DAMIEN RILEY, world musician and performer

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  • The Big Sick (2017)

    This is great: a bio pic about a comedian trying to make it and how he fell in love with his girlfriend. Oh, and there’s some Pakistani ethnic issues that threaten the relationship as well since he is Pakistani and she is white.

    The Big Sick (2017)
    R | 2h | Comedy, Romance | 14 July 2017 (USA)

    A couple deals with their cultural differences as their relationship grows.
    Director: Michael Showalter
    Writers: Emily V. Gordon, Kumail Nanjiani
    Stars: Kumail Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan, Holly Hunter

    I had seen Kumail’s work here and there and I’ve always thought he was a chill comedian. IN fact, in this film, something I noticed was how calm he is, even in face of rejection or turmoil. As the smooth dialogue would transpire I’d think to myself: “I wonder if it went down this smooth in real life?” I’m really impressed the way he broke out with this film that essentially a love story of how he and his girlfriend (now wife) met. I find that charming.

    The director Michael Showalter has some good stuff on his resume. The film I recognized the most was My Name is Doris with Sally Field. That was a fiction but it watches like a bio pic. He shows the dark side of Doris, not just the funny one. This ability shows up in his directing on this film, he’s done a stellar job here.

    Zoe Kazan plays Emily, Kumail’s love interest. Hear me when I say this: she embodies the character. I think she was a great casting choice. I never miss a chance to see a Zoe Kazan film and this one is no exception. I loved her in this. She actually resembles the real Emily. Ray Romano and Holly Hunter play her parents. They do a great job testing and finally accepting Kumail. The hospital scenes are really the heart of the film. A sub plot of the film is his family’s attempts to arrange a bride for him. These scenes are funny and add a lot to the believability of the characters. It’s all done without pushing Pakistan into your face, like My Big Fat Greek Wedding does with the Greek culture. It’s subtle and keeps you curious. Another sub plot is the Improv club where Kumail and his friends are honing their craft. They all live on the cheap which is fun to see as the camera travels into and among their zone.

    For romantic comedy fans, this one’s a must. I give it my highest recommendation!

    10/10

    At time of writing this, the film is still in theaters.

  • Raw (2016)

    A slow rolling horror that builds to a crescendo. Also, we get to learn about the French Vet training system. It’s a lot like the most intense hazing colleges of the US. And then there’s the eating of flesh thing, yeah that’s there too.

    Raw (2016)
    Grave (original title)
    R | 1h 39min | Drama, Horror | 15 March 2017 (France)

    When a young vegetarian undergoes a carnivorous hazing ritual at vet school, an unbidden taste for meat begins to grow in her.
    Director: Julia Ducournau
    Writers: Julia Ducournau (dialogue), Julia Ducournau (screenplay)
    Stars: Garance Marillier, Ella Rumpf, Rabah Nait Oufella

    I’ve held off watching this for months because of the subtitles. When I finally got some time to sit with it and not multi-task I have to say I enjoyed it as a horror film and had a very good time watching.

    Everything is bare-bones here. It almost watches like an old 70’s film. There is a building where she goes to school and there are dorms. The film goes nowhere else. The story as it unfurls is odd and a bit hard to imagine as true, but this is horror right? The film opens with a long open road and a figure running in front of an oncoming car. Soon after the collision, the pedestrian saunters up clearly in pain and goes to the car window. Then the story begins of the female protagonist going to vet school. She goes through hazing, which her older sister approves to be done to her. There is a scene of being splashed in animal blood and another of eating raw rabbit organs. As a result she develops a taste for flesh, I’m afraid I missed how or why this happens. There are events, a twist, and a morose conclusion.

    It’s an ok way to spend a runtime. It’s not as good as I had hoped and the subtitles certainly are not deep or enriching in any way. Still, it’s shocking and fun with latex and blood which most of us horror fans get the fun in. It’s also interesting seeing a coming of age experience in another country. For fans of the horror genre I recommend it!

    7/10

    Watch this online on Amazon Video for $5.99

  • Trainwreck

    Many short comedy sketches by Amy Schumer inserted to a full length movie script. Vulgar, understated, ridiculous, sarcastic, ingenious fun.

