Tag: Netflix

tick, tick… Boom!

Post author By Mark
Post date November 26, 2021

You’d be forgiven for thinking that tick, tick… BOOM! – the directorial debut from Hamilton megastar Lin-Manuel Miranda about the life of Broadway playwright Johnathan Larson and his journey towards creating juggernaut musical Rent! – is autobiographical. If there was one person who more than qualifies to tell this specific story it is Miranda and his debut is an excellent portrayal of the struggles of the creative process and the idiosyncrasies that almost stopped Larson from changing Broadway history. A potentially career-defining performance from Andrew Garfield anchors it all and it is expectedly emotionally devastating when it needs to be, but unmemorable songs and a dragging middle prevent tick, tick… BOOM! from truly soaring.

Before he created the über popular Rent!, Jonathan Larson (Garfield) was a struggling playwright barely able to make ends meet, juggling a job as a waiter at the Moondance diner in New York’s Soho whilst creating his self-proclaimed masterpiece “Superbia” – a futuristic rock opera. With the pressure of an approaching deadline for the musical’s workshop (presenting it to potential producers) mounting, Jonathan finds himself having to give more and more of himself to his art than ever before, a dedication that forces him to push aside long-term girlfriend Susan (Alexandra Shipp) and best friend Michael (Robin de Jesus). But as the world around Jonathan begins to crumble and he reaches rock bottom, he learns that he may not have to separate his dedication to playwriting and personal life to create a truly special piece of art.

Based on the Off-Broadway production of Larson’s semi-autobiographical play of the same name, tick, tick… BOOM! is a story tailor made for Miranda to tell; uniquely suited to his experiences and similar career trajectory, catapulted into superstardom off the back of such a popular production (in Miranda’s case Hamilton). That experience makes for a fascinating insight into the mind of a playwright creative. Jonathan is a complicated character and not always a nice one, shunning the outside world and pushing those close to him away in pursuit of artistic perfection. Sometimes this seems to come from a place of arrogance but mostly it is just Jonathan’s intense desire to share his art with the world and affect people through it. Miranda clearly holds Larson in high regard and is able to effectively convey this obsession without ever alienating the audience; we understand his purpose even if we don’t always agree with the way Jonathan gets there.

Larson may have been a flamboyant, bubbly personality, but Miranda’s depiction of his life is far more subdued than other Miranda-penned productions. This largely comes down to the music itself – all pulled from Larson’s play – which doesn’t necessarily correlate to Miranda’s usual whip-smart wordplay and explosive pacing; in fact a lot of it is just plain unmemorable. Jonathan’s frustrations tend to follow a fairly cyclical nature – a significant event leads to an inability to write a song for his production about it before culminating in a big musical number – and it doesn’t take too many of these performances for them to become repetitive, our sympathy for Jonathan replaced by frustration with his entitled whining. There are a few standout numbers – “30/90” brilliantly visualises Jonathan’s fear of anonymity and “Boho Days” is an endlessly inventive a capella sequence panning throughout Jonathan’s apartment – but for the most part these songs distract from the immediacy of Jonathan’s problems; grinding the entire film to a halt until the plot can kick back in.

The constant throughout it all is Garfield. He is truly excellent as Larson – amongst the very best of his performances – and gives everything to his portrayal of a man so caught up in his own search for greatness and the desire to touch as many lives as possible that he looks past the people he is already affecting. Equally emotionally moving as he is frustratingly stubborn, Garfield never lets Larson’s mask of false confidence slip, at all times possessing an (some may argue) untested amount of belief in his own abilities. Miranda frames the character as inspirational in spite of his flaws and having such a likeable talent as Garfield goes a long way towards building that audience goodwill. Add to the fact that Garfield has a terrific voice and completely crushes every one of his musical performances and you have a surefire bet come Oscar nomination time.

tick, tick… BOOM! is a wonderful debut from Lin-Manuel Miranda held back by forces beyond his control – lacklustre songs that bomb the film’s pacing. The story of Jonathan Larson is ripe for a cinematic feature and Miranda is arguably the perfect choice, demonstrating a reverence for the man that has so clearly inspired his own career path. A sensational performance from Andrew Garfield is the glue that holds everything together, perfectly capturing the genius lurking behind the scatterbrained, conflicted figure threatening to burst from frustration with the inability to create the art he sees so clearly in his mind. It might not be as explosive as the title may suggest, but tick, tick… BOOM! is nevertheless an impressive move into directing from a man who has already conquered the entertainment world in so many different ways.

tick, tick… BOOM! stars Andrew Garfield, Alexandra Shipp, Robin De Jesus, Vanessa Hudgens, Joshua Henry, Jonathan Marc Sherman, Judith Light & Bradley Whitford – Streaming on Netflix now.

7/10

Tags Alexandra Shipp, Andrew Garfield, Bradley Whitford, Joshua Henry, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Netflix, Robin de Jesus, tick tick... Boom!, Vanessa Hudgens

Movie Reviews

Army of Thieves

Post author By Mark
Post date November 9, 2021

Shared cinematic universes are all the rage these days and now it seems Netflix wants in, spinning off this year’s successful Army of the Dead into future sequels, animated series and a prequel: Army of Thieves. Ditching the zombies for a heist film focused on Matthias Schweighöfer’s safecracking Ludwig Dieter, Army of Thieves is a fun if ultimately throwaway addition to the burgeoning franchise, kept afloat by a frenetic performance from Schweighöfer and not much else.

