Every passing year brings new promise of at least a handful of late career Nicolas Cage flicks, a perennial dose of healthy mix cinematic grab bags that walk a respectable line between offbeat gems, genuine earnest fare and paycheque generating smut. Thankfully his latest, Benjamin Brewer's Arcadian, is a terrific film. Slow burn post apocalyptic intrigue infused with father son drama and fearsome creature feature horror template, this is a tale of one man (Cage) trying to survive after a cataclysmic event has rendered the world in pieces. He finds two orphaned infant boys abandoned in the rubble and raises them into teens, where they're played by the excellent Maxwell Jenkins and an unrecognizable Jaeden Martell. Unfortunately the end of the world isn't the only event to contend with, as now it seems demonic monsters roam about preying on people and while you may have heard the term 'unique creature design' thrown around in horror movie roundtable discussions, I can promise you that term doesn't even begin to describe the special effects effects they've used here. Nothing I say could prepare you for how sickeningly scary and outrageously innovative these things are, so I'll say nothing more about them and let you discover them yourself. While the film sets Cage up as the focal point early on, it decidedly segues away from him and becomes the story of these two brothers trying to survive. Cage plays it dead straight dramatic and gives a wonderfully emotional supporting turn while both boys are equally great, especially Jenkins who has real charisma and definite leading man potential. Sadie Soverall also offers an incredible performance as a girl from a neighbouring farm commune who befriends and joins forces with our two protagonists, giving a third act eulogy speech that is so laden with genuine melancholy and earned sadness it will haunt you for sometime after. This is a great film, a subdued blend of sorrowful dramatic storytelling and shocking suspenseful horror with a burned out, unobtrusively shellshocked world and weary, tired yet hopeful characters who inhabit it, all played beautifully by the cast.
Reviews
914 Reviews
Requiem for a Dream
(2000)
Well made, but I have no desire to ever view again
29 April 2024
It's taken me a longggg time to finally commit to watching Darren Aronofsky's Requiem For A Dream and now that I have, I have no earthly desire to ever, ever see it again. Aronofsky's filmography is a fascinating one for me personally; one of his films (The Fountain) is in my top three of all time and has endless rewatch capability, while every other one I've seen I've either not been huge on, or admired but felt like once was enough. That certainly applies here, this is a well made and thoughtful film yet it's pessimistic to the bone and so bleak in its outlook that you feel a dark stain on your soul when it's choking narrative of several Coney Island drug addicts comes to a hellish, cacophonous ending. Jared Leto and Marlon Wayans are a pair of sad sack heroin junkies, Jennifer Connelly is Leto's equally strung out girlfriend and Ellen Burstyn his hopeless mother who withers away at home, getting sicker and sicker on poisonous diet pills that rot her body, and a toxic daytime TV talk show (hosted by Christopher 'Shooter McGavin' McDonald, no less) that rots her mind. These various individuals each occupy their own disheartening downward spiral and weave in and out of each other's orbit as they all proverbially circle the toilet bowl of a very dark outcome and while there are momentary flashes of what could be called compassion for these people, Aronofsky mostly just ruthlessly focuses on this very disturbing, apocalyptic chapter in their lives with little room for rhyme, reason or philosophical commentary. Perhaps it's best that way for this film, and seems to mirror the lack of answers or understanding all of us seem to have when we drive through a particularly derelict part of town where these horrifying trajectories can be observed in real time. The film starts off with false hopes of being kind of comedic in the fashion of other drug films like Spun or The Salton see but, like those films, it's all fun and games in the beginning stages of addiction and when the situation becomes dire, things spiral into oblivion faster than anybody can comprehend, especially those it happens to. So, while I will concede it's a terrific film with solid performances and a now iconic score from Clint Mansell, I'll tuck the dvd away, change the channel when it comes on and skip past it in the streaming queue, for I have no inclination to ever experience it again.
Being Human
(1994)
Stories about reincarnation are important
29 April 2024
What if you had a comprehensive picture of all the lives you've lived so far, instead of just the one you're in right now? What if every reincarnation so far was laid out in tapestry form so you could see the decisions, mistakes, trials and cathartic outcomes of every chapter? Bill Forsyth's Being Human explores this in tender, wistful fashion as one human man (Robin Williams) lives out four very different lifetimes that unfold centuries apart. In the first he's a prehistoric caveman somewhere off the coast of Scotland, caring for a family he eventually loses and will not find again until thousands of years later. Williams is restrained and subdued in each radically different characterization here, from a Roman slave to a Spanish colonialist to a displaced Scotsman and, in the present day incarnation, a 1980's NYC businessman attempting to reconnect with his two estranged children. There's a deep poignancy and emotional resonance to both the film and his multiple performances that hold it up, helped by a wonderful supporting cast including John Turturro, Hector Elizondo, William H. Macy, Vincent D'Onofrio, Tony Curran, Robert Carlyle, Bill Nighy, David Morrissey, Ewan McGregor, Jonathan Hyde, Lindsay Crouse, Lorraine Bracco, down to earth narration from the great Theresa Russell and a show-stopping turn from Anna Galiena as a 16th century Italian widow who forms a romantic connection with one of William's incarnations. Reincarnation does indeed exist, whether people choose to believe in it or not, and I think that films about it are important and essential to understanding our purpose and overarching journey through time and the cosmos; Cloud Atlas comes to mind, as does What Dreams May Come (also starring Williams) and if you compare those with this, a sad yet predictable pattern emerges: they were all excellent, spiritually inclined films that were all not received well at the time, this one particularly languishes in obscurity and I had no idea it even existed until I was searching for Williams films I hadn't seen on iTunes. I've no clue why the film hasn't been more widely seen, whether it's that people aren't ready to explore the subject matter or some behind the scenes drama, but in any case it's more than worth a watch and even finds notes of genuine profundity, especially in its hypnotic, thematically satisfying final few beats.
