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V/H/S/94 Capsule Review — What’s Streaming?

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By Casey Campbell

I jinxed it. Or I went in with sky high expectations.

Or, it just wasn’t very good.

V/H/S/94 just came out on Shudder and it’s the fourth entry in the series. My reviews of the first two are on the site, and I won’t be reviewing V/H/S Viral.

Hell, I won’t even be reviewing this movie too much due to the mediocre final product of it all. And that’s really disappointing. From the wrap around story to each individual short, the whole production seems either rushed or severely hindered by COVID-19 restrictions or budget. I’m leaning on the former, as the prior films weren’t exactly big budget spectacles.

The first and second stories in the anthology, “Storm Drain” and “The Empty Wake” respectively, are the two that seemed to keep me energized and enthusiastic.

“Storm Drain” shows uncut footage from a broadcast journalist and her cameraman attempting to create a package for air. The journalist wants the piece to be about the disenfranchised living within the storm drain, rather than the proposed story of the notorious “Rat Man.” The journalist character was well intentioned but headache inducingly stupid. The short is filled with choking atmosphere and ends in an extremely entertaining way.

“The Empty Wake” sees Simon Barrett returning to the franchise. It had a questionable introduction, showing a new employee at a funeral home tasked with being the sole employee in charge of a night wake (at least it seemed like it was at night? Which doesn’t really happen, at least not one that runs all night…). The atmosphere really shines in this one, as the scares are from the things that go bump in the night, or should I say the casket.

It’s decently well paced but some of the motivations for staying in the funeral home are hackneyed and forced. The end makes up for any of the qualms, and the effects actually looked quite good.

Otherwise, Timo Tjahjanto’s short was overly reliant on CG effects (and a point) and the final short just seemed to meander in no real direction.

The V/H/S series is still fun, and it’s absolutely nothing to be taken seriously. Whether due to the obvious problems with putting together consistent quality short films into a greater whole during a pandemic, or budgetary constraints, V/H/S/94 never seems to land every attempt they make.

V/H/S/2 — What’s Playing?

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By Casey Campbell

The newest film in the horror anthology series V/H/S drops today, October 6, so I went back and rewatched the second installment. I don’t think I need to say anything regarding the embarrassing third entry in the series, V/H/S Viral, and I shan’t be watching it prior to my 94 watch—or ever again.

Released in 2013, V/H/S/2 stands as the best in the series (so far, until I watch V/H/S/94). It managed to simplify the already basic premise of the first, while offering up some truly inspired horror set pieces from established directors in the genre. And, if you’re not aware of the basic premise, it’s a glorious marriage of found footage and anthology horror.

V/H/S/2 continues the trend of having a wrap around story replete with assholes. There was sexual deviancy and general delinquency in the first, and the second opens with a private investigator paid to film an affair and then using the blackmail to get more money from the cheater. The blackmailer and his accomplice (his girlfriend, if I’m not mistaken) abscond on another job in search of a college student that’s missing. A particularly gross line of dialogue is uttered about how the students mother has been calling, but the investigators aren’t worried and plan on finding and driving the kid around for a few days to wrack up expenses.

Once inside the home, the investigators look around and happen upon some V/H/S tapes. Like the first one, the tapes are viewed while spooky stuff happens in the periphery. It’s an extremely simple yet effective means of connecting the short films in a way that doesn’t seem too shoehorned or lazy. It’s also an eerie way to create some real atmosphere.

The first tape, “Phase 1 Clinical Trials,” is from Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett—one of my favorite director/writer teams in recent years. Barrett also wrote and directed the wrap around segments (as well as a recent release on Shudder called Seance which I intend to check out soon).

As the first of four tapes, I believe it to be well placed in the roster. It’s a ghost story with an exciting twist: it’s told from the first person. Having recently lost an eye, Herman (played by director Adam Wingard) receives an experimental eye that records everything—including when he “takes a shit.” It’s a fun and simple idea that offers many scares in a way that truly utilizes the perspective it’s in.

Since the tapes aren’t a huge time sink, and writing about spoilers is lazy, I’ll simply say that the tape is perfectly utilized as a short. It’s honestly a bit impressive in that way, as it manages to ramp up tension and scares in a short period while still ending on an unnerving note. Wingard and Barrett need to work together more often. I love what they create.

The second tape, “A Ride in the Park,” is exactly that: a ride in the park. Only with zombies. And it’s absurdly entertaining. Directed by The Blair Witch Project alums Gregg Hale and Edúardo Sanchez (or Eduardo Sánchez, IMDb has both) and written by Jamie Nash (who went on to write the story for WNUF Halloween Special).

A mountain biker with a helmet mounted camera comes across a distressed woman. She ends up turning into a zombie and bites the POV biker. He then turns and chaos ensues, only in a way that I hadn’t seen before. It’s shown from a zombies point of view which means you get right up close to the gore, including all the gross wet sloshy sounds of intestines being tugged from a torso and… well, you get it. The short is gross in the best ways and, like the previous entry, wears its brevity with pride.

Now comes the third tape and my favorite in the film: “Safe Haven,” written and directed by my favorite modern action directors Gareth Evans and Timo Tjahjanto. Go figure!

Outside of the context of this review, I could gush all day about these two directors. Evans blew me away and showed me what real action photography and choreography could look like in The Raid and its sequel, while Tjahjanto’s recent Netflix action film The Night Comes for Us proved to be an ultra violent hell fest of similarly styled filmmaking (I didn’t love it on my first watch but on my second I was hooked).

“Safe Haven” shows a documentary crew interviewing the head of a religious cult, and eventually being invited to see what the compound is like. As with everything else these directors have done, the results are bloody and brilliant. This one in particular is difficult to put into words without giving too much away. The pacing is impressive, what with how they develop the characters just enough, and how the underlying psychological terror of the cult begins to rear its awful head.

This tape is what cemented V/H/S/2 as a great gross out horror movie to watch with friends. It’s utterly insane, disgusting, and delightful. All I can say is that I’m highly looking forward to Timo Tjahjanto’s next entry in the franchise, with his new tape in 94.

The final tape had a tough enough job following up the brilliance of “Safe Haven,” so I’m not sure how to judge it on its own merits. It’s called “Slumber Party Alien Abduction” and sure enough, aliens intrude upon a slumber party.

The idea is fine, the execution is fine, it’s all just fine. Nothing about this final tape is particularly excellent and it even ends with a really grim image (beware animal lovers). Written by Jason Eisener and John Davies, and directed by Eisener, “Alien Abduction” follows several children and a few teenagers on an obnoxious evening when the parents are out of town. There are pranks and shenanigans and all sorts of things I didn’t think I’d have to sit through during a gory horror movie.

Some imagery stands out as creepy and the aliens look nightmarish enough, but the entire thing never feels like it needs to have been filmed—the mark of an amateurish found footage film. Mind you, it’s not terrible, but leaves a bad taste in your mouth after a few really clever shorts.

V/H/S/2 is a blast, even with one unwieldy short thrown in the batch. It’s also a mere 96 minutes, which makes it a quick and easy watch.

Here’s hoping the new one can reach these heights!

Shudder, Jakob’s Wife, and Anything for Jackson—What’s Streaming?

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By Casey Campbell

It’s October, meaning I really need to utilize my Shudder account for more than just Joe Bob’s Last Drive In, and the Creepshow series. However, like with most of the fledgling streaming services formed in the past several years, original (or exclusive) content can be extremely hit or miss. Remember, Shudder released Glenn Danzig’s Verotika. That should be very telling.

But I can’t claim that all of Shudder’s original productions are crap, just a decent amount that I’ve personally seen. Take, for instance, the bland and uninspired The Shed about an amoral kid that utilizes a vampire in a shed to kill people he doesn’t like; or The Furies, which was alright if you’re new to the genre and enjoy blunt social commentary; or The Dark and the Wicked, which follows the recent trend of depression horror that’s so dead on arrival it begins to fester by the second act.

A through line can be found between these films. They’re all low budget (not inherently a bad thing), and they rarely introduce original ideas. My issue is in the way these films manage to look pretty good yet retain the depth of a blow up pool. Sometimes a shallow experience can be entertaining, but I feel like I’d accept anything more from these particular movies.

