Tag: movie review

Fantasy Life, which is a new movie written and directed by Matthew Shear, is a more substantial story than some critics seem to think.

Sam (Shear), a law-school dropout, agrees to babysit his psychiatrist’s (Judd Hirch) granddaughters and soon thereafter finds ways to spend their mother Dianne (Amanda Peet), an unemployed actor. Dianne, who does little to discourage Sam’s attention, nonetheless ends the affair almost before it begins but uses it to needle her estranged, and increasingly inebriated, husband (Alessandro Nivola) and their parents over dinner in her parents’ summer home.

Dianne’s husband, who drives away and then crashes his car, recovers in his parents’ home, but she eventually invites him home. Dianne later encounters Sam between sessions in another psychiatrist’s office, and asks him to meet her in a nearby coffee shop after hers, and they discuss their lives and split dessert before going their separate ways.

Most credible critics seem satisfied with this movie, which some nonetheless consider “slight” or even unoriginal. I however found it perhaps more subtle and refreshing, which made it even more satisfying.

The directing and acting are accomplished enough to support this unconventional plot. Dianne, who initiated their meeting and later hears the limitations of her belief after her new psychiatrist mirrors it back to her, seems incapable of expressing herself, and retreats into the less challenging topic of Sam’s missing money. Sam for his part seems relieved that Dianne doesn’t challenge his account of his life since he left after that disastrous dinner and in return accepts Dianne’s retreat.

Both in other words recognize, and resign themselves to, unfinished realities, and neither pushes for more, which are choices only mature people, however messy, could make. Such lessons are ones many of us could learn, which is why it is a more substantial, and significant, story.

Credible critics think well of think well of Tow, but I think it’s misfocused, and thus a middling movie.

This movie tells the trust story of Amanda Ogle (Rose Byrne), a Seattle woman living in her old Toyota Camary that is stolen while she is interviewing for a job and then towed and sold. She discovers that she needs more than the court order she obtains, so she accepts the offer from a non-profit lawyer named Kevin (Dominic Sessa) and the kindness of Barb (Octavia Spencer), a homeless shelter manager, and others who are staying there, and eventually succeeds.

The predictable focus of the movie, as written by Jonathan Keasey and Brant Boivin and directed by Stephanie Laing, is Amanda’s persistence. She is called a hero near its end by a reporter who wants to write about her experiences and efforts.

This focus is reinforced by a successful ensemble, which enables Byrne to make the most of this character. It is reiterated by the apparent replacement of these actors by the people whom they’ve been portraying in a closing scene, which lasts longer than expected.

The problem is that the Amanda’s efforts are less engaging than her need for connections and community. Amanda is reluctant when her car is towed to rely upon anyone, and must learn how to trust, and be trustworthy, again.

This process starts in the shelter where Barb tells Amanda for example that her failures are familiar, and thus ones she can overcome, and where Amanda in turn mirrors this tough love to Denise (Ariana DeBose) and supports Nova (Demi Lovato), who is pregnant. Beyond the shelter, she forms semi-functional connections to her lawyer Kevin and even a tow-yard employee named Cliff (Simon Rex).

Amanda admits to others in one of the support group sessions that she is an alcoholic and an addict who cannot without her car even see her estranged daughter (Elise Fisher). This admission initiates the emotional resolution much as if not more than the successful verdict.

These moments however aren’t enough to dislodge the hero narrative at the center of this movie, which makes it messy, and not one that can ultimately hold the attention of its audience.

CRIME 101, which has received generally positive reviews, is a search for meaning story confined within a crime caper.

Serial jewelry thief Mike / James Davis (Chris Hemsworth) has rules for his robberies, which he hopes will enable him to amass a predetermined amount of money to compensate for his childhood poverty. He is pursued by Lou Lebesnick (Mark Ruffalo), a seasoned detective who cannot convince his colleagues of the connections among the robberies he is investigating.

These rules explain why Mike cancels his next planned heist, which his fence Money (Nick Nolte) then shares with Ormon (Barry Keoghan). For his next job, Mike needs the assistance of a high-end insurance broker named Sharon (Halle Berry), who feels unappreciated by her boss, especially as she ages.

Mike proposes a dinner date about to Maya (Monica Barbaro) after she crashes her boss’s car at a stoplight into his. Meanwhile, Lou, who has separated from his wife Angie (Jennifer Jason Leigh), is suspended after he refuses to support the false account of another officer’s shooting of an unarmed suspect.

Sharon agrees give Mike insider information but after being assaulted by Ormon turns to Lou, whom she has encountered as a part of his investigation. Lou disrupts Mike’s latest robbery but is surprised by the unexpected arrival of Ormon, who shoots one victim and threatens to shoot Lou, and is then shot and killed by Mike.

Lou offers Mike a cover story, and convinces him to run and the victims to cooperate, and he swaps fake diamonds from one of Mike’s previous robberies for the real ones, which he gives to Sharon for a new life. Lou later discovers the vintage car he has been left by Mike before audiences then learn Maya receives one of Mike’s childhood photos, which seems to be his way of asking for a second chance.

Adapter and director Bart Layton more or less manages the crime thriller conventions and conveys a complicated plot although he needs a lengthy run time to do so. His efforts are supported by mostly convincing performances from the lead actors.

The more impressive accomplishment would have been succeeding at the search for meaning story at the center of this movie. This story, in a more compelling script, could have clarified the connection between Mike and Lou and even them to Sharon and perhaps even Lou’s wife Angie.

The biggest obstacle seems to be the character development. Lou seems underdeveloped, but Sharon is probably too two-dimensional. More development of both could have tipped the balance, and shifted the focus from remunerative illegal activity to the challenges of finding meaning in life.

Lou and Sharon attempted to work within established norms but ultimately reject these, and Mike, who had rejected these norm and manages to escape, only does so at Lou’s mercy. Lou’s moral maturation also benefits Sharon directly, and indirectly even himself.

Such an interpretation suggests that Lou is the center of the underlying story. As it is, the focus is somewhat unclear, and makes this movie at most a semi-satisfying crime caper.

The challenges are an already long running time, which has previously been mentioned, and the limits of Hemsworth’s capacity. Would audiences have engaged even longer? Could he contribute to a more emotionally complex story?

These unanswered questions mean that audiences cannot answer the one suggested by the title — does crime in fact pay? An affirmative answer, which this movie seems to suggest, could require a crime introduction course, or least make it an appealing elective.