For It Is Man's Number: September 2023

Saturday, 30 September 2023

Shudder Saturday: The Angry Black Girl And Her Monster (2023)

The feature debut of writer-director Bomani J. Story, The Angry Black Girl And Her Monster is a film best described as a modern take on the classic Frankenstein tale. That's not all it is though, far from it, and there are some elements here that take it further away from the tale we all know (and love). I'm not sure diverging from the inspiring source material is for the best, however, but I'll get back to that point soon enough.

Laya DeLeon Hayes is a smart young girl named Vicaria who happens to be obsessed with death. She sees it as a disease, which means it can be cured. Having lost both her mother and her brother in different circumstances, and seeing her father (Donald, played by Chad L. Coleman) struggle with drug addiction, Vicaria is determined to fight back at the presence that has overshadowed her life for many years. If she can bring back one person, her brother (Chris, played by Edem Atsu-Swanzy), then maybe she can help a lot of other people around her, people living in an area where death can snatch you away at any time, whether it's via disease, drugs, dangerous criminals, or the police.

While flawed, this is a film that gets a lot right. It's easy to see how Vicaria stays motivated, and easy to see why any scientific breakthrough could be even more immediately impactful to her, and those around her, than it would be to, for example, a privileged scientist who has spent many years motivated by his own ego. Vicaria has some brash confidence, shown in some early scenes that brilliantly show the disparity between herself and a teacher who won't engage in discussion with an exceptionally bright pupil, but there's always the feeling that she's not working to cover herself in any glory. It's an emotional thing, but also a practical one, considering the world she lives in.

Story takes the bones of the well-known genre tale and uses a great central character, and a setting far removed from how we usually see this thing done, to give it a fresh spin without making it feel as if it is working too hard to be "too cool for school". The middle section, where one or two elements are mixed in that seem to push the story more into the supernatural than the horror-tinged sci-fi of the central idea, might falter, but the beginning and end are both strong enough to make up for that. Taken on its own, a scene in which a young girl seems to speak with the voice of a very different personality is creepy and effective, but it doesn't work as part of the unfolding tale, and feels like a half-baked idea that Story couldn't bring himself to remove once he had the rest of the film comfortably locked down.

The cast are uniformly excellent, from Coleman to Denzel Whitaker, Reilly Brooke Stith to Keith Holliday, and Amani Summer to Beth Felice (who isn't in it long, but makes a very strong impression as the teacher who cannot deal with Vicaria in her classroom), but this film belongs to Hayes, who delivers the kind of performance so great that you immediately speculate on whatever good things should already be lying ahead of them. Perfectly portraying the drive and intelligence of her character, Hayes is also brilliant at showing someone constantly weighing up numerous scenarios that are equally infused by her head and her heart.

This is easily worth your time, and bodes well for the future of both the writer-director and the star. I appreciate the attempt to mix the old and new, even if it doesn't work so well in that middle section, and I think most open-minded horror fans will get something from this if they give it an hour and a half of their time.

7/10

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Friday, 29 September 2023

Debt Collectors AKA The Debt Collector 2 (2020)

If I want to watch a film in which people are kicked in the face then I have some favourite people I like to see in the lead roles. There are obviously big names with big back catalogues (Chan, Yen, Li, etc), but I am less aware of people still putting out the kind of fare that used to make for a perfect weekend movie rental. Michael Jai White does a few, and does them well, but the current top dog is, in my view, Scott Adkins.

I remember quite enjoying The Debt Collector, a film that threw together Adkins and Louis Mandylor, but I didn’t love it. So I didn’t rush to watch this sequel when it first came out, and I was slightly bemused at how things would continue after the ending of the first film anyway. Thankfully, this was another solid Adkins vehicle, and I would say it is slightly better than the film preceding it.

French (Adkins) is now working as a bouncer, but he is getting in trouble for causing too much damage to the fixtures while dealing with violent drunks. One such encounter occurs on the same day that Sue (Mandylor) walks back into his life. Considering how their last “adventure” ended, French is understandably reticent to help Sue with some debts that he needs to collect within the next few days, but there’s the reward of a big payday at the end of it.

Another film directed by Jesse V. Johnson, once again writing alongside Stu Small, this is an Adkins vehicle that feels as perfectly tailored to the star as any other film he’s been in. I can’t believe there was a time when I didn’t rate Johnson as someone worth your time, but he’s been slowly and surely delivering some of the best “back to basics” action movies over the past five years. His career stretches back way beyond that, but his earlier films seem to be missing that magic Adkins ingredient.

The leads work together even better than they did in the first movie, with Adkins now happy to bash heads together and get the job done as quickly as possible while Mandylor tries to now keep his own violence in the past. Our central pairing should be all you need, considering that most people they encounter end up on the wrong end of a beating, but there are also a couple of good cameo appearances from Martina Sirtis and Vernon Wells. Everyone else, good or bad (mainly bad), plays their part convincingly enough, but the film-makers know to stay close to Adkins and Mandylor, having them be friendly and antagonistic to one another in equal measure.

The fights may not be the absolute best from this director-actor combo, but they’re well done, the pacing is good, and the 97-minute runtime is pretty perfect. All in all, this is another winner for those involved. I won’t be so tardy if they make a third one.

7/10

Thursday, 28 September 2023

Sympathy For The Devil (2023)

You are not in for a good time if you park up somewhere and end up with someone sliding into the back of your car and telling you to drive. Things would be more tense if you were due to join your wife while she was in the throes of labour. And it would really be mad if that passenger was a red-haired Nicolas Cage. Don’t worry though. You are unlikely to be put in this situation. Joel Kinnaman is though, and this film is all about his fateful encounter with an unwanted passenger who seems convinced that he is someone else entirely. Is Cage right? Is he human? Will Kinnaman survive this car ride and reunite with his family?

Directed by Yuval Adler, Sympathy For The Devil is a fun thriller that is elevated by Cage being perfectly cast in a role that allows him to deliver the kind of fun and quirky performance that fans often love. It may not be in line with the previous films helmed by Adler, from what I can surmise, but it’s certainly in line with a number of great Cage films.

Writer Luke Paradise probably couldn’t believe his luck when the leads were cast. His script is good, especially for a film-writing debut, but it’s far from perfect, and every piece of dialogue is improved by the leads delivering it. It’s just a shame that the actual destination doesn’t feel as enjoyable as the journey, making the finale a bit hard to care about, especially when it means the ultimate end of such a great and tense dynamic between the two main characters.

Cage is an absolute blast, and seems to know that this is a perfect role for him, but Kinnaman ensures that he plays off him perfectly, channeling his inner John Hawkes as he personifies a mix of nerves and apparent bad luck. Others appear onscreen occasionally, with Alexis Zollicoffer a highlight as a friendly/sassy diner waitress, but the film generally stays tightly focused on Cage and Kinnaman. Talk about playing to your strengths.