As the zombie outbreak begins to surge in Las Vegas, Ludwig Dieter (Schweighöfer) watches on from the television, far removed in his mundane life as a bank teller in Potsdam, Germany. When he receives a mysterious invitation to put his safecracking skills to the test, Dieter finds himself embroiled in an audition to join jewel thief Gwendoline (Nathalie Emmanuel) and her team – tech expert Korina (Ruby O. Fee), getaway driver Rolph (Guz Khan) and weapons specialist Brad (Stuart Martin) – on a series of bank heists. When Dieter begins to fall for Gwendoline, cracks begin to form in the team already embroiled in the most dangerous game of all: gaining access to and cracking legendary locksmith Hans Wagner’s most intricate safes.

Taking over the directing reigns from Zack Snyder is Schweighöfer himself, who fashions the film into another heavily stylised affair through Dieter’s narration and the use of classic heist film techniques; like showing the entire heist as it is explained via voiceover. It makes for some enjoyable, fast paced heist sequences that keep you engaged even if the narrative surrounding these them drags and meanders through clichéd romances and rivalries. What doesn’t work is the constant comparisons to other heist films; characters constantly discussing how these heists are different to the ones you see “in the movies”… except they aren’t. The heists themselves are fun, sure, but nothing audiences haven’t seen done better before in a myriad of other films and it makes this kind of meta grandstanding come off as pretentious rather than charming.

Where Snyder’s influence is felt the most is in the colour palette. Army of Thieves is a frustratingly dull film to look at; from the streets of Germany to Paris and St. Moritz it all looks exactly the same, a dark and dingy mix of greys and silver that mimic the concrete and steel of the safes Dieter is cracking. Even the names of locations superimposed over the scenery can be missed; a different shade of grey that blends into all the other greys on screen. Where are the vibrant oranges and blues of the poster? Hell, even the costumes are a monochromatic mess of boredom. Other than that, the film is only tangentially linked to Army of the Dead. The zombie apocalypse in Las Vegas is occurring, but it never affects the story outside of some foreboding dream sequences.

What keeps it all together is Schweighöfer himself. He gives a gleefully giddy performance – Dieter anxiously babbles away, reassuring himself that they will succeed – that expands on the charm of the character audiences know from Army of the Dead without overdoing it; no easy feat given the amount of times Schweighöfer squeals in terror at any tricky situation. Nathalie Emmanuel is perfectly fine as Gwendoline, not given anything more to do other than serving as Dieter’s guide to the criminal underworld and love interest, but there is a sweetness to their relationship; an intimacy that the rest of the film steers well clear of in favour of huge, bombastic set-pieces.

There’s some fun to be had with Army of Thieves, an inoffensive if unnecessary addition to the Army of the Dead shared universe that succeeds on the strength of Schweighöfer’s endearing lead performance. It would have been nice to see a more contained, less epic in scope film than Army, given the comparatively much lower stakes here, but this is a perfectly serviceable action film to throw on on a lazy afternoon. But can we ditch the drab colours for the next instalment please?

Army of Thieves stars Matthias Schweighöfer, Nathalie Emmanuel, Ruby O. Fee, Stuart Martin, Guz Khan, Noémie Nakai & Jonathan Cohen – Streaming on Netflix now.

5/10

Tags Army of Thieves, Guz Khan, Jonathan Cohen, Matthias Schweighöfer, Nathalie Emmanuel, Netflix, Ruby O. Fee, Stuart Martin

Movie Reviews

The Guilty

Post author By Mark
Post date October 7, 2021

Based on the Danish film of the same name, The Guilty follows Jake Gyllenhaal’s disgraced detective-turned-911 operator Joe Baylor on one slow night that evolves into a life-altering experience after receiving a terrifying call. Having previously worked with him on boxing drama Southpaw, Gyllenhaal enlists director Antoine Fuqua to helm what should be a completely edge-of-your-seat thriller; a film seemingly purpose built to showcase the incredible acting chops of its lead. While it absolutely delivers on that front, the story sags in the middle – the material not as engaging as the performance – on its way to a poignant and tragic finale that may not leave you as satisfied as you would like.

Following in the vein of films like Tom Hardy’s Locke, The Guilty takes place entirely within the confines of an emergency services operations centre – a device that works both to the film’s benefit and detriment – as Joe desperately struggles to locate distraught caller Emily (Riley Keough), who has seemingly been kidnapped by husband Henry (Peter Sarsgaard). All the action between Emily and Henry is played out entirely through phone conversations, as Joe attempts to extract as much information from the hostage as fast as he can under the guise of a call to her daughter (a thrilling sequence) amid furious denied requests to dispatch to have police sweep the area.

From the moment this phone call comes through Joe’s line there is a profound atmosphere of tension; we feel Joe’s desperation increasing with each passing moment and failed attempt to reconnect with Emily. Adding an extra wrinkle to the affair is the recent breakdown of his marriage and an ongoing mystery surrounding an appointment the next day that is clearly causing Joe a lot of stress. This is a man on the edge and Gyllenhaal completely owns it, his prickly demeanour growing into full blown rage and temper tantrums as he struggles to obtain control of yet another aspect of his life that is slipping through his fingers. It’s a career highlight performance for the star/producer to be sure; it is only due to Gyllenhaal’s charisma and commitment to the role that we’re kept invested in Joe’s story to the bitter end.

Unfortunately that story loses steam not long after the fateful phone call, as proceedings slow to what feels like an endless stream of fruitless calls; to fellow detectives, to Joe’s wife, to other emergency services. It serves to compound Joe’s frustrations but unfortunately puts the audience in the same boat, growing ever weary of the monotony and close to checking out. Thankfully the plot kicks back into gear with a breakneck final thirty minutes, as Joe’s personal and professional problems combine in a beautifully tragic yet cathartic way, but it doesn’t do much to hide the fact that this already short 90 minute film only has about an hour of story truly worth telling.

