#ChristopherDenham

[passion-of-arts]

DOGMAN – FILMKRITIK 🐕🐩🐕‍🦺

Am 05. Oktober 2023 startet Luc Bessons neuester Film “DogMan” in den deutschen Kinos und wir erzählen euch heute schon, was euch erwartet. Hier ist die DogMan Filmkritik!

[film-book]

Film Review: MAGGIE MOORE(S): Jon Hamm and Tina Fey are Perfect in a Film That Ultimately Lacks Punch [Tribeca 2023] https://film-book.com/film-review-maggie-moores-jon-hamm-and-tina-fey-are-perfect-in-a-film-that-ultimately-lacks-punch-tribeca-2023/?feed_id=74718&_unique_id=648a7c3a97382

[adamwatchesmovies]

Area 51 (2015)

Area 51 is everything that comes to mind when someone says “bad found-footage horror film”. There’s nothing memorable about this picture at all, it's as scary as an empty desert and does little to justify its filmmaking choices.

Friends Reid (Reid Warner), Darrin (Darrin Bragg) and Ben (Ben Rovner) have all disappeared. Through recovered footage, we discover all three became obsessed with investigating Area 51 after Reid had a strange experience one night.

There is no reason for this to be a found-footage film except for the genre's ability to "get away" with having no budget. At least half of this picture’s running time is dedicated to the three friends getting ready to go to Area 51. They meet up with Reid’s friend, Jelena (Jenela Nik), they detail how they’re going to sneak into the government facility, how dangerous/illegal that is, they break into a house to get the keys they need to get in... and thoroughly document what they’re doing. Why? Who would do that? Is it so they can easily incriminate themselves? Why would they show their faces and use their names? I understand maybe making an intro to your video, telling people what the plan is going to be before getting there in case something happens but leave out the criminal activities! It all feels so manufactured.

“Found Footage” is a tool. It can be used very effectively when done right. The ones I always go back to are The Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity and Cloverfield. Those first two are ultimately inconclusive. You could plausibly deny all of the so-called supernatural stuff, which makes it feel real. Cloverfield recreates what would be a piece of evidence from a well-documented event seldom seen from the ground level. All of them have something  that allows you to immerse yourself and that magic ingredient is completely absent from Area 51. The use of 2 cameras feels phoney. You wonder who edited this footage together. When you find out what’s happening in the government facility, it’s not original or impressive. In fact, it showcases a profound lack of imagination from director/writer Oren Peli. You don’t particularly like the protagonists and the film is never actually scary. I don’t mean that I wasn’t scared. I mean that there’s nothing to be afraid of. If you’ve seen any found-footage film, you can predict where the characters are going so easily you'll doze off from boredom.

The more I think about Area 51, the more I dislike it. If only it were truly awful it might be memorable. Instead, it's so mediocre it leaves you feeling like you just wasted your time. At least an awful picture could make you appreciate what good films do, or might make for an interesting rant. This? you’re going to forget within a few days of seeing. There’s nothing original or noteworthy about Area 51. (January 6, 2017)

[doomonfilm]

Thoughts : Shutter Island (2010)

Of the numerous Martin Scorsese films that I’ve yet to see, Shutter Island has remained at the top of that list for quite some time.  Oddly enough, I’ve revisited a number of Scorsese’s other films since the release of Shutter Island, but for some reason, things never aligned personally in the right ways to drive me towards a viewing, even with ample opportunities.  After some coaxing from some close friends, however, I jumped into it, and I’ll be the first to admit that I messed up waiting so long to partake in this film.

The Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane, located on the remote Shutter Island in the Boston Harbor, finds itself under investigation by U.S. Marshal Edward “Teddy” Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his new partner Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) for the escape of patient Rachel Solando (Emily Mortimer).  The team docks on the island just as a storm arrives, sending their investigation immediately forward.  While examining Soldano’s room, Teddy finds a strange note, but his every attempt to interview staff and patients or investigate further is met with the resistance of Dr. John Cawley (Ben Kingsley) and Dr. Jeremiah Naehring (Max von Sydow).  As the storm grows in intensity, Teddy and Chuck find themselves stranded on the island with no other choice but to investigate further, but as the investigation unfolds, Teddy begins to unravel a mystery bigger than any he intended for.