Now, before I get too far off track, I’d like to make a case for Shudder as a service. Despite the sometimes limp productions that inundate the home page, Shudder at least tries to create content for their niche audience. Horror is my favorite genre so it would be stupid of me to complain about a service that dotes to my interests. Their “live” function is a fun way to just toss something on, and the way shows like Joe Bob’s Last Drive In or even the recent Elvira marathon utilized the live function makes it feel like it’s a communal event with other horror fans. Shudder also boasts an impressive back catalogue of older international horror and more well known fare from America.

For every fault I have with some of their newer releases, Shudder still manages to provide a service that fills a need. And every so often, I find myself stumbling upon some diamonds in the rough.

Jakob’s Wife is a film I had intended to watch back when it premiered on Shudder. It seemed a perfect fit, in terms of tone, actors, and content. Vampire stuff can be a blast when not taken too seriously, and Barbara Crampton is one of my favorite horror actresses (her minor part in Puppet Master is the one reason I don’t feel like I wasted my time). It’s an entertaining and surprisingly fleshed out story about a relationship and how to attain autonomy.

Crampton plays Anne Fedder, an underappreciated and doting wife to a minister played by the always entertaining Larry Fessenden. If you can’t tell from the title alone, Jakob’s Wife is about being talked over, made unimportant, and simply just being “the wife” in a relationship.

While the film plays with humor and horror in equal measure, it’s important to note the peripheral themes of self respect and autonomy in a relationship. It’s made engaging via the central performances, both making great use of the horror, comedy, and drama that pervades the script. It’s a fun blend of coming-of-age and fish-out-of-water scenarios. It also showers the audience with gore at barely a moment’s notice. When it gets bloody, you’ll need an umbrella.

The end becomes a bit too reliant on meta vampire lore, but the vampires weren’t really the most important element of the movie. It’s how and why the main characters evolve throughout the story that takes precedent. And then there’s that final shot, which has a high probability of polarizing the audience; I personally dug it.

Jakob’s Wife wears the best elements of Shudder programming, with it’s attractive photography and familiar genre material. It’s the extra effort put towards the characters and story that catapult it from mediocre to good and ultimately entertaining.

Another wild film, utterly original in concept and fiendishly tempered in tone, Anything for Jackson, finds Shudder going dark. The plot is enough to scoff and grimace at in humored fear.

After losing their only grandson Jackson in an accident, Satan-worshiping grandparents abduct a pregnant woman with the intention to perform a “reverse-exorcism” and ultimately get their grandson back. With a plot that grim, how is it that it’s tonally pitch perfect and never unwieldy?

It was actually due to the bare plot synopsis that I avoided this one. Sure, it’s a bizarro idea, but it was an actual idea and it would certainly make me feel some type of way. Thankfully, it’s as nuts as I expected yet manages to find a semblance of class within its presentation. It’s a damn fine acted, shot, and scripted movie.

From the very first scene, you’re thrown in the deep end and need to decide if you’re staying on the journey. From there, the morals and motivations are expanded on and the real fun begins. Thankfully it isn’t remotely as straight forward as the basic premise may seem. The tension comes from somewhere other than the fear you have for the pregnant woman and her unborn child.

Whether due to my own preconceptions of the story or how I figured it would unravel, I was pleasantly surprised by a few ghoulish entities and their appearance. I was definitely not ready for ghosts, or whatever the hell those things were.

This movie’s a little more lax with the big ethical questions. Everything is fairly cut and dry, from the whole morality stand-point, and the real enjoyment comes from watching the characters deal with errant problems with their purportedly well laid plans. It also carries an undeniably eerie atmosphere.

These kinds of movies, much like Mandy or Revenge which also premiered for home streaming on Shudder, give me a lot of hope for the future of the service. They also help to eliminate the dreaded hyperbolic response to an entity like Shudder, when it should be viewed as a service of many parts as opposed to an all encompassing single thing.

But I digress.

Check out these movies if you’re looking for a fun and engaging double feature on Shudder.

Friday the 13th Part 3 — What’s Playing?

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By Casey Campbell

The third film, and arguably the third most self aware of the series, was released in 3D in the late summer of 1982.

When I say “self aware” I’m referring to the fact that it doesn’t exactly take itself seriously, and the constant barrage of 3D gimmicks lends to the audience recognizing how much fun the filmmakers were having with the concept.

If you own the recent Scream Factory release of the Friday films you’ll still find this title in 3D, but only if you have a 3D TV (which I can’t imagine is very common). If you own the Paramount 8 film set, you’ll be able to watch in 3D with the help of those old fashioned red and blue lensed glasses. I own both but always opt for the 3D version with the glasses for the added silly fun of it all.

On the latest rewatch, I noticed just how engaging 3D can be. It creates a neat depth effect that honestly adds to the film more than any of the gimmicks. Whether it’s with the old crazy guy (a stand in for Crazy Ralph from the first and second films) that scares the central group of teens with an eye ball pushed toward the screen, or some idiot playing with a yo-yo, the 3D basically never feels earned and almost always makes me laugh.

In this one, a group of kids head out to the Crystal Lake area. Once there, they start dying in creative ways. Despite the generally unoriginal nature of the basic plot, this entry is interesting for how it creates memorable and unique characters out of a group of youths. And even the characters that aren’t in the central group are quirky and strange in the best way possible.

Take quirky asshole Shelly, for example, whose main goal is to piss off everyone in the group with his juvenile antics and pranks. Not only do you relish the idea of his character being taken out by Jason, you get a few dumb red herrings out of him.

Then there’s the pregnant woman, Debbie, who says out loud that she’s pregnant once and it’s never brought up again.

Or the bikers who antagonize the group of kids, only to be brutalized in a barn. Or the store owner at the beginning with a penchant for self-theft by eating his own goods.

This entry gave every character a little something and that’s why I find it so engaging and fun (along with the silly effects). Moreover, Jason gets his famous mask and cemented his place in the cultural zeitgeist. It’s a blast.

Friday the 13th Part 2 — What’s Playing?

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By Casey Campbell

Almost exactly a year after Friday the 13th made audiences afraid to go out in the woods to drink, do drugs, and have sex, Part 2 emerged with a new killer and a fresh legacy to explore.

It’s almost impossible to deal in absolutes when discussing the Friday the 13th series. While each entry contains the same very basic elements and, to some lesser extent, the same atmosphere, everyone is particularly partial to certain entries (hence the deluge of rankings online). What I’ve gathered from the Friday community online is that Part 2, 4, and 6 are some of the very best, and I think I mostly agree.

Part 2 opens with Friday the 13th final girl Alice (Adrienne King) attempting to live her life following the events on Crystal Lake. The cold open hints at a lurking presence, dutifully recreating the same kind of scene from the first film, only with a character you not only know and like, but rooted for. And, like the previous entry, the stalking figure kills the young character. In true sequel fashion, however, the kill is preempted and even punctuated by the reveal of Mrs. Voorhees decaying head in Alice’s fridge. Why is it there? Why would the killer—eh, it’s Jason, obviously—take the head with him and put it in her fridge? Who cares! It’s a great image, and leaves a lasting impression and mood for the rest of the movie.

After the explosive opening credits, we’re introduced to the new campers. It’s been five years since the Crystal Lake murders, Alice has been found dead, and the whole thing seems to be more of a ghost story than a local tragedy.

I don’t want to say that the sequels do things better than the first installment, but they take the initial idea and explore certain ideas in more engaging ways, with a huge caveat. Mrs. Voorhees makes much more sense than Jason. Sure, the idea of Jason witnessing his mothers death thus sending him into a confused rage with little understanding of his actions is actually interesting. But it’s not actually canonical to the series, and I hate that I just typed that nerd shit out but it’s true. After hearing a story about Jason at the campfire, fated final girl Ginny (one of, if not my favorite final girl of the series, played by Amy Steel) is the one that uses her background studying child psychiatry to assume Jason’s motives. If he was real, that is. Because at that point in the story, they don’t think the little drowned boy was even alive, let alone watching as his mother got decapitated.

It’s one of those things that I want to say “Oh well!” too, like the head in the fridge, but the head fridge isn’t a constant throughout 10 more films. But, I digress. Jason isn’t a part of this movie to complain about. In fact, he’s at his scariest.

It’s shown that Jason had a facial disfigurement in the flashback sequence from the previous film. You know what’s expensive? Make up. You know what isn’t? A sack. And yet the sack is so much more effective.

