For It Is Man's Number: September 2024

Monday, 30 September 2024

Mubi Monday: The Assistant (2019)

A film very much stemming from, and in dialogue with, the #metoo movement of recent years, The Assistant is also a straightforward look at workplace toxicity and the attitudes that can lock individuals into miserable jobs for far too long.

Julia Garner is the assistant of the title, busy with telephone calls and appointments that all have to be figured out around the whims and moods of her boss. There are other people here, including a character played by Matthew Macfadyen, but it's Garner's character, Jane, who holds, and deserves, our attention as we're shown one typically terrible day in her job.

Written and directed by Kitty Green, who has a small, but very interesting, filmography I think is worth exploring, The Assistant feels oppressive and uncomfortably believable throughout the entire 87-minute runtime. Viewers get to see numerous assholes being placated and protected, all because of their high executive position, and because they are part of an entertainment industry that continues to have these self-contained cesspools where scumbags can have fun and thrive, as long as they keep making the right amounts of money for everyone else.

Garner is never excellent, never less than riveting in the way she uses her body language to show her constant struggle and the growing weight on her shoulders. Others who move around her also do well, and always do enough to add context and flavour to the ebb and flow of the workplace, but it's only Macfadyen who gets a chance to meet Garner at her level. His scene underlines the difficulties facing our lead, and he delivers some horrible dialogue with a calm tone and generally pleasant manner that makes it feel all the more sickening.

Some people who have experienced anything like this may be able to watch The Assistant and feel relief that they have moved on, but others may actually find the behaviour shown here quite triggering. Be warned. There may also be some people who are working, or have worked, in a place that they think is decent enough until they start to recognise some of the red flags shown here. Again . . . be warned.

Very effective stuff, and Green knows just how to pace the film and make great use of what can be inferred by viewers, this is a surprisingly gripping drama that some could easily argue stands on the very edge of horror movie territory. It's helped by that impeccable turn from Garner (who I am quickly becoming quite a fan of, having seen her in two features this week that have both benefited from giving her the lead role), as well as the fact that it reminds us all that change is still rippling through a number of industries thanks to those who started the ball rolling a few years ago.

8/10

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Sunday, 29 September 2024

Netflix And Chill: To Leslie (2022)

Like most people, I first heard about To Leslie when there was some minor scandal about how it started to get more notice in the run up to the 2023 Academy Awards. It was a strange affair, mainly because I assumed that all movies without a huge marketing campaign behind them would end up being noticed and discussed in the same way during awards season, but, despite no Oscar going to Andrea Riseborough for her performance here, I am thankful that I was at least made aware of the film.

I would also be aware of it nowadays from the times that Marc Maron has discussed it on his podcast. Arguably still known best for his stand-up comedy, despite putting in some great acting performances, whatever size the role, over the past decade or so, Maron has been podcasting for about 15 years now, and throughout that time he has been incredibly honest and insightful about addiction issues, which adds a sweet layer to the role he plays here.

Let's get to the actual film though. Riseborough is Leslie, a single mother who finds her life changed completely when she wins a large sum of cash in the lottery. That doesn't last as long as she thinks it will though, and some years later we see that Riseborough is destitute, can't really maintain a relatonship with her now-grown son (James, played by Owen Teague), and seems unable to drag herself out of the bottom of whatever glass or bottle full of alcohol she can get her hands on. She is given a chance to turn things around when offered a cleaning job by Sweeney (Maron), but an addict can only ever be helped if they want to change.

I can see why people were discussing the performance from Riseborough here. It's pretty great, and more than enough to make up for the fact that the screenplay (only the second one from Ryan Binaco to make it to the screen) makes a number of surprisingly safe choices throughout. There's an ugliness throughout this, and a feeling of desperation and self-esteem that has been eroded into near-non-existence, but it holds back from some of the really dark depths that many addicts find themselves in, whether that indelibly stains their character or irrevocably damages their body. Director Michael Morris has some great TV work under his belt already, but his move to film is impressive. He stays focused on the characters, knowing when to push in further and when to move back a step, and uses his cast to really lift Binaco's solid writing.

Aside from Riseborough, who somehow also keeps you on her side even as she is at her lowest and most sickeningly selfish, Maron is allowed to be wonderfully sweet and funny as the one person, maybe the only person, that she needs to be given help from. Teague makes a strong impression with his limited screentime, as do the reliable Allison Janney, Andre Royo, Stephen Root, and James Landry Hébert, who all match the intensity and authenticity of Riseborough in a variety of ways.

Not an easy watch, especially for those (like myself) who may have direct, or even indirect, experience of dealing with addiction issues. It feels very well-handled throughout though, showing that there's not necessarily a point of no return for anyone who eventually realises the damage being caused by that very strong and heavy monkey they can struggle to shake off their back.

8/10

Saturday, 28 September 2024

Shudder Saturday: The Price We Pay (2023)

It's a pretty standard horror movie trope to put some bad people in a place where they end up being the lesser of two evils. The worse the people, the worse situation they can find themselves in. The Price We Pay, written by Christopher Jolley, developing a story co-created by himself and director Ryûhei Kitamura, makes use of this trope. It has a decent cast to work with, but there's nothing much else brought to the table.

Alex (Emile Hirsch), Cody (Stephen Dorff), and Shane (Tanner Zagarino) burst into a pawn shop to commit a violent robbery. At least one person is killed, and the men flee with a hostage (Grace, played by Gigi Zumbado). Making use of Grace's car, which doesn't look as if it can drive on for many more miles, they end up reaching a farm in the middle of nowhere, somewhere they figure that they can hide out for a while. And that's when things start to go off the rails.

While I have enjoyed the work of both Hirsch and Dorff in many other movies, they're unable to do anythng here that distracts from a weak and tired screenplay. Zumbado is also just as hampered, but has the benefit of not having to go through the standard crime movie grimacing and circular arguments. Zagarino makes much less of an impression, due to his role being "the wounded one" for most of his screentime, but at least viewers get a supporting role for Vernon Wells, which should be enough to make up for some of the failings elsewhere. Tyler Sanders isn't too bad as an apparently timid young farmhand named Danny, and Erika Ervin gets to have fun underneath some face-altering make up.

It's easy to see where this went wrong though, even if you like the cast as much as I do (and I appreciate that many others won't). Jolley is one of those people who has become quite prolific over the past decade, aiming for quantity over quality as he moved from gangster and hooligan movies towards more and more horror project. I can easily imagine him pitching this idea to Kitamura, probably not believing his luck when the director decided to take on the project. While he can deliver great horror fare (the last feature that I enjoyed from him was Downrange, back in 2017), he seems unable here to find a way to twist and freshen the material, leaving him at the helm of a disappointingly dull affair.

