For It Is Man's Number: June 2024

Sunday 30 June 2024

Netflix And Chill: Beverly Hills Cop III (1994)

I reviewed Beverly Hills Cop quite a few years ago now. I rewatched Beverly Hills Cop II a few times, but kept forgetting to do anything more than a capsule review for it. But the time was right to finally revisit the undercooked Beverly Hills Cop III, a film that I hadn't been brave enough to revisit since it first hit the home rental market back in the mid-'90s.

The plot is quite simple. Eddie Murphy is back in the role of Axel Foley. The death of Foley’s boss leads him to investigate a crime ring that he believes is operating out of a Los Angeles amusement park. He reunites with Rosewood (Judge Reinhold), and quickly gets himself into a whole heap of trouble while trying to gather evidence that will lead to the prosecution of a bad guy that he KNOWS is the bad guy (Timothy Carhart).

This should have been another great entry in a series that was already two for two. Heroes & villains confronting one another against the backdrop of various amusement park rides. Writer Steven E. de Souza is someone who has delivered some great action movies, but he’s also written some that were not so great. This falls into the latter category. The action isn’t good enough, the comedy not funny enough, which just leaves the whole thing as another fairly limp star vehicle for Murphy at a time when every Murphy film inevitably felt like that.

Putting John Landis in the director’s chair just have seemed like a very good idea, considering his past glories with Murphy in a leading role, but he ultimately doesn’t have a handle on the tone and what is truly needed for the series. There are the expected cameos you expect from a Landis movie, but not enough care is given to the plot (and let’s not pretend that Foley does any decent detective work here).

Murphy is still good enough in this role to make it watchable, and Reinhold is fun (although he doesn’t get any of the interplay he previously had with John Ashton’s character, notably absent here and sorely missed). Hector Elizondo is okay, but not really good enough as a replacement for Ashton’s character, and Stephen McHattie gets to come along every once in a while to lay down the law as an angry Fed. Carhart is a bit of a weak villain, commanding a small army of bland henchmen, John Saxon is someone you know must be involved somehow (due to being John Saxon), and Theresa Randle tries her best in a role that makes her a potential love interest/damsel in distress. Oh, and it’s fun to see Bronson Pinchot return for a scene or two, having moved from the world of art to the world of heavy-duty self defence.

The cast help make this more fun than it otherwise would be. It’s a bad film, but it’s a bad film that remains watchable, for the most part, if you don’t mind spending time with a likable main character on one of his lesser adventures. And it would have been even better if it had felt more in line with the previous two movies.

5/10

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Saturday 29 June 2024

Shudder Satuday: Body Melt (1993)

Sometimes you have to dig deep into a movie to figure out why it is titled the way it is. Sometimes it feels very random, or a bit too obscure. And sometimes you watch a movie called Body Melt, which tells you that people are about to be in danger of experiencing their bodies starting to melt.

There are a few main characters here, and there is A plot, but this is a film that doesn’t need thorough examination. People are consuming some products that have negative side-effects, to say the least, and a couple of policemen on the case start to figure out how bad things are about to get. Are they fast enough to close the gate though, or has this body-melting horse already bolted?

Directed by Philip Brophy, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Rod Bishop, this is a messy and gory piece of work that proves Brophy to be quite the talent with a relatively low budget and a whole lot of inventiveness. Which makes it all the more surprising that this was the last, and actually the only, feature that he helmed.

The material is approached with a great mix of fun and commitment to the messy central idea, helped by a diversion into the kind of Outback horror that runs along similar lines to many famous American backwoods horror movies. This is a showcase for some absolutely superb practical effects, but there are also moments for you to get to know each potential victim. Not that you really care about them, but you get to know them.

Cast-wise, there are a mix of familiar faces here (many from Australian TV shows, arguably the most famous being Ian Smith AKA Harold from Neighbours). Gerard Kennedy is fine as the tough detective on the case, Regina Gaigalas gives off a decent femme fatale vibe, and Anthea Davis is working hard under a hell of a lot of disfiguring make-up. Everyone does what is asked of them, which is often to go about their day until their body starts to come apart.

A brilliantly barmy cult curio, Body Melt is a film that has retained a pretty good reputation over the past few decades. It’s easy to see why. It’s well-paced, not overlong, balances the ridiculousness against the horror of the situation, and absolutely delivers on the promise of the title. Many horror fans will have already seen it, but if, like me, you somehow missed it so far then do yourself a favour and check it out ASAP.

8/10

Friday 28 June 2024

Seize Them! (2024)

Although it seemed to come and go with very little fanfare, I knew that I would be looking forward to Seize Them! from the first time I heard about it. Being a fan of the Horrible Histories style, I figured this would be something along similar lines. I wasn’t completely wrong, although it throws around some swearwords to remind you that it is intended for slightly older viewers. I’m not sure that was the best approach, but we will come back to that later.

Aimee Lou Wood is Queen Dagan, a cold and uncaring ruler, more due to ignorance than malice, who finds herself having to travel incognito when she escapes an attempt on her life by the revolutionary Humble Joan (Nicola Coughlan). The Queen ends up being helped by Shulmay (Lolly Adefope) and a friendly shit-shoveler named Bobik (Nick Frost). She is determined to regain her throne, but there’s obviously more for her to find on this difficult and dangerous journey.

While it’s not usually good to compare something directly to something else, or to critique something more for what it isn’t than what it is, Seize Them! seems to invite such a comparison. And it comes up wanting. This should have been a family-friendly stomp through medieval times, stuffed full of gags and mud and a stench that would come off the screen in waves. Sadly, it’s just a moderately amusing adventure with some language that takes it up to a 15 certificate here in the UK. Younger viewers may miss out, and older viewers have many better options in front of them.

Director Curtis Vowell doesn’t have too many films under his belt, which may explain the lack of any proper guidance for the material here, but writer Andy Riley already has a few gems. It is a shame that this isn’t on par with his past features, especially when he would seem to be such a good fit for this kind of fun.

The cast do all they can to help, but they’re seriously hampered by the script. Frost probably fares the best, providing some laughs as his sweet simpleton character constantly makes mistakes that endanger the central group, but both Adefope and Wood are enjoyable onscreen performers. Coughlan has fun as a main “villain”, as does the wonderful Jessica Hynes, and there’s a very enjoyable cameo from James Acaster, in a role that allows him to be as Acaster as Acaster is wont to be.

I chuckled a few times while this was on, and I was happy enough to see where the different characters settled by the time their journeys had ended, but I was never overly impressed. They really should have decided to either embrace the silliness and fill every scene with gags and puns or embrace the certification and throw in some more gore and death alongside the smattering of naughty language. Instead, it falls between two stools. Which is a statement on the quality of the film and also an extra pooh gag that feels slightly better than what was served up by this script.

