tag:mattheimiller.svbtle.com,2014:/feedMatthew Heimiller2014-11-24T16:03:12-08:00Matthew Heimillerhttps://mattheimiller.svbtle.comSvbtle.comtag:mattheimiller.svbtle.com,2014:Post/movie-review-rosewater2014-11-24T16:03:12-08:002014-11-24T16:03:12-08:00Movie Review: Rosewater<p>Originally written for the UWM Post here: <a href="http://uwmpost.com/movie-review-rosewater/">http://uwmpost.com/movie-review-rosewater/</a></p>
<p>Jon Stewart’s Rosewater is the world’s most optimistic torture story ever told. In his first outing as writer and director, Stewart crafts an oddly good humored retelling of Iranian-Canadian Newsweek journalist Maziar Bahari’s capture. Bahari’s journey to Iran to cover the elections turns from a short assignment to a prolonged stay in solitary confinement. Bahari’s interview with a Daily Show correspondent and his friendliness towards dissenting political voices provides the excuse for his eventual detainment. Stewart goes out of his way to show the Iranian honesty in the paranoia; creating victims of the fearful.</p>
<p>Gael García Bernal as Bahari is center stage throughout the whole film. The optimistic journalist turned distraught prisoner is a tough enough character to play. Stewart adds to Bernal’s workload a few smirking humorous moments between Bahari and his torturer, Rosewater, played by Kim Bodnia. Stewart’s choice to emphasize the more humane aspects of their relationship while not downplaying the horrific beatings and mental anguish caused by this situation is a balancing act. But it really is a feat of acting for both Rosewater and Bahari’s relationship to work. Likable is not the word, but Rosewater is understandable. His irrational fear and ignorance about the outside world lends Rosewater a gravitational sadness. We are sort of sucked in to seeing him as a real human. Torturers are people too, which is definitely not what I was expecting to take from this movie.</p>
<p>The film works in two parts, divided by Bahari’s arrest and incarceration. Before his arrest we see him cover the elections. The film mixes real, on location traffic and news footage with the softer more human moments between Bahari, his mother, and the city’s hopeful youth. These young people who smuggle secular ideas into the country through pirated TV shows, movies, and art have the film’s admiration. A pervasive theme here is openness.</p>
<p>Ultimately, the scope and scale of this movie is small. It does not want to be anything other than authentic to the book it is based off of, delicate and truthful about the weird relationship between a torturer and his subject. In this it succeeds. The ending note of the film is a little boy with a cell phone doing exactly what Maziar Bahari was arrested for, and what Stewart has been championing in interviews about this film, “bearing witness” with his cell phone. The world will be a better, more open place if we tell the truth to keep the powerful accountable. In these loftier messages Stewart makes his optimism known but doesn’t let it overrun the human story at the center of this film.</p>
<p>A critique of most biopics or true story films is once again applicable here. What parts are fabricated, shortened, or sanded down to accommodate the film structure? It’s tough to tell but this film acts as a great advertisement for getting a fuller more in depth understanding of Iran and Mr. Bahari. I left the theater wanting to get the book it was based off of, Then They Came for Me: A Family’s Story of Love, Captivity, and Survival. Rosewater feels true, which is all that I can ask.</p>
<p>Rosewater is now playing at the Oriental Theatre and AMC Mayfair.</p>
tag:mattheimiller.svbtle.com,2014:Post/review-nightcrawler-a-gorgeous-and-disturbing-rollercoaster2014-11-24T15:59:13-08:002014-11-24T15:59:13-08:00Review: Nightcrawler, a gorgeous and disturbing rollercoaster<p>Originally written for the UWM Post here: <a href="http://uwmpost.com/movie-review-nightcrawler-a-gorgeous-and-disturbing-roller-coaster/">http://uwmpost.com/movie-review-nightcrawler-a-gorgeous-and-disturbing-roller-coaster/</a></p>
<p>What would you do to get a leg up on someone? “Nightcrawler” is obsessed with those transactions. Social levers and power struggle mark this back alley thriller that has a dark sense of humor.</p>
