Netflix And Chill: Superbad (2007)

Did I have any specific reason for suddenly wanting to revisit Superbad? Yes. I wanted a reminder of the time when I enjoyed the work of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. The pair of them have been receiving a fair bit of praise recently for their latest TV show, The Studio, and I don't know what others have seen in that show that I am missing. It's smug, absolutely relies on some great cameos to make it work, and feels like what you would get if someone wanted to make The Player, but with no teeth and someone in the lead role who has 1000% less charisma and presence than Tim Robbins. But I seem to be in the minority with that opinion. Ah well, I knew I could revisit Superbad with a sense of optimism. It may have been some time since my last viewing of it, but I hoped that it held up.

Phew. It holds up. There are issues with some of the language and attitudes, but that's par for the course with almost every teen movie. This holds up a LOT better than many others I could mention.

Seth (Jonah Hill) and Evan (Michael Cera) are besties about to go on different life paths after high school. That inspires them to do try their hardest when they get a surprise invite to a party that should have both alcohol and girls present. Although they have to supply some of the alcohol, which they hope to do with the help of their friend, Fogell (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), owner of one fake ID that has him named as McLovin. As they try to get the alcohol and make their way to Becca (Martha MacIsaac) and Jules (Emma Stone), our young leads end up plagued by problems. There's a robbery, a couple of friendly cops (played by Rogen and Bill Hader), and a guy named Francis (Joe Lo Truglio) who drives as poorly as he interacts with others in his own age group. 

There's nothing really special about Superbad. It's a typical teen movie, in many ways, but also avoids feeling too familiar because of the moments that choose to focus on the co-dependent nature of the friendship between Seth and Evan. It IS funny though, which is a big bonus, and the timing worked out well for it becoming a fantastic showcase for a wide variety of performers. Although not his first feature, director Greg Mottola also did a lot of TV work, some of which had him working with a number of the main individuals featured here.

Hill and Cera have a great rapport with one another, the nervous energy and crudity of the former nicely complementing the quiet anxiety of the latter.  Mintz-Plasse is almost a combination of the two of them, with an extra helping of unfounded confidence added in to the mix, and having the three of them approach their teen troubles in their own unique ways helps to make the film more interesting and fun than it otherwise would be. Rogen and Hader are a blast as the friendly young cops, MacIsaac is sweet enough, Stone is very cool and adorable, and Lo Truglio is a lot of fun as he helps to fill out a large supporting cast that also includes Kevin Corrigan, Dave Franco, Martin Starr, Clark Duke, and a few other familiar faces.

If you don't like any of the main players involved with this then I would advise you to give it a miss, especially if you have somehow never got around to seeing it before now. If you think you don't like some of the main players, but also remember a time when you might have found them much more enjoyable and entertaining than they are today, then you may want to put it on your viewing schedule. I'm glad I did, and I could happily rewatch it any time. It almost felt like a cool drink of water after tolerating the disappointing comedic desert of The Studio.

8/10

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Netflix And Chill: What Keeps You Alive (2018)

Colin Minihan may have impressed me a few times already, thanks to his work as one half of "the Vicious brothers (who gave us the fun Grave Encounters as their first feature), but I didn't realise he wrote and directed this movie until I started to sort out the full details for this review. I tend to do that, taking most movies as I find them and doing my research when it is required for reviewing purposes. That way keeps most biases at bay, in theory, and allows me to occasionally be pleasantly surprised, as I was here.

Because this is the best film yet from Minihan. It's a hard film to describe without spoiling, but I'll try anyway. I just hope that people believe me when I say that this is arguably better than a film it often calls to mind, Gone Girl (although I am due a rewatch of that one day), and should become a strong favourite for those who seek it out.

Jackie (Hannah Emily Anderson) and Jules (Brittany Allen) are a married couple looking to celebrate their one-year anniversary at a lakeside cabin. It's an isolated area, and they are surrounded by gorgeous woodlands and rocky terrain. There are also two people living nearby (Sarah, played by Martha MacIsaac, and Daniel, played by Joey Klein) who remember when Jackie was there before, when tragedy struck someone that she was very close to. Will history repeat itself? Will someone go out of their way to ensure that history repeats itself?

With his script neither patronising nor exploiting the relationship at the heart of the film, Minihan focuses on the impact that certain twists and turns have on the leads, taking some sudden moments of violence as springboards to explore how feelings can change, and just how betrayal inevitably leads to the betrayed reappraising everything that they previously assumed to be true about their current importance to a significant other. It allows the film to move like something simple and streamlined while it retains an undercurrent that examines relationships, trust, and love. The title of the movie relates to willpower, but also relates to what people seek out in order to satisfy some very dark urges.

It's hard to separate the two leads in any way, with both Anderson and Allen giving flawless performances under very different circumstances. Anderson gets to have more fun, and is an absolute standout in certain moments I won't detail here, but Allen remains convincing throughout, even as her character has to endure more and more pain. MacIsaac and Klein have just a few scenes here and there, but they both do good work in their roles.