Silver Haze
(2023)
Simply brilliant
29 April 2024
You won't find a dramatic film of more emotional intelligence or intuitive compassion so far this year than Sacha Polak's Silver Haze, a striking coming of age drama that highlights many of the blunt, difficult truths life hurls our way in straightforward fashion not often seen in storytelling. Vicky Knight is a wonder as Franky, a young nurse from working class London who was burned horribly in a building fire as a child, an event she still feels was done on purpose and seeks the perpetrators of, who may be painfully close to home. She strikes up romance with another young girl (Esme Creed-Miles) on suicide watch in the hospital she works in, a turbulent coupling of two souls who have both been through unimaginable trauma and begin to find a modicum of solace in each other, before life has new curveballs to throw both of them. This is a heartbreaking film that doesn't rely on sentimentality to get its point across and make you feel something, it's all about the actors here and they are stunning. Knight was in a fire for real, her scars are genuine and she uses her experience to haunting effect here, giving a multifaceted, mesmerizing turn. Miles has the more difficult role and her character is often easy to judge or dislike, but we the audience know almost nothing of her past beyond the fact the she is a runaway who ended up in the suicide ward, she gives subtle hints in her challenging, thought provoking and searingly human performance. This is a film of unbelievable depth, uncommon emotional complexity and hypnotic, gorgeous London atmosphere, its only Polak's third feature as a filmmaker and she has already achieved what some artists strive for their whole career. A brilliant film, one of the best so far this year.
So much fun
29 April 2024
Zack Snyder follows up his Rebel Moon with a soaring part two that outdoes the first in high and handsome style. This is a heartfelt, rousing space opera that isn't so much heavy on grand ideas as it is grand spectacle, with an almost space western by way of Roman epic through-line as several disparate characters from many corners of the universe do battle with a vicious fascist regime, resplendent with the spatially satisfying slow motion choreography that Snyder adores indulging in (its kinda like Paul Greengrass and his relentless shaky cam; it's either your thing, or it vehemently ain't), stirring emotional musical score from Tom Holkenborg and fun, spirited performances from a game cast of welcome faces like Djimon Hounsou, Cary Elwes, Doona Bae, Ed Skrein, the soulful vocal pipes of Anthony Hopkins, Michiel Huisman, Staz Nair and our angularly lithe main character, Sofia Boutella. Now, the elephant in the room. Snyder is a terrific artist who has never made a bad film, and it's time for all the Mountain Dew chugging basement dwellers to just accept it... and move on. This is a fun, visually dazzling piece of pulp science fiction with nothing too much on its mind other than a Magnificent Seven In The Stars type storyline, here to entertain us and nothing more. In that respect it does a damn fine job, presenting us a world teeming with world building detail, cathartic incident and musical swells accenting it all royally. It's good fun, so man up and deal with it.
Monkey Man
(2024)
A unique experience
27 April 2024
Dev Patel roars fiercely to artistic life once again as both director and star of Monkey Man, a sensational film that offers us something not super commonly seen in the action genre: a real emotional story with genuine esoteric cultural context. Action is almost secondary or incidental in this fearsome tale of a mysterious young man who works the dish pit in a corrupt nightclub and moonlights as a vicious underground pit fighter. He is looking for someone, multiple unsavoury individuals in India's amoral political system who are collectively responsible for atrocities in his past. His plan? Get as physically fit as possible, and kill as many of them as gruesomely as possible in one man army fashion. You'd think a premise like that would feel utterly familiar and predictable and while the usual beats are markedly there, Patel forges this film with a hellish, hectic, otherworldly timbre of atmospheric momentum, hurricane sound design, eerie music (phenomenal score by Jed Kurzel) and visually sumptuous, almost horror genre style of storytelling. He's also every bit the action lead required here and despite a lanky frame he has gotten himself absolutely ripped to the point where you viscerally believe every punch, kick and full force stab. The tragedy soaked flashbacks to years ago are also handled harrowingly well, illustrating unspeakable genocide by those in power who will only go on to gain more power, and inflict more suffering until a modern folk hero by way of a ruthless criminal antihero is born of their own deeds, manifesting to set the wrong things right. This is everything you could hope for from an action film, and a whole lot more.
