Filmmakers with imaginations as wild and uninhibited as Guillermo del Toro‘s (there are only a few) cultivate rabid fan followings because, even if their films aren’t a success, we’re guaranteed an honest expression of their innermost demons and desires. Crimson Peak is the Mexican filmmaker’s latest, a 1901-set gothic horror tale with a wicked sense of humor that pays homage to super-cool stuff like Hammer Films, Edgar Allen Poe, and Alfred Hitchcock. It never brushes the greatness of his most popular work, Pan’s Labyrinth, another lushly-imagined, mildly terrifying storybook picture, but it’s entertaining throughout and visually show-stopping, which won’t come as a surprise to del Toro die-hards.

The film’s ensemble is rich in talent, led by the delicate Mia Wasikowska as Edith Cushing, our virgin heroine who sees ghosts but is more often than not laughably naive to the immediate real-world threats that constantly circle her pretty little head. She lives in Buffalo, NY and has a longtime admirer in Alan McMichael (Charlie Hunnam), an eye doctor and respectable gentleman. Edith’s finds a foreign visitor more fetching, however; British charmer Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston) has come to town to seek funding for a clay mining operation on his estate back in England (the valuable resource is blood red in appearance—crimson, in fact!) but finds himself equally enamored with fair-skinned Edith.

They fall for each other and get married, a development Alan takes with honorable acceptance. Less accepting of the arrangement is Lucille (Jessica Chastain), Thomas’ sister, who becomes the proverbial third wheel as the three travel from New York to Allerdale Hall, the siblings’ childhood home. It’s an almost laughably haunted-looking mansion with a big hole stabbed through the ceiling due to weather damage. A nest of dark passageways, dusty-but-ornate rooms, and creaky elevators that plunge you into the dark mines underneath the mansion floor, where the clay operation (and probably some icky stuff Thomas doesn’t want Edith to know about). Del Toro riffs on the same story elements and themes Hitchcock perfected in the feverish Notorious. Del Toro being the Hitchcock expert that he is (he taught Hitchcock classes in Mexico), the film honors its roots well.

Much of the film’s movie’s humor stems from how clueless Edith is to the fishiness of her arrangement with the siblings. Lucille has more than a few obvious psycho-killer tendencies (Chastain hams her performance up to mixed success) and Thomas is just as suspicious in how he always seems to be hiding something. Wasikowska’s aloofness might be a turn-off for those seeking material less littered with silly dialogue, but for this critic, the schtick was fun and good for a laugh. It seems at times the actors struggle with the script’s nimble tone, and it’s hard to tell whether the occasional oddly-delivered line of dialogue is the fault of the actors or the writers (del Toro co-wrote with regular collaborator Matthew Robbins).

Without question, one of the major draws of a del Toro picture is the visual presentation, and Crimson Peak will let no one down on this front. The cinematography is spellbinding, as is the costume and production design. The sets are instant classics and Edith’s handful of interactions with the vaporous ghouls that haunt her are startlingly convincing (del Toro never settles for his movie creatures looking anything less than tactile).

What’s missing in this immaculately presented story is a sense of spiritual involvement, something the film strives for but doesn’t quite grasp (Pan’s Labyrinth felt more fully-realized as an expression of del Toro’s beliefs in the supernatural). The plot is so evasive with the siblings’ motivations that it undermines Edith’s reluctant relationship with those from the great beyond. Nothing, however, could distract from the stunningly detailed gothic imagery which, like in many del Toro pictures, supersedes everything else.

This is certainly not the first so-called movie rodeo for Gustave Flaubert’s 1856 novel Madame Bovary. The somewhat scandalous (at publication) realist novel has seen many film iterations. Sophie Barthes directs this latest attempt, written by first-timer Rose Barreneche (née Felipe Marino), and it’s rather a wonder that anyone felt that, one, what the world was lacking at the moment is another Madame Bovary adaptation, or two, that quite so much money and talent should be thrown into it. Considering the entire nature of the realism movement—gritty and hard perspectives on those in difficult or lowly situations, meant to show the truth of the human condition—this Madame Bovary is flat and unassertive.

