Starring: Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots and Patrick Stewart
Directed By: Jeremy Saulnier
Rated: R
Running Time: 94 minutes
A24 Films

Our Score: 2 out of 5 Stars

You’d think killing neo-Nazis would be more fun, or at the very least, more savagely joyful and campy. “Green Room” has the extreme close-ups of graphic violence, like broken bones and lacerations, which we’re accustomed to. We also get to watch characters use multiple tools for stabbing and pit bulls chewing out people’s throats. Sure, that’s not everyone’s cup of tea. But some movies find that gruesome sweet spot and have a lot of fun with it. However, “Green Room” feels devoid of any purpose, in its excessive gore and in its story.

The Ain’t Rights, made up of Pat (Yelchin), Sam (Alia Shawkat), Reece (Joe Cole), and Tiger (Callum Turner), find themselves playing to a room full of tattooed freaks at a white supremacist club. They’re in the middle of nowhere Oregon, playing for some pissed off skinheads, after a series of poor gig scheduling events on their end. Their current predicament isn’t helped by the fact that their setlist starts with a cover of the Dead Kennedy’s song, “Nazi Punks Fuck Off”.

After miraculously escaping their set unharmed, they prepare to leave, but accidentally witness the post-fallout of a murder in their green room. Things deteriorate quickly for the punk quartet and the hate group organizers. Weapons are drawn, hostages are taken, and the neo-Nazi leader is called in to get everything squared away. It’s only after the leader, Darcy Banker (Stewart), arrives that the Ain’t Rights truly recognize the severity of their situation.

Despite Stewart’s performance as a cold and calculating killer, there’s not a lot of tension in this concert version of “Panic Room”. Which is really unfortunate since the band is in the vast and quiet wilderness, with sociopaths at every turn. The setting is there, but the mood is lacking. A lot of it has to do with the fact that the band isn’t necessarily the brightest or most likeable. The band siphons gas because they don’t make enough money and they’re unnecessarily bitter and violent towards people they just met.

Darcy maps out every intricate detail to the neo-Nazi’s clean-up plan, which is constantly evolving and shifting based on the reactions of the band barricaded in his bar. He’s the most interesting of the characters and the movie would have benefitted more following him around a little more. But instead we’re trapped in the green room, listening to poor attempts at exposition, humor, and back story to a handful of dopey characters.

“Green Room” viewers may benefit from beers, pals, and a twisted sense of humor, but that same trio of items may have helped when writing it. Director/Writer Jeremy Saulnier definitely displays his visual prowess and his ability to create ocular terror and Yelchin and gang yam it up and find plenty of scenery to chew up, but it’s simply not enough. Once we get our fill of Nazi symbolism, hidden drug rooms, and knives to the stomach and throat, the “Green Room” is forgettable.

Starring: Seth Green, Clare Grant, Harley Quinn Smith
Directed by: Anthony Scott Burns, Nicholas McCarthy, Adam Egypt Mortimer, Gary Shore, Kevin Smith, Sarah Adina Smith, Scott Stewart, Kevin Kölsch, and Dennis Widmyer
Rated: R
Running Time: 144 mins
Vertical Entertainment

Our score: 1/2 star out of 5 stars

There’s no place like home for the holidays. As in stay in yours, do not flock to theaters to see the horror anthology dubbed simply Holidays which is out there today. The anthology film boasts a familiar roster of horror directors—though arguably the ‘biggest’ name, Kevin Smith, offers only Tusk on his horror resumé…so take that how you will— who gather here to tell short stories from Valentine’s Day to New Year’s Eve in chronological order. Horror anthologies thrive on bringing a lot of different things to the table. Shorts can be shocking, funny, twisted, even confusing, but if there’s one thing they shouldn’t be, it’s boring. And for seven out of eight of these, I was just plain bored.

When I called the entirety of what was going to happen in the opening short, “Valentine’s Day”, I immediately felt uneasy. Tethered to the order of the calendar year, it had to be their starting point, but it wasn’t a strong one. In short, a lovestruck-Carrie-looking outcast on a swim team is bullied by a blonde-haired Mean Girl. Commence the ten minute slog to her comeuppance. And this waiting occurs time and time again. Most egregiously in Father’s Day—a story, I admit I wholly forgot I sat through until I counted out the holidays and found I was short one. If it’s not waiting a full ten to fifteen minutes for a short’s singular predictable jump scare, it’s hitting the point of the story too fast and dragging it out. Kevin Smith’s “Halloween” is not only torturous to its main character—a Hollywood sleazebag getting what he deserves from a team of his webcam girls— but it brings the audience along with him.

The ‘scheduling’ of the holidays also hampers the flow of the film. I guess putting them in calendar order makes sense on paper but then Christmas and New Year’s wind up sharing the same murderous psycho-female trope. Neither really shocks but viewed back to back, it’s also redundant. Similarly there’s two tales revolving around pregnancy-as-horror. Really? You have all the folklore of all the holidays and twice you come up with fertility problems? It’s as if the directors didn’t realize they were making an anthology until after the fact.

Nicholas McCarthy’s “Easter”, the one in the eight that peaked my interest, offered a sick bit of creature humor in the form of the nocturnal Easter-Bunny-Jesus (complete with stigmata!) Unfortunately, we can’t follow that story down its rabbit hole and the inevitable holiday card blackout that cut off each story appeared to bring us back to the rest of the unpleasant lineup.