Spaceman
(I) (2024)
Beautiful experience
2 April 2024
Adam Sandler talking to a giant sentient spider way out in space is a premise I didn't expect to be profoundly moved by but Johan Renck's Spaceman did just that. This is the type of emotionally satisfying, cerebrally invigorating science fiction film like Steven Soderbergh's Solaris, Duncan Jones's Moon, Christopher Nolan's Interstellar or Denis Villeneuve's Arrival, space stories that balance the visual awe of the great unknown with inward themes of human expression and relationships, a perfect melding of the internal and ultimate external scopes of being. Sandler is Jakup, a lonely Czech astronaut somewhere out past Jupiter, investigating a mysterious purple cloud that recently manifested in the heavens. He has hazy dreams of a wife back home (Carey Mulligan) he seems to miss and soon discovers an arachnid like being also inhabiting his craft, a strange creature from a different galaxy who he gives the names Hanus to, and the two begin to share a transfixing, deeply touching bond of friendship. This is a film that defies descriptors and just has to be seen, and felt. Sandler keeps the fire on a low burn with his performance, I don't think I've ever seen a sadder character onscreen and you'd never know he was even a comedian if this was the only thing you ever saw him in. Paul Dano lends his ethereal voice to Hanus and startlingly tactile CGI is used effectively to bring this gentle, perceptive, hypnotic extraterrestrial to life. He's a character who could have easily been relegated to a metaphor for the protagonist's loneliness instead of being present in the literal sense (so tired of that trope) but no, he is a tangible physical presence and a real elemental being with thoughts, feelings, dreams and sadness of his own. Mulligan uses her melancholic gaze to effect as his wife, infrequently present yet always felt and the cast includes fascinating people like Isabella Rossellini and Lena Olin to bring home the cult film atmosphere. This is that rare sci-fi that dazzles by balancing the visual with the spiritual, telling a story of two lost souls stranded in the vastness of space, looking for answers they find in each others respective experiences existing in the universe, full of all its mysteries. Best film of the year so far.
Red Rooms
(2023)
wow
2 April 2024
Do you always find yourself searching for a horror/thriller that's actually legitimately horrifying/thrilling? I know the struggle, but here's one for you. Pascal Plante's Red Rooms (Les Chambres Rouges) is a smart, sleek, sickening and highly disquieting piece about the sordid obsession everyone seems to have with true crime these days and the voyeuristic slant the internet has unfortunately bestowed upon it. A Montreal courtroom is hearing the case of a man charged with the brutal torture and slaughter of three teenage girls, the filming of which has been sold and distributed on the dark web. Various individuals attend the hearing including a mousy groupie (Laurie Babin) who believes the guy is innocent and a mysterious model (Juliette Gariépy) whose intentions remain, for the moment, unclear. It's here I'll stop with explicit plot description because this is truly one diabolical narrative puzzle to put together, steeped in nerve wracking suspense, vivid performances, an operatic score and some themes that will shake you to your core. How far can one go into freelance investigative territory before it becomes less about justice and more about personal gratification and getting too deep down a rabbit hole of distressing psychological discovery? The answers found in this story will make even the most seasoned horror fan uneasy, opening a Pandora's box of difficult moral quandaries and tough-pill revelations. Watch with caution, it's not for the squeamish and it's one of the most genuinely disturbing films I've seen in awhile, but also one of the most well made, and philosophically provocative. Streaming in CraveTV in Canada which means it might be on HBO Max, the stateside equivalent. Phenomenal, albeit profoundly dark film.
The Sweet East
(2023)
Well... it's weird lol.
2 April 2024
I have never been to the east coast of North America but watching a film like The Sweet East informs me in surreal and unconventional fashion what a culturally specific and striking region it is. This is a film that won't be for everybody; it's terminally odd, episodic to the point of being untethered, fiercely dialogue driven in some areas and visually shocking in others, a challenging arthouse road picture shot on grainy film stock, wrestling through restless themes in unorthodox fashion with a protagonist who is just south of likeable and just north of antihero. Lillian (Talia Ryder) is a runaway teen who finds herself energetically propelled from one strange encounter to the next along the USA's eclectic eastern seaboard, meeting one bizarre character after another in a free flowing, stream of consciousness vernacular that feels like a twilight zone Americana heroes journey gone slightly awry. Going into this it felt very barebones indie but there are some jarringly recognizable faces peppered in amongst the ensemble including Ayo Edibiri (FX's The Bear), Jacob Elordi (Sofia Coppola's Priscilla) and a standout Simon Rex, an actor I know only for his goofy presence in Scary Movie 3 and whose verbose, eccentric middle aged scholar here was an utterly surprising addition. Many films like this strive to illustrate a sort of dark side to the American dream but this one starts Lillian at a place where that dream isn't even a feasible undertaking, and even when she achieves some semblance of it by accidentally stumbling into the film industry, it's quickly snatched away in almost cartoonishly violent, satirically grotesque form. Like it or hate it, a lot of beautiful creativity and thought (both conscious and unconscious) went into this film and I appreciate it for being such a singular piece of artistic expression. Plus who doesn't love weird s**t? It's like a poet hipster's answer to Midnite Movie grindhouse sensibility and that's something you don't see every day.
