Coming to you live from the couch: Blue Ruin, The Iceman, and Chef

As a recently acclimated Chicago resident (again), I forgot how unforgiving and drab the year starts off. Between snow flurries, sub-freezing weather, and a lack of want to wait for a bus or train, it’s been hard to muster up the wherewithal to leave the comfort of my home to make it to the Cinemas. Couple that with only having 1-2 days open a week and it makes a mean cocktail against staying relevant to new releases.

Luckily, your old pal Netflix seem to have seen this occurring from 2014 and decided to drop a bunch of indie movies that flew under a lot of radars over the last couple of years. You could effectively call this post “What to stream with your significant other to feel like a hipster when you’re waiting for takeout for the 4th day in a row”:



Blue Ruin:

One of the many movies that get brought to my attention via the newspaper clippings my Luddite mother sends me, this movie didn't catch much national recognition, awards or otherwise. Lucky for me, I’m the kind of film nerd that ploughs through movie podcasts, and boy was this the darling of them. Trying to shy away from spoilers, I would say this is a deconstruction of the revenge movie. Hypothetically, in real life if you wanted to kill someone you wouldn't have to go through a network of mobsters and fight scenes before finding the final boss. Blue Ruin takes on that concept by introducing a drifter who goes back to his home town to avenge some family members and finishes with his mission in the first act. The rest of the movie depicts how their respective families and friends would react to someone they know being murdered/ a murderer.

Using a lot of stark color contrasts and being one of the most grounded in reality movies I’ve seen in recent years, Blue Ruin almost plays out like a documentary of the main character’s life. It’s sad, dark, and intense, but has a sensitive side to it where you can almost sympathize with both sides of the conflict. If I were to nit-pick, I would say that it may not be the best actors outside of the main character (you can tell these are not recognizable people) and that it has an INCREDIBLY independent feeling which I know is a turn off for some people. Not sure this would break my top 10 of the last year, but definitely worth checking out on cold dark night.

Final Score: B+

The Iceman:

Welcome to Sam Tucker’s Interactive Review of the true-story Crime Drama The Iceman! In this, you get to decide if the movie is for you based on a short survey, which is presented to you…right now!

1. Do you like Michael Shannon? If so, check here:
2. No, really, do you like Michael Shannon?
3. Do you like decade spanning Crime Biopics?
4. Does the name “Richard Kuklinski” ring a bell?
5. Would you like to see Ross from friends and Captain America in ridiculous mustaches?

Now tally your checks, and here’s your handy score guide:

• 1-2 Checks: Maybe skip it, unless you checked both boxes 1 and 2.
• 2-3 Checks: Definitely check it out, but you don’t need to pay attention the entire time. Maybe you have some laundry that needs to be folded?
• 4-5: You’ll love it, but it won’t be your favorite of all time

Thanks for playing!

Final Score: B-

Chef:

Do you have a heart? Do you have Netflix? You do? Okay great, go ahead and check out Chef.

Like, this weekend.

In all seriousness though this is truly a fantastic watch. As you can tell from my reviews, I generally don’t get behind things that are “family-friendly” or “light-hearted” or “not incredibly dark/disturbing”. This movie is truly all heart though. The performances across the board are endearing, it’s a relevant story, and the food aspect itself is amazing. The story centers on the titular Chef, played by Producer, Director, Writer, Best Boy, Grip, and Main Star Jon Favreau, quitting his job as a downtrodden but well known LA chef and starting his own food truck. This kicks off a journey with his somewhat distanced son and ex-wife that eventually shows how much he really cares about his family. While it admittedly sounds like a cookie cutter (#FoodPun) plot, it’s fairly subtle and is carried heavily by the performers. Favreau clearly has some pull in the industry and a few key cameos really help the movie out, which is nothing against the main cast who were also fantastic.

As mentioned above, the food itself almost counts as a character. My boy Scott told me that the scenes of food preparation were shot with a real chef doing the work, and it is mouthwatering. If you leave this viewing without desperately wanting a Cuban sandwich, you had a food coma (ha!) in the last third. While I admit I don’t know much about the food industry, and even less about the Food Truck industry, the idea of being a “safe” creator versus striking out on your own is fairly applicable across other industries (such as film itself). This makes it not a completely alien experience to those who don’t have “Cutthroat Kitchen” on DVR and allows you to revel in the many shots of five star meals being prepared by an expert.

If there were any negatives, I would say the picture-perfect ending was one of them. Again, it was nice and uplifting but I think they could have ended it on more of an ambiguous ending instead of force-feeding you the last two minutes. And I know its nitpicking but this movie has what I call the “Dennis Leary” effect, wherein the writer/producer/star just happen to pair themselves up with some of the most beautiful starlets in Hollywood. Again, small potatoes (#NailedIt!), but just something that makes me quietly smile to myself and shake my head.

TLDR: Chef is a charming little movie, and since it's streaming you really owe it to yourself to feast on it.

I’m on a (dinner) roll!

Seriously, someone call a doctor.

Final Grade: A