I would have like just a bit more here, wishing the film had gone even darker and possibly stayed more ambiguous in the third act, but what we get is a lot of fun. The technical side of things is all on point, and the visuals are accompanied by a perfectly complementary score from Ishai Adar, and those who see the trailer for this, or read a plot summary, and think they will like it, shouldn’t be disappointed by the end result.

8/10

Wednesday, 27 September 2023

Prime Time: The Intern (2015)

I am happy to admit it. When I saw that The Intern was written and directed by Nancy Meyers, and when I saw the poster that had Robert De Niro looking slightly awkward standing alongside Anne Hathaway, I wasn’t ever in a rush to see it. But it became a film that I kept being reminded of over the past few years, with many people commenting that it is better than you might think.

I have to agree. The Intern is better than you might think. It’s predictable and fairly safe throughout, although that helps the most risqué gag to become even more hilarious when it happens, but it’s sweet and funny, and there are a couple of good points made throughout (about the tougher treatment of successful women and the unfair dismissal of elderly citizens with a lot of life experience to share with others).

De Niro plays Ben, a widower who is a bit bored while trying to fill his days. He sees an advert for a “senior intern” vacancy with an online clothing retailer company, applies, and soon finds himself in the midst of a whole new world. Although, as becomes clear, it isn’t actually THAT new to Ben, considering his work history and the values he holds dear. It may not be the experience he hoped for though, considering the fact that company owner, Jules (Anne Hathaway), isn’t convinced that she needs an intern.

If you think you know how The Intern is going to play out from start to finish then you would be correct. Ben wants to find more from his life, although the satisfaction of doing a good job well remains high on his list of priorities. He also has to learn some new skills to be more effective in the modern workplace. Jules has to accept help from others when she needs it, and has to find a way to strengthen her resolve when others start to doubt her capabilities. There are a couple of fun surprises though, whether they take the shape of the aforementioned risqué gag or an unwelcome character development that will have you hissing at a certain someone as if they were a panto villain.

Meyers may not make movies to suit everyone, especially if you’re not into movies that seem designed more for the entertainment and amusement of women, but there’s no denying that she does what she does damn well. She knows what she is doing, and the final result is always polished and balanced between moments of fun and moments of obvious emotional manipulation. In line with her other directorial features, this is a sweet and optimistic film that feels like a good viewing choice to make during more cynical and dark times.

De Niro is great in his main role here, not having to overdo any comedy as viewers get to see his character being sharper and more capable than people assume. He’s fastidious, he presents some old-fashioned values in a way that manages to convince others of their worth, and he convinces as a valuable asset to the company. Hathaway is very good, although slightly hindered by the trials and tribulations thrown at her character throughout the second half of the film. The two leads make a great team though, complementing one another without immediately realising how well they fit. Adam Devine, Zach Pearlman, and Christina Scherer are other work colleagues (Scherer a standout as a swamped assistant who rarely gets the recognition she deserves), Rene Russo adds some romantic potential, and is always welcome in any movie role, and Anders Holm plays Matt, the “house husband” supporting his very busy wife and looking after their young daughter (a winning performance from JoJo Kushner) for most of every day.

I’ve already written far more about this than required, but this was one of the biggest surprises from my viewing choices last week. Sweet, fun, funny, and maybe even a little inspiring, I would recommend people watch The Intern if they want to spend a couple of hours in the company of a mixed bag of characters all able to make you smile for a little while.

7/10

Tuesday, 26 September 2023

No One Will Save You (2023)

A home invasion horror with a sci-fi twist, No One Will Save You is a film I have been looking forward to since I first found out about it. Okay, there wasn’t a long wait, considering I first found out about it last week, but I was still waiting enthusiastically until I could fit it into my viewing schedule.

Written and directed by Brian Duffield (who made his feature directorial debut with the very enjoyable Spontaneous, a film so good that I always forget it was his first time in the big chair), this is a largely effective blend of elements we have seen before, given a fresh burst of energy by being placed in the middle of an alien invasion movie.

Yes, I said the words “alien invasion movie”. That is what this is, whether it is the main battle between a young woman (Brynn, played by Kaitlyn Dever) and the beings trying to take her from her home or the flying saucers positioned over a small town that looks set to be overwhelmed by life from other planets. As the title suggests, things don’t look good for anyone onscreen.

Taking as much influence from the imagery and history of sci-if movies as he does from the modern horror landscape, Duffield does a fantastic job here of weaving genuine chills and thrills with a sly undercurrent of fun. The lead character is constantly in peril, and there’s some backstory to be revealed to explain why she has apparently been ostracized by her home town, but her pain and loneliness allow for the possibility of a wider range of non-traditional “happy” endings.

The excellent production design and special effects throughout (particularly in the design of the aliens) allow Duffield to deliver a number of superb set-pieces, although it must be said that nothing quite tops that first close encounter. The script is structured well, although it should be noted that there is little to no spoken dialogue throughout the entire film, and it’s fun to watch someone make the most of a fairly audacious central idea in a way that is so confident and creative.

While there are a few other actors onscreen here and there, this is largely a one-woman show. Thankfully, Dever is more than up to the task of carrying the film on her shoulders. Whether she is being terrified by night-time visitors, being determined to fight back, or being resigned to what she thinks is a no-win situation, Dever is easy to root for, even while holding on to a secret regret that is used as a crucial point in the third act.

Let’s end with the ending. That third act is where No One Will Save You will lose some people. It’s a coin toss as to whether you will like it or not. I did, but I can see why some might end up absolutely hating it. It’s certainly a bold choice, but it feels like the right one when you null everything over after the end credits have rolled.

Maybe not quite as good as it could have been (personally, having one other person alongside Dever could have allowed for some dialogue and added even more opportunities for tense encounters), No One Will Save You is a treat nonetheless. Duffield is currently two for two, and I look forward to whatever he does next.

7/10

Monday, 25 September 2023

Mubi Monday: Orphan (2016)

Not to be confused with the “killer kid” movie from some years previously, Orphan is a drama about the female experience, represented by a number of very talented actresses playing the same character at four different points in her life. Although that could seem tricky, and arguably unnecessary, viewers can take or leave the central conceit as they wish. What really matters is the time spent exploring facets of the female experience.

Director Arnaud des Pallières, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Christelle Berthevas, makes use of connective tissue to show moments in a life shaped by the actions of men, various types of oppression (whether physical, financial, or the pressure on women to have a child), and one or two bad decisions. Shown in a non-chronological way, viewers are drawn to the characters thanks to the excellent cast and the idea that we’re watching someone on sliding on an inexorably downhill trajectory.