Jason wears a sack on his head in Part 2, and acquires the famous hockey mask in Part 3. The sack is a great look for Jason. It’s creepy, with only one eye hole, and he’s dressed a bit like a disgruntled farmer in a dirty flannel and overalls. He’s even shown to be residing in a dilapidated shanty out in the middle of the Crystal Lake woods.

Part 2 is an awesome entry in the early days of the fledgling series. It employs a crop of fun and naive youths to be dispatched by a fresh new villain in the form of Jason Voorhees and does so with aplomb.

Friday the 13th (1980) — What’s Playing?

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By Casey Campbell

I’ve been a fan of the Friday the 13th series for about two years now, yet I’ve watched each of the films many times in that short period. There’s something remarkably comfortable about these movies, with their summer settings and reliable structures. They aren’t exactly scary and the MPAA notoriously butchered them in the editing room but, like I said last summer in my review of The Final Chapter, the Friday the 13th movies are like a warm blanket for me. That being said, I’m going to try to dive into each entry over the course of the summer.

I really dig this entry, but I don’t think I have much to say on it in particular. It has great effects from the even greater Tom Savini, a nice whodunnit mystery culminating in one of the most famous conclusions in slasher history (maybe a little less notorious then Sleepaway Camp but still) and, possibly most important, it kicked off a hell of a series. But why do I love the series as a whole?

In terms of my enjoyment of each individual film, it comes down to a few simple things: atmosphere, “characters,” and what I deem humorous. The first four movies are fairly contained as a quartet of simple slashers in the same location with the same kinds of characters and a slew of tropes. It’s always summertime, which makes these movies a must watch in the summer, and the camp scenes feel honest in their depiction of young adults hanging out by the lake. The fact that the actors seem to be having fun lends to the atmosphere. The characters themselves always leave a lot to be desired, as well as the acting (minus Betsy Palmer as Mrs. Voorhees, because her performance is seriously fantastic) , but that’s part of why the deaths work for me. On one hand, the deaths mean more if you care about a well rounded and dimensional character, but these movies never seem to be serious in their scares. That is undoubtedly a personal view of mine that comes with a dose of ignorance. I wasn’t alive when ten of the twelve films came out, meaning my perspective is one of hindsight as opposed to in the moment.

Either way, I’m glad the characters in the first four movies are given at least something that makes them unique in the world of the film. I would argue that the films following the 1980 original offer more meat to the characters, making them memorable, and in some cases tragic, when they eventually get killed off. I don’t remember character names in the first film like I do Tommy Jarvis, Demon from Part V, or “Dead Fuck” Jimmy from The Final Chapter.

For humor, the first four are the stand outs for being more “serious.” They’re low brow slashers made quick for profit, but they still stayed away from outright humor more so than A New Beginning (“Them damn enchiladas!”) and especially the tongue-in-cheek Jason Lives. Yet, they still have a quirky nature that makes them much less doom and gloom and more quick thrill silly slasher. Crispin Glover dancing in The Final Chapter is something I’ll never forget.

Paramount wanted to move away from the series with the fourth movie, hence the false title of The Final Chapter, but it made too much money so they returned to the series and pumped out four more in that decade alone. The 90s saw Jason return for an opening scene before being blown up, which is a pretty swift metaphor for how out of place and widely hated that movie is. The best part is the closing tease for Freddy vs. Jason which wouldn’t see the light of day for another decade.

We’ll get to those though. It’s really wonky how such a simple series was able to blossom into an ugly flower that people, either surprisingly or unsurprisingly, return to with vigor. Let’s hope that shitty lawsuit can get settled so Jason can come back some point this millennia.

New Podcast: Raimi Time!

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https://simplecast.com/s/eac433ae

Oh boy, yeah. It’s taken close to a month to get this thing off the ground, but it’s finally here: the Raimi Time Podcast!

My friend Zane and I decided to band together to deliver a fun (stupid) podcast that was themed around Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man films from the early 2000’s (the best of their kind). We got together, watched the first film, and recorded our pilot episode during an hour and a half session. By the end, we had diverted into innumerable tangents, bizarre stories, and a whole lot of impromptu nonsense—but we had fun. And we hope it’s fun to listen to.

Seeing as it’s the first episode, everything isn’t perfect. We used a single mic which made my voice a bit quiet (unfortunate!) and some of the edits were made because some tangents were so left field, we didn’t want to release something entirely incoherent. Just mostly incoherent. Enjoy!

Great Performances and a Strong Message Lift “Boy Erased” (Emertainment Monthly – 11/9/18)

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By Casey Campbell

Do you need a brazenly original concept to propel an emotionally moving experience? Not when you have the cast that lifts Boy Erased from connect-the-dots drama to unfortunately timely and (almost) entirely engulfing memoir.

Joel Edgerton’s sophomore directorial feature isn’t as bold as his previous film, but it never needs to reach new grounds to impact the audience. It’s a performance movie where the cast is given room to fully engulf themselves in their characters, and it thankfully pays off.

Lucas Hedges, in his first leading role, continues to prove himself as the eponymous boy erased. Jared (Hedges) is forced to attend gay conversion therapy by his father, a Baptist preacher blinded by religion played by Russell Crowe, and his mother, a heartbreaking Nicole Kidman. Once inside, well, it’s exactly what you’d expect.

Lucas Hedges in Boy Erased. Courtesy of Focus Features.

Boy Erased is the kind of story with developments seen coming from a mile away, with emotional and physical abuse and a cast of mostly archetypal characters scattered throughout. What helps is Edgerton’s script, adapted from the true-life memoir of Garrard Conley. Nothing is played as manipulative to the audience, and even the most melodramatic moments contain levity and empathy. It may lack subtlety in some areas, but it’s a film dealing with a subject that’s unable to be handled in any way other than the reality.

Unfortunately, when Edgerton does attempt to infuse some structural originality, it comes off as jolting. Throughout the film, Jared is asked to remember his “sinful” actions, which include acting on his nature: being attracted to men. But each short vignette feels out of place, or that, at the very least, they could’ve been included in a less jarring way.

The film gets away with having a story that’s been told before because the message it sends is so much more important than its plot. It’s sad to think that the story of Boy Erased is predictable because it’s about someone being forced via scare tactics and threats to be something that they aren’t. Surely this kind of thing shouldn’t be the norm. Surely this kind of thing should be alien to us. But it’s not.

Joel Edgerton in Boy Erased. Courtesy of Focus Features.

Jared felt utterly terrified to come forward and be himself to his parents, and for good reason. They offered him the chance to either change, or move out. And it’s not like he came forward with a damning recognition of himself. He was just gay.

The film offers many thoughts on masculinity and the social weight America puts on such an abstract concept. The camp forced the recipients to undergo lessons in posture. Stand up straight, no crossing your legs, hands on hips with fingers forward. It also taught that anger was necessary to become a better man – that screaming at an empty chair will somehow fix you. That finding someone to be angry at will make it easier for you to become straight. It took the worst parts of masculinity and declared them imperative to the betterment of your soul. If that’s not a damning enough deterrent to the more imbecilic notions in Christianity, let the incessant Bible readings and “sin” speeches guide you to the door.

Boy Erased does well in providing a template for contemplation in regards to the action, and more often destructive in-action, when it comes to American youth. It also acts as a realistic depiction of the disgusting habit religions can have of shaping their followers, rather than accepting them.

Overall Grade: B+

Originally published at Emertainment Monthly:

http://emertainmentmonthly.com/index.php/review-great-performances-and-a-strong-message-lift-boy-erased/

‘Apostle’ is utterly insane, and thankfully so

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By Casey Campbell

Gareth Evans proved himself in 2011 with The Raid: Redemption, and then its sequel three years later. As some of the best, most stunningly shot and brilliantly choreographed martial arts movies ever made, Evans pushed against the grain of traditional and easy action. The man understands action, because first, he understands the medium of film. With clear composition and fluid motion, Evans captures action so well because he fundamentally gets that movies should be visually pleasing. In those films, he allowed the performers to perform, rather than go the lazy route of cutting and editing around stuntmen.

With this understanding of Evans, none should be surprised that he helms horror as well as he does his action titles. His most recent work, Apostle, is no soft stuff, while being entirely antagonistic to all things humane and decent. It slowly builds up, leading to one of the more brazen conclusions of the year.

