THREE FILMS - IN THE HEART OF THE SEA, HE NEVER DIED, THE HATEFUL EIGHT

IN THE HEART OF THE SEA

Moby Dick is in my opinion one of the greatest novels in American literature. I say that not only as a reader but also having taught it in the classroom as a high school literature teacher. This movie recounts the events of the Essex a whaling ship sank by a giant whale and its survivors who were then adrift at sea. This is all told in flashback to Moby Dick author Herman Melville (researching Moby prior to writing it) who is interviewing one of the last survivors, a now middle aged man who was a cabin boy on the doomed ship. Director Ron Howard has a tendency to tell stories in the broadest most general strokes reducing complex people and stories to easy plot points and stereotypes. However, this bracing adventure yarn is fit for this type of direction. Chris Hemsworth (Thor in the current Marvel films) is the most solid and chiseled of action heroes. Only negative part of this otherwise engrossing and interesting tale is the CGI whale which looked completely phony ( compare it to the model whale in the 1956 version of Moby Dick) as well as the greenscreen ocean in general. Still, two hours plus went by like nothing. An interesting scene - Maybe the most genteel declaration of cannibalism I've ever seen in a film. Rather than actually show it, the grown up cabin boy describes in the present day what it involves which actually makes it all the more riveting and tense.

HE NEVER DIED

This is a bad film but one that is highly enjoyable because it is cheesy and laughable but also has a surprisingly good ending. Henry Rollins, who showed more emotion when fronting Black Flag and the Rollins Band, is the most wooden of actors even when breaking out of his usual routine of grunts and shrugs and attempting to show anger. Here he is an immortal being who must take human flesh from time to time to avoid giving into his bloodlust. The plot involves something to do with him finding out he has a daughter and becoming the target of local gangsters (headed by Steven Ogg, Trevor of GTA fame). Low budgeted and looks it. I found the ending which tells who Rollins really is and why he is living this way to be satisfying and the best part of the film. If they ever bring back Mystery Science Theatre 3000, this would be a good movie for them to mock.
 

THE HATEFUL EIGHT

I have never been a fan of Quentin Tarantino. His films are either a complete collection of scenes "borrowed" from other films or hollow, substance free talkathons or a combination of both. THE HATEFUL EIGHT is the latter. Almost three hours in length, the films spends nearly half of its time introducing the characters. Here Kurt Russell transporting fugitive Jennifer Jason Leigh picks up fellow bounty hunter Samuel Jackson and a sheriff (by his own description). A snowstorm forces them to seek shelter in a local resthouse in the middle of nowhere in Wyoming. Other people also trapped in the resthouse may be criminal associates of Leigh. Dull as much as it is interesting and overly impressed with its own dialogue and set-up (both Tarantino trademarks). Tarantino also borrows from himself as the end reminded me slightly of RESERVOIR DOGS, Tarantino's least objectionable film. 

 

THE REVENANT

Director Alejandro Innaritu's follow-up to BIRDMAN (a film I really liked) is not perfect although it is big and entertaining full of breathtaking cinematography and action scenes.

What I liked - There are a number of memorable images - the 15 minute battle shot in frenetic bursts and by a spinning out of control camera between Indians and a hunting party of soldiers and scouts that opens the film, Leonardo DiCaprio being brutally attacked by a bear not once but twice, DiCaprio being sucked down some rapids as he tries to escape from Indians, DiCaprio riding his horse off a cliff into the trees below then disemboweling the dead horse and crawling inside to stay warm, the bloody knife and tomahawk fight at the end with the snow staining red....The panoramic camera angles make the best use of the breathtaking natural beauty....Tom Hardy steals the show as the villainous Fitzgerald and is deserving of a Best Supporting Actor nomination.

What I didn't like - I don't hate Leonardo DiCaprio. He's not my favorite actor but he generally picks good films to star in. I just feel he's miscast here. He doesn't look the part of a stoic supertough scout who could live off the land. Heck, he can't even grow a proper beard....The sub-plot about mistreatment of Native Canadians didn't detract from the overall story but neither did it add a lot - Felt like that should have been a different film....THE REVENANT is two and a half hours long and sometimes felt like it. In particular, I could have done without the two lengthy fever dream sequences. They add nothing to the story and are not particularly creative in how they're shot.

I would still recommend this film because it's so beautifully shot and because the action scenes are gripping and sometimes disturbing. However, it could have been better with a few adjustments (like a more fitting actor in the lead role and edited slightly).

