Month: February 2019

Released: October 2018

Director: George Tilllman, Jr.

Rated PG-13

Run Time: 133 Minutes

Distributor: 20th Century Fox

Genre: Drama

Cast:
Amandla Stenberg: Starr Carter
Regina Hall: Lisa Carter
Russell Hornsby: Maverick Carter
Anthony Mackie: King
Issa Rae: April Ofrah
Common: Carlos
Algee Smith: Khalil
K.J. Apa: Chris

Do you want to know why I love film as a medium?  It’s not just a method of delivering a story or a form of education.  It’s also a tool.  It’s a tool that can help shape the world in ways that we’ve never been able to before.  Film is a medium that isn’t reserved for the few.  It’s something that can reach millions of people across the world.  It can be used as a way to bring people together or to divide.  There is more power in film than most people will ever admit.  In some ways, it can be far more powerful than just reading a book.  There is a unique potential in film to change the world for the better, and if it can’t, it will lead to conversations and actions that will.  THAT is the power of film.  THAT is why I talk about movies, because every once in a while, you come across a film that is not only powerful, but extremely profound in ways that we have yet to imagine.  Movies that spark conversation about our society are the movies that can incite change.  Hopefully, for the better.  One such film is The Hate U Give.

The film opens on a small black family as Maverick, the father, tells his children about how to behave if and when they are confronted by police.  A few years later, Starr, the daughter of Maverick, is attending a predominantly white prep school.  A few days later, she’s at a party with her friends when she runs into an old crush, Khalil.  After a fight breaks out, Khalil takes Starr home when they’re pulled over by a cop.  Khalil is shot and killed by the cop because he pulled out a hairbrush.  Traumatized by the event, Starr’s life at home and at school begin to fall apart as news reaches her that the cop may not be prosecuted.  While this particular story is fiction, the fact of the matter is is that stuff like this happens every single day in real life, so there is an element of realism to what happens in the film.  There are a lot of thematic elements in the film that deal with racism, police brutality, and black-on-black crime.  All of these things feed into each other and make for a very tense situation.  While the film is centered around Starr and her experience with law enforcement and some of the situations that cops themselves find themselves in.  Starr also has to deal with the fact that her classmates have been using this tragedy for their own gain.  Again, this also happens in real life, so things like this are not entirely inaccurate.  I love this story because it doesn’t really hold the audience’s hand and actually forces them to confront these issues that are plaguing our society today.

The performances in this film are absolutely amazing.  Russell Hornsby’s performance as Maverick is incredible as an ex-con that’s trying to protect and provide for his family.  Regina Hall delivers that motherly warmth that makes you want to hug her.  She’s amazing.  The breakout performance of The Hate U Give is Amandla Stenberg as Starr.  She is the heart and soul of this picture.  Amandla gives such a powerful performance for someone so young, it’s incredible.  I can’t say that I relate to the character, because I’m not from that walk of life, so I have no idea what it’s like to be confronted with bigotry, but Amandla’s performance has you on the character’s side every step of the way and you begin to feel what she feels, especially if you have a strong sense of justice and see that ripped from you.  Amandla has an incredibly bright future ahead of her.  Rapper Common also delivers a pretty striking performance as Starr’s cop uncle Carlos.  There is a scene in Carlos’ house where he describes what happens when a cop confronts a black man, and then describes a situation when a cop confronts a white man.  Seeing his reaction when Starr confronts him about it says everything that needs to be said about the situation and how wrong it is.

