Weapons (2025)

If you somehow went along to see Weapons without realising that it was written and directed by the man behind Barbarian then it wouldn't take you too long to figure it out. There may be less dark humour throughout (it's definitely there though), but it makes use of some horror elements to comment on some societal issues, it has moments of sudden and unpleasant violence, events are shown in main chapters that jump between timestamps and characters, revealing a bit extra with each subsequent section, and there's fantastic tense atmosphere that you could cut with a knife. Not that Zach Cregger is the only person capable of making films with these ingredients, but there are certainly touchstones here that show him using some familiar tricks as he tries to present audiences with something arguably more unusual and unsettling than his last film.

As infuriating as it might seem to those trying to decide on whether or not they want to watch Weapons, it's a film that shouldn't be described in anything but the vaguest terms. Things begin with almost an entire classroom of children leaving their homes at two seventeen in the morning, and none of the parents have any idea where they went. Alex (Cary Christopher) is the one child left behind. Justine (Julia Garner) is the teacher who starts to be viewed with suspicion by the worried parents. Archer (Josh Brolin) is one of those worried parents. Other people who end up involved in the main narrative are a police officer named Paul (Alden Ehrenreich), a petty thief/drug addict named James (Austin Abrams), and a visiting relative named Gladys (Amy Madigan).

Where Cregger excels here is not only in his use of the main concept to work as an analogy for an ongoing problem that has affected modern day life in the USA for a few decades now, but also in the way that viewers can put their own interpretative spin on things. Whether you are sympathetic to the general state of parents who find their children suddenly absent, moved by those who seek to point a finger of blame at anyone, because an easy answer is better than no answer, or afraid of the kind of events that have previously left classrooms as distressingly empty spaces in the real world, Weapons provides a lot of food for thought. But it also provides some great atmosphere, very effective jump scares, and a surprising selection of familiar horror movie moments that feel a bit fresh and unique because of the way they are dressed up.

While the cast all do good work, and I really couldn't fault any one of the main performers named up above (also worth mentioning are Benedict Wong, Whitmer Thomas, Callie Schuttera, and the narration from Scarlett Sher), this is a film that works as well as it does thanks to the care and skill of Cregger and his behind-the-camera collaborators. The score works brilliantly, the cinematography from Larkin Seiple remains gorgeous and keeps everything visible even in the darkest of scenes, and the constant mix of creepiness and shock is handled expertly by everyone involved.

I was worried that this wouldn't live up to the hype, because that has certainly been building since the advertising campaign ramped up a little while ago, but it absolutely does. People will have different moments they may find a bit less satisfying, and some will start to amplify their negative opinion if they want to push back against the majority who seem to love it, but I am struggling to find any fault with it. The runtime could have been trimmed down slightly, but I can't even think of where I would want some time shaved off. Okay, maybe I would have preferred some other kind of explanation for what is ultimately revealed during the finale, but it's easy for me to sit here and say that without thinking of anything that would have been better. Those are very minor things something stopping me from rating this as an absolutely perfect film. It comes damn close though.

9/10

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Streets Of Fire (1984)

A rock and roll fable, apparently, from director Walter Hill, Streets Of Fire may seem like a bit of an anomaly when compared to the many other movies from the director, but it doesn't take long to see just how many familiar elements are in place here.

Diane Lane plays a rock star, Ellen Aim, who is kidnapped one evening by an unruly biker gang led by Willem Dafoe. The biker gang have been revving into town whenever they like, causing trouble and not coming up against anyone who can teach them to behave a bit better. Kidnapping Ellen, however, leads to a young woman named Reva (Deborah Van Valkenburgh) writing to her brother, Tom Cody (Michael Pare). Tom used to go out with Ellen, and he's the kind of guy who can stand up to the bikers and sort out the mess that's been created.

Bookended by a couple of bombastic rock tunes (think Meatloaf meets Bonnie Tyler style), Streets Of Fire isn't a full-on musical, but it has a few moments that pause the action for the sake of a song or two, and is all the better for it. In between the songs we get a number of fights, plenty of corny dialogue, and a few scenes that allow Bill Paxton to make you laugh with the best hairdo that he's ever had.