          

THE LOBSTER

The dystopian set-up of THE LOBSTER is an original one - A world, maybe in the future (although it doesn't look futuristic) or maybe an alternate reality, where people who find themselves single must report to a hotel in the country where they have 30 days to find a partner or be transformed into the animal of their choice.  While they are staying in the hotel, the single people can earn extra days of life by helping hunt down "loners"  people who have chosen to remain single and now live in a nearby forest where they commit acts of rebellion against the state.

The hero is played by Colin Farrell whose wife leaves him at the beginning of the film and so he must report to the hotel (bringing along his brother who was there a few years before and was unable to find anybody and is now a dog) where he has a series of adventures and mild SPOILER ends up joining the loners about halfway through the film.

At first I was bit off put by both the use of language and the dialogue.  Characters speak very directly without any trace of irony or humor.  This is done utilizing the Brechtian technique of distancing so as to make it impossible to totally identify with any of the characters.  However, as the film went on and we saw what a different world this is, it all made a kind of sense.

I enjoyed THE LOBSTER.  One of its key strengths is a lot it is actually very funny.  The deadpan humor is expertly written.  The clever idea that is the film's bedrock is only added onto and built up during the narrative.   

What I felt the film was showing was a world where coupling is how the government controls the lives of its citizens (police ask people in public who are alone to show their marriage certificates) not unlike 1984 with its monitoring of all aspects of citizen's lives or BRAVE NEW WORLD with too much sex, drugs, everything destroying the family unit but having the same effect of making people easy to control.

People in this film are forced to base their relationships on trivial similarities such as both being near-sighted or limping or having nice hair.

A slight SPOILER but I believe that in fact people are not turned into animals.  We are never really shown or explained to how this happens but a brainwashed population believes it.  Most likely they are just killed.

I've seen two of Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos' other films DOGTOOTH and ALPS.  They used many of the same odd techniques (speech patterns, weird relations, strange settings) but this is his first English language film and his best so far.  I hope his next film is equally imaginative and thought provoking.    

 

     

FIVE FILMS - THE WAVE, TAG, SCOUTS GUIDE TO THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE, #HORROR, ASMODEUS

THE WAVE

This Norwegian disaster movie features a lot of standard plot details of the genre - Foreshadowing through various warning signs, a hero who is not believed at first about what is to come, fear of disturbing the local tourist industry, family separated during the actual event, finding each other after it is over. The disaster here is an avalanche that creates a massive tsunami in a fjord. It's a solid thriller and a very traditional disaster film- something I haven't seen in awhile. Good entertainment. I wish there had been more scenes of the giant wave- That part is very quick. 

 
TAG

Director Sion Sono's prolificness is matched only by his weirdness. This film whose narrative style reminded me of David Lynch features a schoolgirl who transforms into a bride about to get married and then a marathon runner all the while dodging a killer wind that cuts people in half, homicidal well armed school teachers, and a man wearing a pigs head as a mask. In the end, I'm not sure what it was all about despite an attempted explanation at the end. Something about the nature of reality and fiction. I liked the visuals and it was a stimulating movie as you try to figure out what is going on. This made up for the emptiness at the heart of art without meaning. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it but I did enjoy it on a purely entertainment level (which is perhaps not what the director intended) 

 
SCOUTS GUIDE TO THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE

Filled with gross out jokes, this paint by numbers zombie horror flick at least gives us a slight variation on the typical undead. Here the infected are the result of a bio-weapon accidentally released from a lab. There are fast zombies and also animal zombies. The three teenage cub scout heroes team up with a stripper. Fast paced, filled with gory gags ( this is more of a comedy than a horror/comedy). The best part is the always reliable David Koechner as a scoutmaster with a Dolly Parton fixation. Entertaining but not memorable. 

 
#HORROR

Not sure what this film was about. The only real horror parts are at the very beginning and at the very end. The rest is teenage mean girls carrying out teenage mean girl behavior with some artistic flourishes particularly in the social media game the characters play throughout. Looks nice but ultimately not very scary. There's message in there too about mean girls and social media but it is lost in the muddle.

ASMODEUS

Low Budget talky limp horror about a serial killer loose in a halfway house for female convicts. Spends a lot of time building up the character's personalities and back histories which I liked but the actual horror part is not particularly well directed and the narrative is wildly uneven.