All the protests that you see in the film are incredibly well-staged and shot, and it looks like something you would see on the news, because these protests have been on the news.  One of the most striking scenes in the film is the opening when Maverick is telling his kids how to behave in front of a cop.  Honestly, I had no idea that was even a thing until I watched one of the special features on the Blu-Ray.  That speaks more to my ignorance of how people in these smaller communities live and raise their kids.  It’s not a reality that I’m used to seeing, so it is an eye-opener.  Another aspect of the film is the difference between the way that Starr behaves at school, and how she behaves at home.  These details are extremely important in a film that deals with systemic issues like racism and police brutality.  There were moments in the film that really pissed me off not because they were poorly done, but rather in how accurate the situation in the film is to real life.  Cops getting off with barely a slap on the wrist for killing an unarmed black man?  Anybody who has a strong moral center and a strong sense of justice should get pissed off about that, which is why these protests happen.  The film does have an optimistic view of how things could eventually turn out, but it doesn’t shy away from the unfortunate truth that many of these injustices are swept under the rug.  The pacing of the film is perfect and it just hooks you from the beginning, and as you follow these characters on their journey, you begin to understand important a film like this really is.  I haven’t read the book that the film is based on, but even so, The Hate U Give is a powerful experience that should spark conversations about things happening in our communities.

One of the most enduring themes of the film is the right to speak out against injustice.  It’s an important message for everyone who cares to listen.  If you see something wrong, you should be able to be allowed to speak out against it.  It’s important to find your voice and use it.  That’s why you have it.  The Hate U Give, I think, is a film that deserves to be seen by everyone.  It’s also one that needs to spark conversations about how to deal with some of these real-life issues.  It’s an extraordinary film that has some of the greatest performances that I’ve seen in years, and it’s one of the most powerful films of the decade.  It’s extraordinarily relevant in today’s world.  When I said that film, as a medium, has the potential to spark change in a positive direction, I meant it, and The Hate U Give is a perfect example.  The title itself has a purpose and a message.  This is a film that needs to be seen.  It’s not always easy to sit through, but it is absolutely worth it.

My Final Recommendation: 10/10.

Released: September 2018

Director: Gregory Plotkin

Run Time: 89 Minutes

Rated R

Distributor: Lionsgate Studios

Genre: Horror

Cast:
Amy Forsyth: Natalie
Reign Edwards: Brooke
Bex Taylor-Klaus: Taylor
Stephen Conroy: The Other
Christian James: Quinn
Roby Attal: Gavin
Matt Mercurio: Asher

The slasher film is one of the biggest staples in the horror genre.  It usually involves a group of nubile teenagers/college kids being stalked and murdered by a single villain.  There are a large number of slasher films available today: A Nightmare On Elm Street, Friday the 13th, Scream, and Hatchet just to name a few.  Most of these are generally well done, but they tend to follow a very similar pattern.  Most slasher movies follow a certain order in which they kill their victims.  It usually starts with the boyfriend, then the promiscuous girl, stoner, and so on and so forth.  Most films in this sub-genre are pretty predictable.  Every once in a while you get a film like Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon that shakes up the genre a bit, but those films are few and far in between.  Having a predictable slasher film isn’t always a bad thing, and it make for a hell of a time at parties.  I personally don’t mind a predictable slasher as long as it is done well.  There were two slasher movies that hit theaters last year that garnered the most attention: Halloween and Hell Fest.

Here’s the setup:  A group of college friends get together and go to Hell Fest, a Halloween-themed attraction that goes from town to town.  They go to this thing to get the crap scared out of them, all the while not knowing that there is a serial killer among them that picks them off one by one.  That’s it.  That’s every slasher film in existence in a nutshell with some slight variations on locations and age group.  Let’s face facts, shall we?  Nobody goes to a film like this for the story.  It’s just a loose thread tying all the kills together.  Pretty simple, yes?  Doesn’t bother me at all as long as the tension is real and the kills are satisfactory.  Let’s talk about the setting first.  Having a horror film set in a horror-themed attraction with haunted houses is actually a really cool idea.  There’s a lot of fun in the unpredictability of a place like that, especially in a horror film.  In the hands of a better film-maker like Adam Green or Alex Aja, Hell Fest could have been something really wild.  Unfortunately, Hell Fest is another film in a long line of “run-of-the-mill” slasher movies.

