CODA (2021)

Coda is a word that probably means something musically to people who know the definition of it. Or you think of it as an extra button on the end of a tale. Even before I knew what the word actually meant, I occasionally popped into a music shop in Edinburgh named Coda. It was ridiculously expensive, and the first time I had seen any import CDs for sale (which explained a fair few of the high prices). None of that is really relevant here, where CODA is used to signify Child Of Deaf Adults, but it also provides a very satisfying extra layer to everything onscreen.

Emilia Jones plays Ruby, the child of deaf adults at the centre of this narrative. Her life is already busier than most, and she carries a great responsibility on her shoulders, spending a fair bit of time around her schoolday hours helping her family with their fishing business. Ruby can translate for them, speaking to others who cannot read ASL, and she wants to help them get better rewarded for their hard work. Ruby also has a talent for singing, and one teacher offers to help her get good enough to audition for a music college, but it’s hard to stay focused on a pathway that will take her further away from parents who may never be able to recognise her gift.

Written and directed by Siân Heder, adapting the 2014 original film, La Famille Bélier, CODA is as enjoyable and moving as it is satisfying. You can plot out almost every major moment from the first scene, and I realised at the halfway point that I was waiting for the big moments to come that I knew would turn me all moist-eyed and wobbly-lipped. I needed the film to play out almost exactly as I expected it to, almost holding my breath in the run up to what I hoped would feel elating and cathartic.

Aside from Jones, who is excellent in her role, the central family unit is portrayed by deaf actors. Marlee Matlin, arguably the best-known cast member, is the mother, Jackie, and Troy Kotsur is the father, Frank, and the film features some great scenes that allow them to show how firmly in love, and lust, they remain. Daniel Durant is Ruby’s brother, Leo, adding extra friction, as siblings so often do, and his own path through life, quite settled and/or resigned to how things are, provides a nice contrast to Ruby’s longing to get away. Eugenio Derbez is very enjoyable as the teacher who untaps the potential of our lead, and everyone else onscreen convinces, whether playing carefree teens, hardy fishermen, or other work colleagues kept distant from the central family by their lack of ASL knowledge.

Although some may roll their eyes at movie awards, and there are always so many other contenders that aren’t even up for consideration during those campaign seasons, the fact that CODA won an Oscar for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor (given to Kotsur) is, much like the film itself, as hugely satisfying. It’s a warm and witty crowd-pleaser, with a couple of unexpectedly bawdy moments that will prompt a guffaw out of anyone expecting something more serious and bleak, and I don’t have anything against that kind of film being rewarded when it is so well-handled. The fact that it also showcases some superb deaf actors without reducing them to characters identified only by their deafness is also a big plus.

Yes, you have to read subtitles. Or maybe you could learn ASL (seriously, we should all strive to learn at least a few basic words and phrases in ASL). If that puts you off giving this a watch then it’s your loss. CODA may not appeal to cynical viewers, but it’s an easy one to recommend to anyone willing to be made to laugh and cry in (almost) equal measure.

8/10

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John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023)

Keanu Reeves is back as John Wick, with Chad Stahelski once again directing, and writer Shay Hatten (who worked on the last film) now joined by Michael Finch, and many people are saying this is the best film in the series. I would disagree, but the third act has a number of major sequences that easily jostle for a spot amongst the action highlights of all four films.

Still looking for a way out of his predicament, John Wick is coming to the inevitable conclusion that he may just have to die. He won’t go down without a fight though, and aims to at least try to take down everyone who is sent after him. The armed goons are being sent in their droves by a determined Marquis (Bill Skarsgård), but the biggest threat comes from a skilled assassin who was once a friend (Caine, played by Donnie Yen) and a tracker (Shamier Anderson) who wants to keep Wick alive until the bounty on his head reaches his desired amount. 

I have complained about some other films that start at a point not allowing for any decent sense of escalation, and you might think that John Wick Chapter 4 would have the same problem, considering the first half of the lengthy runtime, but don’t worry. While there is a risk of fatigue setting in, considering how many fight moments consist of people shooting at one another while lifting up their Kevlar jacket collars to protect their face/head, there is just enough inventiveness and style to keep you entertained until you get to the moments that truly feel as if they are taking things to another level. Every main action set-piece set in Paris, whether it involves the busy traffic going around the Arc de Triomphe or some fluid overhead camerawork showing our hero destroying numerous enemies with a gun that fires out incendiary ammo, sets the bar about as high as it can go for this kind of thing. And I cannot tell you how many times I winced during a battle on some steep steps that saw one stuntman after another take many painful tumbles.

Reeves is still perfect in the lead role, more action than words (but able to show both his determination and tiredness while leaving piles of corpses in his wake), and all of the returning players, such as Laurence Fishburne, Lance Reddick (RIP, his role here is all the more poignant), and Ian McShane, continue to have great fun in their supporting roles, with the latter once again effortlessly stealing some scenes with a raised eyebrow or delightful turn of phrase. Yen is a formidable opponent, and brings with him the legacy of his entire body of work (I hope those new to his skills will hunt down some of his greatest hits), and the same can be said for the great Hiroyuki Sanada, in a relatively small, but pivotal, role. Anderson is good fun, and he gets to give orders to the talented killer dog in this movie (which is great, but sadly not as entertaining as the dogs owned by Halle Berry in the previous instalment). Then there’s Bill Skarsgård, playing his main villain - or, arguably, just the new boss charged with re-enforcing rules and fixing what was broken by Wick’s rampage - with a smug air of superiority, a general lack of concern for what he sees as the inevitable outcome that will go his way, and an entertainingly overdone French accent. There’s also room for Clancy Brown (always welcome onscreen, here lending his talents to the role of Harbinger), Rina Sawayama (playing the daughter of one main character, and someone who may end up on a revenge mission of her own one day), Scott Adkins, Natalia Tena, and the lower half of Marie Pierra Kakoma’s face as she DJs at a radio station named WUXIA.

The soundtrack is another corker (Tyler Bates and Joel J. Richard also having been a part of the series since the first film), the production design throughout keeps things well-balanced to show us bright colours and neon lighting in between moments of stealth in more shadowy areas, and there’s an equally fine job done, as ever in this series, of blending the editing and special effects with an overview of the frenetic action.

I doubt the series will end here, but I will not be unhappy if it does. It’s hard to think of what they could do to top this. You have all of the violence and death, all enjoyably creative, you could hope for, but there are also a couple of thematic strands running through the whole thing that give it some more weight, and keep you remembering what everyone has at stake. And you shouldn’t underestimate the glee you can experience from watching our hero repeatedly smack someone in the head with nunchucks. It’s almost downright cathartic.

8/10

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Prime Time: Triangle Of Sadness (2022)

The very talented Ruben Östlund, a writer-director with a track record that currently holds a 100% success rate with me, returns with another film poking at class, money, social media, and gender roles. It’s about double standards, moral standards, and standards used to measure wealth and/or power. Some may be put off by the lengthy runtime, it clocks in at just under 2 1/2 hours, but I cannot think of any scenes I would want to remove, considering how well Östlund makes his main points.