FOUR FILMS - LISTEN TO ME MARLON, DEEP DARK, EVEREST, CONDEMNED

LISTEN TO ME MARLON

Documentary on Marlon Brando whose narrative tool is mostly audio tapes Brando made where he discusses his life and feelings in full. This is intercut with iconic scenes from his films and interviews he did. I loved it but I am a Brandophile and that is who this film is largely aimed at. It is loosely chronological as Brando discusses his early years, his troubled relationships with his parents (especially his dad), his introduction to acting and first bushes with fame, his most famous roles, his political activism, Tahiti, his son killing his daughter's boyfriend etc. Brando is at his most eloquent when he philosophizes. At the point where he made these tapes he understood what an illusion his life is and it is amazing to hear him talk so negatively about acting which he revolutionized. The filmmaker does a very good job of keeping the flow interesting through good use of stock footage and Brando highlights. A must for Brandophiles and I would say also entertaining for anyone else.  

                                             

DEEP DARK

Some interesting visuals and general weirdness keep this film slightly interesting. The human blood donating mobile for example. However, the main story of a failed artist who gets guidance from a creepy female voice in a hole in the wall of his apartment moves is too slow and uneventful to hold the attention for long. Not really much happens until the very end and then the gory violence feels forced.
      

EVEREST

For what I'm assuming is a big budget film with lots of name stars based on well known true story and a successful book about this incident, this is a surprisingly uninvolving, sloppily made film. For one thing, many of the action scenes which occur during heavy snowfall make it impossible to tell the identities of the characters. This ruins the set-up of each character's backstory earlier in the film and all the effort in getting the audience to care about them. Dull and confusing, a total waste of a large budget. 

 

CONDEMNED

One of the sub-genres that has proliferated in the last decade or so with REC, THE HORDE and others is that of people trapped in a building or other enclosed space with people infected with some kind of zombie or otherwise homicidal virus. This film is about squatters in a rundown building and adds nothing except truly grotesque scenes of BDSM, pee drinking, etc in the interests of establishing "character". A movie that should be avoided at all costs.

SIX FILMS - THE END OF THE TOUR, BONE TOMAHAWK, THE MARTIAN, HOWL, THE HALLOW, SUSPENSION

THE END OF THE TOUR

The irony is while I am not a fan AT ALL of David Foster Wallace's writing (Self involved babble, Thomas Pynchon without a good editor), this is a very good movie. What I like most about it is it primarily consists of conversation and it's good conversation (Of course it's based on a real interview that was documented on cassette). Feels like genuine discourse not some Hollywood screenwriter's version of how intelligent people talk. I watched the real Wallace on You Tube after seeing this film and Jason Segal has really got him down - it's uncanny. If anything, the film Wallace is more likable less affected and pretentious than real life Wallace. Jesse Eisenberg is annoying and weaselly as usual but it totally fits the role here. 

 

BONE TOMAHAWK

What makes this quirky horror western different is its strange freeform dialogue and diffident pacing technique. The movie takes itS time to reach the violent conclusion. Cannibal inbred troglodytes kidnap Patrick Wilson's wife and others. Wilson (nursing a broken leg), Kurt Russell (as the local sheriff), Richard Jenkins (as an elderly deputy), and Matthew Fox (as a cool gunfighter) go after them. Jenkins in particular is memorable - His conversations about reading in the bathtub and a flea circus are inspired scenes. Good performances, excellent script, unexpectedly eccentric characters. Worth seeing.

 
THE MARTIAN

Keeping intact the credible science and detail of the book, this movie is a thinking man's action thriller, as much science fact as science fiction. At times, it reminds me of a Discovery channel space show. My only complaint is that there are moments that feel padded out - Cutting out 20 minutes or so would have made it a leaner, tenser thriller. Large number of good actors and actresses featured in supporting roles.

HOWL

There is not that much you can do with werewolves other than differ the location of where one encounters them. Here a commuter train outside London that has broken down is beset by not one werewolf SPOILER but a whole pack. The director takes some time to establish all the stereotypes - Schlubby hero who saves the day, female co-worker the hero has a crush on, self-centered rich ahole, old couple, brainy Asian. The werewolves themselves have an imaginative look and the scares and action scenes are solid. Decent and it sets up the horror conflict scenes well. 

 

THE HALLOW

Average creature horror film with two things going for it - 1.) Moving quickly into the horror without much build-up (Most of the action takes place in one night) 2.) Good makeup effects....The creatures do indeed look icky. These two plus points however are not enough to save this film from mediocrity.