5/10

Thursday 27 June 2024

King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword (2017)

Yes, I forgot this existed. Yes, I am sure many of you also forgot about it. It certainly hasn’t endured in the way some other cinematic depictions of the King Arthur tale have endured. That’s probably down to it being quite a bad film.

Charlie Hunnam plays Arthur. He isn’t a king, unaware of his destiny, but he is the kind of determined rogue who can lead a group of men in a campaign against the tyranny of the current ruler of the land (played by Jude Law). Hunnam has the loyalty of a group that includes Djimon Hounsou, Aidan Gillen, Neil Maskell, and a few others.

Written by Joby Harold, Lionel Wigram, and director Guy Ritchie, this is a film that could just as easily have been called Geezers Of The Round Table, and your enjoyment of it will depend completely on what you think of that phrase. I rolled my eyes as soon as I realised what I had let myself in for, and the film generally lived up to my painful expectations.

I wouldn’t say that this is a film everyone should avoid. The special effects are pretty good throughout, although there’s a tiresome overuse of CGI throughout, and Ritchie makes some stylistic choices during the action sequences that Zack Snyder would be envious of. He has a vision, whether you like it or not, and he sticks to that vision from start to finish. While that juxtaposition of style and content didn’t work for me at all, others may enjoy what is sold as a fresh take on a classic tale.

I cannot really complain about Hunnam in the lead role, he definitely has a certain charisma that helps to make up for weaknesses elsewhere, but the real fun comes from the supporting cast. Hounsou is great, Gillen and Maskell are fun, and Law makes for a hugely entertaining and irredeemable villain. There are also enjoyable turns from Eric Bana, Geoff Bell, Peter Ferdinando, and a few other familiar faces (including David Beckham in a cameo that he does okay with). The women don’t fare as well, sadly, but that at least allows them to forget this is even on those C.V.

Maybe I would enjoy this more if in a better mood, but I certainly went into it with my usual readiness to be entertained or impressed. This did neither, and I could feel Ritchie and the cast all working harder to ensure that this felt more like a romp than the retelling of Arthurian legend. Unfortunately, feeling that energy so misdirected just made me like it even less. Technically fine, and the cast could have done even better with a script that worked, but this turned out to be a knight I would rather forget.

4/10

Wednesday 26 June 2024

Prime Time: Gamera vs. Gyaos (1967)

It’s been a while since I watched a Gamera movie. Not that long in the grand scheme of things, but long enough for me to already forget whether or not I was truly enjoying this era of the giant turtle beast. This film soon reminded me that I found these films to be middling entertainment, at best, and I usually rate them generously because of my innate love for most films of this kind.

The plot is summed up by the title. Gamera is awakened once more, just in time to battle a creature named Gyaos. Gamera is also befriended by a young boy named Eichi (Naoyuki Abe). Meanwhile, there’s some dull b-plot about the building of an expressway.

It’s tough to muster any enthusiasm for this, a kaiju film that has even less human characters worth caring about than usual, and fights that lack any real spectacle. Everything between Gamera and Gyaos is far less exciting than it should be, and there’s never a real sense of proper large-scale destruction.

Director Noriaki Yuasa returns to the series, as does writer Niisan Takahashi, but you wouldn’t know that they had any experience with this kind of material from the end result here. The opening scenes are some of the best, especially when Gamera befriend Eichi, but it’s quite a consistent slide downhill after those moments.

As for the cast, I will continue to single out Abe as the only highlight. His young character is singularly optimistic and cheerful throughout, and his relationship with Gamera works well, even as he spends most of the movie just looking on and being supportive from the sidelines.

Gamera still has one or two good moments of getting to do Gamera things, but the crude design and unimpressive characteristics of Gyaos leave a lot to be desired. It isn’t a memorable creature, and it never feels convincing when it gets the better of Gamera.

I have said all I need to say here. In fact, I have said plenty when I had the option to sum this up in one word: Poor.

3/10

Tuesday 25 June 2024

Challengers (2024)

A film all about tennis, except that it’s not really all about tennis. It’s all about sex, obsession, and power. But it’s also about tennis.

Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor play Art and Patrick, two tennis players who used to be very good friends. Their lives have gone in very different directions, however, and now Art is a pro trying to recover his form while Patrick is trying to win enough money to keep himself able to buy non-luxury items, like food. Both end up in a challenger tournament, and both end up playing against one another, observed by Tashi (Zendaya). Tasha is married to Art, but she is also very familiar with Patrick. Things may become messy and complicated, but it’s important to remember that this film is set in a world of tennis . . . where love equals zero.

Written by Justin Kuritzkes, his first major screenplay, this is a vibrant and steamy look at people who are pushing one another in different directions, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. The material is elevated by Luca Gaudagnino’s electric direction, and a strange score from Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor that sometimes fits the visuals, but also sometimes just feels a bit jarring, yet now in a way that spoils the marriage between sight and sound.

The cast also help, absolutely fantastic in roles that allow them to relish being single-minded and fairly unpleasant for most of the runtime. Faist feels like the weakest of the three characters (in his nature, not in his performance), but his journey remains an intriguing one. O’Connor has more hunger in his eyes, although he also has some obvious failings that have held him back over the years. And then there’s Zendaya, casting a large shadow over these two men in a way that they don’t even fully realise until it is too late. Her turn here is wonderfully gritty and dispassionate, portraying someone who has decided to put all of her energy and effort into the career of someone else after her own dream came to a very sudden end.

Told in a non-chronological way, my main criticism is that there are some time jumps that feel a bit unnecessary, although everything becomes clear as you get used to the structure of the film. It feels like the right way to have done things though, especially by the time we get to a brilliantly satisfying finale. Momentum builds, camerawork is dizzyingly brilliant, and there’s a proper crescendo before everything ends, as should be the way of any great tennis match.

I wouldn’t say this is the best film for anyone involved, apart from Kuritzkes (so far), but it’s very good stuff. It’s sweaty, sexy, strange, and occasionally surprising. It’s certainly one of the best films about tennis that I can think of, despite it not really being about tennis.

8/10

Monday 24 June 2024

Mubi Monday: Hard Labor (2011)

The first feature co-written and co-directed by Marco Dutra and Juliana Rojas, who would then go on to helm the excellent Good Manners, this may not be anything truly great, and it's not helped by being too unsure of where it wants to position itself, but it's an interesting and assured debut. There's no subtlety here, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. People don't always appreciate subtlety, and sometimes it can be satisfying to use a sledgehammer to crack a walnut.

