Tag: Joan Hall

The Family: Puppies and Monsters – False Start (Review)

The Family: Puppies and Monsters continues to jump back and forth in the timeline. More questions arise about Adam and there is at least one false start in the uneasy alliance between the FBI and local law enforcement.

JOAN ALLEN, LIAM JAMES, RUPERT GRAVES

The Family: Puppies and Monsters continues to jump back and forth in the timeline. More questions arise about Adam and there is at least one false start in the uneasy alliance between the FBI and local law enforcement. 10 years previously, John Warren was a suspect, when he had an hour of missing time that coincided with his son Adam going missing.

This is an intense episode, like all the ones thus far, and Adam goes back to the burnt out room where he was kept prisoner and sexually assaulted for 10 years. Hank Asher (Andrew McCarthy) goes to buy a puppy and his reactions to the animals and his ill-at-ease behavior with the seller speaks volumes about the man.

FBI Agent Gabe Clements (Matthew Lawler) and Detective Meyer (Margot Bingham) learn from Adam that his captor brought in fast-food and it was still warm when delivered. The two decide that the kidnapper drove in and they send out people to find tire tracks.

Adam asks for time alone in the room and after passing on that he set his prison cell up like the Warren house, the boy  pulls a brick from the wall over his bed and extracts a key from the space. Danny learns that Bridey Cruz is a journalist and 10 years ago, John was upset at being a suspect and when his wife Claire (Joan Allen)  questions his possible guilt  John goes  to see Meyer and angrily asks if she really thinks he killed his own son.

During the flashback sequences it is revealed that Willa (Alison Pill) was not the only one who framed Hank Asher;  her father helped, but only at her instigation. Other revelations are that Claire and Willa are at logger heads about her government aspirations not following the “plan.”  Apparently Claire’s campaign is being funded by a company who are making a tracing device for children.

The pockmarked man is staying a full step ahead of law enforcement  even after the cops find and identify the tire tracks.  When they try to connect the dots and grab the vehicle, the reach a dead end.  The man also has an underground room that he keeps hidden from his pregnant wife.

Danny has stopped drinking and still believes that Adam is not his brother.  Meyer learns that her lover  framed Hank Asher  and she angrily tells him to leave her alone. Adam questions his father and asks why he stopped looking for him.  In the flashbacks it looks like the young Willa believes her father may have murdered Adam, hence her move to frame the next door neighbor.

Agent Clements and Detective Meyer appear to be bonding quite well. The FBI agent manages to inject a good bit of humor in his dealings with the local cop. After the theory about the tire tracks, Meyer oversees the search for vehicle tracks. Clements offers to give the cop a break:

“Well, if you need a break I can stand around here looking annoyed and impatient  for a while.”

MATTHEW LAWLER, MARGOT BINGHAM

Pockmark man is clearly hiding something, Danny is still looking for proof that Adam is not his missing brother. The Warren family appear united for a television interview and during the TV report, Claire names Hank Asher and reveals that he is a convicted sex offender.

The Warren family all, apparently, lie on the program.  Before Claire calls out Asher on the show, she breaks down about her family’s ordeal.  Asher picks out his puppy and before he can leave with the animal, the woman’s daughter sees that Hank is a “molester” on TV and he loses the dog before he can get it.

Bridey Cruz (Floriana Lima) makes the connection between Claire Warren’s campaign for governor and the tracking device company. A naked Willa catches Adam looking at her in the bathroom and Danny goes to Bridey for help. 

This week’s episode features John Warren (Rupert Graves) doing the narration and he talks of knowingly doing something wrong and having to live with it. As the episode of The Family: Puppies and Monsters ends Willa explains that Adam cannot look at her like that as she is his sister.

Adam responds that he screwed up and after Willa leaves, the boy fondles the key removed from his cell. John says that some people do not feel anything when they do something they know is wrong as it is revealed that the real suspect has destroyed the truck he used to bring Adam food.

As this series continues to reveal more secrets and lies, more questions arise and it appears that no one in this world is who they seem. Perhaps the only character whose motives are pure is Detective Meyer (Margo Bingham) as not even Danny is above suspicion at this point.

The Family is tightly written with a myriad of twists and turns. It airs Sundays on ABC. Catch this one, it is an in-depth look at a dysfunctional family dealing with a son who has returned from the dead. Fascinating television.

The Family: Episode 2 Continues Peeling Back Layers (Preview)

Episode two of The Family; All You See Is Dark, continues to peel back layers as the mystery around Adam (Liam James) deepens and brother Danny (Zach Gilford) seriously begins to question who this “stranger” is.

ALISON PILL, RUPERT GRAVES, JOAN ALLEN

Episode two of The Family; All You See Is Dark, continues to peel back layers as the mystery around Adam (Liam James) deepens and brother Danny (Zach Gilford) seriously begins to question who this “stranger” is.  Just as puzzling, or disturbing if one listens to verbal clues as well as those “revealing” flashbacks, is where Hank (Andrew McCarthy) really fits in all this as the symbol of a gross miscarriage of justice.

This new series on ABC promises to be more than just a mystery that needs solving, it is a melding of genres. Suspense, thriller and crime all join ranks with mystery and there is a good bit of psychological intensity running though out.

Mayor Claire Warren (Joan Allen) proves to be in denial while struggling to control her son’s rehabilitation and the stress levels threaten to undo her electoral plans.  Detective Meyer (Margot Bingham) is obsessed with finding the real abductor of Adam and on top of fighting her personal issues with her wrongful conviction years before, also has to fight her boss for time.

It is a fight that the detective loses when the FBI is called in.

ANDREW MCCARTHY
Hank upsetting Claire with his poor choice of words.

