RANDOM ACTS OF VIOLENCE: 3 ½ STARS
True crime stories, retold as police procedurals, are television and podcast staples. Millions of people make a date every Friday with 鈥淒ateline鈥 for a breathless retelling of the crime de jour and more folks kill time with crime podcasts than almost every other genre.
Perhaps it鈥檚 because we like the rush of trying to figure out a whodunnit or perhaps it鈥檚 because those shows give us an opportunity to feel relief that we're not the victim.
Whatever the reason, we like it, but a new movie, 鈥淩andom Acts of Violence,鈥 now on VOD, may get us think about true crime in a different way. The film, co-written and directed by Jay Baruchel, details the consequences of turning a real serial killer into a pop culture phenomenon.
Based on a 2008 Image Comic by Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti, 鈥淩andom Acts of Violence鈥 begins with comic book writer Todd (Jesse Williams) suffering a case of writer鈥檚 block. His series, a grisly and successful adaptation of a real-life serial killer dubbed Slasherman, is coming to an end and he doesn鈥檛 know how to wind it down.
On a press tour from Toronto to New York to promote the final issue, Jesse and wife Kathy (Jordana Brewster), assistant Aurora (Niamh Wilson) and BFF, Hard Calibre Comics owner Ezra (Baruchel), visit the scene of the Slasherman鈥檚 crimes. As the group fall victim to a series of heinous copycat crimes the film asks, 鈥淲hat are the real consequences when life (and death) begin to imitate art?鈥
鈥淥ne of our friends is dead,鈥 Kathy yells, glaring at Todd, 鈥渂ecause of what came out of your f***ed up head.鈥
First know that while 鈥淩andom Acts of Violence鈥 is a condemnation of elevating killers to iconic status, it is also a blood-fest complete with entrails on the wrong side of the stomach muscles and sound effects that will haunt your dreams. It鈥檚 the bloodiest morality tale since the Old Testament.
It rides a thin line between commenting on pop culture鈥檚 obsession with brutality while displaying much of the behaviour it condemns.
鈥淵ou legitimize violence,鈥 Kathy tells Todd. 鈥淵ou fetishize evil.鈥
What sets it apart is self-awareness. Baruchel confronts the audience with the kind of graphic murders that might even make Rob Zombie uncomfortable, just as the story confronts its own use of violence.
Meta, right?
Is it perfect in its exploration of the morality of glorifying violence? No.
The social commentary is blunted by the carefully and stylishly staged violence that seems to play against the point Baruchel is trying to make. But the feeling of discomfort that comes with every stab of a knife asks us to examine why we view cruelty鈥攑articularly against women鈥攁s entertainment.
鈥淩andom Acts of Violence鈥 is confrontational, voyeuristic and difficult, and, if nothing else, a conversation starter.
THE CUBAN: 3 ½ STARS
A testament to the healing power of music and friendship, 鈥淭he Cuban,鈥 now on VOD, makes the most of strong performances from Louis Gossett Jr., Shohreh Aghdashloo and 鈥淒egrassi: The Next Generation鈥 alum Ana Golja, to tell a story that brims with heart.
Golja is nineteen-year-old Mina Ayoub, a pre-med student who gave up her dream of becoming a musician after she was orphaned in Afghanistan and sent to Canada to live with her aunt Bano (Aghdashloo).
In Afghanistan, Bano had been a doctor, but stripped of her credentials when she immigrated, she now works as the administrator of a long-term care home. Her dream is to see her niece practice medicine, but Mina dreams of the long-ago days she and her grandfather would make music together.
Working at the care home, Mina meets Luis (Gossett Jr.), an elderly man in the late stages of Alzheimer鈥檚 Disease. Nearly catatonic, he is non-communicative, staring blankly into space, until Mina hums a familiar jazz tune. He responds, and soon she creates her own brand of musical therapy to help Luis remember his past. And what a past. He tells her of his career as a famous musician in Cuba and the love of his life Elana.
Despite objections from the other care home staff who think Mina is overstepping medical boundaries, she continues out of affection for Luis who reminds her of her musical grandfather.
鈥淭he Cuban鈥 could easily have been too earnest by half, a coming-of-age movie with heart tugging moments scored to a toe tapping soundtrack, but the poignant performances elevate the predictable story.
Gossett Jr., who is silent for much of the running time, finds multitudes in the character. Luis鈥 life is scarred by loss and loneliness, and he carries that with him, but the sheer joy that he exudes when he hears or makes music shows the profound effect it has had on his life. The actor finds poignancy in the performance and never overdoes it.
Aghdashloo does domineering really well, but her overprotective streak toward Mina is tempered by, like everything else in this movie, by love.
Golja plays off both of them very well, allowing the relationships to take front and centre, holding her own with her seasoned co-stars.
鈥淭he Cuban鈥 works best when it focuses on those relationships. It wanders some when Mina gets a love interest and during the larger scale musical fantasy sequence but as a story of the curative power of music, it works, has a good beat and you can dance to it.
PRIMAL: 1 ½ STARS
Imagine Noah鈥檚 Ark, but with killer CGI animals and a wise-cracking serial killer, and you get the general idea of 鈥淧rimal,鈥 the latest Nic Cage movie to go straight to VOD.
Frank Walsh (Cage) is a poacher in the jungles of Brazil; a loner who traps exotic animals for export to collectors and zoos in the U.S. His latest capture, El Fantasma Gato, is beyond rare. Worth maybe $1 million.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a white jaguar,鈥 he says. 鈥淢aybe 350 to 400 pounds. Doesn鈥檛 like people.鈥
鈥淛ust like you Frank,鈥 says his kid sidekick (Jeremy Nazario) in the only comment that passes for character work in the 鈥淧rimal鈥檚鈥 stripped-down B-movie world.
