Lifetime Film Review: My Daughter’s Psycho Friend (dir by Michael Feifer)

Posted on January 5, 2021 by Lisa Marie Bowman

My Daughter’s Psycho Friend aired in March of 2020 on the Lifetime. I DVR’d it. I’m not sure why I didn’t watch it when it aired. I’d have to go back and look through all my journals to piece together what I was doing on that date in March and, quite frankly, I’m feeling a little bit too rushed to take the time to do that. I’ve got a lot of movies to watch and review of the next few days and, in the end, it really doesn’t matter. What does matter is that I DVR’d it and I finally sat down and watched it earlier tonight.

Now, before anything else, I should point out that My Daughter’s Psycho Friend is a brilliant title. You see a title like that and you automatically have to watch, which makes it all the stranger that it took me so long to get around to it. It’s not just a good Lifetime title but it’s a good title period. I think anytime when you include the word “psycho” in the title, you’re going to catch someone’s attention. Psycho is just such an extreme term. The full title, “My Daughter’s Psycho Friend,” links it to what I assume would be every parent’s nightmare. What if your child’s best friend did turn out to be a psycho? What if they led them astray or, even worse, put them in danger?

Unfortunately, the title isn’t quite accurate. While Lexi (Avery Kristen Pohl) does invite Sierra (Taylor Blackwell) to hang out with her after Sierra transfers into Lexi’s high school, it’s a bit of a stretch to really call Lexi and Sierra friends. From the start, Sierra seems to be somewhat weary of Lexi and Lexi seems to know that eventually, she’s going to end up having to frame Sierra for all sorts of misdeeds. Also, though Sierra does have a mother, she’s really not that important to the plot. The film pretty much revolves around Sierra. A more proper title for the film would have been My Psycho Acquaintance.

However, the title does get the psych part right. Lexi has some definite issues that go far beyond just being a mean girl in high school. She lives in a nice, big house and she had a glamorous mother (albeit one who makes a big deal about always having to “clean up” after Lexi’s mistakes) and everyone at school wants to be her friend but Lexi still can’t be happy unless she’s playing a cruel joke on someone. For instance, at one party, Lexi drugs someone’s drink and then has a good laugh as that person stumbles away. Of course, once he turns up dead in Lexi’s swimming pool, it’s time for a cover up! And if Sierra is determined to discover the truth about what happened at the party …. well, Lexi’s just going to have to take care of that, as well.

Anyway, this was a typical Lifetime film about teenagers gone wild. Lexi’s house was nice and Avery Kristen Pohl did a good job playing up the whole psycho part of Lexi’s personality. If you’re into Lifetime melodrama, you should enjoy this one.

Lifetime Film Review: Fatal Fiancé (dir by Ben Meyerson)

Posted on January 4, 2021 by Lisa Marie Bowman

It should be the perfect wedding.

The location is beautiful. The weather is nice. The romance is in the air. The bridesmaids dresses aren’t hideous. The groom, Mark (Greg Perrow), is handsome and charming and no one seems to be too concerned with his mysterious past. In fact, Mark is such a romantic that he even insisted on not seeing Leah (Brittany Underwood) the night before the wedding. He is that dedicated to making sure that they have both the perfect wedding and the perfect honeymoon! Even his future mother-in-law likes him, though that seems to have more to do with his abs than his romantic nature.

Again, it should be the perfect wedding. There’s only one problem. No one can find the bride! Leah has yet to arrive for her own wedding. Is it possible that she got cold feet and hopped on a plane for tropical island? (That’s what her father suspects, as Leah apparently has a history of doing impulsive stuff like that.) Or could it be something more serious? Leah’s friends are concerned enough to call the police.

And, indeed, Leah has no absconded to the tropics. Instead, she’s being held prisoner by Faith (Camila Banus), a mentally unstable woman who insists that Leah is making a mistake by marrying “Brian.” But wait a minute …. Leah is marrying Mark! Who is this Brian that Faith keeping going on about? Has Leah mistaken Mark for another ex-boyfriend or is there something more sinister going on?