Things start with Carl (Harris Dickinson), a young model already past the peak of his success, as evidenced by him being questioned about him now attending a general casting call. Carl is in a relationship with a model/influencer named Yaya (Charlbi Dean), and the argument we see them have over a restaurant bill shows the strain caused by the imbalance of one partner being much more successful than the other. That success may be fleeting though, and it may not even be real, as we see in the second act (the film is divided into three main acts) when Carl and Yaya join some super-rich and pampered people on a luxury cruise. Some of the other people on the cruise are super-rich tech guy Jarmo (Henrik Dorsin), the also-super-rich-from-fertilizer-sales Dinitry (Zlatko Burić), a head of customer relations/manager named Paula (Vicki Berlin), a woman named Therese (Iris Berben) who can only repeat the one phrase after having suffered a stroke, and a Captain (Woody Harrelson) who just wants to stay in his quarters and get drunk. It isn’t long until a snowballing chain of events leads to disaster, and being rich isn’t necessarily any good when disaster strikes.

On the one hand, I can see why some people would criticise this as a slightly lesser film from Östlund. The targets are obvious, it sometimes feels like picking low-hanging fruit, and many will doubt that something so relatively simple needs to be couched in a film that runs for almost 150 minutes. I would respectfully disagree with those who view the film that way though, and I actually think this is Östlund’s best film, weaving between various scenarios in a way that feels fast and loose while actually remaining smartly on point with every observation, character detail, and barb.

Both Dickinson and Dean (who sadly passed away before the film was released) are both very good in the lead roles, with the former giving a performance so strong that I was stunned to realise it was the same person I had recently watched, convincing American accent and all, in a small, interesting, film called Beach Rats. I am already keen to see whatever else lies ahead for him. Berlin is also excellent, Burić and Dorsin are both great fun, Berben delivers a fantastic physical performance, and Harrelson is hilarious in what is basically a star cameo appearance. His fatigued, drunken Captain feels very much like a fatigued and drunken Woody Harrelson. Dolly De Leon is the other character who proves vital to the plot, a “lower deck” worker who ends up in a very different position during the third act, and she almost steals the movie with her sly and formidable turn. Others worth mentioning are Sunnyi Melles, Amanda Walker and Oliver Ford Davies (a married couple setting things up for a punchline that is both very funny and the weakest scene in the movie), Arvin Kananian, Jean-Christophe Folly, and Alicia Eriksson, with no one cast member dropping the ball for even a second.

Densely-packed, with Östlund orchestrating every minor and major moment like a maestro, Triangle Of Sadness is a rewarding viewing experience that expertly dances around comedy, awkwardness, drama, and occasional nightmarish imagery. It is satisfying to watch, but I also suspect that a rewatch will allow viewers to pick up on many more details, whether they feed into running jokes or keep bursting the bubble of an environment populated by the rich and the privileged.

Oh, and the Captain’s Dinner sequence may be the best scene of 2022, a comedic trip through a dining experience in hell that, whether you like it or not, is absolutely unforgettable.

9/10

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Crabs! (2021)

If there is anyone who would be excited by the prospect of a comedy horror about giant killer crabs then that person is me. I love a good creature feature, first of all, and I STILL have a hankering to one day check out the killer crab novels written decades ago by Guy N. Smith (if you have read the wonderful Paperbacks From Hell then you have seen some of the wonderful artwork that helped to sell his books). This film seemed made for me.

It wasn’t. It brings me no great pleasure to say that Crabs! was, in fact, utter bobbins, to put it politely. Let me get some info out of the way before I get back to supporting my opinion on this.

There are one or two killer crabs that enter a small town and start to cause havoc. Starting small and vicious, there’s also a major threat that comes from one fast-growing “supercrab”. The main characters are mobility-impaired Philip McCallister (Dylan Riley Snyder), his police officer brother, Hunter (Bryce Durfee), Annalise Menrath (Jessica Morris), and her daughter, Maddie (Allie Jennings). There’s also a “comic relief” character named Radu (Chase Padgett), someone with a dubious accent who gets to act like an idiot until being allowed to have one or two moments of minor heroism.

I am not going to say that I hope this remains the only film ever made by writer-director Pierce Berolzheimer, that would be unduly harsh and unfair. I do hope that he takes more time to consider what he might helm next though, particularly when it comes to the tone and humour. Comedy is highly subjective, of course, and some people may find this hilarious, but I felt there weren’t many gags here that really worked. And, when you consider that the horror of the thing is also played for laughs, that’s a huge problem. In fact, labelling it as a comedy horror probably isn’t fair. It is a comedic creature feature, and your enjoyment of it will depend on how you respond to the humour.

Although it never comes together into one cohesive whole, it is easy to see what has influenced Berolzheimer. The creature feature may stretch back many decades, but the writer-director seems to think that now would be the best time to remind audiences of the less sophisticated films of the 1980s. There are attempts here to emulate John Hughes, Fred Dekker, and Roger Corman productions, and I am not labelling all of their films as unsophisticated, but the end result feels like the unsuccessful films that would try to cash in on their hits.

Snyder and Jennings are fine in their roles, but they are easily outshone by both Morris and Jennings, who just feel better-suited to their roles than their slightly awkward male counterparts. Padgett, on the other hand, is saddled with portraying one of the worst movie characters I have had to endure in recent years. His performance would have been grating in any teen movie from the past four decades, but it’s almost intolerable in this adventure.

The first few minutes of Crabs! actually works, promising a throwback that might be fun. You get some gratuitous nudity and bloodshed, with a deadly crab attacking some unsuspecting victims. It isn’t big or clever, but it works. Things quickly go downhill, sadly, and anyone still invested in the film by the time the deliberately ridiculous third act starts to play out, well, you’re a much kinder viewer than I am.

3/10

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Mubi Monday: La Cérémonie (1995)

Adapted from “A Judgement In Stone”, a 1977 novel by Ruth Rendell, La Cérémonie is yet another wonderful film from writer-director Claude Chabrol (helped in adapting the tale from page to screen by Caroline Eliacheff). 

Sophie Bonhomme (Sandrine Bonnaire) is hired as a maid by the Lelièvre family, a unit consisting of two adults and two children (both in their later teens, at least). While very good at her job, in most respects, Sophie has a secret that she struggles to maintain. She cannot read or write. She may be able to keep up a pretence of literacy, however, with the help of a new friend, a postmistress named Jeanne (Isabelle Huppert). Jeanne is no friend of the Lelièvre family though, and her presence soon starts to cause problems.

Making great use of a super cast, La Cérémonie is a film that scatters small details throughout every scene to build something as potentially darkly comedic as it is menacing. Viewers can sense that things are finely-balanced at almost every turn, and the mix of characters onscreen ensure that you are rarely 100% sure of who you should be rooting for, even as some people try to paint others in a bad light. I am not familiar with the source material, I don’t think I have read any Ruth Rendell books yet in my life, but I suspect that there is less ambiguity there than there is here. Although I should note that it is apparently widely-regarded as one of the best writing works by Rendell, for those wanting to dive into her work.

Bonnaire and Huppert are excellent together, happily forming a stronger bond with each shared experience that allows them to bring out the worst in one another. The latter is especially entertaining, quick to provide what she views as essential information to someone she can claim as a firm friend. Jacqueline Bisset and Jean-Pierre Cassel are very good as Mr & Mrs. Lelièvre, and Virginie Ledoyen and Valentin Merlet are almost as good as the mature children of the household, although the character played by Merlet feels like he could easily have been cut from the plot without much really being changed.

While it may wear clothing that helps it look cosy and sedate, this is very much a wolf hiding in a woolly jumper. The sharp teeth are there, not just for the biting wit either, and the finale delivers a gut punch that rivals many better-known, bleaker, endings, even if there is still a vein of pitch-black humour and irony running through it.

