Tag Archives: movie-review

A Real Pain

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A Real Pain is a perfect example of an independent movie.

For me, an independent movie does not have a plot, or at least one that drives most of the story. It is a film where we take some characters and drop them into situations and let them see what happens. You could define it as character based films. I don’t want to imply that I do not like that style of movie, but it is distinct.

In A Real Pain, two cousins take a trip to Poland after their beloved grandma passed away to go on a Holocaust tour and visit her childhood home.

The movie was written and directed by Jesse Eisenberg, who starred as David Kaplan. Kieran Culkin played his cousin Benji Kaplan. They both brought Oscar-worthy performances in these roles. Their performances were very important since the characters were so important to the story.

The tour of Poland and a nearby concentration camp was very powerful and the actors did a great job responding to it.

The film was only 90 minutes long, but it did feel longer than that. That is probably because of the dense material that the film featured. However, there were some really funny moments too, which you do not find too often with Holocaust films. A Real Pain is an ambitious film with great performances that had some challenging moments to watch it.

4 stars

Mad God (2021)

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The October 13 of 13

What a trip.

I went searching for a film to wrap up the October 13, which to be fair has been a touch underwhelming so far. I was really hoping to find something epic to end out the thirteen.

Well, I found something original for sure.

On AMC + on Prime, I found a stop-motion film called Mad God and it looked interesting. That would be an understatement for this.

According to IMDB, “Equipped with a gas mask and a crumbling map, the Assassin, an iron-clad humanoid, descends into a rusty, peril-laden underworld of grime, blood, and unsettling monstrosities. As the stealthy invader meanders through the labyrinthine post-apocalyptic wasteland on a mysterious mission, going deeper and deeper in the nightmarish realm, the Assassin gradually reaches his final destination: the heart of this grotesque tower of torture. But what cruel, vindictive deity allows fear and suffering to take its most complete creation further and further into despair? Only a Mad God would revel in humankind’s ordeal.”

That synopsis from IMDB is well done, but to be honest, the story is not anywhere near as straightforward as that description. I would venture to say that this film has a very limited narrative structure. The story seems secondary to the goals of this film.

Mad God has amazing, masterful stop-motion animation that creates an atmosphere unlike few movies that I have ever seen. It is frightening at times, disturbing at others. It imbues this nightmare realm with such darkness and alarming imagery that you can help but be taken aback from the visual daze.

The sound effects and score are very effective keeping you uneasy as the images build a surreal experience of monstrous creatures and violent despair.

Written and directed by stop-motion guru Phil Tippett, this passion project takes you deep into the mind of the director. And what a bizarre and warped experience it was. I usually prefer more of a story, and that is just short here, but this is an experience that I would not have passed on. I am conflicted on how I feel after watching this, which, I suppose, is a desired result.

Kill List

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The October 10 of 13

After a poor stretch of films in The October 13, I was hoping for a really great one to balance out the list. I had been watching The Breakroom, which is a YouTube show from the New Rockstars and they gave a list of horror movies to watch before you die. One of the panelists brought up Kill List and I had never heard of it, so I hoped that it would break the unfortunate run I had been on.

It did. It was good. It was not great, but I found it a good time.

According to IMDB, “Nearly a year after a botched job, a hitman takes a new assignment with the promise of a big payoff for three killings. What starts off as an easy task soon unravels, sending the killer into the heart of darkness.“

This is a British psychological horror film directed by Ben Wheatley. It was a real slow burn, so slow that after the first act, I was afraid that this would be just another failure in the October 13. However, the film absolutely picked up and wound up with a batshit ending that tied the whole film together in a tragic tapestry.

Neil Maskell played Jay and Michael Smiley played Gal, out two lead protagonists in the film. They were partners in this hired killers job that led to them getting involved in this story. MyAnna Buring played Shel, Jay’s wife and the mother of his son Sam (Harry Simpson).

Throughout the first two parts of the film, you can see the mental instability of Jay as the killings he was hired to do became all the more brutal as they progressed. You would begin to think that the horror would come from inside Jay’s mind, but then things got considerably more real.

Hit List was not what I expected when it started, but it morphed into a wild ride that kept the tension to the final moments and a dramatic final scene.