It's coherent enough, and it all seems fairly logical (for the premise), but there's nothing to really enjoy here. None of the nastiness is impressive, nor is it presented in a way that could make the gleeful sadism of some of the main characters more fun, relatively speaking, and the technical side of things is what you might call perfunctory. Thankfully, if you watch this on a streaming service, as I did, then the price to be paid for watching The Price We Pay is only the 86-minute runtime, instead of any monetary amount. That may still feel too pricey for some.

3/10

Friday, 27 September 2024

Inside Out 2 (2024)

Just to be clear at the start here, I was one of many people who figured that we really didn't need a sequel to the wonderful Inside Out. The first film was another instant classic from Pixar, although it was released in between a few movies that people might argue rank as some of the weakest from them, and the story felt complete. There's a great hook here though, and a natural progression that allows the film to feel as insightful and brilliant as the first film.

Here's the simple, and simply brilliant, premise. Riley Andersen, the lead of Inside Out, is now starting her journey through her teenage years. Her emotions now also take care of her sense of self, an important area that uses her memories and experiences to help her turn into the kind of person that she wants to be. Joy (Amy Poehler) wants to keep everything positive, and get rid of all the negativity, but she ends up with a much tougher job when the core emotions are joined by some new emotions - anxiety (Maya Hawke), embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser), ennui (Adèle Exarchopoulos), and envy (Ayo Edebiri). This extra turmoil happens inside Riley as she is heading with her friends, Bree and Grace, to a weekend ice hockey camp that she hopes will lead to her joining the team.

This isn't as good as the first movie, but the criticisms I could list here seem to work for it. The animation and plotting feel a bit messy at times, which is perfectly in line with how everything feels as a teenager. Writers Meg LeFauve and Dave Holstein (developing a story idea by LeFauve and director Kelsey Mann) do a good job of further developing an internal world that perfectly correlates to the external attitude and behaviour of the main character. Mann came up through the ranks of Pixar in the standard way, and he shows that he's been taking plenty of notes while making his way up the ladder. This is so good that I am tempted to forgive both him and LeFauve for their work on The Good Dinosaur.

As expected, the voice cast all work brilliantly in their roles. Poehler remains perfect, as do Phyllis Smith (Sadness), Lewis Black (Anger), and Tony Hale (Fear). Hawke, Hauser, Edebiri, and Exarchopoulos are great additions, as is Liza Lapira (getting a couple of fun moments as Disgust), and it's also worth praising Kensington Tallman (Riley), Grace Lu (Grace), Sumayyah Nuriddin-Green (Bree), Diane Lane (Mom), Kyle MacLachlan (Dad), Lilimar, Yvette Nicole Brown, Ron Funches, James Austin Johnson, and everyone else involved in bringing this bright and surreal story to life.

If you enjoyed the first movie as much as I (and many others) did then you can be happy that people found a way to craft a sequel that feels natural and absolutely in line with the first film. It's not quite as sharp, not quite as tidy, and not quite as emotional, but teenagers rarely are. There's no need for a third instalment, but I'm very happy that we have two Inside Out movies of near-equal quality.

8/10

Thursday, 26 September 2024

Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972)

My second disappointing kaiju movie in as many weeks, Godzilla vs. Gigan seems to pretty much ignore the previous instalment in the series to get back to the Monster Island plotting that allowed Godzilla and friends to remain gathered together in the one place to be handily called upon when needed.

This time around, aliens are wanting to secretly colonize Earth. They take human form, hiding their actual insectoid appearance, and end up making use of Gigan and King Ghidorah in their plans to destroy the human race, which leads to a predictable third act that puts Godzilla in the heart of the action.

Whether it was due to this feeling like a step backward after the previous movie, or due to the action scenes being slightly mishandled, Godzilla vs. Gigan is one of the lesser movies in this enduring series. The tone never feels properly set, with the shape-shifting alien plot strand ripe for some darkness and thrills offset by the comparatively juvenile Monster Island moments, there's somehow no real stakes in the big battles, and none of the main characters feel well-rounded enough to really care about. There's just nothing here for viewers to "hold on to", which is a failing from director Jun Fukuda and writers Takeshi Kimura and Shin'ichi Sekizawa (who were both tasked with coming up with story ideas that were then blended together).

The main cast members are Hiroshi Ishikawa, Yuriko Hishimi, Minoru Takashima, and Tomoko Umeda, but we all know that the main cast members are actually Godzilla, King Ghidorah, Gigan, and, this time around, Anguirus. Everyone, and every kaiju, does what they need to do, and there are individual moments that hint at how enjoyable this could have been, but they're generally unable to elevate the material.

It would seem that every subsequent instalment in this series leads to me writing ever-shrinking reviews, but there's nothing new to say. I don't want to spend too much time being critical of a template that others may still appreciate and retain a fondness for, especially when my own reaction may be based as much on my own mood when viewing the films as it is based on the films themselves, but there's certainly a notable difference in quality between something like this and one of the more fun instalments, whether aimed at general audiences or skewed towards a younger viewer demographic.

Will anyone come along to tell me how wrong I am about this one, or is it generally maligned by all? I'll just have to wait and see, but I'll be interested to find out if anyone can convince me to revisit and re-evaluate this one day. Because I can't see myself even remembering it within a month or two.

3/10

Wednesday, 25 September 2024

Prime Time: Arthur The King (2024)

Based on the true story of an adventure racer who ended up with an extra member in his team, a dog he named Arthur, this is exactly the kind of film you expect it to be, although it has the added bonus of Mark Wahlberg in the lead role constantly making you think about the wonderful "Wahlberg talks to animals" sketch from SNL.

Wahlberg is Michael Light, a man who has gone his entire adventure racing career without ever getting a gold medal. In fact, his last attempt was quite the disaster, based on the fact that he pushed his team too hard without listening to the advice of others. Some years have passed since then though, and Michael wants one last shot at glory. He wants to put together a team, he needs sponsors, and he wants a win. He gets a tentative sponsor, but they insist that his team includes his old team member, Leo (Simu Liu), someone who has made the most of social media and viral marketing. His other choices end up being Chik (Ali Suliman), a man who was dropped from his last team due to a knee injury, and Olivia (Nathalie Emmanuel), a climber not necessarily wanting to make that her main discipline, but urged that way by her successful father. The race is tough, the team need to work together to overcome the usual obstacles (in the environment and in their own different approaches), but things start to improve when a stray dog starts to accompany them on their gruelling journey.

Based on the book by Mikael Lindnord, this has a screenplay by Michael Brandt (who has had huge success with a number of TV projects in recent years) and is directed by Simon Cellan Jones (who has a background in TV before a more recent move into movies, and specifically Wahlberg movies). Both do competent work, and they certainly convey the impressive distance and scale of the challenge facing the racing teams in the movie. There's one vertiginous set-piece, but it's otherwise pretty grounded and standard stuff, with those involved quite rightly banking on viewers being won over by the bond developed with the dog at the centre of the story.

