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Lords of Chaos (2018)
Better than I expected, but...
There were unfortunately many flaws I struggled to accept. For starters the script is very inconsistent, at times coming off as down right cringy. Perhaps the director finds the genre and people involved cringy and that was why it came out that way, but it wasn't so much the characters (except Varg), it was more the acting and execution of badly written dialogue. The character Varg feels completely different than the real guy, for example in appearance, his entire demeanor, and I swear like four different scenes were just him saying "aye lets burn a church", like some crack addict that really needs his fix. They tried really hard to also portray Euronymous as a sympathetic character, and truly being murdered and all in itself makes him a fairly sympathetic character anyway. Just seeing an autopsy photo with his hair cut, didn't mean the guy cut it before the murder, or that he wanted out but mean ol Varg wouldn't let that happen. It's a disservice to the actual man who lived for the genre. They also very much downplayed the death threat Varg had recieved, and it's a long way to travel all the way from Bergen to Oslo, to kill a man who you are not threatened by. Blackthorn went as far as to tell Varg, "yeah man this death threat thing was said, but I don't think he's serious". Emory Cohen was just a very terrible casting choice for Varg, and i feel bad because his acting may have been a lot better if he had a better character and script to work with, but he just in no way shape or form felt like Varg Vikernes throughout the film. Even his goofy cackle just always comes off as hilariously bad. He was instructed to be a stuttering Stanley throughout the film with very little confidence, and a whole lot to prove, and it just felt wrong. Also after burning the churches he becomes this hero that's just sexing women left and right, and it again seemed odd for his character. Anne Marrit was a pointless, and never existed (so not much else to say about her). Dead hated cats but didn't hang them on his roof as an ornament of sorts. I also hated how little music from Mayhem made it in, how no Burzum made it in (as expected), how the name's Darkthrone, and Emperor never made even though Fenriz (who I still can't tell where or who he is in the film, but he's in the credits), and Faust appear in the film. It makes so little of them that they seem to be mere posse members to Mayhem and Burzum, which I just found odd. Blackthorns credit was seriously just put as "Varg's Driver", which was lazy as well.
Now as for what they've done well! Casting Rory Culkin and Euronymous seemed like a terrible decision, but it wasn't, he absolutely nailed that role, and I feel bad that the movie wasn't great because his performance absolutely was. The church burnings themselves use real 1/3rd and half scale replicas that looked amazing as they burned to the ground, very realistic stuff, and so glad they didn't use CGI for that. The stabbing scenes and Dead's suicide are some of the most visceral scenes of violence and death that I've seen in film, and I give them mad props for that. They also went through a lot to make sure it truly felt like it took place in 1987-1993, with all the bands, shirts, and cars fitting seamlessly to make it feel like an early 90's Norway, but unfortunately the characters accents work against that.
In 2009 I had written a petition to stop production on this film, it disappeared and I was fine with that. I didn't see purpose as to why this film needed made, especially as it was advertised, "A Psychological Teen Thriller". What we got was better than I expected however it's full of assumptions and had some odd tone inconsistencies that prevented me from enjoying this more. I have been a fairly passionate black metal fan for almost two decades, so seeing a film made about it is quite odd, and it's unfortunate that it wasn't done by somebody who truly wanted to tell the story as it was, and carefully casted according to the actual characters. It's obvious Jonas cares little for the genre as he was merely a session drummer for Bathory for less than a year, and appears to hold some contempt for the genre and characters the story is about.
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Der Todesking (1990)
Some heavy subject matter with an ambiguous message.
