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Censor (2021)
A pretty good psychological horror on Video Nasties
Taking place during the United Kingdom's censorship of Video Nasties (1980s), the film follows film censor Enid Baines (Niamh Algar) as she reviews submissions to the Film Board. However, old traumas are brought back up while reviewing a new film that seems to recreate what happened to her and her sister several years before. Now Enid is tracking down who made this movie and what possibly happened to her sister.
This film was pretty fun. Definitely a throw to the horror genres of yore, at least the 70-80s. Some Giallo here, some Exploitation/Extreme there, and Slasher everywhere. Even though it has these elements, the film is entirely in the realm of Psychological horror. And while Psychological horror is tough to get right, this film's story was surprisingly well-paced. The plot moves forwards without slowing or growing dull.
However, two bits did stand out as being underwhelming.
***Spoiler***
The film board runs into trouble when a man seems to recreate a scene from a film Enid and another censor passed. A journalist finds out it was them who reviewed and cleared it, and now all the newspapers are running it as their fault. It seems like this could be the filmmaker(s) weighing in on if censorship is needed or should art be art without limits. However, this subplot doesn't go anywhere and ends up being resolved in a passing comment of, "They're saying the man never watched the film, to begin with."
Also, the ending is cheesy. Not entirely awful, but cheesy nonetheless.
***End of Spoilers***
Niamh Algar gives a great strong female lead as Enid. She brings in a quiet complexity when it easily could have slipped into melodrama. The other actors aren't given as much screen time but for the most part nothing bad or outstanding.
All in all a good movie. Highly recommend it for a date night movie or to enjoy it by yourself. I'm giving it a 7/10, closer to an 8 than a 6.
The Dark and the Wicked (2020)
Could've been one of the greats, but craps the bed
I haven't touched this account in a hot minute. Bringing it back with a hot take on this film: It wasn't good. Although it wasn't entirely bad either, it just left me and my friends wanting. Even after the movie ended I checked online to make sure this wasn't a disc error or I somehow got a censored version of the film. Nope, the film just...stops.
Quick breakdown of the story: Siblings Louise & Michael come home to help out their mom on the goat farm when their father becomes deathly ill. Spookie things begin to happen. People died who ain't the father. And then it ends.
Positives, i got some positives for the film. Overall the production side (lighting, camera work, etc) is really good. Bryan Bertino and his team really built this haunting atmosphere that grips you from the beginning and holds on without letting up. There are several scenes throughout the film that are effective in scaring the audience without a jump scare. Marin Ireland (Louise) 's performance was really good. She felt natural for the role and gave a hell of a performance. Also gotta give it up for my man Michael Zagst who was able to act like a man asleep on a bed for a majority of the film.
Negatives, some hard negatives. The story isn't great. It's basically Bryan Bertino's earlier film "The Strangers" but with a demon. I've seen people compare this film to "Hereditary" which is asinine. I hoped that the film would reward the audience for paying attention to backgrounds, props, just anything so that you get environmental storytelling about why this is happening, like "Hereditary." But it doesn't. To be fair, there is some environmental storytelling but it is mainly for characterization that doesn't explain why this spooky dooky stuff is happening.
The demon power is also confusing and nonsensical. Sometimes it just wants to move chairs around and grunt over the sleeping husby. Sometimes it wants the characters to hurt themselves and then kill themselves. It goes after anyone and everyone, which reminds me of the ghosts from Ju-on. But is this a curse brought on to the dad? Is it a curse brought on to the family because of the dad? Why is this happening to the family to begin with? You don't know why, and apparently that's the point. Bad things happen without reason and you have to deal. What a load of b.s. You can have a nihilistic film but still have a cause and effect to show the audience why this is happening to the main characters. Look at "No Country for Old Men," the main character takes money from a cartel shootout and now the devil comes to collect his dues.
What's bad is that there is a legitimate good story somewhere in this mess but the director is too pretentious to even put in effort.
I could say more but this is already 494 words long. There's good things about this film that would work great if another director were to use them, but with a disappointing story that leaves you wanting, I can't recommend this movie unless it's free or you're bored.
Don Verdean (2015)
Super quickie review of Don Verdean
I kind of feel sorry for Jared Hess at times. He somehow caught lightning in a bottle with "Napoleon Dynamite" and it feels like his career has been stilted ever since so I ended up going into this film with low expectations. I love Sam Rockwell, Danny McBride, and Jemaine Clement so why wouldn't I enjoy this film? Well surprise, surprise! I did enjoy this film but I didn't love or even like it. It has an interesting premise and all the acting is good but it's boring a majority of the time. The story isn't bad either, it's just not as engaging as you think it would be. Several times it feels like the characters are meandering between conflicts and resolutions. I'm also surprised no one had a fit over Clement brown face in the movie.