<p>Louis Bloom looks like he has had a rough go of it. Malnourished and bug-eyed, Jake Gyllenhaal looks like he lost a chunk of weight to portray the wormy, determined main character of Nightcrawler. Like his main character, the film’s director Dan Gilroy is hungry. Gilroy proves himself, not content with mere competency in his first outing in the director’s chair, Gilroy kills it.</p>
<p>This film looks great and the understated transition from film during the day to digital at night lends each time period a distinct feel. While geographically the same, this choice creates a more dangerous atmosphere for the “nightcrawlers” to do business in.</p>
<p>Bloom is a self-made “independent news contractor” or “nightcrawler” who listens to a police scanner and chases accidents to get bloody, exploitative video footage for the next morning’s local news.</p>
<p>We are first introduced to Louis Bloom stealing some fencing to sell for scrap. He is caught, but overpowers a security guard and steals his watch. Without this bit of characterization Bloom might have been a more sympathetic character. Bloom tries to parlay his sale of stolen metal into a job. He is turned down because he is a thief but when this is pointed out, he is offended.</p>
<p>It’s his veneer of professionalism and do-it-yourself entrepreneurship that hide Bloom’s real “win at all costs” ambitions. The Netflix show “House of Cards” examined this same unrelenting amoral ambition in the highest reaches of The United States Federal Government. “Nightcrawler” however deals with a level of desperation foreign to the upper class power struggles of “House of Cards.” The similar device of letting the audience see a private, evil act at the beginning of the story really stood out. Frank Underwood of “House of Cards” kills a dog and likes it. Louis Bloom steals to live, and sometimes just for himself.</p>
<p>Louis Bloom wants to get a better car. He gets it. He wants more employees. He gets those. He wants to get laid, and deals with that problem like any other business matter. In formal business terms, Bloom lets his business associate know exactly what chips he has to play. She rebuffs his advance until he makes what she brings to this negotiation clear, nothing. She is on the edge of being fired from an under-performing local news station. Bloom’s gruesome footage has propped up the ratings, now he has control.</p>
<p>But at the same time he’s desperate, she is desperate. The low ratings make the TV station desperate. Bloom hires an assistant who is desperate for a job. As long as he has control over someone, a way to exercise power, he can get what he wants. It’s when his competitors are doing great and he has no legal power over them that he takes things into his own hands. His subordinate uses Bloom’s own negotiation tactics against him. As the stunning tense climax of the film shows, Bloom does not go down without a fight.</p>
<p>A common criticism of “House of Cards” is true here as well. The pieces tend to fall just right for Bloom to get his way. But like “House of Cards,” this gorgeous and disturbing roller coaster with an evil opportunistic man is everything you hoped it would be.</p>
<p>“Nightcrawler” is now playing at AMC Mayfair.</p>
tag:mattheimiller.svbtle.com,2014:Post/movie-review-st-vincent2014-11-24T15:54:57-08:002014-11-24T15:54:57-08:00Movie Review: St. Vincent<p>Originally written for the UWM Post here: <a href="http://uwmpost.com/movie-review-st-vincent-not-for-me-maybe-for-you/">http://uwmpost.com/movie-review-st-vincent-not-for-me-maybe-for-you/</a></p>
<p>St Vincent is not for me.</p>
<p>Chris O’Dowd is good in his supporting bit as a surprisingly pluralistic and good natured priest. Melissa McCarthy nails her role as a single mom who is making ends meet to see her son at a good private school. It’s not Bill Murray, who did everything the script asked him to. This includes the tough job of being a drunkard vet with a thing for “women of the night,” who somehow needs us to see his inner goodness. It’s definitely not Naomi Watts’ bizarre transformation as Daka, the pregnant prostitute stripper that maybe falls in love with Bill Murray’s Vincent. All these performances were better than good, even child actor Jaeden Lieberher is charmingly watchable.</p>