The action begins when Frank transports the animal on the large cargo ship. Trouble is, the U.S. government is using the same ship to transport a psychopathic killer to justice. Held Hannibal Lecter-style in a cage below deck by Navy doctor Ellen Taylor (Famke Janssen) and Government lawyer Freed (Michael Imperioli), Richard Loffler (Kevin Durand) is a former military man turned international terrorist.
This is a B-movie, so no amount of security, chains, or wild animals can stop Loffler from causing havoc on the high seas. Only one man, with a special set of skills and a rare white jaguar, can stop Loffler鈥檚 rampage. It鈥檚 nature gone wild on the high seas as Walsh snorts, 鈥淚鈥檓 going hunting.鈥
鈥淧rimal鈥 is the kind of movie Nicolas Cage bangs out between visits to his tax lawyer. It鈥檚 a film so far beneath has talent you have to wonder why he signed on. Did he always want to work with a talking parrot? Does he get paid by the cliché these days? Hard to know.
What is for sure is that 鈥淧rimal鈥 is one of those movies where the sheer stupidity of the story supplies the only entertainment value. The thrills fall short and the action is almost nonexistent but it鈥檚 almost worth the price of a rental to see Cage try and take down Loffler with a poison blow dart gun or argue with his parrot.
鈥淧rimal鈥 will make you yearn for the days when Nic Cage movies like 鈥淐on Air,鈥 鈥淕one in 60 Seconds鈥 and 鈥淭he Rock鈥 promised and delivered offbeat delights. Cage brings his patented oddball performance style along for the ride, but even that isn鈥檛 enough to give 鈥淧rimal鈥檚鈥 bland storytelling and lazy action some zip.
CREEM: AMERICA鈥橲 ONLY ROCK 鈥楴鈥 ROLL MAGAZINE: 3 STARS
Like much of the music it chronicled in its 1970s heyday, Creem Magazine was rough n鈥 rowdy and self-destructive. 鈥淐reem: America鈥檚 Only Rock 鈥楴鈥 Roll Magazine,鈥 a new documentary, now streaming courtesy of Virtual Cinema, has a close look at the magazine that embodied an irreverent but fervent rock n鈥 roll attitude.
鈥淣early fifty years after Creem鈥檚 first issue published, it still stands for something,鈥 says JJ Kramer, son of the founding publisher Barry Kramer. 鈥淓ither you鈥檙e in on the joke, or you are the joke.鈥
Creem began as something different than the scrappy, politically incorrect screed that once so savagely reviewed a Runaways album that Joan Jett stormed the offices looking for revenge and created the term 鈥減unk rock.鈥
Under guidance of co-founder Tony Reay the Detroit magazine was conceived as a blues-rock forum but within a few issues Reay was on the curb and publisher Barry Kramer had hired Dave Marsh, a rock n鈥 roll misfit who brought a blue-collar street cred to the magazine鈥檚 content.
A fiercely opinionated champion of the take no prisoners approach to music journalism Marsh became the cornerstone of a gritty group of writers, like Lester Bangs, Jaan Uhelszki and Robert Christgau, who redefined how the music was discussed in the press.
鈥淚t was like it was written by a bunch on convicts in Joliet State Prison,鈥 says artist and musician Lamar Sorrento.
As a poke in the eye to the staider Rolling Stone, the renegades even subtitled their mag 鈥淎merica鈥檚 Only Rock 鈥楴鈥 Roll Magazine.鈥
Their distance from taste makers on the coasts and proximity to Motor City music scene gave them a unique take. Working above a rundown record shop in inner city Detroit, and later on a rural commune, Kramer and Company created music journalism fuelled by passion, drugs and physical disagreements. Fights over content were not uncommon.
Envelopes were pushed, breasts were exposed, leading former fan Jeff Daniels to say buying the magazine was like 鈥渂uying Playboy, you didn鈥檛 want your parents to see either one of them.鈥
The unconventional group advocated for Alice Cooper (despite labelling their debut LP 鈥渁 waste of plastic.鈥), MC5 and The Stooges, bands with a similar swagger and anti-commercial instincts as the writers themselves. Members of R.E.M., Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam and many others appear in the movie and were fans, and later went on to create idiosyncratic music like the punk, new wave and hard rock they read about in Creem.
The deaths of Kramer and Bangs and the defections of Marsh and Christgau to rival Rolling Stone spelled the end of the mag鈥檚 influential run and by 1989 it had been bought and sold, and ultimately shut down, leaving behind yellowing pages of some of the best rock n鈥 roll writing of the 1970s.
To capture the counter-cultural impact of Creem, director Scott Crawford has assembled many of the original players, including the iconoclastic Jaan Uhelszki, one of the first female rock writers and now, one of the co-producers on the film. It鈥檚 slickly produced, makes good use of archival footage and zips along at a rapid pace. Perhaps too rapid. Crawford covers two decades of history in under eighty minutes, briskly walking us through the tumultuous timeframe.
It is entertaining, particularly for those old enough to have bought the magazine on the stands, but although complete, it feels rushed. This cast of characters feels like each could warrant their own movie, and hell, I鈥檇 pay to see a movie about the contentious relationship between Lou Reed and the gonzo Bangs alone.
鈥淐reem: America鈥檚 Only Rock 鈥楴鈥 Roll Magazine鈥 isn鈥檛 as rough around the edges as the magazine it documents, but it does display why a scrappy upstart from Detroit was able to make and leave its mark.
In the film, legendary rock photographer Bob Gruen says that rock 鈥榥 roll is about the freedom to express yourself very loudly. 鈥淎nd I think that鈥檚 what Creem did.鈥
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