    I confess I look at critic ratings prior to seeing movies, expecially ones that aren’t out yet. I saw Trainwreck garnered high 90 percents from the critics on Rotten Tomatoes which really surprised me so I was interested. The cover looks like Bridesmaids and the Hangover had a baby and that’s somewhat accurate. What I didn’t know going in was that the protagonist has starred in her own Comedy Central show for two years. In fact, she’s been on Ellen and spurred viral footage of her riffing and making Ellen snort she’s so funny. I think it would help for people to know she is an established comedy commodity with a distinctive vulgar and often understated style. Without that knowledge, one could make the mistake of thinking it’s just another sex and puke comedy dangled before primal eyes.

    Maybe that alone will work for most viewers. We’ve been so inundated with gross films in the last 20 years for which audiences show their love through ticket sales. As for me, I think if I didn’t know of Miss Schumer’s notoriety and idiosyncratic style, I might has scoffed through most the movie. As is was, I enjoyed watching her brand of humor for a couple hours. Speaking of hours, there were some scenes about 3/4 of the way through when she and her boyfroend, Bill Hader, start fighting like a married couple where the film truly dragged for me. It’s for those scenes as well as unnecessary penetration scenes that didn’t add to the comedic lines for me. In other words, the writers didn’t have to stoop that low to relate with the audience. That a; having been said, I found this film a hoot to be sure. My wife and I were in tears during the sex scene with John Cena. He’s the perfect hunk to demonstrate what talking dirty is not.

  • #Horror

    I hope all movies don’t follow the trend of using their genre hashtag as title, but here it is unique and pretty cool! Based on the content, it does fit. The woods are always a good place to start a horror movie. You wouldn’t think to find a rich girl’s fancy home there but in this case we do. What follows is a bloody film showing some of the worst girl bullying and maybe the most violent bonkers from Timothy Hutton we’ve yet seen.

    #Horror (2015)
    Not Rated | 1h 41min | Drama, Horror, Mystery | 20 November 2015 (USA)

    Six preadolescent girls face a night of terror when the compulsive addiction of an online social media game turns a moment of cyber bullying into a night of insanity.
    Director: Tara Subkoff
    Writer: Tara Subkoff
    Stars: Sadie Seelert, Haley Murphy, Bridget McGarry

    Director and writer Tara Subkoff gets kudos from me, even though this film is a bit predictable and not very credible. She’s been in some great movies like, The Cell, As Good as it Gets, and a host of others. This was her first try at directing and it takes a lot of chances which is commendable. Whether she learns from them for her next film will be the real test.

    Lead actress, Sadie Seelert hasn’t gone to the trouble to put her info into IMDB, which annoys me a little. She does have one other film under her belt called Callie Wants a Solo. I’ve never heard of it. Young actress Haley Murphy has neglected her bio the same way but we do know she has done Silent House (2011), My Best Day (2012) and #Horror (2015). All the actresses are very pretty and they memorize their lines. Unfortunately, much of the film reminds me of a forced skit in drama class. Usually with horror though, one can get away with forced acting.

    The film is basically the girls bullying each other on social media while alone in their parents’ house. People start mysteriously being killed and … yes there is an ending that reveals all. I enjoyed it in as much as it gave me a talking point with my 12 year old daughter. Even when the acting seemed fake, she did assure me girl her age engage in that.

    Timothy Hutton plays one of the main character’s dad. He pushes the other girls, squeezes their arms and yells at them. His purpose is just but I did not find this character believable. If he was, I don’t think I’d ever let my daughters out of the house with their friends. Dad’s don’t just threaten their daughters’ friends like that. Still, the film was not horrible, I did enjoy watching it. It brought up a lot of good discussion points. Alot of us older folks (40 and upward) may have forgotten what peer pressure and bullying looks like. This is a modern reminder.

    6/10

    Ways to watch now:

    As of publishing this, it was streaming on Netflix.