Starring: Michael Shannon, Kevin Spacey and Colin Hanks
Directed by: Liza Johnson
Rated: R
Running time: 1 hr 26 mins
Bleecker Street Films

Our Score: 3.5 out of 5 stars

December 21, 1970. As he goes over his schedule in the White House, President Richard Nixon (Spacey) is informed that he has a meeting with one Elvis Presley. He eyes his aide and calmly asks, “Who the f*** set this up?”

It’s the most requested photo from the National Archives. Richard Nixon and Elvis Presley shaking hands in the Oval Office. But what is the story behind the photo? The new film, “Elvis and Nixon,” may or not be the whole truth but it is an entertaining tale that sheds a light on the meeting between two of the most famous men of their time.

While watching television in his home one night, Elvis Presley (Shannon) is horrified by the various news stories he sees. Black Panthers. Drugs. Draft cards being burned. It’s more than the King can take and he hops a plane to L.A. to visit an old friend, Jerry Schilling (Alex Pettyfer). It’s while on the plane that Presley conceives a plan. He will go to Washington D.C. and ask the President to make him a “Federal-agent-at-large,” with the idea of using his fame to infiltrate the youth culture of the day. In 1970 Elvis was in the midst of a huge comeback started two years earlier. Still amazingly popular, Presley and Schilling run across a couple of Elvis impersonators in the airport, who mistake Presley as being one of them. They congratulate him for making an effort to look like the King, even though they tell him, “Elvis would never wear that,” which is pretty funny when you remember the outfits he used to wear. Jump suits and capes anyone?

The film moves quickly, buoyed by the performances of its stars. I’ve always enjoyed Michael Shannon as an actor, but this is really the first time he hasn’t been over-the-top crazy that I can remember. Wearing giant sideburns and gold-framed sunglasses, Shannon makes Elvis a vulnerable character who truly wants to do the right thing. A great mimic, Spacey is spot on as our 37th President, vulnerable to the country he feels doesn’t admire him as much as they do handsome people, like John Kennedy. Both men get down into their respective characters, giving the film a somewhat documentary feel, which gives the film an air of familiarity.

Starring: Logan Marshall-Green, Tammy Blanchard and Michiel Huisman
Directed By: Karyn Kusama
Rated: R
Running Time: 100 minutes
Drafthouse Films

Our Score: 4 out of 5 Stars

How long are you willing to let little inconsistencies nag at you before you passive aggressively leave, or better yet, uncomfortably point them out in a room full of people? “The Invitation” doesn’t necessarily ask that question, but depending on how you’d react in that situation, it’s certainly something to ponder. “The Invitation” us a slow-burning thriller that picks at Will (Marshall-Green), causing him to question himself and everyone around him

Will, and his current squeeze, Kira (Emayatzy Corinealdi) are heading to his ex-wife’s house for a small get together. Will hasn’t seen Eden (Blanchard) in years. Their marriage ended after the accidental death of their son and her inability to cope with the tragic loss. Eden moved on and met David (Huisman), who helped her recover in a unique way. Not only will it be the first time Eden and Will have seen each other in two years, but the first time many of their friends will have seen both of them in the same room.

It’s a relatable circumstance, attempting to reconcile or keep up appearances with a former flame because of mutual friends. But Will starts noticing that the smallest things are amiss. For instance, a bottle of pills in a medicine cabinet, a door that shouldn’t be locked, and a dinner party guest that never arrived. Every time Will, and the audience, is about to burst at the seams, the tension is ratcheted down and the minor irregular is laughed off. The movie does this several times, cranking up Will’s erratic behavior. But is it erratic or justified?

Fans of the horror movie genre might be able to pick up on what’s going on, but not without a lot of fight and sway by “The Invitation”. There’s credence to Will’s paranoia, but credence to everyone seeing Will’s outbursts as irrational inklings. Will could easily be suffering from buried emotions, linked to the death of his son. Or maybe Will’s suspicions are correct and something far more nefarious is afoot. As long as you’re willing to invite “The Invitation” to the inside of your head, you’re going to have an uncomforting blast.

“The Invitation” instinctively knows when to knock us off balance just when we think we’ve got it all figured out. A lot of that can be credited to the director, whose previous theatrical contributions don’t really hint towards the creepy unsettling nature of every shot. Even the actors here put full faith behind their characters, the motivations of their characters, as well as the story. Everyone is on the same page, even when the audience is still trying to piece it all together.

It’s difficult to discuss a movie like this because so much of its tension and story requires you knowing nearly nothing at all. “The Invitation” relies so much on the fear of the unknown, even if you think you know what’s happening. Obviously the disturbing nature of what’s going on won’t happen until the very end, but “The Invitation” is so chillingly effective, you’ll want the end to come as quickly as possible.

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Tom Hiddleston and Olivia Colman in “The Night Manager”

“The Night Manager” recently completed its first series run in the UK to much critical acclaim and strong ratings throughout. Fortunately for American viewers, the series gets its stateside premiere tonight on AMC. Based on John Le Carré’s 1993 novel of the same name, “The Night Manager” follows Jonathan Pine (Tom Hiddleston) an ex-soldier-turned-titular-customer-serviceman in a posh Egyptian hotel. He’s presented with the opportunity to help British Intelligence agent Angela Burr (Broadchurch’s Olivia Colman) take down jet-setty guest and illegal arms dealer Richard Roper (a superbly sinister Hugh Laurie) from the inside of his operation out. Outraged by Roper’s behavior, and with some very personal motivations as well, Pine swiftly accepts. What follows is a taut spy thriller that features an amazing cast that also includes Elizabeth Debicki and Tom Hollander.

