I was not looking forward to this Amazon Prime original film.
There were no previews or reviews before the film was released. That is a bad sign, typically.
So I watched the sci-fi future/time travel movie tonight, and… you know what… I liked it way more than I thought I was going to.
Humans from the future year 2051 come back and give a message that the human race is going to be wiped out by an alien race that will be invading the earth at some point in the future. The present day humans are the answer to the riddle so a draft is organized to send people to the future to fight.
The plot is convoluted. Some of the CGI was wonky. It feels as if it is an amalgam of plenty of other sci-fi movies that we have already seen. It was too long and crowded with ideas that may not have been fully developed.
And yet, there was something here that put the whole film together into a fun watch. Chris Pratt is great here. He brings some serious credibility to the role from his history as Star-Lord in the MCU. J.K. Simmons is here too as the estranged, conspiracy theory-spouting father of Chris Pratt. He has some of the best dialogue in the film and his chemistry with Pratt is great.
Pratt shares many scenes in the first and second acts with Yvonne Strahovski and they are great together too. It seems like you can put Pratt with most anyone and get chemistry.
Some of the action gets repetitive. There is just a bunch of gunfire at the monsters, and that gets old. There is a decent scene involving the queen of the monsters that is a little different and helps get the film going.
I think this would have been even more entertaining on the big screen, but its release on Amazon Prime prevents that. The Tomorrow War feels as if the pieces are weak, but everything pulls together and is held together by Chris Pratt and the rest of the decent cast. It is not the best sci-fi movie ever made, but it is not the worst one either. I had fun watching the movie and I did not expect to enjoy this.
Guns. Immigrants. Taking back the country with riots. I don’t see any connection to anything in our news right now.
I’m not opposed to having political messaging in my entertainment, because there has been political commentary in the industry since the very beginning, but rarely has it been so blatantly obvious.
The Forever Purge is the fifth of the films in the film franchise of the Purge (which also had a TV show). In this one, the Purge has returned, but instead of being one 12-hour day where there is all crime is allowed, an organized group of insurgents decide that one day is not enough and that they would fight to make the Purge an every day thing until they could purge the US of all outsiders (which of course meant non-white people).
No mention if any of these people stormed the capital in Washington.
The action took place near the border of Mexico, making the Mexican-Americans the targets of the crazed redneck/Nazis who were behind the Forever Purge, together in a group called Forever After.
Our protagonists include Adela (Ana de la Reguera) and her husband Juan (Tenoch Huerta) and Mr. Tucker (Will Patton), his sister Harper (Leven Rambin) and his pregnant wife, Cassidy Tucker (Cassidy Tucker) form a bond as a group and attempt make it to the border of Mexico because Mexico (and Canada, btw) opened their borders to American refugees. Ironic?
So there was a tremendous amount of violence and gunfire. I wonder who the target audience for this was supposed to be?
If they were going to be so political, then The Forever Purge should have dove into the issue fully, instead of taking advantage of the real life issue. This felt very exploitative and it did nothing more than indicate that the way through this problem was with more violence, in particular guns. The Purge itself in the film becomes more about the hatred of some people, the blatant racism in our world and less about the more subtle class warfare that the earlier movies featured. With it so out there, the issues are only handled on a surface level, diminishing them as a whole.
The Forever Purge is nothing more than a violent, gunfire-filled message of hate. There are so many better choices in entertainment today that if you want this, you can watch TV news.
Here is another movie that I had never heard about. I saw a recommendation on Twitter for this movie from film critic William Bibbiani, who made mention that this movie would be leaving Netflix on July 7th. The film sounded fascinating and so it moved to the front of the list for the DailyView.
This one was intense.
Will (Logan Marshall-Green) and his new girlfriend Kira (Emayatzy Corinealdi) accepted an invitation for a dinner party from his ex-wife Eden (Tammy Blanchard). Their marriage had ended in tragedy and had caused both of them terrible pain and anguish, so returning to the house was going to be potentially triggering for Will.
Many of his old friends are in attendance at the dinner party too, trying to make the awkward situation a little more comfortable. Eden’s new husband David (Michiel Huisman) is there as well, trying to be welcoming. The entire evening is weird as Will struggled with the ghosts of the past.