Wahlberg does his usual Wahlberg stuff, although there are a couple of pleasantly surprising moments here that have his character admitting to being wearied and sometimes not the person who knows best in every situation, and Liu does a good job of keeping up alongside him and explaining how they can still do well enough for themselves even if a win evades them. Emmanuel is convincing in her part, as is Suliman, and they certainly do a great job as separate elements who can work together as an efficient and determined team. I was surprised by how much of the focus stayed on the team, thinking that Arthur would join them and have his impact noticed sooner, but, never fear, the dog (played by a canine named Ukai) is certainly made to feel like the key cast member he is when he gets more directly involved in the storyline.

Very predictable, but that's not a big deal when you're watching a true story in movie form, and surprisingly downbeat in one or two scenes, Arthur The King does enough to make it a decent enough choice for those wanting something simple and ultimately satisfying. I could rattle off a number of other "talented animal bonds with humans" movies that I prefer, but this was far from a terrible way to spend part of my evening.

6/10

Tuesday, 24 September 2024

Borderlands (2024)

A sci-fi action movie based on a videogame I haven't played from a director who usually does his best work in the horror genre, and starring Kevin Hart in a role that would seem to be ideal for almost anyone other than Kevin Hart? I couldn't work up any enthusiasm to see Borderlands when it landed in cinemas, after a very long delay, and the disappointing box office performance and many negative reviews made me believe that I had been right to keep it low on my list of priorities. I knew I would get to it eventually though. And today was the fateful day. Maybe I should have delayed it by another few weeks or years though.

Cate Blanchett plays Lilith, a bounty hunter who ends up joining a group of people who all end up on a quest to locate and open a secret vault on the planet of Pandora. There's Roland (Hart, trying to be the leader of the gang), Krieg (the strong and silent type, played by Florian Munteanu), a small robot named Claptrap (voice by Jack Black), and the destruction-loving Tiny Tina (Ariana Greenblatt). They will eventually be joined, at least temporarily, by Tannis (Jamie Lee Curtis), and someone named Atlas (Edgar Ramírez) who may be hiding his true motivation for wanting to stay close to the crew.

There may be lots of little details here for fans of the videogames, (I don't know) and there may be some production design and character arcs that have been directly translated, (again . . . I don't know), but what there IS here is some horrible plotting, a complete lack of any excitement, and a couple of action set-pieces that do nothing to justify the time spent enduring the rest of the film. Because it is an endurance test. Few of the cast feel well-suited to their roles, and the film itself is exactly in line with a trailer that gave many people the idea of making a meme joke in the format that ends with the line "we have Guardians Of The Galaxy at home" and then shows the poster for this as the aforementioned lesser substitute option.

None of the characters here have anything really going on below the surface, but Blanchett manages to make her own involvement rewarding to those who can enjoy her simply swaggering around onscreen with a fantasticaly-sculpted bright red hairdo atop her head. Hart is never convincing, Greenblatt has a higher energy level that keeps her out of sync with the rest of the group, and makes her slightly annoying for most of her screentime, and Jack Black's vocal performance is the equivalent of being stuck beside the most annoying "office joker" for the entirety of the big annual night out. Munteanu is decent, helped by the fact that he doesn't really have much to say, Curtis has some fun in her thankless role, and there's a fun cameo from Gina Gershon. As for Ramírez, he's one of the weakest movie villains in recent years. Not allowed to make a strong enough impression, his character fails to cast the required shadow over the movie, leaving the actor struggling to be remembered as soon as the end credits roll.

Movies based on videogames nowadays should no longer be dismissed as quickly as they used to be, but this seems determined to take up a place alongside the worst of the game-to-screen adaptations we have seen over the years. I cannot say if there is still enough here to please fans of the game series, but I can definitely say that there's nothing here to please fans of Eli Roth. In fact, there's no real indicator of his involvement, unless you count the fact that he apparently cannot direct decent action set-pieces to save his life (seriously . . . how do you mess up the chance to choreograph a big fight sequence to the Motorhead song "Ace Of Spades"?). Having also written the screenplay with Joe Abercrombie, it's obvious who is most to blame here, but it's also obvious that he might be able to shake himself off and move on quickly enough, having his own credit overshadowed by the brand name that he was given the responsibility of turning into a hit movie.

I would advise those who love the game of Borderlands to keep playing it, rather than giving this movie their time. On the plus side, maybe some confusion will lead people to a very different movie named Borderlands (renamed as Final Prayer in some territories). I give this some bonus points for how much I enjoyed Blanchett here, but others wouldn't be half as kind.

4/10

Monday, 23 September 2024

Mubi Monday: Variety (1983)

I'm not quite sure how much I enjoyed Variety, but I guess there's a clue in how much I hope to now check out other movies from director Bette Gordon (who also came up with the story idea, which was then shaped into full film form by Kathy Acker, Jerry Delamater, and Peter Koper, with Nancy Reilly also contributing). There's something about her style, although it's maybe just the time period and setting, that calls to mind the excellent work of Lizzie Borden, who delivered some of her best work in the early 1980s.

This is the story of Christine (Sandy McLeod), a young woman who ends up taking a job in the ticket kiosk of a porn theatre. She is looked after by her manager, Jose (Luis Guzman), and initially does a fine job, but it's not long until she starts to become more and more curious about the content being shown on the screen, and she starts to become equally curious about a customer (Louie, played by Richard M. Davidson) she believes may be connected to some major criminal organisation.

Deftly mixing explorations of personal economics with a little bit of paranoia and a lot of sexual exploration, Variety is one of those movies that also works as a great time capsule. There's not really that much going on, the stakes never feel very high, but it becomes something intriguing and thrilling because of the journey that Christine goes on. Gordon doesn't necessarily decide to take things in any one specific direction (this could be darker, it could be sexier, it could be turned into an outright comedy, etc.), but the strangely loose and seemingly wandering nature of the whole thing makes it feel more grounded in reality.

McLeod isn't bad in the lead role, although it's not a surprise to see that she didn't go on to do much in front of the camera after this, and the same can be said of Davidson, who has the easier job of simply being a bit suave and mysterious for a few scenes. There's more fun to be had in seeing Guzman in an early role, as well as spotting the likes of Will Patton and Mark Boone Junior enjoying some screentime.

Although it's about a very specific kind of cinema, Variety is still about cinema. It's about what is on the big screen affecting the thoughts and narratives we create in our own minds, and it's about the loyal fans who choose to spend their time in a dark room connecting with fictional characters, even if they cannot always easily connect with anyone around them. Yes, it's also about sex, and there's a mystery element at the heart of things, but . . . a lot of cinema is about sex, even when it doesn't appear to be about sex.

