FOUR FILMS - GOODNIGHT MOMMY, TERMINATOR GENISYS, MEET ME THERE, FINAL GIRL

GOODNIGHT MOMMY

The big twist is very easy to guess in this German thriller but the film keeps you interested through weird dream-like visuals and scenes. A mother returns to her twin sons (one of whom she refuses to acknowledge) following plastic surgery that has her whole face covered in bandages. The kids begin to suspect she is not in fact their mother. Avery simple story given a bit of stroking by a talented director. The vibe of it slightly reminded me of the film version of Thomas Tryon's THE OTHER. 

 
TERMINATOR GENISYS

This is a bad movie, as bad a movie as the first Terminator movie was excellent, It is a fun bad movie, convoluted, ridiculous, makes no sense but filled with wild action sequences and Arnold Schwarzenegger one liners. Speaking of Arnold, man, is he old (which is explained in the movie). The next terminator film should be called TERMINATOR:PROSTATE TROUBLES.

MEET ME THERE

I did like the idea of a town where people go to commit suicide or be murdered and I did like the sensitive way the childhood sexual abuse of the main female character was handled. However, the poor budget, amateurish acting, and lack of fleshed out action scenes really hurt. Bigger budget, better actors = a winner perhaps. 

FINAL GIRL

The worthy premise of a woman pretending to be an innocent victim to kill off serial killers is squandered in this dull waste of time. The villains are uninteresting, the action scenes boring, the pacing is off - A miss in every way.

OMAR SHARIF RIP

Omar Sharif broke down a lot of doors for foreign actors in the West. That and his extreme physical beauty might be the lead for writing about Sharif.

But his run of good to great films is even more worth discussing of course. In LAWRENCE OF ARABIA he successfully goes to toe with a godlike Peter O'Toole in full bore as the title character. At the end, when he begins to figure out that Lawrence has feet of clay and is liable to be sidelined due to political pressure, the disappointment on his face....An amazing performance.

The heart attack scene at the end of DR ZHIVAGO is another example of Sharif's understanding and sensitivity as an actor.

As far as underrated performances, go CHE is not a good film (Jack Palance as Fidel Castro LOL) but Sharif looks and gets Guevera.

My parents were vacationing in Egypt in the early 1980's and actually saw Sharif in a Cairo hotel bar surrounded by beautiful women. He was a lover of the female form as well I imagine.

Icon is a word for someone like Omar Sharif.

RIP

FOUR FILMS - SHREW'S NEST, THE HARVEST, THE MIDNIGHT SWIM, STUNG

SHREW'S NEST

Well-constructed, well-paced Spanish horror film with lots of neat elements - Chief among them the performance of Macarena Gomez shifting from nuanced eccentricity to outright craziness to scary psychopathy. Also the grisly last half hour which takes off very suddenly from the relatively genteel first hour as well as the various family twists (even if they are easy to see coming). If the female character in REPULSION had a daughter, it would be like this film. Very good and I liked the implication at the end that the craziness has been passed on to the next generation.

 THE HARVEST

Slow burn horror that spends time on the set-up has quite a challenge. It needs to build up interest in the plot and the characters. Luckily, THE HARVEST does that with excellent performances by Samantha Morton and Michael Shannon as well as quite a nasty revelation about what is occurring. Worth sitting through until the end.




THE MIDNIGHT SWIM

This is not a horror movie per say although it has moments of creepiness that are greater than other recent horror movies I've seen and the ending twist certainly felt like something from an M Night Shyamalan film. The story of three sisters returning to their childhood home after their mother disappears in a lake nearby and the weirdness that ensues. A lot of red herrings and stuff that could have been left out for greater narrative coherence but strip those distractions away and it is an interesting movie.

STUNG

Humor trumps gore and cheap special effects in this mutated wasp b movie. Lots of exploding bodies and sick jokes. Not boring but nothing new here. Big plus point - The presence of the always reliable Lance Henricksen - His face belongs on Mount Rushmore.