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Reviews
Mothers' Instinct (2024)
Your ' instinct' should be to watch the film!
A lengthy conversation between us two at the end of this Douglas Sirk looking melodrama was had. It touched on themes that we both discuss regularly, mainly how desperate women are to have children and what lives they lead once they have them. Here both woman live picturesque lives in big houses next to each other but what happens if there is a trauma that makes them evaluate these lifestyles they have.
It's an intriguing set up and makes full use of the title itself-as is evident in the last third of the film. The set design and photography are both top notch. It's a mash up of Sirk, Hitchcock and Lynch with a spattering of Haneke.
Both actresses are excellent and, like the flawed but interesting film Eileen, Anne Hathaway shows depth and nuance in her recent role choices.
The dark ending works and it had us both gripped.
Starve Acre (2023)
Chilly, atmospheric but cliched folk horror.
A mental checklist of pretty much any folk horror went through my mind whilst watching this. A mash up of Blood on Satans Claw and Lamb was the first films that crossed my mind, then Wake Wood, The Hollow and more recently Lords of Misrule.
Nonetheless, for me, any folk horror is good folk horror-from any continent.
Matt Smith and Morfydd Clark are outstanding in the lead roles and their grief at losing their son is palpable and raw, the soundtrack is sparse and adds to the foreboding goings on.
If nobody had seen the aforementioned films then they may take more out of this than me but they may be put off by the slow pace, I found it creepy and atmospheric and made me love the woods, air and bare trees that populate these films even more-as I did with Lords of Misrule.
Rebel Ridge (2024)
Heartfelt, well done action thriller, let down by muddled storytelling.
Writer/ director Jeremy Saulnier made an impressive debut in Blue Ruin (2013) and a worthy follow up with Green Room (2015) , which made better use of Patrick Stewart than the annoying Star Trek nonsense.
Here he makes an impassioned, almost sensitive thriller that doesn't follow the usual route of shooting, bone crunching etc that one would expect with a ' stranger coming into a small corrupt town'.
It reminded me of the Jack Reacher novels I enjoyed over the years.
Aaron Pierre commands the screen with quiet authority, dignity and decency and his opening scene with the bullish traffic cops was well played and conveyed a sense of outrage, which the film needs.
Its good to see Don Johnson and the reliable James Cromwell in supporting roles-they excel in slimy authority. Anna Sophia Robb is tender as the single mother with a past and I'm thankful there isn't the obligatory love story; merely a respectful team up.
Where the film is let down is a confusing soup of corruption and dirty deeds that I struggled with.
Nonetheless, it's a well staged Netflix flix that has heart and soul; something SOME actioners don't have nowadays.
Lore (2023)
Uninspired, unscary, unoriginal.
This got fave reviews mainly from Frighfest sycophants (Kim Newman) but not even the wonderfully creepy Richard Brake (wasted) can save this ' been there, done that' horror.
None of the stories seemed fresh, the first story had a decent monster (similar to Split Second), the last had a decent set up with a masked killer in a cinema but they all seemed tediously unscary.
Like a group of college students let loose with cameras and no script as well as no knowledge of previous portmanteau horrors.
The end makes no sense and what could have been better use made of Mr Brake is a wasted opportunity.
Trap (2024)
Stupid, silly ,farfetched but enjoyable
The latest from our old pal M. Night is devoid of tension within the first half when it should be building up.
Contains a wooden performance by Josh Harnett.
Has massive plot holes- surely a huge 6ft 4in guy in a tan jacket would be spotted on CCTV pushing a young drunk girl down the stairs and adding bottles of oil into a deep fat fryer then stealing an employee's apron? The CCTV monitors are revealed as rather huge and numerous with security monitoring them.
The film has tedious 'musical' interludes just to showcase how awful the daughter of M. Night is as an actress.
Yet, despite all these, and many others, I was enjoying how awful this was and was on the fence i was admiring the chutzpah in how this got made.
As blackly comic serial killer movies go this ain't no The House That Jack Built but a film I could laugh at and not feel guilt in doing so.
Oddity (2024)
Creepy moments, unsubtle storytelling.