8/10

Sunday, 22 September 2024

Netflix And Chill: The Day After Tomorrow (2004)

While it is a silly and entertaining blockbuster, The Day After Tomorrow also does a good job of showing idiots why global warming is still a major problem, even if it feels like our weather is generally getting colder and wetter. Climate change deniers like to point to bad weather as an argument against global warming. It is, in fact, actually a strong indicator of the way things are headed.

Things get very bad for us humans as the weather gets a lot worse and temperatures plummet. This is an exaggerated scenario, of course, but it’s all done to show humans trying to overcome overwhelming odds to survive a snap ice age. Dennis Quaid is the scientists who has been warning about this kind of thing happening for a long time, and Jake Gyllenhaal is his son, stuck in New York City with a mixed group of people all trying to stay warm and stay alive. There is some very bad weather, there is a need for penicillin, and there are some escaped zoo animals adding to their problems.

Few people, if any, have enjoyed destroying our world as much as Roland Emmerich. He used to be content with aliens and monsters, but has now used the environment numerous times to create tales of humans struggling to survive in increasingly inhospitable conditions. Having co-written this screenplay with Jeffrey Nachmanoff, Emmerich delivers a fantastic mix of spectacle and human interest. It's cheesy, it's ridiculous, it's increasingly unbelievable as we head to the big ending, but it's damn entertaining.

The special effects, mostly created using CGI, hold up surprisingly well, even the wandering and vicious wolves that I used to point to as the weakest part of the film. If there's one thing that Emmerich is good at then it's creating at least one unforgettable movie moment/image, and this film has more than one. Whether it's a tidal wave looking to flood a major city, a major bit of tornado damage, or the Statue Of Liberty covered in snow and ice, The Day After Tomorrow fills out the 124-minute runtime with one great movie moment after another.

Quaid and Gyllenhaal are both very good as they take turns carrying the film on their shoulders. Both actors have an innate appeal, and both give performances that never seem to be winking or implying that they are "slumming it". There's also some decent support from Emmy Rossum (who ends up in need of that penicillin), Austin Nichols, Dash Mihok, and Jay O. Sanders, even if you suspect that not everyone is going to make it to the end credits. Elsewhere, familiar faces like Sela Ward, Adrian Lester Sasha Roiz, Kenneth Welsh, and Ian Holm (a real highlight here) do their bit to sell the unfolding apocalyptic scenario.

You will see many people dismissing this as a spectacle movie that hasn't aged too well, but I would strongly disagree. I think it is, quite frankly, a brilliant blockbuster that takes the standard Emmerich template (small set-pieces interspersed with character moments on the way to more and more spectacular destruction) and applies it to numerous weather anomalies that are as well-utilised as they are well-realised. Maybe not as good as the director's high point, Independence Day, but it's only a step or two behind it, in my opinion.

9/10

Saturday, 21 September 2024

Shudder Saturday: The Demon Disorder (2024)

Graham Reilly (Christian Willis) seems to want to just keep himself to himself. He lives in his garage workshop, doesn't seem to have any real friends or acquaintances (with the exception of young Cole Nichols, played by Tobie Webster), and certainly isn't close to any family members. Unfortunately, some closeness is forced upon him when his brother Jake (Dirk Hunter) enters his life to ask him for help with their younger brother, Phillip (Charles Cottier). Phillip hasn't been well, and he's being affected by the same condition that affected their father (George, played by John Noble).

This directorial debut from Steven Boyle, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Toby Osborne, is the kind of thing you would expect from someone with his background in special effects and makeup. It tries to contain the action within one or two main locations, it has one or two good ideas that aren't quite executed as well as they could be, and there are some great special effects that help to boost the second half of the film.

Considering the title of the film, I don't think it's a spoiler to say that the core of the film revolves around the idea of possession being as much of a physical disease as it is a turbulent battle for any individual soul. The horror here mainly comes from contemplating it as a generational trauma that could be passed along, but there's still room for normal horror movie content that you'd expect in a film named The Demon Disorder.

Willis is a decent lead, presenting his character as someone with very good reason to be the way he is, and both Hunter and Cottier feel convincing as his siblings. Webster is likeable and plucky enough, and that's the core cast all accounted for (another indicator of this being a debut that Boyle quite rightly keeps small and relatively easy to control). Noble is used well in his few scenes, helping his character to loom large over every moment of the movie, and there are a couple of other people who appear long enough to be put in danger as things go from bad to worse for the frightened brothers.

There's definite promise here, but I cannot say that I was invested and interested in many scenes. I would have liked to see some more of the backstory, glimpsed in flashback scenes that show a young Graham (played by Liam Wallace) being frightened by the behaviour of his father, and less obvious horror genre moments. Things become more sadly predictable as we start hurtling towards the end of the film, which is as understandable as it is frustrating.

Still, there's just enough hidden away in this to keep me interested in Boyle's directorial career. Whether it not I stay interested in it after whatever his next film is depends entirely on, well, whatever his next film is.

5/10

Friday, 20 September 2024

Subservience (2024)

AKA M3GAN FOX. AKA FAITAL ATTRACTION. Those would have been my suggestions anyway.

You know how it is. When your wife ends up spending some time in hospital, with no guarantees of necessarily surviving the whole ordeal, then it can become difficult to balance your work and home life, especially when you have two small children. So you may end up investing in an advanced household "server bot" in the guise of Megan Fox.

That's the plot of Subservience, basically, but with the added wrinkle of M3GAN FOX then becoming dangerously obsessed with her new owner, Nick (Michele Morrone). That gives Nick some problems, of course, but also upsets his wife, Maggie (Madeline Zima), and puts his children (Isla and Max) in potential danger.

Director S. K. Dale made his feature debut with Till Death, also starring Megan Fox, in a film that generally received some good reviews for both concept and star. That was more fun than this, thanks mainly to the efficiency of a great premise worked into a fun and tense script. The writers of this film, Will Honley and April Maguire, know what they're aiming for, although they sadly never push things too far into the world of the wonderfullly bonkers, but are hampered by a couple of big problems.

The first big problem stems from their own writing. There's a sub-plot here that comments on the lives being changed, and potentially ruined, by the progress of technology. Nick has a friend/ex-colleague, Monty (Andrew Whipp), who finds himself, along with many others, no longer needed at his place of employment. It's not necessarily bad to explore that tension, but it doesn't work in this movie. What works are the moments that are enjoyably trashy and focusing on the increasing tension of the main situation.