By now Mia Wasikowska must be permanently corset-shaped. She has so many period-set films under her tiny belt. And more to come with this fall’s Crimson Peak . In Madame Bovary she is given some especially detailed, colorful, and decadent dresses to wear over those corsets, and the costuming of this otherwise droll film is quite possibly its most shining feature. But I digress, because despite the dated material they are given to work with, the performances of the film are quite strong. Wasikowska plays the Madame, Emma, who, at a young age, marries a country doctor, Charles Bovary (Henry Lloyd-Hughes) who loves her in an earnest, boring sort of way. Book-read and sheltered away in a convent school for years, Emma, finds married life to be more provincial then she perhaps anticipated. The more she learns of her unambitious husband, the more she finds herself easily distracted by the young law student Leon Dupuis (Ezra Miller looking distractingly pretty) who has captured her attention with his romantic notions and traveled experiences. When he declares his attraction to her, she rejects him but immediately laments that he leaves town.

Determined not to spend the rest of her life passionless, Emma is much more eager to engage in scandal when her next suitor comes calling. The Marquis (Logan Marshall-Green) is rich and red-blooded. They begin a steamy affair as Emma grows bolder, and yet more prone to escapism. With the help of smooth salesman Monsieur Lheureux (Rhys Ifans practically stealing the show), Emma misplaces her ambition into worldly decadence, filling her home with fancy home furnishings her husband can never dream to afford. But being the pushover he is, Charles remains oblivious to his wife’s misdemeanors and their growing debt. Meanwhile, Emma’s life plays out like a sad version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. She tries out Charles (clarly a Mama bear) and he’s too soft. So she moves on to The Marquis (a definitive Papa bear) and he’s much too hard, leaving her broken. Finally she returns to Leon (whose baby-face isn’t the only thing defining him as Baby bear) and he is just right. But this is a morality tale, and we all know things don’t work out for Goldilocks. She needs to respect other animal’s property, and Emma needs to stop living in the 21st century when she’s clearly stuck in the 19th.

As is the case with many of these 19th century realist novels, the translation to film can be a bit drab. Mostly because the sorrows of the poor characters of the 19th century, rather than evoke sympathy in their plight, are often portrayed so pathetically, it rather feels like watching The Real Housewives of 19th Century Rural France. And in that world, no one gets a happy ending. Like last year’s In Secret, the adaptation of Émile Zola’s naturalist novel, cheaters (as justified as they may be) just don’t win. I won’t ruin the ending, though there’s so many version of this story floating around I doubt there are many of you out there who can’t guess. Interestingly enough Anne Fontaine’s Gemma Bovery is out now as well and is garnering positive reviews.

Barthes is an interesting choice of director, her most notable feature before this being the Paul Giamatti film Cold Souls. Which provides some explanation for his small role in Madame Bovary. The cinematography is reminiscent of Joe Wright’s Pride & Prejudice, minus the lens flares and warmth. Plenty of widely framed shots of the dreary French country-side. Emma in her colorful clothing shines among the blandness, but her smile-less face rather reminds us at all times of the film’s tone. Most puzzling is that Barthes chose to film so straightforwardly. There is very little deviation from the original story and yet no real emphasis on the naturalist/realist style of the novel. It all plays out with a restless predictability.

Considering the caliber of the ingredients—A-list actors, tried and tested content, gorgeous costumery—Madame Bovary is unexceptional and bland. While female inequity and subjection is still a relevant issue, and one Barthes could have played with more, the portrayal of one woman’s sexual dalliances and shopping sprees is not exactly empowering or modern. Most consider Emma Bovary to be a romantic, caught up in her fantasies, but this rendition offers very little of that starry-eyed quality. Without any emotional connection, its hard to root for or cry for Emma Bovary. And when sex and shopping can’t even spark the slightest of interest for this female reviewer, it doesn’t bode well for extended audiences.

On a day known for it’s superstitions and inherent spookiness levels, those of us more excited about an excuse to watch horror films tonight than rom-coms tomorrow will be extra thrilled by this new trailer.

We’ve been hotly anticipating Guillermo del Toro’s next film Crimson Peak since he teased us with a creepy walk-through set-up at Comic-Con last summer. With the promise of a return to Pan’s Labyrinth-levels of creepiness and the sort of atmosphere del Toro is expert at creating, this film actually made our most anticipated of 2015 list.