Excellent stuff all round. The more I see from Chabrol, and I have seen a fair few of his films now (and own a couple of nice boxsets released over the past few years), the more I like his French Hitchcockian style.

8/10

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Netflix And Chill: Re/Member (2022)

AKA Remember Member.

Having stumbled across Re/Member while trawling through the "horror" choices on Netflix, I was immediately intrigued by the plot summary telling me that the film was about a high school student and friends being stuck in a time loop that will only end when they collect seven body parts and put them back together. That sounds like macabre fun, right? I should have suspected something was off from the fact that I had never heard anyone else mention this film, but I thought I might be discovering a hidden gem. I was wrong.

Kanna Hashimoto plays a lonely young girl named Asuka, and she is the one thrown into the challenging time loop with a number of her peers, most notably Takahiro (played by Gordon Maeda), someone she used to be good friends with some years ago. It doesn't take long for the group to figure out that they've been selected for the "Body Search" challenge, which is the scenario described above. There's a little girl after them though, a deadly spirit who becomes more and more dangerous to the group as they strive to complete the challenge.

Directed by Eiichirô Hasumi and written by Harumi Doki, two names I am not familiar with, this is yet another Japanese film that may already be familiar to fans of the manga it was based on, written by Welzard and Katsutoshi Murase. I can see this being a decent tale in that form, considering how it allows for so many possibilities, possibly even changing the main group of characters whenever some succeed in completing the challenge (or maybe not, I've never read any of it), but the film version starts to falter just when you think it should step up the fun and thrills.

The main characters are all perfectly fine, although it's only really Asuka and Takahiro who stand out, but the central concept is wasted. You barely get a few of the usual time loop "signposts", there's not enough time spent with characters having to convince others of what is going on, and everything quickly turns into yet another film about "this urban legend is real, but we can help this spirit rest if we solve the mystery". I don't mind films like that, and some of the best Japanese horrors are in that vein, of course, but I had hoped for something a bit more unique from Re/Member.

Morisaki is a likeable lead, and Maeda is good, if a bit bland, while the rest of the supporting cast do what is asked of them, namely running about school corridors looking scared. The characters may not be that memorable, but that isn’t the fault of the cast.

Despite the script issues, most of the blame seems to lie with director Hasumi. He doesn’t do anything to elevate the material, with a lot of the film just showing various teens in underlit environments while the growing monster menace remains hidden by shadows and editing. There’s also an unforgivable final sequence of “the lead character just needs to do one thing to end it all, but decides to turn back and mourn and waste time doing everything but that one thing”.

There are some good moments here and there, including a vision our main character has before the time loop even kicks in, but there are also far too many moments that don’t add anything smart, exciting, or entertaining. I won’t be rushing to give it a rewatch.

3/10

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Shudder Saturday: Blood Harvest (2020)

AKA The Ballad Of Audrey Earnshaw.
AKA The Curse Of Audrey Earnshaw.

The sophomore feature from writer-director Thomas Robert Lee, Blood Harvest is an assured and unhurried work, a mood piece that shows what can happen when members of a small community just won't leave their local suspected witches to live their lives in peace. It's well-acted, and well put together. It's just a shame that it's not very good.

The setting is an isolated village in North America, established a couple of centuries previously by families who settled there after separating from the Church of Ireland. This is all related to viewers by opening text. In 1956, after an eclipse, the community started to suffer, bad soil and sick livestock making things hard for almost everyone. The notable exception is Agatha Earnshaw (Catherine Walker), who also gave birth to a daughter, Audrey (Jessica Reynolds), during that same eclipse. She has kept the existence of her daughter a secret from the others in the community, but it's getting harder to keep that secret, especially as people become more and more curious about how Agatha is managing to maintain her farm while everyone else suffers great hardship.

While there's a lot here that is very familiar, Lee makes the decision to stay away from anything that could seem too in line with more obvious horror moments or witchy imagery. There aren't any pointy hats or broomsticks here, nor even one eye of newt. There also aren't many moments that feel like a battle between witches and non-witches. As mentioned in the first paragraph, Agatha just wants to be left to get on with her life. Others around her may resent her, and they may consider her reluctance to help them as a contributing factor to their misery, but Agatha and Audrey aren't necessarily out to actively harm them. That doesn't mean that one, or both, won't eventually fight back in self-defence as the behaviour of others starts to become more confrontational and aggressive.

It's admirable that Lee takes this approach to the material, and he's helped by cinematographer Nick Thomas, among others, maintaining a brooding and oppressive atmosphere throughout. He doesn't do enough to reward the patience of viewers though, and that's particularly obvious during a hugely anti-climactic finale. There's a difference between deciding not to show too much and forgetting to show anything of interest, and Lee sadly does the latter.

Walker and Reynolds are both very good in the main roles, very good indeed (giving the kind of performances that immediately have me hoping to see them in other, better, movies), and there are a fine selection of performances from Jared Abrahamson, Hannah Emily Anderson, Geraldine O'Rawe, Don McKellar, and Sean McGinley playing other members of the community. The film simply doesn't do enough to feel deserving of their good work.

Is this bad? No. It's a decidedly okay drama with dark clouds constantly gathering overhead. Those clouds never break though, delivering neither a storm nor momentary sunshine. They're just always there, which means viewers are left with an average film that feels just like them; grey and portentous, but sadly going nowhere.

5/10

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Infinity Pool (2023)

The third feature film from writer-director Brandon Cronenberg, Infinity Pool shows that he can keep finding different ways to explore what seems to be his favourite topic - immortality. There's more to this, and it's different enough from both of his previous films, but it's interesting to see that the pros and cons of potential eternal life seems to be his obsession (perhaps stemming from his personal experience of forging a career with the weighty Cronenberg name attached to him).

Alexander Skarsgård plays James, an unsuccessful author (he wrote one book, some years ago, and hasn't written anything since) on holiday with his rich partner, Em (Cleopatra Coleman). They are staying in an exclusive beach resort, advised not to stray outwith the boundaries of that area, and having a very nice time of it. Things all change when they meet Gabi (Mia Goth) and Alban (Jalil Lespert), a couple who encourage them to be a bit more daring and join them for a day out. A day beyond the resort walls. Heading home, an accident leads to someone dying, which could land them all in very hot water. That's when the central idea of Infinity Pool kicks in. This island has a deal for tourists who can afford it. If you have the money, you can pay for a clone to be executed in your place . . . while you watch. This bizarre experience changes something in James, and he realises that he can live his life without fear of consequences. For a while.

As you may have already noticed, Infinity Pool is a movie that actually sits nicely alongside a few other recent releases that have something to say about the selfishness and entitlement of people who can afford anything they like. It might make for a bizarre triple-bill, but you could easily schedule this alongside both The Menu and Triangle Of Sadness and have a strong thematic strand running through your evening's entertainment. This may be a horror film, and one interspersed with hallucinatory and kaleidoscopic imagery at times, but the biggest horror of it all is watching people devolve so quickly when they realise that they can be as hedonistic and boorish as they like, pitying those around them who haven't tasted the same level of "freedom" from the chains of morality.

