As some of you are aware, I often give up the ghost on these reviews, and fail to submit all of them (exceptions: 2009, 2015... and that's it!). As usual, I can only promise to try and finish it up this year.
SO, this week featured a lot of films all over the map. But it does feature an ultra-rare A-, which, as MMMMM faithfuls will know, is pretty uncommon for me to do. All I can do is hope that something else in this year's fare will captivate me as well as it did... But, on the plus side, there's nothing in this week's digest that got an F, and only one film that got a rating lower than a C-. If you've read these before, you know how often that happens...
I've tried to add a couple more easter eggs in and amongst my links here, including clips to the movies discussed or clips to other things. One word of warning: some of these clips might be gross (it's a horror movie review post, after all), so be careful what you click on!
Now, here's my rating system. You'll be seeing it a lot from here on out, but it's good to get to know it early.
A = Excellent, a must see
B = Very good, I’d watch it again
C = Worth Seeing
D = Maybe don’t bother
F = Worthless
+ = Superior for this grade
- = Just barely makes it into this grade
It's worth mentioning, if you're following my adventures on Facebook or Gamefaqs, that I tend to adjust the grades I've previously given my films when I make this blogpost, as I see fit. Usually, this will not be a huge increase/decrease, but don't be surprised if the rating has changed.
And, finally, while I'm trying my best NOT to spoil things in my summaries this year, it hasn't changed how I feel about dropping spoilers: I DO IT. ANY MOVIE REVIEWED HERE MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS. If not directly, you might pick up on some from what I'm talking about. Can't handle it? Don't read it.
Ok? Ok. Let's do this thing...
Green Room (Jeremy Saulnier) - A-
Pat (RIP Anton Yelchin) is the bassist for the ultra-real deal punk band, The Ain't Rights. He, along with Tiger, Reese and Sam (Arrested Development's Alia Shawkat) have run low on cash, and are having a tough time booking gigs in Oregon. After a dismal show and disastrous radio interview, the band travels to a local skinhead community to join a three-band performance that guarantees a decent payout. After arriving, and angering the white-supremacists with a rousing rendition of the Dead Kennedy's "Nazi Punks Fuck Off!", the band is paid and sent on their way. Sam forgets her phone in the green room, and Pat runs back to get it for her. That's when he witnesses a murder and tries to call the cops. Before long, the band is trapped in the green room, waiting to die at the hands of club owner Darcy (American Dad's Patrick Stewart... I'm sure he's been in a couple other things too). So begins a deadly game of cat and mouse (or, more appropriately, dog and throat) between the band and the Nazis. Will any of our heroes get out alive?
Let's start right off the bat with: this isn't exactly a horror movie. The situation is terrifying, but I'd personally consider Green Room a crime thriller. Honestly, though, an argument could be made in either direction, and ultimately, who cares? This dark, grim, gory film is excellent, no matter how you classify it.
Why did I like it so much? Well, for starters, it's got a great cast. Saulnier regular Macon Blair plays Gabe, a Neo-Nazi that earns his wings, but has a change of heart (by all accounts a secondary character, but even then, this character has probably the most interesting arc of the story), while others in the cast, Imogen Poots, Alia Shawkat and, of course, ultra-villain Patrick Stewart are all great. You can't help but feel a pang of sadness for Anton Yelchin, our main character, who turns in a similarly great performance, showing you what amazing range the young man possessed. Pat is a sympathetic enough character, but when the shit hits the fan, he gets punished for his initial bravery, and his character goes through some deeply troubling changes (how's THAT for no spoilers?), and Yelchin pivots his performance accordingly. The members of the punk band also played all their own instruments, which isn't THAT impressive, as they only play a song or two in the film, but still, it's a very cool detail.
Beyond the cast, however, you'll find wonderfully handled details. From the introduction of the band (complete with a ten-minute intro that perfectly illustrates the struggle of true punk rock in America) to watching the band function in their scenario (they make decisions as a group, in real time, when they sometimes don't have a lot of time to weigh their options), Green Room offers a very realistic glimpse into a nail-biting situation with deadly consequences.