In this new trailer we get a better look at Mia Wasikowska’s Edith Cushing, a Victorian era woman swept off her feet by Tom Hiddleston’s Sir Thomas Sharpe who brings her to his childhood home where his creepy sister (a surprisingly dark haired Jessica Chastain) lurks and the house itself is a menacing character. It may have just the slightest bit too much CG, but as Pacific Rim proves, no one makes you buy-in and root for CG more than del Toro.

Watch and get freaked out for yourself below.

You might be thinking “Already?!” but yes, award season is already starting. Today, New York’s Gotham Independent Film Awards put out their nominees, a list filled with pleasant surprises and some very obvious choices.

Let’s start with the obvious choice: Boyhood. Any indie award would be insane to deny Richard Linklater’s film, possibly the indie event of the year, some love, so Gotham understandably gave it four nominations: Best Picture, Best Actor (Ethan Hawke), Best Actress (Patricia Arquette) and Breakthrough Actor (Ellar Coltrane). Also unsurprising is Birdman nabbing three nominations for Best Picture and Best Actor (Michael Keaton). Expect to hear even more about Birdman in the months to come.

Because the Gotham Awards are about independent film, that gives some great underrated films and performances the chance for some exposure through a nomination. The biggest surprise might be Under the Skin and Scarlett Johansson scoring nominations for Best Picture and Actress. It’ll be unlikely for Jonathan Glazer’s strange sci-fi to get much love outside of critics’ circles this year, so nominations like these are nice to see. Another great choice by Gotham: Giving Ira Sachs’ wonderful Love is Strange a Best Picture nomination. Sachs’ film, a quietly heartbreaking drama, seems bound to get left out this year once the awards race kicks into high gear (if Best Actor weren’t so competitive this year, John Lithgow and Alfred Molina would have been locks). Any recognition for Love is Strange is a huge plus.

Read on below for the full list of nominees, including the nominees for Breakthrough Director and Actor. For those more interested in the bigger awards, take note of Oscar Isaac’s nomination for A Most Violent Year. The film hasn’t come out yet (it opens AFI Fest next month), so this nomination might be a hint of another shake-up in the coming weeks. And if anyone’s wondering where current Best Actor frontrunner Steve Carrell is, Gotham decided to give Carrell and co-stars Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo a special award for their ensemble performances in Foxcatcher.

The Gotham Independent Film Awards will hold their awards ceremony on December 1st.

Best Feature

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Love Is Strange
Under the Skin

Best Actor

Bill Hader in The Skeleton Twins
Ethan Hawke in Boyhood
Oscar Isaac in A Most Violent Year
Michael Keaton in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Miles Teller in Whiplash (Sony Pictures Classics)

Best Actress

Patricia Arquette in Boyhood
Gugu Mbatha-Raw in Beyond the Lights
Julianne Moore in Still Alice
Scarlett Johansson in Under the Skin
Mia Wasikowska in Tracks

Best Documentary

Actress
CITIZENFOUR
Life Itself
Manakamana
Point and Shoot

Breakthrough Actor

Riz Ahmed in Nightcrawler
Macon Blair in Blue Ruin
Ellar Coltrane in Boyhood
Joey King in Wish I Was Here
Jenny Slate in Obvious Child
Tessa Thompson in Dear White People

Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award

Ana Lily Amirpour for A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
James Ward Byrkit for Coherence
Dan Gilroy for Nightcrawler
Eliza Hittman for It Felt Like Love
Justin Simien for Dear White People

Maps to the Stars exists in the familiarly twisted, hyper sexual and hyper violent world that spawns many David Cronenberg movies. The film opens with Mia Wasikowska’s Agatha, a wide-eyed Floridian on a bus to the City of Angels, hoping to reconnect with long lost family. With the help of a promise over Twitter from Carrie Fischer, she lands a job as the personal assistant to aging starlet Havana Segrand (Julianne Moore). Havana’s late mother was an iconic actress, and before her death she filmed a classic movie that is set for a new remake. Havana has her eyes set on her late mother’s part; however, she’s is both caught in her mother’s shadow and haunted by hostile visions of her. John Cusack has a role as Havana’s new-age massage therapist who helps Julianne Moore work through childhood trauma in barely clothed sessions. Olivia Williams is his wife, an anxiety-ridden stagemom struggling to come to terms with an incident from her past. Evan Bird is their son, child star Benji, a 13-year old foul-mouthed drug abuser recently out of a stint in rehab.