Skarsgård is excellent in his role, moving convincingly from a state of calm and passivity to a wrecked mass of raw nerves as things develop (imagine him as a healthy tooth that is then worn down and broken within a short space of time), and it's not saying anything new now to heap a whole lot of praise upon Goth, who plays her part here with sheer glee. Even when raging with anger, Goth's character is confident that she will get whatever she wants by the time everything is sorted out. Coleman has less to do, but it's good that her character remains calm and clear-headed at a time when everyone else is looking to dive into the deep waters of insanity, and Lespert is suave and charming throughout, the slick devil alongside Goth's imp/demon.

While it is all put together well enough, with every aspect, from the score to the practical FX work, supporting the ideas being explored throughout, Infinity Pool, due to the nature of that central conceit, cannot avoid feeling a bit inconsequential. Maybe that is deliberate, maybe it isn’t, but it certainly lacks the impact of Possessor (which remains Brandon Cronenberg’s finest work, to date). There's a strong point being made during the final scene, but any statement is undermined by what ISN'T said/shown. I just wish, ironically, that more people had suffered some real consequences. That isn’t to say it is a bad film though. It’s a good one. In fact, it's a very good film indeed.

8/10

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Winnie The Pooh: Blood And Honey (2023)

Sit down and strap in, this isn't going to be pretty. Winnie The Pooh: Blood And Honey is that rare thing, a film so consistently awful, and horribly put together, that I have to work much harder to avoid writing a review that amounts to nothing more than a list of choice insults.

Starting with a crude, but effective, bit of animation, viewers are told the tale of Christopher Robin making friends with Winnie The Pooh, Piglet, and co. But Christopher Robin leaves. He is off to become an educated man. That leaves Pooh and friends alone, hungry, and ready to revert to animalistic savagery. Having dived headlong into insanity, there's no way back, and even the return of the grown-up Christopher Robin (Nikolai Leon) cannot undo what has happened. Thankfully, there are also a number of young women for the gang to prey upon whenever they tire of torturing their ex-BFF.

Written and directed by Rhys Frake-Waterfield, who has a few film credits to his name already (none of them sounding great, but none sounding quite as bad as this), it's hard to think of any one way in which Winnie The Pooh: Blood And Honey could be a more inexorably awful viewing experience. One or two decent bits of gore aside, this is boring, visually murky, and seems to have been made by someone who believes that the slasher movie peaked in 1981 (or thereabouts). Maybe Frake-Waterfield was trying to make something slyly amusing and reminiscent of the unsophisticated fare that flooded the slasher movie market five decades ago, but I suspect that he just figured he could make a decent payday, and get his film some notoriety, by making use of characters that have fallen into the public domain and throwing around splashes of bloodshed and gratuitous nudity.

Maybe having some better cast members would have helped, but there isn't anyone here who can rise above the material. Which is understandable, considering how bad the material is, but still a shame. I won't list the names of everyone involved, but Leon is bloody awful as Christopher Robin (hindered by the fact that he is left to repeat the same pleading line over and over when he sees how murderous his old friends have become), Craig David Dowsett at least gets to hide behind the Winnie The Pooh mask, because Winnie and co. are played by people wearing masks, and Maria Taylor could have been a decent potential final girl if the script had helped viewers to care about her fate. I liked both Natasha Tosini and May Kelly, but that was nothing to do with the writing or direction. I just happened to like both of those actresses whenever they were onscreen.

I'm really not sure if we should even class this as a film. It's a childish bit of nastiness that does nothing interesting, or cinematic, with the idea. Want to work with this idea in a way that doesn't seem completely lazy and awful? Go for the more amusing and ambiguous approach of Christopher Robin being the potential killer, letting viewers wonder if his animal friends are real or imaginary. There. The film is already 50% better, and I just thought of that right now. My personal minimal effort far exceeds the effort of Frake-Waterfield (although, yes, he got his film made and I am just here, typing words out to criticise and deride it).

Skip this. It's not worth your time. Just wait until I come up with my own tale of Winnie The Pooh and friends planning a series of bank robberies when The Hundred Acre Wood is put up for sale. Hopefully hitting a cinema some time in 2024, it's Winnie The Pooh: Show Me The Honey.

2/10

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Prime Time: Meet Cute (2022)

If you look over the short filmography of writer Noga Pnueli then you will see that she seems to have a fascination with time travel/time loops, and how people may try to use it to change themselves, or change the people they care about. I am only going by the plot summaries here, having not seen any of her other work, but I am now keen to see how she has been working and reworking this idea for the past few years, because Meet Cute is good enough to make me into an instant fan of her.

The premise seems quite simple, and familiar. Kaley Cuoco is Sheila, a young woman who approached Gary (Pete Davidson) in a bar. She offers to buy him a drink, and they stick together for an enjoyable date night. Things aren't what they seem though. Sheila has gone through this date multiple times, thanks to a time machine she makes use of in the back of a nail salon, and she wants to keep enjoying the perfect night. While relishing the opportunity to fix her own life, because this bit of time travel came along just after a very low point, Sheila also realises that she can "fix" Gary. She can mould him into someone absolutely perfect. But maybe he's already perfect for her. And maybe she shouldn't meddle around in the past without considering "the butterfly effect".

Director Alex Lehmann also has a fairly small filmography, for anyone wanting to explore it, but this is the first film from him that I have enjoyed. Other people liked Blue Jay, but I was underwhelmed by it. Funnily enough, it's easy to see a connection between that film and this though, considering the moments in which one character is going through the motions and celebrating a complete relationship that the other character is often unaware of. Lehmann does a good job here, keeping everything lively and interesting enough while allowing the focus to remain on the script and his leads.

As for those leads, both Davidson and Cuoco are excellent. I have, for some reason, always thought I disliked Davidson, but time and time again he delivers moments onscreen (whether in his many acting roles or in his live comedy work) that really work for me. His self-deprecating manner, his ability to tap into his own darkness and discomfort, even his way of leaning fully into complete asshole mode, he's always fascinating and entertaining to watch. And he sometimes gets to be awkward and sweet, as he is here. Cuoco is someone I always liked in her TV work (yes, hate the show all you want, I was easily amused by The Big Bang Theory whenever I watched it), but she deserves to be in more lead movie roles, especially after proving her range in recent projects like this and The Flight Attendant. Meet Cute gets dark at times, very dark, and it's the winning charisma of Davidson and Cuoco that stop it from ever being too dark. Deborah S. Craig is fun in her small role, June (guardian of the time machine), and it was good to see Kevin Corrigan onscreen, even if he was in the fairly thankless role of "Phil the bartender".

Although I do love a good time loop movie, they are often quite similar to one another when it comes to the execution of the material. You see the key moments that will signify repeating time, you see many changes being made to attempt to change the end result, etc. Meet Cute has those moments in place, but they're interspersed throughout the film in a way that helps the whole thing to feel a bit different from many other films in this sub-genre. And almost none of it seems to matter by the time we get to the end, which moves away from the fantastical element to instead underline the main message about not dwelling on the past.

Funny, sweet, painful, and smart. Highly recommended.

8/10

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Cocaine Bear (2023)

I often roll my eyes when I see films that claim to be "based on a true story". It's often a selling point for a movie that is as closely related to the truth as I am to Michael B. Jordan. I didn't mind it with Cocaine Bear though, a film that takes a bizarre real life starting point (a black bear that was found to have overdosed on over 30kg of cocaine dropped by smugglers flying overhead) and turns it into a wild and entertaining "what if?" scenario.