<p>If any of these performances seem like something you want to see, this film provides you with a place to see them. But it doesn’t quite weave the performances into a tight enough drama. Things just sort of happen. Bill Murray’s Vincent is a tragic character. The movie makes him dirty, but then shows him visiting his wife who’s dying of dementia, and taking his stripper prostitute to get an ultrasound. So now we’re supposed to like him? Vincent gets a stroke in the film. This is the most blatant anti-drama that the movie creates. It forces us as an audience to like Vincent. You can’t hate a guy who is about to die, or almost died, and is left speech impaired. A painfully long portion of the film is spent in this trap.</p>
<p>It’s how the movie ends that I have a problem with. St. Vincent has a happy ending. Vincent is named a “saint” by the child he has babysat, and endangered. The societal forgiveness hits the wrong chord for me. Everything is wrong about how “right” everything goes at the end. Because? There’s no reason for the mobsters who hound Vincent to go away… but they do. The money Vincent took from his neighbor kid’s savings account is never mentioned again. Even the bully who beats up Oliver, the neighbor kid, becomes friends with him at the end. The cheating, absent father of the neighbor kid makes peace, off screen might I add.</p>
<p>This could have been a depressing movie about a spiral of self destruction by a sad impoverished man, alienating the only people who could have loved him. But instead, it lets him get away with those alienating actions by simply glossing over them. Why does the prostitute stick around? Because she does not get a lot of work pregnant or because Vincent is the only one who really loved her? The movie never says.</p>
<p>Obviously, the film is trying to get us to empathize with Vincent. By the end however, not much changes.</p>
<p>I was sorely disappointed in this movie. It was advertised as “Bad Words,” the Jason Bateman spelling bee comedy, but better. What I got was a wandering, sentimental sermon about appreciating the disheveled elderly. I wish this film was the sum of it’s parts, which were good, but it isn’t.</p>
<p>You can see St. Vincent at AMC Mayfair, Marcus Cinemas, and The Landmark Downer Theatre.</p>
tag:mattheimiller.svbtle.com,2014:Post/review-john-wick-will-blow-your-brains-out2014-11-24T15:51:04-08:002014-11-24T15:51:04-08:00Review: John Wick Will Blow Your Brains Out<p>Originally written for the UWM Post here: <a href="http://uwmpost.com/movie-review-john-wick-will-blow-your-brains-out/">http://uwmpost.com/movie-review-john-wick-will-blow-your-brains-out/</a></p>
<p>With 152 stunt credits and no directing experience, David Leitch and Chad Stahelski seem like unlikely candidates to direct “John Wick.” The film is pretty forward, confident and intentional; the two men have put together the most polished action film of the fall. With a light fantasy element and a sharp and deliberate aesthetic, there’s a lot to love about John Wick.</p>
<p>In contrast to 2008’s assassin film “Wanted,” with its bizarre inclusion of an old timey supernatural loom, fantasy in John Wick is a societal fantasy. It feels like the assassins are almost unionized. The fantastical social fabric of unspoken codes, assassin “shop talk,” and even a special assassin currency adds some sinew to the bare bones story.</p>
<p>Keanu Reeves plays title character John Wick with a dialed back coldness. The movie gets us on his side early on. John Wick has fallen in love, he’s happy! Before long his wife dies, leaving him a dog and a letter that helps him come to terms while he grieves. These private moments however might not work for some viewers. This reviewer thought they were just enough. In either case the more indulgent headshot laden sequences work just fine even if there was hardly any emotional connection with Wick.</p>
<p>Alfie Allen plays greedy crime prince Iosef Tarasov who steals John Wick’s second true love, his 1969 Mustang. What’s more, he kills the cute puppy which became Wick’s only companion. The move prompts Wick to kill.</p>
<p>Leitch and Stahelski let us see everything. The choreography is top notch, and as far as I could tell it was all Reeves all the time. Fans of action films will enjoy the roll ammunition plays in Wick’s various assaults. A few great moments revolve around Wick multitasking a goon’s shoulder ligament into an ungodly position while reloading. He is swift for such a tall guy. Another particular highlight is a sequence that starts in a basement bath house and bleeds into the nightclub housed above it. The thumping bass and kinetic light show rages around Wick as he stalks through the crowd.</p>