Helena Albergaria plays Helena, a woman who decides to start up a business as a local grocery store owner. The timing isn’t great though. Her husband (Otávio, played by Marat Descartes) has just been let go from his job, he’s due to find out how difficult it is to find gainful employment again, and the problems and bills soon start piling up as the shop reveals a number of hidden problems. Helena has people working for her, including a young woman named Paula (Naloana Lima), but they need money and a work/life balance just as much as she does.

I don’t always do this, but I checked out a number of reviews for this movie before writing my own. I wanted to ensure that my own interpretation of the film, as simple as it seemed, wasn’t wildly out of whack with how others viewed it. Most people seemed to see it for what it was, I was relieved to find, but most people also seemed to dismiss it as something a bit too messy and painfully obvious for film fans. I disagree there, although I can understand some of the criticism.

Dutra and Rojas aren’t interested in keeping everything neat and tidy. The message at the heart of this is the most important thing, or so it seems, but they still do enough to wrap an intriguing and entertaining movie around it. Things could have been adjusted to help the film lean more strongly into any one of a number of genres, but I appreciate the uneven bobbing and weaving between so many different key moments.

Albergaria, Descartes, and Lima are great as the three central characters. While they are ably supported by a uniformly excellent cast, the leads perform brilliantly while also embodying their own part of the movie’s messaging. Albergaria deserves the most praise, considering the tightrope she walks as her character struggles in a pinch-point that has her poised to be either victim or small tyrant at any moment, but everyone does brilliant work in service to the talented team behind the camera.

There are many ways that this could be better, and I admit that I would have also liked to see things mean much further into the potential horror elements, but Hard Labor is still an accomplished feature debut. There are a number of scenes that will stay in your mind after the film has finished, including a brilliant and darkly comedic final moment, and Dutra and Rojas seem to have succeeded in giving us the film that makes the statement they wanted to make.

7/10

Sunday 23 June 2024

Netflix And Chill: Army Of Thieves (2021)

I know that some people rushed to see this when it first landed on Netflix, but I don't know why. A prequel spin-off from Army Of The Dead, focusing on one of the supporting characters in that film, and directed by the actor who played/still plays that character, there was nothing here that made me consider this a priority. I'm glad I finally got around to it now though, and I can tell everyone else that this is actually quite a bit better than the film that spawned it.

Matthias Schweighöfer is Ludwig Dieter, a mild-mannered man who maintains very strict order in his life while spending his spare time mastering the art of safe-cracking, in theory. He dreams of breaking in to four legendary safes, a quartet of huge devices that become increasingly difficult to break into when approached in a certain order, and he has the chance to turn his dream into a reality when he's approached by a group of criminals, helmed by Gwendoline Starr (Nathalie Emmanuel). But the chance to make his dream comes true also comes with the chance of everything turning into a nightmare.

Clocking in with a runtime of just over two hours, because of course it does, the most pleasant surprise about Army Of Thieves is how well it moves through the fairly silly plot, helped by a decent mix of characters and a few fun set-pieces. Writer Shay Hatten keeps the growing zombie threat from Army Of The Dead simmering away in the background, but sensibly focuses on this as an amusing crime caper, centred on an entertainingly nervy and ill-prepared main character.

Schweighöfer is great in the main role, making it easy to remember why his character was such a standout in the previous film. As awkward with people as he is comfortable with lock mechanisms, he's allowed to be the kind of criminal that viewers can easily root for, in it more for the challenge than any big payday, and aiming to get things done with a minimum of fuss or casualties. Emmanuel is an enjoyable screen presence, and she does well enough in her main role here, although it's hard to view her as a strong leader when the cracks in the team start to show. Stuart Martin is the mean and moody one, abd both Guz Khan and Ruby O. Fee are there to be placed in difficult positions as things become more strained. Jonathan Cohen is the determined cop who is always just one step behind, as expected, and there is an end scene that presents the expected cameos reminding everyone of where these events have been leading.

Aside from his acting onscreen, Schweighöfer also deserves some credit for his direction. This isn't his first feature, but all of his previous films have been co-directed with Torsten Künstler, which makes this his first solo outing. I'm sure he was given a lot of support and guidance by those who wanted to keep this in line with Zack Snyder's movie (and that support no doubt includes Snyder himself potentially offering some pointers), but Schweighöfer manages to deliver something that feels in line with the previous film in this series without ever being slavishly devoted to it. It's a character piece, it's a comedic crime film, it's a fun adventure. It's not a film that needs to keep reminding you of every detail and overcooked style of what preceded it.

Absolutely disposable stuff, admittedly, but I certainly enjoyed it enough while it was on. And I'd certainly be more keen to watch another film about this character than I would to watch another zombie-filled Snyder movie at this point.

6/10

Saturday 22 June 2024

Shudder Saturday: Houseboat Horror (1989)

I've said it before and I'll say it again . . . we live in truly wonderful times for film fans. Many films remain obscure, or almost wiped from existence, but so many films are even more easily available now than they were upon first release. You can get yourself comfortable at home, line up your favourite snacks and beverages, and plan time to watch either a film that has just left, or is sometimes still in, cinema screens, a golden oldie classic, and everything in between. Houseboat Horror comes in the "everything in between" category. It's a shot on video slasher movie that I probably would never have seen if it hadn't now been available on one of my many online streaming services.

The plot is as simple as you'd expect it to be. A group of people end up in a fairly isolated location, somewhere that makes them more likely to be targeted by a vicious killer. It helps that the main characters are a bunch of rock musicians and the crew filming their music video, which creates instant tension with any locals that they encounter, and also allows viewers to look forward to all of the expected death scenes.

I'm not going to tell people that Houseboat Horror is a great film. It's not even a great slasher film. It doesn't seem too bad, however, when you consider the wild variations in quality that can be found in the world of SOV horror. Despite being far from an expert in these films, I already know some of the most notorious titles, and I know how much of an endurance test they can be. They're also a testament to the passion and determination of many film-makers though, and the best SOV movies still have something running through them that shows the good intentions buried underneath the messy final product. Houseboat Horror is one of those movies, and I spent the duration of it rooting for directors Kendal Flanagan and Ollie Martin to fully win me over. That never happened, largely due to the weak screenplay by Martin (and, yes, I am aware of how many slasher movies have a weak screenplay), but a couple of moments showed a level of care and technical proficiency that I hadn't expected.

It also doesn't help that the cast are a bit amateurish and clumsy, by and large. I am not going to spend too much time and space being overly critical of people who banded together to have some fun and get this made, but it's unsurprising to see that many of these cast members didn't go on to have lengthy and illustrious film careers, with Alan Dale, despite not being on top form, being the one notable exception. How he ended up in this is a mystery, and I'd love to hear from anyone who has that information, but he helps to lift things slightly just by being a recognisable face of someone you know has acted in more professional projects.