The Guilty without its star simply isn’t as compelling a film as it is with Gyllenhaal’s immense on-screen talents. Able to carry us through even the most tepid of telephone conversations, the journey through Joe Baylor’s psyche is wholly engrossing even if his immediate situation loses momentum at times. The supporting voice cast is stacked and Fuqua does what he can with interesting direction, but at the end of the day this is purely a performance piece for its star and in the question of “does Gyllenhaal nail it?” he can only be found guilty.

The Guilty stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Ethan Hawke, Riley Keough, Peter Sarsgaard, Christina Vidal, Adrian Martinez, Eli Goree & Paul Dano – Streaming on Netflix now.

7/10

Tags Antoine Fuqua, Christina Vidal, Ethan Hawke, Jake Gyllenhaal, Netflix, Paul Dano, Peter Sarsgaard, Riley Keough, The Guilty

Movie Reviews

He’s All That

Post author By Mark
Post date September 1, 2021

When celebrities jump into acting from different mediums it can be a tricky situation; for every Arnold Schwarzenegger or Mark Wahlberg there are dozens of unsuccessful Paris Hiltons or Rihannas. As far as something as short form and potentially throwaway as Tik Tok goes, the skills don’t necessarily transfer to the silver screen. That hasn’t stopped Addison Rae, one of the platform’s biggest users, from trying as she stars in cult nineties teen comedy She’s All That in the gender-swapped remake He’s All That. Expectedly, she isn’t exactly Daniel Day Lewis on-screen, but Rae does her best and isn’t as much to blame for the film’s failures as the script itself and the overly cheesy tone.

Taking on the role made famous by Freddie Prinze Jr. in 1999, Rae stars as Padgett – a high-school senior on the cusp of winning prom queen with alongside her budding rap star boyfriend Jordan (Peyton Meyer) as she heads on to a life of internet fame, thanks to her constant online presence and social media branding. When her life is turned upside down by Jordan and her insensitive friend Alden (Madison Pettis), Padgett accepts a dare from Alden to transform the ugliest boy in school into prom king, seeing it as an opportunity to detail her journey and earn back her fame. She settles on outcast Cameron (Tanner Buchanan), inserting herself into his life until he is forced to become her friend and uncovering the prom king potential within. But as Padgett bonds with Cameron, she realises that there is more to him than meets the eye, and that the fame she has placed such an importance on in her life, isn’t as important as genuine human connections.

The original She’s All That is hardly a masterpiece; a formulaic, dated teen comedy with a few standout scenes but precious little else: the prime candidate for a remake improvement. Rae’s version is almost identical story-wise, but instead of fretting over which college she should go to Padgett frets about losing her social media following and sponsorships, and thereby a shot at college. It’s a welcome update that modernises what is now an extremely nineties film, but adds its own wrinkles, namely the cringe-inducing social media cheesiness. Annoying text bubbles and social media posts bombard the screen when Padgett is engaging with her followers, creating a cacophony of noise and garbage that is more irritating than it is engaging. Hell, the messages in the posts feel like they were written by some kind of generic comment AI as opposed to an actual teenager in 2021.

Whilst the film operates under the guise of a remake, what it really is is a showcase for Addison Rae. A statement to the world that she is more than the social media that made her. This is presented through the blatantly obvious “subtext” of Padgett’s crisis of conscience about what social media has done to her as a person and the havoc it has wreaked on her ability to form genuine connections with people that don’t consist of likes or follows. Except we never get to any point of actually condemning social media, likely because Rae is practically the face of an entire platform, and the film can’t – as a genuinely great Kourtney Kardashian puts it – “go viral in the wrong way”. Even after all her supposed growth Padgett continue to maintain this overtly always-online presence, even if it irritates the living hell out of her new beau. Rae is trying to break into acting, but at the same time ensuring she doesn’t bite the hand that feeds her, and that creates a film strangely lacking in the criticism it pretends it is dishing out.

As far as Rae’s actual acting goes it’s fine. There’s a certain magnetic optimism in her facial expressions that the Tik Tok star has cultivated through her endless seconds-long clips that lends itself perfectly to the bouncy, upbeat character of Padgett. When it comes time to hit some more dramatic notes however she seems unsure of how to play the scenes, relying on her more practiced co-star Buchanan to carry her through the more romantic moments. Their chemistry is nowhere to be found, relying on extravagant gestures to show how much the characters care about each other rather than any particularly meaningful conversation or interaction. Thankfully original supporting player Matthew Lillard and co-lead Rachael Leigh Cook return to spice things up, particularly Lillard in a scene stealing performance as a principal who gets away with saying things real principals could only dream of. Their presence is a nice nod to the original, even if they are playing different characters, and iconic returning song “Kiss Me” still hits as hard now as it did two decades ago.

He’s All That functions as more of a launchpad for Addison Rae’s acting career than it does as a loving recreation of a cult classic teen comedy. Mark Waters’ attempt at critiquing the current state of social media and its infection of our lives falls flat thanks to its lead star being be the face of the most trendy social media platform on the planet, with the message so muddied that it is hard not to think how much more relevant the original film’s message – beauty hiding beneath the surface in all of us – is in an age where social media has warped users perception of physical beauty. Addison Rae can act, not particularly well but not as terrible as some may have predicted, and while she’ll likely continue to find work on the strength of her name and brand recognition alone, this debut feels as disposable as one of her Tik Toks.

He’s All That stars Addison Rae, Tanner Buchanan, Madison Pettis, Rachael Leigh Cook, Peyton Meyer, Isabella Crovetti, Annie Jacob, Myra Molloy, Kourtney Kardashian & Matthew Lillard – Streaming on Netflix now.