Well, you can probably guess the answer to all of those questions. Apparently, this film was originally entitled A Deadly Bridenapping, which is a bit of unwieldy title but which, at the same time, doesn’t reveal as much about the plot as a title like Fatal Fiancé does. As you can guess from the new title, Mark does have some secrets of his own and there’s a bit more to the kidnapping than just Faith being hung up on an ex-boyfriend. You’ll figure all of that out long before Leah does but that’s okay. That’s one of the pleasures of watching a Lifetime film, after all. We always want to be a step or two ahead of the leading character, the better for us to our shake our heads whenever they make a big and obvious mistake. Leah makes quite a few of them over the course of Fatal Fiancé.

Fatal Fiancé was a fun movie to watch. If the best Lifetime films can be described as being about beautiful people finding themselves in ugly situations, Fatal Fiancé delivered. Leah’s wedding dress was to die for and so were all the houses. There was plenty of melodrama and plenty of eye candy and really, what else do you need? Brittany Underwood was a sympathetic main character and Camilia Banus did a good job as the unstable Faith. Greg Perrow was both charming and menacing as Mark and he got to deliver a rant about pine nut allergies that really had to be seen to be believed. All in all, this was an entertaining movie about a wedding gone wrong.

Hooper (1978, directed by Hal Needham)

Posted on January 4, 2021 by Jedadiah Leland

Reuniting the Smokey and the Bandit team of director Hal Needham and stars Burt Reynolds and Sally Field, Hooper is a film that pays tribute to stuntmen.

Hooper (Burt Reynolds) is a respected but aging stunt coordinator who is currently working on an overblown action film called The Spy Who Laughed At Danger. (The spy is played by Adam West, who appears as himself.) Hooper knows that he’s getting too old to keep putting his life at risk but he’s addicted to thrill of doing what he calls “gags.” Every morning, Hooper wakes up, pops pills, has a beer, and then falls off a building or crashes a car. When he’s not doing movies, he’s getting into bar brawls. As demonstrated during a visit to Dodge City, Hooper and his friends are modern day cowboys but time is catching up to them. Hooper’s girlfriend, Gwen (Sally Field), wants Hooper to settle down and retire from the business before he ends up a physical wreck like her father (Brian Keith). Hooper feels that he has to do one last, record-setting stunt before he passes the torch over to younger stuntmen like Ski Shidski (Jan-Michael Vincent).

Hooper is a classic Burt Reynolds film, with everything that you expect from late 70s Burt. As always, Burt is deceptively laid back. Sally Field is cute as a button. Old hands like Brian Keith and James Best provide strong support while Robert Klein plays the type of pompous Hollywood director who is just begging to get slugged at the end of the movie. (He does.) The plot of Hooper is even simpler than the plot of Smokey and the Bandit but Hooper is a more heartfelt film. Hal Needham was a stuntman before he became a director and this film was his tribute to the underappreciated people who risked their physical well-being to make movie magic. Needham knew men like Hooper and his friends. They were his people. Needham’s love for the stunt players comes through in every scene.

As for the stunts, they’re real and they’re spectacular.

Hal Needham, of course, will always be associated with Burt Reynolds. Before moving into directing, Needham frequently served as Reynolds’s stunt double and the two were such close friends that Needham spent 12 years living in Reynolds’s guest house. Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood was partially inspired by the friendship of Burt Reynolds and Hal Needham, with Leonardo Di Caprio and Brad Pitt playing characters who were based on the two men. (Reynolds was even originally cast in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood as George Spahn but he died before he could shoot his scenes. The role was taken over by Bruce Dern.) Needham was responsible for directing some of Burt’s best films (Cannonball Run, Smokey and the Bandit and this one) and some of his worst (Stroker Ace and Cannonball Run II). Needham also directed Megaforce, which didn’t feature Burt but which is still, in its own way, unforgettable.

Hal Needham (1931 — 2013)

The critics may not have loved the movies that Hal and Burt made together but audiences did. Needham’s best films are just as entertaining today as they were when they were originally released. They don’t demand much but they deliver everything you could possibly want. Whenever the real world is getting to be overwhelming, I’m thankful that I can turn on a Hal Needham film and return to a world where the only thing that matters is driving fast, loving hard, and having a good laugh while you’re doing it. Today, more than ever, the legacy of Hal Needham is just what we need.

Lifetime Film Review: Kidnapped in Paradise (dir by Vic Sarin)

Posted on January 3, 2021 by Lisa Marie Bowman

It seemed like it should have been the perfect vacation.

Savannah (Claire van der Boom), her husband Brad (Todd Lasance), and their daughter Aria (Molly Wright) travel to an island resort off the coast of Australia. It’s the resort that Savannah used to vacation at when she was a child and this is a chance for her to not only get in touch with her past but to also show her family a good time.