I liked this. It was endearing. The many flaws all worked to highlight just how much was stacked against Flanagan and Martin as they worked to get this made. It's a mess, and there are many scenes that are just disappointingly dull (a common failing of many SOV horror movies), and there's also an ending that lacks any tension whatsoever, but I still found myself smiling as the end credits rolled. I would watch it again. I'd recommend it to those looking for something to fan the flames of their nostalgia for the days of VHS, or to those looking for something undemanding that can be enjoyed in a group viewing. But I wouldn't recommend it to anyone looking for something remotely serious or well-crafted.

5/10

Friday 21 June 2024

Frankenstein Conquers The World (1965)

I'm not sure that I really needed to watch this film at this time, although I saw it lumped in with a load of other Godzilla and kaiju movies (which I have been trying to make a priority for this year), but I'm still glad that I got around to it anyway. Not that I am saying it's a good film, but it's such an oddity that I'm glad I can now tell others that I actually experienced it. Feeling like more of a bizarre fever dream than a standard movie, Frankenstein Conquers The World (also known as Frankenstein Vs. Baragon) is something almost impossible to believe until you see it for yourself.

Opening with a sequence that mixes wartime intrigue with the discovery of the still-beating heart of Frankenstein’s creature, this is the tale of a young boy (played by Kôji Furuhata) who baffles the scientific community. Growing at an accelerated rate, as well as being resistant to radiation, the boy is named Frankenstein and observed by scientists who hope to stop him from becoming dangerous. He isn’t the only anomaly to arise though, and may actually be able to save people from a greater danger.

Directed by the great Ishirô Honda, and written by Takeshi Kimora (billed as Kaoru Mabuchi), this plays fast and loose with elements of the classic tale being referenced, which was in turn reworked by both John Meredyth Lucas and Shin’ichi Sekizawa, a before settling into a third act that delivers some very familiar fighting between giant figures.

While not anywhere close to the best of this kind of film, particularly when one of the mighty creations is just an overgrown boy wandering through the Japanese countryside, this is so consistently and wonderfully odd that most fans of kaiju movies should still find enough to enjoy. You do get a big beastie, you do get some destruction on a large scale, just not as large a scale as it is in other movies, and you get the usual arguments between military and medical personnel.

Nick Adams and Kumi Mizuno are two of the main figures who try to keep the situation under control, both doing fine in typically thankless roles as they fill time in between moments of spectacle, and Tadao Takashima and Yoshio Tsuchiya are perfectly acceptable as they also struggle to keep Japan safe from a new menace. Furuhata is the star, but he’s unable to make a major impact while his character is kept disappointingly grounded by a lack of any outstanding special moves or abilities (aside from his growth and regeneration).

At once kind of terrible and kind of brilliant at the same time, this is an admirable attempt to do something a bit different with a very familiar template. I will be unlikely to ever want to revisit it, but I am happy that my cinematic quest this year has allowed me to watch something so entertainingly bonkers.

6/10

Thursday 20 June 2024

The First Omen (2024)

When I first heard about them making a prequel to The Omen I was as sceptical as most people. While I love the original trio of main films, and the first is the absolute highlight, there have been unsuccessful attempts to move beyond that, with the TV movie that was the fourth film in the series and a competent, but comparatively weak, remake. Sometimes it is best to just let things be.

But then I started to hear some good things about it. Horror fans seemed to be pleased, and even fans of The Omen claimed that this was a surprisingly decent prequel that put all of the pieces in place to lead nicely into the events of that landmark 1976 horror. I strongly disagree with those people.

Nell Tiger Free is Margaret, a young American who ends up in Rome to serve alongside other nuns helping to support young mothers, and expectant mothers. There’s something afoot though, something that starts to affect the mental state of Margaret. Her suspicions about things are confirmed when she is approached by Father Brennan (Ralph Ineson), a man on a quest to get proof of grave misdeeds committed in the name of the church.

The feature debut of director Arkasha Stevenson, who also worked on the screenplay with Tim Smith and Keith Thomas, this is a film that does itself no favours by calling to mind a number of much better features. It obviously cannot avoid the fact that viewers will think of The Omen, but inserting a sequence that references an iconic moment from Possession is a sign of hugely misplaced confidence, at best. Fair play to the lead actress for giving it a go, but few people could deliver anything that compares favourably to that amazing turn from Isabelle Adjani.

While Stevenson doesn’t do that bad a job in the director’s chair, especially with the lighting levels and the overall look and feel of 1970s Rome shown onscreen, she is sorely let down by the screenplay. The best moments are the ones that try to put a twist on classic deaths from the series, but the rest of the film is just a tiresome and overcooked descent into paranoia and potential madness, with a couple of key scenes that should have horror movie fans thinking “wait a minute, why are they sometimes trying to link to the original movie while changing or removing others details that connect to iconic moments?”

Free is decent in the lead role, although she fails to add any real depth or warmth to a character who is there to be nervous and frail for most of the runtime. Ineson is great, albeit undermined by a crucial change to his character that is never addressed, and therefore never integrated well into the messy “pick ‘n’ mix” continuity. Bill Nighy has fun in a main supporting role, Sônia Braga likewise, and there is solid work from Maria Caballero, playing the only other character I was actually interested in.

I kept forgetting to write this full review, having seen the film some time ago, but was reminded to get it done when I mentioned my dislike for this film during my review of Tarot. That film is a tame teen horror that won’t please many genre fans, but actually plays out well enough, for the most part, in the way it is intended. The First Omen doesn’t actually work how it should, with the exception of moments that remind you of the superior source material. It is decent, on a technical level, but it is never truly effective, never feels worthy of the IP it is warping, and sorely lacks any real imagination and creativity. So I stand by my negative opinion of it, although I suspect it will work much better for those who haven’t watched The Omen as many times as I have.

Oh, and Immaculate is a much better wander through similar territory.

4/10

Wednesday 19 June 2024

Prime Time: Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (2022)

This is it, finally. This is the epic musical biopic that we were all promised over a decade ago in an amusing short (that time with Aaron Paul in a main role). It’s the life of Al Yankovic, warts and all, and those who are fans of the entertainer should have a lot of fun with this.

Starring Daniel Radcliffe in the titular role, this is essentially a one-joke movie, but that one joke is very funny. Basically, what if the parody songs and polka-playing of Weird Al was viewed with the same reverence as some of the greatest music of our time. What if Al was all of The Beatles rolled into one, plus some Queen and Michael Jackson in there, plus a helping of enough rockstar godliness that he would end up in a harmful relationship with Madonna (Evan Rachel Wood)? What if?