Ricky Stanicky
(2024)
I miss Farrelly comedies
2 April 2024
John Cena continues his surprisingly effective lovable goofball shtick in Peter Farrelly's Ricky Stanicky, a refreshingly old school comedy and by old school I don't mean mid 2000's Seth Rogen type stuff, I mean late 90's to *early* 2000's era when the Farrellys were top of their game. There's just something so unmistakable yet kind of inexplicable about their brand of humour, and I miss it. Zac Efron, Jermaine Fowler and Andrew Santino (Bad Friends Podcast!) are three lifelong pals who have made up a nonexistent best friend called Ricky Stanicky to throw under the bus anytime they get in trouble. It's worked for them so far but they've gotten so deep into such a silly lie that now their wives wanna meet this Ricky fella. In desperation they turn to alcoholic, washed up porn actor RockHard Rod (Cena) to play this fictitious Stanicky character and it goes about as uproariously off the rails as you might expect. Now I read that Jim Carrey was an original choice for the role which would have presented a totally different energy indeed, in another timeline. There's something so off the wall about seeing a dude like Cena, built like an F-350, playing an utterly silly screwball like Rod and pretending to be a guy who completely doesn't even exist yet has an elaborate false backstory written for him. It's a terrific premise and it's given the typically hilarious Farrelly treatment, even if it's only one of the brothers behind the camera this time. All the actors are more than game and do a fine job including William H. Macy doing a hysterical lampoon of his usually sincere persona and Farrelly's own daughter Apple in a lowkey scene stealing turn as Rod's refreshingly down to earth, adorably awkward love interest. It's just fun, in an era when comedy has often forgotten to be so, I've always had a deep love and nostalgic appreciation for the Farrelly's creative output and it's so comforting to see that decades after their heyday they're still making great comedy.
Out of Darkness
(2022)
Enjoyable until the reveal
2 April 2024
Warning: Spoilers
I love films about prehistoric times; The Hughe's Brothers insanely overlooked Alpha, Quest For Fire, even Roland Emmerich's 10,000 BC has its charms. The time period is so under-explored in cinema so it's always nice to see an entry and while this year's Out Of Darkness might ultimately have not been quite what I was expecting perhaps not in its favour, it's still an atmospheric, gorgeous looking addition into the genre. Sometime in the Stone Age a group of mismatched early humans band together to fight some unknown elemental menace that might even be supernatural in nature, hunting them one by one in brutal fashion. A desperate, bloody fight for survival begins and there are numerous very suspenseful, evocatively shot chase and pursuit scenes against a beautifully painted backdrop of rural Scotland locations. Now my personal issues with this story are, spoiling as little as I can, the eventual reveal of what is hunting them is entirely not what the marketing or even first act build up hints towards. I was expecting an monster movie and the outcome is far more human and emotionally grounded, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but my own expectations were being led down a different path and I could help but feel a bit discombobulated, dare I say cheated by the resolution. It's still a well made film though with loads of atmosphere, terrific acting and breathtaking cinematography.
Drive-Away Dolls
(2024)
Swing and a (for the most part) miss.
2 April 2024
"Drive Away Dykes," now there's a title for a movie. Unfortunately Joel Coen's new flick compromises itself by changing that script title to Drive Away Dolls and the resulting experience mirrors that downgrade in edge, style and tone. This is a kooky road trip romance flick with wannabe crime undertones, following two queer girls played very effectively by Margaret Qualley & Geraldine Viswanathan. The former is outgoing and effervescent to the point where her personality gets her in trouble, the latter is reserved and repressed. They accidentally end up with a drive-away vehicle that has a mysterious briefcase in the boot containing materials they're not supposed to see, and they're soon pursued by two equally mismatched goons, a hotheaded psycho (C. J. Wilson) and a more rational one (Joey Slotnick). Geraldine and Margaret are both terrific here, nailing both the individual aspects of their characters and how they relate to one another, two fully formed performances that are a joy to watch. It's just a shame the film sort of lets them down with a script that's so manic, hyperactive and weird it scarcely takes time to develop its story, mistaking moments of grisly violence and long passages of glib nonsensical dialogue for cutesy filmmaking gimmicks we are supposed to find funny and offbeat but simply don't land here as well as they do in a film with both Coens at the steering wheel. Supporting roles are filled by cameos from folks like Bill Camp, Matt Damon and a bizarrely placed Pedro Pascal but seem strained and don't add anything of function or intrigue. The two leading ladies should have driven away together to find a better script that deserves the effort they clearly put into their work.
Dune: Part Two
(2024)
A profound experience
2 April 2024
Dune Part 2 has arrived and my good God what an astounding spectacle it is. Denis Villeneuve warmed up the tracks with his superb but exposition heavy first part, but with this second instalment he and that magnificent Hans Zimmer pull the collective ripcord on stunning large scale set pieces, devastating emotional beats, detailed visual world building and jaw dropping cinematic undertakings. Timothee Chalamet *finally* gains a much needed edge to his acting vernacular, his Paul Atreides metamorphosing from timid, sheltered introvert prince into fearless and often frightening messiah in the making is a staggering turn. Stellan Skarsgard continues his masterclass in obese understated villainy as evil Baron Harkonnen, Javier Bardem takes up comic relief duty in the film's very welcome and most surprisingly playful performance, Austin Butler is pure unbridled feral fury, Josh Brolin gritty and graceful as ever, Florence Pugh stately and pragmatic, Rebecca Ferguson turns up the intensity to unbearable levels as her character's arc takes a menacing turn while Christopher Walken, a fascinating, bold yet strangely appropriate choice for the emperor of the entire universe, downplays his unmistakable energy to fit the space opera atmosphere. The film's best performance goes to Zendaya though, her desert warrior princess Chani is a captivating character respite with rough resilience, tender resolve and bruised vulnerability when certain heartbreaking plot revelations unfold, she's perfect. Everything that was just beginning to fire up in the first film is roaring on full blast here; the battles are sensational, tactile ballets of machinery in motion, explosive projectiles obliterating spice harvesters, lithely ruthless hand to hand combat, invigorating rides atop the immense sand worms complete with immersive POV shots and enough super sonic sound design to make you actually *believe* you are there. The emotional resonance is present too amidst all the beautiful chaos of battle, a hero's journey that could easily spill into intergalactic horror if wrong choices are made, and ill favoured destinies are followed. This is what movies were made to be, a colossally huge epic that doesn't forget to be smart, detailed, meticulously written and teeming with creativity. Great film.