And, at first, everything seems perfect. The island is beautiful. The people working at the resort are friendly. There’s a nice and attractive couple staying in the cabin next door. Even more importantly, there’s Kidz Club, where Savannah and Brad can drop off Aria so that they can have some alone time. Seriously, that may be the best thing about the resort because there are just times when the adults need some time to themselves. Aria and her stuffed bunny, Mr. Pickles, are dropped off. Unfortunately, when Savannah returns to Kidz Club to pick up her daughter, Aria is nowhere to be found.

Has Aria wandered off? Has she gotten lost on the beach? Has something worse happened? Soon, everyone on the island is searching for Aria. Mr. Pickles is found but where’s Aria? When someone sends Savannah a picture of Aria looking happy and drawing, Savannah realizes that her daughter didn’t just wander off. She’s been kidnapped! Kidnapped in paradise!

For all of their trademark melodrama, the best Lifetime films deal with very real fears. Discovering that your lover is cheating on you or that your in-laws so disapproves of you that they’re willing to go to any length to either prevent or destroy your marriage, these are very real fears for a lot of people. For a parent, there’s no greater fear than losing a child and/or not knowing where your child is. I mean, I may not be a parent but I am an aunt and I once lost track of my niece at the Dallas Arboretum and it was like the most terrifying 8 hours of my life. (Actually, it was only 15 minutes but it felt like 8 hours. Not only was I scared that I’d never see my niece again but I was also terrified of what her mother would do when she found out. Fortunately, it turned out that my niece had just run ahead of me to another exhibit but still, I was on the verge of having a heart attack by the time I saw her running up to me.)

Kidnapped in Paradise captures that fear of losing a child and the feeling of powerlessness that goes along with it. From the minute that Aria disappears, Savannah is searching for her and demanding that others search for her as well. Claire van der Broom did a good job of portraying Savannah’s desperation and her anger that the resort didn’t do a better job of keeping track of her daughter. What I liked is that whenever anyone else started tries to make excuses or started to talk about their own problems, Savannah was like, “Shut up and find my daughter.”

At the same time, as bad as I felt for Savannah, I was happy that her child was kidnapped in paradise as opposed to being kidnapped on a less photogenic island. Seriously, the resort looked really nice and I totally want to stay there, despite the area’s history of abductions. I mean, once you take the whole kidnapping thing out of the equation, it really was an nice place to work on your tan and take romantic walks on the beach.

My point is that the film delivered exactly what the title promised, which is perhaps the highest praise that you can give to most films. There was a kidnapping and there was paradise. The plot held my attention while the resort held my imagination. It was a good combination.

The combination of The Wrong Real Estate Agent and Kidnapped in Paradise gets Lifetime off to a good start for 2021.

What Lisa Watched Last Night #214: The Wrong Real Estate Agent (dir by David DeCoteau)

Posted on January 2, 2021 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Last night, I watched the first Lifetime premiere of 2021, The Wrong Real Estate Agent!

Why Was I Watching It?

It was the first Lifetime film of 2021 so how couldn’t I watch it?

Add to that, I love the “Wrong” series. The “Wrong” films are all directed by David DeCoteau and they all feature Vivica A. Fox in a supporting (or, in this case, a lead) role. These films are always a lot of fun and, since they’re all filmed in Canada, there’s always chance you might spot someone from Degrassi in the cast.

(Admittedly, The Wrong Real Estate Agent is the rare “Wrong” film to feature no one from Degrassi. But it’s the first Lifetime film of 2021 so we won’t hold that against it.)

What Was It About?

Julie (Vivica A. Fox) and her daughter Maddie (Alaya Lee Walton) have just moved into a wonderful, beautiful house but, unfortunately, they’re renting from the wrong real estate agent! Charles (Andres Londono) used to date Julie and it’s obvious that he wants to win her back. However, Charles’s idea of how to win someone back involves a lot of lies and a lot of murder.

Soon after moving into their new home, Julie and Maddie begin hearing strange sounds and seeing weird movement in the shadows. Most disturbingly to me, someone has been using the shower when Julie’s not home. Seriously, you don’t use someone else’s shower without asking first!

And let’s not even get started on the mysterious room that’s always locked off….

What Worked?

