Posts Tagged ‘Haley Joel Osment’

Blink Twice

Director: Zoe Kravitz

Cast: Channing Tatum, Naomi Ackie, Christian Slater, Simon Rex, Adria Arjona, Haley Joel Osment, Geena Davis, Kyle MacLachlan, Levon Hawke

Running Time: 1 hour 42 minutes

Film Rating: 7 out of 10

The best decision that first time director Zoe Kravitz did, was change the title of this first time feature directorial from Pussy Island to Blink Twice.

Imagine trying to market a film called Pussy Island?

Actress turned director Zoe Kravitz casts Channing Tatum as mysterious tech billionaire Slater King in Blink Twice opposite an amazing Naomi Ackie (I Wanna Dance with Somebody) as Frida, a struggling Los Angeles waitress who along with her friend Jess played by Alia Shawkat are invited to his private island in an unknown location.

Like in director Mike Mylod’s The Menu, the audience knows that something terrifying is about to happen, but not sure what. Blink Twice is no different except lacking the charisma of Ralph Fiennes, this is a mystery horror thriller starring a host of ensemble actors including Christian Slater (True Romance, Interview with a Vampire) as Vic, Simon Rex as Cody, Oscar winner Geena Davis (The Accidental Tourist) as Stacy and Kyle MacLachlan (Blue Velvet, Dune) as Rich. There is also a fiery Adria Arjona (Hitman) as Sarah along with Levon Hawke as Lucas.

Frida and Slater and a host of guests arrive via private jet at the sumptuous yet creepy estate, a red villa amidst lush greenery seeping with poisonous snakes and shifty servants.

Blink Twice takes a while to get going, but the intensity of the narrative is held together by some inventive colour saturation and gaudy production design by Roberto Bonelli, which frames the anguish of the characters against stark primary colours as their social anxiety heightens. Zoe Kravitz’s decision to film most of the characters in Extreme Close Up adds to the psychological trauma of what is really occurring.

Amidst the lavish dinners and decadent pool parties, with all the ladies in white and the men looking lecherous, Frida’s friend Jess suddenly goes missing and soon all the luxury of their plush surroundings vanish when Frida tries to piece together what is really happening polaroid style.

Channing Tatum plays the sinister billionaire and steps out of his comfort zone as a quasi-villain. Blink Twice really belongs to Naomi Ackie and Adria Arjona as they soon discover that their drug induced dinners served an entirely nefarious purpose. The nasty characters get horribly messy very quickly amidst the pink mimosas and the champagne cocktails on this private island in which the men are catching more than just fish.

As a directorial debut Zoe Kravitz’s film Blink Twice is slightly challenging in places, yet the narrative doesn’t quite hold together and some of the extra characters are wasted. Fortunately for all its garish quirks, Blink Twice has a fascinating twist at the end.

Not for sensitive viewers, Blink Twice is a psychological thriller for the Instagram generation which gets a film rating of 7 out of 10. If you enjoyed Saltburn and The Menu, then watch Blink Twice.

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile

Director: Joe Berlinger

Cast: Zac Efron, Lily Collins, John Malkovich, Angela Sarafyan, Jeffrey Donovan, Haley Joel Osment , Brian Geraghty, Terry Kinney, Kaya Scodelario, Jim Parsons

Based on the memoir The Phantom Prince: My Life with Ted Bundy by Elizabeth Kendall, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile stylishly directed by crime documentary film maker Joe Berlinger is a fascinating and deeply disturbing portrait of a devilishly handsome sociopath, the notorious serial killer Ted Bundy superbly played by the gorgeous Zac Efron (The PaperBoy, The Greatest Showman, We are Your Friends) in a determined departure from his comic roles.

Elizabeth Kendall is played by Rules Don’t Apply star Lily Collins who gives a mesmerizing performance as a young girl captivated by Bundy’s killer good looks, his charm and his demonic charisma. Kendall first meets the handsome stranger in a bar in Seattle in 1969 and Berlinger’s film is told from her perspective and rather than focus on the heinous crimes that Bundy committed in several states across America from Utah, Colorado to Florida.

Always maintaining his innocence even when he was arrested for multiple murders in Florida, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile chooses rather to focus on the glamourous media attention that Bundy received both in the Florida courthouse and earlier in Aspen, Colorado where he brazenly escaped from a courthouse in broad daylight in 1977.  

