Monday, April 9, 2012

Communication Breakdown

Ignorance and psychosis go hand in hand

By Morgan P Salvo

Some movies clue you in from the first scene that you’re in for a different experience. We Need to Talk About Kevin achieves this and falls into the category of really different. The opening looks like a blood orgy, with Tilda Swinton slathered to the hilt in red, but turns out to be some sort of tomato festival with gobs of crushed slime running red all over huddled masses. It’s not clear if this is some sort of flashback or a surreal dream sequence and frankly it doesn’t matter. Scottish director Lynne Ramsay, responsible for the underrated Morven Callar and Ratcatcher, likes to give us a lot to work with. Here she uses the ever-present color red, symbolizing the stigma of never being able to wash the blood of tragedy from your hands.
WHTTAK is about a demon seed drunkenly spawned by Eva (Swinton) and Franklin (John C Reilly) who weren’t ready for a kid. Franklin adapts while Eva sees the child as an invasion to her entire existence. They’re a professional couple - he’s a photographer, she’s a travel agent, and things seem to be okay except there is something wrong with their son Kevin (Rock Duer) who grows into an obstinate brat (Jasper Newell) then a threatening, calculating teen (Ezra Miller). Questions arise, such as how and when do you know that you’re raising a monster?
Modern day Eva wears a glassy stare, obviously suffering from some huge emotional burden and is the target of abuse from her community. We are jettisoned into flashbacks between two periods, before and after a catastrophe, to see why her life has become so miserable.
With the premise of “this is what happens when we don’t talk it out”, Ramsay keeps up the surreal portrait of dysfunctional hi-jinks in a way that’s frustrating and compelling simultaneously. Even though things are spelled out for us eventually with equal time devoted to real-time and flashbacks, we still feel like we need to put the jigsaw puzzle pieces together. Sometimes the most effective events happen off screen while we see emotional turmoil unfold on people’s expressions. It’s like Funny Games, without the torture meets The Omen sans the supernatural link to Satan. The wickedness is in the mind of Kevin who acts out as the result of feeling unwanted by mom who tries to mask her hostility with superficial kindness. Ultimately she can’t stand having a kid, especially one this evil.
And is Kevin ever a diabolical little shit. He plays favorite son to dad, who turns a blind eye to any bad thing mom says he does. Eva fights back with another pregnancy and soon the sister has an eye patch. We realize nothing good can come of this household, we just don’t know quite how bad it will get. As soon as we see the pet hamster we know it is not long for this world. The biggest mistake is dad buying Kevin a bow and arrow set. Tension builds through the parents’ miscommunication to the inevitable fact that Kevin is going to do something heinous.
Swinton is once again at the top her game; she commands the screen through a weirdly introverted performance. Her portrait of a woman’s deteriorating state of mind is mesmerizing as her zombielike Eva wanders through life in a state of shock. It’s nice to see Reilly (who’s getting fatter all the time) in something dramatic again but one too many comedies have made him hard to take seriously. All three Kevin portrayals are spot on.
Kevin makes you want you to jump in the screen and either spank or scold. But mainly that’s what you want to do to these parents for their inability to communicate. Ramsay was quoted as saying, “Kevin is one of the last taboo subjects: You're meant to instantly love your baby from the moment he's born, but what if you don’t?” And what if that baby grows into someone terrifying? Well this dark flick doesn’t answer all the questions of what it would be like to live with a kid capable of going all “Columbine” but it sure makes you think. We Need to Talk about Kevin is a weirdly frightening and strangely beautiful warped vision. Those of us who see this flick will definitely be talking about Kevin.


We Have To Talk About Kevin
Starring Tilda Swinton, John C Reilly, Ezra Miller, Rocky Duer
Directed by Lynne Ramsay
Rated R
3 ½ stars

YO! You on the wall...Who’s the cutest of them all?