Picture this: your a young woman alone in your new home- a creepy, isolated farmhouse, at night. There's a knock at the door and in front of you is a one eyed, dishevelled, recently discharged mental patient babbling about an intruder within the home. Would you run immediately away scared or stop and talk to him albeit briefly but guarded?
And how would you react to a deeply scary wooden male mannequin with a scream looking face, sitting at your dinner table? Would you immediately became horrified and troubled or register it and be nonplussed?
If you answer the latter in these questions then you need to invest in storytelling education because this took me out of this creepy and effective horror/chiller. I just felt the writer\director was trying too hard to be pulling the strings of slow burning horror.
This had echoes of Les Diabloque , no bad thing but needed more character building in these silly aforementioned moments.
Also the blind lady remarkably acted like she wasn't blind....
Alien: Romulus (2024)
Didn't need to be made but has good moments.
This redundant sequel/prequel whatever has a solid lead in Cailee Spaeny (so good in Priscilla) and has some effective and very tense setpieces, the creeping around the face huggers so not to alert them and gliding around the acid whilst in gravity are what I would expect from the director of Don't Breathe. It welcome for a filmmaker to use silence as a tool to work at pulling the audience heartbeat!
David Jonsson is also touching and humane as the 'android' both creepy and kindhearted- the opposite to 'Ash' in the original although its welcome to see the 'AI' version of Ian Holm as the aforementioned character.
It's better than Alien Conevant not as grand as Prometheus but I liked the greatest hits of all the Alien movies in its design.
A decent time killer but, please no more, that's it.
Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris (2022)
Overdone sugar.
This British made piece of gorgeous looking cake follows a tradition of ' nice pictures' about the people who society seems to forget about yet triumph at the end(The Great Escaper,Living,The Phantom of The Open,Mrs Lowry and Son and best of all Wicked Little Letters).
They all find an audience, mainly middle age and that's fine with me.
Here the great Lesley Manville is again surrounded by fitted gowns and cold hearted tailors, like she was in the excellent Phantom Thread.
It's an overlong picture that has to make one swallow disbelief in installments- how easy it is for salt of the earth working class Ada to rally the ladies to strike so quickly and effortlessly at the house of Dior, how easy it is for the well to do French count to dazzle Ada into getting into Dior in the first place.
The French are portrayed so stereotypical with tramps drinking red wine, baguettes, black and white striped T Shirts and I kept expecting a French man on a bicycle with onions around his chest.
It's all so sugary and unbelievable but Manville steals the film.
The Instigators (2024)
Enjoyable but forgettable crime caper.
Both Casey Affleck and Matt Damon starred in Oceans Eleven (2001) so it's no surprise they both collaborate in this similar updated version.
Like the aforementioned fipm it's an enjoyable time killer with colourful characters, zany action scenes,underwritten female roles and a hairbrained plot.
The ever reliable Ron Perlman enjoys himself as the brusque major but poor Toby Jones has nothing to do as his P. A.
It has zip,pace and colour and I laughed several times at the one liners,felt they both had some chemistry together but whilst writing this review, I'm wracking my brains trying to remember this film!
The Moor (2023)
Interesting, well done horror chiller.
A sense of slow burning dread permeates throughout this low budget chiller set in Lancashire. An updated version of Don't Look Now, Lake Mungo and Picnic At Hanging Rock type melancholy and unresolved mystery is set up straight away with a startling opener that is both well done and creepy (though clearly not done in a single take; if it's what the director intended)?
David Edward Robertson effectively performs the grief and utter obsession as the father of the missing boy, the sound design is subtle and chilly with expert photography capturing the strange misty moorland.
Where I find the film,slightly, falters is the rather repetitive structure of the story with aimless visits to the moor with another ' seeker' to locate the missing child and an ending that is ambiguous to the point of laziness in the scripting- how did the father make the young woman go back out onto the moor? How did he coerce her? Why did she have on her camera? Was it to please the 'found footage' fans of horror? Whatever it is it didn't make much sense. And at under two hours the film is too overlong.
However it has played on my mind since I saw it and it bears a recommendation from me on the journey writer/ director makes for his future endeavours.
