Jeffrey Goodman’s 2008 film The Last Lullaby is a subtle and riveting tale of betrayal and revenge. Jack Price, a retired hitman, is drawn into a web of deceit when he stumbles upon a kidnap victim at a run-down house in the woods. As a consequence of his actions he appears on the radar of Martin Lennox — a brutal and aloof millionaire in a jam. Drawn out of retirement by Lennox, Price is put on the trail of the beautiful Sarah, but he soon finds there is more to his quarry than first meets the eye. Of course, things turn out to be not at all what they seem, and Price finds himself in hot water with a number of different players in this suspenseful drama.
The oft seen scenario of the helpless victim and duped would-be assassin is given a refreshing treatment in this lean production. Neither a thriller nor an action film, this one is best described as a grim and suspenseful character study that nonetheless features moments of action, mystery, and intrigue. Penned by Max Allan Collins — well-known mystery novelist, author of the graphic novel Road to Perdition, and former writer of the comic strip Dick Tracy — and Peter Biegen, The Last Lullaby will keep even the most jaded video viewer guessing until the end. It effects a mounting tension from its brutal beginning to its suprise conclusion, and even then leaves the viewer wondering what will come next.
Tom Sizemore portrays retired hitman Jack Price with a cold brilliance that assures this performance a place alongside his other celebrated performances. And Sasha Alexander, as the mysterious Sarah, proves that she doesn’t have to be playing a member of naval intelligence to turn in a convincing and effective performance. Bill Smitrovich and Jerry Hardin round out this cast of familiar faces, and Ray McKinnon’s performance (billed only as ‘Ominous Man’) is eerie and memorable. Especially observant reviewers will recognize him from another of his memorable performances in the Coen brother’s film O Brother, Where Art Thou?
The Last Lullaby is well worth your time, and fans of Road to Perdition will especially enjoy it. It was recognized at the Brooklyn International Film Festival and the Cedar Rapids Independent Film Festival, among others. You can visit the filmmaker’s blog to check out other reviews and read about the project. The DVD will be available for purchase through the film’s official website beginning October 19th, and you can save it for future addition to your Netflix queue now.
Friday afternoon, on a lark, I decided to attend a screening of the new action/science-fiction film Surrogates starring Bruce Willis, Ving Rhames, and James Cromwell. To be honest, I was a bit cynical about it going in – aside from District 9 I’ve been left wanting by films of the action/science-fiction genre for quite a while now. But I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Surrogates is a fun, engaging film with enough twists to keep you guessing until nearly the end.
The special effects were used to great advantage and never felt superfluous. There were a number of terrific performances by the film’s well-known cast, Ving Rhames’s performance of ‘The Prophet’ (a Mumia Jamal-style subversive at war with future Earth’s techno-establishment) being especially outstanding. It is a fresh approach to a kind of science-fiction film (that being the kind of film where the main characters’ senses of reality are altered in some irretrievably extreme way through the use of technology) that have been seeing a lot of screen time since The Matrix made such a splash lo those many years ago. And, with films like these, it manages to make several pointed observations about the subtle ways in which a life filtered through certain technologies (such as the one we’re using now) can make for a more vivid, yet distant, reality. There are a number of spots where the film shifts between its mystery and action elements and the kind of social commentary one might expect from a work of speculative science-fiction like this.
Sure the plot runs afoul of a few science-fiction clichés here and there, and the film gets by with minimal tickling of the cerebellum; however, Surrogates is an exciting action/science-fiction film with enough going for it to make it well worth your time.
Americans drink a lot of beer. We eat a lot of chocolate; we go to a lot of movies; we smoke lots of cigarettes, drive expensive cars, and watch lots of football games. We spend billions of dollars renting videos, buying computers, and visiting amusement parks. The American consumer is known the world over for their ability to spend money, and we’re reminded nearly every day (particularly during this time of less-than-ideal economic prosperity) that American consumerism is one of the engines that drives the world’s economy.
Still, it is amazing to see how much Americans spend on beer alone. Considering that Americans are thought by many to be an uptight bunch, it boggles the mind to consider how much money is spent on beer the world over. And with so much money to be made in our country alone, it is inevitable that the American beer industry be something akin to that little island where all of those kids crash-landed in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. And, of course, with an industry so mind-bogglingly vicious it is equally mind-boggling to think that there hasn’t yet been a documentary made exposing how vicious that industry really is.
Marc Osborne’s award-winning animated short film More has been given the blue ribbon treatment with the recent release of a two-disc special edition. This new edition features a lovingly preserved and unabridged digital transfer of the original six minute short, as well as commentary tracks, links to information about Osborne’s more recent work, an hour long documentary on the making of More, and other short works by Osborne himself and some of More’s principal animators.
The short film is, of course, the most exciting element of this two-disc collection. Originally released in 1998, More enjoyed much critical success and popularity on the festival circuit. It was given an award for best animated short at both South by Southwest and Sundance, and was nominated for an Academy Award for best animated short film of 1998. More is a showcase for Osborne’s creative genius and the work of the film’s talented team of animators. Without dialog, the film portrays life in a stark and twisted alternate reality where individuality is lost. Surely this isn’t the first work to speculate on the nature of life in a place and time like this, but More’s brilliance is in its re-imagining of this world in such a brief and poignant way. Osborne and company’s work populates this world with animated characters possessed of a ghostly vitality. Two tracks accompany the the remastered transfer that feature Osborne’s reflections upon both the thematic and technical aspects of the work.
