"More Than a Game"
Richard's Review: 3 1/2 stars
"More Than a Game" is billed as the LeBron James movie but the superstar player is only part of the tale. The best story in this new documentary, six years in the making, is actually the life story of LeBron's childhood coach, the man who shaped LeBron not only into a superstar athlete, but ushered him and his teammates from boyhood to manhood.
The film chronicles the rise and, well rise of James and his high school cohorts, the Fab 4 (later to become the Fab 5), a group of fearsomely talented b'ball players who dominated every basketball court they dribbled on from grade school to graduation. Along the way we learn of their struggles and the personal price they paid to become national champions.
Like all sports movies it adheres to the usual win some-lose some formula designed to build drama, but because the story is so recent -- most of it happens in the 00s -- there isn't that much drama to be had. LeBron is a superstar and he didn't get that way by slacking or losing lots of games.
Far more interesting than the rise to the top of the high school athletics heap is the story of the camaraderie, teaching and sacrifice that got LeBron and his teammates there. Like all good sports docs, it's not really about the sports, it's about the story behind the game.
That's where Coach Dru Joyce's story comes in. He taught these guys how to play the game, but he also gave them something much more important than that. He became a father figure for these young men, giving them more than dribbling advice. He gave them the tools they needed to survive on and off the court, He gave them a winning attitude and that is the heart of the film. He's an inspiring character who left a career in corporate America to do something really important--be a mentor.
The rest of the film is slickly produced and well put together but suffers from a lack of in-depth reporting and repetition of already established facts. We know coach and players worked hard. We know Dru Senior and Little Dru (one of the Fab 5) had personal and professional problems but much of the meat of the doc is left only half explored. More revealing is the look on James's face when he and his mother discuss his difficult upbringing. It underlines the early life of pain he's overcome and is one of the true, raw moments in the film that doesn't feel overly slick and manufactured.
"More Than a Game" is more than just a sports documentary but could have benefited from less repetition and more good old fashioned reporting.
"The Collector"
Richard's Review: 1 star
The best thing about "The Collector" is that it is not a remake of the creepy Oscar nominated Terence Stamp movie of the same name. Instead two alum of the "Saw" franchise, Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton, have partnered up to make the kind of film you'd expect from the writers of "Saw IV," "V" and "VI." It's a gory story about an ex-con turned day laborer (Josh Stewart) who, in an attempt to get some easy money to save his family, breaks into his employer's house to steal a rare gem. Of course, also inside the house is a nasty surprise--a psychopathic "Collector" (Juan Fernandez) who sets a series of Rube Goldberg-esque booby traps to kill both the residing family and our burglar hero.
"The Collector's" unholy mix of gorno and heist flick plays like a mash-up of "Saw" and "The Pink Panther" with extra gore and no jokes. In fact there isn't much of anything here except for some stylish photography and an anxiety inducing soundtrack.
There are, I guess, as many inventive ways to kill someone as there are people to kill, but the audience isn't going to care about the ways and means if they don't care about the characters, and that is "The Collectors" downfall. These characters are so cardboard the most humane thing to do with them would be to sort and recycle them.
Josh Stewart is trying hard here. He's the kind of character that, if he didn't have bad luck, as the song goes, wouldn't have no luck at all. That's about it for character development here, but in a movie where the characters are so thin, I'll take it.
What I can't accept, however, is the dull, repetitious plot. "The Collector," however, does get a couple of things right--the soundtrack effectively creates a scary atmosphere, and it looks kinda cool--but it is marred by a silly ending that sets it up for a sequel.
It's clearly being prepped to become the "Saw" of the next decade, a never ending franchise that has kept Dunstan and Melton busy for the last few years. The difference is "The Collector" is a pointless celebration of sadism, whereas the "Saw" movies, gory as they may be, at least have a twisted morality to them--the people in the traps are being punished for their sins. Let's just hope "The Collector" doesn't collect enough dollars at the box office to warrant a second installment.