Kill (2023)
Derivative but enjoyable kick ass fest.
This violent, bloody Indian actioner set on a train suffers the same flaws that beset Dev Patel's Monkey May, a huge feel of deja vu and repetitiveness. The fight scenes are very very impressive and the amount of time spent on the choreography prior to shooting must be commended.
The amount of running up and down train corridors brandishing knives, wanting vengeance,stabbings, being thrown out of moving trains etc etc etc does become tiresome.
I felt the first half was better sustained with the developing characters, fights and heart- I genuinely felt the love between Amrit and Tulika before it goes full bloody action. The line spoken :" I killed only four of yours,you've killed forty of my family" a telling line, there are no victors here.
Monkey Man had a degree of heart and soul that I feel Kill doesn't making it the better film but with the level of pace and action it does exactly what one would expect from this type of film.
Trigger Warning (2024)
Formulaic and forgettable.
Jessica Alba can certainly kick ass but fails in developing or showing much depth to her character especially when dealing with the sudden loss of her father, then going after the bad, home grown terrorists that caused the death.
It's all been done before but if you are in for a 'leave your brain at the door, pizza and beer' evening then it will fill a couple of hours on the couch.
It has the same level of corrupt small town USA shenanigans that made RoadHouse(the original) a cult classic but misses the snap,crackle and pop of the watchable,quotable film.
Alba's character looks pretty but after being beat up by a group of men only has a small bruise to show. It's that kind of film!
In a Violent Nature (2024)
Intriguing set up, repetitive execution.
This horror from Chris Nash takes the POV from the killer rather than the obligatory ' final girl' we have been accustomed to in the past several decades. It's a intriguing plot structure that follows the killer through the woods, bumping off individuals.
But it is exactly this that is tedious and , well, rather boring. Imagine a character in a computer game just walking around a city, committing acts of violence over and over again-it's this film. And whilst I didn't hate it I found this set up rather boring.
The gore is ' old school' and all the better for it. Nash clearly knows his horror films and it shows but the gore just goes on and on. The scene where he cuts off the limbs of the park ranger is way too overlong that even for a gore hound like me I found myself wishing it were over.
The ' Yoga Death' scene was inventive but again proves no real purpose except to highlight what a decent special effects unit Nash has at his disposal.
The ending ends on a whimper rather than a bang but by that time I was past caring.
Svaniti nella notte (2024)
Serviceable but forgettable Netflix Saturday night fodder.
For a few beers on the couch with pizza this Italian thriller is mildly ok with a plot that kept us guessing until the rather tame ending that could have been much better.
I liked the way that the mother was the villain and shows the cruel actions she has in order to get custody of her kids-it's usually the other way around.
Acting was ok with the lead actor certainty looking the part as a stressed out, tired and emotional wreck running drugs to secure money.
Lovely Italian/ Greek exteriors as well.
This would have farer better in the early 90s as a straight to video thriller as it stands its a decent time filler at 90mins on Netflix.
Longlegs (2024)
Chilly, atmospheric thriller which could have been better.
Whilst watching this thriller, written and directed by Oz Perkins-son of Anthony Perkins, I was reminded of the John Connelly novels that feature private eye ' Charlie ' Bird' Parker. Such is the cold wintry atmosphere of dark woods, threadbare trees blowing in the wind and the whisper of malevolent danger throughout.
This type of atmosphere is catnip for me, I just love it!
The cinematography by Andres Arochi brilliantly captures this chilly, strange part of the US (Oregon). There are echoes of The Silence of the Lambs, Se7en, It Comes At Night to A Quiet Place all the whilst sustaining it's own 'look' and 'feel'
It's like a mix of Manhunter, Mindhunter and the little seen but memorable 'found footage' horror The Ploughkeepsie Tapes.
Maika Monroe is outstanding as the lead FBI agent capturing a certain level of steely intelligence, vulnerability and a hefty dose of social awkwardness ? Asperger's. A mash up of Jake next door and Josie. The eyes permanently downcast She is ably supported by Alicia Witt as her detached, odd mother highlighting that Ms Witt needs to be in more creepy films like this. She is so good.