So Der Todesking is not the most feel good film of all time, as it's subject matter is suicide, loneliness, depression, and also redemption in the absolute worst ways. It is a film about people who get the short end of the stick in life and how people at their worst can take control of their miserable lives through suicide, thus becoming Der TodesKing (or King of Death). The King of Death supposedly exists within all minds and can manifest when we are at our worst, driving suicidal thoughts into our minds. The film is broken up into 7 days following different people who are struggling to cope with existence in a world they view as empty. Thursday in particular was a strange sequence of just a German bridge and the camera floating all the way over it. While the camera is floating over the bridge we see names flashing on the screen, ages, and occupations, implying they are people who jumped from this bridge today. Between scenes a body is shown being devoured by bugs until over the span of the film it is eaten to almost it's entirety, and all while the film's score plays (nice score but wish it had more music). The film attempts to explain the concept of suicide as a radical escape from harsh reality, and a way of taking revenge against society for it's progressiveness that tends to leave so many behind. When left behind those who tend to take their own life know for but a moment that they will not be ignored if only for the moment, and in spite remind everybody of the emptiness in their existence that others may have contributed to.
Overall being a Jorg Buttgereit (Nekromantik 1 & 2, and Schramm) film, I couldn't help but be surprised the film wasn't more exploitive like his past works. He says the film is supposed to be anti-suicide, but nobody in the film really has anything good happening in life. With that being said those who submit to their urges always appear in absolute agony, and therefore I can't claim it glorifies it in any way either. So I guess it's an ambiguous somewhat avante garde take on some very heavy subject matter. I don't hate it, but I wasn't overly entertained either, which I'm sure was the point. Maybe in some ways it shows the agonies in our life as impermanent, where as the ending of that life as an excruciating and sad task which in the end still brings no happiness. I guess I'd probably give it a 6/10 for it's attempt and sometimes successes at handling the controversial subject matter. Sometimes it was a beautiful film, but equally it was a drag at points.
Bird Box (2018)
Why so much hype?
Don't really get the hype for Bird Box. By the end, I felt it belonged in a kitty Litter Box. There's an idea for the sequel, the entities are actually ghost cats, and the world is their litter box. But in all seriousness, it wasn't quite that bad, just so many unexplained things, so many illogical actions, so many plans that absolutely would not work the way they did, lots of deus ex machina (just for the sake of convenience), and really no terribly likable characters. But some of it was shot pretty well, the atmosphere was good at times, and the acting was pretty good, when crap lines like, "Make the end of the world great again", aren't being shouted obnoxiously. Way to be a product of the times, and surely to be forgotten in no time. The more I think about it and try to make sense of all the nonsense the more I realize how little I enjoyed it, 5/10. Woulda been better as a 30 minute short film with less pointless characters, and less filler dialogue.
Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017)
When a Jedi makes a long distance phone call he runs out of minutes?
Inside joke, that will be really funny to you after viewing the film. Or you'll hate me for it, and all the many things they did wrong with Star Wars. For starters the film still fails to establish Kylo Ren as a monumental threat, his character simply seems to devolve throughout the film, and further shows what a whiny child he is. Mark Hamill's acting is awesome as expected, but the writing for his character leaves a lot to be wanted, especially towards the end. Ray remains unlikable although her acting seems to have improved a lot from the 7th entry (Open eyes wide... all the time... Now this is acting!). I struggled to like any of the characters throughout the film, and any scenes with significant impact were greatly soiled by all the misplaced humor throughout the film. When the film ended I walked out in awe at what the film could have been, and what a great missed opportunity it was. The film could be worse sure, but it fails to be a decent Star Wars film, and with the sub-par writing it failed to even feed into my nostalgia, even with all the starpower of Mark Hammil throughout the film, it failed to do much with his character, and was overall a major disservice to its large and dedicated fanbase.
Dreaming Purple Neon (2016)
Gnarly movie, with a crazy amount of blood, gore, and nudity! What more could you horror fans want!
So I sat at the premier for this, knowing it was going to be a pretty gnarly film when it came to graphic content, however the plot was pretty damn well done as well. The acting was for the most part pretty excellent considering it was many of the casts first time ever acting, and you can tell people just had a very good time with it. I was surprised how much I ended up loving this film, and snagged a bluray the first chance I got (at the premier), and whenever you get a chance you should definitely check it out too. Lots of homage to 70's and 80's grindhouse horror flicks, awesome sets, crazy monster/demon designs, and a freakin rad soundtrack to top it all off. Thanks Todd Sheets, this was a great film!
Keep it up man!