Navigating taboos like the death of children, as well as Hollywood’s incestual nature provides Maps to the Stars with a majority of its subject matter; however, the film stops short of providing an incisive perspective on these ideas. Once the film has seemingly run the course on its commentary, it devolves into an overly bloody, brutal climax. The shocking content is wickedly entertaining, but it only goes so far before being overcome by self-indulgence. And in a career full of twisted material, Maps to the Stars doesn’t delve into any new territory for a director like Cronenberg.

In 1977, 27 year-old Robyn Davidson embarked on what would become a 9 month, 1,700 mile journey across the Australian deserts. She traveled from the town of Alice Springs to the Indian Ocean, with 4 camels and a dog as her only companions. Her trip was first profiled in National Geographic before a book about her experiences was published in 1980. Now, 34 years later, Tracks has finally made it to the big screen.

Director John Curran opens two years before Davidson’s (Mia Wasikowska) trek, showing her arriving in Alice Springs and working with farmers in order to learn how to train camels. Davidson’s work only gets her so far, until a visit by National Geographic photographer Rick Smolan (Adam Driver) persuades her to let the magazine sponsor her voyage. After receiving the sponsorship money, with the condition that Smolan periodically rendezvous with Davidson for photos, she sets off.

Tracks naturally brings to mind other films about long, isolated journeys in nature like Into the Wild, Walkabout, Kon-Tiki and, to a much lesser extent, Life of Pi. Davidson establishes herself as a solitary person from the get-go, starting with a title card containing one of her quotes — “Some nomads are at home everywhere. Others are at home nowhere, and I was one of those.” — and reiterated throughout with her bristling at anyone’s suggestion of tagging along with her for a few days. Her reaction to Smolan’s arrival at different points on her trip is usually an annoyed one until the isolation gets to her. She starts sleeping with Smolan, but not out of romance (much to Smolan’s disappointment). She merely needs some sort of connection with another human being.

Of course, isolation is one of the film’s major themes, but Curran explores it in a way that’s neither refreshing nor interesting. Tracks limits itself with a simple, unsentimental take at Davidson’s story. The usual beats from a road trip film are all here: Davidson meets unique strangers along the way, bonds with someone she wouldn’t expect (this time an Aboriginal elder played by Roly Mintuma), faces tragedy along the way, and ultimately overcomes her childhood issues.

In this case, Davidson still hasn’t gotten over her mother’s suicide from when she was a child. Curran employs flashbacks to slowly reveal more details about her past. A method that is not only overly familiar, but reductive to Davidson’s story and a flaw on Curran and screenwriter Marion Nelson’s part. The film briefly touches on other inspirations for the 1,700 mile trip including gender, class, and race issues going on at the time, but they all unfairly take a back seat to Davidson’s grief over her mother’s death by the end. For a film dedicating most of its time to one character, it feels awfully limited in its portrayal.

But for a piece of conventional filmmaking, Tracks is well-made. Curran and cinematographer Mandy Walker film the Outback deserts with a serene, beautiful quality while showing its potential for danger. Wasikowska, looking eerily familiar to her real-life counterpart, is convincing in her role despite the narrow screenplay. The assured performances and great cinematography help to carry things along and there isn’t often a dull moment across its 2 hour length. Unfortunately those factors can’t elevate Tracks to something more than an ordinary take on an extraordinary tale.

Welcome to Hollywood, where you steal spotlights at the age four, go into rehab before you hit puberty, hit menopause by the time you’re 23, and become a desensitized pill-popping, therapy-addicted, fame-crazed relic nearing death by the time you’ve reached your 40s. Oh, should we talk about the abuse? Should we touch upon that jaded little thing called incest? Prepare yourself for one ludicrous look through a cracked magnifying glass stained with cum and shit, one of which is a commodity but I won’t spoil and say which one. This is Cronenbergianism at its absurdest best and excessive worst, and it will most likely end up as the most quotable film competing for this year’s Palme D’Or.

Agatha (Mia Wasikowska) is moving to Hollywood from the Tony Montana land of Florida because her Twitter friend Carrie Fisher (yes, Princess Leia) said she might need help with her new book. Her chauffeur (Robert Pattinson) is one of a myriad actor slash writers looking for that big break. Havana Segrand (Julianne Moore) is an aging actress dangerously close to societal extinction, with all her hopes resting on getting a part in a new Hollywood remake, the same part her mother played in the original 70s version. Her massage therapist is kook guru Stafford Weiss (John Cusack) whose son Benjie (Evan Bird) is a thirteen year old box office megastar recently released from rehab, much to the relief of his mother Christina’s (Olivia Williams) bank account. The rub is that Agatha is the disfigured schizophrenic member of the Weiss family, whose real reason for coming to L.A. is to make amends with her family, who want nothing to do with her because, in a psychotic fit of rage, she tried to murder them all by setting their house on fire.

The symbolism in this film ranges from the stars all the sordid way to the gutter, and thanks to an Angelo Badalamenti-esque score (from Howard Shore!) and some hallucinations, the whole affair plays out like Mulholland Drive‘s long-lost, abused, and dirty half-cousin. All performance are overshadowed by Moore, who is essentially playing it easy for her standards but those standards still make her a strong contender for Best Actress. She steals scene after scene until you realized she’s stealing the whole movie. Wasikowska is officially typecast as the “crazy one”, a role she’s essentially been playing since her breakout turn in HBO’s In Treatment. Pattinson is a complete non-entity, which is in itself a great metaphor for the millions of star reaching non-entities driving limos and busing tables in Hollywood. Everyone else is solid, Cusack and Williams playing it perfectly whacky, and perhaps it’s young Bird who stands out slightly. But one gets the feeling it’s because of the exaggerated role and not so much the performance, fine as it is.

As ever with Cronenberg though, the acting is there as moral support to the more crucial element of theme and screenplay. The corruption depicted in this degenerative society is probably as far from the actual truth as the mention of a real-life celebrity is in the film (they’re mentioned a lot.) The razor-sharp screenplay is its biggest weapon, but it tends to cut too deep at times with certain lines bordering on cliche. Fans of the post-Spder Cronenberg will, I believe, devour every surreal and entertaining moment of Maps To The Stars. For my tastes, the dark humor and the intelligent weaving of violence, fame, and star-mania is enough to make me appreciate it and call it the best film Cronenberg has made since Eastern Promises. The themes of incest, and some of the characters’ fates (not Julianne Moore’s though, that was fantastic) went over the top and made the nightmarish atmosphere too lucid for its own good. All in all though, great fun, and an invigorating addition to Cronenberg’s offbeat filmography.

A few years ago, Jesse Eisenberg was regarded by many (especially in the mainstream) as a less famous alternative to Michael Cera, the other squeaky-voiced, wimpy white kid taking over theaters nationwide. They’re both naturally likable and unassuming, and they embody awkward better than almost anyone else. Recently, however, Eisenberg has emerged as the more well-rounded, powerful performer of the two, exhibiting an ability to draw audiences in with his piercing, thoughtful gaze and pulling ahead of Cera in both popularity and cinephile cred. He’s proven he can elicit both laughs and gasps, and that versatility is put to the test in The Double, a stylish Dostoyevsky adaptation by Submarine director Richard Ayoade in which the young actor is tasked with portraying two radically different fellows who (as the film’s title indicates) look identical.

Simon, the film’s frail protagonist, is a hard-working office drone and total pushover. He’s utterly unremarkable in every way, to the point where his colleagues struggle to remember his name and the security guard at the entrance sternly insists he sign in as a visitor, despite the fact that he’s worked there for seven years. “Seven years…” he pitifully protests, almost inaudibly. No one cares. No one sees him. He’s trampled on by everyone and everything because his spine is made of Jell-O.

On the other side of the spectrum in every regard is James, a cocky new hire who the other workers (particularly of the opposite sex) worship almost immediately. Simon’s ignorant, dismissive boss Mr. Papadopoulos, played by Wallace Shawn doing his typical Wallace Shawn thing, is thrilled with James’ “work” (which he makes Simon do for him like an elementary school bully would), and insists that Simon is slacking and should be more like him. The role of James, like Eisenberg’s turn in The Social Network, allows him to tap into the enigmatic, articulate, dominating side of his persona that earned him the iconic role of Lex Luthor in Batman Vs Superman. He’s small in stature, yet positively menacing due to his formidable intellect and capacity to use it as a lethal weapon.

