Studios continue to shovel out those films that didn’t have the draw to make it during awards season or the holiday box office prime time, so things will be hit or miss until the spring. Still, you can catch the full slate of Oscar nominated shorts, which you should definitely make a point to do. We also have a solid attempt at foul weather heroics, and another disposable horror movie.
The Finest Hours
Plenty of films have created genuine tension telling stories where the outcome is already known. The Finest Hours may not reach the lofty heights of say, Argo, but it crafts a true-life adventure tale with an earnest and sometimes thrilling respect for the bravery involved.
Most of that respect goes to Bernie Webber (Chris Pine), the young Coast Guardsman who directed the greatest small boat rescue in the group’s history. In 1952, Bernie and a small crew braved brutal elements off the coast of Cape Cod to search for a stranded oil tanker that had been broken in half by the storm.
Director Craig Gillespie (Lars and the Real Girl, Million Dollar Arm) seems most engaged by the set pieces involving the floundering tanker. As a desperate crew relies on the crafty ideas of Mister Sybert (Casey Affleck) to stay afloat, Gillespie creates a nicely paced contrast between the shrinking confines of the ship and the vast timelessness of the rising waters.
As effective as its finest moments may be, what The Finest Hours needs most is a deeper humanity to make it resonate after the credits. You end up saluting these heroes more than caring about them, keeping any lasting sea legs at bay.
Grade: B-
Jeruzalem
Doran and Yoav Paz have hit upon a ripe premise. Inside the walled city of Jerusalem is the epicenter for three of the world’s largest and most eruptive religions. If Judaism, Islam, and Christianity all share one holy land, is there something about this place – something otherworldly? And wouldn’t this be the likely spot for the Armageddon to begin?
Jeruzalem opens promisingly enough, inviting you into this microcosm of faith and humanity to witness an event too big to even be called biblical. Unfortunately, the filmmaking brothers derail the effort almost immediately with a found footage gimmick.
Sarah (Danielle Jadelyn) receives Google Glass from her father as a gift. The entire balance of the film is basically a first person shooter video game with precious little in the way of shooting or action and far less in terms of character development.
The Pazes unearth similarities in the judgement day tales of the three faiths, weaving them together into a kind of zombie myth, which, again, should have felt much more ingenious than it does. Their clever concept is utterly hamstrung by the film technique.
It’s just a waste of a great idea.
Grade: C-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcOg2Q0ZiB4
Also opening this week in Columbus:
- ENCOUNTER (R)
- FIFTY SHADES OF BLACK (R)
- JANE GOT A GUN (R)
- KUNG FU PANDA 3 (PG)
- LAZER TEAM (PG-13)
- OSCAR SHORTS: ANIMATION (NR)
- OSCAR SHORTS: DOCUMENTARY (NR)
- OSCAR SHORTS: LIVE ACTION (NR)
- THEEB (NR)
Reviews with help from George Wolf.
See a full set of movie reviews on MADDWOLF and listen to Hope’s weekly horror movie podcast, FRIGHT CLUB.
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