Michael McElhatton | www.jaredmobarak.com

REVIEW: The Foreigner [2017]

2017/10/122020/04/25 Jared Mobarak

Trust or fear. I like a good action thriller without a clear target because it allows the story to develop where cat and mouse chases usually reside. Martin Campbell‘s The Foreigner is a good example as it shows what happens when a sharp plot is made paramount. We know who the bad guys are—a group of young IRA rebels rekindling a fight long since dormant—but not their identities. So distraught dad Quan Ngoc Minh (Jackie Chan) must improvise along his quest for vengeance after his daughter is killed in a…

REVIEW: Handsome Devil [2017]

2017/05/302017/06/02 Jared Mobarak

“People do bad things out of fear” Just be yourself: sentiments easier said than done. The phrase is perfect fodder for coming-of-age films whether the meaning is to educate acceptance in one’s self on the skin’s surface or below. But being perfectly suited towards becoming a resonant vehicle for life lessons doesn’t mean the process of accomplishing that goal with mass audience appeal will be a walk in the park. Sometimes the inherent convention of such thematic underpinnings is too great to overcome. Sometimes the dramatic weight of heavier circumstances…

REVIEW: The Autopsy of Jane Doe [2016]

2017/01/212017/01/26 Jared Mobarak

“It looks like they were trying to break out” There’s no sign of forced entry. Two bodies are brutally murdered upstairs and a naked woman without a skin blemish is discovered half-buried in the basement. Sheriff Sheldon (Michael McElhatton) is at a loss. He can theorize the locals’ demise—even if it won’t quite fit perfectly—but he cannot spin the woman’s presence to the press. So unless he’s looking for a circus, her cause of death is paramount. Luckily county coroner Tommy Tilden (Brian Cox) works late. And if he’s working…

TIFF11 REVIEW: Death of a Superhero [2012]

2011/09/032014/05/24 Jared Mobarak

“Life is a sexually transmitted disease” Cancer is one of life’s great fears, a grand equalizer that takes without discretion. Children are lost while their parents watch, talents with the ability to make a difference in the world leave us before their impact can ever be felt, and loved ones pass when after we told ourselves we’d have so more time. For the person dying, however, the outlook becomes both bleaker and brighter. Sure, they are angry with God or whomever they blame for putting them in their impossible position,…