Review: "The Owners"

Youth is wasted on the young, or so they say, and horror films are sometimes spent trying to scare people too inured to easily experience genuine fright. The latter would certainly describe me and my reaction to "The Owners."

This is a well-done British horror flick that held zero surprises for me. Well, there was one, to be entirely truthful, though I have to say it left me more confused than scared. Scratching your head and going "wwwwhhhhhaaaaat?" is never a good place to be in this genre.

The film stars Maisie Williams of "Game of Thrones" fame in a story about a bunch of lower-class hoodlums breaking into the mansion of a wealthy elderly couple and finding a whole lot more than they bargained. It's supposed to be a burglary, but when they can't get into the safe they decide to wait until the oldsters come home and browbeat them into opening it up.

Needless to say, things do not go as planned, and soon enough recriminations and bloody mayhem ensue.

The best part is the early middle, a high-tension sequence that takes place in the basement where loyalties are strained and the owners turn out to be much more resourceful than you'd expect from a pair of octogenarians. I'm reminded of the torture scene in "Reservoir Dogs," where we have a pretty good idea where things are going to spin out but it's a nail-biting affair getting there.

(I was watching this part late last night when my wife came into our bedroom and thought I was having convulsions. This is another downside of watching movies on your computer, because nobody can see you squirm in a darkened theater.)

From there, things move upstairs and become less interesting as it goes along. It morphs into a cat-and-mouse game as Mary, the main character played by Williams, gradually figures out that the owners aren't nearly as harmless and benevolent as they'd initially seemed. Roles are reversed, with the intrigue all taking place inside a confined space.

Sylvester McCoy plays Dr. Huggins, the man of the house, and I knew I recognized his high-pitched, kindly brogue from somewhere, and it was as Radagast the Brown in the Lord of the Rings movies. Dressed in a bow tie and three-piece suit with owlish classes, Huggins seems like a harmless, sweet-natured man of science who cares deeply for his wife.

Ellen Huggins, for her part, is suffering from dementia and often seems more as a child than an old woman. Played by Rita Tushingham, Ellen surprises us with flashes of anger and steely resolve that bespeak of a woman who was once the feared mistress of the house. She's particularly annoyed by things that are dirty, and apparently this includes many people.

Mary was not even part of the group that broke in, but came along afterward at the behest of her boyfriend, Nathan (Ian Kenny). He's bemused by how much power he has over her, though later his quest for quick cash takes on a more urgent note. His boyhood chum, Terry (Andrew Ellis), is the timid, dim type who clued them into the opportunity because his mum does maid work for the Hugginses.

The malevolent X-factor is Gaz, the sidekick who appears to be the one really in charge. Played with chilling conviction by Jake Curran, Gaz is all tall angles and fair hues; he seems like an angel who fell to earth and was bent up into unspeakable shapes. He seems to have an innate sense for how to push people's buttons and probe their weak spots.

For example, Gaz quickly figures out that while Dr. Huggins may not give the combination to the safe willingly, he'll do so if the one thing in the world he dotes on is threatened, that being his wife. I'll say no more.

Julius Berg directed and co-wrote (with Mathieu Gompel) the film, his first feature, based on a French graphic novel. He seems to have a good feel for pacing and tone, which are some of the more nuanced aspects of filmmaking. Though I think he's restricted by the bookends of the horror genre, which tend to shut out any storytelling aspects that aren't aimed at eliciting scares.

It's a solid performance for Williams, making that awkward transition from kid to adult actor. Like a lot of female characters in horror, she's a fairly undefined, weak-willed person who defers to others, but when imperiled finds inner stores of resolve even she didn't know were there.

The good parts of "The Owners" are quite good, though the obligatory stuff is there to be endured.

Video review: "Early Man"

For those of us who care about the viability of feature films as a platform for stop-motion animation, the failure of “Early Man” was disturbing. It was a product of Aardman Animations, which is basically the Pixar of this particular niche of moviemaking (“Wallace & Gromit,” “Chicken Run,” etc.). It was a critical and box office flop.

If these guys can’t get it right, it makes it harder to for other stop-motion films to get produced.

