Miracle not that earth-shattering
Big Miracle ½ out of five There’s no harm in trying to bring a little environmental awareness to a piece of family entertainment, but there is something slightly irritating about a movie that rides on the back of cliche. A by-the-numbers animal rescue saga based on the real life story of grey whales trapped under Alaskan ice in 1988, Big Miracle stars John Krasinski and Drew Barrymore as well-intended humans struggling to help the cetaceans back to open water. When the local newsman (Krasinski) discovers the stranded family, and sends out reports of the looming tragedy, news media from all over the world descend on Point Barrow, Alaska. As the whales grow weaker, the human effort grows more intense. While it’s always nice to get a reminder of our capacity to do good, and rally around the underdogs, Big Miracle feels a little thin as it reduces characters to competing ideologies, and turns vulnerable sea creatures into symbols of human redemption. Then again, there’s something charming about reliving 1988 and our collective obsession with Axl Rose. Special features include A Big Miracle in Alaska featurette, BD Live, and Pocketblu app.
Keyhole ½ Yes, it’s very strange. But would you expect any sense of normal from Winnipeg’s Guy Maddin? Essentially a loose take on Homer’s The Odyssey, Keyhole stars Jason Patric as Ulysses — a man on a quest to get home, and avenge the many would-be usurpers courting his wife (Isabella Rossellini). In this respect, Maddin is true to the source material. But that’s where any direct comparisons end, because Keyhole takes place in the 20th century — and Ulysses is now a film noir style of gangster. Though it all feels fragmented, it’s supposed to, because Keyhole is a big metaphor on the abstract ties that dictate family dynamics, specifically, between fathers and sons, fathers and daughters and husbands and wives. It’s a tenuous piece, but it does hold together in large part thanks to Jason Patric’s magnetic screen presence that conveys a constant sense of urgency, as well as potential violence. Combined with Rossellini’s near-surreal presence and Udo Kier’s primal intensity, Keyhole feels like a fever dream — a distorted and disturbing view of our lives that feels eerily real, even if it’s entirely unrealistic. Special features include digital transfer. Jeff, Who Lives at Home ½ As the central character in Mark and Jay Duplass’s Sundance comedy, Jeff (Jason Segel) appears to be your standard variety flame out. He hasn’t dated since high school, he has no job, he lights up bowl after bong, and he — as the title suggests — lives at home. When the movie opens, his mother (Susan Sarandon) asks him to do one simple little thing: Go to Home Depot and buy wood glue so he can fix the wood shutter on the closet door. He resists, because once you’re sitting on the couch, the force of inertia takes hold — until some other force proves potent enough to make you move. For Jeff, the prime mover in life is his deep faith in destiny. He believes if you act with a pure heart, a benevolent fate will unfold before you, and over the course of a single day, that’s what happens. Despite some forced moments and the palpable tentacles of contrivance, this low-budget comedy finds endless humanity, some sweet surprises and a lovable performance from Jason Segel. Special features include Dolby Digital, subtitles, and Ultraviolet.
65 Red Roses The tragic but beautiful story of Eva Markvoort is brought to the screen with profound sentiment and great cinematic skill in this documentary from B.C.’s own Nimisha Mukerji and Philip Lyall. Picking up the fragile thread of Markvoort’s life story as she faces her greatest challenge, the filmmakers immerse us in the suffocating reality of living with cystic fibrosis, a lung disease that claims its victims in the prime of their lives. We meet Markvoort when she has just 32 per cent of lung function. The doctors believe she has about two years without new organs, and over the course of the documentary, we wait alongside Markvoort for that pager to beep. The film is frequently heartbreaking and difficult to watch, but Markvoort’s honesty and strength is always inspiring, as is her family, who must face the most difficult trial of all. If you haven’t signed an organ donor card yet, this movie will make it a new priority. Special features unavailable.
Project X Everyone’s heard of a house party gone awry, but a true multi-kegger foundation breaker is what Project X is all about. Thomas (Thomas Mann) throws a party, social media increases the invite list exponentially, and suddenly, what started as a fun way to spend an evening devolves into all-out bacchanal. Devised as a “who left this camcorder on” kind of premise, we’re forced to watch bad video of unabashed destruction at the hands of entitled, unlikable kids. Times like these make you want to scream “Bueller!” because he not only did it first, he did it best — with a little class, to boot. Special features include Declassified, Tallying the Damage, Pasadena Three featurettes.