SUSPENSION

Truly mundane slasher thriller that bets the whole narrative on a surprise ending that is visible from a 100 miles away. The heroine turns in a decent performance and there's plenty of bright red blood which are the only good things I can say about this film.

FIVE FILMS - THE SAND, THE FINAL GIRLS, TALES OF HALLOWEEN, KNOCK KNOCK, THE GREEN INFERNO

THE SAND

BLOOD BEACH is one of my favorite all time B horror movies with the main reason the inventive monster that lives under the sand and kills and eats people. THE SAND has a different location and plot but mines much of the same territory. This is pretty good thriller with a bunch of hungover college students stuck on a beach with a hungry something that will eat them the moment they touch the sand. Well directed, well paced, excellent set-up of suspenseful scenes. Only complaint cheap CGI effects but they don't get in the way too much

THE FINAL GIRLS

Clever, funny, and meta to the bone. Teenagers find themselves trapped in a famous slasher film starring one of the main teen's mothers who has died in real life. Knows the in and outs of slasher mythology enough that this feels like a primer on the genre. My only criticism is spends so much time talking and on set-up, I wish there were more scary scenes and action. Love the faux trailer at the beginning and the twist at the ends. A movie made by people who really know slasher films. 

 

TALES OF HALLOWEEN

The set-up here is ten short horror stories by ten different directors about Halloween. Most of them don't have much in the way of surprise endings which should be a given for horror anthologies. My two favorites were Trick and The Night Billy Raised Hell both of which balance humor, gore, and shocks into ten minutes or so. The rest of the stories had some thrilling moments but either had a flat premise or were not very artfully told or both. 

 

KNOCK, KNOCK

What was the point of this film exactly? There is no explanation at the end and what the two female antagonists do to home alone married Keanu Reeves isn't particularly sadistic or creative. The most entertaining part of this Eli Roth film is where Reaves finally loses it and tells the girls what he thinks of them. Reaves is such a bad actor, the lack of conviction in that scene is very amusing. This is apparently a remake of an obscure 1970's film and also has echoes of FUNNY GAMES but it is all forgettable and meaningless. Two positives - The glossy look suits the subject matter and Ana De Armas and Lorenza Izzo are both suitably convincing as the menacing young females.

THE GREEN INFERNO

It's a twofer for Eli Roth. Combining a semi-remake of CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST with a weird take on environmental activism might have looked good non paper but it is a bloody mess (literally). No tension, not much story, only gross man eating man violence. Lorenza Izzo, who was also in KNOCK KNOCK and is Roth's wife in real life, is a decent enough heroine which is the only good thing I can say about this film.

FIVE FILMS - MANSON FAMILY VACATION, DEATHGASM, VYCHISLITEL, I'LL BE ME, THE HIVE

MANSON FAMILY VACATION

A surprisingly warm family drama given the Charles Manson hook. Two brothers, one a biological son played by Jay Duplass who is successful attorney with a wife a child and a house, the other played by Linas Phillips adopted as a boy who is now a drifter visit sites associated with Charles Manson suggested by the adopted brother culminating in a trip to the desert and a predictable revelation about his paternity. The relationship between the brothers is patiently revealed and written in such a natural fashion you don't notice the exposition. Both Duplass and Phillips are excellent in their respective roles. A unique film that actually has a pretty traditional underpinning about taking family for granted and a reasonable amount of dry humor to boot. Recommended. 

                                           

DEATHGASM

2015 is turning into the year of the horror comedy. This film from New Zealand about a loser metalhead teenager who accidentally summons demons while performing a cursed piece of music made ma laugh out loud a number of times which is high prase indeed as the number of public laughs produced is how I judge comedies. The excessive gore and rampaging demons of the second half are a bit much and I got a bit tired of it but overall amusing. Two best bits - A satanist tells his minions they should have put a tarp down when cutting off a head as they ruined his rugs and an argument over if the demon's hour takes into account daylight savings time. 

 

VYCHISLITEL (Alternate English Titles - TITANIUM and CALCULATOR)

This Russian sci-fi tale of convicts on an alien planet facing hostile lifeforms is justified for me by the thought put into the creatures which are all variations on underground man-eating plants. There is enough excitement and drama coupled with the authentic looking alien planet which is in the realm of believability to make this slightly above average. Also a dubbed Vinnie Jones in a Vinnie Jones type thug role. 