Vivica A. Fox has appeared in all of the “Wrong” films but usually, she’s cast in a supporting role. She usually plays some sort of no nonsense authority figure who shows up at the end of the film to announce, “He messed with the wrong cheerleader” or “He was the wrong wholesale jewelry importer” or something like that. In The Wrong Real Estate Agent, she played the lead role and it was a nice change of pace. I thought she did a good job in the lead role, even if Julie sometimes seemed to be impossibly naïve.

Alaya Lee Walton also did a good job as Julie’s daughter, Maddie. She and Fox were very believable as mother and daughter and their relationship rang true.

Finally, I loved the house! That may sound like a small compliment but seriously, a good Lifetime film always features a great house. So far, the “Wrong” series has been very good about using the right house. If I ever do move to Canada, it’s going to be because of both Degrassi and the numerous Canadian produced Lifetime films that have left me convinced that every house in Toronto is a mansion.

What Did Not Work?

Charles was just a little bit too obviously crazy. In general, it’s a good idea to suspend your disbelief when it comes to a Lifetime film and to just kind of go with whatever happens but, in this case, Charles really was so obviously unstable that you kind of wondered how anyone played by Vivica A. Fox could be naïve enough to trust him.

“Oh my God! Just like me!” Moments

I related to Maddie, particularly when she argued with her mom about whether or not she should shut the window in her bedroom. Her mom thought the open window was an invitation to sickness and danger. Maddie knew that she had to keep the window so her boyfriend could sneak in and out of the house. Of course, Maddie couldn’t explain that was the reason why the window needed to be open but, to her credit, Maddie stayed her calm and talked her mom into letting her keep the window open until it was time for bed. Good job, Maddie! I wish I had been that good at winning arguments when I was that age.

Lessons Learned

When it comes to renting or buying a house, make sure you’ve got the right real estate agent. Because the wrong real estate agent will not only try to get you to go out of your price range (that’s something I learned from watching House Hunters) but he’ll eventually try to kill you as well.

The other thing I learned is that every profession has at least one wrong person. Someday, I’m hoping to see a film called The Wrong Administrative Assistant or maybe The Wrong Stunt Double. Seriously, this series can go on until the end of time.

Cannonball Run II (1984, directed by Hal Needham)

Posted on January 1, 2021 by Jedadiah Leland

In 1981, director Hal Needham and star Burt Reynolds had a surprise hit with The Cannonball Run. Critics hated the film about a race from one end of America to the other but audiences flocked to watch Burt and a group of familiar faces ham it up while cars crashed all around them. The original Cannonball Run is a goofy and gloriously stupid movie and it can still be fun to watch. The sequel, on the other hand…

When the sequel begins, the Cannonball Run has been discontinued. The film never explains why the race is no longer being run but then again, there’s a lot that the sequel doesn’t explain. King Abdul ben Falafel (Ricardo Montalban, following up The Wrath of Khan with this) wants his son, The Sheik (Jamie Farr, returning from the first film) to win the Cannonball so he puts up a million dollars and announces that the race is back on. Problem solved.

With the notable exceptions of Farrah Fawcett, Roger Moore, and Adrienne Barbeau, almost everyone from the first film returns to take another shot at the race. Burt Reynolds and Dom DeLuise are back. Jack Elam returns as the crazy doctor, though he’s riding with the Sheik this time. Jackie Chan returns, riding with Richard “Jaws” Kiel. Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr. return, playing barely disguised versions of themselves. They’re joined by the surviving members of the Rat Pack. Yes, Frank Sinatra is in this thing. He plays himself and, from the way his scenes are shot, it’s obvious they were all filmed in a day and all the shots of people reacting to his presence were shot on another day. Shirley MacClaine also shows up, fresh from having won an Oscar. She plays a fake nun who rides with Burt and Dom. Burt, of course, had a previous chance to co-star with Shirley but he turned down Terms of Endearment so he could star in Stroker Ace. Cannonball Run II finally gave the two a chance to act opposite each other, though no one would be winning any Oscars for appearing in this film.