Where the film falters , to a small degree, is Nicholas Cage. Normally I like Mr Cage-he is brave and daring in his choice of film roles. He isn't afraid to ' mix things up' a little rather than just playing the same roles. He was great in Pig and Dream Scenario. Here he seems too made up, the make up is too silly and comical to be actually scary and his visit to the convenience where he is chastised by the young girl at the till is just added for unsubtle laughs. He looks like Tiny Tim, Nan and (shudder) Rachel Thurston.
The story of demonic possession from a 'doll' is silly and doesn't make a whole lot of sense. It's been done with Megan, Child's Play and Annabelle, In fact, if it were straight forward thriller it would have worked so much better. As a horror it falters.
Nonetheless, I'm glad I saw it on the big screen and it was refreshing to see it packed on a Friday night (some noisy individuals not withstanding). It's a recommendation from me and I'm excited to see it, if popular, inspiring other filmmakers to make more of these creepy thrillers in the future.
Kinds of Kindness (2024)
Very funny but won't be for everyone.
After the ambitious ' Poor Things' Yorgos Lanthimos continues his voyage of dark twisted humor, this time with a three story set up with the same actors playing different characters. The results are a mixed bag with the weakest saved for last. He is still one of the best writer/directors out there and whilst I enjoyed Kinds of Kindness, it doesn't have the sharpness or edge of it's awesome predecessor.
The first story was interesting with a effective performance from Jesse Plemons as a guy who has his life dictated and organized to by Willem Dafoe, a kind of lifestyle coach.
The second with where he plays a cop who thinks his wife is a ? 'alien' is the 2nd best.
The third and final is Emma Stone playing a cult worker who tries to kidnap a vet, who she thinks has 'magic powers' is underdeveloped and doesn't make much sense. It lacks focus and drags.
At the moment, Laura and I are watching (finally) Inside Number 9 and many of these stories are only 30mins long. This is nearly 3hrs.
That's all I'm gonna say!
MaXXXine (2024)
Bit of a mixxxed bag.
Mia Goth continues her solid run of playing a character that at first (Pearl) was sexually frustrated and caught within an oppressive environment before beginning to be somewhat liberated albeit in a twisted way, her follow up (X) she was liberated albeit within a more conventional stalk n slash environment here (Maxxxine) she is liberated within a highly sexual,nightmarish environment (Hollywood).
She's certainly the best actress I've seen in the past few years-Emma Stone a follow up. Both aren't afraid to ' push the envelope ' ,to test them selves, to play original characters; rather than slum it and accept the paycheck.
I have to say that Ti West knows this about Ms Goth and the two work together very well, they both know the character and arent afraid of showing the darkness- a kind of telekinesis is at work here.
West certainly (like Tarantino) is well versed in movie lore and his 80s neon drenched style here is an obvious love letter to the films he loves(Body Double just pores from the screen).
Everything from the photography to the costumes is so well designed I'm glad I saw it on the big screen.
Kevin Bacon has fun as the seedy slimy private eye(he reminded me of Peter Cook in the Xmas bbc special One Foot in the Algave).
Sadly,I have to report that the film was a classic case of style over substance. The story itself stopped and started with a a serial killer on the loose (The Night Stalker) then an utterly stupid red herring scene of a weird guy cornering Maxxxine in a dark alley only to have the tables turned on him with a gratuitous scene of icky violence that only proved how effective the special effects department are.
There is no tension, no build up in the story and I certainly didn't find it scary (and its marketed as a ' horror')
The payoff made no real sense and showed an over the top hammy performance from Simon Prast as Maxxxine's father.
The whole film has an amoral 'Hobo with a Shotgun' vibe which worked but also made Maxxxine rather unsympathetic - her best friend Leon is brutally slain and he is never mentioned and quickly forgotten. She never mourns him again.
For a microcosm look at how strange and perverse Hollywood is I would recommend 'Starry Eyes' (2014) with the equally impressive Alex Essoe.
I got a lot out of the movie production side of Hollywood and enjoyed many parts of it but felt this is the weakest out of a highly original trio of films.