It is really the Florida trial where Bundy even was allowed to defend his own innocence against a unimpressed judge Edward D. Cowart wonderfully played by Oscar nominee John Malkovich (Dangerous Liaisons) where Berlinger’s film comes into sharp dramatic focus and where Efron excels in some superbly written dialogue between a clearly delusional and narcissistic Bundy and Judge Cowart who is desperately trying to avert the trial from becoming a sensationalist media circus.

As serial killer films go, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile is original in the way it handles its subject matter but is no means gripping or scary like Jonathan Demme’s Oscar winning fictional film The Silence of the Lambs which won both Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster’s Oscars for Best Actor and Actress respectively back in 1992.

What is so disturbing besides Zac Efron’s handsome movie star face masquerading as the real Ted Bundy is the apparent ease with which Bundy eluded law enforcement agents in several states and managed to kill, decapitate and rape over 20 young women in the 1970’s before eventually being caught and sentenced to death. Viewers have to bear in mind this was decades before DNA analysis and pervasive social media.

Nevertheless Zac Efron does give a brilliant performance as Bundy aided by Lily Collins as the denial ridden ex-girlfriend Elizabeth Kendall who once trusted Bundy with her young daughter.

Worth seeing for its originality and audacity, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile gets a film rating of 8 out 10 and is helped by a fantastic supporting cast including Jim Parsons, Jeffrey Donovan and Oscar nominee Haley Joel Osment (The Sixth Sense).

Read more about the terrible crimes of Ted Bundy –
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Bundy

Entourage

Director: Doug Ellin

Cast: Jeremy Piven, Kevin Dillon, Kevin Connolly, Jerry Ferrera, Adrian Grenier, Mark Wahlberg, Billy Bob Thornton, Debi Mazar, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Armie Hammer, Ronda Rousey, Haley Joel Osment

It’s not always easy to translate a 30 minute HBO series into a full length feature film but the producers of the hit HBO series Entourage do that with a certain degree of success. For those oblivious to the carousing of the gang in the original series, Entourage focused on four friends in Hollywood, Eric, Vince, Johnny Drama and Turtle as they navigate their way through scoring girls, attending wild parties and the intricacies of the entertainment industry. Naturally it’s Hollywood on steroids.

Produced by Mark Wahlberg and Doug Ellin, the latter of whom directs the film version, Entourage the film is like a watered down version of Robert Altman’s scathing diatribe on Hollywood, The Player and also uses a similar self-reflexive technique of blending actors playing onscreen characters with real film stars which include Liam Neeson, Armie Hammer and Mark Wahlberg.

Most of the action of this celebrity style Bromance takes place in Los Angeles with a brief opening sequence on a yacht in Ibiza, which looks like an offcut from Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street.

As the brat pack make their way to stardom through a series of parties, optimal seductions and behind the scenes Hollywood dealings, Entourage has some extremely funny moments, mostly littered with foul language, less glamour and lots of stuff guys obsess about: sex, money and girls.

Jeremy Piven as the angry and hilarious film producer Ari Gold, lifts Entourage out of a banal narrative which does not really go anywhere and his brilliant performance is counterpointed by that of Oscar winner Billy Bob Thornton (Sling Blade) as a Texan film investor, Larsen McCreadle along with his buffoon of a son, Travis wonderfully played by Sixth Sense star Haley Joel Osment.

Entourage is in fact saved by Piven whose unbelievably energetic performance as Gold makes the film worth watching while the rest of the cast drift through the film in a sort of narcissistic American machismo unique to Hollywood, where the only thing that matters besides their egos is their sex lives.

Audiences should watch out for some fabulous cameo appearances including singer Pharrell Williams, Armie Hammer, Liam Neeson, Jessica Alba, Piers Morgan and Billionaire Warren Buffett playing themselves. Kevin Dillon, younger brother of Matt Dillon and Jerry Ferrara provide the laughs as Johnny Drama and Turtle while Piven’s character of Ari Gold makes the film thoroughly enjoyable.

Entourage is a B grade film about Hollywood with appearances by some A grade actors as themselves, with a cast that does not have to do much but just be the annoying yet lovable guys they were in the original series, cruising around Sunset Boulevard living the dream. Recommended for viewers who followed the HBO series and natural fans of the immensely talented Jeremy Piven.

However, this film version of Entourage is a far cry from the more subtle Hollywood parody expertly done by Robert Altman in The Player back in 1992, but worth watch purely for the entertainment value.