THREE FILMS - THE LAZARUS EFFECT, WELCOME TO ME, THE EVE

THE LAZARUS EFFECT

This machine-like thriller leaves no fat in its narrative.  Introducing the important characters with precision and the serum they are working on which brings the dead back to life.  The scary parts zip by so quickly they don’t really register and the special effects are nothing new.  PET SECRETARY in a laboratory is a neat idea but this film is competent – nothing more, nothing less.

WELCOME TO ME

I wanted to like this film due to the presence of Kristen Wiig, maybe the single most funniest female performer in the history of Saturday Night Live, and also because of the premise – A mentally ill woman wins the lottery and uses the money to produce her own talk show.  The talk show scenes are hilarious and deranged but the rest of the film seems stuck between humor and hugs, that is sentimentality where everybody sees the error of their ways and the film ends with unrealistic optimism.  Unfortunately, that’s the direction ME goes in and I felt disappointed.  The Seinfeld theory works best – No hugging, no learning.

THE EVE

Low budget psychological horror film with echoes of REPULSION and a neat twist that is the best part.  Getting there is not too bad of ride although not a lot happens until then.  One of those films where at the end you review all that happened and see clues.  Would have been better with more action or a least better pacing- A bit boring. 

THREE FILMS - MAGGIE, DEMONIC, EXTINCTION

MAGGIE

Arnold Schwarzenegger as a farmer in the Midwest (good casting LOL) dealing with his daughter who has been bitten during a zombie-like disease outbreak and is slowly turning into one.  Low budget and more of a human drama than a horror film although it contains one of the grosser visualizations of the zombie virus – Skin turns black, eyes cloud over and eventually turn black too, bits of skin falls off, people start to smell like meat to the infected.  Also odd little detail – virus also makes crops die.  It’s thoughtful and definitely something different but also has really long stretches where nothing happens and we stare at the barren countryside.  The director should have stuck with George Romero as an influence not Terrence Malick.  Original but dull.

DEMONIC

A James Wan production that is better than the uneventful piffle of THE CONJURING but not anywhere close to the disciplined creepiness of INSIDIOUS.  A twist ending that can be seen ten miles away anchors this haunted house/demonic possession tale.  Not much to recommend other than the dual narrative style in presentation of the story.

EXTINCTION

A found footage film about dinosaurs in a remote part of the jungle has been done before (The superior THE DINOSAUR PROJECT) and this film adds nothing new.  The plot takes a very long time to get to the dinosaurs and then only shows them in a few scenes.  I give the filmmakers credit for using mostly models instead of CGI but there just aren't enough exciting scenes to make up for the long slog to dinosaurville.   

  

TWO FILMS - TALES OF THE GRIM SLEEPER, IT FOLLOWS

TALES OF THE GRIM SLEEPER

Sly documentary from Nick Broomfield that uses the Grim Sleeper serial killer case in South Central Los Angeles (murders of  young black women, some prostitutes but a lot who weren’t ) to discuss racism in America.  This is done by showing how the police were indifferent to murders in a poor black neighborhood, how they had a number of chances to catch Lonnie Franklin the Grim Sleeper killer but didn’t bother (One of the victims who escaped was able to tell the police what street Franklin lived on and still nothing), and how many people knew something was wrong with Franklin or had runs in with him but since the police were not bothering to investigate, they were never interviewed.  Bloomfield’s framing of interviews is brilliant and he is able to get valuable information out of interviewees.  The sleeper is a metaphor for white indifference or even collaboration with black suffering ends up being a damning indictment.  The refusal of the police or the mayor’s office to speak to Broomfield speaks volumes. 

 IT FOLLOWS

Sometimes a movie comes out that receives universal praise that I just don't get and this was definitely the case here.  Boring, flat, filled with unlikable characters - at least in slasher films all the annoying teenagers get killed.  The long camera angles and weird sounds were irritating not arty.  I think the director saw a lot of John Carpenter films but missed how Carpenter built tension. The filmmaker was perhaps trying to say something about promiscuity and/or sexually transmitted diseases but that's all lost in this nothing movie.

AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON

AVENGERS : AGE OF ULTRON was great fun of course, loud and a bit too long but still much better than the first Avengers film.  Liked their take on Ultron as voiced by James Spader. I also liked Paul Bettany’s Vision (A favorite Marvel character of mine). Overall, quite a better film than the first Avengers movie because it had a more interesting story and better use of heroes (Captain America especially).  What I did not like – Bruce Banner and the Black Widow having a romance is stupid as was killing Quicksilver.

I sometimes wonder when watching a film like this if this is the same viewing experience as watching a movie in the past with acting and transitions and real characters?  This is more like cartoon on steroids with revved up action scenes and so many special effects of an incredible nature that the end result is like being on an amusement park ride rather than taking in and sorting out in your head the details of a film.

One thing that really showed ignorance of the comic book universe was the Hulk vs Hulkbuster scene which ends with Iron Man knocking out the Hulk. Now the Hulkbuster armor is big and powerful but when they met in the comics(WORLD WAR HULK series and earlier) the Hulk usually triumphed with ease. The Hulk’s power is fed by unlimited rage. It’s basically boundless. Now way he would be defeated like that, don’t care how good Iron Man’s armor is. Comic book continuity fail!