The plot is simple, but allows for a number of different people to be placed in danger. The cocaine is dropped. The bear ingests some cocaine. The bear is high, and looking to get more cocaine. Meanwhile, Daveed (O'Shea Jackson Jr.) and Eddie (Alden Ehrenreich) have been sent by Syd (Ray Liotta) to retrieve the missing cocaine, obviously oblivious to the idea that it may have already been enjoyed by a huge bear. Young Dee Dee (Brooklynn Prince) and Henry (Christian Convery) have skipped to school to trek around the forest that now contains the Cocaine Bear, which leads to a worried mother, Sari (Keri Russell), requesting help from a couple of forest workers (Ranger Liz, played by Margo Martindale, and a conservationist named Peter, played by Jesse Tyler Ferguson). Meanwhile, a cop (Bob, played by Isiah Whitlock Jr.) also enters the forest, trying to trace the missing cocaine after finding the corpse of the smuggler who fell to his death after knocking himself unconscious. A few more bits of food (dammit . . . people, I mean people) enter the forest, and the scene is set for numerous encounters between scared humans and a coked-up bear. Oh, and it's 1985, which allows for some fun wardrobe choices.

Written by Jimmy Warden, who started his screenwriting career with his co-writing credit on The Babysitter: Killer Queen, this is a fun film, but also a messy one. Everything is set up nicely, in terms of the characters and their disposability, but few of the sequences flow well, either individually or in connection to other moments around them. It's a bit of a mess, but at least it's a fun mess.

The third feature to be directed by Elizabeth Banks (a very smart and funny actress who has been doing really well for herself for over two decades now, whether you like her projects or not), I feel better about seeing the success of Cocaine Bear than I feel about the film itself. The mix of carnage and comedy works well in theory, and the trailer did a great job of selling it to people, but it's a harder sell throughout the movie, only ever intermittently successful. The greatest moment in the entire film, involving the bear and some paramedics in an ambulance, leaves the rest of it feeling surprisingly unenergised. And a film with so much cocaine at the centre of it shouldn't be lacking energy.

I have no complaints about the cast though, whether they're playing typically tired criminal lackeys or young kids tempted to sample from a brick of cocaine found in the forest. Prince and Convery are highlights, and it's more fun to watch them with the idea that they might actually be killed off at any moment. Jackson Jr. and Ehrenreich work well together, suitably deflated whenever they are being chewed out by a typically great Liotta (in one of the last roles filmed before his death), and Martindale, Ferguson, and Whitlock Jr. all pitch their performances nicely in line with the tone of what the film is striving for.

There are a number of canny song choices on the soundtrack, a good helping of graphic gore here and there, and a third act that manages to make you actually root for the bear to continue rampaging, so the good certainly outweighs the bad. It's just a shame that it couldn't have been put together in a way that would allow it to flow a bit better, and moved the best scene to much nearer the very end. Maybe I'm being too picky though. I know I'll definitely rewatch this. And I know it's a fun time. A lot of other people agree, which means that most people reading this review will have seen it already anyway.

6/10

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Mubi Monday: Chinese Roulette (1976)

You generally know what you're in for with a film from the superb Rainer Werner Fassbinder. His films, although densely-packed and generally not exactly overflowing with rainbows and happy joy joy, always tend to explore sexuality, freedoms and repression (self-imposed or from society), and people able to twist a knife in one another. Chinese Roulette is no exception.

Things begin with a husband and wife, Gerhard (Alexander Allerson) and Ariane (Margit Carstensen), preparing to spend a weekend apart, both having different tasks they have to attend to. It turns out that both of them are lying. Gerhard is aiming to spend a weekend with his mistress, Irene (Anna Karina), at the family's second home. Ariane is also aiming to spend a weekend with a lover (Kolbe, played by Ulli Lommel), and is also wanting to make use of the family's second home. When the two couples encounter one another, there's a surprising lack of any fiery arguments or embarrassment. Everyone is civil, to the great relief of the house staff (Kast, played by Brigitte Mira, and her son, Gabriel, played by Volker Spengler), and the weekend is far from ruined. This isn't what Angela (Andrea Schober) wanted. Angela is the daughter of Gerhard and Ariane, and she turns up, accompanied by her mute governess (Traunitz, played by Macha Méril), to ensure that calm and contentment shall not prevail.

I have said it before, and I'll say it again (and it's not a unique opinion to express), Fassbinder created an astonishing body of work before his premature death, in terms of both quantity and quality. I never look at his films and think of them as being hampered by low budgets or limited resources. Part of that is due to the fact that they tend to always look so gorgeous, but another part of that is down to his writing. You are drawn towards the main characters, whether rooting for them or curious to find out how much they might be aiming to misbehave, and you can be attracted and repulsed by them in equal measure.

The cast here are all on a par with the usual ensemble assembled by Fassbinder, and most viewers should be unsurprised to see people here who collaborated a number of times with the writer-director. Allerson, Carstensen, Karina, and Lommel are generally focusing on maintaining their civility and grace, and they excel at showing how difficult that can be as the situation becomes more exasperating, while Schober gets to revel in an opportunity to blow apart their carefully-constructed facades, blowing down their straw houses as if she's the big, bad, wolf disguised as a disabled teenage girl. Mira and Allerson portray two "outsiders" who are both complicit, although they seem to have differing reasons for wanting the status quo to remain as it is. Méril may be playing someone mute, but she still gets to make as strong an impression as any of the speaking performers by the time the third act plays out.

Some might find this a bit too overly melodramatic and contrived, especially as the finale feels very much like some kind of "dark and stormy night" whodunnit, but I thought it was very enjoyable. It's not up there with the very best of Fassbinder, which is a high bar indeed, but it's yet another film from him that should please anyone familiar with his incisive style

7/10

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Netflix And Chill: Zombieland: Double Tap (2019)

While most sequels aren't always met with great expectations, especially when a decade has passed between the release of the original and the release of the next instalment, Zombieland: Double Tap was one that I was looking forward to watching. Not looking forward to enough to prioritise it too highly, mind you (which is why this review is appearing about four years after it was released), but I was heartened by the fact that everyone both in front and behind the camera was coming back for some more comedic zombie slaying.

We reunite with Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), Wichita (Emma Stone), and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) at a time when they seem quite happy with their lot in life. They take over a big house, they get to spend their days avoiding mayhem, most of their time is now available for them to just play around and have fun, and it's almost what you could describe as blissful. Then Wichita and Little Rock leave. Tallahassee and Columbus pick up a new companion (Madison, played by Zoey Deutch), but it's not long until Wichita returns to ask the guys for help. Little Rock is in danger, something much worse than the zombie carnage. She's gone off . . . with a musician.

Writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick are joined this time around by Dave Callaham, and it's clear that none of the three had a strong enough idea to make this whole adventure necessary. It's also clear, however, that working to a similar enough template to the first film isn't a terrible idea, considering that it allows us to spend more time in the company of characters who made such a strong impression the first time around. Director Ruben Fleischer is also happy to retain the same style and energy that added to the fun of Zombieland. Some may be quick to point out that you may as well just watch the first film again, and they wouldn't be too wrong, but there's still plenty here to enjoy, including a very fun performance from Deutch as the new, super-perky but not-too-bright, potential member of the group.

Harrelson and Eisenberg still work very well together, the juxtaposition of laid-back cool and constant anxiety keeping things amusing in between the more obvious gags. Stone adds more cool, and is as good as ever, while Breslin is enjoyable enough in her limited amount of screentime. Deutch aside, as she's already been mentioned, other newcomers to the series include Avan Jogia (the dreaded musician), Rosario Dawson (a character named Nevada who catches the eye of Tallahassee), and Luke Wilson and Thomas Middleditch (both fun, but playing two characters providing a comedic set-up that feels very close to a gag that was presented much better in Shaun Of The Dead).