Either way, if you're a fan of the director's previous works or a fan of any of the actors, I don't think you'll be disappointed. 5 out of 10, closer to a 6 than a 4.
The Lodge (2019)
Quickie Review of The Lodge
Post-horror is a hard sub-genre to get right. Balancing all the necessary elements is no simple feat. "The Lodge" almost got it but not quite. While the acting is great and the production value (sets, lighting, sound design..etc) are really good, the story is where my main issues come in. It's a "slow burn" but it's so slow that the payoff just feels hollow and once you know the twist there isn't much of a rewatch value to it. While many would possibly compare this film to the amazing film "Hereditary," which it does feel like that at times, I got a strong vibe of "Goodnight Mommy" which makes sense since the directors wrote and directed that film as well. It also didn't help that a couple parts of the film were unintentionally hilarious breaking the tension for me. I feel a better ending coupled with better pacing would've made this an amazing film. As it stands, though, I can only recommend this if you're into the sub-genre or a fan of the director's previous works. I'm giving "The Lodge" a 6 out of 10, it's closer to a 5 than a 7.
The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)
*A Few Weeks Later*
I don't think it's controversial to say that Yorgos Lanthimos' work is polarizing. Absurd concepts the character take at face value; stilted, wooden delivery of dialogue by the actors; long takes or slow zoom-ins, these are all highlights of his body of work. If you are unable to get past these traits of his you're not going to have a good time. "The Killing of a Sacred Deer" is no different.
The story is a pure Greek tragedy, which makes sense since it's based on Iphigenia in Aulis by Euripides. Dr. Steven Murphy befriends a former patient's son, Martin. However, things turn sour between the two, and Martin forces Steven to make an unthinkable choice that will affect his family forever. Reading reviews where people are confused by Martin and whether he has "power" or if there is some kind of curse misses the point of the story. It is to have an incredible decision put before you and being utterly powerless to stop it.
This ties in nicely with the performances which make all the characters seem like they couldn't care less about this decision, only to care for themselves. It could be viewed as a reflection of the audience that would stand by while the unthinkable happens or make excuses to keep the status quo. We don't want to rock the boat, but we don't hold that true for films or novels where our protagonist is supposed to challenge the world they're in and not be complacent. The actors portray this by delivering their lines like they're reading the newspaper.
If you can't get behind the character, the production side is amazing. While some reviewers have compared Lanthimos's style to that of Stanley Kubrick, I see some Michael Haneke in certain shots. The camera feels ethereal in some places and adds to this growing unease the story contains.
I watched this about 3 weeks or so ago and kept thinking about it and how I honestly felt. I didn't want a knee jerk reaction or just write a review where all I can compare it to is David Lynch. Something that can stick with me for that long after viewing doesn't happen often. Hell, it didn't happen with Lanthimos' other works "The Lobster" or "Dogtooth" so this was a surprise. I would recommend this film to just about anyone that's looking for a psychological thriller.
The Alchemist Cookbook (2016)
The punk rock son of The Evil Dead & Hereditary
Let me try to summarize this film. A man living out in the woods by himself tries to discover, through alchemy, how to make gold while he has a mental breakdown with possible demons knocking at his door. Does that sum it up? I've seen adverts for this film around Hulu, Prime, and other streaming sites but never had the time to turn it on. Well, tonight was the night, bay-bee, and I wanted to treat myself to something off the wall. Boy, did I get it.
Look, this is going to be a hard film to recommend to, well, anyone. It's a low budget indie horror flick with one actor, mostly, and one setting. I get what the director was trying to do, but it's not what he ultimately accomplishes. Because the film isn't trying to be just one thing, it becomes a jumbled mess of several things. A majority of the tension is lost due to comedy interjected between scenes. Some shots are not framed correctly, leaving you with no idea what the character is gaping at. The ending, though, will be the biggest issue most viewers will have with the film.
There are good things about this movie that need to be praise. Ty Hickson (Sean) is pretty good as the lead. The character has a lot of baggage and Hickson pulls it off rather well. Amari Cheatom also adds some well-needed interaction between himself and Hickson, to helps sell how far Sean's mental state has gone.
The sound design was well done. There are disembodied voices hidden throughout, a strange caterwauling coming from off-screen, and some solid foley work. All these build great tension and adds to the mystery of, "is he finally losing it or are demons real?"
As I said, though, this movie will be a hard sell to casual audiences. There's a good movie in here, but its rough edges need to be polished, which includes the last 15 minutes of the movie. As it stands, you have to love the craft of storytelling and/or film-making to get the most of this. If you're looking for a traditional horror movie you need to look somewhere else. If you're looking for something a bit more experimental, I say give this film a shot. I'm giving this a 6 out of 10, closer to a 5 than a 7.