 
I'LL BE ME

More of a PSA on Alzheimer's Disease than a reflection on the life and career of Glen Campbell who suffers from the disease. There is plenty of good music but we also get a lot of warts and all scenes of how difficult it is to struggle with is illness (the numbers of those afflicted with Alzheimer's are increasing). Campbell's struggle against the inevitable is deeply moving. My only criticism is instead of just a five minute montage on Campbell's music, TV, and film career, perhaps they could have made this segment at the beginning of the film slightly longer. 

THE HIVE

I appreciated what the people making this film were trying to do and that they'd clearly thought out the whole story but they borrowed from so many places (most noticeably MEMENTO and THE EVIL DEAD) it's hard to really praise them. The plot is about a virus that creates a hive mind among those who get it transforming them into black sludge vomiting zombies One one hand, a well-made movie that takes time to develop its characters. On the other hand, not really very scary and as I said we've seen it all before.

A POETRY ANNOUNCEMENT

Happy to say my poem JOAN OF ARC KILLED BY DRONES is included in the October issue of the art and poetry e-zine The Bitchin' Kitsch - It appears on Page 30

http://www.talbot-heindl.com/oct2015

My recitation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLzKJKWXNsA

THE VISIT

It's been awhile since M Night Shyamalan has made a film like those that initially brought him fame - THE SIXTH SENSE, UNBREAKABLE, THE VILLAGE. Essentially they are LIKE well-constructed jokes wherein the punchline is everything but you don't need to be told it more than once.

THE VISIT definitely falls into this category with a terrific twist and plenty of scary foreshadowing. This is the best film he's made in a long time but as I said once the surprise is over that's it.

Two children visit their estranged grandparents while their mother goes on a cruise with her new beau. They have never met their grandparents before and we see through their eyes the elderly couple's weird behavior which gradually escalates to its horror movie conclusion over the length of a week.

Shyamalan has joined the ever growing list of filmmakers using found footage as the vehicle for telling a story. It does make sense in the context of the story here as the granddaughter is an aspiring filmmaker and documents all that is going on. It also is a good storytelling method as it prevents the audience from finding out too much and moving at the same rate of speed of knowledge as the characters in the film.

Shyamalan's best film is UNBREAKABLE as it was an example of a filmmaker who totally understands the comic book narrative flow and style and also has the best Shyamalan surprise ending. THE VISIT is not on the level of that film but easily as good as the best of his other films.

The performances by Peter McRobbi and Deanna Dunagan as the grandparents are really creepy and unsettling and make perfect sense once you know the twist .

Overall a strong horror movie with plenty of jump scares and excellent pacing.

Here is a post from 2008 I wrote about Shyamalan

https://rajdronamraju.wordpress.com/2008/07/19/unrealistic-expectations-and-the-films-of-m-night-shyamalan/

 

THREE FILMS - LAST SHIFT, COOTIES, HELLIONS

LAST SHIFT

Rare to see a horror movie these days that is this genuinely scary and it is successful at being scary because it is very focused, relentless in piling on one nailbiting scene and shock scare after another, and takes place at one location (The set is perfect) - A police station the night before it closes for good. A rookie officer (Juliana Harkavy) has been assigned to play watchman by herself but little does she know the station is haunted by the ghosts of a Charles Manson like cult leader and a couple of his followers who committed suicide while in custody one year earlier. All the scares here are legitimate and might be something as simple as a chair that moves by itself or a hideously mutilated ghost-corpse. The end is a bit of a mind screw and I dug it. Anthony DiBlasi, the director, previously made the films DREAD and CASSADAGA but this is much much better. Maybe the best horror movie I've seen this year.

COOTIES

Horror comedies are difficult to pull off as they often seem like an uneasy mix of two things that don't go well together but this film does a good job I think because it is primarily a comedy. One can ignore the gruesome violence and bloody gore because of the large number of jokes, hilarious dialogue, and the characters in particular the angry right wing Christian teacher, the ridiculously perverse and socially awkward science teacher, and the anal retentive fake cool vice principal. There's even couple Lord of the Rings jokes (Elijah Wood is the main star). Not a masterpiece of the genre, just good gory fun.

HELLIONS

Crappy film in love with its bargain basement psychedelic visuals and containing a muddled pro life message. Had no idea what the plot was about and by the end I didn't care. The first twenty minutes made me think it was going to be yet another variation on THE STRANGERS and it would have been better off for everyone if it had gone in that direction.