Say what you will about Hal Needham as a director, he was obviously someone who cultivated a lot of friendships in Hollywood because this film is jam-packed with people who I guess didn’t have anything better to do that weekend. Telly Savalas, Michael V. Gazzo, Henry Silva, Abe Vigoda, and Henry Silva all play gangsters. Jim Nabors plays Homer Lyle, a country-fried soldier who is still only a private despite being in his 50s. Catherine Bach and Susan Anton replace Adrienne Barbeau and Tara Buckman as the two racers who break traffic laws and hearts with impunity. Tim Conway, Don Knotts, Foster Brooks, Sid Caesar, Arte Johnson, Mel Tillis, Doug McClure, George “Goober” Lindsey, and more; Needham found room for all of them in this movie. He even found roles for Tony Danza and an orangutan. (Marilu Henner is also in the movie so I guess Needham was watching both Taxi and Every Which Way But Loose while casting the film.) Needham also came up with a role for Charles Nelson Reilly, who is cast as a mafia don in Cannonball Run II. His name is also Don so everyone refers to him as being “Don Don.” That’s just a typical example of the humor that runs throughout Cannonball Run II. If you thought the humor of It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World was too subtle and cerebral, Cannonball Run II might be right up your alley.

The main problem with Cannonball Run II is that there’s not much time spent on the race, which is strange because that’s the main reason why anyone would want to watch this movie. The race itself doesn’t start until 45 minutes into this 108 minute film and all the racers are quickly distracted by a subplot about the Mafia trying to kidnap the Sheik. Everyone stops racing so that Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr. can disguise themselves as belly dancers to help rescue the Sheik. By the time that’s all been taken care of, there’s only 10 minutes left for everyone to race across the country. After a montage of driving scenes and a cartoon of an arrow stretching across the nation (the cartoon was animated by Ralph Bakshi!), we discover who won the Cannonball and then it’s time for a montage of Burt and Dom blowing their lines and giggling. Needham always ended his films with a montage of everyone screwing up a take and it’s probably one of his most lasting cinematic contributions. Every blooper reel that’s ever been included as a DVD or Blu-ray extra owes a debt of gratitude to Hal Needham. Watching people blow their lines can be fun if you’ve just watched a fun movie but watching Burt and Dom amuse themselves after sitting through Cannonball Run II is just adding insult to injury. It feels less like they’re laughing at themselves and more like they’re laughing at you for being stupid enough to sit through a movie featuring Tony Danza and an orangutan.

The dumb charm of the first Cannonball Run is nowhere to be found in this sequel and, though the film made a profit, the box office numbers were still considered to be a disappointment when compared to the other films that Reynolds and Needham collaborated on. Along with Stroker Ace, this is considered to be one of the films that ended Reynolds’s reign as a top box office attraction. Cannonball Run II was also the final feature film to feature Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra. This could be considered the final Rat Pack film, though I wouldn’t say that too loudly.

Cannonball Run II is a disappointment on so many levels. It’s hard to believe that the same director who did Smokey and the Bandit and Hooper could be responsible for the anemic stunts and chases found in this movie. The cast may have had a good time but the audience is left bored. Stick with the first Cannonball Run.

Finally, Let’s Celebrate Christmas With The Greatest Movie Ever Made!

Posted on December 25, 2020 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Hi, everyone!

Well, Christmas is coming to a close. Right now, my sisters and I are currently watching Die Hard. That’s a huge Bowman family tradition but it’s also one that we usually reserve for the end of the holiday.

So, with Christmas coming to a close, it’s time for a TSL tradition! It’s time to watch Treevenge! This is the short film about sentient Christmas trees that TSL founder Arleigh Sandoc has declared to be “the greatest movie ever made.” Watching Treevenge is something we do every year at the TSL Bunker so sit back and enjoy some Christmas horror!

Thank you for sticking with us over the course of this long and difficult year. We look forward to continuing to hopefully keep you entertained over the next year as well!

Happy holidays to all of you. Thank you for reading.

The Films of 2020: The Mystery of D.B. Cooper (dir by Jon Dower)

Posted on December 25, 2020 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The story of D.B. Cooper has always fascinated me.

D.B. Cooper is the name assigned to a man who, in 1971, hijacked an airplane, demanded $200,000, and then jumped off the plane after he got the money. Reportedly, he was well-dressed and unfailingly polite during the entire hijacking. When he jumped off the plane, he was about 10,000 feet over the Washington wilderness. After he jumped, no further trace was found of him. Nearly 50 years after the incident, the identity and the location of D.B. Cooper remains a mystery.