Eden and David’s new friends joined the party. Pruitt (John Carroll Lynch) and Sadie (Lindsay Burdge) both had a strange presence about them and when Pruitt revealed that he had killed his wife and spent time in prison, things only became more bizarre.
After awhile, Will began to suspect that Eden and David had an ulterior motive for bringing everybody together and that it might be a sinister plan.
I found this to be really engaging and thoroughly engrossing as the film slowly built the tension with its gradual development of the story and the interactions between the different characters. We discovered bits of information as the film progressed, each nugget creating another layer of anxiety. All the while, the film continued to keep you doubting whether Will was a reliable source or was the trauma of his past causing him to be delusional.
John Carroll Lynch is wonderfully eerie in roles like this. He was brilliant in David Fincher’s Zodiac and he picks up that same type of tone here.
The pace is intentionally slow, but once it “hits the fan” it goes crazy. The final shot of the movie was creepy and spoke to the scope of what felt like a small and intimate moment in time.
I enjoyed The Invitation a lot. It was tense and nerve wracking without being terribly over-the-top. The characters were handled well considering the number of them and Will and Eden’s horrible past makes perfect sense for what was to happen.
This one was an unexpected appearance on HBO Max today. I had not heard about this, but the crime movie with the great cast including Don Cheadle and Benicio Del Toro had me intrigued. Include with that the director being Steven Soderbergh, well, I was excited.
In the end, it’s fine.
No Sudden Move had some difficulties keeping my attention through much of the first couple acts of the movie, which was a drawback. Since I was watching this at home, I had plenty of other distractions pulling my attention away and this movie did not grab me and maintain my mind. Since I watch a lot of movies at home, it is not as if it was an uncommon situation.
I do believe that this was a film that would require some focus with its crime plot. Maybe it is not fair that I review this since I was distracted several times, even though I believe that the failure to engage is a criticism that I could level at this movie.
Detroit, 1962, a group of low level criminals are hired to steal a document Unfortunately, their attempts take a bad turn and things go out of hand. Don Cheadle and Benicio Del Toro are two of the thieves that are involved here, and they did not have any clue about what they were actually stealing. This riddle was part of the mystery of the film. I like both Cheadle and Del Toro, but I had a difficult time following the choices made.
David Harbour was here and was great as he always is, but I was distracted by him because all I could do when looking at him was wonder why he was playing H.R.G from the TV show Heroes (there is a reference for anyone). There is also Noah Jupe, who is consistently excellent in his other films such as A Quiet Place and Honey Boy. I am impressed with Jupe every time I see him in a movie, even if the movie has left me wanting.
The period piece looked good and there were plenty of solid shots. The costuming was on par and the direction was top notch. I just did not connect with this movie very well.
I should really give it another shot and it is available on HBO Max, but I’m not sure if I am motivated to do that.
This was another one of the seminal films that inspired the creation of the DailyView. Spike Lee’s classic Do the Right Thing is considered his masterpiece of race relations and, sadly, it is every bit as relevant in 2021 as it was at the end of the 1980s.
The narrative structure of the movie is uncommon. To be honest, it is more of a character piece than it is a story. The film is about race and the people living in this area of New York. It bounces around to the different characters and we see about their daily lives on this day of a terrible heat wave in Brooklyn.
The plot point that leads to the third act riot was that Sal’s Pizzeria, run by Italian-American Sal (Danny Aiello), was a spot in the neighborhood that everyone went to. One particular patron, Buggin’ Out (Giancarlo Esposito) took offense to the Wall of Fame, a location in the pizzeria where there were pictures of famous people were displayed, bit there were no black people. Buggin’ Out believed that, since black people were the main customers of the store, there should be representation of famous black people on the wall as well.
This confrontation happened early in the movie but does not really carry through the whole film. It happens early and then is revisited at the end in one of the most powerful and painfully realistic scenes in movie history.
