No Escape

Every once in awhile you hear of somebody getting transferred or getting a new job overseas. Growing up in an affluent Detroit suburb and where you know a lot parents working for the auto industries, it wouldn't be uncommon for a kid to move to a foreign country or the opposite where the foreigners move over here. It's culture shock filled with change both ways. As somebody who really struggles with change, the idea of moving of overseas is very out of the question unless absolutely necessary.

Those same cultural shock and changes are presented to us in the 2015 film No Escape. The Dwyer family has just moved from Austin, Texas to Southeast Asia due to the dad Jack Dwyer (Owen Wilson) getting transferred by his company. After only spending one night in town, the Dwyer family finds themselves in a coup where Americans and Jack himself is the main target.

What is quite interesting is that director John Erick Dowdle is involved with this. Dowdle is a director who's had a straight line of good horror films he's put out through the years. With the plot and big names actors, it seems as though he's now going in a different direction. The plot itself is original for sure and can find an audience. Coups of course are found throughout history but No Escape doesn't give a clear explanation as of why this is happening in the movie. Ideas of waters and some type of business greed are topics are out there and hinted at in one scene but in the end, it is just not clear. The first scene is even more of a question mark and even though it's described as a poor country with a lot of poverty, I could have really taken at least a scene or two showing local cops. Basically a group of guys who have some of The Warriors inspirations to them are losing it over water and they start a coup. I am serious here.

The sad thing really is that the movie is shot pretty well. It's really gives us great images especially it's roof scenes and you feel the culture shock. With a rape scene and some pretty intense action scenes, you can't say No Escape is not at least a little exciting. The pacing though is still all over the pace and it get tiresome when the film just can't stop throwing action scenes at you.

The lost cause in No Escape is the characters. It is nice to see Owen Wilson stepping out and playing a different role for him. The always likable Lake Bell plays the mother Annie Dwyer and it is beyond refreshing to see her get another lead role after a fantastic lead role in In a World two years ago. Action star Pierce Brosnan plays Hammond; a spy and we have no idea as to why he's in this country and he appears unevenly. We just need more characters ultimately because it is beyond depressing just watching a family with small girls stuck and scared in coup for three acts nor can they full carry this film without it sagging a little.

For what it's trying to be, No Escape surely could have been much worse. That said, it might be time for Dowdle to go back to making movies about the Paris catacombs, serial killer tapes and trying to figure who's the devil on a elevator because his ideas on government are not up to his usual high standards. No Escape is only something to watch again because of how well it's made but Dowdle's other films have a much higher "rewatch" quality.              

2.5/5

The Grand Budapest Hotel

If you follow the film industry as much as I have, you must surely know about director Wes Anderson. Anderson is a very quirky filmmaker who came into the public eye in the late 90's and then developed a following. His is a type of filmmaking that you either love or hate but either way, it is definitely different compared to what usually comes out of the film.

Anderson's newest film is The Grand Budapest Hotel and the most misleading thing about this film is that its not all about this hotel. Sure, the plot centers around the hotel but the story is about an art heist in the 1930's involving characters Monsieur Gustave (Ralph Fiennes) and Zero (Tony Revolori) in the fictional town of the Republic of Zubrowka. The heist leads to deaths, a friendship, a family's fortune and of course the Grand Budapest Hotel.

I can't say that I've seen many art heist films because there aren't many of them. The art heist story is quite convoluted and can be on the dull side but it is very smart with depth and the story involves  much more than a typical heist. The story contains many elements ranging from black comedy to action/thriller scenes. The movie has a type of depth that can't really be described in full to someone who hasn't seen it.

What makes this an even more interesting art heist story is how Anderson's filmmaking style fits into it. He makes this story very quirky and strange; so much so that is a borderline "art house" film. It is a type of style that is again hard to describe and frankly it is best when watching this to just go with it. Anderson brings many characters to the story including big name actors like Jeff Goldblum, Bill Murray, Luke Wilson and Owen Wilson. Yes, it's too many characters to keep track of at times but only Anderson could have gotten together a cast like this and it is very inspiring to see a cast like this in an "indie type" film.

I don't see The Grand Budapest Hotel as a film that I will be watching very often nor is it close to the type of films I'm normally into but Wes Anderson really makes this film worthwhile. He does so much here to tell the story and make it unfold into something really good and something we could not imagine being so good. The Grand Budapest Hotel is very grand and heartwarming and one of the first different types of films of 2014.

4/5

Midnight in Paris

In many ways, I can see why everyone seems to love the 2011 Woody Allen romantic comedy fantasy movie, Midnight in Paris. It has a romantic side for the ladies and wine and restaurant themes within the city of Paris for the many fans of the city. A film like this probably should have not worked for me but Woody Allen is probably the one director that could interest me in something like this and he does.

As the title says, the movie is set in Paris with lead character Gil Pender (Owen Wilson) going through a crisis involving his love life. He can't decide if wants to live the rest of his life with his fiance Inez (Rachel McAdams) or a woman named Adriana (Marion Cotillard) who he meets through time travel that allows him to go back to the 1920's.

This is a plot that kind of goes in different directions. The time travel idea is obviously different for a romantic film and the film delivers the feel of the 1920 very well which brings a lot to the table including figures like F. Scott Fitzgerald and Picasso. The scenes of Paris are beautiful and this movie is stylized very well. Paris, the City of Love, is naturally a great setting for this love story and the plot makes you look at many sides of the story. That said, there is some dry writing throughout, some very slow scenes and the pace of the movie is slow overall. Much of the plot is typical of romatnic movies which again I am not a big fan of and I would rate the plot as only "fair".

Probably the main reason why I liked this movie is the cast. From leads, Wilson and McAdams to the supporting characters played by Adrien Brody and Kathy Bates, they are excellent and helped the movie work through it's flaws.

I enjoyed Midnight in Paris and got something out of it but only to a point. While I liked it, it is a one-time watch for me.


4/5