Apostle follows Thomas Richardson (a consistently excellent Dan Stevens), a man seeking to save his sister from a cult of religious zealots on an isolated island. Despite being, from the outside, a tired tale of a man on a rescue mission, it quickly affirms itself as something strictly other. It does what few mainstream horror titles do: it puts a focus on earning your interest, and then your fear. It doesn’t depend on the frustrating jump scare, nor does it take the audience’s intelligence for granted. Apostle sets up the central character and location, then slowly meanders into territory wholly unexpected. Some may find the first half slow, but it’s very much a film that rewards patience.

Apostle2.jpg

Dan Stevens in Apostle. Courtesy of Netflix.

Evans’ immaculate use of tension propels what could’ve been a standard horror movie to another level. Most films utilize tension in a scene by scene basis. For example, his Raid films use tension in order to make the subsequent fight scene that much more exciting. He makes you want the clash to happen. Here, he uses the first half of the movie to prepare for the final half. And it works, miraculously. Questions asked about the island and cult are answered in full, and not only does it work, it feels rewarding.

Like Evans’ first Raid film (if only titularly), Apostle deals with redemption. Richardson opens the film as a broken man, but we don’t know what caused this — at least not initially. In the opening scene, we learn that Richardson was thought to be dead. Later, we find out he had just returned from a missionary trip that almost took his life, and ultimately did take his faith. By diving head first into a new religious atmosphere to save his sister, Richardson gets a second chance and finally grapples with his past.

Most of the first half of the film revolves around Richardson investigating the island for clues to where his sister hides away. Soon, he begins to acknowledge the inherent danger he faces through the mission, and sees sinister things going on. He watches a woman bleed her arm, jars filled with blood line the hallway he stays on, and a group of thugs make a man disappear. The first half of the movie offers plenty of interesting tidbits to hold you over. At the very least, the attentive movie watcher will look forward to the unearthing of answers to the many weird clues littered throughout.

Apostle makes you question the reality of the situation. At the beginning, you rightfully question the zealotry of the island dwellers. Film cults are rarely the groups you root for, nor are they supposed to be the understood party in a movie. They’re traditionally the crazy group whose violent ways lead them down a dark path. But here, the cult strays from the generic. The cult is certainly weird, but could there be an actually compelling reason as to why? I would say yes, but I also don’t want to divulge any of the more exciting plot developments that happen later into the second and third acts.

As much as the film excels with thrills and overall atmosphere, Apostle still stumbles at parts. There were several instances where I had to use hindsight to question something that happened earlier. For fear of delving into spoilers, I won’t go into specifics. But, a character in the third act shows herself unable to move, despite the fact that we see her several times earlier in the film. It was just a weird addition that could be explained a bit better by the cult leader.

Despite the minor inconsistencies, Apostle firmly plants itself as one of the best straight-to-Netflix movies available. It has atmosphere, acting, and solid direction. I only wish I could’ve experienced it on the big screen, rather than on my TV.

‘First Reformed’ stuns with ferocity and temperance (Emertainment Monthly – 5/25/18)

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By Casey Campbell

First Reformed is the thrilling culmination of writer and director Paul Schrader’s career, told with equal parts ferocity and temperance. It’s a story of one’s devotion to a calling, and the sometimes dangerous weight it holds over you. Schrader’s latest is a methodical and meditative work that sits with you long after it’s sharp cut to credits.

Ethan Hawke stars as Reverend Toller, an alcoholic with a bleak past. Despite that, he appears spritely and pleasant. He goes out of his way to help those in his community that seek his guidance, like Mary (Amanda Seyfried) and her troubled hyper-environmentalist husband Michael (Philip Ettinger).

 

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Ethan Hawke in First Reformed. Courtesy of A24

Schrader isn’t known for writing simple characters—take Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver, or Jake LaMotta from Raging Bull as examples. Yet, in First Reformed, Schrader posits Reverend Toller as a quiet and reserved man. He’s seen keeping his small historic church tidy and writing in a journal. He’s even seen having a good relationship with the preachers at the mega-church across town. But when Michael infects Toller with a newfound appreciation for the Earth—God’s creation, after all—the reverend faces a crisis of faith.

The film lacks subtlety when it comes to environmentalism, but that’s not inherently a flaw. In fact, the way in which it’s importance is made paramount very much informs the story of a man understanding his faith. Without him first being metaphorically beaten over the head with the importance of our environment and the future of our world, Reverend Toller would have continued on his disinterested descent into obscurity – furthered by the mega-church, and his dwindling numbers.

Don’t let the church-going, environmentalist leaning reverend lead sway you, First Reformed is a top-notch thriller. Schrader slowly notches the tension, from the first silent lingering shot of the church to a dizzying finale only the director of Dog Eat Dog could helm. There are edge-of-your-seat moments, gross-out actions, and dangerous motivations found throughout, and the result is both beautifully distant and gloriously fun—if your definition of fun verges on the deranged, that is.

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Ethan Hawke and Amanda Seyfried in First Reformed. Courtesy of A24

By shooting the film in 1.37:1 ratio—also known as Academy ratio—First Reformed manages to be both intimate and cold – fitting for such an unorthodox movie. The photography is often static, allowing the audience to focus on the characters who often just sit and speak with one another.

It’s the kind of movie that you should go into with a barebones understanding of what you’re going to see and let it wash over you. The performances are uniformly great, with a uniquely challenging outing from Ethan Hawke, who displays a frightening range from beginning to end. It isn’t a straightforward film, and the end is a head-scratcher, but the entire work is something exciting and fresh.

Overall Grade: A

Originally published at Emertainment Monthly:

http://emertainmentmonthly.com/index.php/review-first-reformed-stuns-with-ferocity-and-temperance/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Updated] Science fiction before and after ‘A Space Odyssey’

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By Casey Campbell

[Updated from the April 7 article of the same name.]

What is transcendence when it comes to film? Not the ill-fated Johnny Depp vehicle from 2014, but the notion that a movie can live beyond itself and inspire a wealth of future filmmakers, even fifty years later. In this case, 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) breaks the mold of science fiction – and film in general – as well as transcending not only art but what we think of human nature.

Before 2001: A Space Odyssey – Early Science Fiction Cinema

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A Trip to the Moon, directed by Georges Méliès

Science fiction has an interesting place in film history – before 2001. French illusionist turned filmmaker Georges Méliès made dreams come true with his elaborate and compelling A Trip to the Moon (1902), which is widely regarded as the first science fiction film. Through the earliest days of the 20th century, filmmakers were utilizing science fiction novels as a basis for their films, with Méliès gaining influence from the works of H.G. Wells and Jules Verne. Verne’s other classic ‘20,000 Leagues Under the Sea’ would be brought to life in the 1916 film of the same name – notable for being one of science fictions first features. The films share not only influence, but the human desire for exploration.

Thomas Edison’s “Edison Studios” put into production an adaptation of Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’ in 1910, establishing a theme of “man-made monsters” and the dangers of technology, which would be expounded thoroughly in the future.

The 1920’s saw German expressionist Fritz Lang take on the genre in Metropolis (1927), an epic that is still regarded as revolutionary. It featured a futuristic cityscape, cleverly shot with miniatures, and one of cinema’s first robots, Maria. The eponymous dystopian metropolis was heavily stratified, and controlled by enslaved underground workers.

Looking ahead, the 1930’s saw a rise in “mad scientist” films. 21 years after Edison’s adaptation, Universal Studios produced their own Frankenstein with Boris Karloff, directed by James Whale. Others include The Black Cat with other Universal big-shot Bela Lugosi, Dr. Cyclops, and The Lady and the Monster. These films further explored the dangers of technology and mankind.

The second World War created a drought for science fiction, but when they returned in the 50’s, they came back in a big way. Deemed the “Golden Age of Science Fiction,” the 1950’s were the years of cheaply made (and cheap looking) B-movies. As interest rose in space exploration, so too did films set in space. The Cold War drudged on, and science fiction responded in kind.

The 1950 film Destination Moon is important for its “realistic” portrayal of the moon, as well as it’s spacesuits and rockets. As audiences took to the theaters and drive-ins, studios took notice of the money they could make. Soon, alien invasion films would ingrain themselves into American culture. Allegorical themes of anti-Americanism, and threats from foreign lands lent well to the anxiety produced during the Cold War. Films included The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), It Came from Outer Space (1953), and Forbidden Planet (1956). The issue with these films is that they often came with men in rubber alien suits or schlocky robots taking over the world. They weren’t believable.