4/10

Tags Addison Rae, Annie Jacob, He's All That, Isabella Crovetti, Kourtney Kardashian, Madison Pettis, Matthew Lillard, Myra Molloy, Netflix, Peyton Meyer, Rachael Leigh Cook, Tanner Buchanan

Movie Reviews

Sweet Girl

Post author By Mark
Post date August 24, 2021

Jason Momoa is one of the most physically imposing leading men in all of Hollywood, I mean just look at him, the man could kill you with a scowl alone. Putting him in a gritty revenge action flick like Brian Andrew Mendoza’s Sweet Girl seems like a no-brainer for Netflix to draw views, but apart from a solid performance from the big man himself this is as middle of the road action as you can get. Not an awful film by any means, just content to coast along on convention and do absolutely nothing special to stand out from the dozens of other throwaway action films Netflix seems to have in an endless supply.

When his wife (Adria Arjona) succumbs to cancer that may have been prevented had a new drug not been kept off the market by shady pharmaceutical company BioPrime, Ray Cooper (Jason Momoa) declares war against the organisation and issues a death threat to its skeevy CEO Simon Keeley (Justin Bartha). After an attempt to make good on that threat goes awry, Ray is reluctantly joined by his teenage daughter Rachel (Isabela Merced) as they attempt to outrun a crazed hitman (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) and bring to light a conspiracy bigger than they had ever imagined. One that, if true, could bring an end to BioPrime’s shady dealings and provide the family some semblance of retribution.

The main problem with that plot is just how predictable it all is, until it isn’t. From the outset you can see where everything is ultimately heading and even though Momoa is clearly giving everything he has to his performance, it doesn’t change the fact that the film is almost identical to at least a dozen others. The initial carefully planned job gone wrong, our heroes evading cops and killers as their mettle is tested again and again until they find the will to carry on before the big reveal of the true mastermind. Think The Fugitive with the violence of Taken. It all sticks so painfully to formula apart from a late-game twist that should fundamentally alter everything that came before but fails to do so in any meaningful way. It’s one of those plot twists that seems profound but does little to alter the film’s final destination or improve upon any of the technical problems.

The most egregious of those technical problems is in the fight sequences, where shaky cam reigns supreme in all its unintelligible, painful to watch glory. What makes it worse is that there is some solid camerawork underneath, with slow, spinning pans and some excellent one-takes completely ruined by what appears to be the camera thrown into a washing machine. Momoa is more than capable of delivering a competent fight scene, just look at his work in Game of Thrones or Aquaman, yet it is almost impossible to discern what is happening when the action starts pumping, even more frustrating considering Mendoza’s history as a cinematographer. That, combined with the film’s strict adherence to formula, means these scenes are also devoid of any stakes or tension, with characters shrugging off falls from 2 storey buildings and stabbings as if they were nothing before launching into a fresh round of incomprehensible violence until someone somehow drops dead.

Sweet Girl is simply the latest in a long line of completely watchable action thrillers ruined by terribly executed, shaky-cam ridden fight scenes and a plot so predictable, you could make a pretty effective drinking game out of it. Thanks to Momoa and Merced’s chemistry it remains watchable and, as is always the case with these types of films, is sure to find a devoted audience on the streamer, but there are far better action film options out there than this perfectly serviceable, instantly forgettable thriller.

Sweet Girl stars Jason Momoa, Isabela Merced, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Amy Brenneman, Adria Arjona & Justin Bartha – Streaming on Netflix now.

5/10

Tags Amy Brenneman, Brian Andrew Mendoza, Isabela Merced, Jason Momoa, Justin Bartha, Lex Scott Davis, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Netflix, Sweet Girl

Movie Reviews

Blood Red Sky

Post author By Mark
Post date July 26, 2021

Most movies set on planes fall into one of a few categories. They’re either about some heroic individual foiling a terrorist plot, screwball comedy hijinx or snakes… on a plane. Blood Red Sky attempts to put a serious horror spin on that narrative, replacing the usual infallible male lead with a young mother, harbouring a dark, primordial secret, in a desperate struggle to ensure her son’s survival. Only it doesn’t do it all too well, devolving into a mess of mindless screeching and over-the-top gore as hijackers and hijacked clash; foregoing character development in place of mindless action that fails to excite due to the total lack of tension or stakes established.

While travelling to New York for a life-saving medical procedure with her son Elias (Carl Anton Koch), German widow Nadja (Peri Baumeister) gets far more than she bargained for when her flight is hijacked by a terrorist group. Forced to comply with their every command and unable to dose herself with essential medication, Nadja is forced to unleash a long buried secret: she is a vampire. Now thrust into a deadly game of cat and mouse, Nadja must revert to her primal, bloodthirsty instincts in order to hunt down the hijackers and prevent them from crashing the plane. As events become increasingly violent, Nadja is forced to choose between the safety of her son and ensuring that her horrific condition does not spread outside of the confines of the plane before it lands.

On paper it sounds like an interesting enough idea; an original twist on the plane film that has the potential to be a white-knuckle close-combat vampire thrill ride. The resulting film feels strangely lifeless and devoid of those thrills; especially once it takes a turn into the worst examples of plane-bound films, with Nadja and the hijackers utilising a stupidly over-complex labyrinth of passageways and cargo bays to run around the plane after one another. Not only does it instantly remove the claustrophobia of having to deal with both hijackers and a vampire in a crowded plane filled with innocent bystanders but the layout of these areas make no sense. Characters pop up in places where they shouldn’t and never seem to utilise obvious routes to get to their objectives.

