Monthly Archives: April 2021

Apr 30 2021

The Tale (2018) Movie Review

Director: Jennifer Fox

Writer: Jennifer Fox (Screenplay)

Starring: Laura Dern, Jason Ritter, Common, Elizabeth Debicki, Jessica Sarah Flaum, Laura Allen, Ellen Burstyn, John Heard

Plot: A woman filming a documentary on childhood rape victims starts to question the nature of her childhood relationship with her riding instructor and running coach.

Runtime: 1 Hour 54 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Disturbing

Story: The Tale starts as documentary filmmaker Jennifer (Dern) returns home, with her mother getting worried about a story she once wrote as a teenage girl about her time at a riding school under Mrs G (Debicki) and Bill (Ritter), which tells the story of how she was struggling in her home life and wanted to spend more time with the training.

The deeper Jennifer looks into her past, she starts realize the truth about the sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of her coach, one that she wants to learn more about why, before jumping to any conclusions.

Thoughts on The Tale

Characters – Jennifer is a documentary filmmaker, she travels the world for her stories and teaches classes, until she gets a story from her childhood, which shows a relationship she once had with an older man as a teenager girl. We follow both Jennifer in the modern world, looking back on her life and the Jennifer that was led by a sexual predator that took advantage of her innocence. Bill is the coach that has been breeding Jennifer at a younger age, he went onto become one of the most famous coaches in America sports, because nobody wanted to admit about his nature. Martin is the boyfriend of Jennifer, once he learns the truth he wants to help, only it does push their relationship further apart, he won’t let this be the end of their relationship though. Mrs G ran the riding school that Jennifer attended, she becomes idolised by the girls she taught, even though she was the gateway for Bill to meet the girls.

Performances – Laura Dern is fantastic in the leading role shining through the film, with a supporting cast including Jason Ritter, Common, Elizabeth Debicki doing well with their moments, showing their strengths around Dern’s performance.

Story – The story here follows a documentary filmmaker that looks back at her past, where she learns about the sexual abuse she once received as a teenager. This story shows the reality that a lot of victims wouldn’t have known what happened and it takes time to look back and learn the truth, instead of just panicking about it, we see how one person studies what might have happened to see how they became a victim over, why. This story does show how easily predators could breed their victims and how people wouldn’t look twice at what is happening around them. We do also know this is a personal story for the director, who puts her life out for display.

Mystery – The mystery in the film does a good job at balance, a tale from a 13-year-old with reality, teasing whether it was true or not.

Settings – The film mixes the settings well between the two time periods, it shows us the locations that could make people victims and how people could build a world after it.


Scene of the Movie – Confrontation.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Not seeing more of the bigger picture.

Final Thoughts – This is a disturbing look at one persons story of sexual abuse as a child, it shows how easily they were breed and how they didn’t even realize until they reach middle age, with powerful performance from Laura Dern.

Overall: Shocking.

Apr 29 2021

Wrong Place, Wrong Time (2021) Movie Review

Director: Justin Price

Writer: Justin Price (Screenplay)

Starring: Mike Markoff, Franziska Schissler, Chase Garland, Alex Ryan Brown, Bianca Stein, Olivia Rivera

Plot: An elite team of vigilantes plot to steal 14 billion dollars of laundered money from a notorious mob boss. After being double-crossed, they find refuge in the middle of nowhere with a mysterious family carrying an unsettling secret. They discover that the man of the house is a creature of the dark and they must fight to survive the night.

Runtime: 1 Hour 24 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Wrong Place, Wrong Time starts when a group of mercenaries Sage (Schissler), Gabriel (Markoff), Solomon (Brown) and Kira (Rivera) complete a heist of laundered money, which turns sour, leading to them to need to go into hiding.

The group take shelter in a home which seems to have an unsettling secret going on within its walls, one that will lead the group to try their best to survive the new terrors waiting for them.

Thoughts on Wrong Place, Wrong Time

Characters & Performances – Sage is one of the mercenaries, she is the one that will think more about getting the job done without leaving bodies behind, trying to stop the others committing deadlier crimes, looking for the peaceful solution. Solomon is the brother of Sage that has put the team together for the job and is starting to lose control of the situation. The rest of the team fill the traditions ideas for mercenaries out for themselves, with a loose cannon in the mix. In the house we get to meet the mysterious people that we learn more about as the story unfolds, each one having their own story. The performances in the film are solid with Franziska Schissler being the standout of the cast.

Story – The story here follows a group of mercenaries who bank heist goes wrong, leading them to take shelter in a home that ends up being filled with a bigger mystery for them to try and survive. This does follow a couple of stories we have seen before, the mercenaries or criminals in hiding is one that is always fun, see ‘From Dusk till Dawn’ for one of the best examples. Mixing that with a ‘Collection’ with the own spin on the horrors, gives us everything we need for this film. Each scene does seem to offer up a new potential mystery to what is going on, which will lead to the bigger picture being revealed.

Themes – Wrong Place, Wrong Time is an action horror that does start with the big action set piece of the escape, before turning into the mystery behind the horrors, not stepping away from the bloodshed going on. Once inside the house, we don’t leave it, which will give us the contained environment for the story to unfold within.

Released 4th May on Demand & DVD

 

Wrong Place, Wrong Time is a fun action horror filled with plenty of mystery.