Spike Lee plays Mookie, a young man working as a delivery persona at Sal’s. If there was a main protagonist here, Mookie would be it. We get more from his point of view through the film than other characters. He is also important in the end riot scene. However, there are a ton of amazing actors involved. Sal’s son Pino is played by John Turturro, and Pino is filled with anger and racism. You can feel that Pino is on the edge the whole film. Ossie Davis is Da Mayor, an old man who wanders about the street, injecting himself into the drama, and trying to win favor of Ruby Dee’s Mother Sister. Samuel L. Jackson was the radio DJ Mister Senor Love Daddy, the voice of the goings-on. Bill Nunn is Radio Raheem, who plays a major role in the third act. Paul Benjamin, Robin Harris and Frankie Faison are the three men sitting on the street, talking about whatever random ideas that are going through their lives. We also see such notable actors as Rosie Perez, John Savage, Roger Guenveur Smith, Martin Lawrence, Rick Aiello, Joie Lee, Richard Edson, and Steve Park.
The end of the film is truly powerful and can be looked at in a variety of ways. Everyone seems to have a part in what happens, but the perception of fault can be depended on who is watching.
This is a film that is must viewing for everybody. It is an electric film.
It is going to be a full day today, so I am returning to Charlie Chaplin for today’s DailyView to watch the 1918 silent movie classic, A Dog’s Life.
In A Dog’s Life, Charlie Chaplin is in his Tramp character again and he is hungry. So he is stealing food using his slight of hand and his slapstick style. He then rescues a stray dog, named Scraps, from a pack of other dogs and the two of them become fast friends. Charlie then gets into a story involving a pair of thieves who steal a wallet that they bury to avoid the police. Scraps finds the wallet and digs it up, and Charlie gets the money, the end result being a wild chase with the thieves.
Charlie Chaplin’s physical comedy is fully on display here, a master of the pratfall and slapstick. Being able to create such a fun and engaging story with a limited number of words written on the screen is an amazing talent. Chaplin is a genius in the simplistic storytelling that gets the message across.
Chaplin wrote and directed A Dog’s Life, which was a financial success and a huge hit, being the first film to make $1 million dollars.
Edna Purviance appears here as she does in many of Chaplin’s films, playing a love interest for the Tramp.
I am thankful that HBO Max has this list of Charlie Chaplin films available on its streaming service which has allowed me to see some historically classic films, and to have films that fit into those days where life is busy.
Episode 4 was a rollercoaster of emotion and was just so unexpected that I am not sure how to handle it, or to even begin to recap it. I’m just going to go through some of the major points of the episode without worrying about any sort of order.
We see Sylvie in Asgard, prior to her blonde hair and prior to the name change, being taken by the TVA agents led by Ravonna Renslayer herself. This was before Ravonna had become a judge and we see how, even as a young girl, you cant trust a Loki. Young Sylvie stole one of the time doors and took off, starting an obsession for Ravonna and the consistent search for this variant.
They are not specific for why they took young Sylvie, since all she was doing was playing with her toys in Asgard. There is something more to this than what we have found out yet. Sylvie winds up asking Ravonna if she remembered this, but Ravonna lied and said she did not. However, there is something there.
Loki and Sylvie survived on Lamentis-1 because something major had happened and there was an actual Nexus timeline that was formed, despite it being at an apocalypse. This drew the attention of the TVA and they returned the Lokis to TVA headquarters. Some may wonder why they didn’t just leave them to die on the doomed moon, but with the new timeline being formed, they could not risk it. Instead, they brought them back to HQ to interrogate them.
And we got the return of Jaimie Alexander as Lady Sif! She was in the Time Cell they put Loki in as a way to punish him. It was an old memory of when Loki had cut Sif’s hair and she punched him out. What a great cameo this was.
Loki and Mobius continued their dialogue with one another, both of them disappointed with the other. Mobius is trying to get Loki to tell him how that Nexus Event occurred on Lamentis-1 and Loki trying to tell him about the information he got from Sylvie las episode. Mobius was starting to piece things together, especially after discovering that Ravonna had put to death C-20 because she had been “compromised by the Lokis.” Hunter B-15 was another one who was having a crisis of belief as the enchantment from episode 2 was still bothering her. She went to Sylvie for answers. This trip back to Roxxcart was our first real emotional beat of the episode. When Hunter B-15 saw the memories of her past life, her line of how she looked happy was tough.
Of course, we were just starting with the emotions here because, after accepting that Loki is telling him the truth and having a powerful moment of trust between Loki and Mobius, they were confronted by Ravonna and other agents. After a defiant Mobius let Ravonna know how he felt, in an unbelievable moment of the series, Ravonna had Mobius pruned.