Surprisingly, the filmmaker adds humorous moments to the film, and manages to keep it appropriate. My favourite moments that illustrate Saulnier's sense of humour come from the very end of the film, so I won't reveal them, but one involves a red herring of a dog (leading to a surprisingly sympathetic note. I actually said "aww" aloud), and the very last moments of the movie, where the survivors have an anti-climactic final exchange.
A word of warning, the gore in the film pulls few punches, and when it comes on, it comes heavy. I go on at length in this blog about my desensitisation to cinematic blood and violence, but there was a mutilation of a dead Nazi with a box cutter that sort of made me lose my mind for a moment. And that's not even the worst of it. If that's not the hallmark of "not for the faint of heart", I don't know what is. Still, if that kind of thing doesn't bother you too much, give Green Room a go. Jeremy Saulnier is a class act, and I look forward to other entries in his directing career (and I'm starting to get a little guy-crush on Macon Blair. I'll admit it).
Don't Breathe (Fede Alvarez) - D
Rocky hates her life, what with her mother being mean, and a little sister she wants to flee custody with. Trouble is, she needs money to do it. So she falls into a life of crime with love interest Money and Alex. They break into houses (Alex's dad runs a security company, so they just Rob his clients - a move that in real life would demolish his livelihood), steal crap, and fence it to a contact of Money's. Then they decide to prey on a blind Gulf War vet who is supposedly sitting on a small fortune of settlement money. The trio bites off more than they can chew, however, and soon they must try to outmanoeuvre him, steal his fortune, and in the process, they discover a dark secret the blind man has been hiding (which, while interesting, would probably be impossible to do and then get away with)...
So, here we have an interesting premise - a blind man versus robbers - and do nothing of value with it. I expect this from the flailing corpse of Sony Pictures, but it's hard not to be disappointed all the same. Characters are given the most basic motivations (Rocky hates her Mom, Alex loves Rocky, Money wants money), but even these aren't fleshed out all that well, leading to a predictable romp through a house we don't see even half of. It's drab, it's repetitive
Still, though, the novelty of the premise makes the film at least slightly watchable. And early on, there's enough tension to keep you into it. It just dissolves very quickly, as there's no attempt to keep the film fun or fresh. You might enjoy it if there's nothing better to watch (like Green Room!)
Alien: Covenant [Ridley Scott] - C-
The Covenant is a colony ship carrying several thousand passengers through space, headed to a new world. After a cosmic event disrupts their journey, and kills their captain, Oram (Billy Crudup) assumes command, with Daniels (Katherine Waterston) as his second. The crew discovers that, while their destination is still another seven years away, an unexplored planet they've never seen before has shown up. The crew lands, and is almost immediately beset by biological nightmares. They're only able to be saved by David (Michael Fassbender), the surviving android from the film Prometheus, who lures them back to his sinister lair. Will the crew make it back to space alive? Will Prometheus and Alien get a satisfying bridge?
No, not really. The story is very underwhelming. You could poke a million holes in it, which is a talent of mine, but I'll spare you a laundry list of problems. Fassbender gets to pull double android duty (he is also Walter, the Covenant's service robot, who is coincidentally the same design as David, with a few upgrades), but Walter isn't very interesting, and David isn't revealed until about halfway, making these performances less impactful. Danny McBride plays Tennessee, and plays the role totally straight, but isn't a top notch dramatic performer. Billy Crudup, as the miserable penitent Captain Oram, feels kind of wasted too. His character was one of the better developed in the film, but it doesn't come nearly close to developed enough. Really, only David stands out, and that's only because we've seen him in another movie.
