Bad Cop/Worse Cop

Woody Harrelson Ramps it Up,Dives in Deep and Fights the Bad Fight
By Morgan P Salvo


Rampart was not close to what I expected, and that’s still a good thing. I thought we’d see a lunatic displaying a ton of violence and bad temper explosions. What we get is a diabolically slow burn through an amazing performance by Woody Harreslon. I was excepting the ranting of an insane powder keg ready to blow instead we have a profile of an intellectual bull headed cop not willing to take his political medicine. Oh he also beats and kills people he thinks deserve it. The film is set in 1999, during the Rampart scandal in the time misconduct came to light within the Los Angeles Police Dept.’s Rampart division, from which more than 70 cops were charged with acts of unprovoked brutality. Focusing on Officer Dave Brown (Harrelson) an old-school racist badass who wantonly prowls the city, the plot is triggered by Dave getting caught on videotape as he beats a suspect..
Rampart is also an in depth character study of a multi-dimensional dude teetering on the edge: a sociopath’s attempt to undermine the justice system, exposing and creating hypocrisy and corruption on several levels to achieve self righteous goals. Thanks to multi-layered events we’re never sure if someone’s out to get him or if he’s just digging his own grave.
The messy plot is never too convoluted to keep us involved into its suspense. As we watch the inventible collision course with destiny we can’t really feel the pressure but we sure can relate as we see it happening. This flick maintains an arty socio-political commentary throughout. While trampling on the same terrain as Colors and Training Day, Rampart is steeped in hazy world of its own and plays out more like a Charles Bukowski story, following the careening downward spiral of a man who has butted against the wall of the system and his domestic life one time too many times. He’s a misogynist and sex maniac addict (take your pick) who despites all his deficiencies manages to seduce women into the sack. Brown’s inner rage and dysfunction is at its peak where he lives, scraping by, with two ex-wives (Anne Heche and Cynthia Nixon) and their daughters.
Booze is at the core of the problem and then the self medication abounds with illegally acquired prescriptions drugs bordering into Bad Lieutenant territory (the good Bad Lieutenant with Harvey Keitel one not the bad Bad Lieutenant with Nick Cage)
Harreslon gives the performance of a lifetime here. This is his Crazy Heart (or Taxi Driver) moment and if he doesn’t get an Oscar nod for this then there’s is no justice in the world. Warped from the word go Harreslon’s martini guzzling bullet-headed cop defies all stereotypes and keeps you guessing. His rowdy energy and what-the-hell attitude makes his character likable and at the same time loathsome. Showing the ability to be cocky and paranoid simultaneously Harrelson gives Brown a soul alongside a weird bravado that sucks us in and at times root for his despicable ways. Co-stars Ned Beatty, Sigourney Weaver, Ben Foster, Steve Buscemi and even Ice Cube expertly help round out this flick.

Oren Moverman is truly a director with a vision. Artistically shot and well thought out every scene of this flick is one of textural beauty despite the subject matter. Still we are left with an ambiguous ending. I’m sure we all would like to see this conceited finagler and all his machismo arrogance, homophobia, racism and violent behavior put to rest, but, hey, it’s not too difficult to put the remaining off-screen pieces together.
Rampart is major achievement. One will be either able to pick one scene from this movie and talk about it endlessly or debate the message this twisted flick conveys from now till doomsday. Those who are fortunate to see Rampart will be talking about it for a long long time.

Rampart
Starring Woody Harrelson, Robin Wright, Ned Beatty, Ben Foster
Directed by Oren Moverman
Rated R

 4 stars

Real Time? Real Horror?Real Crap!

This house is better off remaining silent
By Morgan P Salvo


Movies never profess to really tell the truth (just check the Coen brothers credentials surrounding Fargo), but when a movie advertises something and it turns out not to be the case, you have to wonder whether is it worth being lied to. The answer is, sure, if the movie is good enough, but Silent House turns out to be nothing short of an insult.
Silent House is based on La Casa Muda, a low budget 2010 Uruguayan horror film, whose similar claim to fame is that it was shot in real time with one continuous shot. Silent House portends to have used this technique as well, one that has only been used effectively in a few cinematic cases such as Hitchcock’s classic Rope and director Yuri Zeltser’s Circle starring Angela Bettis. However, I noticed at least three different cuts and one glaring camera trick, not to mention that the blood on Elizabeth Olsen’s face and plunging neckline changed locations from scene to scene. Silent House’s claim to have been filmed in one shot is a complete falsehood plus it’s not a good movie.
The skeletal plot revolves around two brothers, John and Peter (Adam Trese and Eric Sheffer Stevens) and John’s daughter Sarah (Olsen of Martha Marcy May Marlene) renovating their house in the country for sale after squatters have damaged it. The electricity is gone due to varmints or vandalism and there’s no cell reception. Cut to inane dialogue to get the ball rolling and viola, we are immediately thrown into scary movie territory with big noises and dad’s disappearance. Olsen spends the rest of the movie in ultimate fear mode, which visibly takes its toll upon her and eventually on the audience.
Cinematographer Igor Martinovic keeps the mayhem encompassed in blinking lights and grainy detail while co-directors Chris Kentis and Laura Lau, responsible for 2003’s sleeper hit Open Water attempt to score again with this “original” idea. The camera work is spot on genius at first evoking the feeling of being right there in the moment, and the creepy humming music is generally effective. After the camera stops focusing on Olsen’s cleavage for the first 15 minutes, the movie then allows you to absorb her escalating claustrophobia.

