Sea-monster time again in Jon Turteltaub's updated shark movie, THE MEG

THE MEG turns out to be an abbreviated version of the Megalodon, a now extinct and maybe 60-foot-long shark species that lived a couple of million years ago. It comes back, of course, from below the Mariana Trench, in the new sea-monster movie named after it and which offers a surprising amount of thrills, chills and good, silly fun. As directed by Jon Turteltaub (shown below), from a screenplay by Dean Georgaris, Jon Hoeber and Erich Hoeber (from the novel by Steve Alten), the movie has a rather charming, "lived-in" look about it.

Though it's full of hi-tech lab equipment and underwater wonders, there remains a homemade quality about everything from the plot and dialog to the visuals and special effects. Instead of working against the movie, however, these all add to its charm and relative low-key effectiveness.

All that -- together with the good international cast assembled to bring the movie to life -- makes The Meg an enjoyable end-of-summer monster-movie romp, as we sit around entertaining ourselves while climate change creeps up destructively all around us. (As I can best recall, there's nary a mention of this is the film. But then, why spoil our fun?)

That cast includes Jason Statham, above, looking as fit as ever, if a tad older these days. There's one delicious scene in which one of the movie's heroines, played by China's Li Bingbing (below), enters Statham's room as our hero is clad only in his after-shower towel. Try as she might, she can't seem to take her eyes off his incredible form, and the movie delivers a very nice "objectification-of-the-male-body" moment.


The Meg also does a pretty fair job of presenting its pseudo-science in a form that goes down relatively easily. The beginning is full of semi-savvy information provided us so that we can understand what's going on as we tag along with our crew, exploring the deepest part of the ocean with funding provided by one the world's billionaires (played with the right amount of smarm-and-then-charm, along with his usual good humor, by Rainn Wilson).


The nice supporting cast includes Page Kennedy (at far left, above), Ruby Rose (next left), and Cliff Curtis (far right), all of whom turn in smart/specific performances. And a good word must be said for the adorable young actress, Shuya Sophia Cai (below with Statham), who plays wittily and expressively the daughter of Ms Li. Once the movie turns its attention to the Meg's attacking the frolickers at a nearby beach (including, yes, a cute little dog), we get the usual silly fun, some decimation and of course very little actual bloodshed (to uphold the film's family-friendly rating).

The movie's pacing is generally good, though ten minutes could easily have been cut to tighten things up a bit. The final word we see on screen (prior to the end credits roll) is a hilarious and simultaneous nod to both French art films and scary shark movies. It ends The Meg with a most appropriate hoot. Whoever came up with this witty idea deserves special thanks.

Thanks, however, are nowhere due to either Warner Brothers (who is distributing the movie) or the Cinemark theater chain, where last night's press-and-invited-general-audience preview took place in Boynton Beach, Florida. The movie was somehow wrongly and very stupidly projected onto the screen in a ratio in which the top, bottom and both sides of the screen were so cut off that we in the audience could not read any (or very little of) the explanatory visual information telling us where in the world the scene is taking place or what year it might be. And then, when a foreign language is being spoken in several scenes, literally all of the subtitles were also unable to be read.

I know this is Flori-duh, but, really: At a press and public preview screening? Doesn't anyone check these things in advance? Earlier in the day I attended a press-only screening of the Papillon remake which started, yes, one-and-one-half hours late at a local Regal cinema -- because, again, no one at Regal had bothered doing the work that needed to be done in advance. Is it any wonder, despite the inroads made via the maybe-soon-to-be-late-and-lamented MoviePass, that audiences continue to forsake movie theaters for home viewing?

Meanwhile, The Meg -- running 113 minutes and projected, I hope, a hell of a lot better where you'll see it than where we saw it -- hits theaters nationwide on Friday, August 10. Click here to find those nearest you.

Kelly Macdonald quietly dazzles in Turtletaub, Mann and Moverman's remake, PUZZLE

I was blown away by the Argentine film, Puzzle, written and directed by first-timer by Natalia Smirnoff, when it was first released in the USA back in 2011, and though it never crossed my mind that the film needed remaking in English, now that PUZZLE is here -- directed by Marc Turtletaub with a screenplay by Polly Mann and Oren Moverman -- I must admit that the new version is almost as good -- hell, maybe every bit as good -- as the original.