The other big problem is Morrone, who just isn't a strong lead. I'm not saying that it's the easiest job in the world to convey conflicted emotions and confusion while being attracted to a Megan Fox android, but Morrone needed to do much better here. His weak performance is especially disappointing compared to the good work from Fox and Zima, the former exuding an air of constant menace while not always overtly doing anything wrong and the latter being a vulnerable woman hoping to get her strength and health back before she loses her place in the family unit. Whipp is okay, I guess, but he just has to be angry and vengeful, and young Matilda Firth is sweet enough as Isla (with her even younger brother, played by Jude Greenstein, easily inhabiting his baby role by simply being a a baby).

I wanted this to be better, but I would be lying if I said that I didn't have fun with it. Everyone involved tries to hit the brief, as it were, and there are times when it does exactly what you want it to do. Unfortunately, there are too many times when it seems to think it needs more substance. Get a better lead actor in here, strip away the sub-plot commentary on the global situation, and you have a fine piece of sexy sci-fi silliness. As it is, Fox has the star power and the acting ability to still make this worth your time, but that really depends on whether or not you like Fox in the first place.

6/10

Thursday, 19 September 2024

Trap (2024)

If you've seen the trailer for Trap then you know how the film is set to play out. There's no extra twist, which itself feels like a twist, considering that this is another thriller written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. But maybe we should let Shyamalan try new things, considering he hasn't helmed something fully successful for over two decades now. Yes, you can find elements to enjoy in some of his other movies, but none have come close to the strong run he had at the turn of the century.

Josh Hartnett plays Cooper, a loving father accompanying his daughter (Riley, played by Ariel Donoghue) to a teen pop concert. The pop star on stage is Lady Raven (played by Saleka Shyamalan), but there's also a lot happening elsewhere in the venue. The whole thing has been turned into an operation to catch a notorious serial killer. They know he is attending the concert with his child, but can they catch him before he causes mayhem at the concert.

I won't say that this is completely unwatchable. There's some fun to be had, and it's worth your time, but that is all thanks to the entertainingly over the top performance from Hartnett, who often feels as if he's walked in from a completely different film. If the main premise had been finessed and treated more carefully then this could have been a really fun time, but I sadly have to join the chorus of voices disapproving of the fact that Shyamalan seems as intent on creating a concert movie for his daughter to star in than a taut and fun thriller.

The best scenes in the movie show us the offstage events in the concert venue, with the many police trying to cut off all means of escape as a main character tries to figure out the geography of the place and ensure that they're not stuck there alongside everyone else. Shyamalan cannot help himself though, he has to spend time wallowing in his own self-satisfaction, whether that's trying to make his daughter a star, shoehorning his own cameo in there, or casting Hayley Mills in a supporting role because she starred in The Parent Trap (get it? GET IT?), despite the fact that she feels too old for the role, and isn't well-utilised at all.

Hartnett really tries hard though, and he knows exactly what he's doing with his performance. Viewers will love or hate it. I loved it. Donoghue is also pretty good as his daughter, believably content in her own little bubble when allowed to just enjoy the pop concert, but also enjoying moments when she can use the support of her father to remember that facing the everyday life they will be heading back to doesn't have to seem so scary and miserable. Saleka Shyamalan is bad, and gets even worse when her character is no longer just performing on the stage. Jonathan Langdon is good fun in a small role that has him delivering most of the exposition in the first half of the movie, and there are a couple of decent moments for Marnie McPhail and Alison Pill, the latter really getting to shine in a fantastic third act scene that needs strong acting to detract from the fact that it's really just explaining everything leading up to the start of the movie.

There's still something to appreciate about Shyamalan defiantly doing just exactly what he wants to do with his movies, and you cannot deny that he dances to his own tune (for better or worse), but this is a laughable mess that could have been so much better, and the worst parts of it feel like the most obvious Shyamalan touches.

4/10

Wednesday, 18 September 2024

Prime Time: Gamera vs. Jiger (1970)

After enjoying a number of my recent kaiju watches I have to say that this week hasn't been great. I watched this film, as well as one other that I am preparing to review for next week's schedule, and spent almost the entire runtime wishing that I was watching a better instalment in this series.

With a number of early scenes that are more reminiscent of Lassie than anything else, a bunch of people are trying to move a large statue when they are given some aggressive fly-by action from Gamera. Puzzled by Gamera's behaviour, they nevertheless keep going. Once moved, the statue is found to make a constant sound, and that sound ends up bringing Jiger, a large creature with an array of built-in weaponry, such as projectile quills and a stinger in her tail. Oh, and this is all happening as Japan prepares for the Expo '70 about to be held in Osaka.

With Niisan Takahashi back on the writing duties and Noriaki Yuasa back in the director's chair, there's no reason for this to be as bad as it is. Maybe others love it, and there are one or two memorable moments (including a sequence that has some children going inside Gamera to help revive it), but the whole thing just felt a bit lazy and dull for me.

While human characters are usually the least important element of most kaiju movies, the entire cast here feels quite redundant. I could tell you about Tsutomu Takakuwa, Kelly Varis, Katherine Murphy, Kon Ohmura, and Junko Yashiro, but I'd be in trouble if you asked me about their main contributions to the film (aside from Takakuwa, who plays young Hiroshi). That would be fine if that kaiju acton was up to scratch, but it isn't. It all feels as if people are going through the motions while being restricted by that Expo '70 setting, which is basically what happened. Board members had forbidden any destruction of the Expo '70 buildings, and having monsters fight amongst buildings that can't be destroyed is a bit like having Rambo looking at a bunch of deadly weapons he cannot equip himself with in a tooling-up montage.

Maybe I'll revisit this one, and maybe I will enjoy it more if it catches me in a better mood. I don't know. I certainly wasn't in a bad mood when I pressed play on it, which makes me suspect that the film itself just soured me throughout most of the 83-minute runtime. It feels overlong, and is the wrong amount of silly without being the right amount of fun, but I'm happy to hear from anyone trying to convince me that I am not giving it enough credit. There's still just enough here for me to find individual moments I liked, but they're stuck in a feature that I really didn't care for.

4/10

Tuesday, 17 September 2024

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)

Although I wasn't sure of what to really expect with Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, I was comforted by the fact that a number of key players were returning. Tim Burton was in the director's chair, and the central cast was anchored by the essential trio of Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, and Catherine O'Hara. It's a shame that they weren't given something a bit better to work with after such a long wait.

The story may seem complicated, but it's all ultimately just an excuse for various scenes that feel disconnected from one another. Lydia Deetz (Ryder) is now a TV/internet personality, hosting a show in which she investigates hauntings. She is also in a relationship with her manager, Rory (Justin Theroux). Things have to be put on hold, however, when her mother (Delia, played by O'Hara) gives her news about the death of her father. The ladies then travel to pass the message along to Lydia's daughter, Astrid (Jenna Ortega), before heading back to the family home. Things get even messier as a funeral provides the setting for a marriage proposal, Astrid grows close to a young man named Jeremy (Arthur Conti), and Beetlejuice (Keaton) becomes the target of a vengeful ex (Delores, played by Monica Bellucci).