Sorry About the Demon (2022)

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The October 5 of 13

So, this one was a horror comedy. I found it on Shudder, as most of the list for this The October 13 is this year. I found it to be really silly.

After dealing with a bad break-up, Will (Jon Michael Simpson) rented a house from a family. What Will did not know was the family, the Sellers, had rented him the house because they had made a deal with the demon that was in the house, Deomonous (voiced by Tony Vespe), to possess him and take his soul to Hell instead of their daughter Grace (Presley Allard).

This movie was funny at times. At least I chuckled here and there. Otherwise it was fairly messy with the plot and just silly as it can be. It was absolutely corny and silly. I am not sure if this was intended to be a parody or if it is just meant to be a horror/comedy. Either way, the film was not the worst thing I ever saw. I did not like the way it started, as it seemed fairly stupid to me. However, Jon Michael Simpson had a charm about him that made me want to keep watching, even though I wanted to stop watching at first.

Overall, it was not the worst film I have seen. It is not great, but if you are in the right mood, this could be a fun family horror/comedy for Halloween.

The Wild Robot

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Animated movies have been on a roll lately. I have two 5 star animated movies during the summer (Inside Out 2 and Transformers One) and now we have another exceptional animated movie hitting the theaters this weekend.

The Wild Robot is from DreamWorks Animation and tells the story of a robot named Roz that was designed for helping with tasks being stranded on an island with a plethora of animals. When a gosling hatches from an egg that Roz had found, the baby goose imprinted upon the robot, believing her to be its mother. A somewhat helpful fox with possible ulterior motives named Fink befriends the odd couple, they start to train the gosling runt what it will need to survive the upcoming migration.

There are so many wonderful things about this movie. It has a tremendously fulfilling coming-of-age story that included an underdog type story of the runt, soon to be named Brightbill. There are several moments throughout the story that are funny, feel-good and touching. The story does take a turn about halfway through as the migration happens. One would think that the migration would be the big event of the film, bringing the story to a close, but there is much more after that happened.

The story is emotional, and it sneaks up on you. You are just going along and enjoying what the movie is doing and, suddenly, your eyes are misting up because there is something there that touches you unexpectedly.

The voice work is amazing. In particular, Lupita Nyong’o as Roz and Pedro Pascal as Fink do exceptional work. Roz is a machine that finds that there is more than just her programming and Fink is an unlikable sneak who discovers what it means to have friends. Both of these arcs are emphasized by the wonderful voice work of these two top notch actors.

There are other excellent voice cast members including Bill Nighy, Kit Connor, Ving Rhames, Mark Hamill, Catherine O’Hara, Matt Berry and Stephanie Hsu.

The animation is spectacular. It is difficult these days to release an animated film if your animation is not competitive. The background of this film are spectacular and almost makes one think they were actually in the wilderness. There are a couple of times during action beats that the animation gets a little shaky. I know the reason for that, but it stood out in a picture that is such a piece of art otherwise.

However, there are some wonderful action beats in the film too. In the first half of the film, I was gasping in shock over some of the surprisingly dark moments of the movie. Let’s just say that the circle of life is on display in this movie in several moments.

The themes of this movie are wide spread and one of the most relatable of the year. In fact, there are themes here that will appeal to just about any segment of the viewership, from motherhood struggles to overcoming challenges to friendship. I would venture to say that everyone would find something to connect to in The Wild Robot.

I’m not going five stars with this one, but it is close. There are just a couple minor complaints that bring it down, but The Wild Robot is still a magnificent family film that is perfect for both parents and kids. Beautifully animated with exceptional voice acting, this is another huge win for DreamWorks.

4.9 stars

Afraid

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I came across Afraid on Vudu/Fandango this week and it was a movie that I had missed while it was in the theaters. I had intended to go see it, but things just never worked out, so I was somewhat excited to see it show up on streaming.

However, this was a disappointment of a film with an ending that was wholly unsatisfying.

According to IMDB, “The Curtis’ family is selected to test a new home device: a digital assistant called AIA. AIA learns the family’s behaviors and begins to anticipate their needs. And she can make sure nothing – and no one – gets in her family’s way.”

We have seen this type of movie before. It is very much similar to the M3GAN film from a few years ago which was also produced by Blumhouse. Honestly, it was predictable and lacked any originality, although the switch up at the third act was different. Problem is that that same switch up was also really dumb.