Road House
(2024)
I liked it for what it was
2 April 2024
So... the Road House remake. Am I allowed to say that I liked it as much as the original? I only saw the Swayze one for the first time last year and really enjoyed, but I also really dug Doug Liman's recent update with Jake Gyllenhaal too, for different reasons. Jake himself is one of those reasons, he's breezy and effervescent as Dalton, disgraced ex MMA fighter relocated to the beautiful Florida Keys to defend a beachfront bar from relentless goons. The Keys setting is also another reason why I liked this a lot, it adds so much laidback atmosphere and picturesque scenery as backdrop for this simple, straightforward action flick that fills the shoes of the original adequately enough. I think that having a marauding meathead like Conor McGregor as the head goon was a bit of a misstep though; the guy is clearly not an actor and thinks he'll win over the screen by chewing more scenery than Gary Busey, but a modicum of restraint on his part might have kept his performance this side of the moon in terms of subtlety, and let other aspects flourish to the forefront. Sultry Daniela Melchior, smarmy Billy Magnusson and always terrific Joaquim De Almeida are good in supporting roles. I really liked Jake's performance here though; he adopts this laconic affability that hides a sickening darkness in his past, something he's always on the run from. The action is fearsome and often quite funny, the tone tropical and easygoing. My only gripe is it could have been a bit longer to flesh certain elements out and focused on Mcgregor's seething villain a tad less to pivot more over to other aspects the film has that it seemed to want to take more seriously. All in all a really good time and easily as enjoyable for me as the OG Roadhouse.
Review of this season overall:
20 February 2024
It's been a minute since the third chapter of HBO's True Detective concluded and this signalled the end of writer/show-runner Nic Pizzolatto's involvement in the creative process. The network decided to hire a new creative force in Issa Lopez, whose feature Tigers Are Not Afraid is one of the best films I've ever seen. Together with Jodie Foster, newcomer Kali Reis and an impressive supporting cast of recognizable faces and indigenous newcomers they have offered up Night Country, a new iteration and the result is... sadly, very disappointing. In telling the frigid story of several scientists who go missing from a remote arctic research station tying into a near decades old murder, Lopez aspires to pay tribute to horror influences that have obviously shaped her work and creative outlook but doesn't lean heavily enough into them when the time comes for pay-off, the story feels confused, rushed (it's a gaunt 6 episode runtime) and haphazardly meandered together using callbacks to Pizzolatto's mythology and characters from season 1 that don't feel earned, relevant or properly placed whatsoever. Foster and Reis are admittedly terrific, giving these two potentially fascinating lead characters their all in committed performances and so too do standout supporting actors like the always reliable Fiona Shaw, Isabella Lablanc and scene stealing Joel Montgrand. But the writing lets them all down tragically, squandering midsection episodes on unfocused interpersonal conflict that isn't well cultivated and then brusquely wrapping up arcs in a busy finale that strives for cathartic emotional beats it just hasn't planted the seeds of earlier on. There are things that work, namely some unique elements to the spooky score by Vince Pope, some rousing soundtrack choices but an obviously high budget ends up working against favour, giving things a sleek, steely (and often badly CGI'd) look but robbing the season of a truly atmospheric, lived-in aura or real sense of personality and perspective in the details of its Alaskan setting. I was prepared to really love this, even given the change-up in creative forces employed here and I'll reiterate, the new artist they chose is somebody whose work I love prior.. but this is simply not a good season of television, and is by far the weakest table leg in the four pronged True Detective legacy thus far.
The Passenger
(III) (2023)
Truly unsettling
27 January 2024
Sometimes people just... snap, and the lack of reason or rationality behind their sudden violent actions can be far more scary and disquieting than any explanation. Carter Smith's The Passenger is a frequently terrifying, often darkly hilarious and always deeply unsettling horror/thriller that is so blessedly unpredictable from scene to scene thanks to its incredibly well written antagonist, that the expression 'edge of your seat' doesn't quite cover it. Randolph (Johnny Berchtold) is a meek, introverted fast food worker who is bullied by those around him until one day his quiet co worker Benson (Kyle Gallner) abruptly loses it, shooting up the place with a shotgun and kidnapping Randolph at gun point to join him on a hellish, meandering suburban odyssey of violence and anguished introspect. Benson wants to help Randolph out of his shell and using his own brand of anarchic psychosis, provides a demented road trip setting for him to work out his issues. One idea the film immediately shuts down is that total cop-out that he 'isn't real' or is just a manifestation of the protagonist's own mental issues. I hate that trope, it's lazy, overused and tacky. Benson is *very* real and Gallner's performance is a stunning ride through a sardonic heart of darkness, he makes the fellow despicable, charming, mournfully jaded and yet somehow vaguely sympathetic, hinting at his own dark history without ever fully pulling back the curtain. The film goes to some wild and weird places, never quite hitting the beats we're used to in thrillers like this, always taking a fresh, different path through its narrative and ending up somewhere just south of the twilight zone, like the Hitcher was discharged from a psychiatric ward still not fully quite right in the head. Great film, a total ride from beginning to end.
