I managed to write more than two sentences for the movies I watched this week. As always, check out the IMDb links in the titles if you need a description of the plots of each of these.
203. Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013) - July 23rd
I'm reminded of other horror sequels like Final Destination 2; films that take the competent or popular elements of the original and mix it in with a certain satire or cheesiness so that the filmmakers can let the audience know that they're in on the jokes of their own idea. It's not quite so overt in this as it is in Final Destination 2, but once Patrick Wilson went full crazy I was completely on board with this. Wilson is a terrific actor giving a gloriously over the top performance, and the rest of the cast (especially Byrne) play off of this unhinged cheese with a collectively almost matched gusto. This is honestly as mediocre as the first, going for the simple build-up heavy first half/action heavy second half structure but failing to make the former any sort of interesting and succeeding with the second half as much on enthusiasm as skill, but the film is worth at least that much. - 5/10
204. Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2 (2004) - July 23rd
I'm still not entirely sure that this wasn't a fever dream; at the very least it's a movie squarely aimed at and actually appropriate for babies, so it's got one up on its predecessor. That's only one up from the bottom of the barrel, but still. Obviously, I knew the sort of thing I was getting in to before I watched it; I've seen the first, and I know that both of them have been on the IMDb bottom 100 list for basically as long as that list has been around, and I occasionally watch the absolute worst I can find from time to time because I think that it's important to have a sense of just how wide the spectrum of quality for film is, while giving yourself a greater appreciation of great, good, and even mediocre films.
At least, that's what I tell myself when I'm staring in to the void of unspeakable horror that is Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2.
Seriously though, this movie is completely inept and incomprehensibly weird, but also utterly inoffensive; it's just stupid fart jokes and references no baby will understand amidst incredibly bizarre (but again, and more importantly unlike its predecessor, harmless) action sequences. It's basically just a bunch of flashy, incoherent ideas that feel like an overproduced version of jingling keys, which is once again the film's only merit, that as a movie for babies it definitely feels designed for its target audience. This doesn't cover for the inherent problem of having babies as your main characters (they have no idea what's going on and don't even know to look at the camera, which obviously means that they're dubbed over and adjusted with effects to suit the movie, but it's done so poorly that from a technical perspective the film is unsettling to look at for its uncanny nature) nor does it get around all of the other problems the film has in terms of writing and content (yes, it's a film for babies, but there have been plenty of films with such young audiences in mind that have been far better and far less exploitative). Being more appropriate for its target audience is the only thing that has that makes it better than its predecessor, everything else is just chaotic, inept mush. - 1/10
205. Blockers (2018) - July 24th
Here we have the first movie of the week that actually felt worth my time. Blockers had a big disadvantage with me from the start; in addition to being from one of my least favourite sub-genres the trailer was absolutely awful focusing entirely on the worst parts of the film, but as someone who really doesn't enjoy sex comedies relying on gross-out humour I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. For every joke that was far too much there was another that made me laugh out loud, and as often as it gets obnoxious with its approach to expressing its politics the film offers great turns from both the parents and the teens, who are all playing well-rounded characters in their own right that together make the most of the human moments in the film, with special note to Leslie Mann who gives one of her best humorously vulnerable performances. There's some nice twists on expected comedy, such as Ike Barinholtz' initially gross Hunter revealing himself to be more complex than just his comedy sidekick role would suggest as he shows the best innate understanding of his daughter out of the three parents, learning an entirely different lesson from the other two that fits really well in to the themes of the movie. Speaking of themes, the film actually has them, and as obvious as it seems that it should it's good to have this sort of movie actually take the time to consider why the characters do what they do and grow from the experience, and more importantly in this case work it in to the comedy; at one point it felt as if the film was going of the rails to devolve in to a straight and blatant discussion of the politics the film was already expressing fine on its own, but then they make that part of its own ruse and so it shifts right back in to the comedy that makes the film that much more worthwhile. - 6.5/10
206. Rambo (2008) - July 25th
I appreciated how Rambo's character had developed, I did not appreciate how gratuitous this film was with its violence. It has been said that it is impossible to make and 'anit-war' war movie, and while there have some films that make a good argument to the contrary, by technicality First Blood included, Rambo is a far cry in its approach from that sort of filmmaking. Even though every word spoken by John Rambo in the earliest parts of the movie is of the conflict within him of who he is and what he does and how that's all he knows how to do, the film drops any sense of this conflict as soon as he throws himself in to the blood bath; he just starts killing and doesn't stop, despite the fact that his whole character is embittered by the idea that all he knows is killing. This wouldn't be so bad if the movie didn't revel so much in the violence itself, showing utterly insane amounts of fake and flashy blood and guts without a hint of weight to their presence. The action is good in its own schlocky way, but it's add odds with the themes set up within the character of Rambo and does nothing outside of its own gratuity. There's potential for a good film here, and it doesn't fail entirely, at least succeeding in its first half, but in abandoning the potential nuance in the themes it introduces it becomes less like the predecessor that made the character of Rambo great and more like the predecessors that didn't understand why he was great; once again, the war veteran is substituted for an action hero, and all that makes him human is forgotten at the chance to sling some blood and bullets around. - 5/10
207. The Tunnel (2011) - July 26th
Have I mentioned how much I love that us Aussies are actually good at horror? Between this, The Loved Ones, Wyrmwood and The Babadook we manage to have a growing list of solid or even great entries in to so many horror sub-genres. For me personally this is also important because found-footage is probably my least favourite film technique and always puts me off a movie from the start, so understand the exception I make here when I say that this one is actually good.
There's a lot of technical choices here that give it a superiority over others of its ilk; the guerilla-style shooting interspersed with documentary interviews gives the whole thing an added layer of authenticity, even if interviewing characters who are part of a story after the fact is usually a problem in itself (not inherently, but usually; it gives easy outs and segues between scenes that often feel mandated to make sure the audience understands what's going on, rather than anything that actually adds to the narrative, while also essentially confirming the characters that live and die before the story has even started, which can be a problem in a horror movie, since most of the tension is wrought out of who lives and dies). The movie manages to get past this, however, the tension carried through the characters not involved in the interviews and through skillful use of mystery in regards to the horror itself that's subdued enough that when something happens the contrast is actually felt. It's a film that works around its limitations to create something really worthwhile, and has enough truly memorable moments to leave a lasting impression. - 7/10
208. In the Name of the Father (1993) - July 27th
The award for best movie I saw this week goes to this. The controversy over the liberties taken with the story aside (because the value of changing a fictional representation of a factual story to suit the actual story the writer wanted to tell is a discussion entirely unto itself), this is powerhouse of acting, with Pete Postlethwaite showing that he's probably the only person who could out-act Daniel Day-Lewis in a movie where Daniel Day-Lewis is the lead. Seriously, both of these guys do an absolutely fantastic job showcasing not just the raw emotional outbursts but the quieter moments too, each with equal and incredible skill, the likes of which are rarely seen. It's not just their individual work, but how the two are able to play off one another as well, for every second they spend together on screen they feel like a real father and son with a complicated and storied relationship that doesn't go away the moment the credits roll. It helps that these are based off of real people I'm sure, but still, this is damn good stuff. The rest of the movie is good too, but these two are fantastic, and Postlethwaite in particular is transcendent. - 8/10
209. Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle (2018) - July 28th
Had Superbabies not already forced me several feet below it, this and the next movie would be rock bottom for the week. This is hardly worse than Planet of the Monsters, but it's filled with many of the same issues that plagued it: a lot of great ideas presented in the most flat and boring way possible, and without the initial wow factor of Godzilla as we've never seen him to carry the ending. There's still the action, which when combined with smoother animation makes for a slightly more entertaining time, but it's a continuation of the same story and style that leads to a lot of time wasted on trope-y subplots such as the obvious and undeveloped love triangle and the continued ideological differences between the humanoid races as the driving conflict between them, with a twist that's far more nonsensical than the last one and with far less impact. Now, my bias to seeing Godzilla content, even bad content, means that I still feel more highly of this than I would another film of the same type under a different banner. It's not a huge differential, but I think I should acknowledge it before I give my rating, although the biggest reason that this maintains the same rating as the last is due to having more action which means less boring exposition. - 4/10
210. Extinction (2018) - July 28th
This movie is a nice twist on a derivative idea that loses all impact as soon as it actually explores in detail the vague idea it introduces. Visions of a coming apocalypse that leaves you distanced from your family as you struggle through life is a good plot hook, but it becomes clear as the film goes on that none of the interesting ways that this idea could be taken are going to be explored, and while some twists have really nice foreshadowing (there's one edit in this movie that's just good enough to stand out against the rest of this awfulness), others are total nonsense that feel ripped straight from a young adult sci-fi novel, even down to the ending that resolves nothing and only suggests that something might be resolved in a future movie, as the main characters escape on a train to go in to hiding. Seriously, the film's ending felt lifted straight from Divergent, only with significantly worse effects. That's the other most bothersome thing about this movie, the effects start well but get worse as the movie goes on, like its effects were added chronologically and they ran out of budget half way through, leaving the final moments of the film looking so bad that it feels borderline experimental, or at least somewhat intentional. All of the films cool ideas save for one devolve in to cliches, and the one idea that feels unique becomes weightless when so little of the rest of the film feels so unsure of what its trying to say as it wades through vague ideas of A.I. as living beings and makes sure of little else and only raises further questions with its constant turns, questions that I ultimately care so little for because this film presents all of its ideas so plainly that none of them are worth thinking about. I'm moving on from this one pretty quick - 3.5/10
Published July 30th, 2018
Sunday, 29 July 2018
Sunday, 22 July 2018
A Fortnight of Movies - July 9th to July 22nd
I didn't write as much as I would have like to these past two weeks, but I don't have nearly as much time as I would like either, so the hobby has to suffer a little. It's a shame though, because I watched a lot of cracking good movies, and it's always harder to talk about greats and classics than it is any other kind; I suppose I'll have to lean more on the ratings this time, unfortunately. As always, follow the IMDb links in the titles to get a plot synopsis.
190. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) - July 10th
- 8.5/10
191. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) - July 10th
- 8/10
With more time I'd talk about the merits of the each individual film, because there are many. I would particularly love to talk about allegory versus coding in its relation the original and the unintended expressions and takeaways thereof (seriously, the fact that people were seeing things both for and against both communism and McCarthyism and the director and writers of both the film and the source text intended none of it is so damn interesting all on its own, a great reminder of just how subjective all of film is), but unfortunately I'm stretched and I want to say something about both, so I'll do a quick comparison of the films as original and re-make. Both films exemplify their respective time periods so thoroughly in terms of approach to so many aspects of the film, and it is because both films show awareness of how to express story beats effectively in their own time frames that I love the two films together for their differences as much as their similarities. The first is fast and initially innocuous, casually strolling through its story beats with an air of mystery before the first real big moment. It's a reminder of how often blandness was used specifically to contrast with big moments so that those moments would hit even harder, keeping things even and unsuspecting with only the slightest sense of paranoia before the plant comes alive. Contrast this to the second, which uses its opening to more thoroughly establish character while also visually expressing everything we need to know about the aliens. There's no pretense of normalcy here, it's aware of what it is as a re-make and attempts to use that fact to tell the story in its own unique way which focuses even more on character than the original and pretends, at least for a moment, to be more hopeful. These are both great films in their own right, but each has its own thing going on and does what they each set out to do so well that it's worth watching them both just to compare and contrast them.
192. Insidious (2010) - July 11th
I was hoping for more from James Wan and Leigh Whannell, but this is a significant step down compared to their other work. It's like the worst aspects of their filmmaking are put front and centre with this, with a constant stream of tactless and weightless jump scares that fail to evoke even a basic sense of fear, and seemingly endless tired nonsense exposition. On the plus side, the performances of most of the cast are pretty great, with Patrick Wilson never failing to deliver appropriate work, and Byrne working well with typically annoying material. There's also the Further itself; the last twenty minutes of the movie actually remember to be creepy, and for a few brief shining moments there are glimpses of a much better (if derivative) horror movie beneath the surface of constant pointlessness. If this movie had spent more time being as creepy as it was in the further and less time trying to get by on cheap jumps, I might've really enjoyed it. - 5/10
193. Skyscraper (2018) - July 12th
This was just okay. Nothing about it stands out, good or bad, it just toes the line of mediocrity from start to finish. My full review can be found here. - 5/10
194. Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) - July 13th
This was joyfully absurd. Alec Guinness is a master and steals every scene that he's in, and with a whole eight characters to play that's no small feat.
- 9/10
195. The Stepford Wives (1975) - July 14th
Man, I really want to like this one more than I do. With all the parallels to Rosemary's Baby this has a lot of the same potential as a story, but the film's arctic pace makes things far less interesting than they could be. I can see the value in spending more time simply connecting Joanna with Bobbie; it makes the contrast between Bobbie's humanity and then erasure have a more personal impact. At the same time, that impact is largely dulled by the time the film takes to get to that reveal. That's essentially a microcosm of the film's issues; all that it has is good, it just takes forever to get from one good thing to the next, and by the time it makes it to the awesome final reveal, it's a little dull. It's a shame, too, because the gender politics at play are simple, focused and biting, and if the film had kept pace enough for the to be ever in the spotlight this could have been a far more cracking experience, but none of it runs long enough to be deep. - 5.5/10
196. The Stepford Wives (2004) - July 14th
I'm not entirely sure what the intention was with this remake. While cutting down the running does help significantly with the pacing issues of the first, the choice to take the film that much further over the top while significantly changing the story makes the film's satire far less focused and obscured by a lot of camp. This film is funnier, but in no way that actually improves the overall story, so while I appreciate every well-written barb of dialogue that gets thrown about and find the excessive nature of it all pretty entertaining, it all feels so fake, and in trying to re-frame the metaphor for the erasure of independent feminine identity with a happier ending that also requires multiple twists that don't work with the original story's intentions, the whole thing falls apart as it deviates. I appreciate the ambition, but the changes just all feel off from one another enough that none of it quite fits, both thematically and structurally (to say nothing of the re-write that makes the whole thing not only not work but also not make sense) and all the clever jokes can't save it. That's not to say this idea couldn't work; updating The Stepford Wives with a modern dynamic is a neat idea that with more concise metaphor could be really good, but this doesn't accomplish that. - 4/10
197. The Great Dictator (1940) - July 16th
I still prefer Modern Times, but damn if Chaplin's speech isn't absolutely sterling. The politics at play here are at once important but also intriguingly messy by way of Chaplin's own regret over this movie when he learned the extent of the brutality of the Nazi concentration camps (which I don't think makes the movie any less valuable; satire shows our pain as much as it does our humour and level of understanding). Aside from that, the comedy is great, but I've seen Chaplin do better, so while this is his most significant film (seriously, let me just re-iterate how powerful that speech is even today), I don't think of it has his 'best'.
- 9/10
198. Holiday Inn (1942) - July 18th
Another classic, another reminder that some don't age as well as others. The use of blackface is thankfully brief and given how it's written probably seemed pretty clever at the time, but there's a reason that it's the biggest omission from edited versions of the film. Still, aside from that unfortunate aspect, I found this to be pretty great. The music is definitive Christmas stuff (White Christmas was popularised by this movie, though personally I preferred Be Careful, It's My Heart, if only for the visual juxtaposition of the scene in which it is used) and it's the bulk of what the film's about, supported by the strength of the lead performances; the story isn't anything spectacular in presentation, obvious and easy stuff that leads to some great set-ups but doesn't add up to much on its own. The film is great holiday fair, but not one that blew me away. - 7.5/10
199. Live a Little, Love a Little (1968) - July 20th
I know these Elvis movies are just vehicles for his music, but where Jailhouse Rock started well and fell apart as the movie went on, this is all over the place from the start.
This could easily be re-written as a horror; the movie is about newspaper photographer Nolan, whose life is wrecked by lonely woman Bernice when she leaves him with no recourse but to live with her and put up with her behaviour. She literally drugs him in to a coma and in the mean time gets him fired from his job and kicked out of his apartment, and this apparently not an uncommon occurrence. The film is a tonal mess with these actions, at once treating it as horrifying and as a joke and as some sort of acid trip, Elvis' music can't save all of it.
It gets worse as it drops all pretense of horror and leans in to this idea that Nolan owes Bernice something while continuing to up the uncomfortable nature of her actions and playing Nolan for a sap trying to keep up with her. It's so strange, the movie seems to be saying one thing but showing something else with every single scene, it's not even out of date social attitudes at play (Nolan is aware of how ridiculous it all is even if that gets confused from one scene to the next), it's just a mess of ideas that go against one another while Elvis' music plays as the only good part of it (and of course the incidental fact that Elvis being in it means that we get to hear him talk). Admittedly, the gag of him working two jobs is pretty funny and cheesy, but the set-up for the gag makes it all feel so off. - 4/10
200. Iron Monkey (1993) - July 20th
Wire fu is great specifically because it's silly; that statement has never been more true than in Iron Monkey. This was a ridiculous delight. - 8/10
201. Platoon (1986) - July 21st
I wish I had found the time to talk properly about this one, because it's not just a reminder of how much the Vietnam War shaped the American consciousness and how much that impacted their art, it's also incredibly personal, right in the thick of things, and becomes one of the best of the Vietnam movies in the process, highlighting in its own way what many have tried to capture. - 9/10
202. Hitchcock/Truffaut (2015) - July 22nd
Filmmakers talk for eighty minutes about one of the greatest filmmakers of all time and another who proved that to the world. This was so great to see just how many great filmmakers were inspired not just by Hitchcock's work, but through Truffaut's own passion for Hitchcock's work. - 8/10
Re-watches
44. Back to the Future (1985) - July 9th
Sometimes you have to go back and watch a movie that reminds you why you love movies. Back to the Future is one of the greatest movies of all time, a veritable joy of film and pop culture that grabs you within the first five minutes and never lets go. It's exciting, it's hilarious, it's sometimes beautiful, and it does all of these things better than just about every movie that tries the same; it's a perfect roller coaster of cinema that I could never tire of, from its music to its action to its corny acting and dialogue to its heart-achingly sweet and spine-tinglingly awesome ending. I love it, and it's hard to get better than it. - 10/10
45. Singin' in the Rain (1952) - July 9th
That said, it's not impossible. Singin' in the Rain is basically an eternal 'f*ck you' to anyone who doesn't like musicals, because it's so damn fantastic that even the most hardened musical hater would have to be dead to not love this movie. The movie is a brilliant musical that's also a film about making a brilliant musical that satirises stardom and Hollywood glamour while also making the most out of the fact that the film exists within that archetype. From the moment Lockwood starts telling a very different story to the one shown it's as close to perfection as a musical has gotten, and the film leans on the nature of its own greatness as meta narrative without obtruding on the rest of what its got. Perhaps its because I'm aware of the history of this film's production, done in the way that it is because Kelly was spiteful towards MGM for forcing him to keep contract, so he made the film a satire of the studio, but this sort of excess of meta is the sort that I love, to say nothing of how perfect every musical number is (the titular being the most popular, but Make 'Em Laugh being my personal favourite) or the performances (Reynolds and O'Connor are immortalised in this movie, and this was the movie that made me realise that Gene Kelly is perfect). - 10/10
46. Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015) - July 9th
It's a little less special now with a new Star Wars movie coming out every year, but seeing this on premiere night, after a decade without Star Wars, was a truly mesmerising experience. No amount of re-watches can capture that same feeling, but every now and then, when you start talking with a friend about how much you love Star Wars, you can get pretty close, which is how I ended up watching The Force Awakens for what I believe is the fifth time. It's indulgent, it never breathes, it relies all too heavily on its own existence, but all that also means that it's filled to the brim with nostalgic moments, moves at a breakneck pace, and reminds us all why we fell in love with Star Wars in the first place. It's especially important in the meta-narrative of it all, interestingly enough reminding me of the Godzilla franchise: where the Heisei era used its narrative to express a meta-narrative about the cultural impact of the Showa era and Godzilla overall, The Force Awakens (and The Last Jedi) seems bent on being at least in part about the cultural impact of Star Wars, ie. the new movies don't just remind us why we love Star Wars with easy nostalgia moments like the Millenium Falcon reveal, the love of Star Wars is built in to the narrative. It's something I love about the new movies, from the way Rey fangirls over Luke Skywalker, the Resistance, Han Solo, etc. to the roots of Kylo Ren's motivation, to the fact that this is all playing out like a combination of 'what if' ideas (essentially Kylo's arc is like a combination 'what if Luke had fallen' and 'what if Vader had killed Sidious, and the movie is using that both narratively and meta-narratively, he's both effectively a stand-in for a new Vader and literally a Vader fanboy). There's a lot of contextual things that aren't flaws in the movie so much as stories that I'd wish they'd told here first, but throwing us straight in to the new conflict and hoping for the best was demonstrably (at least financially) the right idea and managed to cover for a lot of other aspects of the film (pacing is a notable issue, one that seems to permeate through all the new Star Wars films) that weren't as polished. This is really good blockbuster stuff and a worthy entry in to the Star Wars franchise (although that bar is a lot lower than it once was), and if nothing else it's inspired me to try to find the time to watch them all again. - 7.5/10
190. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) - July 10th
- 8.5/10
191. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) - July 10th
- 8/10
With more time I'd talk about the merits of the each individual film, because there are many. I would particularly love to talk about allegory versus coding in its relation the original and the unintended expressions and takeaways thereof (seriously, the fact that people were seeing things both for and against both communism and McCarthyism and the director and writers of both the film and the source text intended none of it is so damn interesting all on its own, a great reminder of just how subjective all of film is), but unfortunately I'm stretched and I want to say something about both, so I'll do a quick comparison of the films as original and re-make. Both films exemplify their respective time periods so thoroughly in terms of approach to so many aspects of the film, and it is because both films show awareness of how to express story beats effectively in their own time frames that I love the two films together for their differences as much as their similarities. The first is fast and initially innocuous, casually strolling through its story beats with an air of mystery before the first real big moment. It's a reminder of how often blandness was used specifically to contrast with big moments so that those moments would hit even harder, keeping things even and unsuspecting with only the slightest sense of paranoia before the plant comes alive. Contrast this to the second, which uses its opening to more thoroughly establish character while also visually expressing everything we need to know about the aliens. There's no pretense of normalcy here, it's aware of what it is as a re-make and attempts to use that fact to tell the story in its own unique way which focuses even more on character than the original and pretends, at least for a moment, to be more hopeful. These are both great films in their own right, but each has its own thing going on and does what they each set out to do so well that it's worth watching them both just to compare and contrast them.