One of the many tools in the Scorsese toolkit is suspense, which he often infuses into other genres to great effect.  It makes sense, therefore, that his take on a purely suspense-driven narrative would be rich with multiple levels of interconnected mystery, be it a missing patient from an asylum in isolation, a secondary agenda in the form of a manhunt, or the mystery presented to the viewer of inconsistencies that make you question the validity of the reality you’re presented with.  Though based on a book, the narrative in the film is still presented in such a manner that the eventual turns are not obvious, which leads to a very bittersweet but satisfying payoff in the film’s final moments.

Shutter Island paints its picture with some of the most beautifully symbolic, poetic and stunning takes on post-traumatic stress and psychosis that I can recollect.  While each memory or key figure in Teddy’s life are given their own moments of reflection, many of these elements often blend with one another, and with reality, in very surreal (yet somehow direct) manners.

The use of German Expressionism and hyperreality help set the look and tone of the film, with chiaroscuro lighting, cavernous passageways and stairwells, skewed angles and shifts between rich and desaturated looks immediately putting viewers into an uneasy state of mind.  Costuming sets an easy to read visual hierarchy, with levels of madness or awareness immediately communicated by a business suit, nurse or orderly uniform, patient or prisoner uniform, or even nudity for the worst of the worst.  The military sequences are extremely well done, with their soft look juxtaposing the harsh reality the soldiers experienced, and how that display of inhumanity felt like a fall from grace into darkness.

Leonardo DiCaprio does some of the best subtle work of his career, capitalizing on the disjointed nature of the picture to counterbalance against the entirety of his belief, all the while letting the cracks show that make us question how in tune he truly is with the events going on around him.  Michelle Williams uses a soft, haunting approach to play off of DiCaprio’s manic nature, while Mark Ruffalo cleverly satellites around DiCaprio with hollow affirmations and odd expositional interjections laid out flatly.  Ben Kingsley and Max von Sydow both bring the stature and weight of their historic screen presences to their roles, which in turn sets them up as monumental figures in a world where character is often unclear.  Patricia Clarkson is a lightning rod of energy in her brief performance, serving as a sort of grounding element and centering point for DiCaprio’s character arc.  Ted Levine and John Carroll Lynch both use their imposing statures to their benefit, but each mirrors their respective leadership figure in very unique ways.  Elias Koteas, Robin Bartlett, Christopher Denham, Emily Mortimer and Jackie Earle Haley stand out in their roles as patients and inmates.

Some films make you feel foolish for taking so long to get around to them, and Shutter Island will certainly stand as a shining example of one of these films in my history.  It is the best Michelle Williams performance of her long career that I’ve seen, and for my money’s worth, it’s possibly the finest DiCaprio and Scorsese connection to date.

[movieandtvreviews]

Lionsgate and Codeblack Films have released the latest official trailer for the upcoming science fiction thriller movie “Fast Color.” Starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Saniyya Sidney, Lorraine Toussaint, Christopher Denham, David Strathairn, Monique Straw, Levi Dylan, Michael E. Stogner, Ryan Begay, Jason E. Hill, Richard L. Olsen, Aliza Halm and Hannah Kauffmann. Please click on the movie poster to watch the trailer.

[emetophobiareview]

Season 1 Ep 1 SAFE! Boy spits out alcohol. Ep 2 SAFE! Man makes gurgling noises and then spits out a liquid. Some drooling. Ep 3 SAFE! Ep 4 SAFE! Some spitting. Ep 5 SAFE! Ep 6 SAFE! Man g*gs right before the 42 minute mark. Ep 7 SAFE! Ep 8 SAFE! Man spits out box of candies around 2 minutes in. - . . . . #emetophobia #emetophobiareview #emetophobic #emetophobie #emetophobiahelp #emetophobiasucks #emetophobiasupport #emetophobe #anxiety #anxietyrelief #anxietyproblems #anxietyrecovery #emetoUtopia #review #reviews #tv #tvsgow #tvseries #utopia #sashalane #rainnwilson #johncusack #danbyrd #javonwalton #christopherdenham #jessicarothe #sonjasohn https://www.instagram.com/p/CFo14jtFPBP/?igshid=12ba5t1jlknpi

[scifitalk]

Time Capsule Episode 155

[gqtmovies]

FAST COLOR is a film about generations of women forced to suppress their strengths, and the mounting courage they find in finally taking charge. This is a tale of “black girl magic” which opens in select theaters March 29, 2019. Starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Lorraine Toussaint, Saniyya Sidney, Christopher Denham, and David Strathairn.

