Sunday, July 5, 2015

Crisp Criticism - "Terminator Genisys", "Max", "A Little Chaos", "Awake: The Life of Yogananda"

by
Julien Faddoul













Terminator Genisys

John Connor sends Kyle Reese back in time to protect Sarah Connor, but when he arrives in 1984, nothing is as he expected it to be.
Obnoxious fan-fiction, totally stagnant and bedeviled by the clichés of older movies.

d – Alan Taylor
w – Laeta Kalogridis, Patrick Lussier   (Based on the Characters Created by James Cameron, Gale Anne Hurd)
ph – Kramer Morgenthau
pd – Neil Spisak
m – Lorne Balfe
ed – Roger Barton
cos – Susan Matheson

p – David Ellison, Dana Goldenberg

Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Emilia Clarke, Jason Clarke, Jai Courtney, J.K. Simmons, Dayo Okeniyi, Lee Byung-hun














Max

A dog that helped soldiers in Afghanistan returns to the U.S. and is adopted by his handler's family after suffering a traumatic experience.
Tonally, a very odd film of a kind that used to be in fashion roughly 12-15 years ago. It’s schmaltzy sap about a wonder dog.

d – Boaz Yakin
w – Boaz Yakin, Sheldon Lettich
ph – Stefan Czapsky
pd – Kalina Ivanov
m – Trevor Rabin
ed – Bill Pankow
cos – Ellen Lutter

p – Ken Blancato, Karen Rosenfelt

Cast: Lauren Graham, Robbie Amell, Thomas Haden Church, Luke Kleintank, Jay Hernandez, Joseph Julian Soria, Josh Wiggins, Owen Harn, Kelly Borgnis, Zeeko Zaki













A Little Chaos *

A landscape gardener is hired by famous architect Le Notre to construct the grand gardens at the palace of Versailles.
Uninspired but at times fairly compelling historical piece with a game director (his sophomore effort) and cast.

d – Alan Rickman
w – Jeremy Brock, Alison Deegan, Alan Rickman
ph – Ellen Kuras
pd – James Merifeld
m – Peter Gregson
ed – Nicolas Gaster
cos – Joan Bergin

p – Andrea Calderwood, Gail Egan, Bertrand Faivre

Cast: Kate Winslet, Alan Rickman, Stanley Tucci, Matthias Schoenaerts, Jennifer Ehle, Helen McCrory, Steven Waddington, Adrian Schiller, Danny Webb, Phyllida Law, Guy Potter, Pauline Moran, Morgan Watkins, Henry Garrett, Adrian Scarborough, Alistair Petrie













Awake: The Life of Yogananda

Documentary about the life of Yogananda, who brought Hindu spirituality to the West in the 1920s.
Flaccid, uninteresting documentary on a subject that never justifies its existence as a piece of cinema.

d – Paola di Florio, Lisa Leeman
ph – Arlene Nelson
m – Vivek Maddala, Michael Mollura
ed – Paola di Florio, Lisa Leeman, Peter Rader, Ken Schneider

p – Paola di Florio, Lisa Leeman, Peter Rader








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