There isn’t much point in giving a full summary here. It’s enough to say that one little girl grows into a young woman in a difficult situation, who subsequently grows into a young woman exuding an air of confidence that gives the impression of her being more in control, and some time later lives her life as a woman striving to maintain a content and normal life. The central character is portrayed, at her different ages, by Vega Cuzytek, Solène Rigot, Adèle Exarchopoulos, and Adèle Haenel.

As well as everyone just mentioned, and both Exarchopoulos and Haenel are usually enough to get me to watch anything (particularly the former, one of the best actresses of the last decade, and STILL not being given the recognition she deserves), there are performances here from Gemma Arterton, Jalil Lespert, and Robert Hunger-Bühler. Each person onscreen, including the many not mentioned here, feels important for their impact on the central character, and the acting is as excellent across the board as it needs to be, and as you would expect from most of these names.

Moving between moments of calm and moments of freneticism, and often showing sex and submission in place of real care and love, as well as how those things can get mixed up and melted together in one big puddle of gooey emotions, Orphan may not cover any new ground, but it retreads a well-worn path with the aim of underlining the many small hurts and wounds that add up to damage that reverberates through an entire lifetime. The script and direction are both top notch, but it’s the acting that really makes this so rewarding.

8/10

Sunday, 24 September 2023

Netflix And Chill: El Conde (2023)

There is, in my experience, no such thing as a Pablo Larraín film. For the past two decades he has been delivering stylish and thought-provoking fare, a lot of it making use of the dark and turbulent history of Chile, the country he was born in. While people may have already checked out his more mainstream fare, and I use that term in the loosest sense, I encourage everyone to happily explore his entire filmography. There are many treats waiting for you, including one or two films that are sadly forgotten already, or overshadowed by the major releases that revolved around giant historical figures (Jackie and Spencer).

If you want to go in to El Conde completely blind then I suggest you avoid any reviews or plot summaries, including this one. I don't write spoilery reviews, but I do believe that the central conceit of this film is good enough to keep secret from those who have yet to see it. I need to mention it here though, and you have to heed this as a spoiler warning.

El Conde is a very dark comedy that looks at history through a warped viewfinder, positing the idea that a number of infamous political figures were, in fact, vampires. The main one, the one that the film revolves around, is Pinochet. Yes, THAT Pinochet (played here by Jaime Vadell). He may be coming to the end of his life, despite trying to delay that moment for a long time already, and those around him start to bicker over what they might inherit. A young woman (played by Paula Luchsinger) turns up to conduct an audit, but it's quite obvious from the start that she is there to exorcise and kill The Count.

Written by Larraín and his long-time collaborator, Guillermo Calderón, El Conde is presented in gorgeous black and white, juxtaposing the grace and power of vampirism throughout with the cowardice and greed of Pinochet. Don't worry about this trying to turn the central figure into some kind of grand icon, even comedically. The film uses the nastier aspects of vampirism to make obvious comparisons with the ways in which those with power and money can use up people they view as being far beneath them, but it also uses that same power to show how everyone should be held to account (no pun intended). It's tempting to be seduced by someone who can offer you a taste of their power, but it never wipes out the memory of everything bad they have done, and everyone they have harmed or killed, to maintain their superiority, even if they are struggling to retain their physical strength and form in their old age.

Vadell is good in the central role, helped by the fact that his performance isn't required to be comedic. The comedy all comes from the use of the vampiric trappings, and the squabbling around him. Two of those people squabbling are played wonderfully by Gloria Münchmeyer and Alfredo Castro, both portraying the kind of people who are ultimately so often forgotten while they should really be viewed with the same disdain as the employers/partners they help stay in power. Luchsinger is very enjoyable, and the fact that her character isn't always very good at maintaining her obvious facade for being in the company of these people, or these monsters, provides a few extra laughs along the way. Other notable supporting players are Catalina Guerra, Amparo Noguera, and Stella Gonet, although I have to say that I think the focus on Gonet's character in the third act, and the reveal of her identity, is a mis-step that the film would have been better without. It's an all-too-easy joke that doesn't work as well as the rest of the film, dragging things down slightly when it starts to feel a bit too much like childish "wish-fulfilment".

Despite the fun of the idea and the lovely visuals throughout, this ends up being one of the weaker films from Larraín. It's good, and may be a strangely effective way for people to reconsider and reaffirm the evil committed by Pinochet, but it just errs slightly too much on the side of caution. That's understandable, but I cannot help thinking that both Larraín and Calderón could have given us something much more disturbing and effective, without weakening the dark comedy of the premise.

6/10

Saturday, 23 September 2023

Shudder Saturday: Elevator Game (2023)

I was slightly predisposed to disliking Elevator Game before I saw it because I saw the words "based on actual events"on the poster for it. While that's true, in terms of the silly social media trend of pressing elevator buttons in a certain order in the belief that you will see some other world or summon some spirit, or both, it's a work of fiction that only uses a small amount of truth as a starting point. It happens, and has been happening for decades now, but I am still allowed to be irritated when it's such a tenuous use of the phrase.

Anyway, the very simple plot is that a group of people who make videos debunking urban legends end up being asked to record themselves taking part in the elevator game. Viewers know this may not end well, having seen one young woman face a horrible fate at the very start of the film, but there's over an hour of the film dedicated to showing us the group participating in the game and dealing with the consequences of it.

Made by the people who delivered the slightly disappointing The Creatures Were Stirring (Rebekah McKendry directing, while her husband, David Ian McKendry, is tasked with joining Travis Seppala in the writing department), BUT also gave us the pretty great Glorious, Elevator Game isn't terrible, but it's missing some care and skill to make it any good.

While the game itself seems silly to someone like me (i.e. someone not interested in jumping on to any social media trend like a lemming), that wouldn't have been a problem if the rest of the film had made up for the dubious starting point with some enjoyable set-pieces and decent characters. There are some scares here that aren't too bad, for all they feel like weak imitations of scares from much better movies, but the characters and tone are never as strong as required (especially noticeable when someone walks into a restaurant to claim as much salt as possible in order to prepare some kind of protection).

Nobody onscreen is doing bad work, and I'll take a moment here to namecheck Gino Anania, Alec Carlos, Nazariy Demkowicz, Madison MacIsaac, Verity Marks, Liam Stewart-Kanigan, and Megan Best, they're unable to develop anything beyond the weakest of characterisations. No one character really stands out until you see who is being left for the final scenes, and I suspect most viewers will struggle, as I did, to be invested in the outcome of this. Ultimately . . . it's a film about people finding out after having fucked around. Which is enough to make me enjoy the few gore gags and shrug for the rest of the runtime.

I am sure that McKendry has the ability to make another properly good horror one day, but this isn't it. In fact, it feels like a big step backward when compared to the wonderful strangeness of her previous feature.

