All posts by Tim Lammers

Interview: Daisy Ridley, director Otto Bell talk ‘The Eagle Huntress’

November 10, 2016 Tim Lammers Leave a comment

Fortunately for director Otto Bell, not one, but two powerful forces came together for his thrilling new documentary “The Eagle Huntress” — a force of nature embodied by a teenage Mongolian girl and an actress who harnessed the power of “The Force” in the biggest film of 2015.

Now playing in select cities and expanding to more theaters Friday, “The Eagle Huntress” examines the time-honored tradition of eagle hunting in Mongolia and how 13-year-old Aisholpan Nurgaiv works to defy the conventions of a practice only reserved for fathers and sons. If she’s successful, Aisholpan will become the first female eagle hunter in 12 generations of her Kazakh family.

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The film is narrated and executive produced by Daisy Ridley, the breakout star of the international blockbuster “Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens.” The opportunity to get involved with “The Eagle Huntress” couldn’t have come at a crazier time for Ridley, but despite her commitments to that galaxy far, far away, she was compelled to make time for the project.

“I was in the throes of the production of ‘Episode VII’ when my agent sent me the film, saying, ‘It’s amazing and all about empowerment,’” said Ridley, accompanied by Bell, in a recent phone conversation from Los Angeles. “I saw it and I was incredibly moved, and asked how I could become involved.”

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Ridley came on board “The Eagle Huntress” in January, just in time for the documentary’s film festival run. Bell said the moment he learned of Ridley’s commitment to “The Eagle Huntress” is one he won’t soon forget.

“It was the night before the film’s debut at Sundance, and I had terrible butterflies in my stomach and I got this lovely phone call,” Bell said. “When I spoke to Daisy, it was clear to me that she was picking out corners of the film that only I had cared about. It was very clear to me that she had studied it and had been very moved by it.”

Running start

Bell first met with Aisholpan’s family about filming “The Eagle Huntress” on July 4, 2014. The meeting was a serendipitous one, since it was the day the girl and her father were about to find her the eaglet that would become her hunting companion in the film. Even though Bell and his crew weren’t expecting to start shooting that day, he knew that such a pivotal moment in an eagle hunter’s life was one that couldn’t be missed.

“We were having tea and her father stood up and said, ‘We’re going to steal an eagle from the mountainside this afternoon. Do you think it’s something you would want to film?'” Bell recalled. “Of course, we jumped at the chance. We weren’t exactly ready to start with the production, but we had to get that shot since there was such of a slim window to film it in, and we happened to be lucky enough to be on the ground for it.”

Bell especially feels fortunate that he was able to capture Aisholpan’s story as it was unfolding — a rare opportunity for any documentarian.

“So often with documentaries you’re filling in the blanks,” Bell said. “Something has already happened and you’re using archive footage, retrospective interviews and the like to fill those in. In this case, we were lucky enough to be there from the start of her journey. Her first step to becoming an eagle hunter always begins with the young apprentice stealing the baby from the nest and we were right there on the spot to film it.”

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From there, Bell captured on film the rest of Aisholpan’s major milestones: the training of her eagle for a revered, annual festival where all eagle hunters compete, and the final step and going out and hunting in the frigid winter to graduate to full eagle huntress.

While Ridley’s path in life couldn’t be any more different from Aisholpan’s, there was a common bond that had resonated with the film star.

“There are similarities with my family because Aisholpan is part of an incredibly supportive family,” Ridley said. “In particular, in the film we see the relationship between her and her father, and the kids are so encouraging. In that respect I felt a resemblance to my own life with my parents and my sisters.”

Ridley’s participation in “The Eagle Huntress” says a lot about the character of the 24-year-old London native. Coming off a role in one of the biggest box office hits in movie history, Ridley could have easily opted for a big payday in any number of scripts that landed on her desk after “Star Wars” — yet she immediately committed to a smaller-scale production that she believed in.

“Going forward, the thing I’m most interested in is being a part of good stories,” Ridley said. “Aside from that, ‘The Eagle Huntress’ is a brilliant film. It’s just beautiful to look at even if you’re not concentrating on what the message is.”

