'Rogue City' A Review

Rogue City is a French crime thriller about the anti-robbery/anti-gang division of the Marseille policy department. The story follows Vronski(Lannick Gautry) as he navigates and participates in an incredibly convoluted snarl of corruption with local drug traffickers and his own department.

Seemingly aping 80's US action films the cast all look and act straight out of the Stallone/Schwarzenegger heyday. There is little to no character development, little to no actual acting going on aside from either impassivity or sneering cruelty. And unlike the US 80's films from which it is seemingly inspired it has a nihilistic bleakness to it that prevents it from actually being fun.

Filmed on location in the south of France the locales are wonderful and every cop has a bafflingly gorgeous and large villa. The look of all the actors, virtually every character has long shaggy hair, is retro to the point of ludicrousness. The script is presumably some attempt at Training Day by way of the intensity of Deer Hunter and it is an astonishing failure. Every couple is cheating on each other(maybe that's just French or the scripts attempted shortcut to character), threats of rape are the criminals go-to, and the transparent and consistent corruption of the cops is presumably acceptable because of the circumstances, at least within the context of the story. The brief action sequences are decent but far from enough to balance out the vileness and tedium of the characters and narrative.

In a year mostly bereft of action fair due to scheduling delays Rogue City is definitively not even a mild substitute.

Currently streaming on Netflix.

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Form And Substance

Consider the nature of a thing
it's form and function

take for instance

a squeaky floor

and a sturdy board

on one you may

tread lightly

in order to avoid its shriek

on the other

one may walk stolidly

in deference to it's strength

or perhaps deliberately clomp

to revel in the creaks and clatter

or slide along the smooth

robustness like a playful satyr

Consider the nature of a thing

it's form and function

each with it's part to play

in life's marvelous conjunction

'2067' A Review

2067 is a science fiction movie set in a dystopian future where all plant life has been wiped out and the surviving human population is slowly dying from the limited synthetic oxygen supply. Orphaned city power plant worker Ethan(Kodi Smit-McPhee) fixes the ailing nuclear reactor with his best friend Jude(Ryan Kwanten) when they called in to meet with the top brass at the synthetic oxygen company Ethan's father use to work at as a head scientist. They discover he invented a time machine to communicate with the future and they received a message to "Send Ethan Whyte" thinking this could be the key to a cure and human survival Ethan is sent forward four hundred years. But things are not what they seem!

Smit-McPhee is a little out of his depth as the heroic lead and this is exacerbated by the stilted dialogue and some rough plot mechanics. Kwanten is a bit more confident and comfortable and the two have decent chemistry but the ambitious ideas aren't quite bolstered up by the mostly flat characters and overwrought emotions.

Slick and creative production design and an effective score help to elevate 2067 beyond the garish and there are some genuinely intriguing scifi concepts but script itself is under-baked and can succeed only to a point.

Currently available to rent on most VOD platforms.

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Duty

Life is full of responsibility
small daily obligation

they can overwhelm, erode

however easy 

or inconsequential

by shear volume 

and ceaselessness

but there is satisfaction

in commitment fulfilled,

in balance.

I had agreed to give 

my oldest friend's

teenage son

a motorcycle ride

and although

the logistics

were quite circuitous

the deed itself

was energizing.

Mega Man 2

From out of the mist

of twenty five years

a blue clad man

spewing orbs,

memories of fevered hours

inside the gloom

of the Muldowney's basement

in pursuit of Dr. Willy

and his rogue creations.

'The Witches' A Review

The Witches is a fantasy/dark comedy based on the Roald Dahl book of the same name. In 1968 a young boy, Hero Boy(Jahzir Kadeem Bruno), goes to live with his grandmother, Grandma(Octavia Spencer), in Alabama after the tragic death of his parents. After encountering a witch at the local general store the two go to hide out at a nearby hotel. Unfortunately the hotel is hosting an anti-child cruelty convention at the same time which is in fact a cover for the yearly witch gathering headed by the Grand High Witch herself(Anne Hathaway).

Bruno shows natural talent and exceptional ease on screen, using his charm and emotion to ground the story but also able to play up the more horrific/comedic/absurd notes. Spencer, as always, is a delight, the beating real heart of the film, able to fluidly move through the various tones and moods so nothing is discordant, a significant challenge given the material. Her performance is especially impressive given a majority of her scenes are with CG animals. Hathaway as the extremely over-the-top thickly accented GHW is fun but not particularly inspired especially, and perhaps unfairly, with the inevitable comparison to Angelica Huston who played the same roll in the 1990 incarnation with more menace and relish. The supporting cast are all decent but no one really floats to the top, not a surprise, given the pacing is relatively(and justly) clipped and any spare time for character development is given to Bruno and Spencer.

A wonderful soundtrack and immaculate production design create a wonderful world for the story but writer/director Robert Zemeckis bizarre fixation with CGI and trudging through the uncanny valley significantly detracts from the experience particularly with regards to the CG animals and the witches aesthetic.

A solid cast, some intriguing ideas, and a mostly successful production make for decent entertainment but nothing that surprising. The biggest disappointment is that its potential is clear but it fails to meet it.

Currently streaming on HBOMax.

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'Time' A Review

Time is a documentary about Fox Rich, entrepreneur, abolitionist, and mother of six, as she fights for the release of her husband who is serving a 60-year sentence for an armed robbery they both committed, she entered a plea bargain and served 3 years out of a 12 year sentence, and he tried the case receiving a vindictive sentence. The film unfolds through extensive home video footage shot by Rich cut with produced footage from the present.

In unassuming black and white with a lyrical almost dream like piano score the film fluidly morphs through 20 years of the family's struggle, focusing predominately on Rich but by extension her children, crosscutting them as children and as young men. Not only is it a powerful political film, more intimate than it's counterparts The House I Live In and 13th Amendment, it is a meditation on time, courage, and love. The film doesn't necessarily get into policy specifics in regards to systemic oppression and mass incarceration it focuses on how these institutions directly effect people, families, and life. What the cost is on a human level. It's incredibly potent.

More wispy dream or gentle breeze than fiery social statement it none the less gets to the heart of the issue by focusing on the individuals effected, the pain and frustration and anxiety, the valor and endurance needed to survive let alone triumph. It focuses on empathy rather than policy and perhaps that can change minds more effectively than information. A must watch for these turbulent times.

Currently streaming on Amazon.

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