To craft a solid slasher movie, you need tension.  To get that tension, you first need to be able to connect with the characters on the screen.  If you connect with them in some fashion, it could allow to want them to survive the night.  That is one of the biggest issues with Hell Fest:  Most of the characters are poorly written and conceived.  In fact, most of them are pretty annoying.  The only one that I managed to connect with the slightest was Natalie, mostly because the character is as much of a cynic as I am when it comes to the idea of a haunted house attraction.  So, if the characters aren’t worth rooting for, what else do you have?  The villain?  He’s faceless guy in a mask #76.  It’s one thing to have a faceless villain that is completely unstoppable.  Michael from Halloween is a perfect example of how to get that kind of a villain right.  The villain in Hell Fest is a cheap knock-off.  He’s not awful, but he’s not one that you’re going to be remembering in the same breath as Freddy, Jason, Michael, or Leatherface.  The acting in the film isn’t awful, actually.  Some of the scares that these characters encounter look like the real deal and it’s pretty convincing that they’re scared, it’s just that they aren’t written well enough for us to care about them.

One of the most important things in a slasher movie is the body count.  I know it sounds morbid, but when it comes to slashers, you would expect a decent number of folks getting offed left and right, and that’s another area in which Hell Fest falters.  For a film that’s set in a horror-based amusement park, there’s not a ton of carnage that you would expect from a film called Hell Fest.  Granted, some slasher movies don’t have very high killing streaks, but there’s usually a good amount.  In Hell Fest, I counted maybe 5 or 6 kills.  The other side of the body count issue is the quality of the kills.  I’m not expecting torture porn here, this isn’t Saw, but some of the kills here are not very spectacular.  There’s a couple that are pretty good, especially with one guy who gets stabbed in the eye with an over-sized medical needle.  Those ones get me every time, so that gets a pass.  A guy also gets his head crushed with a giant mallet which isn’t bad.  Everything else though is kind of lame.  The music by Bear McCreary is pretty damned good, though.

Is there anything that Hell Fest does particularly well?  It’s certainly atmospheric.  Setting the film in a horror-theme amusement park is actually pretty creative and the set designs are incredible.  I didn’t see a single CGI shot in this film, so most of it was pretty practical, and that’s always a good thing in a slasher movie.  The performances aren’t half-bad, even if the characters aren’t particularly memorable, and Tony Todd always adds a wonderful sense of macabre to any horror film.  It’s well-framed and the shots are pretty damn good.  Unfortunately, the film is yet another generic slasher film that you probably won’t remember after a week.  It’s not an awful film, and it’s far from the worst slasher film I’ve ever seen, but it doesn’t do enough to stand out from the rest of the pack.

My Final Verdict: This is one amusement park that should stay closed: 6/10.

Released: November 2018

Director: Luca Guadagnino

Run Time: 152 Minutes

Rated R

Distributor: Lionsgate Studios/Amazon Studios

Genre: Horror/Fantasy

Cast:
Dakota Johnson: Susie Bannion
Tilda Swinton: Madame Blanc/Helena Markos/Dr. Josef Klemperer
Mia Goth: Sara
Chloe Grace Moretz: Patricia
Angela Winkler: Miss Tanner

2018 was a HUGE year for horror movies:  Hereditary, Upgrade, Annihilation, Halloween, and A Quiet Place just to name a few.  While there were definitely sequels, we really didn’t see a whole lot of remakes this year.  Now, I’ve gone on record multiple times on how I feel about remakes, so I won’t bother repeating myself about them…..again.  That being said, originality in horror has seen a bit of a resurgence.  Some of the films that I just mentioned aren’t tied to any other movies, but really stand on their own as they should.  The ones that I mentioned are really good and are proof that original horror films can still happen and still be fairly successful.  Every once in a while, you will see a remake of a much older film.  There was a remake that came out in November that a number of people were not sure of: Suspiria.

