Film

“Jeez, we could have taken that job on the Exxon Valdez.”

Oil and water

I think my shockingly lustrous eyelashes got singed watching Deepwater Horizon, director Peter Berg’s harrowing account of the worst oil rig disaster in American history.

That’s because Berg’s film drops the viewer into a situation where fire and explosions are so realistic, you can feel the heat and disorientation of the 2010 disaster, which claimed the lives of 11 men and led to an oil spill eclipsing all other oil spills.

Mark Wahlberg is first-rate as Mike Williams, a man who was actually on the rig at the time of the disaster. Kurt Russell equals his power as Jimmy Harrell, who questions the integrity of the rig, and then proceeds to have the worst shower in cinema history since Janet Leigh had a showdown with Anthony Perkins.

The setup is a doozy: Williams and Harrell head out for a three-week stay on the Deepwater Horizon along with a couple of BP stuffed shirts. Much to their amazement, some men who were supposed to conduct all-important tests were leaving upon Williams and Harrell’s arrival without conducting anything, so that gets Harrell all riled up. This is a good thing, because Russell doing “all riled up” is always fun.

The lack of testing leads to a showdown with a sleazy BP employee, played by a slithery John Malkovich. Some backwards reasoning leads to the acceptance of some bad drill results, and Deepwater Horizon is cleared to start up. Unbeknownst to the higher ups and technicians, there’s a cataclysmic clog and mud explodes upwards, eventually followed by a massive gas leak, and you probably know the rest.

Berg puts his film together in a way where the mere sight of mud oozing from a pipe is terrifying. When the stages of the disaster go into high gear, it’s as scary as any horror film to hit screens this year, and there have been some

pretty good horror films in 2016. The staging of explosions and fire in this one, many done upon an oil rig built exclusively for this film, are award-caliber. There’s a true sense of isolation and disorientation when the action goes full throttle. Props to the editor for creating a sensation of being utterly lost in the mayhem that escalates until the final two survivors jump many stories to the ocean below. It’s not all about the fire and explosions, as Berg, his writers and performers all give the movie a true heroic element, one that results in heartbreak after the film plays out. Good people perished in this disaster, and the movie makes sure to pay solid tribute to all of them, including a nice epilogue featuring real footage and photos of the victims. Kate Hudson plays Williams’ wife, who’s having a Skype conversation with him when everything starts to go south. Hudson has always been good for waterworks, and Deepwater she gets an opportunity to show that off talent in this movie. Horizon Other standouts include Ethan Suplee as one of the men in the 12345 Director: Peter Berg Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Kate Hudson ill-fated drill command center, Gina Rodriguez as an employee who must endure the incompetence of a co-worker, and Dylan O’Brien as a drill worker who couldn’t have been closer to the initial stages of the disaster. To call this a disaster film similar to those put out by Irwin Allen in the ’70s is both a compliment—hey, some of those where pretty great, including The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno—and a bit belittling. While this film follows a similar schlocky blueprint at times, it has a little more substance and heart than those goofy blockbusters. Berg and Wahlberg, who had a prior collaboration on the very good Lone Survivor, aren’t done in 2016. Somehow, they worked it into their schedules to deliver Patriots Day, a film about the Boston Marathon bombing, on Dec. 21 in limited release, before an expanded release in January 2017. These guys are busy with their true-life epics. Ω

3Amanda Knox Directors Rod Blackhurst and Brian McGinn investigate the horror show that was the Meredith Kercher murder and the many injustices rained down upon American exchange student Amanda Knox and her boyfriend of one week, Raffaele Sollecito, in Perugia, Italy. Both were convicted by an Italian court, along with a third suspect, of stabbing Knox’s roommate Kercher to death, and both served time as their cases went through a series of appeals. The two, now free, sit down for interviews and speak of the confusion that was their interrogation, their whereabouts on the night of the murder, and the hell they endured in prison. The film mostly skips over the trials, concentrating more on Knox and Sollecito’s recollections about the night of the murder and the aftermath. The subject probably requires an entire series, and not one 90-minute documentary, but the story is covered pretty well given the time constraint. Other interviews include an idiotic journalist who admits much of what was reported on Knox was rushed, inconclusive or even made up. The head prosecutor on the case also sits down, and insists upon Knox’s guilt even though there was a lack of evidence. This story probably had many families pull the plug on plans for teenagers to attend school overseas. (Available for streaming on Netflix.)

1Blair Witch This is the second sequel to TheBlair WitchProject, the original “found footage” horror film. This movie is essentially the original with louder noises, a few more gizmos—drones, walkie talkies, better tents— and, yes, lots more sticks tied together with twine and piles of rocks. For those of you who are scared shitless by stick men made out of twigs and twine—and piles of rocks in front of tents—this movie will fuck your shit up. I’m thinking that accounts for perhaps .00009832 percent of the movie-going population. The rest of you will be bored out of your minds. James (James Allen McCune), long suffering brother of the original film’s Heather, who vanished all those years ago, has found … a tape. That tape contains shaky footage made by somebody moronic enough to try to keep the action on camera rather than focus on their much needed getaway. In said footage, a messed-up looking woman is glimpsed for a second, so James instantly thinks it’s Heather. James assembles a crew of idiots to go into the forest, the cursed forest where people disappear and strange tapes are found, in search of the house where the footage was filmed by some moron who didn’t just drop the stupid camera in favor of weaponry and get the hell to safety.