Once Nadja finally clashes with the terrorists, the action is largely confined to generic metallic rooms in the cargo bay with nothing remarkable about them; forcing you to concentrate on the unintelligible scratching and biting going on. Without the passengers nearby to add a level of tension and some stakes to the action there really is no reason to care about these scenes; we have a pretty good idea that the almost unstoppable vampire lady will take out the meagrely armed muscle and even when the film throws a few twists and turns at us, it never manages to make you feel like Nadja is in any real danger. The excessive amount of gore constantly flying from people’s limbs and necks isn’t a substitute for proper fight choreography or genuine scares and by the end of the film I was so desensitised to it, I could have enjoyed a bloody steak with no problem.

The script doesn’t give Baumeister much to work with outside of her bond with Elias, which is easily the beating heart of the film, their reunion the only reason to care at all about what is going on. Her performance essentially boils down to a lot of demonic shrieking and cries for her son in search of this goal and the – admittedly excellent – prosthetics further impede her ability to rely on facial expressions to convey emotion. This leaves young Carl Anton Koch to shoulder a lot of the film’s emotional weight as Nadja’s innocent son Elias. It’s a terrific child performance; Elias is fiercely protective of his mother but shows a remarkable amount of emotional awareness in how he understands the other passengers’ shocked responses and pleads for their understanding. When everything boils to a head it is Elias whose survival we care about, not Nadja’s, and that is a testament to the strength of his acting at such a young age. One to watch.

Ultimately your enjoyment of Blood Red Sky will depend on just how appealing you find the concept of vampires on a plane. The action isn’t particularly memorable and the characters outside of Nadja and Elias function as little more than plot devices to drive the story towards its next action set-piece, but if all you’re looking for is a jumbled mess of fangs and claws then this is your jam. Thankfully the half-assed attempts at social commentary are brushed aside before they have the chance to really drag things down, but the resulting film will likely still feel hollow and ultimately very disposable to everyone outside of its very specific demographic. This is one trip you won’t be rushing to take again.

Blood Red Sky stars Peri Baumeister, Carl Anton Koch, Alexander Scheer, Kais Setti, Dominic Purcell, Kai Ivo Baulitz, Roland Møller, Chidi Ajufo & Graham McTavish – Streaming on Netflix now.

5/10

Tags Alexander Scheer, Blood Red Sky, Carl Anton Koch, Dominic Purcell, Graham McTavish, Kais Setti, Netflix, Peri Baumeister, Peter Thorwarth

Movie Reviews

Fear Street Part Three: 1666

Post author By Mark
Post date July 21, 2021

If you found yourself wondering just how Leigh Janiak would possibly manage to finish her Fear Street trilogy without blaring pop music due to the 1666 setting worry not, she still finds a way to sneak it in there in the better-than-expected grand finale. Everything finally comes to a head as we learn the true history of Sarah Fier and her curse before wrapping up our original nineties-set story in a surprisingly emotional, rousing ending that provides a satisfying conclusion to the last three weeks of gore, spooks and speculation.

Now transported back to the days of puritanical settlers in what will become Shadyville, Deena (Kiana Madeira) finds herself inhabiting the body of Sarah Fier, living out her final days leading up to the infamous curse she placed on the village. Janiak slows the breakneck pacing of the first two films down considerably with this section of the film, establishing Sarah as a normal girl whose secret relationship with the preacher’s daughter Hannah Miller (Olivia Scott Welch) threatens to rock the small community to its core. The decision to cast the actors from earlier instalments as members of the village helps to highlight the similarities between Deena and Sarah and the challenges they both face and Madeira is much more likeable in the role of Sarah, free from the baggage of having to play a stereotypical angst-ridden nineties teen and able to build a more sympathetic character.

The central villain of this time period proves to be the creepiest of the bunch, with the possessed preacher Cyrus Miller (Michael Chandler) taking centre stage as he tears the eyeballs out of the village children’s heads. It isn’t as gory as you might expect but the imagery utilised is incredibly unsettling, even if it is almost immediately overshadowed by the townspeople’s terrifyingly prejudiced response, with wild accusations of witchcraft leading to bloody tragedy. Combined with the costuming, production design and excellent score by Marco Beltrami, it makes for a welcome reprieve from the franticness of the nineties and seventies, establishing an ominous and genuinely frightening tone that has seemed absent throughout the series to this point. There’s been killings and gore aplenty, but nothing truly terrifying until now.

A jarring tonal shift marks our return to the nineties, as Deena, now fresh from her visit to the past, must assemble brother Josh (Benjamin Flores Jr.), Camp Nightwing survivor Ziggy (Gillian Jacobs) and mall repairman Martin (Darrell Britt-Gibson) in a final effort to end the curse and defeat the witch at the heart of the terror. This results in a scene that might just be the best in the series to date: an all-out skirmish at the mall against the conjured killers of Shadyville. All the intriguing murderers we’ve heard so much about finally get their chance to shine, from baseball wielding child murderer Billy Barker to the housewife-slaying, milkman murderer Harry Rooker (Kevin Waterman) – and the result is cheesy carnage at its finest.

Even Deena’s return can’t spoil things as there isn’t enough time in the script left for her to be pissy about too much, with the killers hot on the groups heels from the get-go. The return to Shadyville essentially splits the film into two halves and because of this, it feels long, with the slow, measured pacing of the 1666 scenes making you feel like you’ve been watching for far longer than you have. The constant exposition dumps at the mall soon become unbearable, and the slew of corny one-liners feel even more tired than they already would have been, inducing groans instead of the knowing laughs that were intended. Despite the pattern of exposition, action and intentionally bad one-liners essentially repeating until the credits roll, it is a satisfying conclusion nonetheless to everything that has come before and one that pays off on the promise of the varied lineup of killers.