192. Insidious (2010) - July 11th
I was hoping for more from James Wan and Leigh Whannell, but this is a significant step down compared to their other work. It's like the worst aspects of their filmmaking are put front and centre with this, with a constant stream of tactless and weightless jump scares that fail to evoke even a basic sense of fear, and seemingly endless tired nonsense exposition. On the plus side, the performances of most of the cast are pretty great, with Patrick Wilson never failing to deliver appropriate work, and Byrne working well with typically annoying material. There's also the Further itself; the last twenty minutes of the movie actually remember to be creepy, and for a few brief shining moments there are glimpses of a much better (if derivative) horror movie beneath the surface of constant pointlessness. If this movie had spent more time being as creepy as it was in the further and less time trying to get by on cheap jumps, I might've really enjoyed it. - 5/10
193. Skyscraper (2018) - July 12th
This was just okay. Nothing about it stands out, good or bad, it just toes the line of mediocrity from start to finish. My full review can be found here. - 5/10
194. Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) - July 13th
This was joyfully absurd. Alec Guinness is a master and steals every scene that he's in, and with a whole eight characters to play that's no small feat.
- 9/10
195. The Stepford Wives (1975) - July 14th
Man, I really want to like this one more than I do. With all the parallels to Rosemary's Baby this has a lot of the same potential as a story, but the film's arctic pace makes things far less interesting than they could be. I can see the value in spending more time simply connecting Joanna with Bobbie; it makes the contrast between Bobbie's humanity and then erasure have a more personal impact. At the same time, that impact is largely dulled by the time the film takes to get to that reveal. That's essentially a microcosm of the film's issues; all that it has is good, it just takes forever to get from one good thing to the next, and by the time it makes it to the awesome final reveal, it's a little dull. It's a shame, too, because the gender politics at play are simple, focused and biting, and if the film had kept pace enough for the to be ever in the spotlight this could have been a far more cracking experience, but none of it runs long enough to be deep. - 5.5/10
196. The Stepford Wives (2004) - July 14th
I'm not entirely sure what the intention was with this remake. While cutting down the running does help significantly with the pacing issues of the first, the choice to take the film that much further over the top while significantly changing the story makes the film's satire far less focused and obscured by a lot of camp. This film is funnier, but in no way that actually improves the overall story, so while I appreciate every well-written barb of dialogue that gets thrown about and find the excessive nature of it all pretty entertaining, it all feels so fake, and in trying to re-frame the metaphor for the erasure of independent feminine identity with a happier ending that also requires multiple twists that don't work with the original story's intentions, the whole thing falls apart as it deviates. I appreciate the ambition, but the changes just all feel off from one another enough that none of it quite fits, both thematically and structurally (to say nothing of the re-write that makes the whole thing not only not work but also not make sense) and all the clever jokes can't save it. That's not to say this idea couldn't work; updating The Stepford Wives with a modern dynamic is a neat idea that with more concise metaphor could be really good, but this doesn't accomplish that. - 4/10
197. The Great Dictator (1940) - July 16th
I still prefer Modern Times, but damn if Chaplin's speech isn't absolutely sterling. The politics at play here are at once important but also intriguingly messy by way of Chaplin's own regret over this movie when he learned the extent of the brutality of the Nazi concentration camps (which I don't think makes the movie any less valuable; satire shows our pain as much as it does our humour and level of understanding). Aside from that, the comedy is great, but I've seen Chaplin do better, so while this is his most significant film (seriously, let me just re-iterate how powerful that speech is even today), I don't think of it has his 'best'.
- 9/10
198. Holiday Inn (1942) - July 18th
Another classic, another reminder that some don't age as well as others. The use of blackface is thankfully brief and given how it's written probably seemed pretty clever at the time, but there's a reason that it's the biggest omission from edited versions of the film. Still, aside from that unfortunate aspect, I found this to be pretty great. The music is definitive Christmas stuff (White Christmas was popularised by this movie, though personally I preferred Be Careful, It's My Heart, if only for the visual juxtaposition of the scene in which it is used) and it's the bulk of what the film's about, supported by the strength of the lead performances; the story isn't anything spectacular in presentation, obvious and easy stuff that leads to some great set-ups but doesn't add up to much on its own. The film is great holiday fair, but not one that blew me away. - 7.5/10
199. Live a Little, Love a Little (1968) - July 20th
I know these Elvis movies are just vehicles for his music, but where Jailhouse Rock started well and fell apart as the movie went on, this is all over the place from the start.
This could easily be re-written as a horror; the movie is about newspaper photographer Nolan, whose life is wrecked by lonely woman Bernice when she leaves him with no recourse but to live with her and put up with her behaviour. She literally drugs him in to a coma and in the mean time gets him fired from his job and kicked out of his apartment, and this apparently not an uncommon occurrence. The film is a tonal mess with these actions, at once treating it as horrifying and as a joke and as some sort of acid trip, Elvis' music can't save all of it.
It gets worse as it drops all pretense of horror and leans in to this idea that Nolan owes Bernice something while continuing to up the uncomfortable nature of her actions and playing Nolan for a sap trying to keep up with her. It's so strange, the movie seems to be saying one thing but showing something else with every single scene, it's not even out of date social attitudes at play (Nolan is aware of how ridiculous it all is even if that gets confused from one scene to the next), it's just a mess of ideas that go against one another while Elvis' music plays as the only good part of it (and of course the incidental fact that Elvis being in it means that we get to hear him talk). Admittedly, the gag of him working two jobs is pretty funny and cheesy, but the set-up for the gag makes it all feel so off. - 4/10
200. Iron Monkey (1993) - July 20th
Wire fu is great specifically because it's silly; that statement has never been more true than in Iron Monkey. This was a ridiculous delight. - 8/10
201. Platoon (1986) - July 21st
I wish I had found the time to talk properly about this one, because it's not just a reminder of how much the Vietnam War shaped the American consciousness and how much that impacted their art, it's also incredibly personal, right in the thick of things, and becomes one of the best of the Vietnam movies in the process, highlighting in its own way what many have tried to capture. - 9/10
202. Hitchcock/Truffaut (2015) - July 22nd
Filmmakers talk for eighty minutes about one of the greatest filmmakers of all time and another who proved that to the world. This was so great to see just how many great filmmakers were inspired not just by Hitchcock's work, but through Truffaut's own passion for Hitchcock's work. - 8/10
Re-watches
44. Back to the Future (1985) - July 9th
Sometimes you have to go back and watch a movie that reminds you why you love movies. Back to the Future is one of the greatest movies of all time, a veritable joy of film and pop culture that grabs you within the first five minutes and never lets go. It's exciting, it's hilarious, it's sometimes beautiful, and it does all of these things better than just about every movie that tries the same; it's a perfect roller coaster of cinema that I could never tire of, from its music to its action to its corny acting and dialogue to its heart-achingly sweet and spine-tinglingly awesome ending. I love it, and it's hard to get better than it. - 10/10
45. Singin' in the Rain (1952) - July 9th
That said, it's not impossible. Singin' in the Rain is basically an eternal 'f*ck you' to anyone who doesn't like musicals, because it's so damn fantastic that even the most hardened musical hater would have to be dead to not love this movie. The movie is a brilliant musical that's also a film about making a brilliant musical that satirises stardom and Hollywood glamour while also making the most out of the fact that the film exists within that archetype. From the moment Lockwood starts telling a very different story to the one shown it's as close to perfection as a musical has gotten, and the film leans on the nature of its own greatness as meta narrative without obtruding on the rest of what its got. Perhaps its because I'm aware of the history of this film's production, done in the way that it is because Kelly was spiteful towards MGM for forcing him to keep contract, so he made the film a satire of the studio, but this sort of excess of meta is the sort that I love, to say nothing of how perfect every musical number is (the titular being the most popular, but Make 'Em Laugh being my personal favourite) or the performances (Reynolds and O'Connor are immortalised in this movie, and this was the movie that made me realise that Gene Kelly is perfect). - 10/10
46. Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015) - July 9th
It's a little less special now with a new Star Wars movie coming out every year, but seeing this on premiere night, after a decade without Star Wars, was a truly mesmerising experience. No amount of re-watches can capture that same feeling, but every now and then, when you start talking with a friend about how much you love Star Wars, you can get pretty close, which is how I ended up watching The Force Awakens for what I believe is the fifth time. It's indulgent, it never breathes, it relies all too heavily on its own existence, but all that also means that it's filled to the brim with nostalgic moments, moves at a breakneck pace, and reminds us all why we fell in love with Star Wars in the first place. It's especially important in the meta-narrative of it all, interestingly enough reminding me of the Godzilla franchise: where the Heisei era used its narrative to express a meta-narrative about the cultural impact of the Showa era and Godzilla overall, The Force Awakens (and The Last Jedi) seems bent on being at least in part about the cultural impact of Star Wars, ie. the new movies don't just remind us why we love Star Wars with easy nostalgia moments like the Millenium Falcon reveal, the love of Star Wars is built in to the narrative. It's something I love about the new movies, from the way Rey fangirls over Luke Skywalker, the Resistance, Han Solo, etc. to the roots of Kylo Ren's motivation, to the fact that this is all playing out like a combination of 'what if' ideas (essentially Kylo's arc is like a combination 'what if Luke had fallen' and 'what if Vader had killed Sidious, and the movie is using that both narratively and meta-narratively, he's both effectively a stand-in for a new Vader and literally a Vader fanboy). There's a lot of contextual things that aren't flaws in the movie so much as stories that I'd wish they'd told here first, but throwing us straight in to the new conflict and hoping for the best was demonstrably (at least financially) the right idea and managed to cover for a lot of other aspects of the film (pacing is a notable issue, one that seems to permeate through all the new Star Wars films) that weren't as polished. This is really good blockbuster stuff and a worthy entry in to the Star Wars franchise (although that bar is a lot lower than it once was), and if nothing else it's inspired me to try to find the time to watch them all again. - 7.5/10
Thursday, 12 July 2018
2018 Film Review: Skyscraper (2018)
Directed by: Rawson Marshall Thurber
Written by: Rawson Marshall Thurber
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Neve Campbell, Roland Moller
IMDb Link
Die Hard this ain't, but the derivative Skyscraper offers up a serviceable emotional foundation and keeps the action centred around it.