I hope that Mr West doesn't turn into a foolish Tarantino of " hey,hey look at how much I know about movies" and forget the basic ingredients of story and narrative.
Blue Jay (2016)
Well acted drama.
This sweet,gentle drama contains two exceptional performances by Sarah Paulson and Mark Duplass- a far cry from his creepy performance in 'Creep' although there are hints of something not right with him throughout this film.
It's the kind of film that, whilst some would lament that it's too slow and story free,I think actors should try at least once in their careers like stage work. A flexing of the 'acting muscle' ,a discovery of depths they never knew were there- something other than Marvel movies.
The black and white photography effectively evokes the tone of this picture and its well picked location (Twin Peaks ,CA!!!) looks lovely.
At 80mins it's a perfect length that most mainstream movies should adhere too.
Kolory zla. Czerwien (2024)
Bleak, dark Polish thriller.
After the gentleness of 'The Phantom of The Open' this is a complete U turn.
It's certainty ' Nordic noir' in it's descriptions of torture and violence and doesn't shy away in showing the ugliness of organised crime and abuse. This works in the film's favour as it isn't watered down as some US/UK productions usually are.
Certainty the only sympathetic characters are Monika, the poor victim and Jakubiak the unfortunate guy who was framed for the death of his girlfriend 15yrs ago and again now for Monika's death.
It isn't Jakub Gierszal's fault he looks like Bryan MacFadden (the singer in Westlife) but, like Bryan, he's wooden and doesn't emote much emotion-especially given the harshness of this police case.
The music is irritating and stupidity used to dry up any form of tension the filmmaker wants to use (though the Peaches song is used effectively in the dank, nasty nightclub scene)Overall, a solid Netflixer.
The Bikeriders (2023)
Brilliantly designed, well shot, well acted but has flaws.
Our second Jodie Comer film in two nights! Here she is much better and with an outstanding Mid Western US twang.
Writer/director Jeff Nichols always captures the beating heart of the middle America that infuses previous works-Mud, Take Shelter and Loving and with grizzled Michael Shannon.
The feel of America in the 60s is perfectly captured here with the look, sounds really capturing what lives these characters live. One can almost taste the bike fumes!
It's an effective set up to base a story on but there really isn't much of a story more a series of moments. A guy wants to introduce other members into the club, the president disagrees, they fight, the president wins, the president agrees. One biker gets in a bar fight, he is maimed, the president exacts revenge (including unnecessary burning down the bar-unacceptable) .. A younger gang wants to join the club, they can't. Norman Reedus's character comes from California to get revenge on another biker that left his club but decides he isn't going to get revenge;instead he joins the club and it's never mentioned again. This could have been a decent springboard to set up the story but no it's more vignettes. On and on.
There is no forward thrust, no momentum.
Tom Hardy has a presence but he looks and sounds like he did in Legend, Peaky Blinders, Lawless etc. In fact, he could have been in all these in one go. He's a fine actor but maybe try something else-typecasting in the villainous hard man roles is tiresome.
Norman Reedus looks like he just come of The Walking Dead and he likes motorcycles-a bit of smug casting.
If Nichols wanted to show the lives of these individuals and couldn't add a story to the narrative then surely this would have worked better as a three part Netflix documentary.
I did enjoy it and would watch it again but it could have been much better.
The End We Start From (2023)
Somber disaster drama.
Despite a slightly wobblily accent that verges between Liverpool, Essex and London Jodie Comer excels in the lead in a less bleak version of The Road, though with a newborn infant instead of a grown teenager tagging alongside.
There are a couple of faults in the scripting; its rather too convenient that her in laws have a safer house surrounded by woods and a well stocked pantry of food with the mother in law knowing that there will eventually be a apocalyptic incident (in this case endlessly heavy rain) and towards the end Ms. Comer's character is promised a trip to London if she agrees to work towards rebuilding the city but she never does, merely goes straight home to her ruined house.
This is a well acted, character driven drama that may disappoint those looking for action set pieces but those looking for more quiet dramas of nature gone wrong (Foe and How I Live Now) this will do.
Portentous title though!
