REVIEW: SEND HELP

4/5

Colleague's Retreat

115 Mins. Starring: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O'Brien, Edyll Ismail, Xavier Samuel, Chris Pang & Dennis Haysbert. Screenplay: Damian Shannon & Mark Swift. Director: Sam Raimi. In: Theaters. 

Help is on the way this weekend, even if it's not coming. Confused? You will be! 'The Help'. 'HELP!' by The Beatles. Nothing cries out quite like 'Send Help'. The new unconventional and uncensored, big black-comedy, horror hit, with severance satire, from deliciously dark director Sam Raimi. You may know the 'Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness' director for the early 2000's, Tobey Maguire 'Spider-Man' trilogy, like he doesn't know how to find Japan on the globe (peep the promotional video for this help's Japanese release), but we all know that 'Evil Dead' is Raimi territory. And in this survival of the fittest, off a cunningly sly and slick script from Damian Shannon and Mark Swift ('Freddy Vs. Jason', 'Friday The 13th'), if you thought spending a working week with a horrible boss was bad, imagine being stranded on a desert island with them. 

Dragging you to a different sort of hell, this Raimi movie, that will be the talk at the water-coolers come Monday morning, is one of this year's freshest and best. And we've barely left January, let alone the first quarter projections. Being passed up for a promised promotion, 'Spotlight', 'Sherlock Holmes' and 'Game Night' actress Rachel McAdams ('The Notebook', 'Disobedience', 'True Detective') needs to be more 'Mean Girl' than sensible shoes, when a new boss, that makes a 'Horrible' Colin Farrell look nice, comes into the office. 'The Maze Runner' lead Dylan O'Brien ('The Internship', 'Deepwater Horizon', 'Bumblebee') would rather perfect his golf swing than be the perfect manager. And that's just the best of his character flaws. Still, a work trip to Bangkok looks to turn the tide and reveal who really is a team player, one way or another. Or a 'Survivor' contestant, as an audition tape for that show goes office cubicle viral. And you thought sharing a toast point with your pet bird was bad...it is.

This movie will get you, get you, get you as the firing line stakes are raised in a plane crash straight out of Tom Hanks' 'Cast Away'. But washed ashore, with no Wilson in sight, these two conflicting co-workers need to get along and make nice, especially when Dylan won't be doing any maze running for a while. The odd couple must play island house on a film that has palm tree shades of everything from 'Misery' to 'The Cabin In The Woods'. O'Brien, ignorantly hilarious, like he was as a great guest star on 'Curb Your Enthusiasm', won't be mocking McAdams' survival skills, when he can barely carry water, let alone stand. And forget about chopping wood. Rachel is in her element, bringing home the bacon, and us, back to the star power we know her best for. On fire like the torch she carries as she lets her character's boorish and frumpy hair down. She has the balls. Dylan being the perfect foil for all this, as he fails to do anything apart from make our eyes roll. That is, until, he reveals more of his catalyst backstory as both characters reveal their dark depths and sides of themselves we didn't expect or see coming.

We've already said too much. We don't want to spoil the tide of violence and destruction coming in like an amazing monsoon of blood, guts and wild boar and gore. Popped eyes, scalped domes, tuna fish on the cheek, you'll be grossed out in shock and awe by it all, as Sam works his dark, disgusting magic. But that's nothing on the human horrors on dark display here. Straight out a Stephen King play novel. Edgar Wright, who directed his (or Richard Bachman's) book 'The Running Man', which finally crosses the line in Japanese cinemas, this weekend, has a message for 'Send Help', too. He loves it, calling Sam Raimi the "master of mischief." Other people are involved, too. Even though this 'Help' could work as a thrilling psychological play, minus the physical violence. Australian actress Edyll Ismail is the beautiful and kind fiancée, O'Brien's boss doesn't deserve, and 'Frankenstein's' Xavier Samuel, with braces, and 'Crazy Rich Asians' star Chris Pang are the kind of friends from work that would be fake to your face, all whilst having a gossip dagger behind their backs. Yet, higher up, the 'Major League' great Dennis Haysbert ('24', 'The Dark Tower', 'Sin City: A Dame To Kill For') deserves more than to just be here to smell a finger. Still, 'Send Help' is the end of the shift respite you've been screaming for. Hit send on making this your next movie destination for the perfect weekend getaway. Happy to help. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Further Filming: 'Cast Away', 'Misery', 'The Cabin In The Woods'.

REVIEW: THE RUNNING MAN

3.5/5

Running With The Night

133 Mins. Starring: Glen Powell, William H. Macy, Michael Cera, Emilia Jones, Daniel Ezra, Jayme Lawson, Katy O'Brian, Sean Hayes, Colman Domingo & Josh Brolin. Screenplay: Michael Bacall & Edgar Wright. Director: Edgar Wright. In: Theatres.