The setup is that a group of Stone Age folks have their happy little valley invaded by Bronze Age types, and are thrown out so the natural resources can be exploited. Dug (Eddie Redmayne), the puckish young member of the tribe who’s always pressing them to try new ideas, travels to their adversary’s city and finds out the entire populace is nuts for football. (What we Yanks call soccer.)

He challenges the imperious Lord Nooth (Tom Hiddleston) to a match against his top team, Real Bronzio, made up entirely of giant Nordic types. If they win, they get their homeland back. If not, they must abandon it forever. Thus commences a few days of intensive training, helped by Goona (Maisie Williams), a city woman who herself dreams of playing in the all-male game.

It’s a colorful film, and the soccer action gets the juices flowing in the second half. There are also a few solid throwaway jokes. My favorite involves the aged chief of Dug’s tribe (voice of Timothy Spall), fighting off decrepitude at the age of 32.

But overall, it just doesn’t have the smarts and zing of other Aardman efforts.

Let me offer this caveat: although I was somewhat bored by the film when I first reviewed it, I caught it a second time in the company of my boys, ages 4 and 7, who positively adored it. And I will say I actually enjoyed it more upon second viewing.

Here’s hoping more, and better, stop-motion animated movies are just around the corner.

Video extras are merely adequate, and are the same for Blu-ray and DVD editions. They consist of four making-of featurettes: “Before the Beginning of Time: Creating Early Man,” “Nick Park: Massaging the Funny,” “The Valley Meets the Bronze” and “Hanging at Aardman Studios: A Workshop Exploration.”

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Review: "Early Man"

I’ve always admired stop-motion animation in general and the British Aardman Animations films in particular -- “Chicken Run,” “Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit” and “Shaun the Sheep Movie” most recently in 2015. So it gives me little pleasure to report that the latest, “Early Man,” is a rather lackluster affair.

The story of cave men who discovered what we Yanks call soccer, it quite literally drops the rock… er, ball.

It seems our hirsute ancestors were inspired when a meteor landed somewhere around modern Manchester, snuffing out the dinosaurs to boot. The cave men began kicking the hot rock around, created a game around it, and even made drawings about their exploits.

Fast-forward a few thousand years, and a tribe of Stone Age types are still dwelling in the bucolic valley where the game of football (the everywhere-but-America kind) got started. Eddie Redmayne provides the voices of Dug, an excitable young man who urges the tribe to aim higher than just hunting rabbits -- perhaps even mammoths?

(Trigger warning for vegetarians.)

The Chief (Timothy Spall), a wise elderly man at the ripe old age of 32, cautions against high hopes. But when they’re suddenly invaded by some well-armed Bronze Age types and thrown out of their valley, it’s up to Dug to journey to the Roman-style city of their enemy and figure out a solution.

Curiously, the cavemen lost the tradition of football somewhere along the way, so Dug is amazed to discover the city’s entire culture is centered around games held in a giant arena. The home team, Real Bronzio, made up of tall Nordic types, is always the winner, playing at the whim of the nefarious Lord Nooth (Tom Hiddleston). He’s also the guy who booted Dug’s tribe out of their home so he could dig for ore there, and is amassing a fortune by charging admission to the mandatory games.

One of the movie’s better running jokes is that bronze is used for almost everything, from weapons to currency to housewares. “Have you got change for a dinner plate?” one old lady inquires at the arena gate.

Dug challenges Nooth’s team to a match, with the fate of the valley in the balance. If the cavemen lose, they’ll be forced to work in Nooth’s mines. (Which seems like something he could’ve enforced with or without the game.)

They start training under the tutelage of Goona (Maisie Williams), a city woman who takes a liking to the plight of the prehistoric folks. Plus, she’s always dreamed of booting in a goal of her own, since Real (pronounced REE-yal) Bronzio doesn’t allow women.

It’s a decently fun flick, at least intermittently, directed by Aardman veteran Nick Park from a script by Mark Burton and James Higginson. The cavemen don’t have much in the way of distinct personalities -- there’s the burly woman, the dumb one who puts everything in his mouth, etc.

The scene-stealer is Hognob (voiced by Park), an animal companion of Dug’s who appears to be a mix of boar, dog and sheep. I guess he forms the critter triumvirate with Gromit and Shaun.

If you’re thinking it’d be wacky for Hognob to get into the game, you won’t come away disappointed. Which is more than I can say for me.