Willa Warren (Alison Pill) continues to control things, unobtrusively protecting her mother, father and brothers, although her motives are, at this point,  unclear. Just as she stepped in 10 years previously it seems that Willa will do anything to keep the Warren family safe from its own secrets. 

It is even revealed that a 13 year-old Willa censored her father’s emails and texts when she approaches dad John (Rupert Graves) in present day to ask a favor. She tells her aghast father that at 13, she had no idea what the phrase “inside of you” meant but she dealt with it. 

The Family does not just present an American tragedy with a mystery to be solved. It also shows how the death of a child thought to be murdered by a pedophile opens a sort of Pandora’s Box of emotionally charged reactions.  The players in this drama have all become intertwined as well as affected by the events.

The cop, whose career is made by this case, is sexually involved with a family member. When the murdered boy returns from the dead, as it were, her guilt at helping to convict the next door neighbor, who was on the sexual offender register, is all consuming.

RUPERT GRAVES, ZACH GILFORD
John pushing a reluctant Danny to spend time with Adam.

The returned boy appears to be working hard to convince his older brother of his pedigree. Bringing up memories of childhood events and items but failing to recognize things that the real Adam should know.

Episode two, All You See Is Dark continues the back and forth jumps in time-lines as it moves forward with Meyer trying to find out what really happened 10 years ago. We see Claire Warren verbally attacking Hank on the night she appealed for help finding Adam.

The reason?

When Hank brings over muffins (at his mother’s insistence) as gesture of goodwill, he states that Adam “was” a good boy.  This 10 year-old statement screams of his guilt in Claire’s eyes.  In this episode, it appears that despite his release from prison,  Hank may not be as “innocent” as it is now believed.

There are secrets aplenty in this show and many questions that will need answering before the truth is revealed.  Who is the man with the holes in his face? What was Hank cleaning up and why? More importantly, why does Adam have to keep reminding himself who he is.

ALISON PILL, JOAN ALLEN
Willa and Claire Warren

One more in this tragic familial mystery is Willa.  Why has she taken over the job of protecting the family when it has so obviously adversely affected her? This behind the scenes manipulation that started 10 years previously is still going on and still, apparently laying heavy on the young woman.

Why?

In light of this “favor” she starts to ask of her father, one wonders just when the idea to ask for something in return first cropped up.

This look at a family in free-fall after their murdered son returns from the dead and their 10 year old truth is revealed to be a lie is almost compulsive viewing after watching the pilot. The second episode continues pecking away at characters in the series. Joan Hall, as Claire,  is becoming ever more strident and Andrew McCarthy’s Hank is turning out to be a very secretive and odd man.

Margot Bingham’s character is verging upon becoming obsessed with finding the man with holes in his face.

The Family is one for all those who like psychological mysteries.  The series premieres March 6 on ABC. Do not miss this one, it promises to keep the viewer guessing and eagerly awaiting the next episode as soon as the current one ends.

Stephen King’s A Good Marriage (2014) Joan Hall Captivates Completely

Still from A Good Marriage with Joan Hall
Based on a Stephen King story, from his 2010 collection Full Dark, No Stars. A Good Marriage stars Joan Hall (Death Race, The Bourne Legacy), Anthony LaPaglia (Crazy Kind of Love, Mental), Kristen Connelly (Cabin in the woods, The Whispers) and Stephen Lang (Avatar, Conan the Barbarian) and is directed by Peter Askin (Trumbo, Company Man) and King himself adapted the story into a screenplay.

This is the first time since the 1989 film Pet Semetary that King has adapted his own work. In his novella, Darcy Anderson discovers that her “perfect” husband is, in fact, a notorious serial killer. She accidentally finds a box of trophy objects from the murders and she decides to take things into her own hands rather than contact the police.

In the film, Joan Allen captivates completely as the older partner who finds that her loving husband has a killer inside of him. Another personality called Beadie, who rapes, tortures and kills women and has done so for years. Allen shows every emotion that her character is going through on her face, not comically but subtly with just enough of a “tell” that we know what she is thinking.

The horror, shame, disgust and fear all mingle on her face and in her actions. Anthony LaPaglia, as Bob, is also impressively sinister and smarmy. The audience do not believe that he will stop for one moment. In one dream sequence, which seems frighteningly real, it is apparent that Darcy does not really think he will quit killing either.

The very fact that her husband has managed to keep this secret from her and their two kids for 12 years indicates a man who is obsessed. His workshop screams OCD, everything put neatly in its place, even his “evidence” box is specifically placed, which is how he knows that Darcy now knows his secret. Stephen Lang, as the retired detective, hovers about in the background ominously and later shows up to reveal that he knows that Bob Anderson was Beadie.

For those who have read the King novella, the story will already be familiar. That will not spoil the film though. Peter Askin does a great job keeping that other shoe dangling tantalizingly in the air as we wait for Darcy to decide how she is going to deal with this horrific discovery. The sly underlying horror is still in the movie.

The fact that her sick husband believes that everything will be fine and that she will accept his promise to never kill again shows just how far gone this “split personality” killer was. His glib explanation that he never killed anyone, that it was his dead friend Brian, aka BD, rolls off his tongue while Darcy listens in growing horror.

Stephen Lang’s Holt Ramsay rules the screen when he finally makes his appearance. His doomed ex-investigator, who clearly has lung cancer that is rapidly killing him, is a scene stealer. A Good Marriage is, however, Joan Hall’s film. She nails her performance and is so thoroughly convincing that she is reminiscent of the late great Geraldine Page in top form.

A splendid little film with spotless performances from its stars and a first rate adaptation from the master himself. Director Askin does a brilliant job as well; he is not afraid to have silence versus a score in a tense or emotional scene. A real 4 out of 5 star film available on US Netflix.