^^^^^^^^^ Seriously? Who styled his hair?? ^^^^^^^^^

The lone hero going against the baddies, and possibly helping to clean up the town. The motorbike engines tearing up the screen in a way that almost allows you to smell the exhaust fumes. The neon-lit streets that serve as the backdrops for the main action. In many ways, this often feels like a natural successor to The Warriors. There are youngsters trying to overcome some big odds, and most of the scenes could be broken down into comic book panels (but don't remind Hill of that, unless you want some ridiculous tinkering a la the director's cut of the aforementioned 1979 classic), and both movies are about gangs and territory, in a number of ways.

Cast-wise, Pare isn't the best leading man, but he grows into the role as required, and Lane is as gorgeous and cool as the character needs to be. Dafoe gives the kind of performance that you'd expect, making for an enjoyably fierce villain. Rick Moranis and Amy Madigan are two people who end up helping out our hero in very different ways, with the former portraying a businessman with little backbone and the latter a tough woman who values loyalty above potential cash. Paxton makes quite an impression, Rick Rossovich and Richard Lawson are a couple of fairly ineffective police officers, and Van Valkenburgh does well enough with her small role, even if her character does little more than kickstart the main plot.

Dafoe in full-on mad villain mode.

However, this is Hill's movie all the way. As well as directing, he also co-wrote the script with Larry Gross, and each sequence is planned out in line with his uncompromising vision. It's a fantastic achievement. Some may call it an exercise in style over substance, but I would argue that the style helps to create the substance. The motorbikes, the rockers, the love story at the heart of it all, the dialogue that eschews reality for the sake of sounding cool, the gruff (anti?) hero - all of these things are ripped straight from numerous rock ballads, and that's what this is. It's one big rock ballad turned into a movie. As it's described, and as I mentioned at the very start of this review, it IS a rock and roll fable. And it's a bloody fantastic one.

9/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Streets-Fire-Blu-ray-Diane-Lane/dp/B00F0R0FY4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1405077781&sr=8-1&keywords=streets+of+fire

Uncle Buck (1989)

Written and directed by John Hughes, this is a typical . . . . . . . John Hughes movie. But despite so many people having fond memories of it, thanks to the presence of the wonderful John Candy, it's not his best.

Candy plays the titular uncle, a man called upon to look after his nieces and nephew when his brother finds himself in a bind and with nobody else to turn to. Uncle Buck proceeds to cause a small amount of mayhem while doing his best to look after the kids, finding himself particularly messing up in his dealings with moody teenager Tia (Jean Louisa Kelly). This leads him to consider just where he is in his own life and just how he has been dealing with his own relationship (with Chanice, played by Amy Madigan).

Clocking in at just over an hour and a half, full of lively soundtrack moments and conversations that you would never really hear outside of John Hughes movies, this is an easy movie to enjoy. In fact, I've only ever met one person who couldn't stand it and that person is my wife (who is weird anyway . . . . . . . hence the fact that I was able to get her to marry me).

Candy is great in the main role, Jean Louisa Kelly does fine as the moody teenager causing him so much strife, Macaulay Culkin is very funny in one of his first major roles and so is Gaby Hoffmann. Amy Madigan does well as the woman who despairs of Buck while remaining in love with him, Laurie Metcalf steals a couple of scenes and Jay Underwood gets to be the young man, named "Bug", spending far too much time with Tia in an attempt to move the relationship along as quickly as possible (as Buck well knows).

There are many moments here that I enjoy - Candy being quizzed by Culkin, the killer line delivered to a shocked Suzanne Shepherd (playing a teacher trying to instil better behaviour in her young charges), every time Candy is unsubtly warning off Underwood - but, for some reason, the film just doesn't come together for me in a way that it does for many others. I can watch it from start to finish without being bored, but it's one I don't have to rush to ever watch again.

6/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Double-Brewsters-Millions-Uncle-Buck/dp/B0058OABSY/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1370954757&sr=8-4&keywords=uncle+buck