Suspiria follows American dancer Susie Bannion as she travels to Berlin to become a part of a legendary dance company.  Noticing Susie’s natural talent for dancing, the company’s head, Madame Blanc takes Susie under her wing and begins to train her to take part in one of the company’s popular dance routines.  Shortly after, strange things begin to happen as one of the dancers accuse the company’s leaders of being witches because of the disappearance of a fellow dancer.  That’s as far as I’m going to go with the plot, because there’s a lot of weaving in and out of various plot points.  It’s not too difficult to follow, but this is a very strange movie, and I mean that in the best way possible.  I’ll be honest:  I haven’t seen Dario Argento’s original film, so I really don’t have anything that I can compare this to.  I ordered Argento’s film last night from Amazon, so as soon as that film shows up, I will deliver a review of that and deliver a final verdict on which is the better film.  That being said, the story here is very interesting as it deals with witchcraft in a fairly realistic fashion.  One thing that stands out to me with the film is that the narrative has a 6-act structure, which is very unusual for a movie, but in some strange way, it works.  Normally, I would bring up the pace and the run time of the film later on in the review, but now would probably be the best time to bring it up.  This is a two-and-a-half hour film.  That’s pretty lengthy for a horror film, and that may turn people off.  For me, it flew by.

Let’s get this out of the way:  Suspiria is not your average horror movie.  It has more of a focus on the story and characters than most people are used to.  That being said, it still is a horror movie, and when the horror hits, it hits really hard.  In one scene, a dancer that wants to leave the company gets trapped in a room with mirrors and as Susie dances, we see this dancer get literally all twisted out of shape, and it is a pretty disturbing thing to see, because its not a quick scene.  It’s meant to linger.  The problem for a lot of horror fans is that the horror stuff doesn’t happen very often.  In fact, it takes a while between events to get to the next one.  This isn’t that kind of movie and some people are not going to bother with it.  I definitely get it.  Two and a half hours is a very long time for a horror movie and it’s just not going to work for everyone.  Personally, I loved the fact that it spaced out those horrific moments.  It gives you a little bit of time to breather and process what you just saw.  This scene that I just mentioned also highlights one of the more interesting aspects of the film.  These dance routines are a disguise for the spell-casting that’s going on.  This is not the “in-your-face” magic that you see from other supernatural films.  This is a far more subtle and nuanced take on the idea of witchcraft.

This film is surprisingly hypnotic.  While the film may seem to drag on at times, it’s still manages to keep your eyes glued to the screen.  A lot of that also has to do with the dancing that’s going on.  It’s a very different kind of dancing that feels very ritualistic in nature.  The choreography is simply amazing.  A lot of how it works has to deal with the actual performances in the film.  I have to tell you, the acting in this film is extraordinary.  Dakota Johnson plays Susie, the American dancer.  She’s really good, even though her character seems to not be all that consequential, but there’s a reason for that and I won’t spoil it for you.  Tilda Swinton, though, almost steals the show.  She has no less than three roles that she plays in the film.  The first is that of Madame Blanc, the head of the dance company.  Second is Dr. Josef Klemperer.  Tilda is no stranger to playing men, given how she actually looks.  I mean that with no disrespect.  In fact, I like the fact that she’s able to convincingly play both men and women.  In that regard, Tilda Swinton is a real chameleon.  The third role she plays is that of Helena Markos, the actual leader of the coven, but you don’t see that character until towards the end of the film.  Everybody else in the film does a really good job with their roles, but the standouts here are Dakota Johnson and Tilda Swinton.

From a visual standpoint, Suspiria really stands out.  This film is set in 1977 Berlin, so there’s a kind of a bleak and grey look throughout the film that adds to the creepy and dark vibe that you get from the film.  The use of color in movies like this is extremely important, because it fits in with what’s happening on the screen.  The final 30 minutes of the film are insane.  I’m not going to spoil it for you, but the use of color and the violent imagery are very, very vivid.  It’s a beautifully haunting and grotesque film that you can’t turn away from.  I have to give credit to Luca Guadagnino, the director for delivering a really solid and powerful horror film, considering that he’s never really made a horror movie before.

While I’m definitely singing the film’s praises, not everybody is going to like the film the way I did.  Again, the film is long, and there are large stretches where nothing appears to happen.  For people who aren’t willing to pay attention, they’re going to get lost and disinterested.  For people who aren’t a big fan of gore and graphic nudity are going to have to go somewhere else, because there’s a lot of that in this film, particularly the last 30 minutes.  It’s all done for a purpose and not just shock value, but it is something to consider if you’re looking for that’s a little more…..traditional.  Dario Argento himself has come out recently saying that he doesn’t care for the film itself, even though he credits the director for being a good director.  As I stated before, I haven’t seen the original Suspiria, so I have no basis for comparison.  I’m taking this film on its own merits, of which there are many.  If you have the patience and the stomach for it, there’s a hell of a lot to like here.