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Film, Movie Reviews

Movie review: ‘Arrival’ fascinating, but underwhelming

November 9, 2016 Tim Lammers Leave a comment

Click audio player to hear Tim’s review of “Arrival” on “The KQ Morning Show” with Tom Barnard.

“Arrival” (PG-13)

The space alien genre gets a seemingly new twist in “Arrival,” a thinking person’s sci-fi thriller that ultimately is more about questions of humanity than it is the otherworldly beings that initiate first contact. But while “Arrival” feels fresh in comparison to several alien thrillers recent years – it’s about aliens that invade, but don’t attack – it ultimately comes off like a smattering of similar films.

In fact, it doesn’t take long to realize the touchstones of “Arrival” seem to borrow from the plot points of “District 9” (which features hovering ships), “Gravity” (about a protagonist dealing with loss), “Contact” (about a scientist decoding alien messages), “The Day the Earth Stood Still” (about aliens warnings to Earthlings) and “Interstellar” (about the transcendence of space and time).

That’s not to say that “Arrival” isn’t fascinating and thought-provoking. It just can’t seem to get over the hump to approach the greatness of any of its equally-smart predecessors.

Amy Adams is brilliant as Dr. Louise Banks, an expert linguistics professor, who, along with and theoretical physicist Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner), is recruited by a military colonel (Forrest Whittaker) to attempt to communicate with the beings in an alien spaceship that lands in Montana. A saucer-shaped ship that appears to be levitating sideways, it’s one of 12 massive vessels hovering over different parts of the world that gives no clear indication of its intentions.

Louise’s task is to decode symbols that the aliens are seemingly communicating with, trying to figure out why they are here and what they want; and Ian wants to figure out where they came from and how they got here. The problem is the messages of the beings – dubbed “heptapods” (they resemble octopuses, but are one leg short) – are so complex that Louise and Ian may not have enough time to stave off a festering global war. It turns out that countries like China and Russia are perceiving the heptapods as a threat, and an attack on the ships is imminent.

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“Arrival” not surprisingly arrives just in time for awards season, and thanks to the brooding tone and atmosphere set by gifted director Denis Villenueve (“Prisoners,” “Sicario”), the film manages to be cerebral without being pretentious. From the very first frame, Villenueve masterfully constructs a plot of misdirection, which ultimately results in one of the most satisfying payoffs on the big screen this year.

The problem is, up until the big reveal in the film’s third act, “Arrival” plods along and may feel like a bait and switch to moviegoers expecting much more based on the film’s tantalizing trailers. In the end, “Arrival” comes off as a studio-backed sci-fi art-house movie that doesn’t deliver any of the sorts of scenes moviegoers associate with the genre. On one hand, the less is more approach is completely welcome for those pining for originality; but on the other, the film just feels too uneventful running up to the unexpected, hard-hitting climax. In the end, “Arrival” is satisfying, but ultimately underwhelming.

Lammometer: 6 (out of 10)

Film, Interviews, TV

Still undecided? Ash Williams promises to make America groovy again

November 8, 2016 Tim Lammers Leave a comment

Forget Larry, Moe, Curly, Shemp or any of those other Stooges (leave any Fake Shemps out of it), there’s a presidential candidate who said he wants to make America groovy again with your vote for president this Election Day.

That, of course, would be one Ashley J. “Ash” Williams, the deadite slayer from Elk Grove, Michigan, who promises to cut — chainsaw on stump — through the crap (He really will. Check out the morgue scene in this season’s second episode).

Ash declared his presidential bid this summer as he was ramping up to the premiere of the second season of his flat-out frickin’ hilarious and extremely gory STARZ horror comedy “Ash vs. Evil Dead.”

The declaration came on his Ash4President website and posters for the series, where you could find the hashtag #Ash4President, and slogans “Hail to the Chief, Baby” and “Make America Groovy Again.”

“I swear to God, I hope that there are some actual write-in votes, where people go to the polling stations and they don’t vote for either one (of the candidates) and they write in ‘Ash Williams,'” Ash spokesman Bruce Campbell told me in a recent interview. “It’s gonna happen. There’s going to be somebody out there who’s going to do it, and I want to meet that person.”