If you had some kind of Zombieland bingo card then it wouldn't be long until you were shouting out "house". Metallica over the opening credits again, more rules to help you survive the zombie apocalypse, a journey to a final setting that may prove to be a deathtrap if a large enough zombie horde swarms in, and at least one fun celebrity cameo proving to be a highlight. The familiarity doesn't do enough to detract from the fun though. And, from the opening logo sequence to the end credits, this IS fun.

7/10

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Shudder Saturday: Unearth (2020)

It seems as if I cannot let a week go by now without giving some time to horror movies best described as hallucinatory, and Unearth is another that could be categorised that way. Described as "a fracking horror story", and featuring a small role for Adrienne Barbeau, I decided to be optimistic as I pressed play on this. 

The plot is quite simple. Two neighbouring families seem to be at polar opposites when it comes to peace and prosperity. When an oil and gas company comes around with an offer for some of their land, one family rejects them immediately while the other takes them up on what they think could be a lifeline. Things start to sour some time later, with something being released from under the earth that affects the minds of those living in the vicinity of the drilling.

Directed by Dorota Swies and John C. Lyons, with the latter also having co-written the script with Kelsey Goldberg, Unearth is an interesting near-miss of a film. It's not bad, and the gloomy and foreboding atmosphere throughout is nicely crafted, but it just lacks enough time spent with the right characters, meaning that the third act feels disappointingly devoid of any real stakes, simply because we still don't get enough of a connection with those put in peril.

Barbeau is good in her small role, and her family unit allows for decent turns from P. J. Marshall, Allison McAtee, and Monica Wyche. They are the family without any major problems, initially. Marc Blucas heads up the family barely holding things together, and he's also doing good work here, accompanied by Brooke Sorenson, and Rachel McKeon. You might think that seven central characters wouldn't lead to the problem I just described in the last paragraph, but the writers get the balance just a bit wrong, spending too much time with a couple of characters who take longer than some other people to realise that things are getting strange and dangerous.

There's some good horror imagery here, and at least one moment that is about as dark and disturbing as you can imagine, but those moments feel, for the most part, sadly disparate and inorganic (ironically). Despite the localised nature of the horror, the relationship between the characters and the geography of the area isn't always clear, and it's only during the end credits that viewers are shown an extra reason to be concerned about how things may work out.

I feel that I've just written a few paragraphs here balancing positive and negative comments, but that's how the film made me feel. It's technically well-made, the cast work in their roles, and the main idea is good enough. It's just frustrating to see fleeting moments of excellence undermined by minor niggles and flaws that I suspect could have been easily sorted by another one or two passes of the script. I do recommend Unearth. It's a good film. It could have been much better though.

6/10

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Pearl (2022)

Us Brits (well, those without a VPN) may have had to wait much longer than our American cousins, but Pearl is finally here. The prequel to X, once again directed by Ti West, who once again worked in close collaboration with his main star, Mia Goth, this is an intriguingly different beast from the enjoyable film that came before it. Is it any good though?

The short answer is yes.

Goth plays the titular Pearl, a young woman who is struggling with her life. She's stuck on a small farm with her parents, the man she loves is serving in the military during wartime, and she starts to become obsessed with the idea of becoming a star. It can be good to have a dream, but it's not long until Pearl starts to struggle with her grip on reality. And that can make things perilous for those around her.

While X was, superficially anyway, looking to evoke the simplistic tropes of films such as The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and a number of slashers from the 1970s and 1980s, Pearl immediately welcomes viewers into a completely different movie realm, the grand technicolor melodrama of Douglas Sirk. Or maybe even The Wizard Of Oz. Or Blue Velvet, itself an amalgamation of the same key texts underpinned by similar darkness and subversion. The fact that it compares favourably to those films is a remarkable achievement, and a testament to how committed West and Goth are, both to the development of the central character and the story beats that have now been planned throughout a trilogy (MaXXXine will hopefully be released by the end of this year or the start of 2024).

As good as West does with the direction, he has once again given himself a major boost by allowing Goth to shine (ironic, considering the ambition of her character). Genre fans are used to seeing performances in genre films being completely overlooked by those who praise and reward great acting, but it's no exaggeration to say that Goth gives such an amazing performance here that her lack of any recognition during the main award season was, quite frankly, ridiculous. Goth is a fragile dolly, being toyed around by her own hyperactive psyche, and she has many outstanding moments, but the obvious highlight is a monologue in the third act that could easily sit alongside some of the greatest ever scenes in cinema. Tandi Wright and Matthew Sunderland play Pearl's parents, a very strict mother and seriously incapacitated and ill father, Emma Jenkins-Purro is her friend/sister-in-law, and the main men in her life are played by David Corenswet (a local projectionist showing magic and possible escape on the silver screen) and Alistair Sewell (the absent husband, Howard). Everyone does good work, and it helps that they are often used as ways in which Pearl sees aspects of her mind reflected back at her, in conversations and in expressions.

A wonderful score helps, created by Tyler Bates and Tim Williams, the period setting feels carefully constructed and maintained, and there is connective tissue between this and X that will satisfy viewers of that film while not distracting anyone who may somehow stumble across this one first.

Some people may be put off by the pacing, or even by the overall tone of Pearl, but I loved it. I liked X a LOT, which meant I was both excited and nervous for this next instalment. Thankfully, this is an even better film. In an ideal world, Goth would have been in the same conversation this/last year as Michelle Yeoh, Cate Blanchett, et al. But we don’t live in an idea world. Thankfully, we do live in a world that occasionally gives us genre movies as good as this. And there’s always plenty of time yet for “the snobs” to eventually acknowledge how talented Goth is.

9/10

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The Quiet Girl (2022)

Having heard overwhelming praise for The Quiet Girl, a subtitles drama featuring characters largely speaking in the traditional Irish language, I knew that I had to get around to it ASAP. So I bought the Blu-ray and made some time in my viewing schedule.

It’s very good. While it won’t quite jostle ahead of other films I have already rated as clear favourites from 2022, this has a number of little moments that will make your heart swell, and sometimes break, in different ways, and the whole journey is as emotionally satisfying as it is stressful.

Based on a short story, “Foster”, by Claire Keegan, The Quiet Girl was adapted into a screenplay and directed by Colm Bairéad, someone who has been helming numerous Irish films, both features and shorts, for quite some time now. This might be his most acclaimed work yet, although that is an assumption on my part, but there’s so much done well here that I definitely feel the need to explore his past films. Feel free to recommend any highlights to me.

This is the tale of young Cáit (played by Catherine Clinch). When her mother is due to have another child, Cáit is sent away to live with some relatives for a while. She’s the only one of the children sent away, probably due to the fact that she is more of a daydreamer and wanderer than either of her older sisters, but maybe just due to her age. Anyway, when she arrives at the home of Eibhlin (Carrie Crowley) and Seán (Andrew Bennett) she is initially uncomfortable and a bit sad, as expected. It isn’t long, however, until Cáit starts realising that change can be a good thing. Apart from the treat of hot running water, Cáit also starts to realise that these two adults care about her in a way she hasn’t experienced in a while. She’s looked after, rather than simply tolerated and viewed as another mouth to feed, which is how she has often felt at home, and this leads to a subtle and beautiful transformation. There’s always that looking day when she has to return home though.