The series premiere screened this weekend as part of the Tribeca Tune In series celebrating television. I caught up with Hiddleston and director of the series, Susanne Bier, for a quick chat on their red carpet.

Susanne Bier is an Oscar winning director (2011’s Best Foreign Language film, In a Better World) who was eager to take on this project in any capacity. “Well I mean, this project I would have done had it been a puppet show!” Bier enthused, “Because I love John Le Carre and I love the novel. But I was also very tempted to do TV. I mean the format of doing six hours as opposed to two hours was just really tempting and really interesting and compelling.”

With the show having already gone over so well in England, Bier was looking forward to opening it up to a new audience and maybe a new perspective on it:  “I think there’s always different perspectives. I mean American audiences are responding just as [excitedly] about it up til now, so I hope so!”

One of the chief changes made from the novel to the series was the switching of British Intelligence agent Burr from a male to a female character. For Bier “Part of it was updating it. Part of it was the fact that by updating it we could take it out of the sort of public school white heterosexual world and maybe actually have a bit of the diversity which is where the world is actually at.” And of the brilliant Olivia Colman, the director added: “And she was absolutely the right choice for it!”

With Tom Hiddleston‘s Pine reporting to Olivia Colman’s Burr, I wondered if the actor saw a pattern of his recent projects whereby his characters’ fate was in the hands of his strong female leads (Such as Jessica Chastain in Crimson Peak or Tilda Swinton in Only Lovers Left Alive) . Hiddleston—who, it must be said gave thoughtful answers to the entirety of this NYC press line— took some time to reflect on those roles before answering  “I haven’t thought about it consciously in the work. I mean…it seems very true to life, doesn’t it? For men to be in relationship to women? [laughs]” He paused again, “I don’t know that they are, how was it you phrased it? Their ‘fates were in the hands of women’–it’s an interesting interpretation!…It rings true to me that each character would have specific relationships to women, but I would never—I would have to think about it longer to think of it whether his fate were in their hands…It is a new interpretation and I’m not disagreeing with you. My point is I think everyone is responsible for their own actions and that responsibility in each of those characters is shared out. I think Pine’s responsible for what he does and he would never discredit Burr by saying that [the mission] was her idea. He does things on his own volition that he’s responsible for and Pine’s fate is in Pine’s hands.”

As for looking back on his recent characters, he did stipulate: “The only instance who I would say that you brought up is [Crimson Peak’s] Thomas Sharpe who is governed by a very toxic relationship with his sister and out of the sense of duty and codependency he feels trapped. But again, his fates not in her hands, I just would question…I suppose I’m being pedantic about phrasing. But I think everyone’s fate is in their own hands.”

Hiddleston not only stars in “The Night Manager” but he took on the more demanding role of executive producing as well which he “loved,” adding “It recomitted my engagement with the material in a very serious way. I loved the extra responsibility. Responsible for the story, for the script, for the thing running on time and it just gives you greater–to me–the extra responsibility made me give even more commitment. So yeah, hoping there will be more of that.”

The Night Manager premieres tonight at 10pm on AMC.

Starring: Kevin Costner, Ryan Reynolds and Gal Gadot
Directed By: Ariel Vromen
Rated: R
Running Time: 113 minutes
Summit Entertainment

Our Score: 2.5 out of 5 stars

When it comes to groundbreaking scientific advancements, you want the sharpest minds on the case experimenting on the most eligible people. So when doctors plan on transferring the memories from the mind of a dead CIA operative, so that they can acquire highly classified information, they would obviously want the most qualified of human test subjects. In “Criminal”, the best they can do is an murderous inmate.

Jericho (Costner) lacks empathy, has never experienced any human emotion outside of hate and revenge and has killed numerous, if not dozens, of people. His sociopathic tendencies, as he puts it, are because he was thrown from a moving car by his father as a child. The doctors say it disabled the frontal lobe of his brain and doctors say that makes him the “perfect” candidate to accept the memories of undercover agent, Bill (Reynolds). If you’re willing to ignore the irrational set-up, then you might like “Criminal”.

But “Criminal” takes itself too seriously to be enjoyably farcical and its characters are too inherently silly to be earnest. “Criminal” falls flat half the time, but it manages to find a couple of entertaining nuggets when Jericho combines his angry drunken fighting technique with the precise killing method of Bill’s CIA training. It’s rarely there, but Costner in various scenes highlights the carefree nature of a petty thief and the calculating nature of a trained killing machine.

There are actually quite a few other actors that Costner gets to play with, including Bill’s wife played by Gal Gadot, a short tempered higher-up played by Gary Oldman, and a doctor that performs the memory transfer, played by Tommy Lee Jones. All the characters are interesting, but none of them really add much depth to the story or to Jericho. Costner is entertaining enough without us being distracted by the surrounding star power. On the surface it may seem like a waste of talent, but it’s more the case of a movie with unnecessary add-ons.

As the movie goes on, we learn that the CIA wants to find out the location of a master hacker, known as the Dutchman. The government wants to keep the Dutchman out of the hands of the Russians and a rogue anarchist who wants to hit the reset button on society. The plot is vague with details, but gets the point across visually without drowning the audience in tedious exposition, which I’m thankful for. Because of that, the nearly two hour runtime goes unnoticed.