You could see that Ravonna felt terrible about this too, even though she held back her own feelings on the situation. Mobius had been her friend and confidant, but she was just doing what she felt she had to do. That does not make it any easier as we watch this character we have come to love in a short while get pruned. The pin in Loki’s face was tough too considering he had just professed friendship for this man.
Loki and Sylvie are taken into the golden elevator and are taken before the Timekeepers, who we had gotten a quick glance at earlier in the episode. I am not sure why this was done. This is the one big question mark I have in this episode because we find out that the Timekeepers are just androids as Loki and Sylvie, with help from Hunter B-15, break free and start to fight. Sylvie winds up decapitating one of the Timekeepers, revealing the truth. So, who wanted Loki and Sylvie brought here instead of just pruned as Mobius and C-20 had been? They do wonder who is behind the TVA if the Timekeepers are not real. That is most likely a major point still to come. Is it Kang? Ravonna? Another Loki variant?
Just when it seemed that things were going well, Ravonna is able to prune Loki. I can’t tell you how my jaw dropped. I had yelled out a “No” when Mobius was pruned, but this one was a shock. I stared at the screen dumbfounded. I did not know if there was going to be another Loki variant coming or if the rest of the show was going to focus on Sylvie. I was not thinking logically, since we have seen other scenes in trailers featuring Tom Hiddleston’s Loki that I should have understood that something was up, but it did not stick with me.
Sylvie got the drop on Ravonna and demanded that she tell her everything, holding one of the pruning sticks on her.
Then, we got our first mid-credit scene for the Loki series and it was a mind blower for sure. We see Loki awakening from his pruning and he wonders aloud if this was Hell and if he were dead. A voice tells him that he was not dead yet and if he wanted to stay that way, he needed to come with them. And then we saw it….
Kid Loki! Richard E. Grant in comic book Loki attire! Another guy… is he meant to be a variant of Heimdall? Um… is that an alligator Loki? And where is this taking place? The landscape behind them is certainly all messed up. The Loki series is clearly about to go batshit crazy… and I am all for it!
The new Liam Neeson action movie has come out on Netflix and it is much like many of the others. Having said that, I liked this one more than some of the others.
Neeson is Mike, who, along with his mentally challenged brother Gurdy (Marcus Thomas), is hired to drive a semi truck carrying drills to help save a group of workers are trapped in a collapsed diamond mine. The problem is the only way to arrive at the camp is to travel across the frozen rivers of northern Canada, taking a chance that the heavy semi trucks would be too heavy for the trucks. Called a “suicide mission”, there turned out to be even more dangers than just the frozen water.
There were some really good and tense scenes early in the movie with the semis and the ice that made you wonder how any of these people were going to survive. Some of the creative ways to avoid their semis from sinking into the ice was cool (pun unintended).
Liam Neeson is his typical solid performer. He is playing the same character that he has played in the last several years. His relationship with his brother Gurdy, who was a US military veteran who was suffering from PTSD, did bring a different layer to Neeson’s character.
Are there things that happen that are unlikely? Of course. It is a big, dumb action movie which seems to be one of Liam Neeson’s specialties. Having this streamed on Netflix makes this worth the time. I had a decent time with The Ice Road and it was fun.
To be fair, a Google search indicated that Netflix’s The Silence, today’s film for the DailyView, was based on a book that came out before A Quiet Place and that there was a script in place prior to the production of John Krasinski’s movie. However, I think it is a safe bet that this was put on the fast track for filming after the success of A Quiet Place, a “go Picture,” if you will.
A mysterious group of monsters, called the Vesps, suddenly show up, attracted to sound, causing panic and chaos in the country. One family tries to survive together. The father Hugh (Stanley Tucci) and his best friend Glenn (John Corbett) hope to lead the rest of Hugh’s family, including his deaf daughter Ally (Kiernan Shipka), to safety.
A poor man’s A Quiet Place.
Sadly, this movie is just a huge step down from A Quiet Place. You cannot release a film like this without expecting the comparisons, considering how many plot points they have in common. A Quiet Place had more of an intelligence behind it and featured a much more frightening tone. This one just does not reach that same level of tension, probably because we saw it before.
