The Milwaukee Post

16 • Milwaukee County Post • September 4, 2015 Unfortunately 'No Escape' offers none By TOM JOZWIK Post Film Critic If ever there's been a movie title tailor-made to encourage negative re- views, "No Escape" is that title. If ever screenwriters have provided a final line ideal for eliciting a review- er's mockery, "No Escape's" Dowdle brothers have done so with "I'm really happy" — enabling the critic to respond, "So am I, now that the movie's over." In fairness, John Erick Dowdle's film starring Owen Wilson, Lake Bell and Pierce Brosnan isn't as awful as all that. But it does tell a story that, despite abundant action, manages to drag on redundantly. The plot is ridiculous; the char- acters — Brosnan's gold- hearted playboy intelli- gence agent Hammond excepted (stereotypical as Hammond may be) — are about as uninteresting as characters get. Then there's the dia- logue. None of the major actors, it seems, is spared from uttering inanities: "I can't comfort you right now" (Bell as Annie, stating the obvious to hus- band Jack Dwyer while weeping in a fetal position on the bathroom floor). "There's no good or bad here, there's just get your family the hell out"; "On that note, I think I'm gonna hit a strip club" (Brosnan). "Dad, are people trying to kill us?"; "Mommy, I have to go potty" (Sterling Jerins and Claire Geare as Dwyer daughters Lucy and "Beeze"). Truth be told, Wilson (removed from his usual comedic element) and Bell, though saddled with dreary alter egos, aren't bad per- formers in the film. Ditto the youngsters who, por- traying their two children, are credible in their fright, as well as in their playful and whining turns, and are cute to boot. But the story, meant to ring realistic, comes across as pure fanta- sy. "No Escape" was origi- nally called "The Coup," which gives you an excel- lent idea of what Jack and family find themselves in the middle of in an unnamed Asian country (the principal filming was done in Thailand). In a career move for dad, the Dwyers have just forsaken Texas (and, inexplicably, their Texas accents). Unbeknownst at first to the transplanted employee, Jack's company — along with the Asian nation's gov- ernment and Western allies — is considered exploita- tive by the locals. Thus the coup, in which the prime minister is assassinated and anybody who looks Caucasian becomes fair game for a similar fate. Oblivious Jack decides to take a walk one morning, after a first night in Asia wherein nothing (Internet, telephone, television) seems to work except the swimming pool at the Dwyers' hotel. His walk proves ill-advised, as Jack winds up with a ringside seat for a deadly street riot and barely makes it back to the hotel, which is itself becoming a dangerous venue. The never-a-dull- moment (only dull charac- ters) movie advances from crescendo to dramatic crescendo. As filmgoers have come to expect from such cinematic ventures, no actors on the heroic side get particularly tuckered out from all the running, climb- ing, kid-carrying, building- to-building jumping and curling up and hiding they do, not to mention the dodg- ing of bullets and projec- tiles. At different times, both Jack and Annie muster sufficient energy to bludgeon an enemy sense- less in self-defense. Police are nowhere to be seen after an early sequence; Jack's bosses are never seen at all. As for Hammond, he's seen inter- mittently, like a mighty genie, always just in time to save his fellow English- speakers. One looks for- ward to these sporadic appearances, far-fetched as they are. More Brosnan would likely have made for a better movie. ENTERTAINMENT How confi dent are you? POWER POINTS + + + Businesses – There's still time to get in the game. Increase your visibility and keep Top of Mind Awareness with our readers by sponsoring this cost-effective game that promises someone wins $ 50, and up to $ 1,000 every week! Thousands have played. More watch from the sidelines Sponsored by: Thompson Meadows For Independent Seniors 55 & Better 414.769.9240 3120 E. Norwich Avenue • St. Francis thompsonmeadows@aol.com 24610003 STEREO ONE 1 729 S. 84th St. (across from State Fair) 5040 S. 27th St. (N of 27th and Edgerton) "Extraordinary Tales," in which five Edgar Allan Poe stories are related via animation, are among the category's contemporary offerings. "The Black Lens" Highlighting the catego- ry will be a Tribute Award for documentarian Stan- ley Nelson Jr., whose "Black Panthers: Van- guard of the Revolution" is one of the scheduled movies "from emerging and established directors in the black community" in the program's second year. Other program entries will address police shoot- ings ("Cincinnati God- damn"), a Haitian-Amer- ican teen's coming-of-age ("A Girl Like Grace"), father-son dynamics ("Im- perial Dreams") and the African-American Misty Copeland, principal dancer of the American Ballet Theatre ("A Ballerina's Tale"). "Sound Vision" The 1984 Jonathan Demme-directed concert film "Stop Making Sense," featuring Milwaukee-born Jerry Harrison and the Talking Heads, will be among the "eight wide- ranging, music-driven films" in this program. Radio DJ Marco Collins, who helped popularize artists like Pearl Jam and Nirvana, is expected to attend the Midwest pre- miere of an award-win- ning documentary about him at the MFF — "The Glamour and the Squalor." A fictional film, "Eden," will examine French elec- tronic music roots, while the Ethan Hawke-helmed doc "Seymour: An Introduction" (a title bor- rowed from J.D. Salinger) profiles pianist-teacher- composer Seymour Bernstein. One of the five MFF ven- ues — the recently reno- vated Avalon Theater in Milwaukee's Bay View area — is new this year. Repeating as locations are the Times Cinema and Landmark Oriental and Downer Theatres in Milwaukee, plus the Fox Bay Cinema Grill in Whitefish Bay. The MFF has nearly 100 sponsors, 26 of them new this year. MFF passes and ticket six-packs are avail- able at discount prices online at www.mkefilm. org/tickets. Individual tickets will be available to Milwaukee Film members Wednesday and to the gen- eral public the following day. Festival: In addition to multicultural films, sound-centered movies also features continued from Page 15 Shortcominges can be found in simplistic story line, dull characters — to name two 'No Escape' ★ ★ Starring: Owen Wilson, Lake Bell, Pierce Brosnan, Sterling Jerins, Claire Geare Director: John Erick Dowdle MPAA rating: R Running time: 103 minutes Showings: www.marcusthe- atres.com

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