Years after suffering an amputation due to a hostage situation gone horribly wrong, Will Sawyer (Johnson) has managed to move forward with his life through his family, and is now up for the chance to be head of security for "The Pearl", the new tallest building in the world. A set-up separates Sawyer from his wife and kids, them stuck half way up the Pearl as it's set ablaze and him on the run from both terrorists and the police, with only getting back to his family on his mind.
The basis is generic, but the film spends enough time on it to make the family bonds somewhat emotionally resonant. It helps that the film emphasises Sawyer's disability in his actions, both as complication and as potential strength. The reason that any of this works is because care is taken to show just how much of a herculean effort it all is, and how often Sawyer reminds us of why he does it; it's cheesy and defies all physics and is self-serious often to its detriment, but even when it's at its most unrealistic it's 'believable' for how insurmountable it all seems and how set on saving his family Sawyer is and how hard he works despite the crippling nature of his wounds. It's just the right mixture of decent performances, characterisation, story and action to make the whole thing watchable.
That's assuming you don't mind everything else. Nothing about the movie is outright terrible, but it has just as often poor as it is solid. The action fluctuates from tight, tense and clear to completely incomprehensible: a well-shot action sequence with a decent take on the hall of mirrors set-up takes place alongside a shootout and fight scene that's almost painful to watch. The family gets decent set-up but then has very little to do: having them move around gives the illusion of doing more than sitting tight and Sarah Sawyer (Campbell) does assist with something in the last act, but a lot of it gets caught up in the film's need for the government to do something useful without intervening on the main plot. Villain turns are broadcast from the moment they're met but motivations are vague and amount to little, which is disappointing given who some of them are. None of the weaker stuff in this film is especially egregious, just as none of the good stuff in this film is particularly spectacular, so it all ends up being a very middling (if somewhat entertaining) affair.
The Short Version: Skyscraper doesn't do anything great or terrible, content to play within the bounds of the genre and bank on Johnson's star power and the family dynamic for its appeal. It's pleasantly mediocre.
Rating: 5/10
Published July 13th, 2018
Written by: Rawson Marshall Thurber
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Neve Campbell, Roland Moller
IMDb Link
Die Hard this ain't, but the derivative Skyscraper offers up a serviceable emotional foundation and keeps the action centred around it.
Years after suffering an amputation due to a hostage situation gone horribly wrong, Will Sawyer (Johnson) has managed to move forward with his life through his family, and is now up for the chance to be head of security for "The Pearl", the new tallest building in the world. A set-up separates Sawyer from his wife and kids, them stuck half way up the Pearl as it's set ablaze and him on the run from both terrorists and the police, with only getting back to his family on his mind.The basis is generic, but the film spends enough time on it to make the family bonds somewhat emotionally resonant. It helps that the film emphasises Sawyer's disability in his actions, both as complication and as potential strength. The reason that any of this works is because care is taken to show just how much of a herculean effort it all is, and how often Sawyer reminds us of why he does it; it's cheesy and defies all physics and is self-serious often to its detriment, but even when it's at its most unrealistic it's 'believable' for how insurmountable it all seems and how set on saving his family Sawyer is and how hard he works despite the crippling nature of his wounds. It's just the right mixture of decent performances, characterisation, story and action to make the whole thing watchable.
That's assuming you don't mind everything else. Nothing about the movie is outright terrible, but it has just as often poor as it is solid. The action fluctuates from tight, tense and clear to completely incomprehensible: a well-shot action sequence with a decent take on the hall of mirrors set-up takes place alongside a shootout and fight scene that's almost painful to watch. The family gets decent set-up but then has very little to do: having them move around gives the illusion of doing more than sitting tight and Sarah Sawyer (Campbell) does assist with something in the last act, but a lot of it gets caught up in the film's need for the government to do something useful without intervening on the main plot. Villain turns are broadcast from the moment they're met but motivations are vague and amount to little, which is disappointing given who some of them are. None of the weaker stuff in this film is especially egregious, just as none of the good stuff in this film is particularly spectacular, so it all ends up being a very middling (if somewhat entertaining) affair.
The Short Version: Skyscraper doesn't do anything great or terrible, content to play within the bounds of the genre and bank on Johnson's star power and the family dynamic for its appeal. It's pleasantly mediocre.
Rating: 5/10
Published July 13th, 2018
Sunday, 8 July 2018
A Week of Movies - July 2nd to July 8th
There were more good films than bad this week, and thankfully none as outstandingly bad as the bottom of the barrel last week. As always, this assumes you know the movie, so if you haven't seen any of them, do so, or just read the plot summaries in the IMDb links in the titles.
181. Flash Gordon (1980) - July 3rd
This might be the campiest thing ever and I love it. When a movie ends with hawk men flying in formation to spell out 'THANKS FLASH', when a movie uses and abuses every moment of its Queen soundtrack, when a movie has this scene, it can't be anything but a masterpiece, the genuine best kind of so bad it's good, tragically ludicrous film that never takes itself seriously and never fails to entertain. I don't even know what else to say about the movie, really, the football fight invalidates any argument that could be made against the film, and if that isn't enough, just watch every other scene with Brian Blessed. This is as silly as they come, and I adore it. - 7.5/10
182. The Brothers Bloom (2008) - July 3rd
I finally got around to this Rian Johnson feature, and while I liked it, it's also comparatively his weakest film. That's not to say it's bad, in fact it's very nearly very good; it's just that when you have Brick, Looper and The Last Jedi as the only other films you've directed, as well as some of the best (and one of the most divisive) episodes of Breaking Bad under your belt, this seems a little underwhelming by comparison (it's not even the best con man movie I ended up seeing this week, coincidentally enough). For all its outstanding performances, slick editing, snappy dialogue and excellent visual humour (the sugar gag is a great example of this: quick, small, hilarious), the film's ambition outstrips its story delivery, going on and on and on with twist after curtain call over and over, so even for all the charm and good will the film builds up, it quickly begins to lose it over the course of the last half an hour. The film got to its appropriate conclusion, it just felt like forever getting there. - 7/10
183. The Defiant Ones (1958) - July 4th
A movie that deals with the issue of race in the 1950s; well, at the very least it's a good marker for how much (or how little, depending on your perspective) people have been able to develop the idea in film consciousness between then and now. I give the film credit for being progressive for its time and pushing an idea of unity that anyone can get behind, and at the same time cut it slack for failing to address the greater issues and systemic problems it at least recognises exist; the problematic aspects of the film I suppose can only be identified as such because it's the sort of perspective people have generally grown beyond. At the same time, it's hard to suggest that this film's content and how it addresses it have particular value to the topic at hand today, even if I personally know or know of more than a few people that could do with the lesson in humanity that this film offers; the fact that the film does fail to address the greater systemic issues even after identifying that they exist and resorting to simple individual validation makes this film's value in the discussion of race obviously completely overshadowed at this point, with other more recent films capable of giving a greater scope to the problems afflicting people due to systemic problems rather than bringing such issues down to the actions of a few troubled or mistaken people. I guess it's still a better discussion of race than Crash, if nothing else, but that's probably just telling of how bizarrely backward and awful Crash was.