Jericho is the focal point of the movie and “Criminal” attempts to make him sympathetic by showing how he adapts to emotions like love, affection, and genuine human concern for the first time in his life. On paper, he’s a despicable human who still kills people and is obsessed with his own wants and needs, but Costner adds some level of believability to the rehabilitation credence. But that might be because the American public commonly knows him as an Iowa farmer that plays baseball with ghosts.

“Criminal” could have been really fun if it avoided the pitfalls of humanizing its main character. Costner is a decent enough anti-hero without the sappy injunction of his wife. In a different universe, “Criminal” is a good movie. It’s a sci-fi movie instead though. Kevin Costner remains foul-mouthed, learning to show some compassion, but still remaining crass and blood hungry. In this world though, he’s a predictable character stuck in a generic action movie.

Starring: Neel Sethi
Directed by: Jon Favreau
Rated: PG
Running time: 1 hr 45 mins
Walt Disney Pictures

Our Score: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Here are some facts about the 1967 animated film “The Jungle Book:” It was one of the last films to be personally supervised by Walt Disney; Disney was so unhappy with the musical score that he had it re-written – only keeping the song “The Bare Necessities” at the urging of others – the song would go on to be nominated for an Oscar. Now comes a live-action version of the Kipling story, one that is not necessarily meant for its intended audience.

The story begins with young Mowgli (Sethi) running through the jungle with his adopted wolf brothers. Try as he might, he is not able to win the race, much to the chagrin of his “father,” who is trying to raise him like one of the pack. Trouble begins when the Tiger named Shere Khan (voiced by the amazing Idris Elba) shows up hoping to make a snack of the young boy. However, he is deflected by others, causing him to become angry. Knowing the little guy isn’t safe, the panther Bagheera (Ben Kingsley) decides that Mowgli must leave the jungle and return to man. However Shere Khan has other plans.

Told through the amazing use of computer generation, “The Jungle Book” is very faithful to the animated film that precedes it. Young Mr. Sethi is the only human being in the cast (and on film), with the rest being brought to life through the magic of special effects. And brought to life they are. From the mean and angry tiger to the funny and understanding bear, the characters leap off the screen. Which may present a problem to younger viewers, many who may be horrified at the image of Shere Khan murdering Mowgli’s wolf “father.” And if that doesn’t terrify you, there is a great wildebeest stampede that will surely get their attention.

An attempt is made to tone down the darkness by keeping two of the songs made popular in the 1967 animated feature. However, both Bill Murray voicing “The Bare Necessities” and Christopher Walken performing “I Wanna Be Like You” seem like they belong in a film less intense. You’ve been warned!

Starring: Ethan Hawke and Carmen Ejogo
Directed by: Robert Budreau
Rated: R
Running time: 1 hr 37 mins
IFC Films

Our Score: 4 out of 5 stars

OK music fans, here’s a name for you: Chet Baker. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? No?
Too bad. How about Miles Davis or Dizzy Gillespie? Oh, those guys you know. Would you be surprised if I told you that Chet Baker was, for a short time in the 1950’s, their musical equal? Sadly, it was the demon called Heroin that took away both his talent and his fame.

We first meet Baker (a well-cast Ethan Hawke) sprawled out on the floor of an Italian prison cell. While ruminating on his life we travel back to the mid 1950’s and the iconic jazz club known as Birdland. There we get a taste of Baker’s talent. Shot in black and white and full of billowy smoke, the scene sets the stage for what might have been. A decade later, his career floundering, he takes a job playing himself in a feature film. However, a beating by muggers leaves him minus his front teeth. And for a horn player, no teeth means no music. Reduced to pumping gas, Baker finds himself on the verge of redemption. If only he can keep the demon away.

A bio-pic that flits around, “Born to Be Blue” takes its name from one of Baker’s best known songs. Though other characters are featured, the film mostly concentrates on Baker and his girlfriend, Elaine (Ejogo), who we originally meet when she is cast as Baker’s ex-wife in the ill-fated movie. We learn that the creator of West Coast Swing had a hard time handling his father, also a musician. Referred to as the “James Dean of Jazz,” he is a junkie that hates needles. “Hello Fear, Hello Death, F*** You,” is his mantra as a friend sticks the needle in his arm. One of the first recovering drug addicts to be prescribed methadone, Baker takes his life one day at a time.

There are two stars in this film. The first is Hawke, who finds a way to make an unsympathetic character sympathetic. Extra points for doing his own vocal work. Second is the music. The soundtrack is full of some of the best jazz standards of the time, each one telling a story that accompanies the one on-screen. With Don Cheadle’s upcoming Miles Davis film on the horizon, it looks like jazz is making a comeback. Give it, and the film, a chance.

Described by its writer/director, Richard Linklater, as a “spiritual sequel” to his popular 1970’s set film Dazed and Confused, Everybody Wants Some!! follows the fun times being had by a small college baseball team in 1980. To promote the film, co-stars J. Quinton Johnson, Glen Powell and Wyatt Russell sat down with me at the Alamo Drafthouse Theatre in Kansas City. Johnson enters the room in full voice, performing a song he literally just wrote. Powell, the most outgoing of the group, sits between the other two, eager to chat. Russell, a former hockey player and the son of Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn (he has his dad’s eyes) busies himself with his phone. And so we begin:

Mike Smith: What was it like going back in time to 1980?