    Also, #Horror is Streaming on Amazon Video for $2.99

  • Vernon, Florida (1981)

    What can I say, this white trash is my people. They hunt wild turkeys, farm for worms, police areas that don’t ever need “policin.’” If you can get in the one, it’s downright pleasant and hypnotic to listen to. I may not speak with that Southern. drawl but I grew up hearing it from my ancestors like grandpas, -ma’s, aunts and uncles and the like. This is a set of them whom Errol Morris (The Thin Blue Line) arranged to interview in their retired habitat: Vernon, Florida.

    Vernon, Florida (1981)
    Not Rated | 55min | Documentary, Comedy | 8 October 1981 (USA)

    Early Errol Morris documentary intersplices random chatter he captured on film of the genuinely eccentric residents of Vernon, Florida. A few examples? The preacher giving a sermon on the … See full summary »
    Director: Errol Morris
    Stars: Albert Bitterling, Roscoe Collins, George Harris

    One of the most remarkable clips is the man and woman sharing about how they got a small bonus and went to the sand dunes to watch the sand “grow.” You couldn’t write stuff better than this. At one point she even goes back in the house to bring out sand in a mason jar to show off from her trip. This is a slice of retired white America in 1981 and it’s priceless if you can get into the zone and trip out on it. There is some wisdom in it too,

    One example is the bearded man in glasses when he shares a photo he took that accidentally captured a star. He cryptically explains it happened as he was shooting clouds. He claims when you aim at something, you might hit it or you might not. I’d say that’s wisdom because it’s better to aim than to not right?

    If you can get into the zone of listening to retired people bullshit, which I was able to today being on break from work and all, I highly recommend this documentary.

    10/10

    WAYS TO WATCH
    At time of writing this, July 2017, it was streaming on Netflix

    You can also watch now on Amazon Video:

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  • Two Lovers and a Bear (2016)

    Enter Hemingway, Melville, London … you will like what’s being served at this table. We’ve heard of nature being our indifferent enemy but what to do when that enemy is our own nature. We have not yet begun that process in film and literature, but it’s here in this film … along with a few others through the years.

    Two Lovers and a Bear (2016)
    R | 1h 36min | Drama, Romance | 16 December 2016 (USA)

    Set in a small town near the North Pole where roads lead to nowhere, the story follows Roman (DeHaan) and Lucy (Maslany), two burning souls who come together to make a leap for life and inner peace.
    Director: Kim Nguyen
    Writer: Kim Nguyen
    Stars: Dane DeHaan, Tatiana Maslany, Gordon Pinsent

    I almost always love the film when the director also wrote the film. In this case it is Kim Nguyen doing both artistic roles. My hat goes off to him, and I assume he wears a hat also because like me, he is shaved bald. (Gotta love the brother!). I don’t know much about him other than he is known for this and two other films and he is a Canadian: War Witch (2012), Two Lovers and a Bear (2016) and The Marsh (2002). I would put stock in him because this film is something quite different than we are used to seeing. Human v Nature/Human v Self. It’s a gritty psychological drama and God forbid IMDB plot keywords would let us toil in ignorance of these features:

    “Plot Keywords: sex on table | sex scene | topless female nudity | female nudity”

    Yes, Orphan Black star, Tatiana Maslany, bares her breasts. That’s the easy part of nature no one is too worried about.

    All these facts plus the plot basically is two lovers at the North Pole in a barely functioning town. Why they are there is not explicitly mentioned, at least not as much as the breasts are displayed. ;) There is something about an abusive father in her past and he … likes the drink and he likes the hard drink. Sometimes you gotta just go “right now.” Other times maybe your demons are better dealt with by a heater. This couple is fraught with demons and they decide it’s time to go into the snow, into the storm but not without the help of a very helpful? bear. Dane DeHaan seems to like him. BTW DeHaan is there and does a good job as such. Not much more is needed from the, I wonder if he even likes the White Stripes.

    This is no family movie. It’s also not a sweet romance, unless you think of Moby Dick as romantic. Having said that, there is a lot to think about romance here, maybe how “not” to support a lover with baggage. For a gritty tale of love? turmoil and t*** on a table, I do recommend.

    9/10

    Streaming on Amazon video for $3.99

    At time of publishing, July 2017, this film is streaming on Netflix.