There are some plot points that pop up and feel as if they were just jammed into the film to attempt to build more suspense, but none of them worked well. The mother (Miranda Otto) is bitten by the creatures and need medication in order to survive. One trip to a store, setting up the natural conflict with the Vesps, led to Hugh and Ally getting what they needed and from that scene on, the mother seemed perfectly fine. There was a conflict in the third act of the film where a small cult approached the family wanting Ally. That was a problem in the third act that was shoehorned into the story and felt completely foreign. It was that old Walking Dead trope that in the post apocalyptic world, the real dangers are the other humans.
There is a silly scene with a rattlesnake. There is a moment where a family member sacrifices themselves with a scream.
Perhaps this is not a direct rip off of A Quiet Place, but since it came out afterwards, there should have been some adjustments to it because there is no comparisons that will favor The Silence.
There was a great scene with a wood chipper though.
I have not seen Borat until today with the DailyView. I have seen the sequel: Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, which came out on Amazon last year. Borat was another one of those movies that I did not think I would enjoy, so I avoided it. I thought there were some really funny moments in the sequel so I planned on watching Borat at some point. Today turned out to be the day.
Borat (Sacha Baron Cohen) was from the country of Kazakhstan and was a journalist. He was sent to America to learn about the culture there and to bring back what he could. Once in America, Borat saw Baywatch on TV and fell in love with Pamela Anderson. He dedicated himself to travel across the country to take Pamela for his sexy time.
I will tell you that there are some parts of this movie that are absolutely hilarious. Filmed in a mockumentary style, there are a ton of vignettes that feature Borat interacting with real people in America who are unaware of what is going on. The reactions of these people to the insanity of Baron Cohen is some of the funniest parts of the movie although it is difficult to believe sometimes that they are not at least suspicious that something was going on.
There were a ton of crass and offensive jokes used in the film under the guise of Borat being from another country and the Americans not sure if he understands what he is saying. There are moments where the film steps over the line and goes too far. Several moments make the audience cringe as much as they laugh.
Early on, some of the anti-sematic jokes were out of line, but when I discovered that Sasha Baron Cohen himself was Jewish, it showed how he was using these jokes to shine a light on some of the other people’s prejudices.
I am torn about the movie because there were a lot of times where I thought it crossed a line and made fun of things that should not be made fun of. However, I did laugh at most of it. It was a funny, inappropriate film that took some real chances. There are a couple of times when it was amazing that Borat was able to get out of the situation with his life.
If you offend easily, this one is probably not for you.
I could not believe it when I found this documentary earlier in the year.
I use the book this documentary is based on, The Reason I Jump by 13-year old teen with classic Autism, Naoki Higashida, as a source during our Overcoming Obstacles unit in my 7th grade literacy class. I found the book years ago while watching an interview with David Mitchell (who had written the forward for the book) on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and I was intrigued by what I had heard. So I searched out the novel. It was a quick read but it was amazing. The insight given about Autism was fantastic and I immediately built the unit around it.
As I was preparing this year’s unit, I stumbled across the documentary that was based on the book and I was desperate to see it. Unfortunately, it was not available, having just been shown at some film festivals. I knew that I would keep my eyes open for the doc to become available on a source I could watch.
It is here now, on Netflix.
The documentary follows the lives of five Autistic children, using the words of Higashida as a backdrop. It is a doc that pulls back the curtain of the mysterious disorder, gives the world a chance to see what is going on inside the minds of these individuals who are mostly silent.
It shows the audience the misunderstandings engulfing Autism, including the panic attacks and the perceptions that the kids are the way they are because of some lack of mental acumen. It continues on beautifully to build empathy for the kids, instead of sympathy. When something is understood, it is considerably easier to help deal with and Autism is no different.
The cinematography of the movie is lovely, with so many amazing scenes with these children. There are shots within the documentary that are breathtaking, but yet they take on a fully different concept because of the perception of the kids involved. The children this doc is covering bring more of a depth to each scene than just the, admittedly stunning, visuals do. You can’t help but wonder what these subjects are seeing, perceiving, living.
Directed by Jerry Rothwell, Naoki Higashida is listed as a writer. The film is short, around 82 minutes, but the importance of each image cannot be overstated.