That said, The Defiant Ones still has fantastic work. Regardless of what could be made of the meaning of its content, the film is filled with fantastic performances and strong direction. Curtis and Poitier are both excellent in their own right, but the two of them have an incredible dynamic that cannot be understated. Aside from a few clunky lines that come off as too cartoonish to allow the actors to get to the heart of their individual struggles and mix them in rare moments, the two actors are allowed to express their humanity, their powerless, disparate, conflicted, and ultimately effective humanity. Together, they work things out in a way that I wish wasn't futile. The direction makes some interesting use of visuals as well, the key moment that stands out to me bring Curtis standing on Poitier in order to pull himself out of the mud, and then help Poitier do the same; it's a nice little suggestion about where we've been (keeping minorities down in order to prop ourselves up) and where the movie implores us to go (pulling them out of the mud put them in to). It's obviously white saviour stuff, naively earnest in its own time, but its so consistent and hopeful in its messaging that it's easy to see the value the film once had. This may be a product of its time that we need no longer rely on, but the skill on display is unquestionable. - 7/10
184. The Road (2009) - July 5th
Well, this was soul-crushing and yet motivational, which could be used to describe most of Cormac McCarthy's work. For every moment where it seems like existence needs to end because all of life is terrible, there's a moment of reprieve, a success, a choice to be the best person you can be, a saviour when you need them most. It's a conversation brought up in McCarthy's work and adaptations thereof over and over again; it's literally the centre of the conversation in a story of his that is only a conversation (The Sunset Limited), it was an idea painfully challenged in No Country for Old Men, and it's the core of every pivotal moment in The Road. The central performances of Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee keep this work going against brutal odds, as innocence and instinct clash against one another with every choice they make, purpose brought down to little more than survival while they try just to be a little bit more than that. It's not as powerful as the book, but differences in adaptation always make this a possibility, so I can't be too hard on the film for that, especially when it carries such conviction in its presentation of events, trying to remain faithful even at points where it feels overly sentimental, committed to the material even if it doesn't always evoke the same or as strong a response. - 7.5/10
185. The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) - July 5th
I love how much this film just spins further and further out of control, and how it goes so far as to find the perfect punishment for the character of Ripley. It's as fittingly tragic as it is smart yet completely insane, with an creepy performance from Damon that gives Ripley surprising humanity as he struggles with self-identity as much as he does multi-layered con. It's cracking stuff, if a little indulgent, but the ending makes it all worthwhile. - 7.5/10
186. Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) - July 6th
This was good, but completely forgettable. All the well-directed, high-octane action and Paul Rudd in the world can't make a film memorable when its tone has no effective contrast and the film never stops to think. My full review can be found here. - 6.5/10
187. The Visit (2015) - July 6th
I can't figure Shyamalan out sometimes. The Visit is pretty clever for found footage, and I understand that the obnoxiousness of the characters is intentional, but especially in the case of Tyler, my question is: why? I don't blame Ed Oxenbould, he gives a performance appropriate to the material, but his character seems designed entirely to evoke pain in the audience. Obviously, it's going for cringe laughs, but the film is otherwise a fairly effective mix of scary and actually funny, so the sheer force of Tyler's obnoxious speech and behaviour is just awful. Still, the film is otherwise pretty effective, more disgusting than horrifying and inconsistently hilarious, trying very hard to be good while using an in-text reason to justify any and all potential problems with the technical aspects of the film (thought that's par for the course with found footage; if any of the film looks bad it's because it's not supposed to be a professional film). This was interesting to see after having seen Split twice, as it highlights Shyamalan's upward trajectory since After Earth; if The Visit is that much better than After Earth, and Split is that much better than The Visit, here's hoping his next movie Glass will be on par with Unbreakable. - 5.5/10
188. Truth or Dare (2018) - July 7th
Another year, another worst horror movie. Somehow a step down from last year's 'winner' Flatliners, Truth or Dare is a movie that confuses scary for frantic and never tries too hard at the latter so it fails to ever be the former. Not a moment of this film makes for compelling storytelling, with characters so vapid, inconsiderate and dissonant from one another that it's a wonder how any of them came to be friends in the first place. The movie starts by establishing half of the characters as terrible people (main character Olivia's best friend Markie cancels Olivia's charity trip without Olivia's knowledge or consent so that Olivia can come to Spring Break, then reveals herself to be a serial cheater, etc.) and proceeds to make none of them compelling in spite of those traits, punishing most of them as horrors are wont to do, but for some reason choosing to present the key theme, the lesson of the movie, as that it's better to sacrifice countless people you don't know to save your close friends. Seriously, Olivia's arc in this movie is learning to sacrifice nameless, innocent people for the sake of a best friend who spends most of the movie showing how little she consider's Olivia's feelings, because it's apparently better to temporarily stave off death and put innumerable people at risk than it is to die stopping a demon. The theme of the movie is literally selfishness. If the movie had suggested the value of all of Olivia's friends instead of going out of its way to condemn half of them, including the one who makes it to the end, then perhaps this theme could have been emotionally understandable if still morally reprehensible, but as it is the film does nothing to support its own thesis, and we're left with a confused and uncaring approach to everything that the film is about. It gets worse when you consider how little time the film dwells on the deaths of Olivia's friends; it's all quick lip service before moving on without looking back. This doesn't even get in to the plot itself, which is so slap-dashed together you can almost see the writer in the background of every scene shouting "just go with it... please" while the direction tries way too hard to take the film seriously. It's a shame, too, because despite being devoid of any kind of scares the film actually has a fairly slick style, and had this been some sort of teen drama that tried to address the human issues at play here the film might have been passable, or at least just sort of bad; with the rest of the film against it, this style doesn't stop the film from being terrible. - 2.5/10
189. Island of Lost Souls (1932) - July 7th
At least one The Island of Dr. Moreau adaptation managed to do the original story justice. After the middling 70s version and the disastrously ambitious 90s version, as well as a documentary on the same, I went back and checked out the first ever 'talkie' adaptation, and in the context of its time it works considerably better than its peers. As hokey as it is, the film treats its material with an actual sense of horror and tragedy, supported by brooding lighting and spooky camerawork, as well as an appropriately unhinged performance from Charles Laughton as Moreau. Moreau here is probably the key factor that elevates this film above other adaptations; in '77 he was a fairly generic villain, less defined by the character of his insanity than the others, and in '96 Brando just got real weird with it, which while I enjoy for how insane the whole film is in general I think takes away from the single-minded and driven attitude of Moreau. Here Laughton gives an excessively creepy performance tempered by his surprisingly human drive to succeed. He's not complex, but he's compelling for his focus; the character is simply all about his goals and spews them regularly in didactic screed that makes for good classic horror. - 7.5/10
Re-watches
42. Paddington 2 (2017) - July 2nd
This is just the best. Paddington 2 is the most wholesome thing you could ever see, and it comes by it all so honestly that it's impossible not to love. Just watch this if you haven't already, it's all of the best stuff from the first one with a greater sense of restraint, a true family movie that's sweet and innocent and only wants to make people better and feel better about themselves. My only issue is the same one I had the first time, which is how forced the transition from the first to the second act feels, essentially hand-waving the fact that Gruber wouldn't press charges in the offense. It's kid-movie logic that I can mostly, but not entirely, accept, if only because Paddington is an angel who deserves none of it. Again, just watch this if you haven't already, and watch it again if you have. - 9.5/10
43. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) - July 8th
It's a shame the series has gone the way it has, because the original is such a fantastic swashbuckling adventure. Depp and Rush are excellent counterparts; these two essentially make the movie as good as it is. The other characters all range from inoffensive to slightly obnoxious, and the action and adventure are all solid without being amazing, but Jack Sparrow and Hector Barbossa are both such well realised and performed characters that they elevate the work considerably. They each work very well on their own, with Depp giving the role such perfect comedic timing, and Rush providing incredible gravitas to such ridiculous ideas (the "ghost stories" speech still chills to the bone despite how silly everything around it is). What makes these two performances even better is how they complement each other in their differences, with Depp's rock star approach contrasting Rush's more classically cheesy one, the two of them playing off of each other to create such great moments ("So what now, Jack Sparrow? Are we to be two immortals, locked in an epic battle until Judgement Day, when the trumpets sound?" "Or you could surrender"). Something that is otherwise somewhere between middling and solid is made really great by these two fantastic performances within. - 8/10
181. Flash Gordon (1980) - July 3rd
This might be the campiest thing ever and I love it. When a movie ends with hawk men flying in formation to spell out 'THANKS FLASH', when a movie uses and abuses every moment of its Queen soundtrack, when a movie has this scene, it can't be anything but a masterpiece, the genuine best kind of so bad it's good, tragically ludicrous film that never takes itself seriously and never fails to entertain. I don't even know what else to say about the movie, really, the football fight invalidates any argument that could be made against the film, and if that isn't enough, just watch every other scene with Brian Blessed. This is as silly as they come, and I adore it. - 7.5/10
182. The Brothers Bloom (2008) - July 3rd
I finally got around to this Rian Johnson feature, and while I liked it, it's also comparatively his weakest film. That's not to say it's bad, in fact it's very nearly very good; it's just that when you have Brick, Looper and The Last Jedi as the only other films you've directed, as well as some of the best (and one of the most divisive) episodes of Breaking Bad under your belt, this seems a little underwhelming by comparison (it's not even the best con man movie I ended up seeing this week, coincidentally enough). For all its outstanding performances, slick editing, snappy dialogue and excellent visual humour (the sugar gag is a great example of this: quick, small, hilarious), the film's ambition outstrips its story delivery, going on and on and on with twist after curtain call over and over, so even for all the charm and good will the film builds up, it quickly begins to lose it over the course of the last half an hour. The film got to its appropriate conclusion, it just felt like forever getting there. - 7/10
183. The Defiant Ones (1958) - July 4th
A movie that deals with the issue of race in the 1950s; well, at the very least it's a good marker for how much (or how little, depending on your perspective) people have been able to develop the idea in film consciousness between then and now. I give the film credit for being progressive for its time and pushing an idea of unity that anyone can get behind, and at the same time cut it slack for failing to address the greater issues and systemic problems it at least recognises exist; the problematic aspects of the film I suppose can only be identified as such because it's the sort of perspective people have generally grown beyond. At the same time, it's hard to suggest that this film's content and how it addresses it have particular value to the topic at hand today, even if I personally know or know of more than a few people that could do with the lesson in humanity that this film offers; the fact that the film does fail to address the greater systemic issues even after identifying that they exist and resorting to simple individual validation makes this film's value in the discussion of race obviously completely overshadowed at this point, with other more recent films capable of giving a greater scope to the problems afflicting people due to systemic problems rather than bringing such issues down to the actions of a few troubled or mistaken people. I guess it's still a better discussion of race than Crash, if nothing else, but that's probably just telling of how bizarrely backward and awful Crash was.