<p>The many contrasting areas have a distinct feel. From Wick’s modern home tucked away outside the city, to the secret underworld bar that assassins frequent. The visual sheen leaves an impression. The films is a big break for cinematographer Jonathan Sela who gets to show off his versatility.</p>
<p>The polish that makes this action film work extends to the supporting cast. Everyone is great; like Willem Dafoe as Marcus, an older assassin who has a history with Wick. Adrianne Palicki plays Ms. Perkins, a cold killer, with believable venom. Ian McShane and Lance Reddick play the owner and operator of the hotel that houses the secret assassin bar. Every character in this film at some point reacts to John Wick. Every one of those reactions tell us just how impressively dangerous John Wick can be. In the hands of this cast, what could have been camp is elevated beyond competency and into the good times stratosphere.</p>
<p>If this is not enough of an endorsement, John Wick also has the number one action hero phone call scene of all time.</p>
<p>John Wick is now playing at AMC Mayfair and Marcus Cinemas.</p>
tag:mattheimiller.svbtle.com,2014:Post/primer2014-11-24T15:47:00-08:002014-11-24T15:47:00-08:00Primer<p>Originally written for the UWM Post as a “Throwback Thursday” article about an influential or beloved film here: <a href="http://uwmpost.com/throwback-thursday-primer/">http://uwmpost.com/throwback-thursday-primer/</a></p>
<p>High School literature teachers have always been in the unique position of introducing an annual batch of “almost-adults” to great works of classic fiction, exposing them to the wonderful and terrible worlds of Dumas’ “The Count of Monte Cristo” and Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby.” As first time art appreciators, these texts open the mind’s eye to intellectual wonder. In the same way, 2004’s “Primer” opened my eyes to the beauty of film.</p>
<p>Let me take you back. The year is 2006, Myspace is still dominant and on a lark I type “best time travel movie ever” into a blocky Yahoo! search bar.</p>
<p>“Primer” popped up, and is in no uncertain terms the “best time travel movie ever.” With a low-key aesthetic that sets your expectations low and mind at ease, “Primer” promptly obliterates these expectations. Its second act is so twisty, complicated, and demanding that it will leave you spinning. Clocking in at 80 minutes, “Primer” only has time for two acts; the discovery and its result.</p>
<p>With a first act that nails suburban office culture, the likes of which will be familiar to anyone who works in any technical capacity. “Primer” could just be a 40 minute short about the trials and tribulations of working for a passion outside of an established system. Aaron and Abe are two friends, coworkers, and hardware start-up partners. They discover time travel and cut out their two other hardware start-up partners.</p>
<p>This is a unique type of time travel though. While it deals with a box. It is decidedly less free form than other box-based time travel. An understanding of how the time travel system works going into your first viewing, can only help you. It will surely manage to reduce the amount of questions on your first viewing. Time travel in the film does not have a finite, predetermined quantity to it. Time changes and shifts. You cannot trust it.</p>
<p>Time Travel in Primer Image here: <a href="http://uwmpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/2000px-Time_Travel_Method-2.svg_.png">http://uwmpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/2000px-Time_Travel_Method-2.svg_.png</a></p>
<p>Abe and Aaron’s relationship is at the core of this movie however. They struggle with trust, and in time the glue in their friendship erodes with each realization that they might not be in control of their own timeline. Void of fancy effects, the time travel machines are literally just boxes in a storage facility, the drama takes center stage.</p>
<p>Admittedly, it gets very complicated. As a frame of reference, Christopher Nolan’s “Inception” (2010) had five timelines and no time travel. That film clocked in at two and a half hours. In comparison, this film has around nine timelines. Adding to the possible confusion is the lack of visual distinction between the timelines. Whereas Inception had a distinct color palette which laboriously worked to let the audience know exactly what timeline they were looking at, “Primer” keeps the same cool visual consistency no matter what.</p>
