Author: Major Tom

Released: April 2024

Director: Alex Garland

Run Time: 109 Minutes

Rated R

Distributor: A24

Genre: Drama/Thriller

Cast:
Kirsten Dunst: Lee
Nick Offerman: President
Wagner Moura: Joel
Cailee Spaeny: Jessie
Stephen McKinley Henderson: Sammy

What makes a movie important?  Is it the subject matter?  Or is it the time in which the film was made?  The fact of the matter is, is that a lot of reasons go into making a movie important, especially in cultural terms.  When you look back in the early days of cinema, the mere fact that the medium was invented was important.  It changed again when silent movies became “talkies.”  When The Wizard of Oz and Gone With The Wind came out, color was added, giving these films more depth and personality.  But over the decades, the how and why of movies became important began changing.  Psycho from 1960 featured one of the first brutal onscreen deaths in a shower.  In 1977, Star Wars changed how movies were made in terms of special effects and camera-work.  But again, movies began changing in terms of how they were written and the subject matter involved.  In 1993, Steven Spielberg released Schindler’s List.  The subject matter in that film is still relevant.  So, what do we have today that one could consider important?  Honestly? Alex Garland’s Civil War.

Civil War takes place in a not-to-distant future in which the United States is embroiled in a Second Civil War.  The movie follows Joel and Lee, two veteran photojournalists as they document deteriorating situations in New York.  Lee sees Jessie, a wannabe war photographer, and they take cover when an explosion rocks the city streets.  Later in a hotel, Joel and Lee agree to take a former New York Times journalist, Sammy, to Charlottesville, before they head to Washington D.C.  Jessie also tags along to learn from Lee.  During their journey, they see some truly horrific things that are being perpetrated by rebel forces, before they reach Charlottesville in Virginia.  There’s been some controversy over the last couple of weeks surrounding Civil War.  A lot of that stems from people not understanding what kind of movie this is.  This is not really an action movie, and it’s certainly not a glorified war movie.  This is essentially a road trip movie, where the audience is along for the ride every step of the way.  There is nary a moment when the cameras aren’t on our main group.  Because the film focuses on the journalists here, it wisely avoids making a political statement be it left or right.  The purpose was to show the truth from the ground level, and the audience is not given a direct answer as to how the war started or why.  People looking for answers are not going to get them here.  This about the journey, not the destination, even if the journey is terrifying.  There are moments in this movie that will be shocking to a lot of people, because most people don’t want to think of themselves as capable of doing such horrendous things.  Well, American history has a very different story to tell.  This is an intense and harrowing film that doesn’t let go until the credits roll.

When I said this wasn’t an action, I meant it.  There’s really nothing fun about what’s happening on screen.  When the violence hits, you feel it.  There is a scene in which our journalists run into two more people on the way to D.C when they encounter a couple of soldiers that have dug a mass grave.  This is perhaps the most intense moment in the film, and we have Jesse Plemons to thank for such a white-knuckle sequence.  He plays an unnamed soldier, but this guy is absolutely mean.  If you felt that our journalists weren’t safe before, this scene hammers it home.  There are some solid battle sequences, especially the D.C. battle, but again, that’s not what the movie’s about.  We are on the ground with these intrepid photojournalists as they try to document everything that they’ve seen and that sometimes leads them into some really harrowing situations.  You’re not rooting for one military faction over another, you’re rooting for Lee and company to survive and get their job done.

The acting here is absolutely amazing.  I’ve personally never been a fan of Kirsten Dunst, but when given the right material she does pretty well, and she’s in top form here as a veteran photojournalist that took Jessie under her wing.  Cailee Spaeny as Jessie is a revelation.  We see her evolution as this “greenhorn” journalist as she gets shaken up by some of what she sees early on.  In fact, the entire audience is essentially seeing all this through HER eyes, so when she gets shaken up, so do we.  Stephen McKinley Henderson has this kind of slightly grizzled but grandfatherly warmth about him that makes him incredibly endearing.  He’s so good.  I mentioned Jesse Plemons earlier, and I have to reiterate that he’s a fantastic actor, despite him basically being a cameo here.  Everyone else does a fantastic job.