I do like John Cho as an actor, even though he is really not given that much to do in this movie. He was considerably better in 2018’s Searching, which deals with an online search to find his missing daughter. This is a considerable step down from that much more intelligent and engaging script.

Even still, the first part of the film was decent enough, but it went off the rails very quickly. AIA became crazy very quickly and became dangerously unbalanced not too much longer after that.

I was not the only person who missed this in the theater (by looking at its box office), but I would not say that anyone needs to find this on streaming. Perhaps it is worth a view when it comes up for free on Netflix or one of the other streamers, because it is short and gets over in a hurry. of course, it does not do much along the way either.

2.45 stars

The Deliverance

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I was surprised to see the name Lee Daniels attached to this Netflix horror movie. Daniels has directed such films as The Butler, United States vs. Billie Holiday and The Paperboy, none of which moved into the genre of horror. With a great deal of curiosity I went ahead and pulled this up on Netflix.

It started out listed as based on true events.

According to IMDB, “An Indiana family discovers strange, demonic occurrences that convince them and their community that the house is a portal to hell..“

The Deliverance hooked me right away, with its depiction of this black family from Indiana. Ebony (Andra Day) was rough and troubled, dealing with her issues through alcohol and anger. The fact that there was little redeeming qualities about Ebony made the character and the film more intriguing. Her three children struggled to try and find their own way through the difficulties presented to them by their mother. Ebony’s mother Alberta (Glen Close) moved in with them to try and help them with their troubles while dealing with her own health issues. Each character was angry and expressed it in a variety of manners.

Andra Day and Glen Close were both great with their performances. They brought the deep-seeded frustration and regret to the forefront. Caleb McLaughlin (from Stranger Things) also does a very strong job with his role of one of Ebony’s suffering children, Nate.

After about an hour, I was fully invested. The problem was that, when the film started to transition from the familial problems into the haunted house ones, the film lost a lot of steam and became just another haunted house movie. The final act of this movie was tremendously bad and spent every ounce of good tidings that it spent the first part of the film building up.

I really wish this film had taken a different path because it started with a very compelling group of characters with problematic family issues and slipped into a cliche-ridden, disappointing haunted house film.

2.5 stars

The Killer’s Game

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As a fan of the WWE, I was always going to see The Killer’s Game. It was not just because of Dave Bautista in the starring role, but also because of the debut of Drew McIntyre, a current WWE superstar.

According to IMDB, “…Veteran assassin Joe Flood, who is diagnosed with a life-threatening illness… authorizes a kill on himself to avoid the pain that is destined to follow. After ordering the kill, he finds out that he was misdiagnosed and must then fend off the army of former colleagues trying to kill him.“

This was not a great movie, but I enjoyed it despite that. The best part of the film was easily Dave Bautista, who was engaging and entertaining. I thought he was great in everything that he had to do, from the physical and brutal killings to the more softer and emotional bits. He was funny too.

I am going to say that there were some glimpses of Bautista’s acting skill in this film. Yes, it was mostly an action fest, but Bautista has a future in more challenging roles and we can see how successful he could be.

Some of the other assassins were fun, but were nothing but cannon fodder. Drew McIntyre was one of these, and it was fun to see him. He seemed like he was having a lot of fun playing this character.

It was fun and I did enjoy Bautista. Is it a great movie? No. If you are a WWE fan, you’ll think this is a hoot. If you find big violent action films unenjoyable, then you should stay away from this.

3 stars

Under Paris

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There have not been a lot of shark movies. Obviously, there is Jaws. Jaws II was decent. The Shallows had it moments. The Sharknado series can give some stupid fun. And then there is Deep Blue Sea. After that, the shark films usually are not very good.

We have another entry into the awesome end of these movies.

Under Paris is a French language film that tells the story of a specific shark that had evolved in ways that are never explained and that winds up in the Seine, a river that runs through Paris, France right at the time of an Olympic triathlon.

The shark, nicknamed Lilith by Sophia Assalas (Bérénice Bejo), a scientist whose team were tracking sharks that they had tagged. In an attempt to check in on Lilith, Sophia’s entire team is killed by the shark in an uncharacteristic attack.