So much fun! Why all the hate for Snyder?
6 January 2024
Zack Snyder offers up a stunning space opera with Rebel Moon, a first-part saga that wears many influences joyously on its sleeve while still managing to find its own place among the stars of this genre that we don't see enough of these days (Star Wars doesn't count by reason of over-saturation alone). On a small moon at the edge of the universe a clan of quiet, industrious agriculturists work hard for a simple, bountiful life until a monolithic spacecraft penetrates through through their atmosphere, bringing violence and war with it. It represents a ruthlessly dogmatic regime with eyes on conquering everything in the known cosmos and only a mysterious stranger (Sofia Boutella) living amongst them provides any hope against the eventual onslaught. This first film is a raucous recruitment montage as she leads a ragtag band of outliers across many solar systems to find others that may help their cause. Snyder builds his world with music (phenomenally emotional score by Tom Holkenborg), motion, colour and stirring passages of monologue rather than sit-down exposition. Anthony Hopkins' robot narrator provides the obligatory Galadriel opening spiel and then it's off to the races and even if everything doesn't quite make sense plot-wise, the film moving in fits and starts of slow and sped up pacing, Snyder paints with such vivid, broad strokes one can't help but be moved by the spectacle onscreen, a feast for eyes, ears and soul alike. Boutella has already proven what a strong presence she is in the action/fantasy realm and holds her own as a lead terrifically here, supported by Djimon Hounsou, reliably villainous Ed Skrein, Michiel Huisman, Charlie Hunnam, Cleopatra Coleman, Cary Elwes and a standout Jena Malone. The isn't without some issues; it races along with such childlike lack of expository inhibitions that we aren't introduced to all of the characters languidly enough to care about them as a unit, and the story can feel a bit scattered amongst the stars in terms of coherency. But observe the style, movement (yes, there's lots of slow motion, deal with it), music and sheer atmospheric scope of this story, it's truly something breathtaking and a world to get lost in from moment to moment. That's what Snyder and excels at so much is the *moment*, the sheer cinematic bliss of one framed scenario and all the spatial dynamics requisite to capture an audience. In this moment I'm grateful for his vision, and excited for the second part of this story. Any film that references Harry Potter, Avatar, Inglorious Basterds and Chronicles Of Riddick in the same runtime while still managing to retain a soul of originality is doing something right.
The Baker
(II) (2022)
Good effort
6 January 2024
Ron Perlman is The Baker, a literal baker who was once some kind of special forces badass and jumps back into action when his limo driver son (Joel David Moore) is murdered by vicious mobsters. It's familiar territory in the action genre; usually guys like Steven Seagal or Jason Statham go in for this sort of thing but it's refreshing to see a fantastic character actor like Ron, usually sidelined in smaller roles, get a front and centre action lead. He has good chemistry with his now orphaned granddaughter (Emma Ho) he must look after and some well acted scenes with the bad guys, both the head mafioso (Harvey Keitel) and his put-upon lieutenant (always nice to see Elias Koteas). I wish I had better things to say about the film as a whole because the intention is there, but the execution ends up being pretty sloppy and doesn't really flow from scene to scene. It's a shame because Perlman is terrific, there's a really stirring score and some genuinely effective cinematic moments. It's just not consistent enough though, which ends up being really frustrating.
Priscilla
(2023)
Cailee Spaeny is a revelation
16 December 2023
It's one thing being famous, and quite another being married to fame. Sofia Coppola's Priscilla isn't the methodical biopic that some will no doubt be expecting but rather an episodic, ethereal character study of a girl placed in an unconventional relationship at a very young age, almost beyond her own agency. Cailee Spaeny is an elemental revelation as Priscilla, an angelic beauty handpicked from her idyllic teenage-hood by the king of rock and roll himself (Jacob Elordi) and whisked away to fabled Graceland where the romance and eventual marriage to him don't quite end up being the storybook ending she anticipated. Coppola keeps it meticulously spare here, using none typical soundtrack choices, story beats or stylistic fanfare employed in these kind of stories. It's very much from her perspective and so it should be, this is after all a film named for her. A frustrating, often smothering courtship and marriage are told through a gauzy, lacy lens with beautiful period appropriate production design, hypnotic fade ins and fade outs and the strong undercurrent of Spaeny's uncanny acting work. I've been watching her since she walked away with the otherwise mediocre Bad Times At The El Royale a few years back, she's done terrific work for Alex Garland in Devs and will headline the new Alien film out next year. I had an intuition she was going to do very well and this role lets her shine, often quietly but always brightly.