4/10

Friday, 22 September 2023

Elemental (2023)

I was really looking forward to Elemental, despite a general sense from people that it was a bit underwhelming. I wouldn’t agree with anyone who thinks it is underwhelming. I would say that this is poor, although there are enough colours and fun characters here to easily keep younger viewers entertained.

The film is set in a world in which elements are people. Leah Lewis voices Ember, a fiery young woman who ends up crossing paths with Wade (Mamoudou Athie). Ember is busy trying to do all she can to ensure that her father’s shop remains safe and able to operate as a business, but Wade has some potential bad news for her. The two end up working together to solve a bigger problem, a watery issue that could endanger all who live in the main zone that the fire people call home, and also show that their opposite identities don’t have to keep them from developing some kind of relationship.

Here’s the good stuff about Elemental. It is cute and lively, and there are a number of little easy gags that made me smile. And I appreciate that the analogy here underlines the importance of people getting over their natural differences to show that a mix of skills and traits can effectively blend together as people complement one another in ways that can improve and enrich lives.

Unfortunately, this is never as fun or imaginative as it should be, and is probably hampered most by a world in which the rules feel half-assed. The elemental characters affect the environment around them according to their elemental core, as you would expect, but only when it suits the plotting. Unlike other Pixar movies I could point to, nothing here feels properly developed or cared for.

Three people wrote the screenplay, working on an idea hatched by director Peter Sohn (who also helmed the equally-disappointing The Good Dinosaur), and it seems as if everyone was so concerned with the lesson at the heart of the thing that they went ahead with something that was far too conceptually flawed. I am not suggesting that focusing on the heart of the movie is the wrong approach, but there’s an argument to be made for taking that heart and transplanting it into a much better body. This could have been a much better film without the use of elements. Yeah, sorry to say, the elements are the worst thing about Elemental.

The voice cast do well enough, but very few people stand out, aside from Catherine O’Hara for being so wonderfully Catherine O’Hara in her small role. Lewis and Athie are fine, and work really well together, and both Ronnie Del Carmen and Shila Ommi lend their voices to Bernie and Cinder, the parents of Ember, and both do their best with a script that doesn’t give them too much to do.

Kids will enjoy Elemental, and that is the target demographic so there’s no need to take any notice of what I have said. But I still think there are a LOT of movies out there that they will enjoy more. You may want to consider that if you’re the adult also having to sit through whatever they choose to watch.

4/10

Thursday, 21 September 2023

Torment (1990)

I was going to start this review with a comment about the notoriety and fame of director Michael J. Murphy, but then I realised I would be lying to myself, and to many others who might see this. Although he had a small fanbase throughout his career, I think many people would have gone through their lives having not heard of, or remembered, his name if it hadn’t been for a frankly bewilderingly brilliant boxset of his work released by Indicator. That is when he came to my attention, and I even did a small amount of research to help me decide on the first film to watch in the set (as a number of people warned against simply watching them in order). I encourage anyone else out there who bought the boxset without knowing much, or anything, about Murphy to do the same.

The plot is quite simple. Debbi Stevens plays a famous singer, Anna Bell, who is struggling through a difficult time in her personal life. Her manager (played by Phil Lyndon) wants to keep the money rolling in, but Anna might mess things up by sinking into a drunken and drug-fuelled haze. It doesn’t help that there’s someone who seems to have a vendetta against her, but at least she gains some pleasant company when a handyman named Matt (Rob Bartlett) comes calling. Of course, Matt is very dodgy, and this is obvious from very early on, but will something genuine develop between our two lead characters, or are they going to use one another for a short period of time?

Sometimes standard psycho-thriller stuff and sometimes meandering and dull drama, Torment is saved by good intentions and a genuinely impressive finale that allows the film to earn its title. While it’s no surprise to find out that this is the only script written by Leo Golding, there are a couple of really good ideas mixed in that surpass the clumsy dialogue.

It’s hard not to have at least some admiration and respect for Murphy, who never lets the limitations of his resources and skillset get in the way of delivering a movie with some genuine ambition. Yes, you can see a microphone or two. Yes, you can see his reflection in scenes that make use of mirrors. But he works in locations where he has to try harder to record the sound. He composes shots that make use of mirrors. Other film-makers would have gone for easier options, but not Murphy. He does everything possible to make something that feels like a film that isn’t restricted by everything working against him.

As for the cast, it would be rude to harshly criticise people who seemed to be cast more for their availability than talent, but it’s a mixed bag. Stevens and Bartlett do at least have some screen presence, and it’s possible to imagine them faring better in a film that had more time to coax better performances from them. Lyndon is enjoyably slippery and scheming, playing his part very well, and other cast members are overshadowed by the appearance of Patrick Olliver, playing a toupee-wearing, gay, dance choreographer who seems to have been sent from The Frankie Howerd School Of Subtle Camp Acting. Love or hate him, Olliver is unforgettable, and certainly helps to liven up what might have otherwise been a dull and arduous first half.

Would I recommend people rush off to watch Torment ASAP? No, of course not. Especially if you have no idea about the intriguing filmography of Murphy. I would, however, encourage people to do what I did, to learn a bit more about the director and consider this as a starting point for exploring his work. Far from the worst thing I have ever seen, and full of an admirable ambition from start to finish, I would definitely rewatch this ahead of many other, more polished, movies that are much better-known. And I am looking forward to exploring more of my Michael J. Murphy boxset when I make the time for it.

6/10

Wednesday, 20 September 2023

Prime Time: Kandahar (2023)

Although I sometimes pick movies with absolutely no idea of what I am about to watch, it is nearly impossible to watch as many movies as I do without some awareness of the content of them (whether it is due to their genre categorization, the main star name, or even just the thumbnail/poster, not to mention the various ads and trailers). So I don’t go into a recent Gerard Butler movie expecting a masterpiece. I did hope that Kandahar would be better than this though.

Butler plays Tom Harris, a CIA operative working undercover in Afghanistan. He is due to head home after another successful mission, allowing him to spend some quality time with his daughter and move his stuff out of the home he used to share with his due-to-be-ex-wife, when he is asked to take part in one more mission, and it is one with a huge payday. Unfortunately, Harris has his cover blown, which leads to a number of people desperate to capture him as he tries to get to an extraction point in Kandahar with his translator, Mohammad (Navid Negahban).

Let’s get to the point here. The biggest problem with Kandahar isn’t the cast, although they’re not doing their best work. Director Ric Roman Waugh is also not dire, but not helping as much as he could. The biggest problem lies with the confused script by Mitchell LaFortune, and it’s no surprise to see that this is his first feature. Where Kandahar could have been so many things, depending on the focus on action or drama, it ends up trying to be a bit of something for everyone. That wouldn’t be so bad if LaFortune isn’t also distracted by the idea of showing how people aren’t always easily placed into the category of hero or villain, with everyone given a chance to show how the circumstances dictate their thinking and actions. What that means is that we get a film with a runtime padded out by many scenes that feel completely unnecessary, and sometimes laughably bemusing.