The Little Hours (2017)
Should've Loved This, Shouldn't Have Felt Bad Afterwards
Nothing feels worse than finding something that you should love, only to find it detestable. It's sad, no two ways around it. This film should be one of my favorite comedies seeing as most of my favorite comedic actors are in this but this just feels like an amateur mess.
The story is all over the place with no coherency, which makes sense seeing as all the dialogue was improvised by the cast. Nick Offerman was the worst of the bunch as he was trying to be funny with nothing to work with. The Nuns (Brie, Plaza, & Micucci) aren't much better. They're portrayed as "foul mouth, raunchy, & hypersexual" in the previews, and some reviews, but they're just unlikeable. With all the improvising and riffing the film drags from one scene to the next making it hard to keep the audience's attention.
Also, I wanna talk about how "sexually repressed" and "hypersexual" doesn't mean sexual harassment is funny. Several times throughout this movie Massetto (Dave Franco) is forced into sexual situations with most of the women on screen. Several times he said "no" or "stop", hell one time he was held at knifepoint. It honestly wouldn't have mattered if this was a one-off scene, but multiple times becomes bothersome. This film wants to have modern-day commentary on medieval life (ie: child brides, surfs, faith base society) but finds it acceptable to basically have rape be played for laughs. It's just asinine and hypocritical.
This needed structure and someone to round the actors back in. This needed an actual script and not an outline. I wanted to check out the director's latest film "Horse Girl" but I may have to put that on the back burners for the time being. I would not recommend this movie to anyone but the diehard fans of any actors in this dumpster fire.
Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)
Max Lord was right, it could be better.
As of writing this, there are close to 100,000 reviews already up on this film. What more can I say that hasn't already been said? I think the backlash against Patty Jenkins is worse than the actual movie. On top of that, to be upset over a "just okay" franchise in a failing cinematic universe comes off a bit more embarrassing than anything else. I can break it down to two sentences:
If you liked the first Wonder Woman film, you'll like this film. If you didn't like the first Wonder Woman film, please for the love of the Greek Pantheon, stay away from this film. Chris Pines is great, Pedro Pascal is good, and Lynda Carter was a sweet touch to the film. Gal Gadot wasn't that great and Kristen Wiig wasn't good.
The movie is way too long for the story it's telling and a lot of it is due to filler. Do we really need to see the origins of the invisible jet if you're going to just give her the ability to fly later on? Do we need an opening scene showing Diana in a race if it is only for her to quote a single line from it at the tail end of the movie? Do we honestly need a rehash of "a stranger in a strange land" montage, but this time with Steve and not Diana?
The story has several inconsistencies with the "wish" portion boarding on Max Lord being able to do whatever. It's a "monkey paw" scenario until it isn't. This feels like the first draft of a script that was never given a rewrite. While I don't want to point fingers I think Geoff Johns is equally to blame for this mess.
While my whinging may make it seem like I just had a terrible time, I didn't. As soon as I saw where this film was going I just relaxed and laughed at the terrible wirework, floaty fight scene, the terrible makeup/outfit for Cheetah. I had fun riffing on the film and I wasn't bored.
Blue Ruin (2013)
A Slowburn Neo-Noir Indie Thriller
I started backward with all this. I first saw Jeremy Saulnier's "The Green Room" when it first came to DVD. I enjoyed it and immediately looked into the director's filmography. The first film that caught my eye was "Blue Ruin" but like a lot of things you can't find until later now and by then it gets shoved to the back of your watchlist because that new George Clooney project looks good but wasn't. Finally, with time on my side, I sat and watched this neo-noir classic.
The story is deceptively simple with its premise but exceeded in its visual storytelling. Several times throughout the movie the filmmakers allow the audience to try and piece information together themselves before finally revealing the answer. While the total sum of the story could come to, "revenge is bad" the movie is smart enough to have their characters come to different conclusions based on their lives and family's history making it far more complicated but compelling in the end.
Macon Blair's performance as Dwight was fantastic as he brings out this vulnerability in someone we shouldn't like. He's driven by revenge and does some questionable things but also shows a limit in his assault. The other actors were really good as well. I wish I could comment more on that but Macon Blair's character was the main focus and everyone else was in his shadow. Well, I will say Devin Ratray did a great job and stole a couple of scenes he was in.
The production side was equally fantastic. I said it earlier in this review but there are trappings of a neo-noir story structure but it shows in the filmmaking. Rich shadows, tight camera work, and saturation of colors fill the scene. Most of the shots felt deliberate to help maximize story potential. The special effects used were visceral, one scene I had to rewatch a couple of times because of how it looked.
