It’s certainly an interesting story, & I liked the setup of how it was told, but the tone was all over the place. Some of the comedic moments felt a little glib & weird next to scenes that were meant to have emotional weight. Showing captions of the poems on screen didn’t really work for me, nor did the fourth wall breaking. Molly Shannon was wonderful as usual, but the younger versions of Emily & her sister in law weren’t very good at all. Unfortunately, the thing as a whole just didn’t work.
20 May 2019: The Fits
What a creative coming of age movie. I loved the performances & the economy of dialogue. The story unfolds very simply but there’s so much there to unpack.
I watched another movie called The Falling, starring Maisie Williams, about girls st a boarding school who mysteriously start to have fainting spells. Of the two movies recently to compare becoming a woman to having seizures, The Fits is by far the superior one.
19 May 2019: Between Two Women
Nice enough little kitchen-sink drama that feels like it could’ve been made in the 70s. We’re dropped into an already developing relationship, which is a little odd. Not sure why the filmmaker went that route. The performances & the writing are all around good, though.
19 May 2019: The Other
It’s tough to remember a time when a plot twist like this would be surprising. Without it you’ve got piecemeal sequences from the book that don’t coalesce very well. Uta Hagen is great fun to watch, at least.
I read the book a long time ago but I remember it being pretty decent. Not as good as Harvest Home by the same author, which I read last year & really dug. I think there’s a movie of that, too, but I haven’t seen it yet.
15 May 2019: House
It was cute, but I don’t really like my horror cute. This would be a good entry scary movie for kids, & I’m sure if I had caught this on cable as a kid I would’ve been all about it. The Vietnam subject matter made me wonder how many 70s & 80s horror films were influenced by the war. I’ve read about Tom Savini being an army photographer there during the war, & how that affected his sfx creations, but other than that I don’t know much.
10 May 2019: Body at Brighton Rock
This is a fairly straightforward man vs nature thriller, & Benjamin accomplishes what she set out to do. Though my horror tastes run a little weirder than hers, I like Roxanne Benjamin & how she approaches her films. I also like the idea that female leads don’t always have to be strong, capable superwomen. It’s refreshing to see a movie based around a normal woman, flaws & all. I would’ve liked a bit more suspense, but that’s my only complaint.
Edit: That’s actually not my only complaint. I wish they hadn’t used a real bear. Using wild animals in movies is mean.
18 April 2019: The Wind
This review may contain spoilers.
I had the same problem with this as I had with The Descent - we’re introduced to these strong, capable women only to watch them destroy themselves in competition with another woman over a man. It’s disappointing; even moreso when the writer & director are both women.
14 April 2019: The Field Guide to Evil
I’m a sucker for a good anthology, & this one has a great premise - folklore from around the world. It’s uneven, but what anthology isn’t? The Twilight Zone movie, maybe? Or is that one disqualified because of what happened during filming? Anyway, this doesn’t approach Twilight Zone movie quality, but you could find worse ways to spend your time. Plus, we’re talking about the filmmakers who brought you Goodnight Mommy, The Lure & Baskin here. That should be more than enough to sell you.
The first & last segments are my favorites. The first one is like if Thomasin from The VVitch was extra weird & a lesbian. The last one is a silent film that features a large amount of semen, I think? The only one that’s outright shitty is the Melonheads segment. You can just skip that one. I know you won’t, but you’re going to wish you had. The creature design is so lame it ruins the whole thing. I’m annoyed just thinking about it.
7 April 2019: Pet Sematary
It wasn’t what I was hoping it would be, but was serviceable for what it was. I wanted something with a distinct feel, like Starry Eyes had, but there was nothing that made me think “yeah, this is totally Kölsch & Widmeyer.” Anyone could’ve made it. About the only way this improves on the 89 version is the acting, which was really the only problem with that one.
The plot changes they made were fine with me (it’s their adaptation, they can do what they want imo), but the production design lacked any of the surreality that made the original so creepy, & the way the resurrected people moved came off a bit silly. One of the most effective things about the novel & the original film is the way the returned characters seemed to be unaccustomed to getting around in their bodies. This helped give us the feeling that they were animated by something else & that force was using them as a puppet. In this iteration, though I liked that they brought in some of the scary knowledge the dead had in the novel, they spoiled the mood by making them super strong & dexterous.
It’ll be a perfectly fine companion to the current spate of bigger budget horror films that have been making studios so much money, but I doubt I’ll watch it again.
3 April 2019: Vampyros Lesbos
How do you make a boring lesbian vampire movie? Here’s how. There were a few lovely shots, & the leads were nice to look at. Otherwise, there’s not much to recommend. The acting is awful, but not funny awful. The music IS funny awful. I’m pretty sure a kazoo is used in one of the songs, in fact.
1 April 2019: Climax
The dancing was hypnotic, especially with the very Gaspar Noe-y camerawork. It felt very long for being 96 minutes, though. With Irreversible I didn’t mind the extended shots where nothing much is going on, because the plot & dialogue had me on the hook. This one had a very loose plot & what seemed like ad-libbed dialogue, so it was much less engaging. I did appreciate the depiction of people on LSD without the usual visual movie cues that accompany it. It was an interesting change of pace to be entirely outside of the characters’ experience.
27 March 2019: Dave Made a Maze
Light-hearted, surreal & very silly. I liked this a bunch. The art direction is absolutely wonderful. And those kill scenes! I’m always thrilled when something this original comes along.
23 March 2019: Us
It makes me so happy that a movie this weird is playing on multiple screens in theaters across the country. God bless Jordan Peele for bringing weird to the masses. Plus, this horror movie that’s going to break all kinds of box office records has a black woman as it’s central character. AND she’s a mother! How neat is that? Honestly, I’m so glad people like Jordan Peele & Julia Ducournau & Jennifer Kent exist. It’s wonderful to have smart horror films that have something to say again. I feel like horror hasn’t been this interesting since the 70s.
14 March 2019: The Exorcist III
The scary parts are still really scary, but the last act is substantially cheesier than I remember it. The dialogue between Kindermann & his priest buddy is wonderful, as are the performances. It’s really a shame about that ending.
10 March 2019: The Hole in the Ground
You can go ahead & forget the hype, it’s not in the same league as Hereditary or The Babadook. As far as A24 releases go, it’s not even The Monster. This could pass for one of the better Blumhouse releases, like a Ouija: Origin of Evil or similar. So, if you like those you could do worse. Just keep those expectations low.