Glen Powell: It was a transitional time and everything. Clothing. Presidents. Everything was kind of shifting and changing. Our relationship with the world was changing and I think this movies about guys who were shifting from either college to the real world or high school to college. And that shift not only in their world but in the world at large is what the film is about.

Wyatt Russell: So it’s AWESOME! [everyone laughs]. I mean we talked about the clothes and the hair and the music. I think everything was much sexier then I just love that era.

GP: Nowadays we have social media…smart phones… so when you go to parties today everyone has their phone out to show how good time they’re having. But in that era it’s like having a good time with these people right here.

WR: I’m at the Bieber concert!

J. QUINTON JOHNSON: I’M AT THE BIEBER CONCERT!!!

[Note: Justin Bieber was in Kansas City the same week as the guys]

GP: And when we’re having a good time, we’re also athletes on the dance floor. Rick [director Richard Linklater] told us that back then athletes were peacockers, in every sense of the word. When I was an athlete, we were almost wallflowers. You go to practice and then you go home and do your thing. I mean these guys are drinking beer. Today it’s much more competitive.

JQJ: You’re not going to be out at the club.

WR: I played hockey. When I played in Europe it wasn’t a problem going out for a few drinks. But when I played in the states it was pretty rigid. Back then it wasn’t for a career you were going to make a lot of money and become a brand and sell a lot of clothes.

GP: Rick also talked about the body type of an athlete back then. Today everyone takes supplements…they’re all almost like Adonis, they’re all shredded. Back then Rick said we would’ve been in what you would call pretty good shape. I mean you are athletes but you just don’t look like one. It’s a different body type now.

MS: Was it easy to film the baseball scenes? I mean you all had participated in athletics before, right? Wyatt, you played hockey…

JQJ: I played basketball.

GP: I played football. On the set we would have baseball practice every morning. We had a couple guys who had played professional ball. One had played for the A’s, and a couple of played in college. So those guys helped out the guys who might not have had that much baseball experience. We also had to do a skills video as part of our audition. I think Quinton had the most entertaining non-baseball video.

JQJ: I mean I was an athlete. I could catch a ball. I could throw a ball. But I wasn’t a baseball player and Rick knew that instantly. So what I did is I added more flair as an artist. Again I played basketball so I threw a dunk in there. And I kept trying to throw in more as a person. I was juggling. I had a shot of a dog running through the park, set to the tune of Thin Lizzy’s “The Boys are Back in Town.”

GP: I was filming Ride Along 2 so I went to a batting cage and filmed mine. And then I just laid a bunch of 80s music on top of it. Mine wasn’t nearly as fun as yours.

WR: I had like five minutes to do mine because I had a go somewhere. The casting director called me on Friday and said you have to have it in… By 5 o’clock… On Friday. It was a big festival going on and all my friends were out of town. I didn’t even have a baseball glove. So I ended up going to my brother’s house and had him film me using my seven-year-old nephew’s glove.

MS: The film is full of great 80’s music. Did you listen to any particular songs to get into the feel of the era?

GP: Yes. Rick gave each of us and iPod nano with 100 songs from 1979 and 1980 on it. And so were ever we went… whatever we did… we listened to the music. And if we are in his game room playing ping-pong we listened to the music. It was a big part of getting us in tune with the times.

Everybody Wants Some!! is now playing in select cities. For tickets, visit everybodywantssomemovie.com

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Naomi Watts and Chris Cooper
Directed By: Jean-Marc Vallee
Rated: R
Running Time: 100 mins
Fox Searchlight Pictures
Our Score: 4 out of 5 stars

Falling in love with a Jake Gyllenhaal character is proving to be deadly. Last year his wife in Southpaw died, then there’s the ill-fated passenger aboard a train in Source Code and now we have Demolition. Gyllenhaal plays Davis,
whose main squeeze, Julia (Heather Lind), dies right off the bat in Demolition. A fatal car crash takes her young life, sparing Davis. The incident is a blur, which is a testament to how Davis has lived his life up until this point.

There’s a very telling scene at the hospital immediately after the accident, as Davis is awoken from a nap by Julia’s father, Phil (Cooper). Phil’s eyes are bloodshot from crying while Davis’ eyes simply have the remnants of sleep in them. If anything, Phil is more distraught over losing out on a pocket change from the hospital vending machine. But oddly enough he finds comfort when he begins to pen handwritten letters to the vending machine company that cheated  him out of some much needed candy.

His letters detail his adult life descent into apathy towards everything and everyone around him. He casually details his decomposition of his most simplistic of human emotions. Meanwhile, in robotic fashion, Davis watches and skirts around other people mourning the death of Julia. Verbally, he says the right things, but physically, his reactions are lethargic to the whole grieving process. The numbness he feels is the lack of love he had for his wife. He can’t even remember why he even married her in the first place.

Demolition casually, and sometimes very abruptly, takes some very surreal turns to show Davis’ unraveling. The death of his wife turns out to be a rebirth of sorts. Davis reflects on everything he’s done and soon his natural curiosity for life takes over. He socializes with people he would have normally disregarded and dismantles things around him, wondering how they work or simply, what’s on the inside of them.