Butler is showing his years nowadays, age catches up to us all in the end, but he still Carrie’s himself with the confidence of someone happy to face overwhelming odds with his strength, intelligence, and skillset. Negahban is perfectly fine, and at least benefits from one of the many coincidences folded into the script, and our two leads are easier to root for throughout simply due to them being played by Butler and Negahban. Elsewhere, Travis Fimmel is the employer/ally, and both Bahador Foladi and Ali Fazal play two main characters aggressively pursuing our heroes (although the latter is given a motorbike that is superfast for some scenes and then seems to be capped at a top speed of 5mph when trying to follow the desert-traversing truck commandeered by our leads).

Some may prefer the fact that this is an action film trying to explore ideas beyond the boundaries of most standard action films, but I would have much preferred this to get the basics right. None of the geography, timing, or choreography feels good enough, and there isn’t enough breathing space for the half-assed ideas lumped in alongside the poor action moments.

Ultimately pleasing nobody, apart from maybe the biggest Gerard Butler fans. Even they might find this one much easier to ignore than some of his other vehicles.

3/10

Tuesday, 19 September 2023

Talk To Me (2023)

I cannot help being wary every time a new horror movie comes out to great acclaim from both critics and fans alike. The fact that Talk To Me is directed by a pair of brothers who made their name making numerous YouTube shorts also had me wondering if it could be as good as the praise it was getting would suggest. It is. Talk To Me is probably one of the best original horror movies of the last decade, and a fantastic debut from two talented individuals I may now start having to explore on YouTube (where they have their RackaRacka channel). Interviews with them suggest they have always used the platform with a view to moving to features one day, and not to simply become internet celebrities, as I had, perhaps slightly snobbishly, assumed.

Mia (Sophie Wilde) still seems in a period of grieving for her dead mother. It has been two years, the death was an apparent suicide, but it still feels like an open wound. She doesn’t really feel connected to her father (Max, played by Marcus Johnson) any more, but she has a surrogate family unit in the form of her friend, Jade (Alexandra Jensen), Jade’s younger brother, Riley (Joe Bird), and their mother, Sue (Miranda Otto). When they find out about a new “party trick”, involving holding on to a ceramic/embalmed hand that allows you to speak to, and be temporarily possessed by, the dead, Mia, Jade, and Riley end up curious. Not sure if it is even real, they soon find out that it is. And it can turn into something addictive and dangerous.

Based on a concept by Daley Pearson, Talk To Me is written by Bill Hinzman and Danny Philippou (the latter also sharing directing duties with his brother, Michael Philippou), and it is a very smart update of traditional horror movie ideas without ever coming across as too annoying or “too cool for school”. It has some great commentary layered throughout almost every scene (whether it’s about grief, addiction, or those who will endanger themselves while having their actions filmed and/or live-streamed on mobile phones) and there’s a depth and heart to the material that keeps you rooting for certain characters even as you see them heading towards what is most certainly a cliff edge at the end of their brief lifespan.

The Philippou brothers have helped themselves enormously with some great casting. Wilde is brilliant in the lead role, and it is a difficult one that needs viewers to sympathize with her as she starts to slide inexorably down an ever-darkening path. She is convincingly warm and lovely when we first get to see her in the company of her good friends, but also sad and vulnerable in a way that is exploited by certain malevolent forces. Jensen is also very good, a believable friend who has her patience tested, to say the least, when things start to go from bad to worse, and Bird is sweet and believable in a way that makes his own journey even more painful and difficult to watch than it otherwise would be. Otto is a great movie mum, delivering at least one line that should produce a solid laugh from most viewers, and Otis Dhanji does well as his character, Daniel, floats in and out of the proceedings just enough to stay involved, and provide some extra tension between our two central females. Johnson doesn’t get too much to do, but he does everything well enough, and Alexandria Steffensen veers between caring a creepy in her small, but pivotal, role.

Although the emphasis is on an enjoyably creepy atmosphere and characters being scared by a growing inability to rely on their own senses, Talk To Me also has one or two moments of stomach-churning brutality. It is a dark and disturbing film, but one that is made by people who know how to keep the tone well-balanced throughout and keep it as something palatable to mainstream audiences. That is reflected in the success it has already had.

A front-running contender for horror film of the year, and one I can’t envision being beaten by anything in the near future, Talk To Me is a hell of a wild ride, and one hell of a feature directorial debut. Near-perfect.

9/10

Monday, 18 September 2023

Mubi Monday: Rotting In The Sun (2023)

Although it's not entirely correct to label it thus, Rotting In The Sun is a film you could describe to others as a darkly comedic riff on Blow-Up for the Instagram and TikTok generation. If that sounds horrible to you then you should be wary of going into this, but I hope you give it a chance. Despite my attempt to create a shorthand description, there's a lot more to this, both serious and thoughtful and brilliantly comedic.

Writer-director Sebastián Silva plays a movie version of himself, spending most of his time disconnected from life going on around him while he ponders suicide. He ends up encountering an online influencer/celeb named Jordan Firstman (played by . . . Jordan Firstman). Jordan is keen to work with Sebastián, but Sebastián isn’t all that interested. And then he disappears, sort of, in a strange chain of events that is only fully known by Sebastián’s housekeeper (played by Catalina Saavedra).

Quite brilliantly summed up by the title, Rotting In The Sun is a film that works hard to push viewers away before drawing them right in again, bringing you closer to the heart of something you now better identify with after having seen it from a distance. It’s a film about distraction and depression, in a few different forms, and shows how even the most unique and bemusing circumstances can remain boring to someone who has already decided to keep away from anything that could be seen as positive. This is clarified in a scene that is as hilarious as it is transgressive, and one that is bound to turn off more conservative film viewers.

Silva, having co-written the screenplay with Pedro Periano, delivers his most satisfying feature yet, from those I have seen. Despite seeming unfocused and shambolic for a lot of the runtime, there’s always a point being made. This is a film that makes a few strong statements, but you could be forgiven for getting to the end credits and assuming that you’ve wasted your time. I would argue against that, and I think the third act is a particularly brilliant blend of commentary, wit, and heart, but each to their own.

Aside from his writing and direction, Silva has fun in his pivotal onscreen role, and helps himself by his own disappearance at, or just before, the halfway point of the film. Firstman also seems to be enjoying himself, doing a great job of portraying a personality who is used to getting people in line with his thinking until ideas become fully-formed active plans. Saavedra is fantastic throughout, effectively portraying the only one of the three who always feels like a real person. She isn’t trying to put on an act to impress or bluff others, for the most part, and when she does have to lie to people she does so in a way that seems uncomfortable and clumsy.