The Phantom of the Open (2021)
Endearing, gentle comedy.
The ever excellent Mark Rylance impresses as the blue collar worker pursuing his dream to be a amateur golfer at the British Open with hurdles and pitfalls that mark his path.
Lovely Sally Hawkins is his patient and dutiful wife back home and it would take a heart of stone not to get carried away with the kindness and goodness that surround Maurice on his quest.
Of course like most ' true life' British comedies of unlikely people doing rather extraordinary things (Billy Elliot, Eddy The Eagle, The Great Escaper) it follows a predictable path of officious bureaucrats and obstinate individuals getting in the way but it's done with a sweetness that reminded me of Ealing comedies.
A good thing.
The Strangers: Chapter 1 (2024)
Unnecessary reboot/prequel/sequel/who knows!.
The original ' The Strangers'(2008) was a nifty little exercise in tension building with creepy camerawork and decent lead performances from Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman;it gained a cult following and rightly so.
The inevitable sequel was okay and gave the masked antagonists their comeuppance. That's it end of story.
No, the vultures are circling the carcass and now we have the new film; which I don't know what they want to call it except its a passable , forgettable, cliched 'cabin in the woods' set up with all the tropes lined up.
Lead actor Ryan Brown is wooden as the trees that circle the cabin, not so much emoting fear but looking constipated-the scene where he kills the wrong person and goes from horror to calm is a classic scene of bad acting.
The great Brian Butcher lookalike Richard Brake is given nothing to do (? Used more in the inevitable sequels) except use his wonderful face to creepy effect.
For beer and snacks on a Friday night after a tough week its passable but really didn't need to be remade at all.
File under ' Recommended Films For Elsie and Molly'.
I Saw the TV Glow (2024)
Not for everyone but a memorable experience.
Writer/director Jane Schoenbrun made a highly atmospheric little film a couple of years ago called ' We're All Going To The Worlds Fair' on a shoestring budget but the film left an inedible impression on me that I included it on my ten best of the year.
The follow up continues the same microscopic view of adolescence, loneliness and social exclusion that still retains the same wonderful wintry neon feel as the previous film. See also the classic 'It Follows' and ' Rivers Edge'-these all perfectly capture the inner feelings of the characters; bored teenagers in middle small town America caught in a mystery.
It is talky and slow and I get if some will be put off. I didn't take to the characters breaking the 'fourth wall' and start speaking directly to the camera; it felt like the audience had to be spoon fed exactly what the character is feeling.
The acting is excellent from Justice Smith and Brigette Lunday-Paine and young Ian Foreman as the young Owen. Bringing a vulnerable, isolated look on the faces. Is there a hint of abuse here?
I felt like I did in the 90s with 'Twin Peaks' where I wanted to dive straight into the TV set and be in the dark and magical small US town (there are lots of 'Lynchian' references here, not just the photography and sound but the musical interlude in the small bar)
Like the similar 'Beau is Afraid' (ageing) this is a smart, extremely well done expressionist horror that I may not want to see again in a hurry but will stay in my mind for a long time.
The Invitation (2022)
Watchable Netflix vampire horror.
I was hoping this would turn into Society (1989) level of insanity as the rich folk of this grand country manor, set in Whitby!, all have the glint in their eyes of knowing more about what's going on than our young female protagonist.
Sadly, it doesn't go in the direction of yukky body horror romping which would have made the film more sharper and daring-instead it settles into a standard vampire set horror with the usual filmic styles-long dark corridors, cobwebbed old and unused guest bedrooms, things creeping in the dark, one moment their there the next their not, candlelight.
I liked the twisted dinner scene with everyone in masks (very Eyes Wide Shut)-that's a plaudit right there!
The great Sean Pertwee is as watchable as ever as the gruff butler, Thomas Doherty has fun as the villainous lead vampire but Nathalie Emmanuel is wet as the lead actress and her last scene with her irritating friend (Courtney Taylor) tries for Get Out level of pally allegiance that feels tagged on.
Laura wasn't as bored as I was expecting her to be and Elsie and Molly would probably get more out of this Twilight handsome white teethed actors than I did.