While I would still recommend this film to anyone, there are a few caveats. It's a slow burn and while that didn't lessen my enjoyment, others find the film hard to sit through. There are questionable choices characters make that feel like they should've learned early on. Finally, the ending may be decisive to some and may even feel flat. I admit this openly because you should be able to be critical of something you love just as much as what you don't like. I can't wait to have a movie night to show this to my friends. Hopefully, it goes over better than that time I showed them "Antichrist." 8 / 10, closer to a 9 than a 7.
The Midnight Sky (2020)
An Optimistic "The Road" crossed with "Gravity"
Santa Clooney delivers his first film since 2016 and I wish it was better. I wish I could rip this film apart or praise it for 500 words but in the end, it comes down to the following; it's two stories mashed together that have been done before and, quite frankly, done better separately. (see the title of this review).
The actors were serviceable in their respective roles with no stand out performance. Even George "Santa Roadwarrior" Clooney's portrayal of a cancer patient was just lackluster, plus it didn't help when he was able to do activities that no one in his state could do unless they're Jigsaw of course.
The story was predictable, with cliche dialogue and character progression. It felt like you could follow the beat of the film while playing on your phone. Even though I called it optimistic the ending doesn't really feel like a happy one. Not spoiling anything, it doesn't leave you with a, "Well, what will they do now?" feeling that films like "Children of Men" and "The Road" leave you with, it just feels, "Well, we better get back to work."
Honestly, all of this sucks because the film is beautiful. The space scenes were fantastic with really good CGI. The arctic scenes were done well and captured the feeling of being trapped on a sea of ice; although AMC's "The Terror" did it better.
This movie honestly needed to choose a story and stick with it. Instead, we got the "meh" of both worlds for almost 2 hours. If you're a fan of George Clooney or Felicity Jones or just a fan of sci-fi it may be worth it, but I probably will not watch this again.
Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)
A Steins;Gate·esque Indie Film
Love me some Aubrey Plaza, love me Mark Duplass. This movie, however, I can only like.
The film centers around Darius (Plaza) and Kenneth's (Duplass) growing relationship as he possibly builds a time machine. Thankfully, this isn't a hard science fiction story, and the time-traveling aspects are pushed to the back of the narrative which is good because it would have slowed the film down. But the "B plot" of Jake Johnson and Karen Soni doesn't really mesh with the rest of the film. This should've been Darius & Kenneth's story from front to back but we have interjections of the others that just felt fillery.
Acting-wise, though, everyone was serviceable, no one tried to chew the background or outshine anyone else. Plaza & Duplass performances were subdued and had pretty good chemistry together. While the "B Plot" didn't go anywhere, Johnson & Soni were also good and worked well against each other.
The filmmaking was the standard indie affair. Lots of wide angles shots and minimum set pieces. Director Colin Trevorrow doesn't do anything outstanding.
I feel bad for not liking this movie more but it didn't grab me. The story isn't overly complicated, everything else is just serviceable. It really felt like someone took the anime "Steins;Gate" and tried to make an indie film off the main hook. If you're a fan of any of the main actors you'll like this film. If you don't care about any of that and expect a hard science fiction about time travel you might as well skip this.
The One I Love (2014)
The One I Love **Mild Spoilers**
This film has been on my Netflix watchlist for a year or so, and finally out of things to watch I popped it on. No hyping myself up for this, no further research, just a random movie that sounded interesting and has Mark Duplass in it. What I got was a surprisingly well-made film for what felt like a "bottle episode" production. One main set piece with 2 very good actors playing off each. Elisabeth Moss and Mark Duplass have great chemistry, even in scenes where they are supposed to be at each other's throats. What surprised me more was how they were able to convey acting the same characters, only more idealized versions.
The story is pretty good for what amounts to a Twilight Zone extended episode, which I know sounds like a backhanded compliment. However, once you are fully invested in the story and the rules the writer has set, you can hear that eerie opening music and Rod Serling welcoming you. From what I read after watching the film there was a 50-page outline of the story but the dialog was mostly improvised. You really can't tell because Moss and Duplass are selling this messed up married couple. Outside of one egregious muck up one of the characters made, a lot of the fights feel like ones I've had with my wife.
Equally impressive was the shots where they had doubles in the frame and it still looked to be handheld over a steady camera. Of course, this could've been achieved in post but still impressive nonetheless. The camera work highlights the difference between the main house and guest house which helps to cut down on the confusion later on in the movie.
If I had to nitpick aspects of the story, though, one would be shrugging off the main twist to the film. While I get it would bog down the story, and you would have to start answering a lot of questions the film leaves open, a little more clarity would've helped, if not more defined rules. The next would be close to the end the story felt like it was dragging some.
However, those flaws didn't ruin my overall enjoyment of the film. I can't wait to check out other films made by the director and writer (Charlie McDowell and Justin Lader respectfully) and I highly recommend this movie. 8 out 10, closer to a 9 than a 7 if that helps.