Fun, funny, and yet brilliantly on the nose when it comes to dealing with some serious points tucked underneath the dark comedy overcoat, Rotting In The Sun is a real treat for those who are not easily shocked. And if you are not sure whether or not you consider yourself easily shockable, this has a hilarious “test” for you.

8/10

Sunday, 17 September 2023

Netflix And Chill: How To Blow Up A Pipeline (2023)

While this is only the second film from director Daniel Goldhaber, he's already marked himself out as someone I am always interested. Cam was a fantastic feature debut, and this shows a consistency of form while he moves comfortably from the horror genre into more dramatic, but no less thought-provoking, territory.

In case the title of this film hasn't already made you aware of the content, this is all about a group of people endeavouring to blow up a pipeline. That may seem like a foolhardy mission, and one likely to end in failure, but certain scenes are shown in non-chronological order to illustrate the many extra provisions put in place by activists determined to succeed against overwhelming odds.

Based on a book by Andreas Malm, adapted for the screen by Goldhaber, Jordan Sjol, and Ariela Barer (who also stars onscreen in a main role), How To Blow Up A Pipeline feels like a film that is very much needed right now. Goldhaber definitely picks a side, which you might say is obvious from the fact that he even made the film at all, but we're at a point in our lives when picking the right side seems like the obviously right thing to do. The planet is burning (sometimes literally), profits are being put ahead of health and safety on a scale that is frankly horrendous, even if that isn't a problem inherent to modern life, and a lot of the news articles and coverage of this situation, and the protesters who have been ramping up their disruption and exposure, tend to frame it as yet another issue in which both sides have valid points to make about the climate change crisis. The data points to only one side being correct, and anyone who wants to deny the catastrophic events of climate change going on around us should do us both a favour now and stop reading.

Anyway, apologies, back to the film itself. While not exactly lauding the characters as saints, Goldhaber and co. do a fantastic job of using the non-linear narrative to show the motivating factors here, and to make you view their actions as more naive and potentially damaging than they actually are. The clear visuals (from cinematographer Tehillah De Castro, working on only their second feature in this role, I believe, having done numerous music videos and short films) are accompanied by a very good score from Gavin Brivik (who also worked on Cam with Goldhaber), helped by a script that reflects the conviction of our leads while also conveying the attitudes of those who view them as criminals and ignorant pests.

Barer is very good in her role, but I wouldn't feel right singling any one person out from the others. Kristine Froseth, Lukas Gage, Forrest Goodluck, Sasha Lane, Jayme Lawson, Marcus Scribner, and Jake Weary play the core activists, and each and every one of them has a different, but equally important, part to play in the grand plan. They are also working together for a number of different reasons that all happen to stem from the one big issue, and the performances effortlessly show the different types of relationships within the central group (whether they are lifelong friends or newly connected by the requirements of their mission) and why they are so determined to strike a blow for eco-terrorism.

There's a famous Albert Camus quote that more of us should remember on a daily basis: "The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion." That applies more and more nowadays to people who are striving to correct the balance of a world that is being shifted so far off its axis as to be unrecognisable from what it once was. How To Blow Up A Pipeline reminds us that, despite the headlines and opinion pieces, a lot of people you may view with disrespect and disdain are actually risking a hell of a lot to benefit all of us in the long run. You can apply that to the many people currently taking strike action around the world as easily as you can apply it to the eco-terorrism featured here, and I hope this film succeeds in reframing the mindset of at least a few people who sit down to watch it.

8/10

Saturday, 16 September 2023

Shudder Saturday: Blood Flower (2022)

AKA Harum Malam.

The last time I watched a movie revolving around any kind of blood flower it was the second Anaconda movie. While I enjoy that film a bit more than most people, it's not exactly fantastic. So I went into Blood Flower with a bit of trepidation. How scary can a flower-based movie really be? Even triffids don't terrify me like they used to.

Idan Aedan plays Iqbal, a young boy who we soon learn has a special gift. He can see spirits, which allows him to help his mother in healing those who are afflicted by them/possessed. Unfortunately, and this is very early on in the film, his mother dies, leaving Iqbal alone with his father (Bront Palarae), who would rather not battle any supernatural entities. Nobody has much say in the matter, however, when an evil spirit is let loose in their building, claiming a number of victims while Iqbal tries to figure out how it can be defeated.

Directed by Dain Said, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Ben Omar and Nandita Solomon, this Malaysian horror is a real treat for those who want something that manages to be both spooky and gory, with the third act full of impressive and disturbing moments. Although the backstory revealed will have many thinking of the kind of thing we've seen many times before (usually in the films from Japan or Spain), everything is given a dark twist by the ferocity and scheming of the evil spirit at the heart of things.

Aedan is a good lead, and carries most of the movie on his young shoulders, whether he's being terrified, confused, or gathering the courage needed for a confrontation that anyone would want to completely avoid. He's believably vulnerable, yet also believable as the only one who might be able to put an end to the unfolding horrors. Palarae is decent support, although the film works better when scenes are full of children who are either more aware or more in danger than some of the adults. Remy Ishak plays Jamil, a pivotal character for a number of reasons, and also does a very good job, as do the likes of Nadiya Nissa, Eriza Allya, Amanda Ang, Nabila Huda, and Arnie Shasha, making up a decent variety of people directly affected by the horrific events.

With great pacing throughout (the runtime is a decent 102-minutes) and a lot of memorable imagery that will remind you of classic demon/possession movies without the film rigidly adhering to the way those elements have been presented in the past, this is a great viewing choice for horror movie fans. It gets very bloody and uncomfortable at times, so more casual viewers should be warned, and it's a completely satisfying work that puts a slightly different spin on familiar fare.

8/10

Friday, 15 September 2023

The Little Mermaid (2023)

I have been wanting to see The Little Mermaid ever since grown adults started crying and spitting their dummies out over the fact that the lead role had gone to a young black woman. Because, apparently, mermaids can appear onscreen in various incarnations, but making them non-white is an affront to the firmly-held beliefs people suddenly claimed to have about fictional citizens of the sea. Despite wanting to see it, I didn’t make time for it while it was at the cinema because I just cannot work up any enthusiasm for the ongoing Disney remake factory (some may claim this is less a remake, more a reworking of the source material, and I have to politely disagree).

People should already know the story, but here is the very basic summary. A mermaid named Ariel (Halle Bailey) keeps spending her time thinking about humans and the world above the surface of the sea, much to the chagrin of her father, King Triton (Javier Bardem). She then falls in love with a human, Prince Eric (Jonah Hauer-King), and ends up signing up to a Faustian pact with the scheming Ursula (Melissa McCarthy). Ariel gets to walk on land, giving her a chance to meet the Prince, but she has her lovely voice removed, as well as the memory of the deal made with Ursula.