[movizark-blog]

Exclusive ‘Camera Obscura’ Trailer Sees Dead People!! Check It Out!!

Exclusive ‘Camera Obscura’ Trailer Sees Dead People!! Check It Out!! #CameraObscura, #ChristopherDenham, #NadjaBobyleva, #CatherineCurtin, #ChaseWilliamson, #NoahSegan

Synopsis – A young man gets a pre- World War II camera from his fiancee. He was formerly a war photographer who has been experiencing PTSD. The new/old camera is not helping as it photographs events which have yet to occur.

Directed – Aaron B. Koontz

Starring – Christopher Denham, Nadja Bobyleva, Catherine Curtin

Check out the trailer:

  [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOINDP-bsm0&w=640&…

[adamwatchesmovies]

The Bay (2012)

What director Barry Levinson attempts to do in The Bay is admirable but ultimately, it's the end results that matter. This horror movie fails to scare like it should.

Shot as a documentary, The Bay splices together footage from multiple sources to tell us of the disaster that happened in Claridge on July 4th, 2009. It all started when a couple of researchers discovered something weird in the gills and stomach of a fish in the nearby lake...

With a few exceptions, all found-footage horror films feel contrived. The objective of shooting a movie in this format, particularly when it's assembled to look like a documentary is to seem credible. The Bay never feels real. Its "testimonies" are filled with inconsistencies, cheap scares, and unexplainable behavior. From a production standpoint, it's filled with bad decisions.

This first criticism might sound like a nitpick, but it's crucial to make a movie like this work. Look at The Blair Witch Project, Cloverfield and Paranormal Activity. What do they have in common? A single point of view. This allows you to put yourself in the shoes of the person filming and lets the terror sink in. This feeling is out of reach but The Bay is trying something different. Fine. The premise is that many pieces of footage are being spliced together to unveil what "really happened" after hundreds of deaths were covered up by the government. Let's throw the film another bone and say a black bag this big could plausibly exist in an age where the internet exists. There are a dozen different viewpoints compiled together to make this film. Hospital security cameras, cellphones, camcorders, internet messaging services, police dashboard cameras, news footage, and more. How could a crew of people get a hold of all of these video testimonies, particularly the security and police footage if the government is determined to cover everything up?

Less context would've been helpful to the film, as this does not feel like a documentary. If you're trying to expose or document the truth, you ask questions, scout locations, confront people that were there, and shooting new footage to show the aftermath of what happened. There are no such shots in The Bay, making the whole thing look as though it was put together by amateurs, which might've actually been the intent.

Over and over, cheap scares are served up. It’s a documentary, right? So why do we have musical stings whenever someone suddenly jumps into frame? Is the goal to expose the liars or make teenagers squeal? It's bad throughout and makes sure to save the worst for last.

The Bay is a king-sized letdown. Read up on cymothoa exigua. It'll give you the willies. The idea of a parasite that replaces your tongue infesting a town and then taking it over while people scramble to figure out what to do should be dynamite. As the puzzle is pieced together, poor souls fall over dead as a deluge of full-grown bugs erupts from their mouths. A great opportunity for some gory deaths and the kind of material that'll make your skin itch for weeks. That's not what you get. There isn’t even any consistency as to how quickly or how people die once infected. I know if twinkie-sized creatures were eating me from the inside, my screams of pain wouldn’t start moments before they emerge out of my throat... I’d be howling in agony hours before!

The only way The Bay could be frightening is if it was mildly believable and it isn't. People don’t act like people, there are cheap plot points throughout, the scares are weak, the story badly told... the only thing worthwhile about this film is the premise. (On DVD, February 18, 2015)

[1623niley]

Wednesday Movie Night. Argo 📺❤👌. #argo #movie #BenAffleck #BryanCranston #JohnGoodman #TateDonovan #CleaDuVall #ChristopherDenham #Good #amazing #awesome #Wednesday #juju #jdb #justinbieber #canada #2013 #ScootMcNairy #KerryBishé #RoryCochrane #2012 #GeorgeClooney #VictorGarber #fun #TV #ChrisMessina #ŽeljkoIvanek #TitusWelliver #BobGunton #ShawOnDemand

[theenthusiasticcinephile]

Sound of My Voice

1 hour 25 minutes

Rated R (Language Including Some Sexual References, and Brief Drug Use)

Directed by Zal Batmanglij

Starring Christopher Denham, Nicole Vicius, and Brit Marling

2 out of 4 stars

ON DVD NOW.