For all the horrendous things happening in this movie, it’s a stunningly shot movie.  The wide-shots overlooking the cityscapes is phenomenal, and even from the ground, everything is bright and easy to see.  There is some shaky-cam used, but unlike most movies, there’s a reason for that: Chaos.  There’s definitely some CGI used in this movie, because you can’t really have a full-scale assault on Washington D.C. so you have to be very creative with something like that, and it works pretty well.  I tell you, though, the one thing that this movie nails is the sound.  I’m not talking the music.  No, the actual sound.  When the guns and explosions go off, you FEEL it.  During the battle sequences, our theater was literally shaking.  This movie was a fantastic experience.

Look, considering the current state of things here in the United States, some people were a bit concerned about Civil War being released during such a contentious period.  I would argue that there was no better time to release this movie.  Regardless of which side of the political spectrum you’re on, you owe it to yourself to see this movie, but you need to set your politics aside for about two hours.  The movie is apolitical as you can get.  It doesn’t go into detail about who started the war or why, although it is inferred that the president disbanded the FBI and ended up getting a third term in office, despite the fact that the US Constitution prevents that from happening.  A lot of that is going to be left to the audience’s imagination, where it’s sure to be more terrifying and outrageous.  Director Alex Garland made the wise decision for the movie to avoid taking sides, even if the audience eventually will.  It’s a sharp movie and I’m actually glad that it exists.  The idea is for the audience to leave the theater hoping that a second civil war won’t happen.  Will it happen?  Right now?  I doubt it, at least not in the form that took place in this film.  But, never say never.  I just hope that we wise up enough to avoid getting to that situation, because nobody’ll win.  So, I do highly recommend Civil War, but not to people who are unwilling to set aside their politics for about 2 hours.  Let the movie speak for itself.

I think everybody and their grandmother knows about the Devil from Christian lore.  You know, the first angel created by God and was cast out of Heaven for rebelling against his father.  Over the centuries, Satan has been portrayed as this red entity that has horns, a tail, and goat legs complete with hooves.  He’s always been portrayed that way in religious texts and art, and that image is what most people think of when they talk about the Devil.  So…why do I bring up the Prince of Darkness?  I’m not a believer, but I just find Christian/Catholic dogma to be inherently fascinating.  I’m particularly fond of religious-themed horror movies, even if some of them don’t actually deal with the supernatural aspects of the religion.  So, what I’m going to talk about in this post are movies that are themed around religion and/or the Devil.

The First Omen

This was the most recent movie I watched in theaters.  The First Omen is the prequel to the original 1976 film The Omen starring Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, and David Warner.  This movie is pretty fucked up in a lot of ways, but it expands on the original movie by exploring the genesis of the Antichrist, which leads to some pretty gnarly sequences of female body horror.  Essentially, the film is calling out the Catholic Church for mistreating women and manipulating the public.  But beyond that, you have extraordinary performances from Nell Tiger Free and Ralph Ineson.  It’s really one of the best horror movies I’ve seen in the last 5 years.  For fans of horror, you need to get out and see this movie.

The Omen(1976)

This may be hard to believe, but Richard Donner’s Superman: The Movie wouldn’t have happened without The Omen.  This movie was released in the height of the Exorcist craze.  While THAT film dealt with possession, this one dealt with son of the Devil, the Antichrist.  Yet, one of the most interesting things about the movie is that it never gave a definitive answer to whether or not Damien really was the Antichrist.  There’s a lot of goings-on in the film that one could rightfully interpret as mere coincidence.  It’s a highly atmospheric thriller with really strong performances from Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, and David Warner.  It also features one of the most shocking and controversial death scenes in any horror during the 70s.

End of Days

I wouldn’t consider End of Days to be one of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s best movies.  It IS one of his more interesting efforts because not only does he play a different kind of character than we’re used to seeing, at least for the first hour and a half, he’s going up against an indestructible enemy: Satan himself.  In fact, Old Scratch himself is making a personal effort in this film to find a woman that’ll have his kid.  It all has to happen in that last hour on New Year’s Eve.  It’s ridiculous, but it is a lot of fun.  Gabriel Byrne is clearly having fun chewing the scenery as the fallen angel.  Kevin Pollack is the comic relief as Arnie’s partner.  This is the most human that we’ve seen Schwarzenegger up until this point, and it kind of works.  Now, to be honest, I’m not a big fan of the MTV-style editing during the action sequences.  For the first hour and a half, it’s more Exorcist, but the last half-hour is basically Commando with big guns.  Nobody’s perfect.