My Final Recommendation: Don’t go near dance companies.  They could be a cover for witches(not really, I’m just being facetious). 9/10.

As we grow older, there are certain things that we gain as we become adults, but there are also things that we lose along the way as we make the transition.  As kids looking at the world for the first time, we see this big magical place full of mystery and wonder.  As adults, we see the world as something that can be brutal and very mean at times.  It is one of the great tragedies of growing up that we lose that sense of wonder and excitement that we had as children.  While some of us are able to retain some of that, most of us gradually accept the reality of living in the real world:  Bills, jobs, taxes, and eventually death.  It’s depressing, really, that a lot of us can no longer see the world through the eyes of a child.  What’s even worse is that some of us, myself included, rushed to grow up only to be confronted with certain harsh realities.  To quote Calvin’s dad from Calvin and Hobbes, “I wouldn’t have been in such a hurry to grow up if I’d known the whole thing was going to be ad-libbed.”  It’s one of the reasons why I’ve chosen to bury myself in movies and video games to balance things out, because let’s face it:  Being a grown-up sucks sometimes.  Because of that, I want to talk about movies that have allowed me to remember that having a child-like sense of curiosity and wonder is an amazing thing and shouldn’t be taken for granted that many of us do from time to time.

Jurassic Park

Dinosaurs!  Who hates dinosaurs as a kid?  I sure didn’t.  While dinosaurs have been a part of cinema since the beginning, they’ve never been brought to life like Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park.  I remember seeing this film back in 1993, and this scene just floored me.  I wasn’t concerned about how the film was made, I was just simply glued to the screen watching a brachiosaurus rear up on its hind legs.  Then the scene cuts to a group of dinosaurs roaming in herds.  26 years later, this scene still gives me goosebumps.  Jurassic Park is such an amazing experience.  Every time I watch it, I’m transported back to the first time that I saw it theaters.  While Jurassic Park has multiple sequels, none can compare to original film.  Not only was the film exciting and visually spectacular, it pushed visual effects and CGI to their absolute limits while still using practical effects, puppets and models.

Star Wars

While this one really doesn’t need an explanation, I’ll provide one anyway.  Star Wars was one of the first films that I remember watching.  I don’t even know how many times that I’ve seen the Original Trilogy.  I didn’t get to see these ones in theaters, but I do remember how amazing these films were.  As an adult, these films are still among my favorites.  Star Wars changed things forever in the film industry and has become a pop-culture phenomenon unlike anything else that has come before or since.  Every time those famous blue word, “A Long Time Ago, in A Galaxy Far, Far Way” pop up, I get excited.  Whether it’s the original films, the prequels or the new Disney films, there is something about Star Wars that speaks to us on a certain level.  For me, Star Wars will always be a reliable source of entertainment that will always make me feel like a kid.

Hook

To me, Hook is probably the best Peter Pan film ever made.  I loved it as a kid, because it was so imaginative, colorful, and Robin Williams was in perfect form.  While the film didn’t necessarily garner the following that it has now, there was something really magical about the film that brings me back to a simpler time and simpler story-telling.  As an adult, this film has multiple meanings for me.  For one, it teaches adults that being a kid should be one of the most cherished times in a person’s life because it will never come again.  At the same time, kids learn that growing up has its benefits as well, such as being able to have a family of your own.  This scene that I picked isn’t the whole scene, but it’s still intact enough to really capture what it means to be a kid and what it means to be a grown-up.  Watching Peter find his happy thought and soaring out of the tree-house never gets old.

Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Granted, when the first Lord of the Rings film came out back in 2001, I was 19, so I wasn’t technically a kid anymore, but that didn’t stop me from taking in the world of Middle-Earth like a kid.  It was an epic fantasy film that had very familiar themes that I remembered as a kid.  That opening prologue with Sauron and the One Ring had me glued to the big screen.  I had never seen anything like it before, at least not on that scale.  The Fellowship Of The Ring reminded me why I loved fantasy as a kid and why I had such a vivid imagination as a youngster.  Even to this day, The Lord of the Rings captured my imagination to a degree that not even Star Wars could.  From The Fellowship of the Ring to The Return of the King, these films told me that it’s okay to have an imagination and to enjoy stuff like this.