This sequence, from Forbidden Planet, excellently showcases the look of 50’s science fiction. A stoic yet dull Leslie Nielsen does his best to fight an invisible monster with blue lasers. Militant forces stand around, touting cylindrical plastic laser shooters that look like children’s play things more than lethal weapons. The soundstage in dressed with plastic future-stuff: matte-silver big blockey shooters, and a ship that takes up much of the background. The soundscape is hectic, as Nielsen commands officers, lasers zip and zap, and something off in the background warbles. Despite their thoughtful ideas and messages, the cheap aesthetic (despite it being rather expensive) lessens the film.

Into the 1960’s, science fiction directors put out giant monster movies, sequels, and more space exploration films. It wasn’t until Stanley Kubrick’s transcendant 2001: A Space Odyssey that science fiction was taken seriously again.

2001: A Space Odyssey

Written in collaboration with science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke, Stanley Kubrick went to work on making his sci-fi epic after working on Dr. Strangelove in 1964 (a film that dealt with Cold War politics). Kubrick wanted to make a movie about “man’s relationship with the universe” and sought to set it apart from the “monsters-and-sex” science fiction of the time. In doing so, he utilized old tropes of the genre, as well as invented fresh ideas.

But what is different about 2001? If you’ve seen it, this question is surely a lost cause: what isn’t different about 2001? It’s slow, plodding, and psychedelic. Each frame is gorgeously composed and the sets feel like they have weight to them. It feels real.

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Keir Dullea in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Courtesy of MGM

2001 encompasses all of humanity, while only showing Earth during the dawn of man, when “men” were just apes. “The Dawn of Man” sequence stands out as the first quarter of the film, taking up 25 dialogue-less minutes as men in ape costumes (mimes from London, and other performers) bound around a sandy, realistic soundstage. Moonwatcher, the main ape, earns his name by glancing up at the moon. In the next scene, they meet the monolith, a tall black extraterrestrial block of unknown origin. Moonwatcher touches it and is seen learning how to use tools in the next scene. There is a clear connection to these three scenes: the moon, the monolith, and the tools. Kubrick uses subtlety and the connecting of ideas to tell a purely visual story. Everything you need to know is there, but only if you follow the scenes and put the pieces together.

And that’s how the rest of the film plays out. Sequences connect, and though it may not seem immediately clear what he’s trying to do, the end product is wonderfully thoughtful and cohesive. It’s fascinating that a high-concept science fiction film can open with apes, yet work immaculately and fit within the film as a whole. Typically, science fiction would look forward for answers, or ideas. Here, 2001 looks back, but in doing so, informs the future.

Despite barebones storytelling, 2001 paved the way for a new culture of science fiction. A new thoughtful, questioning culture of high concept stories that connect the unknown with a heightened anxiety about ourselves, our creations, and the unknown was formed. It was the 60’s and as we were making greater advances in technology, humans were finding themselves capable of more than many older generations would have ever imagined. A space shuttle to the moon was dangling over the horizon of much of the world, yet the cold war was still in full swing and nuclear détente with it. While humanity was making leaps and bounds in the advancement of the species, they still maintained their violent nature. A violent nature that is all too human.

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Moonwatcher in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Courtesy of MGM

The film ponders human nature and provides an explanation for evolution in the most unorthodox way possible. The monolith shows up whenever humanity is set to evolve, whether from ape to man, or man to Star Child.

Human nature is explored through the violence of humans, and it’s interesting to think about the evolutionary aliens as malicious, instead of helpful. They help humans evolve, but at what cost? The famous cut from a weaponized bone used for killing to a nuclear weapon in space says a lot about our time between the Dawn of Man to the present. The apes, once peacefully living alongside pigs, learn of tools and slaughter the swine for food. Furthermore, they use the weapons to kill out of anger. After an altercation, Moonwatcher uses his bone to kill a member of the opposite group of apes. Before, they would throw a fit, then walk away. With the weapons, the apes learned that fighting could be escalated to lethal levels. The nuclear satellite in space shows how humanity is still very much focussed on killing, despite being able to travel through space.

Humanity is explored, very much before it’s time, through HAL9000. It shows how easily we can create things that we depend on, that can still kill us. HAL was built to be like a human, another member of the team, with “genuine emotions” that were programmed into him. He ends up killing the whole hibernating crew, as well as Dr. Frank Poole.

The conclusion leaves many questions, while still satisfyingly wrapping up the film. It also spurred on a cultural change within science fiction. Rather than dwell on the future in a campy way, science fiction was once again pondering genuine human emotion and thoughts, though this time with an understated apprehension about the future.

2001 encapsulates the many genre tropes found in science fiction, from exploration, which can be dated back to the early 1900’s, the “man-made-monster” which was established with 1910’s Frankenstein, and a fear of technology, which was prevalent in the 1950’s. It strayed from the “anti-Americanism” of old (also because it was produced in England), and even featured a Russian character who was friends with an American character, Dr. Haywood Floyd. It also reimagined the robot, by eschewing the humanoid suit for a more menacing and all seeing camera.

After 2001: A Space Odyssey: The Legacy

The notion of spacefaring was not new to 2001, nor science fiction in general. It was realized fantastically, two years before, in Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek (1966), a show about bringing cultures together and exploring- not for violence or monetary gain, but to explore and seek out new life. Nor is it the last to do so.

Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar (2014) not only pays homage to the 2001 monolith through the robotic character of TARS, it also sets itself in a world ravaged by human greed. In order to further humanity’s survival, a group of scientists  must travail space and wormholes in order to find a new home. Even the psychedelic ending, in which Matthew McConaughey’s Cooper floats through the fourth dimension, resembles the light show in 2001’s final act. But where Kubrick left questions unanswered, Nolan flounders the finale but giving the answer to all things: love.

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Wes Bentley and TARS from Interstellar. Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

Duncan Jones’ debut Moon (2009), one of the best bottle films to situate itself in the realm of claustrophobic science fiction, sets its sights on an Earth dealing with an energy crisis. To fix the problem, astronaut Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) is sent up to drill helium-3, an abundant clean energy, on the dark side of the moon. His lone companion is a robot named Gerty, in a role that’s very similar to that of 2001’s HAL, with a pleasant twist. It also deals with human nature, though through the lens of corporate greed and manipulation.

Not only did 2001: A Space Odyssey open up the floodgates for more thoughtful science fiction, it influenced a wealth of future filmmakers to reach further with their ideas. Without 2001, we wouldn’t have Star Wars (1977), and the slow menacing opening shot of a bulky, no longer sleek, spacecraft; we wouldn’t have Alien (1979), a film which reminds us of the quiet of space, and how horrifying the unknown can be; and we probably wouldn’t have one of the most staggeringly gorgeous sequences to come from Terrance Mallick, in the Creation scene of The Tree of Life.

It’s been 50 years, and the effects of Kubrick’s masterpiece are still being felt.
FilmSite was very helpful in my research of early science fiction.

My Week in Review: Apr. 23-29

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I’m in the final week of school now, thankfully it’s almost over. I only got to see two movies this week, one in a press screening, and the other on Hulu. Both were stellar.

First Reformed (2018)

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Ethan Hawke in First Reformed. Courtesy of A24.

Paul Schrader’s latest is crazy. But that’s to be expected, from the writer of Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and The Last Temptation of Christ. It starts in silence (the critics in the screening were getting antsy, and asking if the sound was off), and then builds up in intensity until a white-knuckle conclusion. It was a powerful experience.

Ethan Hawke stars as Reverend Toller, an alcoholic with a dark past. Mary, played by Amanda Seyfried, asks Toller to talk to her husband, a rabid environmentalist who’s been depressed about the state of the world.

That’s all that can be said of the plot, without giving away delightfully dark twists. The movie was a blast, the performances were great (Seyfried’s lines were pretty weird at times, but she was still great), and the cinematography was beautiful. They shot it in Academy ratio, 4:3, and it works to create an intimate human story.

When it comes out later this month, check it out.

8/10

Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016)

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Julian Dennison and Sam Neill in Hunt for the Wilderpeople. Courtesy of The Orchard. 