Everyone who has a connection to an Autistic person should see this doc. If you do not have a connection to an Autistic doc, you should also see this because the world could use more empathy in it today.
Covering another movie that is leaving HBO Max at the end of the month, I watched the Dennis Quaid 1980s film, Dreamscape for the DailyView this morning.
I had not heard of this one before I saw it on the HBO Max site and I thought it would be an interesting film to give a try. I have always been fascinated with dreams and the theories behind dreams and I was looking forward to seeing what this movie was all about.
Alex Gardner (Dennis Quaid) was a young psychic who was using his gift to win at the horse races was approached by Dr. Paul Novotny (Max Van Sydow) about joining in a program dealing with dreams. Specifically, having psychics enter a person’s dreams and helping them through whatever difficulties they may be facing.
Alex was not anxious to be involved, despite his attraction to Jane DeVries (Kate Capshaw), a scientist involved in the program. However, he was slowly convinced when he discovered what he could do.
However, Bob Blair (Christopher Plummer), the head of the project, had another plan for it. He knew that the President of the United States (Eddie Albert) was having powerful nightmares and that, because of those, he planned on making an arms agreement with the Russians. Blair did not want this so he planned on sending in another psychic, the vicious killer Tommy Ray (David Patrick Kelly) into the President’s dreams to make it look as if the President had died in his sleep.
Dreamscape was an interesting film with a intriguing sci-fi story to it. The ‘psychic’ aspect of these people were kept pretty vague. It had been mentioned that Alex was once in a trail where he displayed telekinesis, but he does not show that at any time in the movie. In fact, most of his psychic abilities are ill defined. I guess he can absolutely see into the future for horse races, but after that, his psychic abilities are questionable.
The film sets up the story with Alex and then jumps immediately into the plot. I might have liked a bit more development. There was a decent scene where Alex helps a young boy face (Cory Yothers) his nightmares and kill the monster within, which I liked. However, that was dropped as quickly as it was brought up.
Alex is a likeable rogue and you enjoy spending time with him. He has heroic tendencies too, as we saw with the kid. The relationship with Jane felt a tad forced, but it was understandable. I’m not sure there would be more there after the physical attraction, but some times that is enough.
The dreams are well done and present as dreamlike. The special effects do make this feel as if you are inside someone’s dreams and are very effective at keeping you on your guard.
The cast is a strong point to Dreamscsape. Even when presenting these unlikely to far fetched circumstances, when you can provide a solid performance, it helps elevate the material, and that is certainly happening here. Dennis Quaid is excellent as our lead protagonist and Max Von Sydow does a great job. Christopher Plummer is menacing and makes an effective antagonist. George Wendt stepped outside his Norm persona from Cheers to play a writer investigating the dream concept (although he does buy Quaid a beer…something that Norm would never have done).
One major drawback for me was the score. I hated this score. It was that 1980s synth/techno garbage that made it feel like nails on a chalkboard. Every time that the score would play, not only did I know we were smack dab in the middle of an 80s B-movie, I would cringe and hope for it to end as soon as it could.
Nowhere near a perfect movie, but it is one that had a solid sci-fi premise and engaging actors in the roles. The story worked most of the time and the flaws did not prevent me from enjoying the film.
I have been waiting to watch the sequel to Creep for awhile. I was considering saving it for Halloween time, but I enjoyed the original so much that I decided to make this another film for the DailyView. Creep 2 was on Netflix and Mark Duplass returned to the role he played in Creep.
I really enjoyed the first Creep and the sequel was even better.
As we know, Aaron (Mark Duplass) draws in victims using an ad looking for a videographer. He then spends a day with these people and ends up killing them. Here, however, it seems as if he has met his match. Sara (Desiree Akhavan) is the host of an online video show that follows lonely men and studies their lives. Sara thinks that she has hit the jackpot with Aaron, who immediately confesses that he is a serial killer and that he was looking for something special for his 40th kill. Sara does not believe him, but she worries about taking advantage of the disturbed man.
They spend the day together. All of Aaron’s tricks, that worked so well in the previous movie, do not work well on Sara and he is slightly frustrated by that. As the day progresses, the conversation between Aaron and Sara change up and this dialogue is the main driving force of the film.