There's a new genre in Hollywood that's getting popular: the cult movie. Sound of My Voice is this year's cult movie. Not cult as in it will have a cult following it after its release, but cult in that it's literally a movie about a cult where its members creepily stare at one another and do really weird activities. The movie is very unsettling at times and certainly made me proud to be a smart American who avoids joining shady groups of people, but it's nowhere near as frightening as last year's "cult" movie, Martha Marcy May Marlene, a thrilling drama about a woman losing her grip on reality. Sound of My Voice has a fascinating story about a character we're trying to figure out, but the end is a complete rip-off. It just finishes out of nowhere. I tried to not let it ruin the movie for me but it does because it's that type of ending where you ask yourself, "Wait, so what was the point of watching that whole movie?" As a cult thriller Sound of My Voice works pretty well, but as a movie in general it's pretty disappointing.

The enigmatic and fabulously crafted character of the movie is Maggie (Brit Marling, who also co-wrote the film with director Zal Batmanglij), the leader of a secret cult that has meetings in an L.A. suburban neighborhood at night. Peter (Chrostopher Denham) and Lorna (Nicole Vicius) are a young couple that secretly join the cult so they can expose Maggie as a crazy woman. They drive out to an empty neighborhood at night and park in a garage. A man comes out and blindfolds them. He then drives them to a new house where he escorts them in and forces them to shower so they can "cleanse" their bodies. They put on white nightgowns and enter the basement of the house where they give a secret handshake (reminiscent of the handshake in The Parent Trap) to a guy. They sit in a circle and Maggie enters. She's a beautiful young woman with an oxygen tank, dying of a mysterious illness. What's the catch? She claims she's from the future. She's come back to the past to warn her followers that there will be a Civil War in the year 2054.

Maggie seems like a fraud for sure, but there's something about her that makes Peter question her beliefs. She makes them do super twisted exercises like eat an apple and then make them throw it up. When Peter refuses, Maggie uses her wit to manipulate him into vomiting. She taps into his past about his mother dying of cancer when he was younger. He starts to cry, and then forces himself to stick his fingers in his mouth. Lorna is concerned for her boyfriend. Maggie's madness is slowly starting to have an effect on him (and on the audience, as well). Things get even more twisted when the leader asks Peter to kidnap a girl from the elementary school he substitute teaches at and bring her to the cult. He asks Maggie why she needs him. She only responds that "she must see her." Hmm. That's pretty shady if you ask me. Yet at the same time Maggie doesn't seem like a villain (she's certainly not as creepy as John Hawkes was in Martha Marcy May Marlene). She might be psychologically ill, but what if she's right? What if she really is from the future?

Marling has a very imaginative mind. Last year she co-wrote and starred in Mike Cahill's Another Earth, an original sci-fi drama about a twin Earth planet that comes in reaching distance from the real Earth. Yet Marling's scripts are missing something. I loved the originality of Another Earth, but it had too many little flaws to keep me from loving it (like underdeveloped characters and a schmaltzy love story that doesn't fit in well with the whole twin planet concept). Sound of My Voice really makes us question Maggie as a character. The ending, however, thinks it's being super ambiguous when it's not. It feels lazy when it doesn't need to be. The movie's only 85 minutes long for god's sakes! I think it would have been fine if Marling and Batmanglij extended that a little bit and solved this mystery. As an actress Marling is equally fantastic. She's a luminous beauty and manages to maintain the balance between acting creepy and charismatic. Batmanglij is certainly a stylish director as well and gives the cult a hauntingly claustrophobic setting.

Sound of My Voice has nice performances, a creepy vibe, and an enigmatic character. I just wish the movie went further. It's not as creepy as it should be and it's too afraid to let go of itself and solve the mystery of the story. Marling has to to keep writing screenplays, but they still need some work.

