Posts

Wildwood

-
Image
Wildwood Starring Peyton Elizabeth Lee, Jacob Tremblay, Carey Mulligan, Mahershala Ali Directed by Travis Knight Many people say Hollywood is a soulless machine, designed exclusively to churn out product that'll get the most butts in seats, regardless of its quality. While the cinematic landscape is inundated with superhero movies, sequels, prequels and remakes, audiences clamor for something new - even though those aforementioned genres bring in the most revenue. "Wildwood" is an original idea (taken from a novel, but not a well-known IP) that checks all the boxes, yet bombed opening weekend, proving that while audiences cry out for original content, they're more than happy settling for Big Macs when they could have a fancy four-course meal instead. In Portland, Oregon, Prue McKeel (Peyton Elizabeth Lee) lives with her hippy parents and baby brother Mac, and sees the world through a cynical lens. Although she promises not to take Mac outside when the parents are away...
Post a Comment
Read more

Clayface

-
Image
Clayface Starring Tom Rhys Harries, Naomi Ackie, David Dencik, Max Minghella Directed by James Watkins Movies about villains are all the rage lately, with Sony's "Spider-Man" adjacent films like "Morbius," "Madame Web," "Venom" and "Kraven" hardly making a dent, and Disney villainous spinoffs like "Maleficent" faring much better. DC has its own line of rogue's gallery of villains, including the Oscar-winning film "Joker" (we won't mention the sequel), and "The Penguin" dominating the television landscape. With James Gunn's new lead in the DCU, before we get Batman we get one of his most unique and sympathetic villains, Clayface. While "Joker" obviously took from Martin Scorsese classics like "The King of Comedy," director James Watkins takes license from David Cronenberg and his unique brand of body horror with "Clayface," an R-rated dark horror movie that does ...
Post a Comment
Read more

You Can See Everything

-
Image
You Can See Everything Starring Elizabeth Holmes, Nathan Fielder, Billy Evans, Lance Oppenheim Directed by Lance Oppenheim & Nathan Fielder Documentaries are fascinating because they shed light on a topic, person, or event that we've heard about through news articles or other means of investigations, and usually we get a deeper sense of the subject because of it. It's a genre that's specific and has no room to stray away from its intended purpose, and while some excellent ones have been done (including the likes of "Free Solo," "Hoop Dreams," "Summer of Soul" and "An Inconvenient Truth"), one has now taken the title of best documentary ever, and that belongs to Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim's "You Can See Everything." It managed to subvert expectations for a generic documentary and took me places I never expected, resulting in a second act that feels almost like a David Finch mystery than documentary, and one I ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Special Review: "Dead Man Walking"

-
Image
The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem: "Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher. "Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless." This is taken from Ecclesiastes 1:1-2 in the Bible, and was traditionally thought of to be written by King Solomon, the most intelligent and powerful man in the world at that time. He had amassed vast wealth, women, and property, and supposedly wrote this book at the end of his reign, proving that you can have all the earthy riches of the world but in the end find it all meaningless.  This is also the opening sequence in the Mario Ricciardi-directed follow-up to his fantastic debut film "Midwest Sessions" called "Dead Man Walking." The film follows a company man named Joe (played by Thomas Kushner) who is tasked with an assignment - travel across the Midwest to deliver legal documents to a mysterious purchaser whose documents could hold cosmic implications. Ricciardi is well known for blending ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Mutiny

-
Image
Mutiny Starring Jason Statham, Annabelle Wallis, Jason Wong, Roland Moller Directed by Jean-Francois Richet Jason Statham has fully fallen into the Liam Neeson trap - doing any low-grade action movie that's handed his way. He used to star in major motion pictures like the "Fast and the Furious" franchise, "Spy," "The Expendables" and "Meg," but now he's resorted to films like "Shelter," "A Working Man," "Operation Fortune" and "Wrath of Man." Basically each movie has the same premise - Statham is a one-man wrecking crew who dispatches numerous unnamed baddies before confronting the big bad and murdering him in a ruthless way. Not necessarily bad, these movies are just mid at best, serving as perfect movies to watch on a Saturday afternoon when you're doing housework or having something on in the background, and "Mutiny" is no different. After spending a life in service in the military ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Don't Move

-
Image
Don't Move Starring Lyndsy Fonseca, Tom Cavanagh, Russ, Rob Riggle Directed by Maclain Nelson Rarely does a movie arrive that I know nothing about, but while looking through my Regal app for a movie to see I came across "Don't Move," and thought to myself, "I've never heard anything about this." So I ignored the trailer, imdb, and any articles about the movie before going into it. Then I realized the mistake I made. This movie is a creature feature that's reminiscent of the classics and had all the B-rated gore and comedy you'd expect, but the creature in this movie is something that terrifies me in real life: a massive spider. While obviously done with VFX and looking nothing like a real spider, I found myself cringing in my seat numerous times, and I was pleasantly surprised by the emotional heft that the movie also held. One year after a tragic event, Megan (Lyndsy Fonseca) decides to go on a church camping trip led by Pastor Rizzo (Tom Cavana...
Post a Comment
Read more

V/H/S/Mixtape

-
Image
V/H/S/Mixtape Starring Barbara Crampton, Jihad Brent, Alex Hsu, Neela Jolene Directed by Flying Lotus, Renee Zhan, David Moreau, Ernest Dickerson, RZA   2025's "V/H/S/Halloween" was one of the best in the long-running franchise, showcasing different directors delivering their take on Halloween horror hijinks and making for a great Halloween tradition. Sadly, the follow-up, "V/H/S/Mixtape" has the opposite effect. Not only is it the worst in the franchise, but it wastes its opportunity to tell thoughtful, terrifying stories all centering around sound. What we get instead is a lazy, haphazard set of shorts (with the exception of one, but even that might be because it was the last one and therefore better by comparison) that is devoid of scares, filled with subpar performances, and sadly a waste of time. This wraparound story is directed by Flying Lotus and basically features the band GWAR doing their bit - being strange, wearing outlandish costumes, and acting alm...
Post a Comment
Read more