Sara is unshakable in her attitude, most likely from her past experiences with these kinds of sad people, but she does not realize the level to which Aaron will take the action.
Creep 2 is not as scary as the original, but it does a great job of creating an uncomfortableness that plays into the tone of the movie. You know that Aaron is a killer, but you are uncertain exactly what he is going to do about it. Sara feels like a match for him and one wonders if she s going to realize what we already know. It just seems that every wild and out there moment he tosses at her, she is ready for it and gives it right back.
The film is more of a character study than a horror movie, and it takes what could have been the same premise and makes it different and original from the first film.
Creep 2 was filled with tension and anxiety, but in a different way than Creep was. The fact that they could give us two very different types of movie from the same general premise is very impressive and makes Creep 2 an excellent sequel.
Next up on the DailyView was Cameron Crowe’s semi-autobiographical film, Almost Famous. Crowe worked as a journalist for Rolling Stone magazine while he was a teenager, and he was able to go on the road with many of his rock and roll idols. This inspired the story told in Almost Famous.
Teenage prodigy William Miller (Patrick Fugit),a writer with Creem magazine, had a chance to write an article for Rolling Stone magazine about the up-and-coming band Stillwater. In order to gain access to the band, William travelled on tour with Stillwater, getting close to guitarist Russell Hammond (Billy Crudup). Lead singer Jeff Bebe (Jason Lee) distrusted “The Enemy” -the rock journalists.
During the connection with Stillwater, William met Penny Lane (Kate Hudson), a ‘band aid’, a more positive term for a groupie who followed the band around because she loved their music. Penny was having an affair with Russell, but befriended the young William.
As the band struggled with their interpersonal issues, William was learning about life in rock and roll, the ups and the downs and the world around him.
Almost Famous was a wonderful movie. It was a love letter to rock and roll as well as a coming of age story with a special twist. Patrick Fugit was sweet and innocent as William and he brought every ounce of that to the role. His chemistry with both Russell and Penny was a major strength of the film. William’s consistent attempt for the one-on-one interview with Russell, which kept getting interrupted or pushed off was a great hook for the relationship.
I loved the airplane/electrical storm scene. It was such an amazing sequence of events that brought all of the conflicts out into the open. There has been a history of rock stars dying in small plane crashes that when Russell starts singing Buddy Holly songs, it is both funny and poignant.
Another great band moment was the ‘Tiny Dancer’ moment upon the bus. There was the message that, no matter what troubles might be facing the group, the music is always what they have.
Frances McDormand was William’s over-protective mother Elaine, apparently based on Crowe’s own mother. McDormand was her normal brilliant self, infusing the character with more than just the stereotypical over-protective mother. She brought an intelligence and a humanity the role and created someone who you could tell loved her children more than anything.
Almost Famous was a truly enjoyable film with some of the best characters you will find, brought to life by skilled actors. The music is well designed and fit beautifully in the story.
Over at Starz, I chose an animated movie to continue the DailyView this afternoon. It is a cult classic film from 1981 called Heavy Metal. The movie is an anthology movie based on short stories published in Heavy Metal magazines. The film is an adult animation directed by Gerald Potterton.
The framing device that crosses through the different stories is a small, glowing green orb that has significant evil power, leading to the deaths of many that come in contact with it. The voice cast is extensive, including John Candy, Don Francks, Richard Romanus, Harvey Atkin, Eugene Levy, Joe Flaherty, Rodger Bumpass, Harold Ramis, and Percy Rodrigues.
The animation was groundbreaking at the time. Now it looks choppy and a bit underwhelming. However, many of the images standout and definitely have a flavor to them that makes you know the movie you are in.
Of course, the soundtrack is one of the film’s most celebrated trait. There are songs from Black Sabbath, Journey, Sammy Hagar, Stevie Nicks, Blue Öyster Cult, Cheap Trick, Devo, Riggs, Grand Funk Railroad, Don Felder, Donald Fagan, Nazareth, and Trust.
As for the film, I have to say that I probably would have liked this more when I was in high school. The graphic violence and nudity among these animated stories are meant to target the young and horny males and their adolescent fantasies much more than someone my age. It does not age well either as there is a ton of misogamy toward every woman character in the movie.
There are some interesting parts of Heavy Metal, but the negative outweigh the rest for me.