The world Ayoade and his crew have built around Simon and his nemesis resembles a steampunk version of Brazil, with flashes of George Orwell, Orson Welles, and David Lynch influence strewn throughout. The sets are darkly imaginative and slightly magical, and Ayoade invites us to drink up the luscious, shadowy imagery with him. He relishes photographing his bronze dystopia, with its typewriters, old-fashioned diners, telescopes, and endless dark corridors. The film is bathed in a sickly yellow light, which is unsightly at first but earns its welcome when you realize it provides a visual density and richness.

As a corporate satire, the story is simple but expressionistic, never allowing us to plant our feet firmly in the realm of reality. This type of alter-ego tale is unquestionably familiar (though it hasn’t ever lost its potency in cinema), but Ayoade mixes in so many trippy substances that it gives the formula a fresh coat of sludgy black paint. A glaring issue is that Simon is so completely hopeless and sad that it’s hard to attach to him, or at least it’s uncomfortable to. There’s an emotional distance to the film that persists to the very end.

We get our first good look at Simon’s angel-blonde office crush Hannah (Mia Wasikowska) bathed in the heavenly blue light of a giant humming printer (very Lynchian). She, like everyone else, has no idea who Simon is, but she takes a quick liking to the confident, fun James, who exploits Simon’s inferiority complex to get closer to Hannah. “I know what it feels like to be lost and lonely and invisible,” he confesses to James, a sentiment the sneaky devil uses to steal Hannah’s heart. Everyone…hell, the entire universe seems to be conspiring to make Simon’s life miserable, and he feels worthless. How will he take his career, his dream girl…his identity back? “I exist!” he cries in desperation in a crowded room of staggered co-workers.

Simon and James play perfectly to Eisenberg’s strengths, and he proves again why he’s one of the most seasoned young stars in the industry. His scenes with himself are improbably the film’s most engaging, though that’s not to discount his excellent supporting cast. The film is very funny, though that probably won’t be everyone’s ultimate takeaway. The “everyone hates Simon” gags are hilarious, timed and edited perfectly for comedic effect. (An early bit in which Simon makes a feeble attempt to move past two men on his way out of a subway car is sublime). The refined humor will probably get lost in all the drippy atmosphere and heightened style, but whether that’s an issue or not depends upon your expectations.

The Double trailer

Making its world premiere tomorrow at the Toronto International Film Festival is the sophomore efforts from director Richard Ayoade entitled The Double, which stars Jesse Eisenberg as a man who starts to freak out upon discovering his eerie doppelganger. Because Ayoade hit it out of the park with his previous film, Submarine, which made it easy for us to put his new film on our TIFF radar this year. Watch the first trailer for The Double and stay tuned for our coverage of it at the festival.

Watch the teaser trailer for The Double:

Since Chan-wook Park emerged into the cinema scene with his critically acclaimed Vengeance Trilogy, he has been a director to pay close attention to. When it was announced that Stoker would be his first English-language film, naturally everyone’s ears perked. But going into Stoker with the exact same expectations based on his previous work would be ill-advised. The story here is more subdued and is slower paced than his previous work. In the film there is some violence (though much less is actually shown), incestuous suggestions, and good ol’ fashion that is often found in his work, everything is just more submissive here.

India Stoker (Mia Wasikowska) is a peculiar girl who just lost her father on the arrival of her eighteenth birthday. This event makes the already bizarre and reserved teenager even more withdrawn as India was always very close to her father. Not making the matters any better is the fact that India has always been distance with her mother Evelyn Stoker (Nicole Kidman). What makes the story unsettling is the arrival of Uncle Charles (Matthew Goode), an odd mannered character himself, who India never even knew existed before the funeral.

For no real apparent reason it is suddenly decided that Charles will be staying at the mansion with family for an undetermined amount of time. From the very beginning India had an uneasy feeling toward her father’s brother, but her mother’s eerily attraction towards him only added fuel to the fire. Her suspicions about him keep adding up the longer he is around and the film does a great job of filling the viewer with those same uncertainties.

The story is not entirely cohesive as it starts down several paths but does not quite finish on any of them. This can be off-putting to some people as the film seemingly cannot make up its mind on where to go, but the intention is to keep everyone involved guessing. The frustrating part is the end result is not as interesting as some of the other possibilities that it explored. That, and it builds itself up to be a mystery, but it is solved well before the conclusion.

