Some more 2013 films that have hit video:
The Iceman
Oh look, another television film that has premiered on the big screen instead of a Sunday night slot. Following the life saga of Richard Kuklinski, a lowly porno editor turned mafia/rogue hitman, THE ICEMAN wastes a bountiful cast of talents with a script that should have been sent up the river. Director/co-writer Ariel Vromen just bounces all over the place, moving the plot at a fast enough clip just to showcase the main moments and leave out the details. He also never establishes an overall tone of the picture; Vromen depicts the violence as comically charming one minute, the next it is bleakly ruthless. You watch Kuklinski make his first orchestrated kill on a derelict homeless man but it loses its bite because we just saw him communicating with a moustache-sporting David Schwimmer. Except for the miscast Schwimmer and a few others (poor Winona Ryder still can't get a break), the acting is the sole saving element. Michael Shannon works through the rapid mood swings of the film to create a haunting tormentor and often relishes in the silence to exhibit the inner turmoil of the character. Ray Liotta gets to regain some of his evil spark again and Chris Evans is charismatic as a rival who operates out of a ice cream truck. With better hands in the creative team, this could have been a mighty crime drama.
FINAL REVIEW: 2 / 5
The East
A field agent (Brit Marling) for a private investigation corporation goes undercover in order to be accepted into the titled group/cult, who all engage in vicious eco-terrorist activities. She's enraptured by the sexy head of the group (Alexander Skarsgård), her allegations begin to be questioned, she finally sees the evil side of her corporate boss (Patricia Clarkson), and she hits upon all of the other cliches of undercover dramas. You're pretty much better off watching STONE COLD, starring the pro football bust Brian Bosworth, because then you'll be sitting through an entertaining bad movie, instead on just a simple bad movie like THE EAST. It's well shot and has a few fine performances but it's ruined by the tedious, tripe work of its director/co-writer Zal Batmanglij. However, it is the lead/co-writer Marling who's at great fault. At first, I gave her the benefit of the doubt, thinking her performance would evolve once under the spell of the preppy, hippie terrorists. Unfortunately, her blank, flat, stilted, monotonous, lifeless, doll-like "acting" never changed. Marling can't handle being the main star of the picture, nor is she capable of handling any role beyond a waitress extra. Come to think of it, she'll just mumble her lines there too.
FINAL REVIEW: 2 / 5
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