What did get my affection were the visuals. The carryover effects from Prometheus are still neat to behold (though it's pretty goofy that the tech from that movie is now being bridged to Alien, a film that, if nothing else, is rooted in technology that would be long obsolete in the world of Prometheus). A monster that serves as a missing link to the Prometheus creatures and Giger's Alien (the credits call it a 'Neomorph') really steals the show. From its bursting out of the characters that give birth to them (the second of two we see coming to life is the better gore-moment, it is quick but effective), to the final creature confronted in David's lair, the Neomorph is an outstanding use of digital effects. One wonders why David chose to replace them with the better-known Xenomorph, given the Neomorph seems to reproduce by airborne spores while the Xenomorph has to go through the whole egg > facehugger > host > alien life cycle. The airborne aspect alone makes it a far superior parasite, I would think... But I'm not Ridley Scott, so what do I know?
Get Out [Jordan Peele] - B
Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) and Rose (Allison Williams) have been dating for a few months, and it's time for Chris to meet Rose's family. Chris, a young black man, has reservations about meeting them, fearing possible racism, but Rose is quick to dismiss his concerns. They arrive at the small gated community where Rose's parents live, and Chris can't help but notice that the few African-Americans in the area are acting... Strange. At first he mistakes it for hostility, but quickly comes to realize there's something more at play behind these otherwise inoffensive rich folks. Of course, once Chris figures out there's more going on than simply feeling out of place, it's too late.
It's a very neat premise, that in some respects, totally subverts where you think the story is going - a typical, racist narrative. Such a twist is pretty charming. There's a bit of a nod to Psycho, when best friend Rod tries to use his TSA prowess to track Chris down and save him, making Rod feel like a new protagonist when Chris' fate is unknown. Peele uses a lot of good camera work, inserting some dazzling shots dashed throughout the picture. It also helps that Get Out has a great soundtrack, and an outstanding supporting cast (featuring Lil Rel Howery as Rod, who adds just the right amount of comic relief and Catherine Keener as Rose's mother Missy, a hypnotherapist. The scenes of her plying her trade are chilling and effective).
My only real complaint? The pacing is a bit off. It feels as though just a bit too much time is spent in service of setting up the film's admittedly complex premise. The conflict reaches its apex only in the last fifteen or so minutes of the movie. This leaves the conclusion feeling kinda rushed. All the loose ends are tied up, so you can't say it doesn't follow up on it's plot lines, it just really ends fast. This is only a minor problem, however. The rest of Get Out more than makes up for it too.
10 Cloverfield Lane [Dan Trachtenberg] - C+
Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) leaves her boyfriend, and escapes in the night. As she's driving, she's hit by another car, spins off the road and loses consciousness. When she awakens, she learns she's being held by Howard (John Goodman), a high-strung, no nonsense, ex-navy survivalist who claims the world outside his doomsday bunker has been destroyed. He comes to free Michelle as he begins to trust her. Michelle is at first, a poor guest, constantly seeking ways to escape Howard's bunker. Another resident, Emmett assures Michelle that Howard is a good man, but Michelle finds mounting evidence that Howard is more villainous than he appears. Soon, Emmett and Michelle agree that their only way forward is without Howard. Surely, working together, they can free themselves and find what's really going on out there...
The first two-thirds of 10 Cloverfield Lane are great. The small cast is effective, obviously John Goodman plays a phenomenal, relatable antagonist, but Winstead holds her own against his largesse. The story takes deft turns throughout, casting shadows of doubt on what Howard has told Michelle (and the viewers) about the outside world. Even when something appears to be established, one twist can send you spiralling to reconsider what you suspect is true.
The final act, however, really ruins the rest. I'm trying not to give spoilers this year, so let's just say as soon as the all-too-convenient bucket of acid is revealed, things go south. Enough suspense is built upon the unknown threat outside the bunker that keeping its origins somewhat mysterious would have been appropriate. Instead, a CG finale is quizzically inserted to tie the film in with its namesake. I wasn't hugely stoked on Cloverfield, so inserting elements of it into the story in the last 20 minutes felt beyond cheap. Since the ending was fairly critical to the story, this was a major letdown. Be warned.