<p>“Primer” even includes some interesting production trivia. The budget of “Primer” had four digits. That’s right, for a semester of tuition you could make a movie that wins the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. This price comes with some rough audio production that while easy to overlook, is very noticeable in a few parts. Visually, the film ages surprisingly well because the film’s star, Shane Carruth decided against digital, and used 16mm film.</p>
<p>This film opened my eyes to the importance of an auteur, and authorship. Film is not about budget or opulence, it’s about story, character, and purpose. Film is about the choices a filmmaker makes. For those interested in quality moviemaking, watch “Primer.”</p>
<p>“Primer” is available on Hulu.</p>
tag:mattheimiller.svbtle.com,2014:Post/movie-review-the-guest2014-11-24T15:31:18-08:002014-11-24T15:31:18-08:00Movie Review: The Guest<p>Originally written for the UWM Post here: <a href="http://uwmpost.com/movie-review-the-guest/">http://uwmpost.com/movie-review-the-guest/</a></p>
<p>Throwback. Throwback. Throwback. “The Guest” is an old school thriller.</p>
<p>The film brings to mind a time when movie stars didn’t wear tights and capes, only the cold hard inhuman abs of an American hero. Armed with the arsenal of a small South American country, they could break necks and hearts for the red, white and blue. I’m talking about the classic 80s hero. The Guest channels these influences into a fun, modernly unsettling good time.</p>
<p>The 80s vibe presented in the film lends itself easily to a terminator comparison, with a budget just stringent enough to ensure a concentrated experience. There is even a Halloween themed school gymnasium finale, with moody “school dance lighting.” A hallmark of 80s films, real liquid prop blood, makes many appearances.</p>
<p>The film stars Dan Stevens as David, who is famously known for his role as Matthew Crawley in Downton Abbey. The movie constantly asks the audience to evaluate exactly who David is; his motives, his purpose, and his general character.</p>
<p>David is a recently discharged veteran who enters the film unannounced at the home of his deceased friend’s family, the Petersons. He brings them the last words of love that they so desperately want to hear. The family is decimated from the loss of their beloved son and brother. Naturally David fills this void and finds himself invited to stay for a little while so he can get on his feet. David is a social engineer, everybody’s best friend. He soon enters and enriches the lives of each of the family members. Between David’s penchants for violent problem solving and a string of possibly related deaths, things soon spiral out of control.</p>
<p>The film is told largely through the lens of the Petersons, of whom David is a house guest. Keeping the stakes small and dramatic means the budget of this film does not present too large a limitation.</p>
<p>David is a possible Captain America. Where the recent Marvel films Captain America is shown as almost naively warm, David is an exploration in polite steely distance. He is a death machine. This role is an opportunity for Stevens to stretch his acting legs and really show off. Playing a man he isn’t to get what he wants. Stevens somehow got me to like David while keeping me unsure about what was happening behind that crooked smile and piercing blue gaze. Even when he’s menacing, the David we see never breaks from his all-American patter. He’s upfront, even when he’s about to kill someone. It is a wonderful tightrope that Stevens walks.</p>
<p>“The Guest” marks director Adam Wingard’s first foray into mainstream film, connecting back to his horror roots. Fans of VHS and the film “You’re Next,” will really want to see this film which really hits its stride. Inspiring dread in sequences leading up to the 80s style action violence.</p>
<p>“The Guest’s” aforementioned bloody Halloween finale proves Wingard has visual style and a stellar sense of tension. He is definitely someone to watch in the film industry.</p>
<p>“The Guest” is a competent thriller that punches above its budget to great effect. In the hands of a lesser actor, David would not have the eerie calm and tense, jilted quality that marks this film like a hot brand. Dan Stevens and Adam Wingard have done some incredible work.</p>