Leigh Janiak sticks the landing with 1666, ending Fear Street on a high note of murder, mayhem and mystery as the curse of Sarah Fier is finally unravelled. Whilst the creepy first half might be quickly forgotten in the madness of the big finale, it is still the best storytelling of the franchise, providing sufficient spooks and much needed backstory that enhance the previous films’ adventures. This is a franchise that will only get better on repeated viewings, with fans able to pick up on various easter eggs and hints, and while it might not have been the most high concept or scariest of horror offerings, Fear Street is proof that Netflix can pull off this kind of experimental, appointment viewing home event scarily well.

Fear Street Part Three: 1666 stars Kiana Madeira, Olivia Scott Welch, Ashley Zukerman, Benjamin Flores Jr., Julia Rehwald, Fred Hechinger, Matthew Zuk, Michael Chandler, Sadie Sink, Emily Rudd, McCabe Slye, Jeremy Ford & Gillian Jacobs – Streaming on Netflix now.

7/10

Tags 1666, Ashley Zukerman, Benjamin Flores Jr., Emily Rudd, Fear Street, Fear Street Part Three: 1666, Fred Hechinger, Gillian Jacobs, Julia Rehwald, Kiana Madeira, Matthew Zuk, Michael Chandler, Netflix, Olivia Scott Welch, Sadie Sink

Movie Reviews

A Classic Horror Story

Post author By Mark
Post date July 19, 2021

Take one look at the trailer for Italian-directing duo Roberto De Feo and Paolo Strippoli’s A Classic Horror Story and you’ll see influences from dozens of iconic horror films spanning decades, from The Wicker Man and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre to more recent classics like Midsommar. On the face of it that sounds like a horror fan’s dream; a mash-up of all of the seminal works rolled into one gory, terrifying masterpiece. In actuality the resulting film is a mess of confused, overly pretentious commentary on modern phone culture and an examination of the horror genre that tries so hard to be witty and meta that it ends up criticising itself in the process, writing off the hour preceding the ham-fisted final act twist as little more than filler.

The set-up lives up to the name. The troubled Elisa (Matilda Lutz) boards a ride-share RV venturing across Italy with four strangers: reserved doctor Riccardo (Peppino Mazzotta), young couple Sofia (Yuliia Sobol) and Mark (Will Merrick) and their driver Fabrizio (Francesco Russo), a self-confessed horror movie fanatic. When their RV crashes in the middle of the night, the group wake to find themselves still in the vehicle but stranded in a clearing within a forest miles away from the nearest road. You probably think you know what’s going to happen next right? Trust us, you don’t.

You don’t name your film so boldly if you don’t mean it as some form of commentary but De Feo and Strippli’s film borrows so much from a litany of horror movies then combines them in a way that shares none of their individual strengths. Most of the inspiration is clearly drawn from Midsommar, from the design of the eerie house situated in the clearing to the chilling score and cult of demon worshipping villagers. The highlight of the comparisons come in the stunning visuals. Lush images of forests and mist-covered clearings fill the frame during the day, whilst a sinister red hue bathes the screen as the townspeople signal their approach in the dead of night. It doesn’t come near to having the level of symbolism as Ari Aster’s masterpiece but that isn’t the intention here. Adding in Hostel-level torture and gore and a final girl pulled from the likes of Ready or Not to the mix should result in one firecracker of a horror film but that just isn’t the case here.

For one thing, the film is entirely too meta for its own good, constantly dissecting horror tropes and grandstanding about how cliché and bad they are before diving headfirst into a slew of them. At one point a character declares his distaste for violence, stating he thought violence was cool as a teenager, “like in some bad movie”. That same character proceeds to have his leg snapped, his ankles hobbled and his eyes gouged out with rusty spikes. If this is meant to be a self-deprecating commentary on the film itself then why? It isn’t clever filmmaking to tell your audience something is stupid and then put your characters through exactly that without any acknowledgement that they’re in on the joke. And if the digs are at horror in general then why not try to further the genre through new techniques or story dynamics rather than by ragging on everyone else? It comes across as incredibly pretentious and that’s before we’ve even arrived at the big third act reveal that plunges the entire ordeal into utter stupidity.

I’ve harped on about the twist for so long because of the crippling effect it has on the film. The first hour is a slow burn, to say the least, as the group explore their surroundings, growing increasingly uneasy and aware that there is something sinister at work. Nothing much really happens to justify this feeling of tension other than the excellent score. No jump scares or loud noises, just a couple of odd scenes around the area that set suspicions high. Then everything hits the fan, both for our heroes and the story as a whole, once the true intentions of the villainous villagers are revealed. It isn’t the high-concept meta commentary that the film thinks it to be, seemingly poking fun at a generation obsessed with their phones and easily digestible short-form “content” rather than storytelling on a filmic level. The opposite effect is had: the preceding hour is rendered an ultimately pointless segue into a generic revenge plot, identical to any number of films from the sub-genre, leading to a dull, emotionless finale that feels devoid of any stakes.

On paper A Classic Horror Story sounded so promising. A chance to deconstruct and reinvent the genre while paying tribute and homaging those films that have paved the way. Instead what we get is a mean-spirited, pretentious mess that insists that other horror films are nothing but cliché and – by pointing that out constantly – it counts as a deep discussion of the genre. The notion of that on its face is stupid but is made all the worse when the film ends up devolving into the very cliche’s it is taking aim at, even after its incredibly stupid twist. A classic horror story this is not, just a really bad one.

A Classic Horror Story stars Matilda Lutz, Francesco Russo, Peppino Mazzotta, Yuliia Sobol & Will Merrick – Streaming on Netflix now.

