Movie Review - Little Accidents

Little Accidents (2015)

Starring Elizabeth Banks, Boyd Holbrook, Jacob Lofland, Josh Lucas, and Chloë Sevigny

Directed by Sara Colangelo

***This film is currently streaming on Amazon Prime***

Inherently, there's nothing particularly wrong with Little Accidents, a film from first-time writer-director Sara Colangelo.  It's fairly well made and well acted, but Colangelo's film is so heavy that it lacks a drive to push its story forward.  An overwhelming sense of depression looms over everything which, in and of itself, would normally be fine except for the fact that here there isn't quite enough story to merit its existence as a feature film.

As the film opens, we are told of a horrible mining accident that killed all men in the mine with the exception of Amos Jenkins (Boyd Holbrook) who is now trying to return to work unsuccessfully thanks to the injuries he sustained.  On the other side of town, we find Diana Doyle (Elizabeth Banks), wife to mine executive Bill (Josh Lucas) who is being investigated by the company for possibly causing the horrible accident.  At the same time, however, Diana and Bill are faced with the heartbreaking fact that their teenage son JT has gone missing.  Only one person knows where JT has gone and that's young teen Owen Briggs (Jacob Lofland) who is harboring a secret that eats at him every day.

Amos, Diana, and Owen's stories end up intertwining, but rather than seem overly natural, their relationships feel as if they were put together strictly to make a better movie.  It's not that it ever feels overly forced, it's simply that it always seems overly happenstance that these three individuals have relationships with one another.  I never felt particularly comfortable with any aspect of this triangular interaction.

Colangelo gets some nice subdued performances from everyone, but she's not able to drive the narrative forward in a satisfying way.  The film overstays its welcome by about half its running time and the ending, while yielding an appropriate conclusion for each character, somehow feels oddly unsatisfying.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - A Walk Among the Tombstones

A Walk Among the Tombstones (2014)

Starring Liam Neeson, Dan Stevens, David Harbour, Boyd Holbrook, and Brian "Astro" Bradley

Directed by Scott Frank

There's something wrong with the notion that since A Walk Among the Tombstones doesn't feature Liam Neeson in "Hellbent Revenge Mode," I found myself enjoying this one a little more than I probably should.  Considering that nearly every movie Neeson makes places him in the Vengeful Family Member Role, his role here as private eye Matt Scudder at least feels like a breath of fresh air.  Sure, he's still playing an aging badass, but at least Neeson changes tone here a little bit, creating a character who isn't a carbon copy of nearly everything else he's been playing in big budget pictures since Taken made him a star late in life.

The plot here is fairly simple -- after an unfortunate event in 1991, Matt Scudder quit the NYC police force and became a private detective.  Now, in 1999, Matt is currently hired to help wealthy drug dealer Kenny Kristo (Downton Abbey's Dan Stevens) track down the men who kidnapped his wife and then delivered her back to him literally chopped into little pieces.  Because of his drug connections, Kenny is unable to call the police so Matt reluctantly agrees only to discover that the culprits of the crime haven't finished their reign of terror.

Don't kid yourself here -- while Neeson isn't playing a revenge-obsessed family member, he's still playing a morose, downtrodden, tough-as-nails guy so he's not exactly stretching the boundaries here, but at least director-screenwriter Scott Frank gives Neeson a role that's a tad different.  While most of the other actors here feel as if they're hamming it up for the camera, Neeson appears genuine as does relative newcomer Brian "Astro" Bradley as a young orphan who befriends Matt and helps him solve his case.  Sure, this relationship is essentially unnecessary in terms of plot development, but it added a nice change of pace to the depression that permeates the rest of the film.  Plus, Bradley definitely has a presence that kept my interest and makes the most of a throwaway role.

The RyMickey Rating:  B-