Megiddo: Omega Code 2

I’ve often been accused of watching some schlocky movies…and…yeah, I do.  But the schlock that I watch is a very different kind of schlock when you compare it to faith-based films.  That shit is mostly irredeemable hogwash that tends to PREACH at its audience about having faith in God.  It makes my skin crawl.  While I haven’t seen the first Omega Code, this one clearly doesn’t require you to.  Satan takes the form of a child named Stone Alexander, who grows up to be Michael York.  Stone also has a brother that grows up to be Michael Biehn.  This movie is essentially a very LOOSE interpretation of the Book of Revelations.  Satan/Stone gains control over most of the world and plans on attacking Jerusalem, kickstarting Armageddon.  It’s as ridiculous as it sounds, and I guess that’s why I’m partial to it.  It’s not a good movie, but it’s got a stacked cast: Michael York chews the scenery like its nobody’s business, and he’s having fun.  The late R. Lee Ermey plays the president, while Michael Biehn is David, Stone’s brother.  This is not a horror movie.  It’s supposed to be an action epic of apocalyptic proportions, but it’s clearly a low-budget movie, so it can’t really properly convey the scale of the final battle between good and evil.  Some of the special effects are decent enough, and there’s a lot of practical action sequences, so it’s not a total loss.

The Exorcist

On a list of movies that shocked and disturbed people, I’m sure that The Exorcist is somewhere near the top.  50 years later, this movie still commands a lot of power.  Why?  It approached the idea of exorcism realistically with a distraught mother going to every psychologist and mental institute to figure out what’s wrong with her daughter.  One of the doctors ultimately suggested an exorcism.  She’s not a believer, but she finds a priest who essentially tells her to do what she’s already done.  Jason Miller’s Damian Karras eventually calls on Max von Sydow’s Father Merrin, who is an expert exorcist.  This movie, even today has some pretty disturbing material, especially involving a crucifix.  This movie was the basis for all future movies that dealt with the subject matter.  Is the Devil actually involved here?  We’re not given an answer in this movie, even though we find out in sequels that it’s not.  Linda Blair’s performance here was extraordinary.  In fact, everybody was great.  It’s haunting, disturbing, and absolutely one of the best horror movies ever made.  For most horror fans, this is a pillar of the genre.

The Last Days in the Desert

Earlier I mentioned that most faith-based movies are a bunch of pretentious nonsense.  The Last Days in the Desert is a faith-based film, but it approaches Yeshua/Jesus as a human being that seems to be suffering a crisis of faith.  Ewan McGregor is excellent here.  Not only does he play Jesus, but he also plays the Devil, who taunts him throughout the film.  The dichotomy between the two is brilliant, because the Devil absolutely brings up a lot of really good points to be used against God, yet Yeshua remains faithful, despite the world around him falling apart.  The moments between Jesus and Satan are the most compelling parts of the movie.  The ones with the family that he encounters are paper-thin.  This isn’t a great movie, if I’m being honest, but as a faith-based movie, it’s the least offensive to me.

The Devil has been a fixture in horror movies and television shows for decades, and has been portrayed in various ways.  If you believe the dogma, Lucifer’s had a sizable grudge against mankind for thousands of years.  But nobody’s ever thought to look at the world through Lucifer’s eyes.  You never know what you might gleam from that perspective.  Of course, for the “faithful,” that would be extremely blasphemous, since good and evil are so cut-and-dried.  Anyhoo, those are some of the movies where Satan has major influence in the story.  I think some of these movies are a HELL of a good time.

Director: Arkasha Stevenson

Released: April 2024

Run Time: 120 Minutes

Rated R

Distributor: 20th Century Studios

Genre: Horror/Thriller

Cast:
Nell Tiger Free: Margaret
Ralph Ineson: Father Brennan
Sonia Braga: Sister Silva
Tawfeek Barhom: Father Gabriel
Maria Caballero: Luz
Charles Dance: Father Harris
Bill Nighy: Cardinal Lawrence

When Disney bought 20th Century Fox, a lot of people were concerned that Disney was going to water down certain franchises to try and appeal to ALL audiences.  Well, over the last couple of years, they’ve been letting the newly bought 20th Century Studios do their own thing.  Because of that, we’re starting to see certain franchises being given new energy.  The Predator franchise was on life support since Shane Black’s The Predator stumbled it’s way into theaters to mostly negative reviews.  Well, Dan Trachtenberg’s Prey breathed new life into the franchise with a film that went back to its roots with a movie set far enough in the past to not actually be a direct prequel.  While it was released only on Hulu, it garnered enough views and good reviews that a sequel is now in the works.  Same thing’s happening with Alien.  After the financial disaster that was Alien: Covenant, that particular series was also put on the back burner.  Well, in August, we are getting Alien Romulus, directed by Evil Dead director Fede Alvarez.  These weren’t the only IPs in 20th Century’s pocket.  They also had The Omen.  To be fair, there hadn’t been a good Omen movie since the original Gregory Peck movie in 1976.  Nearly out of nowhere, we have a prequel called The First Omen.  Horror fans have been eating good these last couple of years and 2024 is shaping up to be another one.