It's hard to put a finger on what feels so wrong in this sequel. It just feels a bit overstuffed and disjointed, and there's an unfocused randomness to the different plot strands. The original also had some of that going on, but that somehow felt fun and anarchic, whereas this feels more slapdash and tiresome.

There are definite highlights though. Keaton is fantastic in his role, reprising an iconic character with an ease that belies his age, and the many decades since he last played him. Ryder and O'Hara are also both wonderful together, although there's an attempt to slightly rewrite their past that the film only gets away with because of how easy it is to believe that O'Hara's character would reframe their lives together. Ortega is a good addition to the core group, there are a number of scenes outright stolen by a character named Bob, and the finale has some choreographed insanity set to a brilliantly bonkers song that I've always had a soft spot for.

There is, as expected, some lovely production design, it's impressive for the continuity of the visual style between the two films, and it's nice to hear Danny Elfman's score running through everything. The practical effects are also very enjoyable.

That's about it though. The script, written by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar (who have worked together for decades, and most notably, for this part of their career journey, played pivotal roles in the new Wednesday series) is a mess. Some of the dialogue works, but it's often more to do with the delivery than the words, while the messy plot keeps being tangled around too many characters and too many moments that many viewers probably won't care about, including Charles Deetz, who is initially used in a fun way that allows him to be there without re-using disgraced actor Jeffrey Jones, but then keeps popping up throughout the film in a way that feels egregiously unnecessary.

Aside from those already praised above, Theroux is a lot of fun as the poseur of the film this time around, Bellucci does well with her limited screentime, and Willem Dafoe is enjoyable as a deceased actor who played a cop so often that he basically believes that he is one nowadays. Conti is okay, and Burn Gorman is the local priest presiding over things, but they end up, much like Dafoe, being completely superfluous. The same can be said of Santiago Cabrera, who plays someone supposedly important to our leading ladies, until his scenes are finished with and he seems to be easily forgotten about.

Did I hate this? No. It was very close though. The good aspects of it often come close to being great, but the negatives just keep dragging it down. Considering how great they are when onscreen together, Keaton, Ryder, and O'Hara deserved something a bit better. On the plus side, there has been a load of new Beetlejuice merchandise released lately that has allowed me to add some more movie-related items to my wardrobe. And I would still give everyone a chance to entertain me again if they make a third one.

4/10

Monday, 16 September 2024

Mubi Monday: My First Film (2024)

There are times when I get irritated by films that are described to me as "blending fact and fiction". Sometimes it can be a very good thing, but sometimes you end up wishing that the film-maker had found a way to either present everything in a documentary or a feature film, instead of some strange hybrid. My First Movie is one of those in-between films, but it's one that I really enjoyed watching for the look at the struggles that can work against anyone, but especially a young female, as they try to get a film made.

Odessa Young plays Vita, a young film-maker who is struggling as she attempts to spin the many plates that need to stay moving while she gets her first film made. There are limitations that feel hard to work around, personal problems that affect the work schedule, and even a tragedy that brings things grinding to a halt (perhaps temporarily, perhaps permanently).

Directed by Zia Anger, who also wrote the film with Billy Feldman, this feels impressively honest and surprisingly upbeat throughout. The earliest scenes show our lead going through some moments that they respond to with a great mix of indignation and wit, and the main plot about trying to get a first feature made is a potentially depressing experience offset by the youthful energy and optimism of people coming together to make a work of art that will stand as their tentative first steps into the film-making business.

Young is very good in the lead role, equal parts politeness, patience, frustration, and near-meltdown, and the young cast around her are all just as good, whether they are playing central performers, crew members struggling to get the technical side of things right, or people who just seem to be wandering around a bit aimlessly until they can choose to be supportive or unsupportive when things get tough.

It's interesting to consider the many ways Anger could have approached this material and the choices made to have it end up like this. There's humour, but it's not a comedy. There's pain, but it's not a tragedy. There's plenty of insight, but it's not a "how to" guide (or even a "how not to" guide). There's a confidence here, or perhaps a stubborn refusal to ever go back to the situation we see played out onscreen, and what is shown feels like a number of simple, unvarnished, truths strung together into a friendship bracelet that is best appreciated by those who have been through a similar situation.

I'll be interested to see where Anger goes from here. This feels like a catharsis, and that's a good thing, but it also often leaves people having to find their words again once they have turned to a new blank page. We'll just have to wait and see what happens. I'd also like to see what Young does next, but there's no wait required there (having seen that she is credited already in a couple of features released just after this). And if the two end up working together on something titled "My Second Film", well, I know I'll end up watching it.

7/10

Sunday, 15 September 2024

Netflix And Chill: Rebel Ridge (2024)

It's a familiar tale, especially when it feels as if it's paying homage to First Blood throughout, but Rebel Ridge is a solid and tense action thriller that deftly mixes some thought-provoking commentary with a full-blooded star-making turn from Aaron Pierre.

Written and directed by Jeremy Saulnier, things start off with Terry Richmond (Pierre) being harassed by a couple of small-town cops. He was on his way with bail money to keep a relative out of jail, but that money is seized by the cops. They are apparently allowed to do that, it's called civil forfeiture, but there's something fishy about the entire process, as becomes even more obvious when Terry tries to reason with the local Sheriff (Chief Sandy Burnne, played by Don Johnson). Terry doesn't have anyone around to lend him support, aside from a courthouse employee named Summer (AnnaSophia Robb), but the local police soon come to understand that Terry doesn't really need anyone to help him. He can handle himself, and he can handle the local police as they slowly figure out that they're in big trouble.

I can see some people being disappointed by Rebel Ridge because of what it doesn't do, but I hope more people really appreciate it for what it does. Saulnier maintains a great balancing act of keeping things tense and entertaining without ever resorting to the standard gunfights and combat that we've seen before. The hero here isn't just a man pushed to the edge and fighting back. He's someone who also has to think about the consequences of every word and move, well aware of how easy it could be for law enforcement to find an excuse to shoot a black man without anyone asking too many questions. The police, on the other hand, act in the knowledge that they can make a mess and figure out a way to clean it all up later. They are the only ones constantly using lethal force, and that's an important part of the message of the movie.