Three years later, Lilith finds her way into the Seine and into the catacombs beneath the city. A young environmental activist name Mika (Léa Léviant) had found a way to track Lilith, but wants to save the shark and help the female shark to get back out to the ocean.

Sophia and Mika’s paths cross with the Paris Police, including police officer Adil (Nassim Lyes) who does not believe that there is a shark in the Seine at first, until undeniable evidence faces him.

This is a brutal shark movie with some really awesome moments. The tension of the film is off the charts and you can really feel it. Sure, the premise itself requires some serious stretching of credibility, and the film does not try to explain how this is happening. Sophia is constantly saying things like ‘this shouldn’t be happening’ or ‘it is not possible’ and the discoveries of the evolution of this shark is not scientifically sound, yet that does not bother me either.

Why are all mayors in shark movies jerks? Much like Jaws, whose mayor insisted on keeping the beaches open on the July 4th holiday, the Paris mayor (Ann Marivin) is likewise as blind when it came to the danger the shark posed the triathlon.

The sharks look pretty decent, though some of the CGI is questionable at times. My guess is that there is not a ton of budget on this, and I feel as if what we got was substantial enough for what they were going for. I was not taken out of the film by any of the special effects and that can not always be said about shark movies (hey there The Meg).

There were a couple of moments when I gasped out loud or cried something out in shock and that means that the film is doing its job. It is nowhere near Jaws quality, but it is much better than most of the shark attack movies out there. Under Paris is currently available to stream on Netflix.

4.1 stars

Hell House LLC Origins: The Carmichael Manor (2023)

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June 7, 2023

As I was searching for movies to put on the possible list for this June Swoon, I came across this horror film on Shudder. It sounded interesting and so I placed it on the list. I had no idea that this was the fourth film of the series, with the first Hell House LLC being released in 2015. I guess I have some films to watch during The October 13 this year.

Hell House LLC Origins: The Carmichael Manor looks to have built on the previous installments (though I can’t say that for sure) and provided a found footage horror film that was extremely creepy and had its share of effective scares.

According to IMDB, “A group of cold case investigators stay at the Carmichael Manor. After four nights, the group was never heard from again. What is discovered on their footage is even more disturbing than anything found on the Hell House tapes.”

The three main characters that went to stay at the Carmichael Manor did a great job of selling the mysterious feel and the fright that this situation would entail inside a person. The story of the events really work well here, as Margot (Bridget Rose Perrotta) ties the story into her background. The film does this in a very strong manner, not bashing the audience over the head with it. In fact, it is possible that some may miss the connection to Margot if they are not paying attention.

Then, I enjoyed the way the film kind of makes this found footage/haunted house film into a sort of documentary, with a couple of people commenting about the footage that was found of these missing people.

The film goes to great lengths to build a mythology, which I can only assume included a bunch of Easter eggs from the previous three movies.

I found this extremely creepy and a little unnerving as I watched it this morning in the dark. That means this horror film did its job. I was entertained and I look forward to going back and seeing some more of this franchise.

Ezra

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A new film featuring a character with Autism was at Cinemark this weekend, and I had heard some positive word of mouth about the film, so with a light weekend of new movies, I decided to give it a shot.

According to IMDB, “Tony Goldwyn’s EZRA follows Max Bernal (Bobby Cannavale), a stand-up comedian living with his father (Robert De Niro), while struggling to co-parent his autistic son Ezra (introducing William Fitzgerald) with his ex-wife, Jenna (Rose Byrne). When forced to confront difficult decisions about their son’s future, Max and Ezra embark on a cross-country road trip that has a transcendent impact on both their lives.“

Bobby Cannavale is the definitive stand out in this film as the deeply troubled father who still loves his son, Ezra. Cannavale was given a really meaty role with plenty of deep seeded troubles and he does an exceptional job. Much of it is the chemistry between Cannavale and William Fitzgerald, who is the young actor they found to play Ezra. Fitzgerald is very good in this role too. Director Tony Goldwyn held a nationwide search for a child actor with Autism, providing as realistic of a performance as possible.

Robert DeNiro gives a strong supporting performance as Cannavale’s father. There are some story in the film for DeNiro and Cannavale to play and, while it does not dominate the film, it adds a nice flavor to Ezra.