At times Demolition plays like a fever dream, matching its heavy material with a heavy rock drumming on the soundtrack. The overpowering and sorrowful guitar soundtrack and music video-like sequences are cliché at times. Much like taking replacing a lightbulb with a sledgehammer, Demolition can be a little bit too blunt with its overall meaning about deconstructing life and rebuilding it. But it never takes away from its tragic message about how sometimes our lives are stuck on auto-pilot.

Every performance is spot on, especially Gyllenhaal who is still in a never ending quest for an Oscar, or at the very least, another nomination. Naomi Watts in turn provides a subtle innocence to an emotionally battled mom, Karen, struggling with her feelings over Davis. It’s odd that their sweet, yet non-physical, relationship stems from exchanging messages over a broken hospital vending machine, but their acting and their on-screen magic makes it believable. Judah Lewis plays Karen’s adolescent son, who ends up propelling Gyllenhaal’s character forward while providing his own character study on Chris, a boy struggling to come to terms with who he is.

Demolition is poignant, yet emotionally rejuvenating. It’s a visually entertaining story, with an at-times confusing narrative. It may take a couple of viewings to fully comprehend it’s multi-level message about society, the people in it, and the tendencies that those people have to become emotionally distant from everything. Nearly everyone in Demolition go through some complex changes, especially Davis, and it’s interesting to watch that growth, whether the changes be big or small.

Starring: Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Bell and Peter Dinklage
Directed by: Ben Falcone
Rated: R
Running time: 1 hr 39 mins
Universal
Our Score: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Ever since she broke out with an Oscar nominated performance in the film Bridesmaids, Melissa McCarthy’s film choices have been very hit or miss. She scored big in hits like The Heat and SPY. She missed terribly in Tammy, which she co-wrote with her husband, who also directed. This is their second project together and I’m happy to report it’s no Tammy 2!

When we first meet Michelle Darnell, she is a little girl living in an orphanage who is about to go home with her new family. Sadly, they return her. This happens a few times during her life until she swears that she won’t need a family to make it straight to the top.

Present day we find Michelle (McCarthy) addressing a crowd of 20,000 on her achievements, urging them to follow her lead to a life of wealth and opulence. A combination of Oprah and Susan Powter, Michelle is probably the most famous business-woman in the country, much to the chagrin of Renault (Dinklage), a business rival and former lover. A few calls later and she finds herself in prison, accused of insider trading. When she gets out, broke and destitute, she makes her way to her former assistant Claire’s (Bell) apartment and coerces her way into a place to stay.

Wanting to pull her own weight, Michelle takes Claire’s daughter, Rachel , to a local scout troop meeting and soon has the whole bunch selling brownies quicker than you can say Martha Stewart.

Very funny in certain parts, the film is a combination of McCarthy working with a great cast and a very funny script. Tammy was a collaboration between McCarthy and her husband, actor Ben Falcone. It had some funny moments but it wasn’t FUNNY. This time the couple have added long-time friend Steve Mallory to the list of writers and have found a film that is both funny and works to McCarthy’s strengths. It is a little over the top at times (and a little more “adult” than you might expect) but it’s definitely a film that will make you laugh out loud.

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Starring: Tom Hiddleston, Elizabeth Olsen, Bradley Whitford, Cherry Jones
Directed by: Marc Abraham
Rated: R
123 minutes
Sony Picture Classics

Our score: 3 out of 5 stars

There was a big fuss made last fall by Shenton Hank Williams over the casting of classically trained English actor Tom Hiddleston as his grandfather Hank Sr. Hank3 asserted the country legend should be played by an American who had ‘soul’. It is therefore a smart move that I Saw The Light frees audiences’ doubtful minds about this casting in a gorgeous opening performance of his classic “Cold Cold Heart”. Bathed in a spotlight and shadows, Hiddleston’s Hank is backed by no instrumentals as he croons the classic with all the soul you could ask for. Unfortunately, from this smooth opening, writer-director Marc Abraham launches into a biopic whose rhythm is at times overly choppy. Still, as a showcase for the versatile Hiddleston and fiery Olsen, I Saw the Light impresses.

The structurally episodic film launches straight into Williams’s first marriage to fellow aspiring singer Audrey Mae (Elizabeth Olsen) at a gas station in 1944 before bouncing onto scenes at local dive bars and radio gigs. Abraham skips over Hank’s formative years and we see him with eyes already set on the Grand Ole Opry. That is when they’re not wandering to other women or to the bottom of a bottle. The briefly happy pairing of Audrey Mae and Hank is immediately threatened by Williams’s overbearing mother (Cherry Jones) and Audrey Mae’s desire to share in Hank’s career despite her own lackluster voice. Abraham piles on these personal problems that beset Williams early and heavily before he gradually works in the mentions of Williams’s spina bifida pain which further drove his drug addiction. The trouble with this onslaught of darkness in I Saw the Light is it makes Williams’s untimely passing at age 29 feel like a foregone conclusion with little relief found in his musical achievements.

Thank goodness then for Hiddleston. No stranger to darkness (fresh off of Crimson Peak and about to engage in tv spy thriller “The Night Manager”), he’s magnetic in scenes that require him to rein in his demons–or let them loose. Pity the New York reporter who tries to raise tabloid rumors with Hank or the Hollywood exec who wants him to remove his iconic cowboy hat. He’s particularly chill inducing when invoking Hank’s on stage alter ego “Luke the Drifter,” in a scary recitation to some confused picnic goers. More importantly though he can mine the joy to be found in performing Williams’s work. Yodeling and gyrating–for all intents and purposes flirting with the audience–his striking stage presence goes a long way to selling Williams’s enduring charm despite the emphasis Abraham’s script puts on many terrible relationship choices.