Directed by Eric Appel, who also co-wrote the movie with Yankovic (who is used to great effect onscreen as a doubtful music exec), this is everything you want it to be, even if you don’t know that until the tone of the film is set during the early scenes. It highlights some hits from Weird Al, showing a hilariously exaggerated creative process for one or two of them, and truly celebrates an iconic musical entertainer in a way that feels both fitting and in line with the perfect blend of smart and silly that has been a staple of Al’s work throughout his decades in showbusiness.

Radcliffe is fantastic in the lead role, unafraid to go broad and big with his performance. Okay, a lot of work is done by the wig and facial hair, but it’s still brilliant to see him so committed to such a whacky turn. Wood has a lot of fun portraying a fictional version of Madonna, and she is styled with the perfect look for the role, and the other highlights are Rainn Wilson (as Dr. Demento), Toby Huss and Julianne Nicholson (playing the confused parents of our musical genius), and Jack Black being an amazing Wolfman Jack in a party sequence that is stuffed with brilliant, and hilarious, cameos. That’s just the tip of the iceberg though, and everyone is having so much fun that it really feels infectious.

I enjoyed this as I was watching it, and there are some obvious treats scattered throughout the soundtrack, but I wasn’t sure if I loved it once it all ended. Did I fully buy into the conceit, and did that conceit do enough to make up for the fairly straightforward presentation from a director making his feature debut, despite the many short segments and TV episodes under his belt? Well . . . it turns out that I did fully buy into it. Writing about it here has had me smiling again, and I would happily rewatch it right now. I imagine that most Weird Wl fans will feel the same way.

8/10

Tuesday 18 June 2024

Tarot (2024)

I think I need to clarify something at the very start of this review. I didn’t like Tarot. Not only did I dislike it, it is one of those slick and tame horror movies that embodies the worst of modern horror. There’s even a moment that makes use of my favourite trope to laugh at (the train that can quietly sneak up on someone while going along at great speed). But, and this is a big but (because I often like big buts and I cannot lie), there were elements here that I appreciated, and would have loved to see incorporated in a better film.

The plot could be written on the back of a matchbox. Some youngsters find a deck of tarot cards, one reads the fortune for each of the friends, and then they start dying in ways that seem linked to those readings. That is it. There’s then a race against time to figure things out, and figure out a way to prevent any further deaths.

Adapted from a book, “Horrorscope” by Nicholas Adams, this lazy mess was both co-written and co-directed by Spenser Cohen and Anna Halberg, both seemingly unable to do more than the bare minimum for the material. The dialogue is often inane, the plotting doesn’t have enough distractions around a few decent set-pieces, and the screen is often darker than my soul, which is a shame when you actually get a chance to enjoy some of the production design.

The cast are almost all eminently forgettable, this is unlikely to be a big break for any of them, with the only two standouts being Jacob Batalon and Avantika, only because I have been familiar with them in other film roles. If Batalon’s character was played by anyone else then he could have easily been far too annoying, and he comes close as it is. Harriet Slater and Adain Bradley get most of the screentime, compared to everyone else in their core group, but viewers will just want them to get out of the way while they try to get a better view of the tarot card characters.

Those characters are a big plus for the film, with the design of them making up for the poor editing choices and inconsistency of their methodology. It wouldn’t have taken much to turn this into something decent, either showcasing the characters in a better way or, alternatively, hiding them away to make the set-pieces more in line with some Final Destination moments. Cohen and Halberg go for the easiest and laziest options though, and the end result is a missed opportunity that never gives you anything to fully appreciate.

And yet . . . I STILL preferred this to The First Omen. Which probably says enough to make people completely ignore my opinions on recent horror movies.

4/10

Monday 17 June 2024

Mubi Monday: The Dreamers (2003)

I don’t know how I could have ever forgotten that Bernardo Bertolucci once directed a movie that starred Michael Pitt, Louis Garrel, and Eva Green, but I did. Rummaging around in the depths of my own memory banks, I vaguely remember it being released before I was more aware of Bertolucci’s films (aside from his most notorious title), and it was certainly before I would have been won over by the cast. So it came and it went without making any lasting impression on me.

Set in a turbulent Paris of the 1960s, this is the tale of a young American (Matthew, played by Pitt) who ends up befriending a pair of intriguing, but also potentially dangerous, twin siblings (Isabelle and Theo, played by Green and Garrel). They are safe, and largely sheltered, when spending time indoors sharing a love of cinema, indulging in games that lead to erotic forfeits, or engaging in philosophical discussions, but the outside world cannot be avoided forever.

While I have enjoyed, and loved, some of his work, I have never been as big a fan of Bertolucci as some people. Last Tango In Paris is a cold and clumsy movie that remains notorious for one horrible scene, and it was a mistake to start with that major touchstone when I started broadening my cinematic horizons. But for anyone else who feels the same way, I highly recommend checking out The Sheltering Sky and, his masterpiece, The Last Emperor. And this. Yes, this is an erotically-charged look at human connection and development that works far better than the film that many others view as the standout from his filmography.

Adapted from his own novel into screenplay for my Gilbert Adair, there’s a constant feeling of worlds pressing against one another here, be they worlds of flesh and bone or worlds of political and philosophical division. While one character is shown to be an outsider, it could be argued that all three of our leads remains outsiders for the majority of the runtime, and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing when viewers are reminded of the environments that they are keeping themselves away from.

The direction from Bertolucci is superb, allowing us to move around, and in between, the three leads as they spend their time playing, fighting, and generally intertwining themselves into one big mix of limbs and genitalia.

As for the performances, everyone is impressively fearless when it comes to delivering the material. I couldn’t pick any one over the other, and am happy to say that this remains a highlight in the film careers of all three main players (which is a particular compliment to both Green and Garrel, who have gone on to display their talents in numerous other projects, while Pitt seems to have been intent on scuppering his own progress throughout the past couple of decades). There are also a couple of scenes that allow Anna Chancellor and Robin Renucci to play the parents of our hedonistic twins, and those moments show a nice understanding between different generations, even with the obvious division still there.

With a selection of great songs on the soundtrack, as well as numerous film references and clips interspersed throughout, there is plenty of sugar coated around the bitterness at the heart of it, and I appreciate both Adair and Bertolucci avoiding the many very dark paths this could have taken. It is called The Dreamers, after all, so a sudden nightmare wouldn’t be out of place, but the real horrors are outside the bubble of irresponsibility that our leads reside in. Even if we know that they will have to fully wake up and leave that bubble one day.