The Holdovers
(2023)
Excellent
11 December 2023
It's the most wonderful time of the year, or so they say. We must always remember that Christmas isn't necessarily a joyous experience for everybody and for many people out there who are alone on the holidays or dealing with recent loss, it can be difficult. Alexander Payne's The Holdovers is a fantastic, bittersweet Yuletide comedy drama that serves to remind us all just that and shows us several folks who, left to their own devices in a holiday situation out of their control, find family and fellowship where they can, making the most out of it. Paul Giamatti gives one of his customarily excellent and boisterously heartfelt performances as Paul (naturally), a gruff teacher at a posh Massachusetts boarding school for boys sometime in the 70's, a stylistic aesthetic that Payne leans into right down to details like a grainy, retro Universal logo. Paul is tasked with looking after the 'holdovers,' boys who aren't jetting off somewhere with their families for Christmas and will be instead spending it on campus, with him. One in particular is rowdy, wise beyond his years Angus (newcomer Dominic Sessa) and the two clash royally at first. Now from the trailers I almost expected something overly treacly and cloying but Payne and his actors have something far more organic, earned and realistic in mind in terms of the drama. These two connect on a level that unfolds situationally as it would in real life, and as an empty holiday stretch gives them ample time to get to know each other, the setting aside of one's differences and eventual bond feels valid and important. Da'Vine Joy Randolph gives brilliant supporting work as the school's head chef who has her own tragedy she's dealing with and tags along with these two on their introspective Yuletide misadventures. With gauzy, cozy cinematography, a soundtrack of subtly well placed Christmas carols and a script that levels with us and its characters every step of the way, this is dramatic storytelling at its best, and one of the finest films of that (sometimes) most wonderful time of the year.
Leave the World Behind
(2023)
Great, but unconventional
11 December 2023
This is the way the world ends, not with a bang, not with a whimper either and not with any sort of fanfare that the likes of Michael Bay or Roland Emmerich have dreamed up. Sam Esmail's Leave The World Behind is a terrific unconventional apocalyptic thriller that ducks convention for something a little more idiosyncratic, a film that's hard to pin down or get a real feel for and as such is one of the most invigorating of its kind in some time. Ethan Hawke and Julia Roberts are a high strung NYC couple who take their two kids (Charlie Evans & Farrah Mackenzie) on a mini vacation just outside the city in a posh Airbnb they've rented. When the internet and phones go down and a well dressed stranger (Mahershala Ali) and his daughter (Myha'la) show up claiming to be the place's owners, tensions slowly mount as mysterious cyber attacks instill isolation and other bizarre, mounting phenomena begin to encroach on the idyllic upper middle class sanctum these people have convinced themselves is unshakable. The film clocks in at almost two and a half hours so you can really dig in and immerse yourself alongside these characters in an end of the world narrative that never once feels altogether familiar or easy to surmise before the beats drop. Roberts is great, playing against type and in character actor mode as the boozy, often agitated mom, Hawke his typical fired up yet laconic self while Ali, in a role originally meant for Denzel Washington (I would have *loved* to have seen that) shows his usual knack for uneasy dialogue delivery and furrowed charisma. Evans fares less well as the son and is the only performer who isn't electric, with clunky line delivery and lack of real persona. Myha'la is excellent and a real rising star, Kevin Bacon shows up in a brittle extended cameo but finally its young Mackenzie, daughter of tough guy character actor Andy, who gives the best, most important and human acting work the film has to offer. Director Esmail peppers the wonderfully clever script with a multitude of film and television references and her performance is the conduit for many of them, she nails the very human desire for escapism and storytelling in the face of disaster that is tough to cope with, particularly for a young mind. It's a wonderful thriller that dodges the familiar tropes, takes place almost solely in broad daylight yet still conjures up chilling terror in the absurdity of a society coming apart at the seams after some vague yet ever present global event. Great film.
The Marsh King's Daughter
(2023)
I wish they went deeper into that marsh, so to speak
5 December 2023
Daisy Ridley and Ben Mendelsohn embody the ultimate dysfunctional father daughter dynamic in Neil Burger's The Marsh King's Daughter, a handsome, well acted, atmospheric thriller that frustratingly avoids much of the psychological depth, complexity or emotional honesty one would hope to find in a story with this much potential. Young Helena (Brooklyn Prince) lives with her enigmatic father (Mandelsohn) and troubled mother (Caren Pistorius) in the heart of Michigan's wild upper peninsula, in a nature based existence far away from society, seemingly idyllic. Soon her world is shattered when her mother grabs her and makes a breathless escape to civilization and she realizes her father whom she loves, trusts and idolizes is in fact a disturbed abductor who has been keeping her mother out there all these years. She grows up into haunted Daisy Ridley who harbours this difficult secret for years, has a daughter of her own and tries to move on... until dad escapes from prison and comes looking for her. This film profoundly frustrated me because Daisy and Ben are such capable, terrific actors and getting them for a script like this is so exciting but the narrative here devolves into such a predictable, cheap thriller in the third act it almost made me mad. It's disheartening because there are scenes of such power and potency early in, like the visually invigorating prologue with her as a kid full of daring drone camera choices and lush, gorgeous wilderness cinematography. Later on we observe Ridley in a stunning moment of vulnerability as she finally tells her husband (Garrett Hedlund) about her shrouded past. This could have been such a dense, thought provoking piece of work but the minute Dad shows up back into the picture the writing just flattens right out into this superficial, rushed, surface level resolution and it's a goddamn shame. This is based on a book by somebody called Karen Dionne and I'm not sure if her version of the story took a little more tact and introspection with these characters but if so, she's probably out there fuming at how careless an adaptation this is. You're better off watching the first half, which is admittedly excellent on almost every level, then imagining up your own ending.