Interview: Bruce Campbell talks ‘Ash vs. Evil Dead’ Season 2
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So you may wonder what party Ash represents? The answer is simple, that is, if you know Ash (aka “Ashy Slashy”).

“It’s the Party Hardy Party,” Campbell said.

If you want to see Ash in the flesh, new episodes of “Ash vs. Evil Dead” air on Sunday nights on STARZ.

Film, Movie Reviews

Movie reviews: ‘Hacksaw Ridge’ compelling experience; ‘Doctor Strange’ fits bill

November 3, 2016 Tim Lammers Leave a comment

Click audio player to hear Tim’s review on the “The KQ Morning Show” with Tom Barnard.

“Hacksaw Ridge” (R)

There’s no way to prepare yourself for emotional experience that is director Mel Gibson’s “Hacksaw Ridge,” the compelling true story of forgotten World War II hero Desmond T. Doss, a battle medic who single-handedly saved 75 soldiers, one by one, in the Battle of Okinawa in 1945. Providing an inspiring, in-depth look at Doss — the first conscientious objector to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor – “Hacksaw Ridge” is easily the best film of the year, and its message of courage and sacrifice will echo for generations.

Andrew Garfield is brilliant as Doss, a devout Seventh Day Adventist who, following a turbulent youth with a violent father (the always great Hugo Weaving), swore off violence of any kind. Weathering his father’s actions — which were spurred by his haunted past as a World War I veteran — Doss readily enlists in the Army, yet with caveat he does so without ever picking up a weapon. A strict believer in the Ten Commandments – specifically the Sixth Commandment of “Thou Shall Not Kill” – Doss wants to save lives instead of taking them. His determination to serve his country, however, comes at an enormous cost long before he steps foot on the battlefield.

There’s no question Gibson has led a tortured, personal existence over the past 10 years, but when the man steps foot behind the camera, incredible things happen. Flanked by excellent performances by Theresa Palmer, Sam Worthington, Luke Bracey and Vince Vaughn in pivotal supporting roles, Gibson constructs a complete and utterly compelling look at Doss’ life here – with a story that extends from Doss’ time as a boy growing up in Virginia to an incredibly emotional look at his life after the war through real-life footage and testimonials by fellow soldiers. It may be the best film he’s ever done in an already stellar canon of work.

Of course, “Hacksaw Ridge” will draw attention for its brutal depiction of violence, as its intense, unforgiving battle scenes no doubt match, if not surpass, the carnage displayed in the unforgettable opening of “Saving Private Ryan.” While not for the faint of heart, the carnage in “Hacksaw Ridge” is a necessity in order for the film to get its point across. If there’s a film today that is meant to teach the sacrifices of our country’s military and the cost soldiers have paid and continue pay for our freedom, “Hacksaw Ridge” is it.

Lammometer: 10 (out of 10)

“Doctor Strange” (PG-13)

While this year’s “Captain America: Civil War” ranks among the best films in Marvel’s amazing run since 2008’s “Iron Man,” the studio’s latest entry is just what the doctor ordered when it comes to keeping the sprawling superhero narrative fresh. Much different than Marvel’s superhero movie entries, “Doctor Strange” still fits within the framework of the overall story the studio is assembling, and the presence of Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) is a welcome one as the story moves forward.

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Cumberbatch perfectly embodies Steven Strange, an arrogant neurosurgeon who loses his gift of saving lives in the operating room when his hands are severely damaged in a car crash. Feeling helpless, Strange’s path to leads him to Katmandu, where he hopes leading a mystical guru known as “The Ancient One” (a brilliant Tilda Swinton) will teach him the power to heal with his mind. As it turns out, Strange is much more gifted than he realizes, and if he properly harnesses his power of sorcery, he’ll be able to battle forces in the mystical realm that pose threats to the physical world.

While the visual effects in “Doctor Strange” are brilliant, they sometimes get in the way of the story. Still, the film – which co-stars Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rachel McAdams and Mads Mikkelsen – is entertaining throughout, right up until the very end of the end credits. Stick around, as per Marvel tradition, the sequences (there are two of them) help set up chapters in upcoming “Avengers” adventures.

Lammometer: 7.5 (out of 10)