The First Omen is set in 1971, 5 years before the events of the original movie.  Margaret, a nun who was orphaned as a child, arrives in Rome to begin a lifetime of service to the Catholic Church.  She soon encounters a troubled young girl that she hopes to connect with, when horrifying things begin to happen.  She soon encounters an exiled priest named Brennan who explains that a certain group of members of the Church are part of a vast conspiracy to try and scare people back into the arms of the Church by bringing forth the Antichrist.  The original film from 1976 hinted at a vast conspiracy to put the Antichrist into a position of political power.  The prequel puts a face to that conspiracy…and it’s the Catholic Church.  If you’ve seen the original Gregory Peck film, you have an idea where this movie’s going, but there enough twists, turns, and surprises that you won’t see coming.  Hey, David Gordon Green:  THIS is how you make a legacy follow-up.  You don’t cash in on the franchise name, you need to build a human story that happens to be SET in that particular world.  First-time film director Arkasha Stevenson comes out of the gate full steam with a dark and twisted tale that not only widens the world of the original movie, but stands well enough on its own that you don’t need to see the original movie.  You’ll probably get more out of it if you had, but it’s not required.  This is an outstanding story and easily the best in the franchise since 1976.

Before I really get into why I love this movie, I want to talk about why the marketing for this movie flat-out sucks.  Why does the marketing suck?  It’s practically non-existent.  The first trailer for the movie showed up merely weeks ago, but there had been nothing on social media about it.  When it comes to horror movies, I like to think I’m on top of it with most movies, but The First Omen flew under my radar.  I heard whispers about a prequel being made a couple of years ago, but I didn’t think any movement was being made.  I found out about this movie only last weekend.  On top of that, there was a review embargo that didn’t lift until about two days ago as of this writing.  That’s never a good sign.  That usually means the studio has no faith in the film(pun partially intended).  I don’t know why.  This movie is fantastic.  I get that the Omen franchise isn’t exactly top-tier 20th Century Studios material, but this movie deserved better marketing than what it got.  All I can hope is that word of mouth spreads far and wide about it.

The First Omen features some of the best acting I’ve seen in a horror movie in quite some time.  Nell Tiger Free plays Margaret.  The performance this lady gives is Oscar-worthy, in my opinion.  Her character gets put through the ringer, but Ms. Free goes all in, especially during the more harrowing moments in the film.  Ralph Ineson is no stranger to these kinds of movies, having starred in Robert Egger’s The Witch in 2015, and voiced the demon Asmodeus in The Pope’s Exorcist just last year.  He’s such an underrated actor.  His character, Father Brennan, was first played by Patrick Troughton in the original movie, but Ralph really makes it his own.  Bill Nighy plays Cardinal Lawrence, a character that on the surface seems like a real stand-up kind of guy.  Legendary actor Charles Dance makes an appearance at the beginning of the film, but isn’t really given anything.  It feels like a wasted cameo.

The original movie relied more on atmosphere than special effects, and it absolutely worked, even though there were some pretty brutal deaths in that film.  This one’s a bit more gruesome.  The film is essentially an origin story for the Antichrist, so it ends up being pretty messy.  It appears that most of the effects are practical, and the CGI that’s used is decent enough.  Again, this is the kind of movie that relies on tension and characters rather than gore, even though there’s plenty there for the gore-hounds.  Again, a part of why a lot of this works is because the actors really put in the work to make it believable.  It also doesn’t hurt that the film feels like a 70s horror thriller because of the way it was shot.  It is very clear to me that Ms. Stevenson is a fan of horror AND The Omen, because this really feels like it belongs in that era.  It takes real talent to deliver that kind of feel in a movie, and Ms. Stevenson knocks it out of the park.  Not bad for a first-time movie director.