The hour long behind-the-scenes documentary that accompanies the remaster is called Making More. The film is a compilation of video-taped footage of the day-to-day work on the film from its earliest days, through the bliss and excitement of a successful festival tour culminating in an Oscar nomination. Alongside this footage are interviews with those most intimately involved with the making of More — Osborne and his family; the animators, sculptors, and editors; and those concerned with the film’s financing and distribution. The film follows More from its earliest conceptual sketches through to its release. The audience is given the chance to hear the reflections of Osborne and his crew, a group of student animators and stop-motion animation enthusiasts who, on a meager budget and with borrowed or donated equipment and facilities, found themselves on the cutting edge of large-scale cinema at the time, being the first group to attempt a stop-motion work on 65mm for projection on an enormous iMax screen. The documentary does a fine job of showing that bringing More to life was a grueling labor of love for those on the crew, capturing the obstacles that had to be overcome to bring the miniature world of More to life on an iMax screen.
The disc also features Osborne’s student film Greener, a work that anticipates some of the formal elements of what would become More. A collection of Osborne’s other student works is featured that showcases his abilities in working with a number of different familiar animation techniques. Also of interest is the haunting and beautiful animated short film Mum by Nick Peterson featuring work by David Candelaria, both principal members of the More crew. The interesting work Twice Daily by Keith Lowry, an original crew member as well, is also enjoyable. Both are well worth checking out if you enjoy More.
Silent Venom – The greatest danger to the mission is already on board.
In Fred Olen Ray’s thriller Silent Venom, Luke Perry plays Commander James O’Neill, twenty year veteran of the US Navy up against a court-martial for disobeying a direct order that he felt jeopardized the safety of his crew. Veteran actor Tom Berenger is Admiral Bradley Wallace, a man who hopes to rescue O’Neill from the court martial by sending him on one last mission: escorting the U.S.S. Santa Mira to Taipei, where the Mira — a relic of a pre-nuclear type Cold War submarine — is to be sold to the Taiwanese navy.
En route to Taipei, O’Neill and the Mira’s inexperienced skeleton crew are redirected to the remote island of Maku in the East China Sea to retrieve two scientests engaged in a clandestine research mission on behalf of US Army intelligence to synthesize an anti-toxin using the venom of a rare Asian pit viper indigenous to the island. Recent intelligence reports indicate that the Chinese Navy plans to engage in tactical exercises in the area, and the US fears for the safety of the two scientists and the necessary secrecy of their work. Dr. Andrea Swanson, played by Krista Allen of Emmanuelle fame, along with her bungling and conniving assistant Jake Goldin (Louis Mandylor) are caretakers of a menagerie of deadly venomous snakes in a remote research facility deep in the jungle. Swanson and Goldin, at the behest of the US Army, have cross-bred several diamondback rattlesnakes with the island’s indigenous vipers in hopes of producing the necessary venom upon which to base an antidote the US Army hopes to use to defend against possible neuro-toxin attacks by international terrorists.
Once the two are safely on board the Mira, it is discovered that — along with the few hybrid vipers that are a result of the pair’s research — the assistant, Goldin, has smuggled aboard twenty-or-so of the rare indigenous vipers with the hopes of selling them to the highest bidder. To make matters worse, the hybrid snakes are discovered to be genetically altered as a result of chromosomal damage suffered by the Asian vipers during Chinese nuclear testing in the area. The result of the unfortunate mutation is a dangerous rise in metabolism resulting in rapid increase in growth and aggressive behavior. Soon the snakes are loosed upon the crew of the Mira by a nosy young seaman, and — to make matters even worse — the Chinese Navy begins its tactical exercises ahead of schedule, within the very waters where O’Neill and his crew are traveling with the scientists.
The script, penned by MTV alum Mark Sanderson, is a terse, tense thriller well complimented by the film’s low-key and streamlined production. Perry and veteran TV actor Anthony Tyler Quinn (playing officer Eddie Boudreau) highlight a convincing and likable cast of sailors charged with protecting the lives of Swanson and Goldin. Louis Mandylor is especially likable as the snivelling assistan Goldin. There are plenty of genuinely creepy-crawly thrills in this enjoyable direct-to-DVD creature feature.
2009, 87 mins.
Unrated
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Jeffrey Goodman’s 2008 film The Last Lullaby is a subtle and riveting tale of betrayal and revenge. Jack Price, a retired hitman, is drawn into a web of deceit when he stumbles upon a kidnap victim at a run-down house in the woods. As a consequence of his actions he appears on the radar of Martin Lennox — a brutal and aloof millionaire in a jam. Drawn out of retirement by Lennox, Price is put on the trail of the beautiful Sarah, but he soon finds there is more to his quarry than first meets the eye. Of course, things turn out to be not at all what they seem, and Price finds himself in hot water with a number of different players in this suspenseful drama. 
Friday afternoon, on a lark, I decided to attend a screening of the new action/science-fiction film Surrogates starring Bruce Willis, Ving Rhames, and James Cromwell. To be honest, I was a bit cynical about it going in – aside from District 9 I’ve been left wanting by films of the action/science-fiction genre for quite a while now. But I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Surrogates is a fun, engaging film with enough twists to keep you guessing until nearly the end.
Americans drink a lot of beer. We eat a lot of chocolate; we go to a lot of movies; we smoke lots of cigarettes, drive expensive cars, and watch lots of football games. We spend billions of dollars renting videos, buying computers, and visiting amusement parks. The American consumer is known the world over for their ability to spend money, and we’re reminded nearly every day (particularly during this time of less-than-ideal economic prosperity) that American consumerism is one of the engines that drives the world’s economy.
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