Last week, The Retirement Plan disappointed me with its inconsistencies. What I didn’t acknowledge in my review, buried underneath the tacky filmmaking, was a tangent involving a congenial heavy-hitter played by Ron Perlman (of Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy series). Perlman is squandered, portraying a brute named Bobo who shows compassion towards a young victim and eventually seals his fate after reuniting with Season of the Witch co-star Nicolas Cage.
Everyone’s favourite Nicolas Cage (The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent) is back playing another enigmatic oddball. However, the role doesn’t play towards the actors usual blend of ticks and outbursts but rather, and unintentionally so, reflects the movie he’s starring in.
Stonewall quickly came and went. It was played at TIFF last year, and screened in the U.S. markets for a short time. Critically and popularly reviled, Roland Emmerich’s pet project is completely different from his usual disaster films like Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow. Indeed, Stonewall is a heavily whitewashed take on the famous New York riots that played an integral part in formalizing the LGBTQ equality movement.