All three leads do a great job with what their role demanded. The weakest of the bunch would probably have to go to Nicole Kidman, but only because her character is the least interesting. Mia Wasikowska is simply outstanding as the dark introvert who discovers some sinister secrets about her family. Then there is Matthew Goode, who at first seems awkwardly out of place, but then ends up nailing the role brilliantly as his character develops.

The camera techniques in Stoker are incredibly well-crafted and original, just what you would come to expect from the acclaimed filmmaker. Most of the shots had to be meticulously planned out and synced together. A great example of this is when the film cuts back and forth between two different characters in different locations walking out of doors and opening others in perfect rhythm. All of that happens while the same nature documentary on the television, which talks about sibling rivalry and is therefore relevant to the story, plays in the background in each of their locations.

Considering Park’s previous work, some might be a little disappointed that Stoker tells a much more conventional story with a final payoff is not as grand as Oldboy’s was. But the way the story is displayed is certainly as artful and poetic as anything Park has done to date. His sense of style is evident in the very beginning when the opening credits playfully interact with what is happening on the screen. For example, the text of the credits may be placed beside a rock on screen and when the character moves the rock, the text moves along with it. While the style does outweigh the story, Stoker is a welcoming first English-language film from Park that I hope is not his last.

Stoker is Available on Blu-ray and DVD on June 18th

Ever since Park Chan-wook’s breakthrough hit Oldboy premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2004, he has exploded onto everyone’s radar as a director to follow. His latest film, Stoker, is the director’s first film in English and stars some big-named American celebrities; Nicole Kidman, Mia Wasikowska, and Matthew Goode, just to name a few. It was announced today that Stoker will be available on Blu-ray and DVD on June 18th.

Official Synopsis

Following the tragic death of her father on her eighteenth birthday, India Stoker (Wasikowska) meets Charlie (Goode), her charismatic uncle, whom she never knew existed. When Charlie moves in with India and her unstable mother (Kidman), both are drawn to his charming and calming demeanor. But it soon becomes clear that Charlie’s arrival was no coincidence, and that the shocking secrets of his past could affect India’s future…or shatter it completely.

Blu- ray Special Features

• An Exclusive Look: A Filmmakers Journey
• Deleted Scenes
• Theatrical Behind the Scenes: Mysterious Characters, Designing the Look, Creating the Music
• Red Carpet Premiere: Emily Wells’ performance of “Becomes the Color”
• Free Song Download of “Becomes the Color” by Emily Wells
• UltraViolet
• Hypnotherapy
• Image Galleries and more!

STOKER Blu-ray & DVD Specs

Street Date: June 18, 2013
Prebook Date: May 22, 2013
Screen Format: Widescreen 2.40:1
Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD MA / 5.1 Dolby Digital DVD, English 5.1 Descriptive Audio, Spanish: 5.1 Dolby Digital / 2.0 Surround Dolby Digital DVD, French: 5.1 Dolby Digital / 2.0 Surround Dolby Digital DVD
Subtitles: English, Spanish
U.S. Rating: R
Total Run Time: 99 minutes
Closed Captioned: Yes

John Hillcoat’s Lawless, which feels more like it belongs on HBO instead of theatre screens, is a mediocre attempt at a crime drama. Assembling a strong team of people in front of and behind the camera, Hillcoat has the materials to make a good period piece but, as the saying goes, you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.

Set in 1931 during Prohibition, Lawless takes place in Franklin County, Virginia. Thanks to some awkward exposition-filled narration at the beginning, we learn that Franklin County is referred to as the “wettest county in the world” due to its massive production of moonshine. The Bondurant brothers are one of the most popular bootleggers in the entire county. Forrest (Tom Hardy), Howard (Jason Clarke) and Jack (Shia LaBeouf) make and sell some of the best liquor in the area, and a brutal fight early on establishes Jack as the weaker brother in comparison to Forrest and Howard’s brute force.

