THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW
Director Joe Wright’s psychological thriller, based on the best-selling novel by A.J.Finn, has a top-shelf cast that includes Amy Adams, Gary Oldman, Julianne Moore, and Jennifer Jason Leigh. Though in true tragic fashion, each of them are frittered away. The exception is Adams, giving another ardent performance that this film is lucky to have. You’ll be grateful as well because Wright and screenwriter Tracy Letts are blind to suspense in their insufficient acclimation of an agoraphobic child psychologist who goes full peeping Tom on her neighbors and unintentionally witnesses a startling murder in their home.
A lot of what we watch is the uncertainty of what she may or may not have seen. Her sanity is constantly being questioned, so we’re left wondering what did she really see? Did it actually happen? It sounds way more intriguing than what’s on screen. What’s suppose to shock doesn’t, it’s a predictable story that’s asking a lot in wanting to be taken seriously. Through the “twists and turns”, if you’re unable to see the last reveal coming – enjoy it while you can as it swiftly goes kaput. As mentioned before, Adams works her ass off, and this would assuredly be an almost laughable attempt at being a nail-biter without her.
MONSTER
Steve Harmon (Kelvin Harrison Jr.), a 17 year old high school student and aspiring filmmaker, is on trial for a robbery murder and is guilty until proven innocent in a rotten criminal justice system. Co-starring Jeffrey Wright, Jennifer Hudson, and ASAP Rocky, this flawed yet topical court room drama is Harmon’s journey of race and biases through his moviemaking mindset. Harrison’s portrayal is very compelling, the emotions come pouring out in his anguish and internal struggle with who he is and how he ended up behind bars. However, director Anthony Mandler’s decisions produce something that’s less galvanizing and more fossilized and commonplace. Worse, everything he builds towards comes crumbling down in the film’s final act, his message getting fully muddled in the process. It’s unfortunate as all involved have the best of intentions, yet this needed to do more if it wanted to be meaningful and memorable.
THINGS HEARD & SEEN
In this crummy haunted house supernatural-horror, George (James Norton) takes a job as a college professor in a tiny country town in New York, transporting his wife Catherine (Amanda Seyfried) and their daughter to an isolated farm house with a gruesome history. Before too long, Catherine starts seeing spooky things as well as a drastic change in the man she married. Sound familiar? Don’t get your hopes up when it comes to hearing or seeing anything shocking or scary from this low-grade Amityville Horror copyist. Directors Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini try to do too much with this adaptation where ghosts, marital issues, and female empowerment are involved. When each one is undermined and half-baked, Seyfried and Norton’s solid performances don’t stand a chance.
Brandon Vick is a member of The Music City Film Critics’ Association, the resident film critic of the SoBros Network, and the star of The Vick’s Flicks Podcast. Follow him on Twitter @SirBrandonV and be sure to search #VicksFlicks for all of his latest movie reviews.
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