<p>“The Guest” is currently playing at AMC Mayfair and Marcus Ridge Cinema.</p>
tag:mattheimiller.svbtle.com,2014:Post/movie-review-the-judge2014-11-24T15:26:11-08:002014-11-24T15:26:11-08:00Movie Review: The Judge<p>Originally written for the UWM Post here: <a href="http://uwmpost.com/movie-review-the-judge/">http://uwmpost.com/movie-review-the-judge/</a></p>
<p>We watch Robert Downey Jr. watch old family movies, and then Bon Iver plays. We watch Robert Downey Jr. look at an empty spinning chair, and then Bon Iver plays. This movie dares you to feel.</p>
<p>A more cynical man would call this movie failed Oscar bait.</p>
<p>The film contains legacy, family, the Midwest, lawyers, guilt, punishment, comic relief that does not really work, and tearful, poorly lit basement brooding sessions. Along with a small almost incestual subplot and an ambiguously handicapped character that adds little to nothing.</p>
<p>All this in the Robert Downey Jr. produced passion project, The Judge.</p>
<p>All the pieces of this film never quite line up. Some things just feel off, especially when it comes to the look of the film.</p>
<p>A drive through a cornfield in an early scene has a rough CG quality. Later, the large wall-windows of a restaurant overlook a simulated looking mill and river. Things are shot disproportionately close. Anytime the camera opens on a naturalistic outdoor scene things are a treat, but the amount of time spent in courtrooms is a little bit of a drag visually. The city courtroom early on in the film looks fine. But the Indiana courtroom is lit in a perpetual “Old Testament, Shekinah Glory” way, with a blinding white light pouring in from improbable angles.</p>
<p>Between the sound design, the interpersonal stakes, and the setting, the film seems to be going for a naturalism that is just not reflected in all the visual aspects of the film.</p>
<p>For all my snark, I have to admit the core emotional drama is actually pretty tightly integrated into the characterization of the father and son relationship at the heart of this movie. It’s just that it gets bogged down in the almost two and a half hours this movie requires. The number of sub-plots ranging from Palmer’s elementary aged daughter visiting Indiana to him possibly having another daughter he does not know about is messy. He later meets her in a bar. The inclusion of a youngest Palmer brother, who is a mentally handicapped amateur filmographer, is to allow us to watch a video he compiles. It acts as a flash-back sequence that the characters can watch with us.</p>
<p>The question is always, what do you as a viewer want? Do you want to watch Robert Downey Jr. do his Robert Downey Jr. thing? He is smart. He is witty. The ladies love him. He is a troublemaker with a squishy sensitive beating heart underneath it all. His character’s name is Hank Palmer but that barely matters. This character fits with the preconception of what a Downey Jr. character will be like, thanks to his last six action films that audiences are familiar with.</p>
<p>Every other character can be referred to in some way as they relate to Palmer. There is Robert Duvall’s Joseph Palmer, Hank’s father and the titular Judge. He is suspected of murdering a man he once sentenced. Hank is a lawyer, so of course eventually he defends his father in a climactic courtroom speak-a-thon where deep truths and personal baggage come to a head.</p>
<p>The Judge is currently playing at the Oriental Theatre.</p>
tag:mattheimiller.svbtle.com,2014:Post/robot-and-frank-blurb2014-11-24T15:21:01-08:002014-11-24T15:21:01-08:00Robot and Frank blurb<p>Originally posted as a “Netflix Pick” word blurb written for the UWM Post here: <a href="http://uwmpost.com/october-netflix-picks-from-stars-hollow-to-california/">http://uwmpost.com/october-netflix-picks-from-stars-hollow-to-california/</a></p>
<p>Robot & Frank</p>
<p>This film features an aging retired jewel thief. His kids have their own problems and as a gesture, give him a robot caretaker. Frank Langella is fantastic as Frank, an elderly subject who has an initial distaste for his new lurking automaton. That changes though when he decides to get back in the game. The robot, understanding that crime is a cognitive stimulate, plays along.</p>