With no disrespect intended, I am glad that John Boyega ended up not being able to play the lead in this, paving the way for Pierre to come along and stamp his authority all over it. Pierre is cool, calm, and collected, but also looks as if he could find a dozen different ways to kill you while smiling and nodding politely as you get ready to shake hands. That's the essence of the character, and Pierre excels in a performance that allows him to be impressively physical, but also charming and able to handle an American accent disguising his native British tongue (which I only mention here due to my surprise when hearing him speak in some press interviews about the movie). Johnson is just as well-cast in the main antagonist role, his easygoing manner and charm covering an air of menace and growing discomfort. Robb gets a slightly trickier role, but the screenplay does well to make her a friend to our hero without forcing them into a full-blooded and passionate relationship. Various officers are played by David Denman, Emory Cohen, and Zsané Jhé, and all three enjoy roles that allow them to often be in the thick of any action, and James Cromwell plays a judge in a couple of scenes in which he delivers some exposition and mourns for the state of his town in that calm and measured Cromwell way he can do so well.

This isn't a throwback to the muscle-bound action films of yesteryear, which I think some may hope for when they hear First Blood mentioned as a main reference point, but it's all the better for it. Saulnier has honed his craft over the years, I have yet to see something from him that I didn't thoroughly enjoy, and I hope he keeps getting opportunities to tell the stories that he wants to tell. Few people do tension as well as he does (the sequence here with police waiting on an internet router being rebooted as they try to find out more about our hero is one of the most satisfying bits of setup and immediate payoff that I have seen in years). Every thing that he gets right here helps to overlook the slight mis-steps, such as the runtime and a slight problem with the tonal shift as things get darker and more dangerous.

8/10

Saturday, 14 September 2024

Shudder Saturday: All You Need Is Death (2023)

There have been many films made about people on a search for art that contains dark power, but I cannot think of one that has also focused on traditional folk ballads. Until now. I may be missing something, perhaps even something obvious, but All You Need Is Death certainly feels original enough, despite using the elements within it to provide a fairly familiar warning to the curious.

Simone Collins and Charlie Maher play Anna and Aleks, two people who are part of a strange collective aiming to collect traditional ballads and turn them over to someone (Agnes, played by Catherine Siggins) who then makes a decision about their ultimate fate. Things take a dark and mysterious turn for all three of these characters when they hear a song sung to them by Rita Concannon (Olwen Fouéré), although Aleks is initially kept out of earshot, due to it being a song passed from woman to woman over the years. As the power of the song starts to overshadow each of them, there's also a looming danger in the form of Rita's son, Breezeblock (played by Nigel O'Neill).

It's appropriate that the leads here aren't necessarily great, but are good enough to be effective vessels for the message being delivered. Collins is a standout, but both Maher and Siggins fail to match her in their performances (although they are stuck together in some of the stranger scenes in the movie). O'Neill and Fouéré are both very good, giving the kind of strong supporting turns that you expect from them if you've seen pretty much anything else they have done onscreen.

Writer-director Paul Duane has a solid reputation already, thanks to a few documentaries that have received high praise from those who saw them (sadly, I have yet to get around to those), and a lot of his past work shows his interest in the stories behind various pieces of music. This fictional piece allows him to intertwine various horror movie moments with a premise that both celebrates traditional art and comments on the appropriation of it by people who may not always afford it the respect it deserves.

The visuals don't match the powerful audio moments, predictably enough, and there are only one or two moments that really seem to hit the target that Duane is aiming for, but this is consistently interesting and atmospheric enough to hold your attention throughout. Those who enjoy folk horror should certainly seek this out, as well as those who have enjoyed numerous other British and Irish horror movies from the past decade. It’s no earworm hit single, but I suspect it will become a dark and lyrical deep cut album track for those it resonates with.

7/10

Friday, 13 September 2024

Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971)

The mighty destroyer born from the nuclear age facing off against a creature that has evolved from mass pollution? As soon as I heard the premise of Godzilla vs. Hedorah I was hoping to find it enjoyable. That optimism was rewarded, and this feels like a return to form for Godzilla after a couple of films that kept the focus squarely on fantastical antics and children's adventures (although those who know me will know that I also had lots and lots of fun with those).

There's still a small child at the heart of this. His name is Ken Yano (Hiroyuki Kawase) and he starts to figure out that a big problem needs a Godzilla-sized solution before almost anyone else, even his parents (Dr. Toru Yano, played by Akira Yamanouchi, and Toshie Yano, played by Toshie Kimura). Initially resembling a large tadpole, then something not entirely unlike an oversized blobfish, Hedorah causes some mayhem at sea before moving on to dry land and heading towards somewhere that could end up being a catastrophic setting for a giant monster battle.

One of only a handful of films to be directed by Yoshimitsu Banno, this is, quite frankly, a shot in the arm for the series that balances the lighter tone of the more recent instalments with a hint of the dread that was present throughout the very first Godzilla movie. The script, co-written by Banno and Takeshi Kimura (credited as Kaoru Mabuchi), paces everything perfectly, especially while Hedorah is an unknown danger. There's a real sense of menace, a few moments of major destruction, and people being completely flummoxed as they try to stop the entire country being flattened. Basically, everything you want and need from a Godzilla movie.

While Yamanouchi and Kimura are both fine in their roles, as are Toshio Shiba and Keiko Mari, it has to be said that young Kawase does wonderful work in a role that allows his innocent viewpoint to lighten the darkness of the tale (and this is a movie in which revellers start partying near Mount Fuji as a way to say goodbye to their world) without stealing scenes away from the big beasts due to battle one another. That is largely due to the script, but it helps that Kawase delivers a performance that lands right in a sweet spot. If you disagree with me, I encourage you to revisit some of the other child performances in various kaiju movies over the years.

This feels surprisingly fresh, considering how much it still manages to work through the checklist of things to see in a Godzilla movie, and maybe that's why Banno didn't get the support and reaction that he would have hoped for when it was initially released. It apparently got enough bums in seats, but reactions from many contemporary critics ranged from a shrug to strongly disliking it. That's a shame, I would have loved to see more Godzilla films from this director, but Banno essentially had the last laugh . . . proving to be a vital figure negotiating permission from Toho that would lead to the Monsterverse, finally giving us some American Godzilla movies that made good use of a well-defined and superbly-designed Big G.

9/10

Thursday, 12 September 2024

Volcano (1997)

As much as I love the craggy face and dour demeanour of Tommy Lee Jones, I have never looked at him onscreen and thought "that man needs to be a blockbuster star". That isn't to say that I don't like seeing him in films, and he's been great in some blockbuster fare, but he just doesn't feel like the kind of person who would be comfortable carrying a major event movie on his shoulders. Volcano proves that.

The plot is silly. A volcano starts to rise up in the middle of Los Angeles, causing the kind of mayhem that you would expect. Jones plays Mike Roark, the director of the city's Office of Emergency Management (which you get some information about in the opening scenes), and he's about to have one hell of an emergency to try and manage. Anne Heche is Dr. Amy Barnes, a seismologist who spends most of the movie giving people warnings that they tend to ignore until the volcano makes it impossible. And Mike is supposed to be spending time with his young daughter, Kelly (Gaby Hoffmann), of course, which gives us one more main character to watch being put in lava-centric peril.