That said, The Defiant Ones still has fantastic work. Regardless of what could be made of the meaning of its content, the film is filled with fantastic performances and strong direction. Curtis and Poitier are both excellent in their own right, but the two of them have an incredible dynamic that cannot be understated. Aside from a few clunky lines that come off as too cartoonish to allow the actors to get to the heart of their individual struggles and mix them in rare moments, the two actors are allowed to express their humanity, their powerless, disparate, conflicted, and ultimately effective humanity. Together, they work things out in a way that I wish wasn't futile. The direction makes some interesting use of visuals as well, the key moment that stands out to me bring Curtis standing on Poitier in order to pull himself out of the mud, and then help Poitier do the same; it's a nice little suggestion about where we've been (keeping minorities down in order to prop ourselves up) and where the movie implores us to go (pulling them out of the mud put them in to). It's obviously white saviour stuff, naively earnest in its own time, but its so consistent and hopeful in its messaging that it's easy to see the value the film once had. This may be a product of its time that we need no longer rely on, but the skill on display is unquestionable. - 7/10
184. The Road (2009) - July 5th
Well, this was soul-crushing and yet motivational, which could be used to describe most of Cormac McCarthy's work. For every moment where it seems like existence needs to end because all of life is terrible, there's a moment of reprieve, a success, a choice to be the best person you can be, a saviour when you need them most. It's a conversation brought up in McCarthy's work and adaptations thereof over and over again; it's literally the centre of the conversation in a story of his that is only a conversation (The Sunset Limited), it was an idea painfully challenged in No Country for Old Men, and it's the core of every pivotal moment in The Road. The central performances of Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee keep this work going against brutal odds, as innocence and instinct clash against one another with every choice they make, purpose brought down to little more than survival while they try just to be a little bit more than that. It's not as powerful as the book, but differences in adaptation always make this a possibility, so I can't be too hard on the film for that, especially when it carries such conviction in its presentation of events, trying to remain faithful even at points where it feels overly sentimental, committed to the material even if it doesn't always evoke the same or as strong a response. - 7.5/10
185. The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) - July 5th
I love how much this film just spins further and further out of control, and how it goes so far as to find the perfect punishment for the character of Ripley. It's as fittingly tragic as it is smart yet completely insane, with an creepy performance from Damon that gives Ripley surprising humanity as he struggles with self-identity as much as he does multi-layered con. It's cracking stuff, if a little indulgent, but the ending makes it all worthwhile. - 7.5/10
186. Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) - July 6th
This was good, but completely forgettable. All the well-directed, high-octane action and Paul Rudd in the world can't make a film memorable when its tone has no effective contrast and the film never stops to think. My full review can be found here. - 6.5/10
187. The Visit (2015) - July 6th
I can't figure Shyamalan out sometimes. The Visit is pretty clever for found footage, and I understand that the obnoxiousness of the characters is intentional, but especially in the case of Tyler, my question is: why? I don't blame Ed Oxenbould, he gives a performance appropriate to the material, but his character seems designed entirely to evoke pain in the audience. Obviously, it's going for cringe laughs, but the film is otherwise a fairly effective mix of scary and actually funny, so the sheer force of Tyler's obnoxious speech and behaviour is just awful. Still, the film is otherwise pretty effective, more disgusting than horrifying and inconsistently hilarious, trying very hard to be good while using an in-text reason to justify any and all potential problems with the technical aspects of the film (thought that's par for the course with found footage; if any of the film looks bad it's because it's not supposed to be a professional film). This was interesting to see after having seen Split twice, as it highlights Shyamalan's upward trajectory since After Earth; if The Visit is that much better than After Earth, and Split is that much better than The Visit, here's hoping his next movie Glass will be on par with Unbreakable. - 5.5/10
188. Truth or Dare (2018) - July 7th
Another year, another worst horror movie. Somehow a step down from last year's 'winner' Flatliners, Truth or Dare is a movie that confuses scary for frantic and never tries too hard at the latter so it fails to ever be the former. Not a moment of this film makes for compelling storytelling, with characters so vapid, inconsiderate and dissonant from one another that it's a wonder how any of them came to be friends in the first place. The movie starts by establishing half of the characters as terrible people (main character Olivia's best friend Markie cancels Olivia's charity trip without Olivia's knowledge or consent so that Olivia can come to Spring Break, then reveals herself to be a serial cheater, etc.) and proceeds to make none of them compelling in spite of those traits, punishing most of them as horrors are wont to do, but for some reason choosing to present the key theme, the lesson of the movie, as that it's better to sacrifice countless people you don't know to save your close friends. Seriously, Olivia's arc in this movie is learning to sacrifice nameless, innocent people for the sake of a best friend who spends most of the movie showing how little she consider's Olivia's feelings, because it's apparently better to temporarily stave off death and put innumerable people at risk than it is to die stopping a demon. The theme of the movie is literally selfishness. If the movie had suggested the value of all of Olivia's friends instead of going out of its way to condemn half of them, including the one who makes it to the end, then perhaps this theme could have been emotionally understandable if still morally reprehensible, but as it is the film does nothing to support its own thesis, and we're left with a confused and uncaring approach to everything that the film is about. It gets worse when you consider how little time the film dwells on the deaths of Olivia's friends; it's all quick lip service before moving on without looking back. This doesn't even get in to the plot itself, which is so slap-dashed together you can almost see the writer in the background of every scene shouting "just go with it... please" while the direction tries way too hard to take the film seriously. It's a shame, too, because despite being devoid of any kind of scares the film actually has a fairly slick style, and had this been some sort of teen drama that tried to address the human issues at play here the film might have been passable, or at least just sort of bad; with the rest of the film against it, this style doesn't stop the film from being terrible. - 2.5/10
189. Island of Lost Souls (1932) - July 7th
At least one The Island of Dr. Moreau adaptation managed to do the original story justice. After the middling 70s version and the disastrously ambitious 90s version, as well as a documentary on the same, I went back and checked out the first ever 'talkie' adaptation, and in the context of its time it works considerably better than its peers. As hokey as it is, the film treats its material with an actual sense of horror and tragedy, supported by brooding lighting and spooky camerawork, as well as an appropriately unhinged performance from Charles Laughton as Moreau. Moreau here is probably the key factor that elevates this film above other adaptations; in '77 he was a fairly generic villain, less defined by the character of his insanity than the others, and in '96 Brando just got real weird with it, which while I enjoy for how insane the whole film is in general I think takes away from the single-minded and driven attitude of Moreau. Here Laughton gives an excessively creepy performance tempered by his surprisingly human drive to succeed. He's not complex, but he's compelling for his focus; the character is simply all about his goals and spews them regularly in didactic screed that makes for good classic horror. - 7.5/10
Re-watches
42. Paddington 2 (2017) - July 2nd
This is just the best. Paddington 2 is the most wholesome thing you could ever see, and it comes by it all so honestly that it's impossible not to love. Just watch this if you haven't already, it's all of the best stuff from the first one with a greater sense of restraint, a true family movie that's sweet and innocent and only wants to make people better and feel better about themselves. My only issue is the same one I had the first time, which is how forced the transition from the first to the second act feels, essentially hand-waving the fact that Gruber wouldn't press charges in the offense. It's kid-movie logic that I can mostly, but not entirely, accept, if only because Paddington is an angel who deserves none of it. Again, just watch this if you haven't already, and watch it again if you have. - 9.5/10
43. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) - July 8th
It's a shame the series has gone the way it has, because the original is such a fantastic swashbuckling adventure. Depp and Rush are excellent counterparts; these two essentially make the movie as good as it is. The other characters all range from inoffensive to slightly obnoxious, and the action and adventure are all solid without being amazing, but Jack Sparrow and Hector Barbossa are both such well realised and performed characters that they elevate the work considerably. They each work very well on their own, with Depp giving the role such perfect comedic timing, and Rush providing incredible gravitas to such ridiculous ideas (the "ghost stories" speech still chills to the bone despite how silly everything around it is). What makes these two performances even better is how they complement each other in their differences, with Depp's rock star approach contrasting Rush's more classically cheesy one, the two of them playing off of each other to create such great moments ("So what now, Jack Sparrow? Are we to be two immortals, locked in an epic battle until Judgement Day, when the trumpets sound?" "Or you could surrender"). Something that is otherwise somewhere between middling and solid is made really great by these two fantastic performances within. - 8/10
Friday, 6 July 2018
2018 Film Review: Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)
Directed by: Peyton Reed
Written by: Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Paul Rudd, Andrew Barrer, Gabriel Ferrari
Starring: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Peña
IMDb Link
A solid adventure in which Paul Rudd reminds us why he's a treasure.
Under house arrest for his actions in Captain America: Civil War, Scott Lang (Rudd) works as hard as he can to be a good father, until some quantum entanglement nonsense gets him roped back in to helping Hope Van Dyne (Lilly) and Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) find their subatomically trapped mother/wife Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer). Meanwhile, Hope and Hank's quantum machinations have them caught up with black market dealers (led by Walton Goggins), and old colleague of Hank's Bill Foster (Laurence Fishburne) and Ava (A.K.A. Ghost, played by Hannah John-Kamen), a woman with chaotic phasing abilities who has ties to Hank's past. It's all very silly and works at an exciting pace, piling conflict on top of conflict and never letting up for a moment, a real whizz-bang adventure with a big focus on appealing to kids; every bit of the film is coated in sugar, with even the bad guys getting a lighter human side. This approach has its advantages, allowing the film to be as silly or not silly as it needs to be at any given moment, throwing around shrinking and phasing tech for the sake of some really good action scenes and few goofy comedy moments while also keeping things from always seeming completely crazy, but at the same time it causes the film to lack any sort of contrast; the whole thing feels enslaved to this style, and as a result moments that are supposed to be felt otherwise come off as largely artificial, trying to make things matter when so much of the film tells you that things don't really.
That said, everyone has a good time with it; the energetic approach to the film extends to the actors in their roles, so even if the film does little to really evoke genuine emotion it's at least entertaining enough to watch such talented people enjoy themselves for a couple of hours. Rudd is great as Lang; the best parts of the movie are when he gets a chance to spend some time with his daughter, the childlike wonderment beset by the weight of responsibility consistently carrying his arc in this film, one which feels like a natural extension of his arc in the first Ant-Man. Lilly and Douglas both have strong performances as well with an effective and important dynamic, though early hope for Pym to have some sort of arc is quickly hand-waved in favour of jumping in to the next action sequence. Another standout is the dynamic between Fishburne and John-Kamen, each a side of Pym's history that struggles to maintain a semblance of good in the face of the necessity of their actions. It's all covered with a sheen of sweetness, so none of it plays as strongly as it could, but it's quick and effective enough alongside the action beats to keep the story going and have everyone end up where they need to be.
The Short Version: Ant-Man and the Wasp is a silly but subdued romp, light as a feather but not without a little heart; it moves at a breakneck pace and doesn't overstay its welcome, and it's as forgettable as the last piece of cotton candy you ate. Paul Rudd is a treasure (as if you needed reminding) and every other member of the cast pulls their weight in this sometimes delightful children's story, and at the same time this sweet thing isn't something particularly affecting.
