Tag Archives: willem-dafoe

The Legend of Ochi

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A24 is an active and extremely busy movie studio, releasing all kinds of different movies. One of the newest releases from the studio is a fantasy/adventure that plays like a fairy tail in The Legend of Ochi.

Shot on location in Romania, The Legend of Ochi looks beautiful and the creatures known as the ochi are amazingly constructed in one of the best uses of practical effects in years. The creatures, in particular our little lead character, are marvelous and shows that you can still create something stunning and effective without a bunch of CGI.

According to IMBD, “A young girl named Yuri is raised to fear the reclusive forest creatures known as the ochi. However, when she discovers a baby ochi left behind by its pack, she embarks on a perilous journey to reunite the creature with its family. As Yuri ventures deeper into the forest, she faces dangerous challenges and learns valuable lessons about courage, friendship, and the importance of protecting nature.”

The performance of young actor Helena Zengel is very impressive as Yuri and she effectively carries the bulk of this film on her shoulders. She does an admirable job interacting with the puppet ochi as it travels around on her back and in her company.

There are two well known faces involved in the film. Willem Dafoe played Yuri’s father Maxim and Finn Wolfhard is Petro, a boy who is taken in by her father. Dafoe is his usually wonderful self as this father whose anger about his life is transferred into his hatred for these ochi creatures. He trained these children that are in his care as a military unit to hunt the ochi.

I did like the background story of Maxim and I thought his arc of the movie was very soldi. He had some great scenes with Emily Watson, who played Dasha, Yuri’s absent mother.

There are some weird things happening here, but it had that ET feel combined with a A24 horror film. The Legend of Ochi was a fun film with a nice story.

3.8 stars

Nosferatu

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I have been looking forward to this movie for quite awhile. I have enjoyed every time Nosferatu has found his way onto the screen and so I expected to enjoy this too.

This is basically the Bram Stoker Dracula story with Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård) in the lead vampire role. Orlok has become obsessed with a young recently married woman named Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp) and he stalks her while tormenting the people of her town.

There are so many things that are great about Nosferatu. The acting was sensational from everyone. Nicholas Hoult played Ellen’s husband Thomas brilliantly. Willem Dafoe was Prof. Albin Eberhart von Franz, the bizarre professor with the idea on what needs to happen. Aaron Taylor-Johnson played Thomas’s friend whose wife, Anna (Emma Corrin) was friends with Ellen.

The cinematography and images on the screen were absolutely stunning. The shots of the sea with the Demeter was artistic as could be. The imagery of every shot on the screen was beautiful and compelling. There was a shot of Orlok’s shadow with Ellen at the very beginning of the film which was amazing. There were images everywhere in the movie that stood out, showing what an amazing job director Robert Eggers has done on this movie.

I loved the coloring of the film too. It made it feel special and even the most frightening moments of the film looked lovely. The craftsmanship of the film is stunning and this film will be earning several tech Academy Award nominations when it comes time.

The movie was violent and brutal. There are moments where the images were difficult to watch.

The only drawback I can say is that it is basically the Dracula story retread and it might be a touch long. Other than that, this is a masterful reboot of the iconic film. I had went into the film with high expectations because I had heard so many positives about it, so that is always a danger. All of my expectations were reached and exceeded. This is a fantastic movie.

5 stars

Poor Things

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Oh boy.

This one is out there.

A pregnant young woman (Emma Stone) jumps off a bridge only to have a bizarre scientist (Willem Dafoe) use a experimental procedure to resurrect her into a whole new, childlike being. The woman, Bella, began learning about the world as a child may, but inside the body of a grown woman.

Be warned. Anyone who may be offended by sex scenes in a movie… get ready. There are tons of these in this film. Many of the scenes are just jaw-dropping, but, strangely enough, have an innocent feel to them.

Emma Stone is spectacular with this offbeat, weird character. Willem Dafoe is always great, and he brings his a-game here beneath a bunch of prosthetics. Mark Ruffalo is unbelievable as the annoying lawyer whom Bella runs off with (sort of). The acting is special among the whole cast, but these three stand out specifically.

The story is about as original as you are going to get. Original and bizarre. I was definitely seeing a correlation between Poor Things and another classic story, that I even think might be connected closer than one might think. No spoilers, but I do believe there is a connection.

Watching Bella develop across the film was fascinating, and I was really enjoying the character progression. Seeing the men that were drawn to her was again somewhat humorous and horrifying at the same time.

As I said earlier, there are some shocking scenes in the movie between Emma Stone and the multiple men in her life. 

Poor Things is unlike any movie you have seen and it stands out with some amazing acting and oddball energy.

4 stars