The only writing credit for Jerome Armstrong, and one of the worst writing credits for Billy Ray, Volcano is, from my recollection, the weaker of the two major volcano movies released in 1997. Even when it is getting some things right, the earlier scenes of people discovering unexpected issues with heat building up under some L.A. streets, it's simply not as good as dozens of other natural disaster movies that I could recommend. The biggest problem is that the central idea never feels plausible, despite everyone involved having to keep a straight face. It also doesn't help when the script makes a clumsy attempt to show how working together on this emergency can . . . ummmmm . . . end racism?!?!?

Director Mick Jackson seems uninterested in the material, or maybe he's just not able to get the best out of it. That wouldn't be surprising, considering his filmography (although it should be noted that this is the man who helmed Threads, a TV movie often hailed as one of the bleakest and most terrifying TV movies ever made), but perhaps the fault can be shared between Jackson and those who gave him the job. There's nothing else that he's done that makes him seem like the right choice for a blockbuster like this.

I'd love to praise the cast, but I can't. None of them can overcome the horrible script, which also forces in some romantic longing between Jones and Heche in scenes that are truly cringe-inducing. Having said that, Jones still has a presence, as ever, and is very watchable in the moments that don't completely undermine him by forcing him into the box-ticking gruff hero moments. Heche is saddled with being the brains and exposition except whenever she needs to just stand back and look on at Jones being all heroic. Hoffmann is there to be kept safe, and nothing more. The supporting cast does have some treats, with Don Cheadle having some fun, and small roles for people like Keith David, John Carroll Lynch, Richard Schiff, and a decent selection of "where do I know them from again?" faces. I also have to praise Marcello Thedford, mainly because of his ability to tolerate some of the worst writing in scenes that show him helping out emergency workers who wouldn't necessarily be so ready to help him out if the roles were reversed.

I was trying to think of other things I might lightly praise, be it the score from Alan Silvestri of the cinematography by Theo van de Sande, but there's nothing. The special effects are generally okay, for the time, but it's a spectacle movie without enough proper spectacle, which wouldn't be so bad if it also had other stuff going on. It doesn't.

3/10

Wednesday, 11 September 2024

Prime Time: Horror In The High Desert (2021)

The good thing about modern technology, and modern distribution models, is that anyone can get a movie made and get it out there. That can also be a bad thing, of course, which is a point I have made many times before. But it's good to finally stumble across a little movie that you've heard about from other film fans, as opposed to something that has had millions of dollars spent on an advertising push that is just trying to ensure some fraction of a massive budget is recouped, and there's quite the lifespan available to gems made by people who have the savvy to add layers of lore and sequel potential to their creations.

Horror In The High Desert is one of those movies, as I was made aware by friends discussing the impact of it, and also how much they had enjoyed the two sequels. I ended up pressing play on this one with less trepidation than I might otherwise have felt, and am happy to say that I can now add my own voice to the many who have already given this some praise

This is the tale of a man (Gary Hinge, played by Eric Mencis) who has gone missing. People are wary of the circumstances surrounding his disappearance, especially when some video evidence reveals some very interesting details from the last time he was seen by people. Writer-director Dutch Marich uses a mockumentary format to present this "unsolved case", presenting testimony from those investigating the case and those personally attached to it (such as Gary's sister, Beverly, played by Tonya Williams Ogden).

As you might expect from this style of film, everything is actually based around some found footage, but Marich does well to avoid using that style throughout the rest of the film. He instead takes time to build up a picture of someone fairly unremarkable, but someone who has become interesting due to the details revealed after their absence. I wouldn't say that everything here helps to build a sense of intrigue and growing dread, but there's enough done to prime viewers for a finale that is impressively eerie and rewarding for those who have been patient.

Everyone plays their part well enough, although neither Mencis nor Ogden are particularly mesmerising in their roles (but they don't have to be, considering the realistic nature of the way they act in front of the camera), and there's a decent central idea that is nicely developed within the runtime, as well as being primed for further development (aka sequels).

Suziey Block, David Morales, and Errol Porter also deserve a mention for filling out the very small core cast, with nobody giving a lesser performance that would easily unbalance something this small and relatively lightweight, and anyone who has enjoyed other films in this vein should find enough to like here. It's far from the best (with many feeling that something like Lake Mungo is at the top of that tree), but it's a well-made slice of faux-realism that leads you down a dark and dangerous path before the end credits roll.

7/10

Tuesday, 10 September 2024

Minions (2015)

Thanks to the recent release of Despicable Me 4, I was able to buy a bundle of animated movies that included the previous Despicable Me movies and, of course, the Minions movies. And I am happy with that purchase. Because I am a grown man who often enjoys the fun and anarchy of animated movies like these ones.

I had previously seen both Despicable Me and Despicable Me 2, but that's where my time with Gru and the gang had stalled. Thankfully, recent rewatches of both of those movies made me all the more eager to work my way through the rest of the franchise.

Minions is a quick overview of the little trouble-makers who now seem to remain solely employed by Gru. That wasn't always the case though, and a narrator (Geoffrey Rush) gives us a selection of people that the minions have tried to help over the years. We then get to see our lead minions (Stuart, Kevin, and Bob) get involved with the nefarious Scarlet Overkill (Sandra Bullock) and her husband, Herb (Jon Hamm). This kickstarts a chain of events that leads to Scarlet eventually dethroning the Queen of England (Jennifer Saunders). But is that a result that the minions are happy with, and will they ever be given proper courtesy and recognition from Scarlet?

Co-directed by Kyle Balda and Pierre Coffin (aka the voice of the minions), this is a fun animated feature that fits nicely in the franchise. Arguably a bit sillier, and a bit more fun, than the two movies that preceded it, writer Brian Lynch knows how to string together various set-pieces to give fans of our little yellow beings exactly what they want to see. The minions aren't actually malicious, nor are they rarely fully aware of any danger around them, and this keeps them as endearing mischief-makers, although the third act allows them to start worrying about their ultimate fate at the hands of a ticked-off super-villain.

Coffin is as entertaining as ever while voicing the titular characters, but both Bullock and Hamm are also a lot of fun. The former is so good that it makes me wish she would get involved with more animated movies that could benefit from her vocal talent. There are also fun turns from Steve Coogan, Michael Keaton, Allison Janney, the aforementioned Rush and Saunders, and one or two others (including an obligatory cameo from Steve Carell).

Whether you enjoy the spectacle, enjoy the amusing way in which the plot careens from one act of villainy to the next, or just enjoy hearing minions blurt out words like "banana", Minions should make you smile and laugh for almost every moment of the 91-minute runtime. The minions may not be big, and they may not be clever, but they're wonderfully entertaining to watch. I'm looking forward to getting through the rest of the movies in this series very soon.

8/10