MOVIE REVIEW: APARTMENT 7A

 

An ambitious young dancer, Terry Gionoffrio, dreams of fame and fortune in New York City. But, after suffering a devastating injury, an older, wealthy couple welcomes her into their home in the luxury apartment building, the Bramford. 

Director: Natalie Erika James

Cast: Julia Garner, Dianne Wiest, Jim Sturgess, Kevin McNally

Release Date: September 27, 2024

Genre: Horror, Thriller

Rated R for some violent content and drug use.

Runtime: 1h 42m

Review:

Apartment 7A works better than it should as a companion piece to Rosemary's Baby, albeit unnecessary, thanks to competent and efficient direction and a strong turn from Julia Garner.  Natalie Erika James does her best to recreate the creepiness of the original while avoiding outright mimicry of Roman Polanski's original with a few fascinating flourishes that stand on their own.  She would have been better served to pave her own path more often throughout the film's brisk runtime in order for this entry to stand on its own.  There are just too many checkbox moments where the original's events or people are referenced even if it doesn't serve this particular story.   The set up is different enough to give this story a different angle but it never takes full advantage of it before it starts down its final, predetermined path.  It feels like a missed opportunity especially since the cast is more than up to the task.  Julia Garner brings a level of ambitious paired with trepidation to her character that makes her performance incredibly watchable throughout.  Garner's talent is on full display as her character goes through subtle, emotional turns as her plight gets more precarious.  It’s a solid performance that mostly avoids any Mia Farrow imitations outside of a late stage moment that the film could have done without.  Kevin McNally and Dianne Wiest turn in their best impressions of Sidney Blackmer and Ruth Gordon as the Castevets.  McNally does a great job of capturing Blackmer's appearance and intonation in his line delivery.  Likewise, Wiest captures the distinctive voice from Ruth Gordon's Oscar winning turn as Minnie while giving her performance more of an outright menacing quality.  They'll never measure up to the original performance, but they are competent enough to work within the context of this film.  The same could be said for the film as whole since it’s well crafted and acted but never does enough to make it required viewing.

C+

April Sokol's Reviews of Only the Brave & Geostorm

***Note from Daniel – “Here’s a quick introduction to our newest reviewer joining Cindy Prascik and yours truly”***

Hello fellow movie lovers. My name is April. I am a wife and mother of 3 boys. I have loved everything about the movie going experience ever since my parents took me to see ET. I find that I'm pretty easily entertained so my reviews will always reflect that.

My favorite movie ever made is 1995's Heat. I am highly opinionated on all things, but especially when it comes to movies. I'm thankful for a place to share my thoughts with others. I hope you enjoy the ramblings of my over caffeinated, sleep deprived mind.

Only the Brave is the true story of the Granite Mountain Hot Shots. The first municipal hot shot team ever assembled.

Directed by Joseph Kosinski

Starring Josh Brolin, Miles Davis, Jennifer Connelly and Jeff Bridges

My review:

Only the Brave is a straightforward, unflinching look at some of the bravest among us: firefighters. But these aren't your average community volunteer firemen. This is the Navy Seals of fire fighting. These men are dropped into the biggest, nastiest fires with only an axe and shovel.

There is quite a lot to love about this movie. I feel compelled to mention that I am not a fan of Brolin or Connelly and have at the very most a love/hate relationship with the work of Teller. So I was incredibly surprised by how deeply I fell in love with this story.

The first act sets the stage. Teller's Brendan McDonough is a young out of control guy freshly out of jail. He's got a million reasons to finally get his act together if only someone will give him a chance. McDonough is given that chance by the grizzled, wise Eric Marsh (Brolin). There is plenty of heart and humor to be found in his new community. Now we're off to the races. The entire second act of the movie is one beautiful shot after another. The cast does an amazing job of portraying men and women who come together as family in the harshest of situations. Nothing is prettied up. The strain put on the spouses, the distance with their children. It's all there to draw you into this world that so very few people actually live and experience.