I’ve been a fan of Taika Waititi since What We Do in the Shadows and his work in Flight of the Concords. He’s funny, and his style feels unique. After seeing Hunt for the Wilderpeople, my appreciation grew tenfold. Not only can he craft a hilarious film, he can create genuine emotion. You’ll be laughing out loud, and then you’ll be hit in the heart by honest humanity. That’s not to say it’s jarring either, as the direction is pretty seamless and the story flows well.

A young kid with a rebellious spirit gets lost in the bush of New Zealand with his foster uncle, and a national manhunt is called in to find the kid. Then newcomer Julian Dennison plays young Ricky, and Sam Neill impresses as the foster uncle Hec. I always love a good “father-son” romp, so this seemed like a good film for me – and it was terrific.

It’s funny, sweet, and pleasant. Check it out.

8/10

My Week in Review: Apr. 16-22

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It’s finals week at Emerson, so I don’t have a lot of time to sit and watch much. I got around to watching a movie I love, one that fell between the cracks, another that’s universally loved, and one that is a theatrically successful trash heap. Here’s my week in review.

A Cure for Wellness (2016)

Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox Studios

I had very low expectations for this one, despite my girlfriend loving it. It made barely any money in theaters and critical consensus was pretty much “meh.” By the end, it had some cool stuff going for it, but was mostly bloated and overwritten.  My issues stem from knit-picked character interactions and dialogue. After almost a week (I watched it Monday), I can only really remember that the main character was unlikable and didn’t have an arc, there was a bizarre scene of masturbation, the cinematography was gorgeous, and the conclusion was actually pretty great (I absolutely did not see that coming).

If you have a few hours to burn, I would recommend it. It’s ambitious, in terms of studio releases, and the pro’s end up outweighing the con’s.

6/10

Grindhouse: Planet Terror (2007)

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Courtesy of Dimension Films

This isn’t art, but God damn is it fun. Planet Terror is an absolute blast because it knows exactly what it is, and goes for it. It doesn’t take a single moment of it’s perfectly succinct 105 minute runtime seriously, and it almost goes out of it’s way to create plot holes to add to the ludicrous nature of “grindhouse” cinema. I still can’t really tell if it’s an homage, or a parody. It’s a gross out zombie horror movie about a rag tag group of survivors, including the exceptional Rose McGowan as a gun legged bad ass (we don’t know how the gun shoots, but it does a great job of killing the zombies).

I highly recommend this one, especially if you like a filmmaker winking at the audience and a movie that puts fun over logic, in a genuinely engaging way.

8/10

Space Jam (1996)

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Courtesy of Warner Brothers

Space Jam is the story of cartoon aliens stealing the talent from basketball players circa  1996, and Michael Jordan plays them in a basketball game with the Looney Tunes on his side. I think I need to watch it again. Probably the most bizarre thing I’ve ever seen.

You’ve probably seen it already.

Space Jam/10

Rampage (2018)

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Did he think he’d be CGI’d over? That smolder is something else. Courtesy of New Line Cinema

Ugh. Dwayne Johnson is here again, for what will be his first of three movies to come out this year. Rampage is as fun as the teeth drilling scene from A Cure for Wellness, which is to say: it’s not fun. Leave it to visionless Hollywood hack Brad Peyton (of San Andreas infamy, another hollow visionless drag) to make a monster movie feel like a chore to sit through. Why did the first two acts genuinely depress me? Why did they need to tell me how George’s (the albino gorilla) mother died (poachers hacked her apart with machetes, and her arms were to be used as ash trays), AND THEN SHOW THAT ON SCREEN? What a surprisingly bleak movie. The end sequence with all the big monsters isn’t even fun because the whole thing makes you feel bad for the animals.

Malin Akerman is horrible as the expository dumping machine, and Naomi Harris depressed me more than the poacher scene because she reminded me of the highs she achieved in Moonlight– you don’t need to take roles like this Naomi, you’re immeasurably talented! At least Jeffery Dean Morgan seemed to know what kind of shit show he was in, because he’s the only one who had any charisma. Other than the CGI gorilla, of course.

Unless you catch this in an empty theater and you’re with friends, don’t watch this one. It’s a big fat waste of time.

4/10

‘Unsane’ sells a gimmick, but delivers a lazy script (Emertainment Monthly – 3/23/2018)

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By Casey Campbell

Unsane is a surprisingly sloppy, uninspired thriller from eclectic director Steven Soderbergh. It comes across as more of a student film than a theatrical release, due to Soderbergh shooting it on an iPhone.

“I think this is the future,” he said in an interview with IndieWire. “Anybody going to see this movie who has no idea of the backstory to the production will have no idea this was shot on the phone. That’s not part of the conceit.”

But it is part of the conceit, despite what the director says, and it doesn’t work. It may have created buzz, but the film looks ugly and grainy.

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Joshua Leonard and Claire Foy in Unsane. Courtesy of Bleecker Street Media and Fingerprint Releasing.

Hastily signed paperwork commits Sawyer Valenti (Claire Foy) into a mental institution, where she thinks her stalker (Joshua Leonard) has followed her. She questions her mental state but knows she shouldn’t be stuck in the institution.

Unsane’s biggest problem is its inability to translate an idea onto the screen in a compelling way, despite a terrific performance from Claire Foy. Foy’s performance is, by far, the best part of the film, if not, the only good to come from it. A point of levity comes from fellow patient Noah (Jay Pharoah), a recovering opiate addict with a week left in his stay, but his performance was stilted and awkward. Juno Temple shows up as another patient, but she has absolutely nothing to do, other than act like a generic crazy person who throws a used tampon at the protagonist on her first night.

On paper, the story is exciting and thought-provoking. On screen, it asks questions and takes the audience along on a fun ride for the first thirty minutes. It plays with narrative trust, given that it’s shown from the perspective of Sawyer. Is she crazy? Is he following her? But when it starts answering questions, the fun stops entirely. The main plot conceit which commits Sawyer to the institution is clunky and convoluted, and the final act runs far too long with an incomprehensible amount of plot holes. The 97 minute long movie ends up feeling like well over two hours.

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Claire Foy in Unsane. Courtesy of Bleecker Street Media and Fingerprint Releasing.

For a film that plays with the necessity of connection and cell phones, Unsane does a poor job of utilizing the iPhone that it was shot on. Some dialogue shots looks like the character is speaking directly at the screen, playing with the familiar action of talking into a phone screen during a FaceTime call. It prompts a disconnected feel, even though the character is staring right at you. But that’s where the technology ideas end.

Sawyer’s anxiety and stress stems from a nervous attachment to her phone. Her stalker sent her a flurry of texts, forcing her to block him. She is forced to delete her social media when the stalking becomes threatening. There is a lot to say about our use of technology and how it can add to our detachment from reality.

Unsane wasted an opportunity, when it could have utilized the way in which it was shot for more than just a gimmick.

Overall Grade: C-

Originally published at Emertainment Monthly: http://emertainmentmonthly.com/index.php/review-unsane-sells-a-gimmick-but-delivers-a-lazy-script/

‘Grey Gardens’ Capsule Review

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By Casey Campbell

Grey Gardens is an unflinching, uncomfortable, oftentimes unwatchable experience in meaningless filmmaking. Directed by four people, yet lacking any ideas or anything to say, Grey Gardens is one of the most successful exploitation films ever made. The directors managed to make newspaper clippings at the beginning of the film the most interesting thing about it (while also shoehorning in their own prior works).

Picture this: two women living in solitude and squalor in East Hampton, New York. They’re surrounded by wealth, yet live in dilapidated obscurity. Their mansion houses cats, raccoons, and any other assortment of pests. They’re not well.

Yet, every online descriptor I can find of both the 79-year-old mother Edith, and her 56-year-old daughter “Little Edie” include the word “eccentric.” I would go so far as to say they were mentally ill. Edie dances around and sings to herself, wearing a sheet around her scalp for the entirety of the too long 100 minute run time, and her mother is almost always bedridden and dangerously close to nude. They cannot care for their home, nor honestly for themselves. And to make matters worse, the film ends with what was almost certainly an unauthorized recording of a phone call from Edie to the filmmakers.

There is documentary style filmmaking, and then there is real life exploitation. This is unfortunately the latter, and it doesn’t make up for its lack of substance with its lack of moral integrity.

You’d be better off watching the Documentary Now! episode “Sandy Passage” which pays homage to Grey Gardens. It’s funny, and doesn’t seem like it’s taking advantage of anyone.