3The Hollars Actor John Krasinski’s second directorial effort is a decent one with a first-rate cast. Krasinski stars as John Hollar, working a dead-end job for a publishing company when his girlfriend (the always great Anna Kendrick) informs him that his mom (a terrific Margo Martindale) is sick, and then he’s flying home to see her. Once there, John has to deal with his weird brother Ron (Sharlto Copley), the oddball nurse that is also his old girlfriend’s new husband (Charlie Day) and his weepy dad (Richard Jenkins). The script goes to some familiar territories, but the performers put new spins on the situations, especially Martindale, who takes the part and really runs with it. Krasinski does a good job handling the script’s many mood swings, and the relationships in the film feel real—that strange kind of real. The film manages to get laughs, even when the subject matter goes to dark places. It deals with the lousier side of life without getting totally depressing, something that could’ve happened easily. Krasinski makes it all work. The supporting cast also includes Randall Park, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Josh Groban in small but memorable roles. The soundtrack is stellar, featuring Josh Ritter, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes, and Wilco. 3 The Magnificent Seven Director Antoine Fuqua’s remake of TheMagnificentSeven, which was itself a remake of SevenSamurai, has enough in common with the Yul Brynner/Steve McQueen film to make it feel like a retelling of the classic story. It also contains enough departures to make it feel like a fresh take rather than just a rehash. The Mexican bandits led by Eli Wallach are replaced by an evil, land-stealing company led by Bartholomew Bogue. As played by Peter Sarsgaard, Bogue is a memorable villain who makes the skin crawl. He rolls into a mining town, kills a bunch of good hard-working people, and winds up getting the group in the movie’s title on his ass. Let the spectacular gunfights commence! Fuqua’s pal Denzel Washington—they did TheEqualizerand TrainingDaytogether—is first-rate as Chisolm, basically Brynner’s role from the 1960 classic. When the wife of one of the deceased (Haley Bennett) comes looking for help and mentioning Bogue’s name, Chisolm flies into calm, collected and most certainly valiant action. He enlists six other men to visit the town and prepare the townspeople for the fight of their lives. The supporting cast includes Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke and Vincent D’Onofrio.

1Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children Holy hell, is this film a boring mess. Tim Burton directs a leaden Asa Butterfield in this adaptation of the Ransom Riggs novel. The movie is sloppy, as if the special effects weren’t completed. The story is convoluted, as if the filmmakers thought hiring a big time art director and costuming department were a fair swap for a good script. The narrative involves some nonsense regarding mutant children in a house in the ’40s that’s stuck in a time loop. The house is led by Miss Peregrine (Eva Green, the only good thing about the movie), and visited by young Jake (Butterfield), who heard about the place from his late grandfather (Terrence Stamp). The kids all have “peculiarities” but no personality. They are X-Men with no sense of purpose. Butterfield, a normally reliable young actor, decimates nearly every line he utters in this film. It’s actually quite shocking how inept and lost he seems in this production. Burton stresses the visuals, as usual, but without a strong lead like Johnny Depp or Michael Keaton, Burton is a lost cause. This will hang tough as one of the year’s biggest disappointments. Samuel L. Jackson does show up with a gray version of his wig from Unbreakable, along with Venom’s teeth. He has his moments, but he can’t save this thing.

3Sully Historical accuracy be damned in Sully, Clint Eastwood’s take on the heroic actions of pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, who landed his plane on the Hudson River and saved the lives of all crew and passengers on board. The passages about a pilot successfully landing his plane in an ice-cold Hudson River and allowing over 150 people to tell the tale, live long and prosper are really the most important, and most compelling, parts of this movie. As for the evil, fictitious inquisition that basically tortures Sully (played by Tom Hanks in a typically riveting performance) and co-pilot Jeff Skiles (welcome back to decent movies, Aaron Eckhart!), well, that’s basically a lot of made-up horseshit. That’s not to say Sully wasn’t tormented and obsessed in the days after the event, and the film does a good job displaying his internal struggles. The man had to land a plane after a bunch of birds flew into his engines, and then he probably did have a bunch of dicks asking him too many questions in the aftermath. Eastwood and Hanks deliver a compelling psychological drama about a man who doubts his own heroism, to the point of nightmarish visions and self deprecation. Where the film goes a bit afoul is the depiction of a panel that didn’t even give Sully and his crew a chance to breathe after being plucked out of the Hudson. Yes, there was an inquiry, but it took place many months later, not a few days after the event.