There are some parts of the story that stretch believability and I will say that the ending felt too emotionally manipulative, but I thought most of the story was well done.

3.75 stars

Them: The Scare S2 E7, E8

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Spoilers

“One of Us Is Gonna Die Tonight”

“The Box”

This is what American Horror Story: Delicate wished it could be.

I was very disappointed with AHS this year as the classic horror anthology series just failed in this season. However, Them: The Scare was everything that AHS was not.

I had not seen the first season of Them, so some of the things that happened in the finale seemed a little confusing. I could only guess (and then confirmed after the show was done) that the photo and the woman giving baby Dawn and Edmond away had some tie to the first season (she did) and that the weird creature at the end also tied it to the first season (yup, it was something called Da Tap Dance Man).

So we have a connection between the first and second seasons, but the story of this season was all about family and the pain of being rejected and tossed away. The seventh episode does a tremendous job of laying out everything that we needed to know to understand what was happening and gave us a horrendous end for Athena Reeve (Pam Grier).

With the exception of the arrival of Da Tap Dance Man, there was plenty of satisfying moments in the finale. The confrontation between Dawn and Edmond was tense and powerful, showing how much love still existed between the twins, even if Dawn had forgotten about him. The scene of Edmond killing himself and giving himself over to the demon with the red hair was tough to watch. The shooting of McKinney was dramatic and pleasing to see the rotten racist get his comeuppance.

This was just so creepy. The imagery of the red-headed man will never allow me to look at Raggedy Andy the same way ever again.

There were several times that I found myself holding my breath from the tension of the situation. The performances were top notch and the tone was just so exceptional.

Them: The Scare was everything you would want in a horror anthology series, filled with thrills and anxiety and a story with themes of family, loss and rejection. I loved this show and I was happy I gave it a chance. Them: The Scare is on Amazon Prime.

Civil War

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This was a really well done movie with some dramatic moments.

I do not want to every see it again.

There have been several movies that I have seen that I loved, but that had such an impact on me that I would not want to watch it again.

Despite what you might think, this is not a political movie. The film does not go into specifics on how the film’s civil war started nor does it take sides. I think that was a very smart thing to do, but I do expect that some people from either side may see what they want to see in the movie even though it is not there.

The film focuses on four characters who are photo journalists in their attempt to go from New York to D.C. It is essentially a dystopian road trip movie, with a series of scenes that show the horrible events that a war brings. Innocent bystanders are caught in crossfire, lives are ruined, death surrounds them all.

The four main characters have great chemistry together and bring an energy to the darkness around them. Kirsten Dunst played a battle weary photo journalist named Lee and Wagner Moura played her partner Joel. They are joined by up and coming photo journalist Jesse, played by Cailee Spaeny. Then fourth of the group was the wonderful Stephen McKinley Henderson whose character was a grizzled veteran reporter, Sammy.

These characters interact with each other and the film is truly a character piece involving their road trip toward D.C.

The sound mixing team on this film did an amazing job as it sounded unbelievable. The gun shots would literally resonate in the audience’s gut, creating an uneasiness and an awkwardness that empowered the tone of the film.

Civil War is a violent film that does an admirable job at not taking a side in the conflict, nor does it blame either. It spends time with four characters who have to deal with the consequence of war and trying to exist in a war zone. It is a compelling movie with strong lead performances that anchor the film.

4.25 stars

Late Night with the Devil

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I remember hearing about this film last year from Kevin Smith on his Fatman Beyond podcast. Smith raved about this from his friend David Dastmalchian. So I was excited to see this when I saw it coming out at Cinemark.

I can honestly say that I have not been as shaken or unsettled as much from a horror movie is quite some time. The creativity and originality of this film is off the charts and it strung me along in a beautiful manner.

The film starts off in a style of a documentary where the topic was a late night talk show in 1977 that wound up going off the charts. The main part of the film featured the Halloween episode of the Night Owls late night talk show and footage from behind the scenes recorded that night, which presented a picture of a tense and nerve-wrecking situation.

David Dastmalchian played Jack Delroy, the late night talk show host who was struggling to try and become the leader in ratings for late night shows, but who was always coming up short to Johnny Carson. The first fifteen to twenty minutes of the movie set up the background, much like a documentary might, including giving us details on Jack’s wife Madeleine (Georgina Haig), who had died about a year before.