Any issues that I have with this movie are more related to the marketing.  Everything else though is phenomenal.  It’s not going to be a movie for everybody, because it deals with subject matter that can be disturbing in a lot of ways.  There are moments in this movie that truly are disturbing, so for those weak stomachs, you may want to give it a pass.  It pulls no punches. For the horror fans, though, this is going to end up being one of the best the genre has put out in the last 5 years.  The First Omen did what The Exorcist: Believer failed to do:  Tell a compelling narrative that doesn’t rely on its name-sake.  I absolutely recommend this one.

Five years ago, Disney bought out 20th Century Fox, the home to a MULTITUDE of excellent films and film franchises.  73 billion dollars was the magic number.  With that, Disney finally acquired ALL the Star Wars movies, because Fox had owned the original in perpetuity(forever).  But with Fox went Alien, Predator, X-Men, and so many others.  People were concerned, and rightfully so, about whether or not Disney was going to dumb down the harder-edged franchise like Alien and Predator to suit their more…family-friendly image.  Well, Disney had tried to assure the audiences that R-rated movies were still going to get made, but they would not be under the Disney logo.  Disney was also the owner of studios like Miramax and Hollywood Pictures who were known for their more adult-oriented fare.

I can tell you right now, that Disney is not afraid of letting 20th Century Studios continue putting out the really violent R-rated movies.  While The Last Duel bombed at the box office(pandemic), there was still a market for the harder-edged movies.  Enter Prey, the latest film in the Predator franchise, directed by Dan Trachtenberg and released directly to Hulu.  It was rated R, and it did phenomenally well on Hulu.  It was one of the most-watched movies that Hulu had ever seen.  It was fantastic.  Then came the Hellraiser reboot.  Again, that was a movie that I never thought was ever going to get made.  It was fairly well-received as well.  When it was announced the Fede Alvarez, the director of the Evil Dead remake and the low-budget thriller Don’t Breathe was hired to helm the upcoming Alien Romulus film, horror fans got energized.  Considering that both Alien and Predator were both run into the ground by 20th Century Fox, Prey was a great surprise.  Well, the first teaser trailer for Alien Romulus dropped this morning as of this writing, and I have to say….holy shit:

First off, it looks like Romulus is going back to basics with Alien.  From what I understand, this movie is actually set between the original Ridley Scott film and James Cameron’s more action-oriented sequel.  But the visual aesthetic is more in line with Scott’s movie.  The look and shape of the corridors feels right out of the 1979 movie.  The steam and the lighting really add to the atmosphere.  The teaser’s only a minute long, but in that minute, the hairs on my arms and back stood up straight.  I consider myself to be an apologist for the Alien franchise.  I love all these movies, but even I noticed a downward trend starting with Alien 3.  It just got to the point where the mystery of the creature was no longer there.  Prometheus and Alien Covenant explored the origins of the creature.  When you explain the origins of a monster like the xenomorph, you inadvertently eliminate the mystique of the creature.  Was it a naturally existing creature or was it a biological weapon?  Up until Prometheus, that was never answered.  It never should’ve have been.  The more you know about the creature, the less terrifying it becomes.

That said, Fede Alvarez is just the kind of guy to breathe new life into this franchise.  He hit the ground running with the excellent Evil Dead remake and followed that up with the incredibly intense Don’t Breathe.  This guy knows how to use atmosphere to instill dread and terror.  It also doesn’t hurt that he knows how to use gore to spectacular effect.  Romulus is going to be gory.  I’ve no doubt of that, but it’s the atmosphere that’s drawing me toward it.  As with most teasers, we’re given a taste of what to expect, but we’re not given enough information to know what’s going, like the story.  They’ll save that for the next trailer which should hit sometime in late June or early July.  The movie itself is set to release in August.  You bet your ass I’m going to be there, day one.

Because of Prey, I think that the person in charge of 20th Century Studios Steve Asbell, is understanding how much these franchises mean to people, and wants them done right.  If Prey and Alien Romulus are any indication, I think these movies have a real future.  Not only are we going to be getting a sequel to Prey, but we’ve got even more Alien goodness on the way in the form of TV series that’s being helmed by Noah Hawley.  Oh, I think Alien is here to stay.  I was less sure when Covenant bombed at the box office and Neill Blomkamp’s direct sequel to Aliens was canceled.  I haven’t been the biggest fan of Disney, but their approach with 20th Century Studios is making me more optimistic about the future of these franchises.  I don’t know if Alien Romulus is going to be good, it may not be, but with Alvarez at the helm, it’s going to be memorable one way or another.  I can’t wait.  The movie hits theaters on August 16th.  Hell, yeah.