<p>One of the great things about the movie “Her” was that it introduced many people to pedestrian science fiction. Science fiction is not just space ships, explosions, and rubber masks. “Robot & Frank” is a story set in a world much like ours. Today many people read on tablets, phones, and other devices. Robots assist doctors in hospitals and no one has used a paper map in over six years. A place, like the one found in “Robot & Frank,” is one where libraries almost all die, is not so farfetched. The movie takes a few present day technologies and extends them just barely into the realm of fiction.</p>
<p>But like “Her,” “Robot & Frank” is not content to just have science fiction elements. It rings human cords and tells a story that is more heart than bang-zoom technological wizardry. The movie presents the perspective of the elderly in science fiction. It is a wonderful exploration and one that happens too rarely. “Robot & Frank” is for people who are interested in a charming, near-future, low key caper. I highly recommend it.”</p>
<p>-Matt Heimiller</p>
tag:mattheimiller.svbtle.com,2014:Post/the-drop-a-gripping-and-satisfying-crime-drama-12014-09-29T20:43:00-07:002014-09-29T20:43:00-07:00
THE DROP, A GRIPPING AND SATISFYING CRIME DRAMA<p>This review of 2014’s The Drop was originally published September 27th, 2014 at <a href="http://uwmpost.com/the-drop-a-gripping-and-satisfying-crime-drama/">http://uwmpost.com/the-drop-a-gripping-and-satisfying-crime-drama/</a></p>
<p>The Drop is what everyone wants from small scale crime drama; gripping in a no nonsense conventional storytelling type of way. Information is communicated through cause and effect, the characters act and react to one another, and the audience slowly learns what’s going on. The Drop never lets go.</p>
<p>“The Drop” refers to the bar at the center of this whole affair. Historically, a drop bar is a dedicated location where mobsters collect all their money at the end of one night. There are many drop bars in the organization meaning there is no guarantee that any particular location is the Drop for the night.</p>
<p>As human nature can attest, all that money in one place is tempting. The dramatic wheels start turning after a robbery of a drop bar. Since the night it is robbed is not a drop night, the take small by organized crime standards. But a few thousand ill-gotten dollars is enough to begin a slow unraveling our characters’ worlds and plans. After all, the men who own the bar want their money back and dirty money is not something insurance covers.</p>
<p>Any fan of James Gandolfini will want to see his last performance here as Cousin Marv; a supporting character who runs the drop bar that is robbed early on. Gandolfini, always reliable, carries Marv with just the right mix of aging blue collar resentment and criminal energy. We learn that Marv used to be a big deal mobster but that was a long time ago and times have changed. He doesn’t even own the bar in question anymore. He just runs it.</p>
<p>Tom Hardy is Bob Saginowski, a slower, unassuming bartender. His cousin Marv is his closest associate. While simple in a monetary and cultural sense, Bob is not one dimensional. Hardy’s greatest acting triumph is when Bob is thinking. Never before has it been so convincing that someone is working out something within their own mind than in Hardy’s many opportunities to let us know Bob is not exactly the sharpest knife in the set.</p>
<p>The biggest obstacle to completely buying Bob as a disheveled, bottom of the totem pole character is Hardy’s handsome movie star face. They try to give him a scraggly beard to give him a rundown appearance but his naturally handsome looks shine through. Hardy is well within that category where Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump resides. The place where, if the face is familiar enough, a conscious distance between the actor and the character is created. All credit to Hardy who overcomes this barrier like a pro.</p>
<p>The violence is a sort of naturalistic, unsettling punctuation mark. The real star here is the tone. The atmosphere. The dread. When the characters ring true and what they are capable of is laid out on the table, the suspense is greatest. That suspense is so finely crafted. Sculpted even. The film lets Bob and his relationship with Nadia, played by Noomi Rapace, breath. Their moments of genuine sweetness revolve around a dog they rescue together. The rescue dog along with a broken porcelain angel Nadia keeps mirrors both Nadia and Bob’s need to move on from their pasts and how they are drawn together. This adds to the dramatic compression in the tensest moments. When these characters have something to lose they are understood exactly.</p>