I write reviews for my own benefit. It helps my memory of the many movies I watch when I can check out what I had to say about them, and it helps my OCD as I check out ratings/reviews while I work through lists on both IMDb and Letterboxd. But sometimes I hope a review can reach people who may seek out a film based on my praise. That has happened a couple of times this week. The first time was my review of Muscle, and now it's this review. Give it a watch, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

9/10

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Shudder Saturday: The Thaw (2009)

The Thaw isn't a bad movie. Not really. It's just too derivative, and doesn't do enough with the main premise, to become a truly good movie. If more characters had been thrown into the mix, leading to more moments of peril, and if the ending didn't feel so silly then it could have been an excellent little horror flick that would make viewers itchy in between moments of extreme unpleasantness.

Val Kilmer plays Dr. David Kruipen, a research scientist who makes an astonishing, and terrifying, discovery while working in the Canadian Arctic. Unfortunately, that discovery takes place just before he is due to be joined by a group of "lucky" students AND his disgruntled daughter. When the youngsters arrive at the main camp, they find it unsettlingly quiet. I would say it was uninhabited but, in all honesty, something is still residing there. Lots of little, dangerous, somethings that have defrosted and are looking to continue their normal life cycle.

There are plenty of movies I could name here that cover similar territory to this, but with better results. The Bay, Ticks, Blood Glacier, Deep Freeze (okay, not better, but similar anyway), and, of course, the "Ice" episode of The X-Files. That's the biggest problem. Pick any of those movies, or that TV show episode, and you will be more entertained.

Although he's put front and centre on the poster design, and in the cast list, Kilmer is offscreen for a lot of this movie. He's fine in his role, but it's one of those roles that uses a star name to play a character vital to events without having to pay them more for being in more of the runtime. Sadly, none of the younger cast members are as good as Kilmer, with the best of the bunch being Aaron Ashmore. Martha MacIsaac is okay as the grumpy daughter, but Kyle Schmid and Steph Song are far too forgettable, making it hard to care during the moments that try to rack up the tension. Anne Marie Loder (billed as Anne Marie Deluise) is okay as another member of the core group at the camp, and Viv Leacock is good in the role of Bart, the guy who takes everyone up to the base by helicopter and then sticks around to try and help.

Mark A. Lewis directs capably enough, and there are some good gore effects used throughout that mix practical work and fairly decent CGI, but he's let down most by the script, which he co-wrote with Michael Lewis. The two writers seem to think that the core idea is strong enough to carry things along with no need for tension throughout most of the first half, forgetting that they should also scatter some more treats throughout, in the shape of either scares, gore gags, or, y'know, decent characterisation to have viewers invested in the third act.

That's not to say that they weren't almost correct though. Despite there not being much memorable here (from the cast to the score to the set-pieces), this still manages to be worth a watch, all thanks to the fact that it's a creepy-crawly creature feature. But it has nothing in it to warrant a revisit, and the sheer awfulness of the twist in the final act, which I won't spoil, almost undoes all of the good work.

6/10

You can buy the movie here.
Americans can buy it here.
Or just click on those links and go shopping for better movies. I win, you win.

Part of a poster that in no way represents the actual movie!

Dead Before Dawn (2012)

A horror comedy written by Tim Doiron and directed by April Mullen, Dead Before Dawn (or Dead Before Dawn 3D if you happen to see it in 3D) is enjoyable enough but suffers from constantly trying too hard. The characters are slightly over the top, the premise is taken that little bit too far (albeit with amusing effect) and many of the jokes feel forced, either thanks to the chain of events leading up to the punchlines or simply the techniques used in the camerawork and editing.

Devon Bostick plays the lead character, a young man named Casper Galloway who finds himself in a bit of trouble when he's tasked with minding his grandfather's store one evening. The store is filled with all kinds of strange objects, including one particular receptacle that will curse anyone who breaks it in a very specific way. In fact, those present when the receptacle breaks end up creating the curse themselves. Some friends and associates may think that they're having fun when they come up with the craziest, scariest curse they can think of but Casper is petrified. Will he, and the others, make it through the night? Or will the curse - which makes everyone they look at commit suicide and come back as a zombie demon (zemon) - not actually come true? Look at the title of the movie and figure that one out for yourself.

Bostick is good fun in the lead role, and there's decent support from Martha MacIsaac, Brandon Jay McLaren, Brittany Allen and also director Mullen (with a fun, though very small, role for Christopher Lloyd). The style of acting may be slightly over the top and goofy, but it suits the way that Mullen and Dorion have decided to treat the material.

The earlier scenes are the best, before the characters realise that the curse has actually begun. Seeing the characters interact with people who then rush to commit suicide is both darkly comedic and also quite eerie at times. But once that warped gag is used a couple of times it becomes tired. Then it's used again and again while the zemons start to rise and scare the lead characters, despite the fact that they never really feel like a viable threat.

Light, harmless and enjoyable enough, Dead Before Dawn falls far below the standard set beside so many other horror comedies over the years. It's worth a watch, I guess, but it should never be a top priority.

5/10

http://www.amazon.com/Dead-Before-Dawn-Devon-Bostick/dp/B00DILAJQ8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1379678879&sr=8-2&keywords=dead+before+dawn