It’s been said that, even though Cooper had a parachute with him when he jumped, there’s no way that he could have survived the fall. And yet, no body has ever been found. (Of course, finding a body in the wilderness is not as easy as some people tend to assume.) Nine years after the the skyjacking, some of the money that Cooper received was found on the banks of the Columbia River, which was several miles away from the area that Cooper jumped over. Did Cooper survive the jump and lose the money? No one can say for sure.

Over the years, many people have come forward to say that they know the identity of D.B. Cooper. Many distant fathers and secretive boyfriends and long lost friends have been accused of being D.B. Cooper. Some of those suspects are more likely than others. Even John List, the murderer who inspired the Stepfather films, was suspected at one point.

D.B. Cooper remains a fascinating character precisely because he’s never been captured and the mystery itself will probably never be solved. Because he remains an enigma, it’s easy to project your own pet obsessions on him and his story. Myself, I always imagine D.B. Cooper as being some sort of clever, fun-loving international rogue, even though there’s not really any evidence to back that up. But, the fact of the matter is that I have a weakness for clever, fun-loving international rogues so, of course, that’s who I’m going to imagine D.B. to be.

The Mystery of D.B. Cooper is a documentary that takes a look at both Cooper’s crime and his subsequent fame. Both a flight attendant and the pilot of Cooper’s flight are interviewed and they both provide vivid memories of both the skyjacking and D.B. Cooper himself. (They both describe Cooper as being well-spoken and polite. The flight attendant even says that he seemed like a rather nice man.) We also get plenty of contemporary news footage of the subsequent search for D.B. Cooper. One man says that he likes Cooper because Cooper fought the system. Another one says that he admires Cooper for having a plan and sticking to it.

Meanwhile, in the present day, we are introduced to several different people who are all convinced that someone from their life was D.B. Cooper. To me, this is the most interesting part of the documentary. Some of the people are more convincing than others. The friends of Barbara Drayton talk about how she always claimed that she disguised herself as a man so that she could get revenge on the airline. The ex-wife of Duane Webber talks about how he always said he injured his knee jumping out of a plane. L.D. Cooper’s niece makes a somewhat compelling that her uncle could have been D.B. Cooper, though one can’t help but wonder if she would feel the same if the man’s name as L.D. Smith. Perhaps the most convincing argument is the one that Richard Floyd, who was captured after skyjacking another plane and who was subsequently killed by the FBI after he escaped custody, was also D.B. Cooper.

In the end, though, the documentary is less about who D.B. Cooper was and more about what he means to people and why he remains an obsession for many. It’s a fascinating look at a cultural phenomena and one to keep an eye out for.

And, if you’re reading and you are D.B. Cooper — way to go and Merry Christmas!

The Films of 2020: The Rhythm Section (dir by Reed Madrano)

Posted on December 25, 2020 by Lisa Marie Bowman

When The Rhythm Section opens, Stephanie Patrick (Blake Lively) is a drug addicted prostitute who lives in a run-down London flat. However, just three years earlier, Stephanie was a happy, middle-class college student who was close to her family and seemed to a very bright future ahead of her. That all changed when her entire family was killed in a plane crash. Stephanie was supposed to be on that flight but she had to cancel at the last minute. Her seat was given to another man, a man with a wife and two children. He was also killed when the plane was destroyed. So, now, wracked with survivor’s guilt, Stephanie is process of destroying herself.

One night, she is hired by a man named Keith Proctor (Raza Jaffrey). Proctor explains that he’s a reporter and that the crash that killed Stephanie’s family wasn’t an accident. It was a terrorist bombing, one that was covered up by the British government. The man who built the bomb — Reza (Tawfeek Barhom) — is still walking free on the streets of London. Working with two enigmatic government agents (played by Jude Law and Sterling K. Brown), Stephanie sets out to get revenge on the men who killed her family.

It took a while for The Rhythm Section to finally get released. Filming started in 2017, with the idea that the film would be released in February of 2019. Then the release date got moved back to November of 2019, which briefly led to the film being the center of some Oscar speculation. I know that I was certainly guilty of looking at that new release date and thinking, “I guess they’re going to try to push Blake Lively for best actress.” (Oscar speculation is frequently a very silly sport.) However, the release then got pushed back a second time, to January of 2020. January was traditionally where the studios dump the films in which they don’t have much faith. When the film was finally released on January 31st, it was dismissed by critics and ignored by audiences, the majority of whom didn’t realize that it would be one of the last major studio films to get a wide theatrical release in 2020.