 

FIVE FILMS - THE EDITOR, DARK WAS THE NIGHT, SOME KIND OF HATE, FELT, THE OVERNIGHT

THE EDITOR

This overdone Giallo parody (and I think that word fits better here than homage) is filled with gore, nudity, bad jokes and bad dubbing. It is energetic, highly stylized, and painstakingly aimed for a 70's Italian grindhouse look. The verdict is it's very entertaining (although all logic goes out the window at the end) but might have been more entertaining if they dialed it down a bit. It's almost too much at times. There is such a thing in film making as trying too hard.

                                              

DARK WAS THE NIGHT

Mature, old fashioned creature feature that errs on the side of caution too much by taking very long time to reveal the monster and spending much of the rest of the time on character development. The creature is decent looking, a combination of CGI and a man in a costume. The tension is diluted by too much time spent on human drama. There should have been more attacks by the monster in the beginning. I salute what the filmmaker is doing but the exciting last 20 minutes doesn't make up for the dullness of earlier parts. 

SOME KIND OF HATE

The beginning feels like a student film so by the numbers predictable and poorly shot it is however once the action turns from a bullied teen who is sent to a camp where he finds further bullying to the vengeful spirit of a teenage girl he accidentally summons things improve. The spirit's gross, bloody,creepy look coupled with the truly painful way it kills people (cuts itself with a razor and the wounds appear on the intended target) is the big draw. In that way it reminds me of 80's slasher films with the Freddys and Jasons as big stars although everything else about this film is poor. I would like to see Moira the ghost get a sequel where she kills more kids but hopefully with a higher budget.
 

FELT

Feminist agit-prop that is quirky enough to be interesting but two points 1.) The main character is deeply annoying and weird, so much in fact that any sympathy one might feel for her condition is undercut by this 2.) The viewer might have had a deeper understanding of her final violent act if the script had revealed what exactly had happened to her rather than just general statements complaining about male patriarchy and rape culture. I did like the film's original look and the heroine's artistic self-created environment but a lot of it was just uncomfortable (which was probably the point) and the end violence horror-movie style, what leads to it, as I mentioned before, is not set-up enough in advance.

                                                   

THE OVERNIGHT

Combining hipster affectations with 1970's type swinging couples plot developments and throwing in SNL type humor, this film wanders in and out of interest throwing in the occasional nude scene or gross joke to keep the audience's attention. Not in any way memorable. The ending was a cop-out.

                                                                                                                                                  

SIX FILMS - TURBO KID, BAIT, QUEEN OF EARTH, COP CAR, TALE OF TALES, Z FOR ZACHARIAH

TURBO KID

This film works on so many levels - As a parody of 80's low budget horror/sci fi films complete with the theme music, as horror film with ridiculous gore, as comedy with funny characters and absurd scenes and characters, and as just a good grade z movie adventure that is great fun. So many cool details fill the screen - Burning videotapes for heat, the great Michael Ironside as the main villain, the crazy robot Apple, the nod to SOYLENT GREEN, their bikes, and the clothes they wear - A lot of leftover football jerseys!

BAIT

This tough taut thriller balances its two best parts ( 1.) Jonathan Slinger, perfectly written for, perfectly performed as the villain Jeremy - scary because he's controlled and knows when to explode 2.) The last 20 minute fight scene which is violent, bloody, absurd, and considering what we've just seen cathartic) with the big question the audience is forced to ask - Why didn't they go to the police sooner and if there weren't comfortable with the police in that town why didn't they go to another town's PD? I liked this film for its tough people speaking tough dialogue, shocking violence and for Slinger's performance but that question bothered me.

QUEEN OF EARTH

The end is open to interpretation but I find this story of two frenemeies whose roles reverse themselves to be Bergmanesque in its dissection of relationships. However, here the characters are not restrained or cold. It doesn't take much to get them giving vent to what irritates them and responding in kind to thinly veiled insults. The setting is one of the friend's parent's cabin. The other friend has recently lost her father to suicide and her boyfriend also left her. The year before the shoe was on the other foot. This brings to mind the films of Neil LaBute as well in the gritted teeth brutally honest exchanges. Almost a horror film at times, I put aside the weird parts that didn't click in favor of the personal exchanges between the two lead actresses.  The ending is open to interpretation. 