Rating: 6.5/10
Published July 7th, 2018
Written by: Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Paul Rudd, Andrew Barrer, Gabriel Ferrari
Starring: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Peña
IMDb Link
A solid adventure in which Paul Rudd reminds us why he's a treasure.
That said, everyone has a good time with it; the energetic approach to the film extends to the actors in their roles, so even if the film does little to really evoke genuine emotion it's at least entertaining enough to watch such talented people enjoy themselves for a couple of hours. Rudd is great as Lang; the best parts of the movie are when he gets a chance to spend some time with his daughter, the childlike wonderment beset by the weight of responsibility consistently carrying his arc in this film, one which feels like a natural extension of his arc in the first Ant-Man. Lilly and Douglas both have strong performances as well with an effective and important dynamic, though early hope for Pym to have some sort of arc is quickly hand-waved in favour of jumping in to the next action sequence. Another standout is the dynamic between Fishburne and John-Kamen, each a side of Pym's history that struggles to maintain a semblance of good in the face of the necessity of their actions. It's all covered with a sheen of sweetness, so none of it plays as strongly as it could, but it's quick and effective enough alongside the action beats to keep the story going and have everyone end up where they need to be.
The Short Version: Ant-Man and the Wasp is a silly but subdued romp, light as a feather but not without a little heart; it moves at a breakneck pace and doesn't overstay its welcome, and it's as forgettable as the last piece of cotton candy you ate. Paul Rudd is a treasure (as if you needed reminding) and every other member of the cast pulls their weight in this sometimes delightful children's story, and at the same time this sweet thing isn't something particularly affecting.
Rating: 6.5/10
Published July 7th, 2018
Sunday, 1 July 2018
A Week of Movies - June 25th to July 1st
This week started off with something I haven't done in quite some time: four movies in one day. Considering each movie gets progressively more tiring than the last in a situation such as this, and that I decided, for some ungodly reason, to watch some of the most offensive and offensively bad movies I've ever seen alongside two fairly decent movies, this was a bit of an exhausting day, and one of my personal low points, at least as far as my morbid curiosity getting the better of me. As always, this is just a stream of thought, if you want plot details, check the links to the movies.
171. The Hills Have Eyes (1977) - June 25th
I saw the remake first, and as far as I can tell based on my experience with both they're basically identical, save the improved production values and slightly more graphic depictions in the remake. The story beats are exactly the same and the designs are extremely similar. This is honestly a weird film experience for me because I saw the new one first, like this was practice after seeing the main event. I suppose I have to give credit to Wes Craven for the fact that this is the original, but at the same time this for me wasn't like the Texas Chainsaw, Halloween, or Nightmare remakes, where the original is a horror classic that I could see the value in beyond its own workings, and the remakes are stylish shadows, misguided expansions, or outright terrible; The Hills Have Eyes has about as much value to me as The Hills Have Eyes, because their essentially the same movie with so little difference between them that the two side by side really only serves as a time capsule for effects development, and while I'm prepared to admit that my perspective may be skewed by the fact that I saw the original first, I'm more just puzzled by why they changed almost nothing. It's kind of strange, I feel compelled to go back and re-watch the remake because I really can't recall a significant difference.
Anyway, this being as similar as it is serves about as much value as I found in the remake, which is to say that it's a fairly competently made horror with only one real note that it at least manages to strike home; the thin line between the civilised and the savage is one that has been tested in film many times, but at least The Hills Have Eyes tests it fairly well. - 6/10
172. The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence) (2011) - June 25th
I rarely find a movie where the lines it crosses override its capability in intending to do so, but it appears I've at least found one, an absolute bottom of the barrel abomination whose cries of "it's just a movie" and authorial intent do not override the sheer abhorrence of its goals and the explicit nature by which it expresses them. This is about as diabolical as a movie can get: its loathsome satire of 'arthouse' film techniques and a general contempt for the audience of the original, as well as a disturbingly effective performance by its lead, are not enough to redeem a movie that takes sick glee in exposing its audience to the worst kind of detestable human capability, so much and to such an extreme extent that you'll either turn it off in disgust or grow numb to the violently unpalatable content. Were a friend not more morbidly curious than I ever intended to be, and were it not my mandate to finish any movie I started, this would have been never touched and never thought of as much as I could possibly manage, but now I have to grapple with the fact that humanity was a mistake while I feebly try to force the at once disturbing and unrealistically over the top image of a newborn's skull being crushed under a gas pedal out of my head. If you were never going to watch this, then I applaud you, this is something that needs to be forgotten and never spoken of again, a relic of the sick mind of someone who loathes his own creation and feels it best to express so by administering hatred upon his audience. If you are reading this and are ever curious about the film, please take my advice and don't watch it, whatever value may be derived from the creative choices in this film cannot outweigh the costs of having to sit through it, and if you're so jaded that this sort of thing wouldn't egregiously affect you, then this will only be a boring slog. There's no winning watching this film, the only victory that can be wrung from this is ignoring its existence, and no amount of crying "it's just a movie" can remove the fact that this movie was created to use the medium of film with the intent only to shock, exhaust, or harm its audience. - 1/10, were I not beholden to the fact that this is technically a movie, I wouldn't even give it a rating.
173. Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988) - June 25th
On a much more lighthearted note, this is exactly what the title suggests and merely tries to have a bit of silly fun with the concept, and that alone makes it positively divine considering what came before. Seriously, this movie got off easy; I imagine most movies would look like a masterpiece by comparison, and this just happened to be the lucky cult classic to tickle my friend's fancy and funny bone after the film equivalent of a horrible disease.
Seriously, the fact that this movie relies so much on cotton candy is appropriate, because it feels like the film equivalent: Aliens that look like clowns invading Earth to feed on human by turning them in to cotton candy, with every single possible idea based around some silly circus gag. I admire their ability to just keep running with the idea like it's a bag of popcorn with a hole in the bottom. Sure, the characters are poorly developed and the film is filled with clunky dialogue, but the film refuses to take its idea seriously while it gets real with it, and the sight gags and stupid humour are constant and endearing and a little macabre. - 6/10
174. Smiley (2012) - June 25th
While most films would appear as masterpieces compared to The Human Centipede 2, Smiley is not most movies. It is an inept and insipid horror that shows absolutely zero skill or creativity while awkwardly preaching a shallow message about the dehumanising nature of anonymity on the internet. Seriously, I don't even entirely disagree with the movie's ideas, it just expresses them so poorly and with so little nuance or new input while also taking the time to try and fail really hard to scare me that this film essentially has no value. Not one aspect of this film came across well, clumsily communicating a strawman's argument with poorly developed and portrayed characters and a double twist that makes no sense and only succeeds at being frustrating without actually making a coherent point. This is simply terrible in every regard, and unlike the other worst movie I watched today, it doesn't even have the disgusting benefit of being memorable. - 1/10
175. Ninja Assassin (2009) - June 26th
Blood and guts and nothing to care about; such a violent movie being so humdrum is its biggest flaw. While the over the top action and gore is shockingly entertaining at first, this film just keep pumping it out, and the trick stops being entertaining about half way through the film, and by that point there isn't a measurably interesting plot or set of characters to get attached to while the film continues to pretend to take itself seriously, so this ends up being half-way fun schlock that turns in to fairly awful schlock because it blows its load in the first five minutes and then doesn't get stylish enough to be interesting for another hour. Not much else to say about this one, it's the sort of film you watch once and forget immediately because it believes too much in its ability to dazzle with the same effect over and over. - 4/10
176. In the Fade (2017) - June 28th
Diane Kruger is pretty amazing here, and the film does a good job of accentuating her emotional journey, which the film thankfully chooses to focus on above all else, because it's really quite good at dealing with the impact upon the individual of such a terrible issue. The conspiracy angles feel a little shallow, or perhaps taken for granted that they're not taken as fact, but when the film puts all that aside to just allow Katja to grieve, to ache and to scream like a real wife and mother would. The film's nihilistic view is also heartbreaking at this level, as the film hits an anti-climax before showing that some wounds cut too deep to heal, and once again, Kruger sells every bit of it. I also have to give credit to Denis Moschitto for his performance as Katja's lawyer Danilo; his impassioned plea to the court was one of the best moments in the film, working completely with the emotional fall that follows. This film gets its characters right, following to the unfortunate absolute end. - 7/10
177. Iron Sky (2012) - June 28th
Like Starship Troopers via Dr. Strangelove, Iron Sky isn't as good as either, but still makes for solid exploitative political satire, and feels slightly more prescient than it should watching it in 2018. The Humour is fast and on point, the satire is cutting and insensitive to everyone involved (as it should, it's not hard to be mean to Nazis), the story is appropriately cheesy and trite, and while the film as a whole isn't entirely engaging, the good definitely outweighs the bad here. If nothing else, the pure concept of Space Nazis on the moon is so hilariously crazy that I'm glad they managed to continue to one-up themselves from there, from the Sarah Palin parody as president of the US sending a model to the moon as an astronaut just because he's black to the only ending you could hope for in a movie like this where the world's leader end up blowing each other up because of petty squabbling over serious issues that neither the characters nor the film have any time to treat with substance. This film bites off consistently and thoroughly, and considering its limits perhaps a little more than it could chew, but it makes enough of them count for this to be unexpectedly clever. - 6/10
178. Terminal (2018) - June 30th
I'm baffled that such a stylish movie could be so utterly dull. Terminal feels so obviously inspired by neo-noir neon and self-indulgent Tarantino-style dialogue, but it fails to capture what makes any of that interesting, with the writing congratulating itself on its quips and twists at every opportunity and the direction constantly shifting focus and colour with seemingly little rhyme or reason. The only aspects that hold this film up as watchable are Margot Robbie and Simon Pegg; Pegg plays very well against type, his forlorn nature wafting like the smoke from his endless string of cigarettes, and Robbie plays every line with such incredible vigor, chewing the scenery in ways that make such terrible dialogue, especially expositional dialogue, workable. This isn't a good movie, but credit where credit's due. - 4/10
179. Sweet Country (2017) - June 30th
When this was in cinemas it was always overshadowed on my watch list by the awards season nominees; I'm glad I finally sat down to watch it, the film offers a haunting and raw, if sometimes bare, look at past injustices and ugly realities that are ingrained in to Australian history. This is honest perspective, and effectively nuanced, showing not just the inhumane treatment of Aboriginal people but the pain and the distrust and the cycle that perpetuates it; this is a microcosm that's aware of what it is in the world, and so it balances shock and outrage against gorgeous landscapes and sprinkles it all with thought provoking ideas that come to a disturbing but unfortunately unsurprising conclusion. It's also a reminder to try and find more Australian films this good and watch them. - 8/10
180. Deep Cover (1992) - July 1st
First, a minor detail that I found interesting enough to give this a go, the film is directed by Bill Duke, who most would know as Mac from Predator, or perhaps Cooke from Commando. This doesn't necessarily mean anything to anyone else, I just thought it was kind of neat to see that he'd directed a movie, and was pleased to find out that it's really very good.