Upgraded fable isn’t as bad as it should be...but close
by Morgan P Salvo

I wanted this movie to be worse. Mirror Mirror wasn’t horrible but it’s not good either. With a safe even keel this flick excels at being nothing special. It’s not stupid enough for to me to be fully embarrassed for the human race and not campy enough to be blasé. It’s a bland prequel and retelling of the Snow White and the Seven Dwarves fable and ultimately decent enough for kids. Damn it!
Sent with cruel intentions by my wicked step-editor, I knew my movie going experience was fated to be nightmarish due to the fact that it’s Spring Break and kids are out in droves. Alas I was turned away from this kid magnet after at my first round of standing in a line of exuberant children because it was sold out. Perhaps that was a good thing.
Mirror moves along but at times engages a really slow and deliberate pace. The jokes come in intervals as the cuteness dominates the action. I was hoping for an Alexandre Aja Mirrors version where jagged glass shears peoples’ skin off and the shards would stab people’s flesh leaving them shrieking, but no such luck. Despite having such a visionary filmmaker as director Tarsem Singh (The Cell, The Fall and The Immortals) this flick suffers from being dumbed down and restrained to make the PG rating. Focusing on rich colors and closing in on Tim Burton’s territory, Mirror never steps out of a predestined comfort zone. At least Tarsem has finally made a film without “the” in the title.
The performances are good to stiff to adequate. Julia Roberts wants me to hate her, but once again she’s on par with the rest of the flick. Nathan “Hambone” Lane does his predictable spiel. Lily Collins’ Snow White is simply cute, while Armie Hammer (The Winklevoss twins in The Social Network) expresses comic timing but is reduced to an awkward level of adorable. Armie comes off more like Judge Reinhold than a gallant prince.The weirdest thing is seeing Oscar winner Michael Lerner (for Barton Fink) slimmed down in real life and reduced here to literally a pawn in their game. He plays a human chess piece The saving grace is the seven dwarves. Renamed and full of fiery vim and bungling vigor, the dwarves are portrayed as bandits on inflatable stilts (that gets one point for originality.) Not only is Martin Klebba from Feast 2 & 3 here, but they all deliver the goods as seven stooges with equal screen time and well defined characters.
The current fad in Hollywood is to churn out these “fresh” versions of old fairy tales complete with contemporary lingo that gains humor but definitely yanks you out of the moment. It’s all about the “what if” adaptation and more artistic license surrounding the prequel concept. Mirror only leads up to the poisoned apple and even that is thwarted in such a way that it rivals the whole marketing campaign of Julia Roberts holding up “one bad apple.”
Two Snow White flicks are coming out within a month of each other begging the question of which is the fairest of them all? Mirror jumps the gun yet never rises to the occasion, playing it way too safe. All I can say is, look out Snow White and the Huntsman, you’d better deliver.
.

Mirror Mirror
Starring Julia Roberts Lily Collins, Armie Hammer, Nathan Lane
Directed by Tarsem Sing
Rated PG
2 stars

Monday, March 26, 2012

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

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

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

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

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

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Burned Out

Flame off: Lukewarm storyline and lazy 3D knocks out all the fire power
By Morgan P Salvo



Just as in his last ghostly outing, Drive Angry, Nicholas Cage tries to ruin this movie every step of the way, but this time he has help. His mundane take on acting is surpassed by the dismal directing by two of the most innovative filmmakers to date, Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, as they drop the fiery ball big time. The fun that is supposed to be had in Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance is lost entirely. This flick held high expectations, yet sadly, it flat out sucks.
The plot tries to stay true to Marvel Comics’ original idea with its various takes on Ghost Rider’s origin. As Johnny Blaze (Cage) hides out in Eastern Europe, he is called upon by a wine guzzling priest (Idris Elba) to stop the devil, who is trying to take human form in the likes of a boy. And forget about my theory on haunted house movies sucking, my new theory is anything with a boy in it sucks. Cage rampages hither and yon on his lame quest to find the boy and fight evil doers in an attempt to lift his demonic curse.
This flick is shockingly boring.Everyone is basically stuck in an overdone, highly unoriginal race against satanic doomsday. This hackneyed plot steals from The Fury and The Omen. I should’ve known it would be bad since David S. Goyer wrote the story and is responsible for three movies I found repellent: Jumper, The Unborn, and The Dark Knight.
Cage’s narration is somewhat peppy for his usual hangdog monosyllabic babble and his acting is a baby step above his usual posing. But he spends way too much time without his goddamned head on fire lumbering around in his 70’s Elvis leather duds like he has a red hot poker up his butt. Idris has fun with his rambunctious performance, but Johnny Whitworth has the best time as sadistic Ray Carrigan who obtains the power to make things decay, reducing people to Stove Top stuffing mix. A gratuitous Christopher Lambert as an evil priest/monk with graffiti tattooed on his face gives the best (and shortest) performance of his career. Ciarán Hinds looks funny with half his face melting and Violante Placido does nothing sexy or “actiony” enough to please anyone.
Speaking of heads on fire, there is way too much fiery skull screaming while all action stands still and the villains ponder WTF is with that darn flaming motorcycle? The first fight scene shows shades of things to come as all fiery battle sequences are undecipherable. The PG-13 rating works against the subject matter as every time tension builds and it looks like heads will explode it’s either done off screen or from far away.