8/10

Sunday 16 June 2024

Netflix And Chill: Hit Man (2024)

Directed by Richard Linklater, and co-written between himself and his star, Glen Powell, Hit Man is another film that originated with Skip Hollandsworth (who worked with Linklater on Bernie). It's also another film that allows Powell to shine brightly as his star continues to ascend.

Powell plays a fairly meek and unmemorable university professor named Gary Johnson, albeit one who still looks a fair bit like Glenn Powell. He also works undercover with a local police department, helping them with surveillance equipment that is used when they have an officer posing as a fake hitman to deal with the kind of people who are dangerous/desperate enough to pay for someone to be murdered. Circumstances change during one such sting operation, resulting in Gary taking on the role of the hitman. He shows quite an aptitude for playing that role, and playing a variety of roles, but things become complicated when he encounters Madison (Adria Arjona), a woman suffering at the hands of an abusive husband.

Maybe a bit unsatisfying, and tonally uneven throughout most of the runtime (it cannot decide what kind of humour it prefers, it keeps things too light for any real tension, and there's the big hurdle of Glen Powell being cast as someone who we're supposed to believe isn't exuding charisma from every pore), Hit Man is nonetheless a good time for those who are happy to go along for the ride. Plenty of liberties have been taken with the true story it is based on, but the central idea remains gripping because it is tethered strongly enough to our reality.

While this is absolutely a star vehicle for Powell (who makes the most of a role that allows him to adopt many different personas, from a timid starting point to the cool Roy, his most popular hitman identity, and plenty of other memorable "cameos", including an uncanny facsimile of Patrick Bateman), he's helped enormously by Arjona, who creates complications while also providing some extra heat as the chemistry between herself and Powell fizzes and crackles from their very first encounter. Retta and Sanjay Rao are amusing enough as two dependable police department colleagues, Austin Amelio is much less dependable, but also part of the police department, and there are enjoyable turns from a wide mix of supporting players. I won't try to recall them all now though, especially when viewers are constantly reminded that every main plot point revolves around our two leads.

It's a shame that neither Linklater nor Powell really have the confidence to lean into the comedy or darkness of the premise, especially when they seem so confident in their working relationship, but there's still a lot to enjoy here, and it's obvious that choices were made to keep this firmly in the realm of easygoing comedy drama. It works in that way. I just wish that everyone involved had taken one or two more risks with the material.

It may not be a direct hit, but it's very far from a miss.

7/10

Saturday 15 June 2024

Shudder Saturday: Dr. Caligari (1989)

If you're going to make a film connected in some way to one of the greats of horror cinema, and one of the landmarks of German expressionism, then you'd better be prepared to take some chances. It would be futile to simply try emulating the original classic. Which is why I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that Dr. Caligari was a strange and surreal horror comedy that also mixed in a large helping of erotic experimentation.

Madeleine Reynal plays Dr. Caligari, the granddaughter of the famous Dr. Caligari we saw onscreen many decades ago. She uses her patients to perform numerous experiments, allegedly attempting to cure people with some extreme methods that force them to act out of character in a way that will reshape their unbalanced minds. A few people try to put a stop to these dubious practices, but that outs them in danger of having their own minds changed by the doctor.

Directed by Stephen Sayadian, who also co-wrote the film with Jerry Stahl (the two having previously worked together on both Nightdreams and Café Flesh), I can at least say that this was an interesting viewing experience for me. While it wasn't something I fully enjoyed, I could appreciate the commitment to the core ideas, and it was good to watch a cult film that didn't felt as if it truly earned that label, as opposed to those that feel designed, and forced, that way.

The relatively low budget is turned into a plus on many occasions, with the "cardboard and sticky tape" production design coloured and lit up in a way that makes it feel like a natural environment for these bizarre characters, and Sayadian handles the material with a fantastic ability to maintain a sense of danger and threat in between moments of silliness and surrealism.

It helps that the cast are unafraid to lean in to the absurdity of everything, delivering their dialogue with perfect amounts of arched eyebrows and camp. Reynal is amusingly devious as our titular character, David Parry and Jennifer Balgobin are two individuals leading the campaign to fight back against her dangerous medical practices, and there are a number of amusing moments for Fox Harris, Laura Albert, Gene Zerna, and John Durbin, all caught up in the unfolding medical mayhem.

I never want to rewatch this, and I won't ever say I'm a fan, but I admire the atmosphere throughout. It's a lust-filled trip through a wonderland of super-charged libidos and mad science, where nobody seems to find a comfortable middle ground between being completely out of control and being completely repressed. You can sense the breath on your skin, you can feel the air warming up around you, and it does well to maintain control of a narrative strand that winds from one odd minor set-piece to the next. That's more than I expected when it started.

5/10

Friday 14 June 2024

Godzilla × Kong: The New Empire (2024)

While I may have been thinking about it a lot during the movie, I will not be reviewing Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire in direct comparison to every other Godzilla movie that we've seen in recent years. That wouldn't be fair, especially in the wake of the superb Godzilla: Minus One, and it's fair to say that, whether you like or dislike this movie, it feels like an attempt to stay true to the featured big beasties while taking the movie series into even wilder and more fantastical territory.

Kong is lonely. That's pretty much what the movie starts with. He also has a toothache. So he moves from the Hollow Earth back to the surface of our planet, where he can receive some dentistry from a brave specialist vet, Trapper (Dan Stevens). Meanwhile, Godzilla is on the move, and there are signs that things are changing down in Hollow Earth. Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall) heads there, accompanied by her adopted daughter, Jia (Kaylee Hottle), a returning Bernie Hayes (podcaster and social media ägitator", played by Brian Tyree Henry), Trapper, and Mikael (Alex Ferns). It doesn't take long to start figuring out what kind of new problem they have on their hands, but can they figure out a solution before Kong is badly affected by it. And will Godzilla be of any help to them?

With so many people returning to roles both behind and in front of the camera, this could have easily been an easy continuation of the storyline that proved to be so much fun in Godzilla Vs. Kong. Adam Wingard is back at the helm, having helped to develop the story for this with Terry Rossio and Simon Barrett, assisted by Jeremy Slater when moving from story to screenplay form. They do try to stick to the rules that were put in place in the last movie, but they also try to keep moving faster in between the set-pieces to avoid giving viewers enough time to pick apart the many plot holes.

The cast all seem to know that they're very much playing second fiddle to the headlining creatures, and that's fine. Both Hall and Henry try their best with some weak dialogue, Hottle remains as cute and vulnerable as she was in the previous film, and everyone watching can breathe a sigh of relief whenever Stevens is onscreen, because he actually knows how to lean into the silliness of everything and have fun with his role.

