Sometimes movies slip through the cracks, and then it’s time to throw the unlikeliest of films together for a mixed-salad of reviews…
Hunter Gatherer…A classic example of how a bad ending can really ruin an otherwise solid film. The Wire’s Andre Royo has been so good at livening up stale material (he brought energy to every “Hand of God” scene he was in) that it’s more than a pleasure to watch him as the lead in a movie, and the fast-talking, soft-scam artist Ashley is a winner of a character: an ex-con on a Don Quixote-esque mission of romance to win back his last girlfriend, the woman he believes to be the love of his life even if she doesn’t want anything to do with him. It’s just too bad then that a bizarro, sci-fi infused ending feels like such a left field, cheap cop-out on these otherwise empathetic characters. By the rushed ending, it feels like you’re rooting for these people more than the movie is…Grade: B-
The Discovery…About as far away from “Hunter” as you can get since this is supposed to be a science fiction film (about a world that has discovered there is an afterlife), and it’s only the film’s ending that really works. You may have to sit through some very long passages of Jason Siegel looking hang-dog and morose as the killjoy son of the scientist (played by an ambiguous Robert Redford, embracing a grayer side than his usual good guys) who discovered the afterlife’s existence, prompting a huge uptick in suicides, but the ending of the movie is worth it. So sit back, spend about 80 minutes watching Rooney Mara attempt to get Siegel to smile, and enjoy where this sleeper eventually takes you. Grade: B+
Monster Trucks…I know I’m supposed to hate this movie about a subterrainian monster that eventually inhabits a truck, and I can’t really make a case that it is a good movie, but my young son loved it. And seeing monster-infused trucks crash, race, and soar is such a young boy’s nirvana, that you find yourself unexpectedly dazzled by dizzying rooftop chase scenes or inventive trailer park escapes. Also, it provides a pretty good environmental message and quasi-believable portrait of Big Oil villainy (Rob Lowe’s executive isn’t a cartoon, just a guy that doesn’t care so much about endangered species as a production timeline). And I know you may roll your eyes at this, but the portrait of life in a small town controlled almost exclusively by one industry—said oil company that provides most of the town’s jobs—isn’t half bad either. Grade: B