May December
(2023)
Compelling stuff
5 December 2023
Todd Haynes's May December explores a tricky, taboo scenario and there's no way around bluntly describing it: Julianne Moore plays a woman in her early 60's who is married to a 30 year old man, and has several children with him. About 25 years earlier she raped him while he was in seventh grade and it turned into one of those heavily publicized tabloid sensations, after which, like any sordid spectacle, it was simply normalized by all parties involved. The beauty of this script though is in it's willingness to face this difficult subject matter head on; where other films would employ sharp sensationalism, blanket condemnation or even insensitive slapstick (trust me, it's happened), this one is unflinching, direct and somehow pragmatic and compassionate in the same breath. Natalie Portman plays an indie film actress who is set to star in a feature adaptation of this family's bizarre trajectory and her arrival into their circle dredges up all the controversy and psychological turmoil that was no doubt suppressed years ago when the events occurred. Moore is brave for taking on a role like this but her performance nor the script ever treat the character like an outright villain, there are shades of complexity here that make simple judgment impossible and the decades that pass after something so extreme always augments the long term outcome. Charles Melton gives one of the years most staggering performances as the grown up boy, now a man left in the dust of an event he barely had time to process before getting married to his abuser and having kids less than a decade younger than himself. This is a challenging film but it's surprisingly not that much of an ugly or disturbing one in tone, these things do happen and those involved are simply people like us, not tabloid headlines or cautionary tales somehow walled outside the collective human experience. With an ending that refuses to give us the simple answers and concludes on a thunderclap of haunting ambiguity, this is one of the best films of the year.
Thanksgiving
(I) (2023)
Fun stuff
1 December 2023
I live in Canada and thanksgiving here is not only in a different month than the US, it seems to be a less... feral tradition overall lol. We don't have the looming obscenity of that Black Friday nonsense hovering around the same weekend and the overall custom is just... not as psychotic. Eli Roth fully embraces that American version of the holiday in his bonkers seasonal slasher Thanksgiving, a fleshed out (literally) expansion on the faux trailer that Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez commissioned him to do for their Midnite double feature GrindHouse. The result is lots of fun and definitely Roth's best work so far as a filmmaker. Fun really is the key word here and it's what seems to have been missing from his work in horror overall so far, with the exception of Cabin Fever, his second best film. In dour, unpleasant failures like Hostel, Green Inferno and the deplorable Knock Knock he just seemed to be coming from a place of malcontent. Thanksgiving is a party though, as any slasher set around a holiday should be, and it not only satirically skewers the rabid consumerism of Black Friday in a shocking opening sequence, but also pokes subtle fun at the woke millennial sentiment around whining and cancelling Thanksgiving itself these days. The gory mayhem is off the rails here, some of the downright outrageous moments from the fake trailer make it into the feature intact and Roth assembles a fine cast including Gina Gershon (sadly, very briefly), Rick Hoffman, Addison Rae and angelic, scene stealing Final Girl Nell Verlaque. I still maintain that Roth should have kept Michael Biehn in the sheriff's role he casted him in for the faux trailer to preserve the horror aura, instead of picking the Grey's Anatomy dude instead but I can see how that guy could be more bankable to the superficial filmgoing demographic aimed at filling the seats. In any case though it's a great horror flick, the killer is genuinely creepy at times, suspense is orchestrated very well, there a a few incredibly effective jump scares that are truly unpredictable moments and the kills.... well they are something else, a grisly parade of well thought out murders that frequently push the boundaries of shock and awe. Tons of fun.
Neeson does something different
1 December 2023
Liam Neeson has been pumping out so many slightly generic action/revenge thrillers with the regularity of an alarm clock since Taken took off in 2008 that sometimes it's refreshing to see him do... an actual movie lol. In The Land Of Saints & Sinners is admittedly an action/revenge thriller by definition but it's a damn sight more thoughtful and artistic than most he's done lately and reminds us just what a powerful presence he can be with the right material. Here he's Finbar, a hitman in 1970's Northern Ireland who works for a local kingpin (Colm Meaney) whose outfit solely targets bad people. Finbar has vowed to give up killing, until he can't help himself knocking off the relative of a friend of his whose daughter the guy has been molesting. One less scumbag in the world, the only problem being that this particular scumbag is heavily connected to IRA factions that have been skulking in the area and soon his fiery sister (Kerry Condon) comes looking for those responsible with guns blazing. This is a wickedly suspenseful, character driven piece with vicious bursts of violence and terrific passages of philosophical dialogue in between. Neeson hasn't been this good in a while, he isn't simply on tough guy autopilot, he's actually playing *somebody.* Condon is terrifying as the fierce villainess, a monster who lost sight of her cause long ago and despite twisting morality to suit her own bitter agenda, isn't without a humanity herself that emanates through in her performance. Jack Gleeson proves that he's got more that Joffrey Lannister's sickening impudence in his acting stable and provides solid character work as a younger hitman with an unfortunate past who both admires and resents Finbar, while the usually striking Ciaran Hinds is oddly and sadly underused as the ineffective local policeman. This is a fine thriller with a rock solid, emotionally charged Neeson performance, intense antagonist work from Condon and gorgeous Irish scenery, one of the strongest films so far this year.
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