A blockbuster movie doesn't need to make great use of the human cast, and nor does it need a script that would win any literary awards. Sometimes just being fun and spectacular is enough, and any film with both Godzilla and King Kong in it should deliver on that front. Welllllllll . . . I don't think this does. There a few great visual moments here and there, especially when Godzilla in being shown travelling around the planet, but most of this film is an ugly mess, with an overuse of CGI that varies wildly in quality, a lack of decent reference points to keep track of locations and scale, and a disappointing lack of weight (sometimes literally). There are also scenes of mass destruction that focus on buildings and cityscapes being reduced to rubble without maintaining any interest in the human cost. But that’s all meant to be ignored because there are occasional moments that make good use of neon.

I wanted to have fun with this, but it never once hooked me in. There is a nice extra “cameo” later in the movie that I enjoyed, but the film needed to do more elsewhere. A better script, a better main villain, better visual effects, and generally something that makes it easier to ignore the inherent silliness of it all and just enjoy the monster mash moments.

4/10

Thursday 13 June 2024

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024)

Ghostbusters is forty years old now. Forty years old. It is, in my view, an enduring classic, and one of my favourite blockbuster comedies. And yet . . . the fact that it IS now forty years old makes it all the stranger to see how much of it is repeated and/or repurposed in this latest release, officially the fifth movie in a franchise that has maintained a presence in our pop culture thanks to the various movies, videogames, toys, cartoons, etc.

FIRE STATION!

There is probably a right way and a wrong way to write a proper review of Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, but I hope doing things in the wrong way will highlight how the film itself was so mishandled.

SLIMER!

Some time has passed since the events of the last movie. Our main characters (played by Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, Paul Rudd, and Carrie Coon) are now based in New York, much to the chagrin of the current mayor (played by William Atherton, reprising the character of Walter Peck, of course). But the containment system is perilously close to being overloaded, a big new threat is looming, and the character played by Grace ends up spending a lot of her time with a friendly ghost (Melody, played by Emily Alyn Lind).

LIBRARY GHOST!

Co-written once again by Gil Kenan and Jason Reitman, with the former also being allowed to direct this time around, it’s easy to see why certain choices were made here, and just as easy to see how this film could have been greatly improved. It’s too busy creating moments that will remind you of the first movie that it forgets to make good use of most of the main characters, and the decent finale is a case of too little too late when viewers have slogged through the mess preceding it.

DAN AYKROYD!

There’s some good stuff here, much better than the return of a familiar villain we got in the last movie. The opening sequence is great, everything looks set to be spectacular and thrilling, and then it is all largely abandoned in favour of callbacks and cameos, which is all the more frustrating when you get a treat like the new character, Lars, played by James Acaster with a hairstyle not entirely dissimilar to the one sported by Egon Spengler in The Real Ghostbusters. I also have to say that Lind is fantastic as the forlorn and regret-filled Melody.

STAY-PUFT MARSHMALLOW MAN!

It is hard to give my opinion on a cast who are so often wasted in their roles. Grace remains a very watchable talent, but her sub-plot here ensures that her character is unwisely kept moody and lonely until the third act. Acaster is a fantastic addition, it’s nice to see some more of Ernie Hudson, Patton Oswalt comes along to be Mr. Exposition, and Kumail Nanjiani isn’t given a chance to be as funny as we all know he can be. As for the other familiar faces, they are all pretty unnecessary.

BILL MURRAY!

This is a series that seems intent on restricting itself to tales that are now just frames to hang a load of nostalgia on. It’s not a good approach, and this review emulated the structure of the film. You have everything punctuated by a cameo that is supposed to bring some extra happiness to the viewers, but it doesn’t work when there is no other reason for those cameos to happen. It’s the equivalent of some SNL sketch being hate-crashed by a celebrity who just comments on their own celebrity and their bemusement at being on SNL. That could be amusing, but you would soon tire of it if it was every SNL sketch. And you will soon tire of it here.

BILL MURRAY AGAIN!

Each time I think this movie series cannot get any worse I end up being proven wrong. It has become a depressing cycle of ever-diminishing returns now, and I am always sucked in by the trailer and the optimistic idea that “maybe this time they will get it right”. This is the worst yet, and actually feels embarrassingly desperate at times.

I will still watch another one, but you may as well search for my spark of hope in the ecto-containment unit, because that is well and truly dead after watching this.

3/10

Wednesday 12 June 2024

Prime Time: The Voyeurs (2021)

We seem to be moving more and more towards disappointingly tame and sexless entertainment nowadays. Let's face it, there's no room for a new Shannon Tweed to come on the scene and make her mark, and the heyday of the raunchy erotic thrillers continues to get smaller and smaller in our rear-view mirrors. Some people still try to spice things up though, and congratulations are due to writer-director Michael Mohan for giving us some entertaining sexy shenanigans presented with a pleasing lack of haughtiness.

Sydney Sweeney and Justice Smith are Pippa and Thomas, respectively. They are young and in love, and making their new life together in their new home. There’s a surprising special feature of their new home though, which is a front row seat to the lusty couple who live over the street from them. One is a photographer (Seb, played by Ben Hardy). His partner (Julia, played by Natasha Liu Bordizzo) seems very supportive, but is perhaps unaware of how many people he is having sex with behind her back. Pippa and Thomas become more and more engrossed in the unfolding drama, even figuring out a way to eavesdrop of various conversations, and it soon becomes clear that the situation is quite unhealthy. But will it ruin the relationship between them?

I am not going to spend time trying to convince people that this is great. There are some already determined to avoid it simply because of it being an erotic thriller. Thankfully, it’s a very good erotic thriller, and a decent way to spend just under two hours of your time (which is still a bit too long, but the pacing helps it feel like a shorter movie). It doesn’t rank alongside the greats of the sub-genre, and there’s still a reticence to really wallow in the flesh in a way akin to movies from decades ago, but it does a decent job of delivering decent characters, some fun twists, a handful of scenes featuring some nudity, and just enough details to make the ridiculousness of the third act feel grounded in some kind of reality. Mohan knows what he is doing, and he is helped by the central cast.

Both Hardy and Bordizzo are cool and beautiful people, and they both emanate an aura that you can understand would make them intriguing to spy on. Smith and Sweeney, on the other hand, do a good job of being quite a normal couple who find themselves exploring brand new territory together. Sweeney also ends up baring a bit more than her onscreen partner, which she does while keeping her character appropriately wavering between being nervous and being thrilled. There are one or two other cast members, but the focus remains on the central quartet, and everyone treats the material with an enjoyable earnestness that works in its favour.

I have heard other people praise this, which means I am certainly not in a group all on my own again, and the recent ascension of Sydney Sweeney will no doubt have more people finding out about it, but I am happy that I can, for what it’s worth, add my own endorsement. The fact that I could see where things were going once the final scenes began to play out just added to the fun of the batty conclusion, and I hope others enjoy it as much as I did.