Deep Cover is provocative and often deliberately poetic, with Laurence Fishburne espousing cold narration over charged developments like the best of noir classics. I'm still processing this one, and I want to watch it again, because the film is one that I really enjoyed a lot, largely for Fishburne's performance. I wish I could say more, but I'm out of time and need to watch this again. - 7.5/10
Published July 2nd, 2018
171. The Hills Have Eyes (1977) - June 25th
I saw the remake first, and as far as I can tell based on my experience with both they're basically identical, save the improved production values and slightly more graphic depictions in the remake. The story beats are exactly the same and the designs are extremely similar. This is honestly a weird film experience for me because I saw the new one first, like this was practice after seeing the main event. I suppose I have to give credit to Wes Craven for the fact that this is the original, but at the same time this for me wasn't like the Texas Chainsaw, Halloween, or Nightmare remakes, where the original is a horror classic that I could see the value in beyond its own workings, and the remakes are stylish shadows, misguided expansions, or outright terrible; The Hills Have Eyes has about as much value to me as The Hills Have Eyes, because their essentially the same movie with so little difference between them that the two side by side really only serves as a time capsule for effects development, and while I'm prepared to admit that my perspective may be skewed by the fact that I saw the original first, I'm more just puzzled by why they changed almost nothing. It's kind of strange, I feel compelled to go back and re-watch the remake because I really can't recall a significant difference.
Anyway, this being as similar as it is serves about as much value as I found in the remake, which is to say that it's a fairly competently made horror with only one real note that it at least manages to strike home; the thin line between the civilised and the savage is one that has been tested in film many times, but at least The Hills Have Eyes tests it fairly well. - 6/10
172. The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence) (2011) - June 25th
I rarely find a movie where the lines it crosses override its capability in intending to do so, but it appears I've at least found one, an absolute bottom of the barrel abomination whose cries of "it's just a movie" and authorial intent do not override the sheer abhorrence of its goals and the explicit nature by which it expresses them. This is about as diabolical as a movie can get: its loathsome satire of 'arthouse' film techniques and a general contempt for the audience of the original, as well as a disturbingly effective performance by its lead, are not enough to redeem a movie that takes sick glee in exposing its audience to the worst kind of detestable human capability, so much and to such an extreme extent that you'll either turn it off in disgust or grow numb to the violently unpalatable content. Were a friend not more morbidly curious than I ever intended to be, and were it not my mandate to finish any movie I started, this would have been never touched and never thought of as much as I could possibly manage, but now I have to grapple with the fact that humanity was a mistake while I feebly try to force the at once disturbing and unrealistically over the top image of a newborn's skull being crushed under a gas pedal out of my head. If you were never going to watch this, then I applaud you, this is something that needs to be forgotten and never spoken of again, a relic of the sick mind of someone who loathes his own creation and feels it best to express so by administering hatred upon his audience. If you are reading this and are ever curious about the film, please take my advice and don't watch it, whatever value may be derived from the creative choices in this film cannot outweigh the costs of having to sit through it, and if you're so jaded that this sort of thing wouldn't egregiously affect you, then this will only be a boring slog. There's no winning watching this film, the only victory that can be wrung from this is ignoring its existence, and no amount of crying "it's just a movie" can remove the fact that this movie was created to use the medium of film with the intent only to shock, exhaust, or harm its audience. - 1/10, were I not beholden to the fact that this is technically a movie, I wouldn't even give it a rating.
173. Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988) - June 25th
On a much more lighthearted note, this is exactly what the title suggests and merely tries to have a bit of silly fun with the concept, and that alone makes it positively divine considering what came before. Seriously, this movie got off easy; I imagine most movies would look like a masterpiece by comparison, and this just happened to be the lucky cult classic to tickle my friend's fancy and funny bone after the film equivalent of a horrible disease.
Seriously, the fact that this movie relies so much on cotton candy is appropriate, because it feels like the film equivalent: Aliens that look like clowns invading Earth to feed on human by turning them in to cotton candy, with every single possible idea based around some silly circus gag. I admire their ability to just keep running with the idea like it's a bag of popcorn with a hole in the bottom. Sure, the characters are poorly developed and the film is filled with clunky dialogue, but the film refuses to take its idea seriously while it gets real with it, and the sight gags and stupid humour are constant and endearing and a little macabre. - 6/10
174. Smiley (2012) - June 25th
While most films would appear as masterpieces compared to The Human Centipede 2, Smiley is not most movies. It is an inept and insipid horror that shows absolutely zero skill or creativity while awkwardly preaching a shallow message about the dehumanising nature of anonymity on the internet. Seriously, I don't even entirely disagree with the movie's ideas, it just expresses them so poorly and with so little nuance or new input while also taking the time to try and fail really hard to scare me that this film essentially has no value. Not one aspect of this film came across well, clumsily communicating a strawman's argument with poorly developed and portrayed characters and a double twist that makes no sense and only succeeds at being frustrating without actually making a coherent point. This is simply terrible in every regard, and unlike the other worst movie I watched today, it doesn't even have the disgusting benefit of being memorable. - 1/10
175. Ninja Assassin (2009) - June 26th
Blood and guts and nothing to care about; such a violent movie being so humdrum is its biggest flaw. While the over the top action and gore is shockingly entertaining at first, this film just keep pumping it out, and the trick stops being entertaining about half way through the film, and by that point there isn't a measurably interesting plot or set of characters to get attached to while the film continues to pretend to take itself seriously, so this ends up being half-way fun schlock that turns in to fairly awful schlock because it blows its load in the first five minutes and then doesn't get stylish enough to be interesting for another hour. Not much else to say about this one, it's the sort of film you watch once and forget immediately because it believes too much in its ability to dazzle with the same effect over and over. - 4/10
176. In the Fade (2017) - June 28th
Diane Kruger is pretty amazing here, and the film does a good job of accentuating her emotional journey, which the film thankfully chooses to focus on above all else, because it's really quite good at dealing with the impact upon the individual of such a terrible issue. The conspiracy angles feel a little shallow, or perhaps taken for granted that they're not taken as fact, but when the film puts all that aside to just allow Katja to grieve, to ache and to scream like a real wife and mother would. The film's nihilistic view is also heartbreaking at this level, as the film hits an anti-climax before showing that some wounds cut too deep to heal, and once again, Kruger sells every bit of it. I also have to give credit to Denis Moschitto for his performance as Katja's lawyer Danilo; his impassioned plea to the court was one of the best moments in the film, working completely with the emotional fall that follows. This film gets its characters right, following to the unfortunate absolute end. - 7/10
177. Iron Sky (2012) - June 28th
Like Starship Troopers via Dr. Strangelove, Iron Sky isn't as good as either, but still makes for solid exploitative political satire, and feels slightly more prescient than it should watching it in 2018. The Humour is fast and on point, the satire is cutting and insensitive to everyone involved (as it should, it's not hard to be mean to Nazis), the story is appropriately cheesy and trite, and while the film as a whole isn't entirely engaging, the good definitely outweighs the bad here. If nothing else, the pure concept of Space Nazis on the moon is so hilariously crazy that I'm glad they managed to continue to one-up themselves from there, from the Sarah Palin parody as president of the US sending a model to the moon as an astronaut just because he's black to the only ending you could hope for in a movie like this where the world's leader end up blowing each other up because of petty squabbling over serious issues that neither the characters nor the film have any time to treat with substance. This film bites off consistently and thoroughly, and considering its limits perhaps a little more than it could chew, but it makes enough of them count for this to be unexpectedly clever. - 6/10
178. Terminal (2018) - June 30th
I'm baffled that such a stylish movie could be so utterly dull. Terminal feels so obviously inspired by neo-noir neon and self-indulgent Tarantino-style dialogue, but it fails to capture what makes any of that interesting, with the writing congratulating itself on its quips and twists at every opportunity and the direction constantly shifting focus and colour with seemingly little rhyme or reason. The only aspects that hold this film up as watchable are Margot Robbie and Simon Pegg; Pegg plays very well against type, his forlorn nature wafting like the smoke from his endless string of cigarettes, and Robbie plays every line with such incredible vigor, chewing the scenery in ways that make such terrible dialogue, especially expositional dialogue, workable. This isn't a good movie, but credit where credit's due. - 4/10
179. Sweet Country (2017) - June 30th
When this was in cinemas it was always overshadowed on my watch list by the awards season nominees; I'm glad I finally sat down to watch it, the film offers a haunting and raw, if sometimes bare, look at past injustices and ugly realities that are ingrained in to Australian history. This is honest perspective, and effectively nuanced, showing not just the inhumane treatment of Aboriginal people but the pain and the distrust and the cycle that perpetuates it; this is a microcosm that's aware of what it is in the world, and so it balances shock and outrage against gorgeous landscapes and sprinkles it all with thought provoking ideas that come to a disturbing but unfortunately unsurprising conclusion. It's also a reminder to try and find more Australian films this good and watch them. - 8/10
180. Deep Cover (1992) - July 1st
First, a minor detail that I found interesting enough to give this a go, the film is directed by Bill Duke, who most would know as Mac from Predator, or perhaps Cooke from Commando. This doesn't necessarily mean anything to anyone else, I just thought it was kind of neat to see that he'd directed a movie, and was pleased to find out that it's really very good.
Deep Cover is provocative and often deliberately poetic, with Laurence Fishburne espousing cold narration over charged developments like the best of noir classics. I'm still processing this one, and I want to watch it again, because the film is one that I really enjoyed a lot, largely for Fishburne's performance. I wish I could say more, but I'm out of time and need to watch this again. - 7.5/10
Published July 2nd, 2018
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