Let’s blame the directors. Responsible for Crank and Crank 2, these guys have made some of the most pleasing eye candy action flicks ever made. Even Gamer was a fun-packed adventure and sociological skewer of the media. But Neveldine and Taylor seem just plain lazy here. This is definitely like a bad Jonah Hex hangover (a flick they started and walked away from). At least this movie will please the 10-12 year old male demographic.
Not utilizing 3D to any decent capacity, every chance for shit to fly at your head is extinguished in these tepid animated sequences. There’s more energy packed in five minutes of Crank than this entire movie. My expectations were high from a special preview wherein I saw Taylor being pulled by a strap on rollerblades to get some wildly cool shots that must’ve hit the editing floor.
I’m sure N & T were happy to get a paycheck and cash in on the phenomenon that is Nicolas Cage There are a few BS touching scenes. Nick gets to cry and everyone gets to shoot stuff. There’s way too much yakking and too much mythology on the boy and Johnny Blaze.
The directing team pulls out some tricks from their repertoire but not enough to justify the uninspired flick they dish out. The fiery motorcycle looks cool yet the Mad Max/Road Warrior ending is cut too short. You would think with these filmmakers’ résumé at least the ending credits would be fun to watch, but even they are lackluster.
Basically this movie is a bunch of bad ideas poorly executed. After the smoke clears we’re stuck with no real pay off, a waste of time and an even worse memory.The things a nice high powered fire extinguisher would’ve accomplished...
Oh well, ashes to ashes….

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance
Starring Nicholas Cage, Idris Elba, Ciarán Hinds, Violante Placido, Johnny Whitworth
Directed by Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor
Rated PG-13
1 ½ stars

Monday, February 13, 2012

Nowhere to Run, Nowhere to Hide

Finally... A flick that delivers the action goods
by Morgan P Salvo


I thought for sure that Safe House was another of those Tony Scott/ Denzel Washington collaborations and much to my chagrin its not. It is however Training Day all over again with a much cooler calmer Denzel. Instead of director Antoine Fuqua this time it’s Swedish director, with an equally exotic name, Daniel Espinosa known for Snabba Cash (Easy Money). This flick switches the hard driving streets of LA to the more intense safe houses throughout the city of Cape Town, South Africa.
CIA agent Matt Weston (Ryan Reynolds) is a low-level CIA "housekeeper" in charge of a safe house where suspects are taken by CIA operatives to be interrogated. Enter Tobin Frost (Washington), CIA agent-gone-rogue and the agency's most notorious traitor who mysteriously turns himself in…then the fun begins. When the safe house is attacked, Weston and Frost find themselves on the run pursued by trigger-happy gunmen.. Sound familiar? Within the confines of comparisons to the identity-and-loyalty-in-question Bourne movies and Salt, at least this flick has two action heroes and more gratuitous violence than you can shake a semi-automatic weapon at.
Having a decent beginning I thought the filmmakers were going to blow their wad early with the cat-and-mouse shadowing of Frost followed by an overt amount of gunplay. But that is followed up by one of the best car chases I’ve seen and the rest is nothing but a punch fest, shoot ’em up in all its action glory. The majority of Safe House doesn’t skimp on the punching, running, bullet spattering and dodging, hails of gunfire and thundering loud car smashes.
Worth mentioning is the spot-on editing, dizzying camera work and super stylized direction. Within a somber tone Espinosa maintains a visually coherent sense of time and space no matter how much pummeling there is. Cinematographer Oliver Wood must be praised highly here as his frenetic camera style never wanes and he is no slouch to the material. His cinematography credits include all three Bourne entries and a myriad of other action related flicks including Face/off and Sister Act 2 (Well okay we’re all not perfect). Editor Richard Pearson, whose credits include “The Bourne Supremacy, sews together some of the most cohesive sets of scenes in recent history.The use of grainy film and a lot of supreme close-ups adds to Safe House’s gritty feel.
Reynolds deserves recognition for being a consummate actor who can go seamlessly from smarmy comedic roles to down and dirty everyman roles. Here he expresses absolute believability as a man whose emotions go through the wringer getting yanked from every side against what’s right or wrong. Denzel on the other hand is so good at the epitome of cool, moody mystery and smoldering feeling that he keeps you nicely guessing throughout his world-weary cynical world view. The team playing the CIA home base agents are a bunch of actors (Vera Farmiga, Brendan Gleeson, Sam Shepard) known for laying on the intense deep seriousness, playing overly grizzled and determined CIA agents. They all look dangerously unhealthy and I can’t tell if it’s them or the characters… probably both.
The problems I have with this flick are miniscule like is it impossible to write an original script without a CIA agent going rogue and how many necks need to be broken by that twisting head routine? There are excellent shit-coming-out-of-nowhere scenes that startle the crap out of you. It’s like what horror movies strive for but in their context it’s always too predictable. Its way more effective in the action genre when a car slams into another on or a bullet pierces a skull when we least expect it.
Out doing Salt, Fast and Furious and all the Bourne flicks put together, Safe House really delivers the goods. There’s a kind of “wish come true” Wiki leaks ending that I think many of us would like to see transpire in reality but for now we’ll stick with the high powered action. With whirlwind energy, high body count and performances that stay on the mark the last thing Safe House does is play it safe.


Safe House
Starring Denzel Washington, Ryan Reynolds, Vera Farmiga, Brendan Gleeson, Sam Shepard
Directed by Daniel Espinosa
Rated R
3 ½ stars