2/10

Tags A Classic Horror Story, Francesco Russo, Matilda Lutz, Netflix, Paolo Strippoli, Peppino Mazzotta, Roberto De Feo, Will Merrick, Yuliia Sobol

Movie Reviews

Fear Street Part Two: 1978

Post author By Mark
Post date July 15, 2021

Week two of Netflix’s Fear Street event sends us back to Shadyside, this time in the swinging 70’s as Leigh Janiak’s second instalment hones in on the disastrous events of the Camp Nightwing massacre hinted at in the first film. 1978 is a marked improvement over its 90’s set counterpart, upping the gore and violence considerably whilst allowing for more likeable and fully realised characters to take the stage this time around – addressing 1994‘s biggest problem. Having established the overarching story’s key players in that film, Janiak feels comfortable here to build the world out and explore the fascinating history of the rivalry between Shadyside and Sunnyvale, bringing in new killers and mythology that sets the stage for an all-out crazy final film.

Having survived their first encounter with Shadyside’s local witch Sarah Fier, siblings Deena (Kiana Madeira) and Josh (Benjamin Flores Jr.) track down C. Berman (Gillian Jacobs), the only person to have ever been possessed and live to tell the tale. From here we’re whisked away to the 70’s wonderland of Camp Nightwing, chock full of all the classic trappings of camp slasher films of the era. At the centre of it all is the rebellious Ziggy (Sadie Sink) and her conservative sister Cindy (Emily Rudd), who don’t exactly fit the bill of loving siblings, clashing every time they come into contact with one another.

After Cindy’s boyfriend Tommy (McCabe Slye) is attacked by the camp nurse – who believes he is the Witch’s next conduit for evil – the pair join stoner pals Alice (Ryan Simpkins) and Arnie (Sam Brooks) in exploring an abandoned house seemingly belonging to Sarah Fier. Just as the group begins to understand the forces at play, Tommy is possessed and begins a murderous rampage through the camp, leaving Ziggy and Cindy to wage a desperate battle for survival and fight for a chance to end the curse once and for all.

Ziggy’s introduction immediately gives us what Deena’s character lacked in 1994: a believable reason for the massive chip on her shoulder. Terrorised at camp by bully Sheila (Chiara Aurelia) and her underlings, Ziggy has built up a strong emotional defence to protect herself from getting hurt, blaming her troubles on the Shadyside curse that ruins lives and cost her her sister to the prissy ways of Sunnyvale. Cindy’s problem is the same. Terrified of ending up like her parents and other no-hopers from Shadyside, she has all but physically retreated from the town, dating the sweet, innocent Tommy because he is the safe choice and vehemently opposing any rule breaking.

It’s a great central dynamic that sets the sisters on diverging paths; where they are each have their own adventures and learn the importance of family, before converging again for a climactic emotional gut-punch of a finale. Sink and Rudd sell their characters’ evolutions in believable ways, with real, reasonable reactions to the events unfolding. This isn’t your average campy slasher film where the councillors run around with their shirts off getting cut down. All the key players make smart, calculated decisions that treat the audience with respect and keep the tension high when they still find themselves on the back-foot despite their smarts.

That’s not to say that all the issues have been fixed this time around, with the same repetition of music used to denote a time period rather than the period having any bearing on the plot. The production design is dead on (sorry) in emulating the familiar layouts and trappings of films like Friday the 13th but once everyone is running for their lives soaked in blood, it doesn’t really add much that they’re wearing bellbottoms instead of skinny jeans. It isn’t surprising given Janiak’s return and is something you adjust to pretty quickly. It’s a rare sight in Hollywood that one person is allowed to see out a consistent creative vision across a series of films and if that means we have to hear The Runaways’ “Cherry Bomb” for the umpteenth time in a movie this decade then it is worth the cost. It’s a great jam and if this is the approach she’s taking then I can’t wait to see what bangers she unearths for the sequel set in 1666.

The films may have been shot back-to-back but Janiak certainly seems more assured in her direction this time; utilising more complex shots and upping the gore factor significantly. We get a chance to really get into the meat of the story after spending the last film setting the pieces on the board and Sarah Fier is finally established as the terrifying antagonist she should be, as we come to understand the reach and power of the curse she has unleashed on the two towns. While this comes at the cost of weakening the individual Shadyside killers in terms of their uniqueness, it is worth it to build the anticipation for the final film’s inevitable showdown. There is still a surprising amount of mileage to be had from a maniac running around with an axe almost 40 years after the original Friday and it is some gleefully campy carnage.

Fear Street’s middle instalment is a significant step-up from the tired tropes of 1994, with a fresh coat of paint in its 70’s setting and excellent character work that truly makes you care for Sarah Fier’s victims this time around. Sadie Sink and Emily Rudd are standouts in a cast full of fun performances and even more fun scares, with the gore dialled up to eleven as Janiak unleashes her version of classic killer Jason Voorhees. The world building goes a long way towards making the audience actually care about Sarah Fier as the series’ big bad going forward without ever compromising this film’s set of characters and their struggles. After a sloppy start, the ship has been righted. Let’s see if Janiak and her returning cast can steer it home with next week’s finale: 1666.

Fear Street Part Two: 1978 stars Sadie Sink, Emily Rudd, Ryan Simpkins, McCabe Slye, Ted Sutherland, Drew Scheid, Chiara Aurelia,
Kiana Madeira, Benjamin Flores Jr. & Gillian Jacobs – Streaming on Netflix now.

