Making the best of a bad situation
TO kick-start, word of advice to serious minded filmgoers’ is not to miss out on Me and Orson Welles, at the Omniplex.
New is The Stepfather, a remake of the 1983 horror classic.
David Harris (Dylan Walsh) has come to Oregon, targeting single mom Susan (Sela Ward) and her family, including eldest son Michael (Penn Badgley). Slipping into a fatherly role, David attempts to make the best of the situation, pushing himself as a grand paternal figure, much to the disdain of Michael.
Trying to convince his mentally challenged girlfriend, Kelly (Amber Heard), that David is nothing but trouble, Michael sneaks around the house, hoping to gather enough clues to prove his theory. David, sensing he won’t find the idyllic life he craves with Susan’s family, becomes increasingly violent to protect his fragmented identity.
The Stepfather” reveals in the very first scene that the thing he’s going to be suspected of — killing his previous wife and stepchildren — is true. He really did it. His subsequent behaviour is likewise sketchy, and he does something 20 minutes into the film that would establish his evilness even if you missed that first scene.
Since there’s no question he’s a murderer, all we’re doing is waiting for his new family to figure it out. The only potential suspense would be in whether he’ll strike again before they do.
The Limits of Control
THE rather complex, and some might argue pointless, The Limits of Control is also on release. A criminally minded Lone Man (Isaach De Bankole) is sent to Spain on a mission that’s never exactly clear.
Spending his time methodically carrying out personal rituals of coffee consumption, museum exploration, and Tai Chi meditative practices, Lone Man waits for his contacts to arrive (including Tilda Swinton, John Hurt, and Gael Garcia Bernal), feeding him codes (sent via matchboxes) to help further him along.
While pokerfaced and intensely focused on seclusion, Lone Man finds these strangers open up to him with vast confessions of existential dread, creating a tableau of personalities and locations that Lone Man must navigate carefully during his unspecified time in Europe. Runs for almost two hours.
DUE next week is the eagerly awaited Avatar, from James Cameron of Titanic fame.