COP CAR

Spare simple thriller that further reinforces something I believe which is that Kevin Bacon with his weasely face, beady eyes, and tight frame makes a better villain than a hero. Two kids come across a police car in the woods with the keys inside and go for a joyride. Bacon, a corrupt murderous sheriff, comes back to find his car (with something incriminating in the trunk) gone. Short, punchy, and lean - Could have added in another ten or fifteen minutes of narrative to better explain events. I did like how the kids talked to each other - The pre-pubescent language of young boys felt totally real here. This is something movies often have a hard time with.

   

TALE OF TALES

Consisting of three Italian fables by writer Giambattista Basile with extraordinary visuals and epic storylines. It is an entertaining film with a children's story like feel to it(despite the adult scenes). Horror and fantasy elements are balanced throughout. I was left a little cold at the end. I'm not sure why perhaps it was among all the big fantastic effects, the director doesn't really connect to the characters. Still worth seeing though.

                                                


Z FOR ZACHARIAH

Ruining the plot of this very good YA novel about a female survivor of an apocalypse by adding a third male character and sex and a romantic triangle is inexcusable. The end result is dumb, illogical, and by cutting up the plot with new and unnecessary elements, they've made a complete mess out of this story.

WES CRAVEN RIP

Wes Craven created the sub-genre of torture porn with his first film THE LAST HOUSE ON LEFT, he revitalized the slasher sub-genre with SCREAM, he created an iconic figure in Freddy Krueger, he also helped create the city people terrorized by murderous hillbilly sub-genre with THE HILLS HAVE EYES. He made a decent comic book flick in SWAMP THING and also made the enjoyable horror cult films DEADLY FRIEND and THE PEOPLE NEXT DOOR.

Craven knew how to frame a scary scene so the shock came at exactly the right time. He was also a genius at pacing - how to properly plan a horror movie so there are not too many minutes of exposition in a row diluting the scares.

THE LAST HOUSE ON LEFT is an example of something else he excelled at- Atmosphere.   It's a genuinely unpleasant film but there is a twisted artistry there. The feeling is a kind of existential helplessness when confronted with evil. No need for jump scares, the realm the film exists in is hellish on its own. Craven also introduced a handling of gory wild violence that was very matter of fact and whose effect is still being felt today.

He understood the commercial potential of the modern horror film as good or better than any modern horror movie director.

Most interesting Craven trivia - he directed porno films before he got into film directing.

LOVE AND MERCY

LOVE AND MERCY, a flick about the travails and artistry and in a sense comeback of The Beach Boy's founder Brian Wilson, is a good solid story told in an interesting way.

The film jumps back and forth between young Brian in the mid 1960's during the recording of PET SOUNDS showing the different pressures put on him and his deteriorating mental state and Brian in the 1980's under the control of evil psychiatrist/guardian Dr Eugene Landy and his meeting his second wife Marilyn Ledbetter who helps him escape Landy's clutches and get back on track.

Paul Dano is very good as the 60's Brian as he looks a bit like him. As the 80's Brian, John Cusack has down the twitches and inflections of a man struggling with mental illness but looks nothing like Wilson.

Both actors almost have the movie stolen from them by Paul Giamatti's show stopping turn as Landy. He is often (within the same scene) manipulative, charming, narcissistic, scary. A Best Supporting Actor nomination should have gone his way for this. Elizabeth Banks also does an adequate job as Ledbetter helped by her astonishingly perfect good looks.

I also really liked how this film dealt with the onset of mental illness. The scenes where Dano begins to lose control and hear voices is handled subtlety and with a subdued drama at first that makes the impact more powerful when everything explodes.

The studio scenes wherein they are putting together PET SOUNDS have enough music nerd minutia that it should satisfy the Wilsonphile.

My only complaint about this film is how historically accurate it is 1.) While Marilyn Ledbetter did lay a part in Brian's rejuvenation, my recollection from reading different bios is that it was Carl Wilson who actually was the one who led the charge against Landy and not because Marilyn prodded him 2.) While Mike Love does come across a jerk, every one who was witness to these times and Love in general has cast as him as the biggest asshole of all time which is common knowledge in pop culture. It's a Love lite - perhaps he had some say on the movie's content?

In any event, good film especially for Brian Wilson fans.

HOW TERRIBLE ARE ANT-MAN AND FANTASTIC FOUR?

ANT-MAN is not very good. It's like a bag of cheetos - some taste going down, an unpleasant residue left behind, and in an hour you've completely forgotten about it and are hungry again.