Olsen must have been drained after filming this. On the heels of a wrenching performance in her last flick about cult brainwashing, again she goes through the ringer with an exhausting display of panicking meltdowns in attempt to stifle her fear-produced hyperventilation, holding her breath and swallowing her screams to conceal her hidden whereabouts in the dark house…in other words a lot of cowering. The filmmakers obviously could give a rat’s ass about the male characters, as Adam Trese (Laws of Gravity) is underused and Stevens as Uncle Pete is one of the worst actors I’ve ever seen. It’s all about Miss Olsen and her emoting ability, which is fine but after a while we wonder, just how many times does she need to convince us that she’s scared shitless squelching her noise while hiding in precarious places from the killers, ghost or whatever? This Olsen should run back to sisters Mary-Kate and Ashley’s Full House leaving this silent one far behind her.
The requisite psychological terror scares of slammed doors, weird noises and flickering silhouettes are few and far between. Silent House plays out more like Wait Until Dark than Paranormal Activity. Hallucinatory little girl ghosts and blood pouring harkens The Shining but in the end it doesn’t matter. This movie, with its myriad of stolen ideas, lifts the plot from Stir of Echoes and makes that flick look good. When we get to the twist the sad part is that it’s not predictable because it’s just pathetic.
The ending negates all that came before it. When the last 20 minutes defy the greatness of the entire movie, it only then stands to reason that this entire movie sucks and as an audience we have been betrayed. I like a movie that’s good enough to make me think, not stupid enough to make me wonder “what the hell were they thinking?” It’s a shame as this flick might’ve been something of merit to talk about rather than, once again, to complain about.


Silent House
Starring Elizabeth Olsen, Adam Trese, Eric Sheffer Stevens
Directed by Chris Kentis and Laura Lau
Rated R



1 ½ stars

From Wrecked to Ruined

A party run amuck takes the shaky camera genre to new heights/lows



By Morgan P Salvo

Not to be confused with the 1987 Matthew Broderick experimental lab chimp movie of the same name, this Project X bears no similarities except for that people act like a bunch of baboons. I have no idea why this movie is called Project X when it is basically Superbad gone turbo with out any of its charm.
The plot has nerdy high-school seniors Thomas, Costa and JB, (Thomas Mann, Oliver Cooper and Jonathan Daniel Brown) who decide to throw a party for the sex and fame it could bring them. The obvious motivating factor in the flick is the necessity for these guys to get laid, especially nice guy Thomas for his 18th birthday. So plans are hatched for a major, babe-filled blowout the night his parents leave town for the weekend. As Costa puts it, “It’s about changing the game”. Predictably it gets out of hand to gargantuan proportions.
First-time filmmaker and director Nima Nourizadeh does an impressive job of making the action look like one huge continuous splatter of youthful drug-induced alcoholic insanity. It’s Superbad meets Cloverfield and the monster is the party. Once again we are subjected to the “found footage” self documentary style and then there are flip cameras, real Hollywood hand held cameras and fake news footage. There are so many different angles it’s hard to tell who’s shooting what, which allows the editing to shine, resulting in tiny little moments that are pure cinematic genius.
The performances are alright. Thomas is excellent at being worried and trying to have fun simultaneously, as it is his parents’ house. Costa is animated but still creepy and JB, try as he may, is still the unlikable fat guy dork.

X gives props to every party movie on the planet including Animal House, Porky's and all Girls Gone Wild videos but still mostly Superbad. After a while even though the thinly veiled plot does all the requisite things, this dizzyingly shot flick is all about the chaos. It seems to have the reverse effect it strives for. I felt nauseous after seeing this, not hilariously entertained. The movement of this party’s trajectory has nowhere to go but the obvious law of party physics that dictate what gets fun has to get dangerous, nasty and wrong.This is what happens when the Nerd Patrol throws an instant party

Which brings me to the main problem of PX, I can’t tell what it’s really trying to say. Sure it’s about the set up, the descent, the chaos, and the total annihilation. I don’t know how many times I heard “pussy, dicks, bitches, faggots and midgets” mentioned in its Tosh.O attempt to shock. The flick’s political incorrectness remains its staple but it’s nothing we haven’t seen before, just a case of overkill.
Once again the previews were too revealing. The only surprise is the guy with the blowtorch and that’s where the script gets too far fetched. PX is just montage after montage of people imbibing, stripping, screwing and heaving, enhanced by Eminem and other hip hop artists boasting rank lyrics about sex and more sex.
Project X was reportedly inspired by an incident in Australia a few years back when, thanks to an invitation that got posted online, hundreds of people turned up for a house party, resulting in uncontrollable mayhem and thousands of dollars in damage. With the stamp of producer Todd Phillips of Hangover and Old School fame, this actually reminds me more of his documentary on GG Allin (Hated). With unrecognizable newcomer thespians it has a more believable documentary quality that you can’t avoid or shake yet this movie leaves you with a bigger “hangover” than its predecessors’ franchise of the same name.
As in Suberbad, the dweeb lead gets the girl and everyone is happy even if they are punished for life. They’ve accomplished what no other senior has: a major epic and legendary event and herein lies the weird morality. While PX plays out as one nauseating escapade after another, it still regains its status as super cool. The audience is then left with bigger questions like was this irony, tragedy, nihilistic or triumphant? I’m not sure why this movie was made if for not other reason but to throw a party this huge and get away with it. Did I mention Superbad?


Project X
Starring Thomas Mann, Oliver Cooper, Jonathan Daniel Brown, Dax Flame, Kirby Bliss Blanton
Directed by Nima Nourizadeh
Rated R
2 ½ stars