Mr. Turtletaub, shown at left, is best known as a producer with some major winners under his belt, but he has done quite a fine job in this -- his second full-length directorial stint -- of bringing to life a small-scale tale of a subdued and somewhat cowed housewife named Agnes who discovers that she has a penchant for solving jigsaw puzzles at a very fast pace.

Turtletaub and his writers are helped no end by their leading performer, perhaps the most under-sung top-notch actress working today: Kelly Macdonald (shown below), who is simply so perfect in this role that her every moment resonates, each one bringing us closer to fully understanding this unusual woman, even as she begins to better understand herself and her (so far) unrequited needs.

Agnes is mother/wife to two nearly-grown kids and a kindly-if-old-fashioned husband (the terrifically real and moving David Denman below) who genuinely loves his wife but hasn't a clue to what's going on inside her. One of the great strengths of the movie (as was true of the original version) is that, though its main concern lies with the wife and her growth/change, it is able to view the husband (and to some extent the children) with the kind of care and empathy that has you rooting for them all.

It has been a few years since I've seen the original film, but as I recall the character of our heroine's puzzle partner was a stronger, more complete one in the original. Here, as played as well as the script permits by Irrfan Khan (below, left), that character is reduced somewhat. This matters less than you might expect, however, because the film is so much more focused on Agnes and her family.

Ms Macdonald charts Agnes' inner journey so well and with such specificity that we're with her entirely -- even when, on occasion, she's unfair to those around her. Growth and change come at a price and not always so easily, and the film honors this idea, as well.

Suburban life for a woman who has known only family, friends and church is made unusually clear here; breaking free into new ideas and activities has seldom seemed as invigorating, too. And if you imagine that Puzzle is going to come down to the usual choice by a woman between one man or another, the movie is too genuinely feminist and too concerned with real growth and change to make things that simple.

This is one of the best films of the year -- as was the original in its own year -- and it deserves as wide a viewership as possible. And Ms Macdonald, giving the best performance I've seen all year, deserves an Oscar -- or at very least a nomination.

From Sony Pictures Classics and running 103 minutes, Puzzle, after hitting major cities over the past few weeks, opens here in South Florida this Friday, August 10. In the Miami area, it will play the AMC Aventura 24; in Boca Raton at the Living Room Theaters, Cinemark Palace 20 and the Regal Shadowood 16; at the Cinemark 14 in Boynton Beach; the Cinemark Paradise 24 in Davie; at the Silverspot Cinema, Coconut Creek; at the Movies of Delray; and in Fort Lauderdale at the Classic Gateway 4. Wherever you live across the country, to find a theater near you, click here (then click on GET TICKETS on the right side of your screen).

Sebastian Gutierrez's genre-mashing, what's-going-on-here? delight, ELIZABETH HARVEST

For TrustMovies, one of the things that distinguishes a Sebastian Gutierrez film is how downright enjoyable it always is. His movies, no matter the genre, are just plain fun to see and hear. Several of his films, as both writer and director, are ensemble comedies of connection (Women in Trouble, Girl Walks Into a Bar), though he also ventured into would-be arty neo-noir (Hotel Noir) and even the horror genre (Rise: Blood Hunter).

Gutierrez's latest to hit theaters is a bizarre mystery puzzle entitled ELIZABETH HARVEST, which is simultaneously a very nice addition to the mash-up genre of sci-fi/horror/thriller. Once again, as with all of this filmmaker's work (Gutierrez is shown below), it proves to be enormous fun.

From its opening scene, in which a polished and very wealthy older man (the spot-on Ciáran Hinds) brings his new young bride (the lovely Abbey Lee) to his rather spectacular modern mansion and, during her tour of the premises, explains that she now owns and should feel comfortable with everything and in every room of the house -- except one -- the viewer's "Bluebeard" antennae will immediately start to wiggle. As they should.

But, oh my goodness, don't even begin to imagine that you have figured things out. That is it, so far as my spilling any "plot" beans is concerned. I will simply suggest that you stick with this movie for a wonderfully wild, visually enticing and often shocking/funny ride in which things are exactly as -- and then nothing like -- you expect.

Even the mention of a few other movies to which this one owes some thanks might spoil things, so I shall keep my mouth closed and fingers halted and concentrate instead on the performances. Mr. Hinds (above, left, and below, right) is as good as we now always expect him to be: particularly classy and rather scary, too.

Ms Lee (above, left and further above, right), with her model-slim figure and beautiful face, at first seems a tad too inexpressive. But, as the film moves on, she grows and changes -- for reasons the viewer learns almost at the same time as does her character. This is hardly an easy "role," but the actress not only takes it and runs with it, in fact, she crosses the finish line in rather remarkable fashion.

Supporting  roles (except they are hardly that; more like secondary leads, really) of the mansion's butler and maid are played by Matthew Beard (above) and Carla Gugino (below). The latter, having played in almost all of the Gutierrez's films, seems like something of a muse to the writer/director. Both actors are excellent, in Mr Beard's case, turning on a dime until we can hardly keep up with this character or what he wants.

TrustMovies often complains about the manner in which certain filmmakers choose to use exposition. Well, here, Gutierrez piles it on so heavily -- visually and verbally, using dialog, diaries, flashback and more -- during the second half of the film that it may just take your breath away. Yet, he does it all with such good humor and wit that it actually adds to the enjoyment to be had.

As I say, what goes on here, as sometimes bloody and naughty as it gets, never ceases to be great and increasing fun. And just about the time that you imagine things can't possibly get any crazier.....

From IFC Films and running 105 minutes, the movie opens this Friday, August 10, in New York City (at the IFC Center) and Los Angeles (at the Arena Cinelounge Sunset). If you're not located on either coast, no worries: The film will simultaneously open via VOD.

Niels Arden Oplev's marvelous SPEED WALKING: coming-of-age in 1970s Denmark

Who'd have imagined a movie about a death could be so full of life? Those Scandinavians who have read the novel, Kapgang, will already know this, of course. The rest of us will have to view the movie version to discover the delights of this tale of a 14-year-old boy whose mother has just died suddenly, and the loss and grief he and his family are thrown into, along with his also suddenly burgeoning sexuality which finds an object in both female and male classmates.

SPEED WALKING is alternately humorous, hot and heart-breaking, and the manner in which director Niels Arden Oplev (shown below) has brought all this together is quite splendid indeed.

Because the movie takes place in Denmark, the culture and attitudes we see will undoubtedly pull some American viewers up short. How can the adults on view be so cavalier about their own sexuality, let alone that of their children? That the movie takes place in the mid-1970s only points out how backward so much of America was then, and is perhaps even more so now.

Even though the Danes, not to mention the Swedes, were more open and embracing of sexuality, this does not mean that their society did not have its own problems, then or now. As shown here, there were still bullies and big-mouths at school, gossip was rife in the community, and the GLBT population were still seen to a large extent as outsiders.

As adapted for the screen by Bo Hr. Hansen from the novel by actor/writer Morten Kirkskov, the movie hops easily from scene to scene -- school and the speedwalking of the title to a funeral, religious confirmation, sexual exploration and more -- all tied nicely together by the director's skills (Oplev also made the original Girl With the Dragon Tatoo film) and the lead performance from a young newcomer named Villads Bøye (shown above and below, left), who it is difficult to imagine could have given a better performance.

Young master Bøye gets each moment right; he'll move you, surprise you and make you laugh -- sometimes simultaneously. As his best friend and possible lover, Kim, Frederik Winther Rasmussen (above, right, and below, left) is as blond, beautiful and handsome as you could want, while remaining just slightly out of reach -- except for an occasional hand job.

The adults are portrayed by some of Scandinavia's finest actors -- including Borgen's Sidse Babett Knudsen and Pilou Asbæk, David Dencik and Anders W. Berthelsen (shown at bottom).

The movie reveals how terribly "public" everything can be in a small-town environment at the same time as it shows us how kind and caring these townspeople can often be. Martin's journey toward adulthood, during which he must suddenly act as the only real adult in his family is a difficult one, but it is leavened with so much humor, incident and genuine feeling that I don't think that you'll regret, for even one moment, accompanying him on that journey.

From Breaking Glass Pictures and running a just-right 108 minutes, Speed Walking makes its home video debut this coming Tuesday, August 7, on DVD and VOD -- for purchase and/or rental.

Giallo time again with the Blu-ray release of Sergio Martino's 1971 (and just so-so) THE CASE OF THE SCORPION'S TAIL from 1971

I've finally figured out why I keep watching so many of these only so-so examples of Italian giallo movies: It's the time period (the 1970s) more than any other single feature that keeps pulling me in. These films -- many of them having made their Blu-ray debut from Arrow Home Video -- have been so well-remastered and then transferred to video that viewing them is akin to having the 70s, Italian style, unfurling in front of you all over again. It's nostalgic fun, while the colors, costumes, sets and often the camerawork, too, are eye-popping.

All of the above is true again with the latest example of giallo to hit home video: THE CASE OF THE SCORPION'S TAIL, directed by journeyman filmmaker Sergio Martino (at right) and written by Eduardo Manzanos, Ernesto Gastaldi & Sauro Scavolini.

The plotting, dialog and direction are mostly rudimentary, although Signore Martino does do some fun things to quicken the pace (a key goes into a lock but when it comes out and the door opens, we've entered a different location).

So rudimentary, in fact, seems the story-line that we imagine there must be some real surprise ahead. Indeed there is, so please hold on. That "hold," however, will take you through some awfully ridiculous behavior from characters who, though their lives are clearly threatened, act as though they had nine of them.

Several of those lives are lost -- this being giallo, they belong to women who are sliced rather nastily, though one young fellow meets his maker, as well -- before the movie reaches the finish line.

The plot has to do with an unfaithful wife (the beauteous Ida Galli, above, here working under the name of Evelyn Stewart), her hubby who dies in a plane crash (featuring a rather obvious model plane, below), and a million-dollar insurance policy.

In the leading man role, Martinez uses, to my taste, one of the most boring and bland actors ever to appear in Italian films, George Hilton (shown below, and four photos up), and his mediocre performance keeps dragging the movie downward.

Fortunately, in the heroine role (the film takes its time revealing just who this will be), we have the beautiful and talented-enough-to-carry-the-film-along Anita Strindberg, who plays a feisty journalist investigating the series of murders and who just might be the latest victim.

Filmed in Greece, and elsewhere around Europe (one of the Bonus Features on the disc is entitled Jet Set Giallo), the location photography is first-rate/vacation-level. Still connoisseurs come to giallo not for the locations, but for the sex, semi-nudity and splatter -- all of which can be found here.

The disc's Bonus Features also includes good recent interviews with lead actor Hilton, director Martino, an analysis of Martino's films by author Mikel J. Koven, a new video essay on giallo by Troy Howarth, plus lots more -- not to mention the excellent Blu-ray transfer in a brand new 4K restoration.

From Arrow Home Video and distributed here in the USA by MVD Entertainment, in both an English dubbed version and the original Italian with English subtitles and running 95 minutes (the Bonus Features last at least another hour or two), The Case of the Scorpion's Tail hit the street last month -- for purchase and maybe (I would hope but I don't know just where) rental.

THE KING -- Eugene Jarecki’s fascinating doc about Elvis and America--opens in So. Florida

Not a great film but one that is consistently interesting and often thought-provoking, THE KING offers, on one level, an intellectual experience something akin to viewing a splatter artist’s painting for the first time and out of all that color and form discovering a lot of fascinating connections. On another level – and done in an unusual manner but very well -- the movie is a smart bio-pic of Elvis Presley, as it moves back and forth in time and place until it has given us a surprisingly cogent account of his character and career.

As written and directed by Eugene Jarecki (shown at left), who has given us some terrific and important earlier docs (Why We Fight, The House I Live In and a section of Freakonomics), this film seems to TrustMovies to be one of this filmmaker's most free-form and impressionistic works. It's alternately allusive and illusive.

At one point in the doc, the director himself  (who makes a now-and-then appearance) allows that he isn't even sure what's he's doing here. By the end of the film, however, he has put together a compelling enough array of connections to make a pretty fair case. Mr. Jarecki sees Elvis' life, his rise and fall, as a kind of stand-in for America itself -- certainly for that elusive but so often remarked upon "American Dream."

Both Elvis and our country seemed to stand for something important and unusual. The country has now imploded, sinking into its own worst features and fears. Elvis did, too, though even in one of his final appearances, he managed to sit down at the piano and play and sing Unchained Melody like the great performer he could be and often was.

Jarecki wisely and movingly ends his film with this song, set against an array of fast, vast, nearly subliminal visuals that hit and highlight American history. It's impressive, as has been much of the lengthy movie itself -- which travels, via Elvis' own Rolls Royce (shown above, and which breaks down occasionally) across the country, east to west, with stops including Tupelo (Elvis' home town in Mississippi), Memphis, Nashville and the armpit/cesspool of the USA, Las Vegas.

Along the way we meet and hear from celebrities such as Ethan Hawke, Alec Baldwin, Ashton Kutcher and Public Enemy's Chuck D (shown below) and just-plain-folk: one of Elvis' longtime best friends, an ex-girlfriend (above) and the housekeeper who was with him at the end. What the latter have to say seems very bit as interesting as that of the former, though Mr. Kutcher does make a statement of about fame and talent that shows he's "woke" -- regarding himself, at least.

Not everyone here agrees with Jarecki's "take" on things (chief among these is David Simon, noted TV writer of The Wire and other shows), but the filmmaker seems perfectly OK with disagreement. This is part of what makes his film all the more interesting and acceptable. The connections he makes, ranging from easily accessible to pretty far afield, are nearly always understandable, even if you may sometimes nay-say.

We're treated to some good music along the way (Elvis', of course, and that of some others, shown above and below). By film's end, you'll have been made privy to a theory/thesis that should keep you on your intellectual and emotional toes, as well as to a Elvis bio-pic that -- depending on what you already knew about the legendary performer -- will make you both appreciate and lament this "king" all over again.

From Oscilloscope Films and running a lengthy but never boring 109 minutes, the movie, after opening in major cities over the past month, hits the South Florida area tomorrow, Friday, August 3. In Miami, look for it at the Bill Cosford Cinema and the Miami Beach Cinematheque, and in Palm Beach County at the Living Room Theaters of Boca Raton, and the Movies of Delray and Movies of Lake Worth and at the Lake Worth Playhouse. Click here to view all currently scheduled playdates, cities and theaters across the country.

Netflix streaming must-see -- EXTINCTION gives the idea of the "other" a real workout

Gosh, do we need a movie like this one now. In our age of Trump-fueled hatred toward anyone who's different  -- Blacks, Latinos, Muslims, and whoever else is not white shite -- along comes EXTINCTION, a new film from director Ben Young and writers Spenser Cohen, Brad Caleb Kane, and perhaps Eric Heisserer (who. if so, now goes uncredited on the IMDB), that gives "the other" the kind of workout this subject has not had in quite some time.

Extinction effectively turns inside out our expectations and assumptions and in the process forces us as gently and completely as possible to embrace that other because we have already so firmly put ourselves in its place.  This is an accomplishment I can't recall another movie managing, and certainly not this well. This is due to the smart script and direction but also to the fine performances of its leading characters, a father and mother -- played by Michael Peña and Lizzy Caplan (above and below) -- of a family under siege from alien invaders.

Though the movie begins with our hero having dreams about the very thing that's about to happen -- which already sounds a bit been-there-done-that -- once reality has made it self clear, so many plot points are suddenly explained that don't simply make sense but also seem to be an especially clever manner in which to have conceived and executed the story.

How good it is to see Mr. Peña in a leading role as a smart, caring family man. He's a perfect "everyman," which is just what the role needs, and Ms Caplan adds her usual spunk and charm to the proceedings. The scene in which the two of them first meet is as graceful, lovely and warm as anything you'll have seen -- and twice that, given the context here.

The supporting cast is fine, too, with Israel Broussard a standout as the unusual character named Miles with whom our current President could never begin to understand or identify. I hope I have not said too much already to result in a spoiler. Just stick Extinction on your Netflix queue and watch it ASAP. You're in for a wild action ride, especially in the first half of the film, and then, in the latter half, oh, boy. 
Oooooooooh, boy.