Netflix And Chill: Things Heard And Seen (2021)

If the past year or so has taught us anything, impact of a global pandemic aside, it is never to move in to a house with Amanda Seyfried. She just doesn't seem to have any luck with it. The biggest worry for most of us is watching the movers take our things in and out, and wincing if a beloved item of furniture is bumped and forced through a doorway that looks a bit too small for it. Seyfried seems to have a knack for finding haunted houses, which can make for a more nerve-wracking experience than sorting through bags to find the one that you stashed the bath towels in.

Seyfried plays Catherine Claire, a talented artist who has given up most of what she enjoys in life to support her husband, George (James Norton), and look after their young daughter, Franny (Ana Sophia Heger). Catherine also has an ongoing battle with an eating disorder, seems to be more susceptible to tales of spookiness, according to George, and looks to be a bit unhappy with her life. George, on the other hand, is feeling great about things. He's now the college professor he always wanted to be, he starts having an affair with a young local woman (Willis, played by Natalia Dyer), and his life is almost exactly as he wants it to be. George isn't really a nice man though, and a lot of his current situation may have been created by some cheating and manipulation.

Co-directed and co-written by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, adapting "All Things Cease To Appear", the novel by Elizabeth Brundage, it's no surprise to see that neither Berman nor Pulcini have any other horror movies in their main filmography. They deliver some great little chills throughout this movie, but they're more interested in showing the extensive damage in the relationship between Catherine and George, and how George has been causing this for a number of years, but it was easier to overlook when creating fault lines under the surface. You also get an ending that, while satisfying, actually moves away from delivering some better horror and supernatural twists.

Seyfried is as good as ever in the lead role, easy to root for as he gets angrier and tougher in the second half. Norton does well as someone it's easy to hate, starting with an air of entitlement and arrogance before becoming worse and worse. Heger doesn't get too much to do, but she certainly does decent work. Dyer is saddled with one of the weakest characters, but she does okay, Alex Neustaedter and Jack Gore are good as a couple of young brothers who come around to help at the house (and also lived there at one point), F. Murray Abraham is a welcome presence, and I hope this is the first of many more worthwhile film roles for the talented Rhea Seehorn. I should also mention the small role for Karen Allen, someone else I am always happy to see in anything.

It's not that Things Heard And Seen is bad, or boring. It does everything well enough, including an ending that focuses on details that were signposted elsewhere in the movie. I just can't help but think of the third act as a missed opportunity, for reasons I won't go into here (because of spoilers), and that makes me then think that the rest of the film could have been tweaked and improved here and there. It never really feels as if it does more than coast along, and Berman and Pulcini seem to steadfastly refuse to turn the screws when they have chances to ratchet up the tension. The end result is something that's decent, but also so safe that it's also a bit disappointing.

6/10

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Netflix And Chill: Velvet Buzzsaw (2019)

If there is anyone coming to this film expecting something akin to the magnificent Nightcrawler then they're in for quite the surprise. Although there's darkness here, Velvet Buzzsaw is much more of a comedy. Yes, there are horror movie moments, good ones too, but it's the wonderful over the top nature of the thing, and some hilarious lines of dialogue, that ensure you will be smiling throughout.

Jake Gyllenhaal plays Morf Vandewalt, a successful and influential art critic. His opinions can make or break artists, something that he sometimes relishes and sometimes feels pained by. Rene Russo is a gallery owner named Rhodoro Haze, a successful woman who perhaps owes some of that success to her friendship with Morf. When an agent named Josephina (Zawe Ashton), who is a friend of Morf and employed by Rhodoro, finds a collection of paintings in the apartment of her dead neighbour everyone views it as an exciting discovery that could help them all. Unfortunately, the artist had expressly stated that he wanted his art destroyed, and with good reason.

Although never as sharp or biting as it could be, this is a fun commentary on the clash between art and commerce. It shows a market driven by one or two opinions, prices created by deceptions and hype, and the fluid relationships that ebb and flow between people who can help one another up a ladder with no final rung.

Dan Gilroy does another solid job with the writing and direction, despite the fact that he's gone for a tone that may leave some unsatisfied, and even bemused. Gyllenhaal blurting out the line "the admiration I had for your work has completely evaporated" made me laugh hard, and it's when the film is most comfortable with that level of ridiculousness that it's most fun. Thankfully, it is often comfortable with that level of ridiculousness, although the more obvious laughs are couched in between moments that focus on the greed and selfishness of the main characters.

Gyllenhaal has a lot of fun in his role, a rare turn that doesn't need him to be constantly worried or angry or looking as if he might harm himself, and Russo is fantastic in her role. The fact that she seems to only get given good parts to play from her husband is pretty damning when she shows every time that she's still got a lot more to give audiences than just "cameo as Thor's mum". You also get typically wonderful performances from Toni Collette and John Malkovich, and solid little turns from Daveed Diggs, Billy Magnussen, and Natalia Dyer. Ashton, sadly, is a weak link, but that ends up being compensated for in the third act, with the final scenes for her character created to be impressively memorable.

Don't go into this expecting another Nightcrawler. Don't go into it expecting a horror movie, or even a thriller. This is a dark comedy, and if you know that going in then you can appreciate the end result much more. Say what you like about all three films so far directed by Gilroy, they're at least all interesting and thought-provoking, whether they end up working for you or not.

8/10