2018 Academy Awards Predictions

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The Oscars are next week, and here are my picks for each category. Some of these were really tough to choose. This year’s show will be fun.

Best Picture:

“Call Me by Your Name”

“Darkest Hour”

“Dunkirk”

“Get Out”

“Lady Bird”

“Phantom Thread”

“The Post”

“The Shape of Water”

“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”

 

Lead Actor:

Timothée Chalamet, “Call Me by Your Name”

Daniel Day-Lewis, “Phantom Thread”

Daniel Kaluuya, “Get Out”

Gary Oldman, “Darkest Hour”

Denzel Washington, “Roman J. Israel, Esq.”

 

Lead Actress:

Sally Hawkins, “The Shape of Water”

Frances McDormand, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”

Margot Robbie, “I, Tonya”

Saoirse Ronan, “Lady Bird”

Meryl Streep, “The Post”

 

Supporting Actor:

Willem Dafoe, “The Florida Project”

Woody Harrelson, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”

Richard Jenkins, “The Shape of Water”

Christopher Plummer, “All the Money in the World”

Sam Rockwell, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”

 

Supporting Actress:

Mary J. Blige, “Mudbound”

Allison Janney, “I, Tonya”

Lesley Manville, “Phantom Thread”

Laurie Metcalf, “Lady Bird”

Octavia Spencer, “The Shape of Water”

 

Director:

“Dunkirk,” Christopher Nolan

“Get Out,” Jordan Peele

“Lady Bird,” Greta Gerwig

“Phantom Thread,” Paul Thomas Anderson

“The Shape of Water,” Guillermo del Toro

 

Animated Feature:

“The Boss Baby,” Tom McGrath, Ramsey Ann Naito

“The Breadwinner,” Nora Twomey, Anthony Leo

“Coco,” Lee Unkrich, Darla K. Anderson

“Ferdinand,” Carlos Saldanha

“Loving Vincent,” Dorota Kobiela, Hugh Welchman, Sean Bobbitt, Ivan Mactaggart, Hugh Welchman

 

Animated Short:

“Dear Basketball,” Glen Keane, Kobe Bryant

“Garden Party,” Victor Caire, Gabriel Grapperon

“Lou,” Dave Mullins, Dana Murray

“Negative Space,” Max Porter, Ru Kuwahata

“Revolting Rhymes,” Jakob Schuh, Jan Lachauer

 

Adapted Screenplay:

“Call Me by Your Name,” James Ivory

“The Disaster Artist,” Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber

“Logan,” Scott Frank & James Mangold and Michael Green

“Molly’s Game,” Aaron Sorkin

“Mudbound,” Virgil Williams and Dee Rees

 

Original Screenplay:

“The Big Sick,” Emily V. Gordon & Kumail Nanjiani

“Get Out,” Jordan Peele

“Lady Bird,” Greta Gerwig

“The Shape of Water,” Guillermo del Toro, Vanessa Taylor

“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” Martin McDonagh

 

Cinematography:

“Blade Runner 2049,” Roger Deakins

“Darkest Hour,” Bruno Delbonnel

“Dunkirk,” Hoyte van Hoytema

“Mudbound,” Rachel Morrison

“The Shape of Water,” Dan Laustsen

 

Best Documentary Feature:

“Abacus: Small Enough to Jail,” Steve James, Mark Mitten, Julie Goldman

“Faces Places,” JR, Agnès Varda, Rosalie Varda

“Icarus,” Bryan Fogel, Dan Cogan

“Last Men in Aleppo,” Feras Fayyad, Kareem Abeed, Soren Steen Jepersen

“Strong Island,” Yance Ford, Joslyn Barnes

 

Best Documentary Short Subject:

“Edith+Eddie,” Laura Checkoway, Thomas Lee Wright

“Heaven is a Traffic Jam on the 405,” Frank Stiefel

“Heroin(e),” Elaine McMillion Sheldon, Kerrin Sheldon

“Knife Skills,” Thomas Lennon

“Traffic Stop,” Kate Davis, David Heilbroner

 

Best Live Action Short Film:

“DeKalb Elementary,” Reed Van Dyk

“The Eleven O’Clock,” Derin Seale, Josh Lawson

“My Nephew Emmett,” Kevin Wilson, Jr.

“The Silent Child,” Chris Overton, Rachel Shenton

“Watu Wote/All of Us,” Katja Benrath, Tobias Rosen

 

Best Foreign Language Film:

“A Fantastic Woman” (Chile)

“The Insult” (Lebanon)

“Loveless” (Russia)

“On Body and Soul (Hungary)

“The Square” (Sweden)

 

Film Editing:

“Baby Driver,” Jonathan Amos, Paul Machliss

“Dunkirk,” Lee Smith

“I, Tonya,” Tatiana S. Riegel

“The Shape of Water,” Sidney Wolinsky

“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” Jon Gregory

 

Sound Editing:

“Baby Driver,” Julian Slater

“Blade Runner 2049,” Mark Mangini, Theo Green

“Dunkirk,” Alex Gibson, Richard King

“The Shape of Water,” Nathan Robitaille, Nelson Ferreira

“Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” Ren Klyce, Matthew Wood

 

Sound Mixing:

“Baby Driver,” Mary H. Ellis, Julian Slater, Tim Cavagin

“Blade Runner 2049,” Mac Ruth, Ron Bartlett, Doug Hephill

“Dunkirk,” Mark Weingarten, Gregg Landaker, Gary A. Rizzo

“The Shape of Water,” Glen Gauthier, Christian Cooke, Brad Zoern

“Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” Stuart Wilson, Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick

 

Production Design:

“Beauty and the Beast,” Sarah Greenwood; Katie Spencer

“Blade Runner 2049,” Dennis Gassner, Alessandra Querzola

“Darkest Hour,” Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer

“Dunkirk,” Nathan Crowley, Gary Fettis

“The Shape of Water,” Paul D. Austerberry, Jeffrey A. Melvin, Shane Vieau

 

Original Score:

“Dunkirk,” Hans Zimmer

“Phantom Thread,” Jonny Greenwood

“The Shape of Water,” Alexandre Desplat

“Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” John Williams

“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” Carter Burwell

 

Original Song:

“Mighty River” from “Mudbound,” Mary J. Blige

“Mystery of Love” from “Call Me by Your Name,” Sufjan Stevens

“Remember Me” from “Coco,” Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez

“Stand Up for Something” from “Marshall,” Diane Warren, Common

“This Is Me” from “The Greatest Showman,” Benj Pasek, Justin Paul

 

Makeup and Hair:

“Darkest Hour,” Kazuhiro Tsuji, David Malinowski, Lucy Sibbick

“Victoria and Abdul,” Daniel Phillips and Lou Sheppard

“Wonder,” Arjen Tuiten

 

Costume Design:

“Beauty and the Beast,” Jacqueline Durran

“Darkest Hour,” Jacqueline Durran

“Phantom Thread,” Mark Bridges

“The Shape of Water,” Luis Sequeira

“Victoria and Abdul,” Consolata Boyle

 

Visual Effects:

“Blade Runner 2049,” John Nelson, Paul Lambert, Richard R. Hoover, Gerd Nefzer

“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,” Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Jonathan Fawkner, Dan Sudick

“Kong: Skull Island,” Stephen Rosenbaum, Jeff White, Scott Benza, Mike Meinardus

“Star Wars: The Last Jedi,”  Ben Morris, Mike Mulholland, Chris Corbould, Neal Scanlan

“War for the Planet of the Apes,” Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Daniel Barrett, Joel Whist

‘Wish Upon’ is the best comedy of 2017

Casey Campbell Leave a comment

By Casey Campbell

A magic box grants a young girl seven wishes, and people start dying. This brazenly original concept drives last years most consistently hilarious comedy disguised as a PG-13 Final Destination horror rip-off, in Wish Upon. It was so wildly enjoyable because not a single element worked the way it was supposed to, and its comedic timing was (accidentally) perfect.

Wish Upon was directed by John R. Leonetti, the cinematographer that shot some of James Wann’s best films (Insidious, The Conjuring). Having watched Leonetti’s latest attempt at directing (he also directed the lackluster Conjuring spin-off Annabelle), it seems as if he took Wann’s tremendous style and attempted to do everything Wann wouldn’t do. There wasn’t a scary element in the whole film, but that shouldn’t surprise anyone who watches recent mainstream horror attempts (Paranormal Activity and Ouija being in the forefront of my mind).