Henry Pym is old (and played by Michael Douglas), Ant Man is someone else, and the villain is Yellowjacket (who in the comics is just another persona of Henry Pym once he stops being Ant Man and Giant Man). Henry Pym is an important character in the Marvel Universe especially as part of the Avengers. The story arc wherein he was framed by Egghead and went to prison and was divorced by his wife the Wasp is one of the greatest in Avengers history. It would have made sense to introduce him in the last Avengers film especially since Ultron, the villain of the most recent Avengers film, is his creation in the comic.

Here the story they've come up with is not weighty enough to carry a film. Paul Rudd is beyond irritating (The only film I 've ever liked him in is ANCHORMAN and almost anyone could have played that role) and like most comic book origin movies nothing really happens until the end.  A lot of padded out backstory composed of equal parts cardboard exposition, lazy sentimentality until then

So that's the verdict a younger Hank Pym should have been introduced with the Wasp in The Avengers series. No need for a separate movie and especially not this one. Also the costumes look terrible and the special effects get numbing after awhile.

However, ANT-MAN looks like LA DOLCE VITA compared with the latest FANTASTIC FOUR film which aside from its complete lack of connection to any of the four's comic book history is just a terrible movie, maybe one of the worst I've ever seen. Boring, sloppy, uninteresting, poorly acted, poorly paced....I honestly can't say even one good word about it other than it's over.

Their new origin story which now involves alternate universes and all manner of other Sci Fi tropes is an uninteresting mess and the casting? An African American Human Torch? Well okay I guess. Sue Storm is a badly dyed blonde redhead? Ben Grimm, The Thing, is played by the dancing boy from BILLY ELLIOTT? Reed Richards looks nothing like Mr Fantastic – More like Robert Carradine’s character Lewis Skolnick from REVENGE OF THE NERDS. The worst is what they have done to Dr Doom. He appears for ten minutes at the end (in Doom form, the rest of the time he is a sullen nerd) and retains nothing of his iconic super villain status from the comics. Let’s make a rule – You have to know something about comics to make movies about them featuring their characters..

Hopefully, there won't be a sequel.

What's frustrating is I do think it is possible to make a good Fantastic Four film adaptation - just follow the comic book. The 2005 film was not bad. Maybe it would be better as a TV series?

FOUR FILMS - ATTACK ON TITAN, I AM CHRIS FARLEY, HARBINGER DOWN, EXTINCTION

ATTACK ON TITAN

First a Japanese manga then an animated series now a two part movie (the second part comes out in September). While they have compressed what is quite a long, confusing story into a more manageable narrative, they have not sacrified anything. This is an exciting, visually inventive often times gross walking cartoon about the last survivors of Earth fighting against giant human cannibals with extra wide mouths and no genitals. I enjoyed this adaptation tremendously even if I felt no connection to any of the characters. The special effects are awesome. Perhaps I would feel differently if I was into the original manga or cartoon.

                                                  

I AM CHRIS FARLEY

This documentary really tries hard to strike a balance between loving remembrances of Farley as a good kid whose poor self image was essentially taken advantage of by fame and Farley's predisposition to overindulgence and addiction. We get a clear picture of his comic roots and influences and how talented he truly was as well as his family life. At times, I feel this film is too cautious (considering they had access to almost all of Farley's family). I don't need lurid details but it would have been clearer to the audience to show exactly where some of Farley's demons came from. Still fun and nostalgic if sad with all the great SNL/TOMMY BOY etc. clips.

HARBINGER DOWN

I recall seeing when this film was being advertised on kickstarter for donations to finish it. What they had completed looked like a total THING rip-off with all the transformations. The final product is exactly that - THE THING set on a fishing boat trapped in ice although this monster doesn't mimic people. It takes over them and transforms them. Scene after scene of grotesque shape shifting. Not very good unless you like a lot of FX monstrosities. A plus - The always reliable Lance Henricksen chewing up the scenery.

                                       

EXTINCTION

28 Days Later zombie movie hybrid that is more interested in the human drama side of things. Two brothers (one played by Matthew Fox of LOST) who don't speak but share a remote facility with a little girl one takes care of in the wake of an epidemic a number of years before are forced to join together when the monsters find them. Jumps back and forth from past and future to show us the origin of their dispute. I appreciate their effort in trying to tell a different type of story but this is overlong and the monsters have the same tired derivative look. Surely one can think of a different way to show these type of creatures by this point.