"The William Castle Collection"
Richard's Review: 4 stars
William Castle was the producer of many movies, some good, like "Rosemary's Baby," some not so good, like "13 Frightened Girls," but no matter what the movies are always fun. This box set collects his several of his "spooktacular" offerings, including the classic Vincent Price vehicles, "The Tingler" and "House On Haunted Hill." As the story goes, Alfred Hitchcock was so impressed with the grosses "Castle's House On Haunted Hill" had made in 1959, and so he made and released "Psycho" -- his own low-budget horror film -- a year later.
Castle was famous for directing films with gimmicks like "The Tingler" about a docile creature that lives in the spinal cord and is activated by fright, and can only be destroyed by screaming. In the film's finale one of the creatures was let loose in a movie theatre. Some seats in theatres showing the film had joy buzzers attached to the underside of the seats. When "The Tingler" in the film attacked the audience the buzzers were activated as a voice encouraged the real audience to "Scream - scream for your lives."
"Orphan" DVD
Richard's Review: As a horror film: 2 stars, as a comedy: 3 1/2 stars
There are a couple of lines necessary for the success of every Creepy Kid movie. Chief among them: "I have a surprise for you, Mommy!" Why is the line so successful? Because the surprise is never good. A close second is the old, "I don't think Mommy likes me very much" gag. These lines work because of the juxtaposition of innocence against a malevolent backdrop. In other words, evil children are scary. Orphan, starring Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard is the latest Creepy Kid movie to hit the big screen, but is it as disturbing as the classics of the genre like The Omen or Village of the Damned?
The story begins with a heartbreaking loss. John and Kate Coleman (Sarsgaard and Farmiga) are reeling after a miscarriage. The loss has taken a toll on their marriage, which seems about as stable as the bond between that other Jon and Kate we've been hearing so much about lately. In an attempt to right their awful situation they decide to adopt a child from a local orphanage. Finding themselves drawn to Esther (Isabelle Fuhrman) they welcome the young girl into their home, but as soon as they do strange things start happening. Certain that something is wrong--really, really wrong--with her new daughter Kate tries to convince John that Esther isn't the little bundle of joy they bargained for. He doesn't heed her warnings until it is too late.
Orphan has echoes of many creepy kid movies but sets itself apart with (a probably unintentional) sense of camp that permeates its later scenes. It's the kind of over-the-top dramatics that turned Mommy Dearest from bio pic into giggle fest. Its sense of hysterical fun makes it a good Friday night late show kind of movie with the right audience.
Orphan bills itself as a horror film, and it starts with a bang--well, more of a spurt or a gush, really--but many of the scares aren't so much scares as they are jolts caused by loud audio cues and red herrings. I call them "booyas," little unexpected shocks that snap you to attention. It's a cheap way to get a rise out of people but it does create a bit of tension.
Modigliani beauty Vera Farmiga is effective as the woman on the edge of a breakdown. Peter Sarsguard wins the Least. Supportive. Husband. Ever. Award and has one insane, cringe worthy scene near the end of the movie that I assume he didn't read before he agreed to take the part. It's a ridiculous but of overacting but fits the camp feel established by director Jaume Collet-Serra.
The parents are the foundation that holds everything together but the kids are the stars. As younger sister Max Aryana Engineer has mastered the art of the terrified face and Jimmy Bennett as brother Danny has bored teenage boy down to a science but it is Isabelle Fuhrman as evil Esther who steals the show.
She's a particularly good Creepy Kid, just other-worldly looking enough to be freaky but able to turn on the charm when she needs to. Her facility with Hieronymus Bosch-style paintings and claw hammers are definite signs that something's not right with the little girl John and Kate invite into their home, but what can you expect when you spend less time deciding to adopt Esther than most people spend deciding on which kind of ice cream to buy.
Esther is a stern mistress who I could see inspiring a drinking game. How about a shot of J�ger every time she gives someone the creepy kid stink eye? You'd be on your butt before the forty minute mark.
Orphan isn't great but it does provide a few campy laughs and a couple of squirmy scenes.