I cannot say enough good things about the performances of Clinch, Crowley, and Bennett here. All three are just superb, and the scenes in which we see a growing bond between Cáit and Seán are real highlights, with Clinch and Bennett conveying everything you need to notice in the smallest of gestures. Kate Nic Chonaonaigh and Michael Patric, as Ma and Da, also do very good work, but it’s very hard to view them as anything other than major obstacles in the way of Cáit’s happiness.

Having been in the care system myself, and subsequently fostered, I know what that is like. The testing of boundaries, getting used to different house rules and habits, eventually becoming more comfortable with people looking out for your best interests. This film captures all of that perfectly, but it can just as easily apply to situations that most of us have been in, whether it is times spent with a babysitter in charge or the visits to family members you only used to see once every few years, meaning you tried to be on your best behaviour until you realised that people were actively encouraging you to have some juice, grab an extra biscuit, and get as messy as you like while playing around in their big back garden.

Last, but by no means least, The Quiet Girl is also a reminder of the positive impact that we can have on the life of any child, whether that it just trying to set some good examples as you go through life or treating them to a small act of kindness that they might not be used to. Even getting kids used to feeling secure and experiencing a big squishy hug can make the world of difference. I wish I remembered these things when I was trying to be a parent, but I always try to do better nowadays, which I think my (now adult) children sometimes appreciate. Even if they go red in the face when it is time for a big squishy hug.

9/10

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Prime Time: Resurrection Of Evil (2016)

AKA Havenhurst.

We’ve all done it, picked a movie based on one name in the cast list to quickly realise that the person you wanted to watch it only onscreen for one or two scenes. It happens more often in the horror genre than anywhere else, in my experience, with a famous name used to sell the film to loyal fans who might be curious.

Despite the hugely varying quality of the movies that she has been involved with, and I don’t begrudge any working actor the chance to grab those paychecks, I am happy to check out anything starring Danielle Harris. That is why I decided to watch Resurrection Of Evil, but I soon realised that the involvement of Harris amounted to little more than a brief cameo. Oh well, I just had to hope that the rest of the film was worth my time.

Sadly, it wasn’t.

Julie Benz plays Jackie, a woman who ends up being permitted to live in a furnished apartment in a large gothic building, named Havenhurst. A recovering alcoholic, possibly poised to lapse if top many things remind her of her deceased daughter, Jackie starts to find out more and more about her new home that adds up to an unnerving picture. But it is too easy for others to dismiss her concerns.

Directed by Andrew C. Erin, who also co-wrote the script with Daniel Farrands, this is a good horror movie environment without an actual good horror movie filling the space. A few early scenes have some decent atmosphere and ambiguity, but things get tiresome as more details are revealed, taking everything more into the realm of overused tropes and unimaginative plotting.

Benz isn’t terrible in her role, but she has to spend most of the film being a nervy amateur investigator, as well as spending one or two moments looking at alcohol while thinking about the death of her daughter. Fionulla Flanagan plays the benevolent owner of the building, a twinkle of menace in her eyes immediately clueing viewers in to the fact that she at least knows something about what is going on under her nose. Others play their parts well enough, but the only name I will highlight is Belle Shouse, playing a girl named Sarah who brings out the maternal side of our lead. Shouse is really good in her role, and I wish she had been given even more to do.

Although it’s not a complete travesty, there just isn’t much to hold your interest once the direction of the story becomes clear. The casting doesn’t make the most of those involved (as well as Harris going offscreen quickly, Jennifer Blanc-Biehn is similarly underused), the visuals lack any real inventiveness and style, and the special effects are hampered by the relatively low budget.

I have seen a lot of films that are much worse than this. Every horror fan probably has. That doesn’t mean you should rush to see it though. Even (especially?) if you’re a big fan of Danielle Harris.

3/10

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Followed (2018)

I didn’t think I was going to love Followed, but I was in the mood for some undemanding, found footage, horror. As much as it can lead to some of the worst of the genre, it can also provide a number of easy and entertaining scares. Followed has some easy and entertaining scares, I suppose I should say that before I get too distracted with my criticism of it, but they aren’t good enough to make up for the laziness, and poor taste, of the main idea. And I say this as someone who can enjoy superior tasteless fare with the best of them.

The story revolves around a vlogger named Mike (Matthew Solomon) who decides to visit the infamous, and allegedly haunted, Lennox Hotel. Mike and his colleagues will check out the whole hotel, but they will focus on emulating the last moments of Meghan Kim, last seen acting very odd in an elevator.

Do you see what I mean already about laziness and poor taste? Yes, Followed is a horror movie that basically wants to recreate everything you have probably already heard about Elisa Lam and the Cecil Hotel. Which might not seem that bad if that story still lacked an explanation, still had the full mystery surrounding it, but those who have fully explored that case without wearing a tinfoil hat, or desperately shoehorning their own theories into the actual events, will know that what happened was actually a very sad and tragic accident, undoubtedly caused by some mental health issues. The story of Elisa Lam was intriguing, and I am sure it will crop up again and again in the years to come as younger people stumble across that bizarre elevator footage, but then it was explained. The intrigue is gone. All that leaves is footage of someone stressed and ill. 

Considering what actually happened with the Elisa Lam case, and the nauseating comments from people who would visit the hotel and somehow think they could feel a connection to her, I am not entirely against something being created that skewers those armchair detectives and conspiracy theorists who travelled to the hotel and made vlogs about their time there. It would have to be a lot better than this though.

Writer Todd Klick (as good a surname as any if you are going to write a film about a vlogger looking to boost traffic and subscriber numbers) doesn’t do anything clever with the concept, adding details that are as groan-inducing as they are unnecessary. I will admit that the final scene is an attempt at a decent “punchline”, but it is too little too late. Director Antoine Le sets up a couple of fun scares throughout, but he loses his way whenever it is time to flesh out any characters or keep propelling the plot along. This isn’t a long film, just over an hour and a half, but the first half really drags in between those infrequent scares.

The cast are okay, I guess. Solomon is joined by Tim Drier, Sam Valentine, and Caitlin Grace, his little movie crew, but they struggle to overcome the weak script. Kelsey Griswold, Christopher Ross Martin, and John Savage play other key characters, and are equally hampered by the script, and poor Sarah Chang ends up playing the part of Elisa . . . I mean Meghan Kim.

If this had been written better, and that would include more memorable characters and a healthy sense of disdain for them, then this could have been worthwhile. It could have been easier to forgive the feeling of it being a squalid little “cash-in”. It isn’t though. It is a weak script with weak presentation. Just watch a documentary on the Cecil Hotel instead.

3/10

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Mubi Monday: Corsage (2022)

A look at a year in the life of Empress Elisabeth of Austria (played by Vicky Krieps), this fictional historical tale is actually an entertaining and insightful indictment of how women have been used, and continued to be used, as powerless figureheads, trophies for their husbands to show off while they remain shiny and pretty enough to dazzle those around them.

Krieps relishes another strong female role, playing someone becoming more and more fed up of the gossip and criticism surrounding her looks and behaviour as she strives to find ways in which she can make a difference to the lives of people looking up to her for guidance and support. This causes the most friction when she sees the many wounded and dying soldiers who are where they are because of a war waged by her husband (Emperor Franz Joseph, played by Florian Teichtmeister).