[doomonfilm]

Thoughts : Fast Color (2019)

Looking up Black Cinema on streaming services has been a real hit or miss venture.  For every relevant, thought-provoking piece of work, we are given numerous films lumped in simply because the lead or parts of the cast are Black.  While not necessarily incorrect, it is a bit frustrating that films with no issues getting eyes on them tend to take the spots of films that could use Black History Month as an opportunity to step into the spotlight.  That being said, it hasn’t all been frustrating and fruitless, as these searches are how I discover films such as Fast Color.

In the not too distant future, a portion of midwest America is facing a nearly decade long drought due to an absence of rain.  Ruth (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) is a lonesome wanderer with a strange set of undefined supernatural powers, including uncontrollable seizures that trigger massive earthquakes localized around her.  After stealing a car in the wake of one of her earthquakes, Ruth runs into a stranger named Bill (Christopher Denham) who gets her out of a compromising situation with a cop, but Bill quickly reveals that he is actually a scientist who has been tracking Ruth down in hopes of examining her and her powers.  Ruth escapes after a struggle, and eventually, she finds her way back to her childhood home, where her mother Bo (Lorraine Toussaint) and daughter Lila (Saniyya Sidney) live in isolation from the rest of society.  Ruth attempts to right her rocky past with her mother while getting to know the daughter she never got the chance to raise, but as Bill and his team close in on Ruth, the pressure pushes Ruth, Bo and Lila down a powerful path of personal discoveries.

In an era where superhero films have seemingly been the lifeblood of the film industry (up until the unforeseen shutdown, that is), and bigger usually equates to “better”, seeing a more nuanced and realistic take on powered individuals done as a suspense fueled drama is refreshing.  Rather than relying on huge set pieces, digital effects that are the artistic equivalent of a fireworks show and big name actors, we are given real life level family drama with powers as the foundation of the strife, passed down generationally but still manifesting as solo journeys each time.  Outside of Ruth, most of the powers are glorified “parlour tricks” (as Bo states in the film), similar to how the film Looper had “powered” individuals whose greatest strength was floating quarters above the palm.  While this all sounds reductive, having characters that we can relate to rather than diet versions of gods actually provides a strong connective thread between the film and the viewer.

In certain cultures and philosophical disciplines, woman is considered as the Earth, so having Ruth’s powers be deep enough to change the natural makeup seems like a fitting assignment.  The symbolism goes further when one takes into account that Lila alters her plans to isolate herself, instead choosing to satellite Ruth like a moon (even to the point of wearing a shirt with a moon on it in the final third of the film).  Ruth as a protagonist discovering her powers in a world without a cosmic threat also works because the harmony that locks in her powers comes from within.  Before she is able to understand and wield her powers to their fullest capability, she first has to sort out her mind by initially becoming sober, which then allows her to take stock of her trauma-filled past and accept it, which allows her to evolve and move forward.

The set design and B-roll do an excellent job of portraying the bleak circumstances of the cinematic world that is presented.  The color timing does work in this realm as well, keeping us constantly reminded about how scarce water is in the film.  While sparsely used, the special effects stand out in the way that they naturally and seamlessly fit in with the visuals presented.  In terms of pacing, this film knows exactly what it wants to do and how it wants to unfold its information, and in turn, it is not afraid to take its time with seemingly meaningless moments filled with intention.  While not overly prominent, the few music selections that we hear in the film come from quality musicians, and like many other aspects of this film, feel completely natural in their placement.

Gugu Mbatha-Raw dials in post-traumatic stress to fuel her performance, approaching her redemption as a self-imposed Sisyphean task.  Lorraine Toussaint, in a similar manner, harnesses a seemingly ever-existent fear in her role as protector by giving her actions the impression that all will be lost if she falters, while carrying this task with a grace and dignity that shields Lila from the truth.  Speaking of Lila, Saniyya Sidney turns in a performance of a young person wise beyond their years, with a clear picture of where their life needs to go, and an impatience to wait for reality to catch up to their vision.  Christopher Denham, David Strathairn, Levi Lobo and a small handful of others turn in memorable performances in this streamlined cast.

Independent ventures like Fast Color give me faith that all is not lost in the realm of film.  People tend to harp on the lack of originality, or the over-prominence of similar offerings at the box office, but it doesn’t take maximum effort to find films like this one.  For my money’s worth, the impression left will be a lasting one, and I will definitely be recommending this one far and wide.