Jack and the producers of his sinking show were looking for a way to recover from the dwindling ratings since the tragic death, and they were looking for this Halloween episode to really pull in the viewers. They stacked it up with some amazing people.

First, was the psychic Christou (Fayssal Bazzi), who was clearly pulling the old tricks of a fraudulent psychic, saying names and looking for people who might fit into the category. However, there were a couple of things that happen that make us wonder exactly what was going on.

Then, he brought out Carmichael Haig (Ian Bliss), a skeptic who would punch holes in the seemingly paranormal moments. Carmichael was a real jerk about it too, being very condescending and arrogant.

Things really picked up when Dr. June Ross-Mitchell (Laura Gordon) and the young girl Lily (Ingrid Torelli) took the stage to talk about Lily’s demon residing inside of her.

From this point on, this film just took off, as you were never sure what was going on, what was real or what was about to happen. The ending sequence, which I will not spoil, was totally off the charts and absolutely stunning. I was completely floored by the third act of this movie, both in the story telling aspect and the way it made me unnerved.

David Dastmalchian is perfect in the role of Jack. You can suspect that there is more to Jack than what you see, but he is so likable that you really want to believe in him and root for him to make it back to the top. Ingrid Torelli is utterly creepy as Lily. Her looks, her voice, everything about Lily was distressing.

Jack’s sidekick (much like Jimmy Kimmel’s Guillermo or Carson’s Ed McMahon) was named Gus (Rhys Auteri) and you could tell that he was just not sure that they should be doing what they were doing. Gus spoke to Jack as the audience spoke, and he was rebuked over and again.

This movie has a definite retro feel to it, and you believe everything that happens. I really loved this movie. It built amazingly from the beginning until the ending sequence. I can see the end being something that some people will not like, but I was utterly engaged and shaken by it.

This is streaming on Shudder in April, and I would recommend everyone to search it out. It takes the old sub-genres of found footage and demonic possession and brings a new life to them. It is a really great film, one of the best of the year.

4.85 stars

Arthur the King

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This was the second film I saw today that I disagreed with the Rotten Tomatoes score. Arthur the King, the new dog movie starring Mark Wahlberg, had a 65% on Rotten Tomatoes, but I did not find it as enjoyable as that.

According to Rotten Tomatoes, “Over the course of ten days and 435 miles, an unbreakable bond is forged between pro adventure racer Michael Light (Mark Wahlberg) and a scrappy street dog companion dubbed Arthur. Based on an incredible true story, ARTHUR THE KING follows Light, desperate for one last chance to win, as he convinces a sponsor to back him and a team of athletes (Simu Liu, Nathalie Emmanuel, and Ali Suliman) for the Adventure Racing World Championship in the Dominican Republic. As the team is pushed to their outer limits of endurance in the race, Arthur redefines what victory, loyalty and friendship truly mean.“

I really felt as if this film was pushing the boundaries of emotion manipulation with the times it put the dog in jeopardy, and the fact that this dog somehow followed this group of people across some brutal environments because Michael gave him some meatballs was just too much to believe. Yes, it is a true story, but I find it difficult to swallow.

There were some dramatic moments in the film, including one stunt with bicycles and a wire that was harrowing. The landscape was beautiful and was shot very well.

I never doubted what was going to happen in the movie. It was very predictable, which is not always a bad thing. Here, it just felt so manipulative that I rolled my eyes more than I should have.

I do love Simu Liu, but his character was really inconsistent throughout the film and it does not do an adequate job of explaining why he is as he is. Some of his scenes are in direct opposition to moments earlier in the film and even Simu’s great charisma could not help these moments.

A major problem I had was not necessarily the direct problem of the movie, but they showed WAY too much in the trailers, including several scenes from the very end of the movie. Any real tension there may have been in the scene was robbed because I knew there were scenes we saw in the trailer that had not yet happened in the movie. Scenes including the end of the race and subsequent after effects. Some films are hurt by their trailers, and, in my opinion, this is one of them.

I think a lot of people will love this movie, but I am not one of them. It was a basic story that we have seen dozens of times with a dog and a manipulative story. Still, it was not an offensive film and families should like it.

2.75 stars