You can feel that this will end with a big fire. So when it finally comes it's not a surprise. But still hugely effective. For those of us who were not familiar with this true story, it was a nail biting bit of cinema.

Overall I am more than willing and able to overlook the small issues I had with the tropes that were included in the script. Only the Brave has a run time of 143 minutes and it rated PG 13 for thematic content and brief sexual references. I enjoyed almost every minute. 

A very solid 4 out of 5 stars is my rating. Only the Brave is the best thing currently playing at my local cinemaplex by leaps and bounds.

Geostorm is this year's natural disaster spectacle of a movie. The system put into place to protect Earth from natural disasters has malfunctioned and it's a race to fix the problem before all of Earth is destroyed.

Directed by Dean Devlin

Starring Gerard Butler, Jim Sturgess and Abbie Cornish

Before I begin I feel like I should make a confession. Armageddon is one of my all time favorite movies. Yes. I said it. I love the cheesy dialogue and completely unrealistic plot because it's FUN. Geostorm brought Armageddon to mind more than once during my viewing.

The plot is straightforward. Gerard Butler plays Jake Lawson, the hot head developer of the Dutch Boy Program. A system of satellites that are designed to neutralize any and all natural disasters before they happen. It's not a stretch to see Lawson struggling to maintain his vision's integrity when faced with politicians who want to control Dutch Boy. None of this is groundbreaking cinema. The hero has a bad attitude. The government is shady and shifty. There are plenty of estranged relationships. Lots of familiar movie cliches are thrown at the viewer in quick succession.

But if you can suspend reality for the 1hr49min run time there is some good stuff in here. The special effects, both on Earth and on board the Dutch Boy itself are fun. There are huge typhoons, massive sandstorms, eruptions, tornadoes...all of the good stuff! The big reveal of the bad guy is not exactly shocking. The dialogue is silly. The science is nonsensical. But despite all of that, I found myself smiling through the whole thing. Special points given for Cornish's portrayal of a Secret Service agent who is pretty badass.

Geostorm is rated PG 13 for destruction, action and violence. My viewing had plenty of smaller children who all seemed to be having just as much fun as I was. There is absolutely nothing award worthy to be found here. But if you're looking for a few hours of popcorn eating entertainment, this is what you're looking for. I give Geostorm a rating of 2 ½ out of 5 stars.

MOVIE REVIEW: CLOUD ATLAS

IN THEATERS

CLOUD ATLAS



Directors Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski, and Lana Wachowski team up to helm this adaptation of David Mitchell's popular novel Cloud Atlas. The trio have put together an all-star cast, including Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, and Hugh Grant, to play various characters over the course of several different historical time periods. The various narrative threads weave in and out of each other, painting a portrait of mankind's quest for tolerance and peace throughout the ages. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

Director: Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski, Tom Tykwer

Cast: Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, Doona Bae, Ben Whishaw, Huge Grant, Keith David

Release Date: Oct 26, 2012

Rated R for violence, Language, Some Drug Use and Sexuality/Nudity

Runtime: 2 hr. 52 min.

Genres: Drama, Suspense/Thriller

Review:

The Wachowski’s and Tom Tykwer’s Cloud Atlas is truly an accomplishment. The film is a blending and mixing of genres and stories across space and time done with incredible ease. The experience is jarring at first but utterly engrossing after it settles in your mind. Various themes are interwoven into the multiple story threads display the level of intricacy at work. The assembled cast made up of A-listers and character actors attack their multiple roles with a noticeable vigor and range. Each actor or actress is given plenty time to shine in one interaction or another with Doona Bae being the biggest surprise overall, simply because she’s the least known. There are some characters that play actors incredibly against type and other that layer them in drag or heavy prosthetics to change their appearance. Cloud Atlas’s biggest positive is it’s boldness of sprit, even with the various genres at play it achieves a strong emotion link with the audience which will be readily apparent by the film’s end. At nearly 3 hours, the film moves at a steady pace but rarely feels overlong which is a good thing since it’s the type of film that will require multiple viewings to catch every nuance.

A