In this arena at least, for most of the film Hiddleston is ably matched by Olsen’s Audrey Mae. A divorcee herself already at the time of their marriage, Audrey Mae is wont to serve Hank the divorce papers when his screwing around becomes too much. Their heated arguments make for some of the most charged interactions in the film, each nailing their southern twangs. More importantly, their tender moments–Hank’s charming as hell plea for Audrey to come back to him, his finding out about impending fatherhood–are truly touching and give the film the heart it needs. As Hank and Audrey Mae drift apart, the chemistry with Olsen is sorely missed. Wrenn Schmidt as Williams’s friend-zoned fling Bobbie Jett briefly rekindles sparks later when Hank’s regretting being a “professional of making a mess of things.” Schmidt is as world weary as Hank in their shared scenes and brings a welcome sense of humor to the ever encroaching darkness of the latter stages of the film.

Said latter stages become riddled with odd choices from Abraham such as increasingly frequent black and white “interviews” or a sudden audio narration whose presence suggests a documentary format we haven’t been privy to for the majority of the film. It undermines the brilliant work of his actors. Here, Hiddleston’s rendition of “Your Cheatin’ Heart” will make you weep. He undoubtedly gets to the heart of Williams’s appeal even as I Saw The Light struggles to illuminate it properly.

I Saw the Light is now playing in New York, LA and Nashville, it expands nationally this Friday.

Starring: Nia Vardalos, John Corbett and Michael Constantine
Directed by: Kirk Jones
Rated: PG 13
Running time: 1 hr 34 mins
Universal

Our Score: 3 out of 5 stars

In 2002, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” came out of nowhere to become one of the most successful, and beloved, romantic comedies of this young century. The film told the story of Toula Portokalos (Vardalos) and her search for love. The film ended with her marrying the very handsome Ian (Corbett) and living happily ever after in the house next door to her parents. 14 years later she’s still there.

If I had to sum up this film in one word it would be “familiar.” With most of the same cast doing a lot of the same things, the film depends a lot on the fact that you have seen the original. If not you won’t understand family patriarch Gus’ penchant for using Windex for everything, or why the hilarious Andrea Martin as Aunt Voula is the film’s comedic highlight. The story, in a nutshell: Toula and Ian have a teenage daughter. Her name is Paris (Elena Kampouris) and like other kids her age she’s looking for someone to go to prom with. School is hard because Ian is the principal. Toula continues to help out at the family restaurant, run by her parents. While Gus appears to be in charge, it is his wife, Maria (Lainie Kazan) that runs things. Proud of his Greek heritage, Gus is convinced that he is a direct descendent of Alexander the Great. In researching his family tree he finds his wedding certificate and notices that the priest that performed the service didn’t sign it. Does this mean he and Maria are not married? I sense a wedding in their future. Perhaps a big, fat Greek one.

If the film has anything going for it it’s the cast. As I said, many of the cast are from the first film and your familiarity with them is a plus. As a big fan of both Lainie Kazan and Michael Constantine, I enjoyed most of the film. As a couple they are perfectly matched, and even when they are fighting it’s easy to see the love. And the film is filled with everything Greek. From John Stamos, who is wasted in a cameo as the local weatherman married to Rita Wilson (who in real life is a full seven-years older than Stamos). The film also features a nice montage with the Billy Idol song “White Wedding” blasting out on a Greek bouzouki! Opa!

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“Battle Cry”

Judas Priest
Epic Records
Rated: Not Rated
DVD Running time: 94 minutes

Our Score: 4 out of 5 stars

Judas Priest’s tour in support of their 17th studio album was one of the most extensive of the group’s entire career- consisting of 130 shows in 33 countries and offering a set-list that touched upon selections from nearly all of their classic albums. Fans can now relive the live Priest experience through “Battle Cry”. Recorded live on August, 1st 2015 at Germany’s Wacken Festival in front of 85,000, the live performance is available on 15 track audio CD as well as DVD and Blu-Ray which both feature an additional 3 tracks shot in Poland on December 10th 2015.

Though not the first live concert performance release from metal gods Judas Priest it is however the first live release from the band to cover material from practically every album including “Redeemer of Souls”. Everything a hardcore Priest fan could want is here and more! From such classic tracks as “Metal Gods” and “Victim of Changes” to newer tracks like “Battle Cry” and “Redeemer of Souls”. You serious get a little bit of everything with this release. One track missing that I had hoped would make the cut was that of the song “Love Bites” off of “Defenders of the Faith”. The band performed this song for the first time since 1986 during the opening night of the “Redeemer of Souls” tour in Rochester, NY and continued playing it off and on throughout the tours run. Despite my own personal favorite missing the stunning visuals and immense crowd and staging made me quickly forget about that one minor detail as there was just so much to take in. The band made a really great decision by selecting the Wacken Festival as it is really proving to be one of if not thee most premier heavy metal festival.

This release will make a great addition to any metal fans collection especially if they were able to catch one of the bands shows from this tour. It would have been nice though if they came packaged as a CD/DVD combo giving you both an audio and video option all in one purchase. It also would have been cool to include some behind the scenes footage from the tour along with the 3 additional tracks being the tour was such a large undertaking for the band. Minus those few small things and you have great live release.