The film opens with a child named Clare finding her mother hanging herself in the attic, and cuts ahead twelve years. Clare, now a teenager played by Joey King, still wonders what made her mother kill herself, while also dealing with every cliché that a story set in a high school could offer. She deals with bullies, has a crush on a guy who doesn’t know she exists, and her dad is an embarrassment. It’s all very fresh, and I’m sure you won’t be able to guess what happens with each of these story threads.

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Ryan Phillippe digs for treasure in ‘Wish Upon.’ Courtesy of Broad Green Pictures

In a genuinely surprising turn, her father is played by the ever boyish Ryan Phillippe, and his main occupation is dumpster diving. That’s right, he digs through trash to find any assortment of knick-knacks and household necessities as a means to survive. Good thing too, because he stumbles upon the magic box which propels the plot. He gives it to Clare, because I guess he didn’t mind offering up the trash box to his daughter as a birthday gift. Thanks, Dad!

The box touts some Chinese markings, as well as a disclaimer that it can grant seven wishes. She laughs, but then remembers her bully from earlier in the day (a girl who tried to hit her with an SUV, bullies, am I right?) and very dramatically makes a wish.

“I wish that [she] would just, like, go rot!” our protagonist proclaims.

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Josephine Langford rots in ‘Wish Upon.’ Courtesy of Broad Green Pictures

And it works! The bully girl wakes up with a nasty case of rot from head to dilapidated toe, and it looks admittedly gnarly. Word spreads through school with the speed of the girl’s rot, and Clare’s friends celebrate the good news. She can’t enjoy the knowledge of a girls hospitalization for long, as Clare finds her dog, freshly dead, under her deck. How’d the dog die? Who knows. All it shows is a laceration along the dogs stomach, and some hungry rats surrounding the carcass. Spooky!

At this point, Clare understands the power she holds, yet wishes for a boy to fall “madly in love with her.” See how that could go poorly for her? Word choice is key, Clare. Suffice to say, the guy goes nuts – but hey, at least someone loves her. This wish spurs on another death. This time, her estranged uncle slips in the tub and slams his head on the porcelain. He doesn’t die instantly though. He sputters back into consciousness only to slam his forehead against the faucet, finishing him off. The death of an old man slipping in a tub could have been effective, if not for the slapstick nature of the scene. Yes, I did laugh when this old man slipped and died.

That’s basically how the film continues. She makes a dumbass wish, and then someone who she’s vaguely familiar with loses their life. The ghost (I’m presuming some supernatural spirit is behind all of this bloodshed) doesn’t make it clear why it kills its victims. First the dog, then the uncle, then her neighbor dies because she wishes for her uncle’s inheritance.

While the inheritance wish was funny because it led to a sequence that followed Clare and her friends (a genuinely fun Sydney Park, and BARB from Stranger Things, Shannon Purser) on a montage of shopping, her next wish was even better. She doesn’t appreciate that people don’t like her (she’s generally unlikable) and she wishes to be popular. First of all, that’s fucking dreadful. More so, the writer has either never heard a teenager speak, or is just ill-equipped to write dialogue (or both).

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Sydney Park, Joey King, and Shannon Purser act in ‘Wish Upon.’ Courtesy of Broad Green Pictures

But before the popularity wish kicks in, she has to make another laughably idiotic wish. This time, she wastes away the cure for cancer to make her father “less embarrassing.” In this films logic, Phillippe becomes LESS embarrassing by playing the saxophone in front of her friends. One friend concedes that Clare’s father is hot. Mind you, this is the same film about a magic box that kills dogs, old people, and friendly neighbors. The horror.

Before the end, Clare ends up killing her more charismatic and better acted friend, as well as wish her dead mother back to life. The mother wish lacked foresight, and her father has his head cut off with a chainsaw. I think. It was offscreen, but it was Clare’s fault nonetheless.

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Joey King accidentally kills Ryan Phillippe in ‘Wish Upon.’ Courtesy of Broad Green Pictures

Clare goes back to the box to make another wish. The same box that killed her dad. And her mom. And her neighbor, uncle, dog, best friend, etc. She wishes to go back to the day her father gave her the box, to undo everything she had wished for. It works! She wakes up and uses her keen intellect to infiltrate her fathers trash digging gig to find the box before he does! Then she goes to school and gives it to her friend for him to dispose of (I didn’t mention him earlier, but he helps Clare translate the box in the film – trust me, it’s unimportant). Why couldn’t she have done away with the box herself, you may ask? Because she has to get comically hit by an SUV and thrown twelve feet through the air onto another car.

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Joey King gets hit by an SUV in ‘Wish Upon.’ Courtesy of Broad Green Pictures

Thus ends the comically tragic tale of Clare and her poorly written affair with the magic music box.

All in all, Wish Upon is fantastic. It’s so stupid that it made me consistently laugh, more so than any comedy I saw all year. Sorry The Big Sick, looks like Wish Upon takes the cake for must see comedy of 2017.

Buy here: Wish Upon [Blu-ray]

‘Fargo’ Capsule Review

Casey Campbell Leave a comment

By Casey Campbell

If there’s an art to blending together a dark comedy, then the Coen Brothers Fargo is a masterpiece. The crime comedy is sometimes hilarious, other times harrowing, but it never feels jarring. It’s the kind of tone that has been imitated by the likes of Martin McDonagh with last years Three Billboards, but Fargo maintains a consistent and genuine feeling throughout. The 1996 film remains one of the Coen Brothers crowning achievements, for its truly unique take on the crime genre.

Jerry Lundegaard (a sad, yet despicable William H. Macy) is in severe financial trouble, so severe that he hires criminals (talkative and charming Steve Buscemi and silently lethal Peter Stormare) to “kidnap” his wife so that her wealthy father will pay a hefty ransom, which the criminals and Jerry would split. The criminals get into serious trouble, which introduces pregnant police chief Marge Gunderson (Academy Award winning Frances McDormand) into the mix.

As much as the characters are so delightfully realized, the films “main” character is its setting. Roger Deakins Academy Award nominated cinematography shines as cold, distant, and clinical, while Minnesotan accents create depth and realism in an otherwise fantastically crazy story. Fargo is a modern classic for good reason.

Buy here: Fargo [Blu-ray] by 20th Century Fox

‘The Post’ Capsule Review

Casey Campbell Leave a comment

By Casey Campbell

There’s a beautiful and unexpected blend of mediums between film and journalism. Whether it be through film journalism, or films about journalism, the two work when brought together. Steven Spielberg’s latest historical drama The Post thrillingly follows the true story behind the notorious publishing of The Pentagon Papers in 1971, and the way the First Amendment was upheld despite volatile efforts to quiet the media from then President Nixon. Even though it seems to take aim at America, it’s one of the most purely patriotic films I’ve ever seen.

Like 2015’s Boston Globe film Spotlight, The Post eschews Hollywood drama for realistic depictions of journalists working their hardest to spread the truth. That’s not to say the film isn’t inherently dramatic though, as Spielberg’s riveting direction turns a story about something as boring as newspapers into a high-stakes character driven thrill ride.

The Post is a story that is very timely. The press is regularly attacked and the president is repeating history by keeping journalistic outlets from reporting within the grounds of the White House. The Post is timely and brings home the point, sometimes like a hammer to the head, though it always works and it always feels important. The heavy symbolism may be blunt, but that’s because it needs to be.

 

‘Life Itself’ Capsule Review

Casey Campbell Leave a comment

By Casey Campbell

Life Itself is an honest and poignant portrayal of Roger Ebert living “the movie of [his] life.” A documentary based on Ebert’s own memoir of the same name, Life Itself is equal parts funny and hopeful, while also being heartbreaking and solemn. It meditates on what success means, and how love can fill a void you always knew you had, but never knew how to fill. But most of all, it told the story of a man’s life, and how he made the most of it despite illness and handicap. It never expounds on the notion of “life itself” or what that even means, but I think there’s a beauty in that. Life is just that, life. What you do with it is up to you, and Ebert lived his life to the fullest. It wasn’t easy watching my hero slowly die, but the film delivered a substantial look into the man’s life, a life dedicated to movies, and it truly resonated.

“I was born inside the movie of my life… I don’t remember how I got into the movie, but it continues to entertain me.”

Buy the film: Life Itself

Buy the book: Life Itself: A Memoir