Directed by the very capable Rob Marshall, The Little Mermaid has a number of pleasantly surprising positives. The casting of Bailey is one of the biggest, with the actress proving to be a wonderful choice for the lead role, presenting herself as believably lovely and tuneful (when she has her voice). The production design throughout, the overall look of the film whenever showing the underwater world, is very good, and there are a number of fairly realistic CG creations accompanying our lead character on her journey. It’s also worth mentioning that there are supporting roles for the excellent Noma Dumezeni and Art Malik.

The script isn’t particularly great, with David Magee responsible for the thankless task of updating the animated film while trying to balance the familiar and the fresh. He doesn’t succeed, sadly, with the familiar moments just ensuring that viewers will remember how much they love the earlier incarnation, and he’s also hampered by the fact that things have to come crashing to a halt at one point for a horrible and lifeless song to be sung by the bland Prince Eric. A few other songs work better, but they’re mostly the ones lifted from the earlier film (although Awkwafina, who voices the seagull named Scuttle, gets a very fun number).

Dull Prince aside, I enjoyed almost everyone else here, whether just in voice form or more fully shown onscreen. Daveed Diggs is a decent Sebastian, Jacob Tremblay is a good fit for Flounder, and Awkwafina is a lot of fun. McCarthy is someone I always tend to enjoy onscreen, and I am happy to say that her portrayal of Ursula is as entertaining as I expected it to be.

All in all, despite this feeling just as unnecessary as every other time that Disney does this kind of thing, The Little Mermaid is enjoyable enough. It has a better variety of representation and cultural texture than the animated film, but it suffers from the inherent disadvantage of turning cute cartoons into “real-life” imagery.

6/10

Thursday, 14 September 2023

Meg 2: The Trench (2023)

I like nonsense. Anyone who knows me can tell you that, and many people who know me actually assume that I tend to choose to watch nonsense over anything else most days. That isn't true though. But I can be easily entertained by films that others don't want to waste their time on. Nonsense has to hit the right spot though, and that ties directly to the logic contained within a movie. If a film is full of magic or sci-fi elements that throw the rules of our world out the window then that's fine. If there are monsters on the prowl then that's fine. Unbelievable fights that look great and feature people who at least look as if they can handle themselves? Again . . . fine. Meg 2: The Trench is not the right kind of nonsense though. It's bad nonsense. The kind of nonsense that shows someone imploding when they have a problem with their suit deep underwater moments before it shows someone exiting a structure to swim elsewhere to open an airlock . . . at a depth of 25,000 feet. Yes, Meg 2: The Trench asks viewers to accept that a human being can swim around, however briefly, at a depth of 25,000 feet. I gave up at that point, saddened by a film that seemed destined to alternate between making me balk and making me bored.

While the first film was based around the appeal of watching Jason Statham versus a giant shark, Meg 2: The Trench moves away from the simplicity of that idea. There’s one trained shark in the mix (maybe, but maybe it’s not possible to train a shark), there are more megalodons, there are a few land creatures, and a huge octopus-like people-eater (shown via the huge tentacles that grab “snacks” and cause carnage). Statham is still present, of course, but he is wasted, alongside the rest of the human cast, for most of the runtime, stuck in a very dull plot about corporate treachery and sabotage.

Written by the same writers who delivered the first film - Dean Georgaris, Jon Hoeber, and Erich Hoeber, all once again working from source material by Steve Alten - and directed by Ben Wheatley, it’s clear that the main aim here is to revel in silliness. Unfortunately, the silliness doesn’t work, and it doesn’t fill up as much of the runtime as it should. Seriously, who wants a Meg movie with so much time devoted to a sub-plot about scheming business folk?

Statham gets to do what he does well enough, but not often enough, and he remains a good fit for this material, delivering awful dialogue with ease and jumping around between sea monsters that we know he will need to defeat in battle. The other main stars worth mentioning are Cliff Curtis, Page Kennedy, and Wu Jing. The former two reprise their roles from the first film, with Kennedy being a lot of fun whenever he gets to show how he has learned to try and protect himself more from the danger of ginormous sharks, while Jing lends his name to a project that sorely mistreats him (fans of his work may be disappointed by how he is ultimately sidelined in favour of the Statham versus sharks plotting. There are some others in the cast, there to either be kept safe or turned into food for the big beasts, but I don’t want to spend time complaining about bad performances from people who aren’t given anything decent to work with.

The Meg was a disappointment, but it had enough fun moments to still make it worthwhile, just. This sequel is an awful mess, arguably something that the film-makers assume is saved by some of the special effects and ridiculous moments packed into the finale. I disagree with them. I stopped caring about anyone onscreen very early on, and I certainly couldn’t muster up any enthusiasm when it seemed as if the film finally remembered what it was supposed to be for the last 15-20 minutes. I hope Wheatley is satisfied now that he’s got this out of his system (although it has brought in some big bucks thanks to the way it pandered to the Chinese market for a box office win there), and I hope any future instalments in the series avoid boring me as much as this one did.

3/10

Wednesday, 13 September 2023

Prime Time: Bill (2015)

If you enjoy the Horrible Histories series, or movie (which uses the brand, but doesn't use the same people), and if you enjoy Ghosts (the British incarnation, which features a lot of the same people both behind and in front of the camera), then you should find Bill an very enjoyable and amusing slice of hysterical historical entertainment. Okay, it may not be hysterical, but that sentence was too tempting for me. It IS very funny though.

Matthew Baynton plays the Bill of the title. William is his proper name, of course. William Shakespeare. Shakespeare wants to become a celebrated playwright, of course, but doesn’t seem to have the skillset required. That doesn’t stop him from persevering though, and he is soon tasked with writing “the greatest play ever performed” for an Earl (Simon Farnaby) who has himself oversold his own talent to a demanding Queen Elizabeth I (Helen McCrory). The play will be the backdrop for a very important meeting between the Queen and King Phillip II of Spain (Ben Willbond), the latter arriving on the shores of Britain with a band of schemers and killers he hopes will help him take over the reign of the country, and pressure keeps mounting on Shakespeare. Pulled in numerous directions at once, our writer at least has the help of one Christopher Marlowe (Jim Howick) to get the play finished.

Co-written by Laurence Rickard (who also features onscreen) and the aforementioned Willbond, Bill is a lively and lovely collage of silliness, mixing smart and sly gags with wonderful absurdity and cheesy puns. Those who know a bit more about the main characters will find the film slightly more rewarding, but almost everything is designed to allow newcomers a near-equal amount of enjoyment. Director Richard Bracewell doesn’t do anything special, but he makes the savvy decision to work perfectly in service of the script and performances, resulting in something that is more focused on being entertaining than being stylish and cinematic.