RUN! After watching 'The Running Man', the Netflix hit 'Hit Man', and the American football, 'Mrs. Doubtfire' like, comedy 'Chad Powers' on Hulu and Disney Plus, it's clear to see (although you can't really see him), that Glen Powell is Hollywood's new master of disguise. Playing priests, business men, and any other hick the Hollywood heartthrob can get his hands on. But it's not like this handsome Dan needs to hide his face, or the 'Twisters', 'Anyone But You' and 'Top Gun: Maverick' star's body of work. Even here, in Japan, when he went shirtless, someone in the audience gave the thumbs up to his partner...it was the husband's thumb. Powell would even be the next face of Tom Cruise's 'Mission: Impossible' franchise...if his Mum would only let him do the stunts. C'mon, Mom, the man was made to wear masks. There's enough on hand, here though, in his new star vehicle 'The Running Man'. Based on the faster than a speeding bullet novel by Richard Bachman (you might know him better as Stephen King) and the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger movie, that with an Easter Egg here, is right on the money.

Glen gives this movie, and his latest Hollywood run, all he's got. A blue-collar Carhartt, assembly line worker who just wants to provide for his wife (a wonderful Jayme Lawson of 'The Batman' and 'Sinners' fame) and sick daughter. There's a whole host (with 'Will & Grace's' Sean Hayes, quiff bouffant) of game shows Glen Powell's Ben Richards could try his humiliated hand at, but the one that pays out the most is, 'The Running Man'. And it has nothing to do with the famous Bobby Brown dance. That's not its prerogative. Ben could win a billion dollars, be set for life, and he only has to work for a month. Sounds like a lay-up line milk run, right?! Well, not when there's a price on his head and a bounty of hired goon hunter killers on his tail. And you thought, like Quentin Tarantino, that 'The Hunger Games' was bad. Running up more hills than a kid from 'Stranger Things' in a coma, listening to Kate Bush, everyone with a smartphone in sight can cash in on turning Richards in, to boot. Will he live? Tune in and find out. But what really makes a killing is the hits to reality TV and smartphones (not to mention this day and age of deepfakes), in this science fiction satirical action given to us by 'The Cornetto Trilogy's' own, Edgar Wright ('Last Night In Soho').

Executive produced by human horror maestro, Stephen King himself, who better than the 'Baby Driver' energy of Edgar to deliver this epic? Especially now he has a real action man to pose and play with. Wright even takes a shade swipe at Netflix for giving the game away when it came to 'The World's End'. Speaking of spoilers, one of the coolest characters is the "back at ya", grenade kicking, masked leader of the hunters. We shouldn't reveal who he is, just in case, but it's a nice surprise. Even though this cult favourite elicits more "okays", than "oooh's", he still scene steals. And that's pretty hard when you have the poster boy power of Powell lighting everyone up, from apartment breaks ("Y") to running through the night more than Lionel Richie, in a commanding performance. This movie isn't the biggest hit, man, but that doesn't matter. And like that aforementioned Richard Linklater film, it's different to what you expected it would be. And that's what makes it Rotten Tomato fresh. Despite the mixed reviews and the fact that it was a box office bomb. But who really makes a billion dollars these days?

This man. No, not me, Powell. Amongst a whole host of famous faces and ones making their own name. Wright reunites with 'Scott Pilgrim vs. The World' screenwriter Michael Bacall ('21' and '22 Jump Street') and another Michael, in 'Scott Pilgrim' himself, Michael Cera (a surprise that really shouldn't have been spoilt in the opening credits), having a whole host of 'Home Alone' fun in his super soaked, with tears of laughter, booby trapped house. There's also a brief, but brilliant, and somewhat beautiful, turn from the great William H. Macy who has been ace acting with aplomb recently (see the 'Train Dreams' he should have been nominated for on Netflix...sorry, Edgar). 'CODA's' Emilia Jones, 'All American' British actor Daniel Ezra and 'Love Lies Bleeding' talent Katy O'Brian ('Twisters', 'Mission: Impossible-The Final Reckoning'), also make their mark, but it's the greats that have the most glorious time. Especially the forever flamboyant Colman Domingo's ('Rustin', 'Sing Sing', 'The Color Purple') gaudy and great host of proceedings. And the Thanos villainous Josh Brolin, continuing his latest mean streak after 'Weapons' and the 'Knives Out' mystery 'Wake Up Dead Man'. We hope this one doesn't die out in this film's wake, because Glen Powell has what it takes to run this Hollywood game all the way to the bank. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Further Filming: 'The Running Man (1987)', 'Hit Man', 'The Hunger Games'