Lake Mungo [Joel Anderson] - C-
This is a documentary about the mysterious death of sixteen year old Alice Palmer (whose last name can't be a coincidence...), and the supernatural events that plague her family afterwards. The principle subjects are the Palmer family, including father Russel, mother June and younger brother Mathew. Almost immediately following her death, and her father identifying the body, Mathew begins to catch figures wandering about the Palmer place at night with his trusty video camera. Can this evidence be taken at face value? Or is something else going on with the footage? What can you trust to be truth, and what can you write off as fiction?
In terms of following the conventions of a believable documentary, Lake Mungo is fine. None of the actors stand out as being talented, which normally would be a detriment, but for this, it's perfect. Everyone seems perfectly natural, which helps to sell the tone of the movie. There's a few legitimately unnerving moments (the one that got me was footage from Alice's phone, discovered much later in the story), and it manages to make you really feel for Alice's parents.
But there's issues, to be sure. Without spoiling anything (well, anything specific), I gotta warn you that almost 90% of the plot points that come up in the film are red herrings. That's a lot. A little bit of audience manipulation is OK, but constantly revealing your plot points to be misleading is kind of insulting. There's a bizarre plot twist, involving the family's next door neighbours, that seems as though it's going to fundamentally change where the story leads, but then is rendered, almost immediately, unnecessary to the story, and isn't brought up again. Worse yet, much of the film's tension is found through reviewing tapes and photographs, then zooming in on a particular corner or super blurry aspect, revealing something you probably didn't see at first glance. This works initially, but eventually, just feels like you're playing spooky Where's Waldo, and that gets really tired.
Spider Baby, or the Maddest Story Ever Told [Jack Hill] - C
Virginia and Elizabeth, along with their simple brother Ralph (a very young Sid Haig, best known for being Captain Spaulding in Rob Zombie's early films), are the last of the Merrye line - a line that is inflicted with a peculiar bent of cannibalism (among other flaws such as inbreeding and regression). The "children" (actually all adult in body, but child minded - a result of their affliction, but aided by being forbidden to attend regular school) stay at home and are looked after by the family chauffeur, Bruno (played by Lon Chaney Jr., in the twilight of his career). Their world is devastated by receiving a letter from a lawyer, coming to settle the estate of the late Titus Merrye, the children's father. The lawyer (who has a completely unmentioned Hitler moustache) arrives with his assistant, Ann, as well as Peter and Emily, distant relations of the children who may be suitable guardians. What follows is a silly tale of black comedy, full of actual spiders, people acting like spiders, and lots of spider-themed conversations. I don't want to spoil the ending, so I won't, but I promise you this: you'll never see it coming...
What a bizarre little movie. It's a comedy, and it was made in a time where gore-effects were for weirdos, so it's light on blood. What's really striking about it, to me, is that it attempts to take the traditional, theatrical acting and directing styles of the 20s-50s, when most other films being made at the time were starting to adopt realism to approach their narratives. There's also a delightful opening credit sequence, which also hearkens back to previous eras of film-making. This would be something of a puzzler, if I wasn't too busy giggling over all the ridiculous lines, and gauche performances. Even some simpler scenes, such as Peter and Ann driving around looking for a hotel, drunk as skunks, add plenty of chuckles to the affair.
Is it the funniest horror comedy? No. Good heavens, no. But for the late 60s, this one is pretty aware of how ridiculous it is (something more films could take a page from), and runs with it. This is pretty decent fun, even if there are a couple murders in the works. Only occasionally do Bruno and the girls get into a baffling discussion about simple matters, and repeat themselves endlessly. That's got a kind of charm to it too, I suppose. A delightful surprise, and a cult classic.
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7 down, 24 to go. This week is largely up in the air, but tonight I'll be treating myself to 70s LSD-Gone-Wrong feature Blue Sunshine, featuring a lot of bald caps and probably some kind of anti-acid PSA.
See you in a week (probably?), Scarebears.
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