And look, I can understand why the studio didn’t have faith in The Rhythm Section. I can also understand why critics didn’t go for it and why audiences didn’t recommend it. It’s not a crowd pleaser. It’s a rather dark and cynical film, one that suggests that revenge comes with a deep emotional and mental cost. Unlike a lot of female-centered action films, there’s no big crowd pleasing moments. Instead, the whole thing feels rather grimy and icky. Beyond that, The Rhythm Section is an oddly paced movie. Some of the action scenes are good but then there are other scenes that just seem to drag on beyond their expiration date.

With all that in mind, I still kind of liked The Rhythm Section. This is certainly Blake Lively’s best film performance and she gets good support from Jude Law and Sterling K. Brown. What I especially appreciated about The Rhythm Section is that Stephanie never becomes some sort of master assassin. With one notable exception, Stephanie is always a nervous assassin and often, her successes (and her failures) have more to do with luck than with any sort of special skill set. The Rhythm Section is not some sort of overly stylish kill fest like Atomic Blonde or Red Sparrow. Instead, it’s a film that suggests that death is never beautiful and I appreciated that. It’s not a particularly fun theme but it is an honest one. It also means that I, as a viewer, could relate to Stephanie in a way that I never can with other cinematic assassins. At its most effective, the film put me right into Stephanie’s mind as she tried to figure out how to get revenge without losing her own life.

Flaws and all, The Rhythm Section deserved a little more attention than it was given.

The Films of 2020: Driveways (dir by Andrew Ahn)

Posted on December 25, 2020 by Lisa Marie Bowman

There’s a certain type of independent film that you tend to see quite frequently towards the end of the year. It’s the type of film where a single mother and her precociously intelligent child move to a new town and get to know their neighbors. Usually, the child has to deal with a bully or two while the mother reflects on her own rebellious past. Almost inevitably, there’s a cantankerous older neighbor who seems a little bit intimidating at first but who eventually turns out to be a decent guy. That older neighbor is often played by a character actor who has never quite gotten the appreciation that he deserves.

Driveways is one of those films. This time, the mother is named Kathy (Hong Chau) and her 9 year-old son is named Cody (Lucas Jaye). Cody is intelligent but shy. He struggles to fit in. He worries about the fact that his mom is constantly smoking and whenever she curses, he gives her a slightly judgmental look. If he gets too anxious, he has a habit of vomiting. He’s one of those kids who you just want to protect from the outside world and assure him that everything’s going to (eventually) be okay.

The neighbor is Del and he’s played by the late, great Brian Dennehy. Del is a veteran of the Korean War and a widower. He spends a lot of time sitting out on his porch. He’s a nice guy and one of the things that I appreciated about this film is that Del was nice from the minute he first appeared. Usually, in films like this, it takes a while for the neighbor to let down his defenses and show that he’s not some sort of bitter ogre. Usually, there’s all sorts of conflicts and “Get off my lawn” moments but, in Driveways, Del pretty much warms up to Kathy and Cody as soon as he meets them. He shows Cody how drink from a hose. Kathy gives him a ride to VFW Hall, where he plays bingo with his friends. Soon, Del is Cody’s only friend on the block and Del is also one of the few sources of support that Kathy has as she cleans out her recently deceased sister’s home.

There’s not really a lot of drama in Driveways. There is one annoying neighbor named Linda (Christine Ebersole), who shows up for some of the film’s weaker moments. And there’s a wonderfully acted scene where Del goes shopping with friend (played by Jerry Adler) who has Alzheimer’s. Otherwise, this is a low-key film about three people who are at the beginning, the middle, and the end of life. It’s occasionally a little predictable but it’s sweet-natured film and it has a good heart.

And, most importantly, it gives Brian Dennehy one final great role. When Dennehy passed away earlier this year, Tommy Boy was soon trending on twitter because, whenever a great actor dies, it seems that their worst films always end up trending. (This is largely because people on twitter have terrible taste.) Dennehy was a great actor with a commanding screen presence and it’s somewhat surprising that he died without having ever been nominated for an Oscar. In Driveways, he brings Del to poignant life. At the end of the film, he delivers a lengthy monologue about his life and its a powerful moment and one that deserves awards consideration. A supporting actor nomination for Brian Dennehy would not only be a way to acknowledge a great performance but also a great career, in which he appeared in a lot more films than just Tommy Boy. Here’s hoping!