Trouble comes from the law when Special Agent Charlie Rakes (Guy Pearce), a corrupt representative for the District Attorney, tries to intimidate the brothers into paying him off with some of their profits. Forrest refuses, and in no time people start getting killed. Meanwhile Jack manages to score a distribution deal with a mobster (Gary Oldman) which leads to more money and, for Jack, an inflated ego. Love stories also come into the mix as Forrest falls for a city girl (Jessica Chastain) who works at his bar, and Jack constantly tries to court a preacher’s daughter (Mia Wasikowska).

It’s obvious that Hillcoat and screenwriter Nick Cave are going for classical storytelling with its formulaic approach, but nothing is brought to the film that elevates it beyond its generic foundation. When Chastain’s character is introduced, her coupling with Forrest is inevitable. As an audience we see point A and can immediately figure out point B, but Lawless makes the journey between those two points a dull one. Once we get to point B, none of it feels earned or believable. The only reason why all of Lawless’ point A’s get to their respective point B is because it’s what’s expected of them and nothing more.

The cast, while impressive, does little with what they have. Tom Hardy spends his time grunting loudly, and Clarke screams more than he speaks while Chastain and Wasikowska simply play their parts. Guy Pearce’s transformation into Nicolas Cage levels of insanity appears complete with his hilarious, campy performance as Agent Rakes. Gary Oldman, taking the same route as Pearce, hams it up in his small role.

The only exception in the cast is LaBeouf, who has yet to build up a resume as impressive as his co-stars. His performance comes across as someone desperately trying to prove themselves as a serious actor. It might have worked in a more somber film, but with Pearce flailing about and Oldman smacking people with shovels LaBeouf looks like he’s unable to have any fun.

Lawless’ late-August theatrical release came as a surprise to some. Despite its presence in Cannes’ main competition, the film was getting released in what’s usually referred to as a dead zone. Most late August releases are reserved for mediocre fare, the kinds of films that are burned off from studios instead of being hyped up like their summer releases. Although the talent involved suggested a different outcome, Lawless turned out to be a perfect fit for the late-August release window.

The Kids Are All Right is a film about an unconventional family dealing with the struggles of marriage and raising children that any family can relate to. For better or worse the storyline is straightforward and safe, making it relatable but ultimately very predictable. The cast and screenwriting make it interesting enough to watch even though at times it feels like more could have been done.

Life is neither perfect nor easy but more specifically neither is marriage. That is the message The Kids Are All Right delivers. Nic (Annette Bening) and Jules (Julianne Moore) are a happily married lesbian couple who both have teenage children, Joni and Laser, from the same anonymous sperm donor. Nic is a doctor and Jules is currently trying to start up her own landscape design business.

Joni recently turned 18 years old and is spending her final summer at home before leaving for college. Joni and Laser are aware that they are half-siblings from the same father but different mothers and now that Joni is of age to request to get in touch with their biological father, she does so.

Their father is an easy-going hippie named Paul (Mark Ruffalo) who is in charge of an organic restaurant and garden. He receives a call out of the blue informing him that his two children would like to meet up with him. Even caught off-guard with this news he, as he normally does, has a nonchalant cool-guy attitude about the situation and eagerly accepts the children’s request.

Paul meets up and eventually bonds with the two children. Joni seemed to drawn closer to him than Laser did but I think it would be pretty typical for a 15 year old boy to be hesitant to open up to his father after just meeting him. Nic and Jules soon learn about the children bonding with Paul and are accepting of it although perhaps feel a little uneasy.

After meeting with the whole family, Paul learns that Jules is looking for landscape design work and hires her to do some work. Because Nic is territorial she becomes concerned that Paul is intruding her life. It turns out her instincts were not wrong when she finds out that Paul and Jules have moved on from just hanging out in the garden to hanging out in the bedroom.

The acting performances were solid and earned nominations at the Oscars and Independent Spirit Awards for both Annette Bening and Mark Ruffalo. While I understand Ruffalo’s nomination as he does a good job of playing the cool-guy father figure while giving some comedic relief, I do not understand Bening getting nominated for Best Female Lead over Julianne Moore. Moore deserves just as much recognition as Bening if not more for her roles as the heart and soul of the relationship who has her faults.

Lisa Cholodenko’s The Kids Are All Right is a very realistic and honest film, but I felt there could have been more done with the plot. I respect a film that contains as much honesty as this did and I do enjoy loose endings to a film but the emotional connection needs to be strong and deep to really be effective, which is where the film faltered a bit for me.