignorant one. Why would anyone do that and what did they think they would gain? How about you be the judge as you watch this romantic comedy. Cameron Diaz (The Counselor, Bad Teacher) played high powered lawyer Carly Whitten, who felt she finally found the right one when she met successful businessman Mark King, played by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Mama, Game of Thrones-TV). Everything was going well until Carly showed up at Mark’s house to surprise him and was greeted by Mark’s wife Kate, played by Leslie Mann (This is 40, Knocked UP). That was not going to be the only surprise the two women would encounter when they decided to join forces against Mark and his cheating ways. I was stunned at how quickly this film went from bad to worse. Sitting in front of me were at least a dozen 10 to 12 year old girls with a few mothers. Though the movie was rated PG-13, I thought the mature subject matter was inappropriate for these girls. The only reason I could think of these mothers taking these girls to see this film was to show them what not to be when they grew up. The script with its humor was predictable and infantile. An example would be the scene that involved a powerful amount of laxatives being consumed. Do I need to say anything further to you about this crappy film? I am not lying when I say the trailer was the only thing I liked about this movie.
1 1/2 stars
Flash Movie Review: Headhunters
Nothing like walking into an unfamiliar movie and being taken on a wild ride of surprising thrills. I needed a seat belt due to my squirming from the tension that was built up in this action movie. Based on the best-selling mystery novel by Jo Nesbo, the screenplay had a mixture of fear, disgust, intrigue and humor rolled up into it, forming a tightly paced film. Roger Brown, played by Aksel Hennie (Buddy, Max Manus: Man of War) was a successful executive recruiter. He lived in an incredible house, had a beautiful wife, drove a nice car; yet, it wasn’t enough. To supplement his income, he moonlighted as an art thief. Tipped off by his wife, who happened to own an art gallery, about his recent client’s priceless painting; Roger set out to steal the masterpiece. The client was Clas Greve, played by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (At World’s End, Game of Thrones-TV), a former mercenary. With excellent acting and some utterly crazy scenes; this was an exciting movie to watch, even though I found it hard to mix tense action with immediate humor. Also, some of the scenes were extremely violent and bloody. By the end of the film, I was tired but satisfied that my money was well spent by seeing this movie. Norwegian with English subtitles.
3 stars
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