Everyone involved tends to take on multiple roles, giving the whole thing a wonderful “let’s put on a show” atmosphere throughout, but Baynton, Farnaby,Willbond, and Howick are consistently excellent in any one of their varied roles (although it should be said that Farnaby remains a top scene-stealer, particularly when playing a Spanish assassin). Martha Howe-Douglas does a good job in the role of the exasperated Anne Hathaway, worrying about the career prospects of a husband who seems to have his head in the clouds, and also has fun portraying other characters, and McCrory gives much-needed weight to the pivotal role of Queen Elizabeth I, wisely delivering the most serious performance amidst the unfolding chaos and gags.

I had a great time with this, but I know I am pre-disposed to this kind of thing (having enjoyed the work of all the main performers in similar works). It’s hard to imagine anyone actively hating this, especially if you’re after something inoffensive and eager to please, but I know that some may roll their eyes and groan at the many moments that had me grinning and chuckling. It’s a comedy of errors that some will dismiss as much ado about nothing. I hope more people side with me though, and you should definitely check out the shows mentioned in the first paragraph if you do enjoy this.

7/10

Tuesday, 12 September 2023

The Boogeyman (2023)

Urgh. That's the best way to start this review. Director Rob Savage made such a great impression on horror fans when he released Host, arguably the best use of Zoom ever, with the exception of that one short clip of the man who accidentally made himself look like a cat (check it out if you don't know what I'm talking about, it's hilarious). Unfortunately, it is starting to look more and more like Host was an exception, with Savage following that up with the horrible Dashcam and now this. The Boogeyman isn't as bad as Dashcam, but it's a surprisingly lazy and inept movie that delivers a polished package of everything that exemplifies the worst of modern mainstream horror.

Springboarding from a short story by Stephen King, and that's more worthy of your time than this is, the very simple plot summary for this is that it looks at a family terrorised by a boogeyman. Still grieving the death of their mother, there's teenager Sadie Harper (Sophie Thatcher) and younger sister, Sawyer (Vivien Lyra Blair). They both live with their father, Will (Chris Messina), a therapist struggling to help his children through this difficult time. Anyway, once the boogeyman enters their home, and once they start figuring out exactly what is going on, people are warned not to spend too much time alone in the dark . . . and they then spend most of the movie wandering about alone in the bloody dark.

I really don’t want to spend too much time discussing this, it annoyed me so much for almost every minute of the runtime (although the opening sequence is impressively dark and disturbing, which makes the sharp slide downhill all the more disappointing). It might be a bit more polished than the 2005 movie that covered some similar ground, but I would struggle to say this is better. It’s so carelessly thrown together, but has a couple of elements in the story that are supposed to give it some weight it never maintains, and I blame Savage and the writers, Scott Beck, Mark Heyman, and Bryan Woods. Having read the original short story, one of the many little gems written by Stephen King, I assumed that everyone involved was drawn to the material because of a twisted ending that could be expanded into a feature full of paranoia and constant unease, but it appears that they just wanted the title so they could then deliver a few jump scares and mediocre scenes we have seen hundreds of times before.

The cast aren’t bad, with Thatcher and Blair capably carrying the whole thing on their young shoulders. Messina is sidelined for a lot of the movie, of course, but does perfectly fine work in his role, and David Dastmalchian is sorely underused in what amounts to little more than a cameo. Having said that, at least he doesn’t suffer the fate of Marin Ireland, stuck playing the standard grizzled survivor who thinks she knows how to finally kill the boogeyman and drags Thatcher’s character into her scheme. LisaGay Hamilton is enjoyable in the role of Dr. Weller, another therapist, but suffers from the fact that her screentime alludes more to the aforementioned short story ending in a way that fails to then deliver any decent pay-off.

I saw a lot of love for this when it was in cinemas, which meant I was keen to see it as soon as it hit home media, but I am glad I didn’t rush along to see this on the big screen. I don’t know what others saw in this, and maybe a fair few people left cinemas disappointed after being hoodwinked into buying a ticket, but there was nothing here that worked for me in terms of the horror content. I might have even preferred a straightforward drama showing the main characters dealing with their grief. Or, and here’s a radical idea, a creepy horror film that actually felt in line with the source material.

3/10

Monday, 11 September 2023

Mubi Monday: Raining Stones (1993)

While Raining Stones was released thirty years ago, it's yet another film with a plot that could very easily be transposed into the here and now. I wish I said that about more optimistic and happy pictures, but this is a Ken Loach film, which should let you know how far away from optimistic and happy it is. Having said that, however, there IS a silver lining or two glimpsed amidst the many grey clouds that gather above the main character.

Bruce Jones plays Bob, a poor man who just wants a chance to earn enough money to support his family. He has a loving wife, Anne (Julie Brown), and a young daughter, Coleen (Gemma Phoenix), who is in need of a nice, but certainly not cheap, dress for her upcoming First Communion. He also has a friend, Tommy (Ricky Tomlinson), who is also mired in a poverty trap that he's desperate to escape.

Having been familiar with Bruce Jones from his stint on Coronation Street, I forgot that he also starred in a number of movies. I also forgot how good he could be, delivering a brilliant performance here that makes you forget that this is his feature debut (Loach has a knack for getting those performances from his cast). Brown and Phoenix may not be the focus of the film, shown front and centre when endangered by the lengths that Bob goes to in order to get some cash ASAP, but both deliver excellent supporting turns. Tomlinson may provide some comic relief, but he's also asked to deliver the kind of emotional punch that he has been able to deliver throughout his career, whether in dramatic or comedic roles.

Writer Jim Allen had worked with Ken Loach numerous times over the years, collaborating with him on "The Wednesday Play" TV series and a "Play For Today", and this was the second of the three feature films that they created between them (sandwiched between Hidden Agenda in 1990 and Land And Freedom in 1995, Allen's final screenplay). It also feels like the most typical "Loach-ian" of the three, considering what movies come to mind when the director's name is spoken, and this would make a perfect start to a triple-bill that would also include I, Daniel Blake and Sorry We Missed You.

The people who had their lives made so much worse by the poor economic situation of the late '80s to mid-'90s are the exact same people who are currently having their lives made so much worse by the poor economic situation right now, and that poverty is created and maintained by a social support system not fit for purpose, communities left to rot while the forgotten/hidden residents bravely struggle to keep their heads above water, and rich people getting richer by exploiting the situation to their advantage. There's not a great different between the bankers making bonuses while claiming homes from people who have fallen on hard times and a loan shark demanding ever-increasing repayment amounts as they inventory a home for any goods worth taking in lieu of cash. The tactics may differ, but the end goal is the same.

A difficult watch (again . . . the fact that it's a Ken Loach film should have already made you aware of that), especially during a horrible and hugely uncomfortable main scene in the third act, but just as moving and relevant as so many other features that make up Loach's extensive filmography.

9/10