Aladdin

Disney’s always been a source of great imagination.  Just look at their old-school animated line-up.  From Snow White and the Seven Dwarves to The Lion King, each of their films were just brimming with creativity, color, story and humor.  Aladdin was my absolute favorite animated film during the early 90s.  It was incredibly vibrant with an incredible performance by Robin Williams as the Genie.  As far as I’m concerned, he made that movie what it was.  Yeah, it had good writing, great animation and music, but Robin’s incredible and oft-improvised performance just stole the show.  There was a lot going on visually.  I was utterly captivated when it first came out and I still feel that way whenever I watch the film.

The Abyss

To be honest, The Abyss doesn’t actually make me feel like a kid whenever watch it, despite it being a really great movie.  For me, watching The Abyss takes me back to when I saw it the first time.  I remember when the family went to go see The Abyss at the Pioneer Drive-In theater in Orem, UT.  The great thing about drive-ins is that they often played two movies for the price of one as double-features.  When we went to go see The Abyss, the film was playing with Tim Burton’s Batman playing right after.  That was a helluva one-two punch.  Two fantastic movies playing back-to-back was a steal.  But it was the experience of being in that drive-in with those big clunky speakers that would hook on to your window that made the experience so memorable.  It will be 30 years this summer since I saw these films for the first time.  Whenever I watch The Abyss, it takes me all the way back to 1989 when things used to be simpler.

Superman: The Movie

I’m a huge fan of comic-book movies.  I always have been.  But there’s always been one movie to which all the others are measured: Superman.  The original 1978 film was and still is one of the greatest superhero films of all time.  Christopher Reeve inhabited the character of Kal-El/Clark Kent the way that no-one else has been able to accomplish.  Like the film’s tagline said, you believed that a man could fly, and while the visual effects don’t hold up as well, the film is so well-written and acted, that it doesn’t matter.  The film was FUN.  A lot of comic-book movies these days try to be a little too serious for their own good, but Superman was pure joy.  Even more so as a kid.  There was so much imagination and the music by John Williams was nothing less than iconic.  After watching the film as a kid, I remember tying a towel around my neck and charging around the house and outside pretending I was flying.  Kids these days don’t really have that anymore.

E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial

E.T. is the third Steven Spielberg film on this list.  There’s a reason for that.  His movies have been a huge part of my childhood.  From Close Encounters of the Third Kind to Indiana Jones, Spielberg’s movies have really been ingrained in my subconscious since I was a kid.  His movies were incredibly real, fun and powerful at times.  E.T. is one of his best movies.  I picked the film up on Blu-Ray last year because I hadn’t seen it in 20 years.  This film truly encapsulates what it means to be a child.  Look at the way its filmed.  The adults are filmed mostly from the neck down so the film can focus on the youngsters and that is where the heart of the film is.  It’s a lot of fun with some really incredible visuals, and watching Elliott fly across the moon with his alien friend is iconic.  There are many themes and messages about the importance of friendship and imagination throughout the film that are just as relevant today.  As complex as movies have gotten today, E.T. is a perfect example of how simple a movie can be but still reach people of all ages on an emotional level.  How many movies being made today can do that?  The ending to E.T. still gets me every time.

Growing up sucks.  It really does.  We don’t see the world with the wide-eyed optimism that we used to when we were younger.  A lot of the dreams that we had as kids and what we wanted to be were often dashed on the rocks of reality.  We often get told by our peers, teachers and bosses that we should just grow up and accept reality as it is.  To that, I say this:

Life’s too short to take everything so seriously.  In these dark times, it’s good to be reminded that sometimes we should say, “fuck off, I’m going to go have some fun!”  That was our attitude as kids and losing that attitude has kind of made life…..mundane.  I believe Sir Anthony Hopkins said it best: