Author: Damien Riley

An 8 episode miniseries had better be a good mystery. In this case, you’re sitting through 6 full hours of USA Network mystery/thriller, expecting something big at the end. Jessica Biel is a big pull, she stars in it and co-produced it. But is it worth all the hype?

The Sinner
TV-14 | 1h | Drama, Mystery, Thriller | TV Series (2017)

A young mother tries to find out what’s causing her to have violent tendencies.
Creator: Derek Simonds
Stars: Jessica Biel, Christopher Abbott, Dohn Norwood

This review contains spoilers. This story starts interesting. You have a woman who has never been violent, a mom and wife on a beach who all of a sudden in front of her husband and child proceeds to stab a man sitting on the towel in front of her. She gives no reason other than the fact that she told him to turn down his music. This character is played by Jessica Biel.

The investigator on the case (Bill Pullman) becomes obsessed with the case. He can’t accept she would do such a think without a reason. He goes hot on the case finding clues here and there, getting chided by his colleagues for helping a clear murderer try and figure out what happened. A side story deals with his own demons of a sexual nature and his marriage that is quickly crumbling.

Christopher Abbot plays a similar character to what we usually see from him: the cool New Yorker who can snap at any moment. He adds very little to the suspense or story. By the 6th episode I could see they had nothing to unearth. I was right. This film draws you in under false pretenses and leaves you with a very weak explanation for the crime. It was fun watching because I expected something. At the end there was no worthy explanation and it felt like I’d wasted 2-3 episodes’ time. I would like to see more shows like this but with a plot that justify the initial tension of the crime.

6/10

The early scenes of this film are normal and mundane. You have a simple couple setting out to take a sightseeing romantic vacation. Very son into it, everything goes haywire which makes for some of the best British black comedy. Director Ben Wheatley throws decorum aside and delivers a no-holds-barred project like only he can.

Sightseers (2012)
Not Rated | 1h 28min | Adventure, Comedy, Crime | 10 May 2013 (USA)

Chris wants to show girlfriend Tina his world, but events soon conspire against the couple and their dream caravan holiday takes a very wrong turn.
Director: Ben Wheatley
Writers: Alice Lowe, Steve Oram | 1 more credit »
Stars: Alice Lowe, Kenneth Hadley, Steve Oram

We have a term here in the states for folks like these: white trash. They bring no honor to their kind and lack “class.” This is a couple in that category for sure. We watch them go through their misadventures and there are no limits to what they’ll do. One might kill out of unfounded jealousy while another will burn an enemy down. Let’s be real, this won’t be winning any high-brow awards. Still, there is plenty of hilarious material here from the twisted mind of Ben Wheatley. I for one loved it!

8/10

America has really never been a caste-free society. The rich get richer and the poor get the picture. In this film we get a direct camera lens view into what it is like for the poor in a resort town of Florida. More specifically, it’s focused on a mother and daughter trying to survive while living in a daily rate motel.

The Florida Project (2017)
R | 1h 51min | Drama | 10 November 2017 (UK)

Set over one summer, the film follows precocious six-year-old Moonee as she courts mischief and adventure with her ragtag playmates and bonds with her rebellious but caring mother, all while living in the shadows of Disney World.
Director: Sean Baker
Writers: Sean Baker, Chris Bergoch
Stars: Brooklynn Prince, Bria Vinaite, Willem Dafoe

I’ve been a student of the culture of poverty every since I started teaching in an inner city environment. There are all sorts of observed rules you wouldn’t thin of unless you lived in it. For example, the kids in poverty know when the churches and bakeries put out the day old bread and they are there ready to pick it up. There’s nothing shameful about this, it’s survival. In this film we see various ways the poor survive in this environment. It’s often touching, sometimes maddening, and yes entertaining. This is a valuable relic because as it entertains it educates about an unseen part of our society. I can’t get enough reminders of why some people do the things they do to survive in the culture of poverty.

Sometimes as a human race we can look to a culture to remind us what it is to be sensitive and human. In this film, we follow a hapless grocery store clerk in Queens who is just trying to see his son after he has been separated from him when his wife died.

Menashe (2017)
PG | 1h 22min | Drama | 28 July 2017 (USA)

Within Brooklyn’s ultra-orthodox Jewish community, a widower battles for custody of his son. A tender drama performed entirely in Yiddish, the film intimately explores the nature of faith and the price of parenthood.
Director: Joshua Z Weinstein
Writers: Alex Lipschultz, Musa Syeed | 1 more credit »
Stars: Menashe Lustig, Yoel Falkowitz, Ruben Niborski

I felt among these characters. It watches really like a documentary but I checked and it’s not. These are actors playing from a script and the emotions they evoke are significant. Whether its through watching the father work in the store or spending quality time with his son, the film shows that even this highly traditional culture holds the same bonds that we do as sacred.

Please note the film is entirely in Yiddish so if subtitles aren’t your thing, you should avoid this one. It made remember how special my kids are and how much I would do if asked to stay with them. The traditions of this Hebrew culture are also addressed which I found very interesting as well. This is a great watch for any human. 9/10

It’s being compared to the classic film “the Shining.” It’s clearly weird like this director’s other recent film, “The Lobster.” Yorgos Lanthimos directed this and co-wrote it as well. His skills at suspense are right up front but sadly the story is best understood only as metaphor.

The film begins as literally the most antiseptic film you can imagine. We find out that Steven is a charismatic surgeon who is of late quite devoid of animated life. He’s lost his drive with his wife and his kids seem bored with him. What’s most curious is the odd teenage boy who seems to keep showing up at the hospital while Steven is making his rounds. There’s something not right about it. Spoliers may follow!

I wondered if Steven had made an error in a surgery and the boy was bringing that to light. He feels like a fly in the ointment. At this point it really starts to feel like “Cape Fear.” You have the boy as the stalker impinging on Steven’s family. He might as well call Steven “counselor.” That’s a comparison to a real world imagination. This film goes a few layers down into the metaphorical and to be honest, I’m not exactly sure what the metaphors are. The best I can come up with at the moment is that Steven can’t admit his mistakes and reckon with them. He also seems unable to ever ask for help. On that level I can relate. It’s hard to accept one is fallible and accept the consequences of ones actions, and it MUST be done or things, well, things die.

There is a lot to talk about here but I would have liked a little more explained to me. The director leaves too much up to the imagination. All in all, I like films like this (just when I get them more) so I give it a 7/10.