7/10

Tags Benjamin Flores Jr., Emily Rudd, Fear Street, Fear Street Part Two: 1978, Gillian Jacobs, Kiana Madeira, Leigh Janiak, McCabe Slye, Netflix, Olivia Scott Welch, Ryan Simpkins, Sadie Sink

Movie Reviews

Fear Street Part One: 1994

Post author By Mark
Post date July 8, 2021

The first instalment in Netflix’s new trilogy of horror films Fear Street – based on the lesser-known series of books by R.L. Stine – tells you exactly who the target audience is in the title. Fans of Scream rejoice, you’re going back to the nineties. However what should be a fun romp through the era of grunge and video shops turns into one gnarly rollercoaster as 1994 constantly presents exciting premises or genuinely tense moments, only to have them brought down by one supremely depressing lead performance and a central relationship that is less interesting than the one between Leatherface and his beloved chainsaw.

Director Leigh Janiak goes all in on the period, evoking many beloved 90’s horror classics (and some even older films) in setting up the campily named Shadyside and Sunnyvale, two rival towns on opposite ends of the socio-economic spectrum. Our underdog heroes, naturally, hail from Shadyside, led by heartbroken, permanently pessimistic Deena (Kiana Madeira), a take-no-shit type of final girl who proudly professes her disdain for ex-girlfriend Sam (Olivia Scott Welch) who has defected to Sunnyvale as a result of her parent’s divorce. When the pair run into each other at a vigil for a recently murdered fellow student (Maya Hawke in a brilliant opening scene homage to Drew Barrymore’s Scream role) chaos ensues, culminating in Sam’s accidental desecration of the burial site of the town’s legendary local witch Sarah Fiers.

Now hunted by a who’s who of Shadyside’s famous history of murderers (there’s a reason they call the place Killer Capital USA), Sam, Deena, her brother Josh (Benjamin Flores Jr.) and their friends Kate (Julia Rehwald) and Simon (Fred Hechinger) race to find a fix for the curse placed on Sam. The roster from which Janiak selects her killer is easily the most enticing part of Fear Street as a whole collection of films. While it lacks the whodunnit nature of Scream, the Skull Mask killer does act as a convincing surrogate for Ghost Face, albeit far more willing to get creative, whilst the lumbering, Jason-esque Camp Nightwing killer terrifies with his unstoppable power and fearsome axe.

Outside of them are some truly inspired and creative killers mentioned in the flashbacks through Shadyville’s history whom we don’t get to see at their gory best in this film – from a baseball-bat wielding brat to a deranged slasher milkman – that flesh out the town’s sinister past and provide hints at some, hopefully, gloriously macabre set-pieces going forward.

Judging this film on the potential of future instalments however would be to gloss over the biggest issues, which unfortunately come in the form of the film’s heroes. Rehwald, Hechinger and Flores Jr. all rock solid in their assigned roles, each portraying a classic 90’s horror stereotype from the antisocial serial killer nerd to the dorky wannabe jock of the group; providing welcome humour that is almost always instantly extinguished by Deena and Sam.

Madeira plays Deena as the stereotypical angsty, depressed teen who hates the world around her and seems to get off by ruining everyone else’s good times. It instantly makes her a hard character to latch onto as a protagonist and even once she softens in her journey to save Sam, that snarky attitude comes back in her interactions with everyone else, who we all like a great deal more than Sam. Why Sam is so special is beyond me as the character is more devoid of life than the silent, masked axe-wielding maniac stalking her, monotonically droning on about her problems and never taking any real action to change her situation until everyone commits to risking their lives to save hers.

The film’s big showdown, which should be a hoot given the potential to run wild in the setting of an empty supermarket, turns into an endless groan-fest as we constantly cut away from the tense killer chase scenes to whatever the hell Sam is doing. The single best kill of the film takes place in this finale but you wouldn’t be blamed for forgetting it given how little the film seems to care about the impact of it, instantly cutting back to another episode of Deena and Sam’s boring problems.

To say the final act gets crazy in its campiness would be something of an understatement, with some plot points that are a far too convenient and silly to be believable, but once you’ve accepted a Witch resurrecting murderers, it’s kind of hard to bring up a gripe like this so late in the game. The cliffhanger Janiak leaves you on isn’t as compelling as she thinks given the utter banality of the characters it focuses on (see if you can guess) but it does offer hope that a new setting and time period will allow for some more enjoyable characters to flourish… before being gutted.

The nineties setting, for all its worth, is essentially scrapped after an opening 20 minutes that relies heavily on what I’m calling the Suicide Squad effect; bombarding you with everything from Radiohead’s “Creep” to Nine Inch Nails’ “Closer” in a near endless stream of soundtrack. It’s a familiar trapping of films these days to quickly establish a time period without having to write much into the story outside of some clothing or vintage touches like the ancient boxes that used to pass as computers.

After this initial spate of songs you’d be hard pressed to spot something that would be out of place in a film set in present day (especially given the return of baggy ripped jeans) and it becomes clear that Janiak is more interested in borrowing from the stories of 90’s horror than the style or general aesthetic. Not necessarily a bad thing when your biggest inspiration is one of the greatest horror films of all time in Scream.

The opening salvo of Fear Street is a sloppy introduction to the town of Shadyville and its haunted past, with a wasted nineties setting and unlikeable leads detracting from what could have been a fun, campy little slasher film. Decent pacing, solid world building and some interesting little twists and turns will likely keep viewers engaged but 1994 offers the genre very little in the way of genuine surprises. Fear Street might might not be off to a perfect start but I’m ready to head to Camp Nightwing.

Fear Street Part One: 1994 stars Kiana Madeira, Olivia Scott Welch, Benjamin Flores Jr., Julia Rehwald, Fred Hechinger, David W. Thompson, Ashley Zukerman & Maya Hawke – Streaming on Netflix now.

5/10

Tags 1994, Ashley Zukerman, Benjamin Flores Jr., Fear Street, Fear Street Part One: 1994, Julia Rehwald, Kiana Madeira, Maya Hawke, Netflix, Noah Garrett, Olivia Scott Welch