7/10

Tuesday 11 June 2024

Bad Boys: Ride Or Die (2024)

Most people who know me, and know my approach to viewing movies, may already know me as Kevin 7, a nickname given to me because of how often I tend to rate movies 7/10. I don't see anything wrong with that, as I have said on many occasions. I always want to enjoy every movie I watch, and few of them are truly great, so a 7/10 is a decent rating that many movies achieve if they throw in enough ingredients that I enjoy. The Bad Boys movies, now up to four in total, work hard to remain the most consistently Kevin 7 action comedy movie series I can think of, thanks mainly to the cool visuals and, most importantly, the interplay between stars Will Smith and Martin Lawrence.

While I always try my best to avoid spoilers, this review will feature details of the previous movie in this series. It picks up some time after those events, but there is a consistency and use of important details to move things along (e.g. Captain Howard has not been miraculously resurrected, and Mike Lowery still has an incarcerated son who might one day be able to help with some major investigation).

Things all start with smooth bachelor boy Mike Lowery (Smith) finally tying the knot to a woman named Christine (Melanie Liburd). All is well and good until Marcus Burnett (Lawrence) has a heart attack. Things have to change, and stress should be avoided. Which makes it bad timing when news is leaked about the deceased Captain Howard having been a dirty cop for years. Unwilling to believe that nonsense, Lowery and Burnett end up conducting their own investigation, with a little help from beyond the grave, and they soon find themselves being framed by some powerful villains, ending up on the run with Mike’s son, Armando (Jacob Scipio).

One or two changes aside (like Tasha Smith now taking over the role played by Theresa Randle in the first three movies), this is exactly what you expect from a Bad Boys movie. The plot zips from one enjoyable action set-piece to the next, the warmth and humour between the two leads has stayed the same since the first movie, and it’s all about the mix of humour and extremely loud gunfights. And there’s something about it not changing too much that adds to the appeal. The formula was perfectly set in the mid-1990s and seeing it play out in the same way is strangely refreshing. Maybe it’s the nostalgia factor, but maybe it’s just good to see something that isn’t trying to round off every sharp edge in an attempt to appeal to every single viewer demographic. This is aiming to please one demographic, fans of the Bad Boys movies.

Directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah are as arguably more confident behind the camera this time around, livening up numerous scenes with brilliantly inventive camerawork and set-ups. The script, written by Chris Bremner (returning from the last film) and Will Beall, is largely nonsense, especially when it comes to some new characters who have journeys that you can predict from their very first scenes, but it’s highly entertaining nonsense. Could more have been done with the idea that Marcus thinks himself invincible after leaving hospital? Yes. Could some non-twists have been played better? Yes. But the stars shine, and there’s one sequence focusing on a relatively minor character that feels like one of the best overdue, and unexpected, payoffs in any film series that has endured for almost thirty years already.

Smith and Lawrence could play these roles in their sleep, so it’s great to see them stay so lively and fun, both having a noticeable twinkle in their eyes as they continue their cinematic bromance through more pain, flames, and bullets. Scipio gets to do more this time around, and turns into someone who feels worthy of the arc given to him here. Eric Dane is an impressive main villain, helped by a script that makes him ridiculously well-informed and powerful until the grand finale, and there are numerous henchmen who look very capable of handling themselves in a fight until they are overpowered by our heroes. It’s good to have some screentime again for Paula Núñez, Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig, and Dennis McDonald (AKA Reggie), and there are fun moments for Tiffany Haddish, DJ Khaled and John Salley (both returning), and Enoch King (as a scene-stealing shop clerk). Other people are sadly wasted, including Liburd, Smith, Ioan Gruffudd, and, worst of all, the great Rhea Seehorn.

I have seen many headlines weighing up what the success or failure of this film would mean for the career of Smith. I never thought about that once while the film was playing. I thought about how much fun it was to be back in the saddle alongside Marcus and Mike, and how great it was to watch something so intent on delivering great stunts and pyrotechnics without having to layer in any meta commentary or feel as if it was apologizing for existing. None of these films are absolute classics, but they are all very rewatchable, and a very easygoing Kevin 7.

7/10

Monday 10 June 2024

Mubi Monday: You And The Night (2013)

It's always hard to schedule a theme month here on my daily blog. I sometimes do a month of animated fare, and I often try to do all horror throughout October (AKA Halloween month to us horror fans), a whole heap of noir in November (AKA Noirvember), and plenty of sweet and snow-covered goodness throughout December. So I did contemplate whether or not to focus on plenty of LGBTQ+ cinema throughout June for Pride, but I decided against it. Mainly because I watch and review so many films throughout the year that could come under that rainbow-coloured umbrella that I knew I would still find a decent selection to discuss throughout the month. You could say the same about horror movies, of course, but horror has been my life-long obsession, which makes October my time for complete self-indulgence.

Speaking of self-indulgence, writer-director Yann Gonzalez, with help from Rebecca Zlotowski consulting, has crafted a film here that allows the main characters to be as self-indulgent as they like, yet still allows them to navigate the rapid waters of consent, kink, and momentary connections that light up brightly before jumping to someone else, like a fast and ever-moving synapse.

The main premise is very simple. A trio awaits the arrival of the guests due to join them in a happy orgy. That's it. The guests feel as if they have been deliberately chosen to mark off a checklist of sexual preference archetpyes. You have the stallion (Eric Cantona), the youth (Alain-Fabien Delon), the older nymphomaniac (Fabienne Babe), and the young (Julie Brémond). They will all reveal more about themselves as they join in with the evening planned by Ali (Kate Moran), Matthias (Niels Schneider), and their cross-dressing companion, Udo (Nicolas Maury), three hosts who have a hell of a tale to tell about their own journey to this point.

There are a couple of other films that this feels closely related to, but to mention them would spoil some of the enjoyable plot details that are revealed as the full truth unfolds. Let’s just say that this manages to feel both intimate and grandiose, punctuating the moments of frank sexuality with moments describing an enduring love.

The cast all do very well in their roles, although they are all working within the boundaries of their various archetypal roles. Nobody stands out, this is one undulating mass of flesh and erogenous zones, but they all help the film enormously by delivering, and reacting to, dialogue that could have been laughably bad if it was sorely mishandled.

Gonzalez has improved a bit since this impressive feature debut, becoming more daring and confidently transgressive while also delivering some gorgeous visuals, but you can already see his considerable talent here. He makes use of a great ensemble cast to serve up some fantastical fiction that continually dances around moments of unflinching honesty. It’s equally intriguing and endearing.

7/10