DVD/Blu-Ray Track Listing:

1.) (Intro) Battle Cry
2.) Dragonaut
3.) Metal Gods
4.) Devil’s Child
5.) Victims of Changes
6.) Halls of Valhalla
7.) Turbo Lover
8.) Redeemer of Souls
9.) Beyond the Realms of Death
10.) Jawbreaker
11.) Breaking the Law
12.) Hell Bent for Leather
13.) Hellion
14.) Electric Eye
15.) You’ve Got Another Thing Coming
16.) Painkiller
17.) Living After Midnight

Bonus tracks:

18,) Screaming for Vengeance
19.) The Rage
20.) Desert Plains

Starring: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavilll and Amy Adams
Directed By: Zack Snyder
Rated: PG-13
Running Time: 153 Minutes
Warner Bros. Pictures

Our Score: 2.5 out of 5 Stars

Over the past decade, Marvel has slowly built one of the most highly anticipated cinematic franchises, with each installment garnishing rave reviews and even more acclaim from fans. Through 12 movies, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has meticulously and carefully put all the pieces together, to where millions will turn out this summer and understand nearly every second of “Captain America: Civil War”. Marvel has taken a lot of time and patience to get that point. Warner Bros. and DC apparently don’t have time for that.

Set 18 months after the events of “Man of Steel”, “Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice” obviously introduces us to Bruce Wayne (Affleck). His backstory is ubiquitous, so we gloss over his tragic past in a quick sequence of shots and voice over narration on the opening credits. But the draw is when we watch the fight between Superman (Cavill) and General Zod (Michael Shannon) from the end of “Man of Steel”. While people flee from the chaos, Bruce runs into the clouds of debris and crumbling buildings, highlighting why he’s a superhero, even when he’s not the Dark Knight.

The scene is captivating and eerily reminiscent of 9/11, and that’s what it’s supposed to tell us about Batman’s mind set. It also seems to acknowledge many fan concerns from “Man of Steel” about the loss of life during the Superman/Zod beatdown. There’s a lot less careless disregard for civilians in “Batman V. Superman”, but that’s because much of the movie is spent building up to the fight between Batman and Superman. But that’s because it’s what people want to see, obviously. So does the build-up make sense? Kind of. Does it pay off? Sort of.

Since DC is playing catch-up, I believe it’s fair to compare “Batman V. Superman” to the “Avengers”. While Marvel clearly has room to breathe and enjoy what is has, DC appears breathless as it rushes through characters, plots, and ideas. While I did say that Batman’s origins are omnipresent, where Batman is at in his his life is a bit of a mystery. He’s in his 40’s and seemingly has a lot more downtime than previous incantations of Bruce Wayne. But rarely do we truly understand his distrust of Superman, more than we’re just supposed to go along with it. He also seems to have some skeletons in the closet we’re not being told about.

Then there’s the iconic Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg). When he arrives on scene, it’s clear he’s a billionaire playboy, but there are implications that he may just be a sociopath that inherited his father’s money. It’s uncertain whether he’s a genius or someone who’s trying to make too many bizarre religious connections to Superman. His infatuation with Superman, and to some extent Batman, is also never really explained. It’s merely implied that he has some extreme personality disorders.

Because so much of the plot is rushed and skipped over, we’re left having to digest CGI spectacles, and badly worded metaphors uttered by Alfred Pennyworth, Batman’s butler (Jeremy Irons) or Lois Lane, Superman’s squeeze (Adams). There’s too much information, but also too much time spent on inconsequential scenes, like Batman’s bizarre nightmare and Superman’s heart-to-heart on a random snowy mountain with his dead Earth father. “Batman V. Superman” doesn’t feel like a stand-alone movie, more than it just feels like a really long and unnecessary teaser for a “Justice League” movie.

If that’s the case, then the “Justice League” movie better be fantastic because we’ve really had to go through a lot of trouble to get one. That’s not to say “Batman V. Superman” isn’t a decent movie with some good ideas. The casting of Affleck, as well as his performance, is enough to forgive him for “Daredevil”. His portrayal of an aging Batman, focused on his legacy, could create some interesting plot points for later DC films, if they do it right. We also get more of Superman, carried over from “Man of Steel”, as a conflicted man dealing with his powers and who he should be for the people of Earth. While some people don’t like that Superman, I find that Superman more interesting and relatable.

Then of course, there’s Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), whose appearance was ruined by the theatrical trailers, which is really a shame because her appearance at the end isn’t a complete surprise. Despite that, the attending audience still went nuts as she hacked a few limbs off Doomsday; another character spoiled by the trailer. I do hope that Zack Snyder doesn’t use “Wonder Woman” much like he used the ladies of “Sucker Punch” or we’ll be in for more masturbatory nerd fan service with a really exciting character that’s more than just simple eye candy.

It’s hard to predict where “Batman V. Superman” will fall in the inevitable grand scheme of things. Looking in the crystal ball, there are some interesting directors and writers attached to future DC projects, such as Patty Jenkins, the director of “Monster” and James Wan director of “The Conjuring”. While Jenkins gets to handle the origins of Wonder Woman and Wan gets the handle the origins of Aquaman, it looks like Snyder will still be the man at the helm when it comes to the “Justice League” movie. If “Batman V. Superman” and “Man of Steel” are any sign, DC might want to find someone else, and fast.

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