Written and directed by Marie Kreutzer (who also delivered the excellent The Ground Beneath My Feet), Corsage is a film that spends most of the runtime showing a woman struggling to retain her freedom and strong will while many around her try to bind her (sometimes literally, as happens with the titular corsage). It is, sadly, yet another film set in the past that shines a light on attitudes and behaviours that exist everywhere around us today. Thankfully, fighting spirits will always aim to call out the BS and upset the status quo.

While numerous others fill out the cast list, this film is owned by Krieps for almost every minute of it. Her strength shines through, even when she is feeling at her weakest and most vulnerable, and she wanders through the cold and stuffy environments surrounding her like ball lightning. The only downside of her marvellous performance is how much it made me angry all over again about whatever the hell Shyamalan did to get such a poor performance out of her in Old. Teichtmeister is also very good, as is everyone else onscreen, but the film is inarguably owned by Krieps, giving yet another tour-de-force performance to add to her impressive résumé.

Slightly anachronistic at times, but not jarringly so, Kreutzer makes use of the societal schmoozing and royal protocols to show the mix of small and large obstacles that are constantly put in the way of strong women. There are obvious parallels to be made between this headstrong royal and one or two other modern equivalents, but the point is never belabored. Events are shown as they play out, and viewers are left to make connections and judgements, or not, as they wish.

Stylish, smart, and presenting a fictional version of a character that I am now intrigued to learn much more about, Corsage is a film that reminds us of how stories can be used to tell truths without being obsessed with factual accuracy. In fact, sometimes a dry and academic approach can get in the way of what can actually be learned.

9/10

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Netflix And Chill: We Have A Ghost (2023)

The trailer for We Have A Ghost didn't make it look that good, but I decided to give it a go anyway. I'm optimistic/stupid like that. Often. Anyway, not to beat around the bush, the film is as bad as the trailer makes it out to be. Maybe even worse.

Adapted from a short story by Geoff Manaugh, this is the tale of a family moving into a house and finding out, as you may have already guessed, that they have a ghost. His name is Ernest (David Harbour), although that might just be the name on the shirt he is wearing. While Ernest starts to form a firm friendship with Kevin (Jahi Winston), it's not long until dad, Frank (Anthony Mackie), upsets things by trying to capitalise on the situation, making use of viral videos to hopefully make the situation profitable. Kevin really wants to help Ernest, but Frank seems to just want to help himself (and, by extension, the family bank balance). All of the interest in Ernest, and the house, draws young Joy (a neighbour, played by Isabella Russo) into the situation, and piques the interest of a long-time ghost hunter named Dr. Leslie Monroe (Tig Notaro).

Written and directed by Christopher Landon, who has given us a few enjoyable genre mash-ups over the past few years (he helmed both Happy Death Day movies, as well as Freaky), We Have A Ghost is a hugely disappointing mess. If you want something that mixes ghosts with a mystery thriller, adding quirky characters and a real emotional heart to everything, then the gold standard is still The Frighteners, which I encourage everyone to watch ahead of this. Instead of focusing on how to better balance the different aspects of the plot, Landon instead seems to become preoccupied with showing how quickly a ghost would be embraced by everyone on social media. 

The cast aren't at fault, but they are restrained by a script that doesn't treat them as well as it should. Harbour, a likeable and charismatic actor, is given a role that doesn't allow him to speak, with one notable exception. Winston and Russo sometimes feel like the lead characters, but aren't fully trusted to carry the film. They do well though, despite some horribly misjudged moments forcing their relationship towards something more than just friends. Mackie is stuck having to play the selfish dad, Erica Ash plays the scared mother (her initial reaction to Ernest could have been pulled from a 1940s Universal movie, and I don't mean that in a good way), and Niles Fitch is enjoyably unfazed by things, playing Kevin's slightly older, and more vain, brother. Notaro is good in her role, but her role is rendered quite redundant by the third act, and both Tom Bower and Steve Coulter take on the most predictable roles in the whole movie. Seriously, you will have their character journeys fully plotted out by the time you first see them.

There are a few good moments here and there, particularly the scenes that have Winston and Russo fast becoming firm friends, and a sequence featuring Jennifer Coolidge is as fun as it is marred by horrible CGI, but there's far too much here that just doesn't work. The 2+ hour runtime should have been trimmed down, none of the music choices work (some of the score from Bear McCreary is okay, but attempted needle-drops miss the mark by a long way), and the third act is so unsatisfying that it will probably disappoint all but the most forgiving of viewers.

Viewers in just the right age bracket for this may enjoy it much more, young enough to enjoy the idea without being too young to be freaked out by the bits that try to be a bit more tense, but everyone else would do well to avoid this one. Like the central character, it's dead on arrival.

3/10

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Shudder Saturday: Honeydew (2020)

It has only been a week since I sat through the poor and incompetent Spoonful Of Sugar so I had some amount of trepidation when I decided to press play on Honeydew, a film described as one that depicts the strange cravings and hallucinations of a young couple who seek shelter in the home of an old woman after their car breaks down in the middle of nowhere. Thankfully, I had no need to worry. Honeydew does everything right, further highlighting how right I was in my disdain for Spoonful Of Sugar.

Sawyer Spielberg and Malin Barr are Sam and Rylie, the young couple who end up at the home of Karen (Barbara Kingsley). Karen isn't in the house alone. There's also Gunni (Jamie Bradley) there, a man who they are told has been affected by a bull kicking him in the head. A long wait for someone to come and fix their car leads to the couple being offered a bed for the night, which is when things start to get even stranger.

The feature directorial debut from Devereux Milburn, who has spent the past 15 years working on numerous shorts and music videos, Honeydew is a film in which imagery and atmosphere are more important than a standard narrative, but there is a standard narrative here. Peel back the layers of bemusing grotesquery and nightmare sequences and you have a very simple core idea, as seen in hundreds of other horror movies. There's a danger that our leads are unaware of, characters are motivated by an insane life choice that makes sense to them, and viewers simply watch things get progressively worse while hoping for a happy ending. Milburn also wrote the script, developed  from an idea by himself and cinematographer Dan Kennedy, and he allows himself plenty of room to display a wide variety of horrors while also sprinkling enough details throughout to develop everything nicely for a finale that impressively manages to surpass anything that preceded it.

Spielberg and Barr are solid leads, quickly acclimatising to the strange woman they find themselves with and believably putting up with the situation while they figure that they can at least benefit from a night of rest if nothing else works out for them. Kingsley gives a great performance, particularly in the first half when she seems to move in and out of lucid moments. Her character never feels quite right, but it seems to be the kind of mental illness that so many people have seen the elderly struggle with. We soon learn that's not the case though, of course. Bradley has to act like, well, someone with a serious head injury, which he does very well, and there are small roles for Stephen D'Ambrose and Lena Dunham, the former adding more menace to the proceedings while the latter plays someone so unexpected that you're too busy considering what her appearance actually means, for the fate of others, instead of thinking "hey, that's Lena Dunham".

Absolutely destined to be turned off by viewers who will find it far too uncomfortable, and repugnant, this is impressively unsettling and horrifying fare. It makes great use of the one main location, Kennedy films everything as if we've just wandered into a b & b run by John Doe (from Seven), and the audio work, as well as the main music from John Mehrmann, complements the trippy visuals perfectly. As effective for what it doesn't fully show as for what it does, Honeydew is a unique spin on some well-worn horror movie tropes, and I look forward to what Milburn does next.

8/10

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