<p>The Drop is now playing at the AMC Mayfair Mall.</p>
tag:mattheimiller.svbtle.com,2014:Post/vvvvvv-the-best-one-hour-game-youll-pay-5-bucks-for-this-week2014-06-17T21:08:40-07:002014-06-17T21:08:40-07:00"VVVVVV" the best one hour game you'll pay 5 bucks for this week<p>You can find “VVVVVV” on Steam here: <a href="http://store.steampowered.com/app/70300/">http://store.steampowered.com/app/70300/</a></p>
<p>Maybe you have been to <a href="http://www.kongregate.com/">http://www.kongregate.com/</a> or another free web game portal. There are two main problems that an average consumer has with these web based games and their host sites. </p>
<p>One, everything lacks polish. With literally thousands of games available for free, quality gets pretty diluted. Not everyone has the backing to make a “Dikembe Mutombo Saves the World” (<a href="http://kbhgames.com/old-spice-dikembe-mutombos-4-12-weeks-to-save-the-world/">http://kbhgames.com/old-spice-dikembe-mutombos-4-12-weeks-to-save-the-world/</a>)</p>
<p>Two, there is no satisfying power of purchase! Without the good feeling that exchanging tangible goods for an intangible experience provides how are we supposed signify to ourselves and to the world that we have committed to a game?</p>
<p>Both of these problems are solved with “VVVVVV” a game that has a simple hook, limited run-time, and modest cost.</p>
<p>In “VVVVVV” you play as a little guy. His names starts with a ‘V’ and he sets out to find other little guys whose names start with ‘V’. The story, told in easily skippable small text blurbs, has all the charm that any low budget game would be expected to have. That is if you think that three facial expression sprites and solid color blob like stick figures are charming. I did.</p>
<p>In terms of gameplay “VVVVVV” is closer to its web-game cousins than to other platformer indie darlings such as “Super Meat Boy” or “FEZ” which have a sense of scale and production value orders of magnitude greater than what you can find here. While frugal, the art design never feels cheap. While stylized visuals probably helped the developers’ meager purse, it never hurts gameplay. Visually distinct neon areas with flashing patterns help give each platforming space an identity.</p>
<p>I enjoy ambitious games and developers that try to push the variety and possibility of games in an inherently limited space like the browser (See: <a href="http://jmtb02.com/">http://jmtb02.com/</a>). The reality is that often polish and ambition are pitted up against one another. More features unfortunately mean more rough edges. Unlike big studios, smaller teams of one or two are without the ability to throw bags of currency and hours of human suffering at problems. Web games at their best tend to be games that drill down to a core mechanic and make it sing. </p>
<p>“VVVVVV” aims at a refined experience using only the arrow keys or the left and right arrow keys and the “V” key. The simple mechanic of flipping gravity and moving horizontally is all there is to this game. You can only flip gravity once before navigating to a safe platform where you can flip gravity again. The game squeezes every last drop of play out of this and clocks in between one and two hours. </p>
<p>The thing about “VVVVVV” is that surface level quality hangs just above top tier platforming games on sites like Kongregate (see the “robot wants” series: <a href="http://www.kongregate.com/games/Hamumu">http://www.kongregate.com/games/Hamumu</a>). While competing with free games might seem counter productive, this might be its greatest strength, that you can pay for it. In the bizarre deluge of web games, something like “VVVVVV” could get lost. Anyone who is hunting for a good free game to play online knows that it takes an average of two duds before landing on something passable and rarer still to find something succinct and economical. </p>
<p>In a world where it can be impossible to find good one hour games, “VVVVVV” stands as one of the more competent choices for anyone looking to skip the online legwork for just five dollars.</p>
<p>Last note, with many optional collectibles to be found through off the beaten path platforming challenges “VVVVVV” promises an after life for people who want to take the plunge past casual land and into the ranks of the 100%-ers. </p>
<p>Also available on iOS, Android, OUYA.</p>