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12 Hour Shift (2020)
Dramatic tension let down by script full of cheap jokes.
A pitch black comedy with a deserved "hard R" rating, this is a short tale focusing on the underground organ trafficking biz that is probably just as dirty in real life as is portrayed here.
90 percent of the film takes place under the fluorescent lights of hospital corridors and storage rooms, so it's not necessary an upper.
The setting and the entire world-building is done well and is ripe for potential dramatic tension -- which is mostly killed off due to the broadly comic tone. I'd have preferred a lesser number of cheap jokes, and a bigger proportion of drama in this case.
There are more than enough black comedies out there, we need more black thrillers that do not cop out.
Fear of Rain (2021)
Great original premise, meh execution.
The film has a pretty amazing premise as it employs a case of pervasive schizophrenia (minus the multiple personalities type) as a principal plot point that drives everything forward. The heroine is featured as the world's most unreliable narrator, since neither she or we can ever be sure which of her perceptions are real or imagined. Is mom real? And dad? How about her creepy teacher?
That said, the film is way overlong at nearly 2 hours, and sometimes plays like a random high school movie, at its worst even like a 90210 episode. There's an excess of thankless teen banter and parental pep talk -- when there's a much more interesting plot to move forward instead.
Great premise, meh execution.
Outer Range (2022)
Yellowstone meets Fringe in derivative new show.
Josh Brolin plays the "brooding rancher / family man with a dark past" role that traditionally goes to Kevin Costner -- who is preoccupied with his own show, and would be perhaps just a tad too old for this one.
It's always a good sign when a series opens with a feature-length pilot: it indicates that the show has substance and much to say. Outer Range does NOT open with a feature-length pilot, and even with its relatively short running time it takes its sweet time to get things moving. We get stagey monologues and staring contests which seldom have place in the initial episodes of a new show.
My hunch tells me that the show will develop into a moderately original cross between Yellowstone and Fringe. It benefits greatly from Brolin's brooding brand of charm, but it needs tighter writing than what we've seen thus far.
5/10 on the strength of the first few episodes.
Antlers (2021)
Great horror world-building let down by autopilot script.
Pitch dark from minute 1 to the last, this is one of those rural tales featuring few characters that live in mostly drab rust belt type environments covered in sticky mud, with skies that seem to be overcast all the time. I normally love films like that because they're forced to be character-based and forced to have good stories -- since the milieu and scenery themselves are nothing to write home about. "Fargo" and "A simple plan" are perfect examples of this subgenre.
Antlers does deliver on the character bit: its minimalistic approach only allows 3 or 4 well-rounded folks to come to the forefront. The haunted kid and his almost equally troubled teacher seem to be present in almost all scenes.
When things finally pick up by the third act, the film switches to full-blooded horror tale, and things go a little trite, which might explain poor reviews.
I for one have enjoyed the worldbuilding, the mood, the sense of palpable dread, and how we gain a fairly deep insight into the personal lives of key characters.
Pleasure (2021)
Euro arthouse meets LA porn scene
Contrary to what a number of reviewers enthuse about this film, there is nothing "revolutionary" about it as far as edgy European filmmakers are concerned. In fact, the likes of Paul Verhoeven, Gaspard Noe and Ulrich Seidl did much of the heavy lifting several years before, in terms of explicit and frank cinema-verite material.
That said, this is a compelling, carefully researched slice-of-life movie with a central performance for the ages, and it's coming from perfect newcomer Sofia Kappel. With a less game actress, this could have been just another "Showgirls".
The director's insistence on sticking to crushing realism means that there's a complete lack of Hollywood moments, twists and turns, and no artificial tension -- which would admittedly make the whole affair an easier watch. It's never boring, but there's a distinct documentarist feel to everything, which does kill any budding drama.
Make no mistake, this is a European art movie, transplanted to the LA p*rn scene.
1BR (2019)
Quirky indie chiller that delivers.
This is a consistently well done feature debut from fairly accomplished short film director David Marmor. It's a "small" movie, meaning it mostly takes place in confined places between 4 walls, and with a small cast with only a handful of principals.
I liked how the lonesome heroine, present in almost all scenes start to finish, is slowly built up through a long array of scene snippets, so that by the time s**t absolutely hits the fan we have grown attached to her.
I'd label this a slow-burn domestic thriller, not really horror, though it seemed to have been advertised as such. It's built from old worn panels, you'll recognize ideas and elements from several other films. Still, Marmor shuffles these elements in a way that it all seems fairly quirky and unpredictable enough for this jaded moviegoer that I can recommend it. A low-budget indie chiller, not more or less.
A Field in England (2013)
Barely any meat on this period dramedy
This is a sort of arthouse period dramedy, with mild psychological thriller elements and an all-male cast. It slightly helps if you have a historical interest in the Cromwell era where it is cast, and perhaps if you like early Jim Jarmusch and similar slow-burning "quirky" stuff.
I went in with minimal expectations and was still disappointed. There is barely any story, we are mostly exposed to half a dozen brutish men who hate each others' guts and trade insults throughout the running time. This part sometimes gets surprisingly edgy and even graphic, which does enliven things a little. Not enough though.
I like slow films, period films, dramedies, all-male casts, and any combination of these if it's done right. This ain't it, and I cannot recommend it.
Manchester by the Sea (2016)
Meditation on an aftermath, testing our patience.
Very light on plot, this is a pensive, painstaking contemplation on the everyday life of a youngish father who went through an unspeakable tragedy -- caused more or less by his own momentary carelessness -- and who is a few years later exposed to another harrowing event, the sudden loss of his only brother.
The writer-director wallows in these events, and especially in their aftermath, for some 130 minutes, which is a lot to ask. Affleck is great as usual, and he needs to be, since he's onscreen for some 90 percent of the running time. But his nephew and almost everyone else present is way less interesting -- yet the film asks us to care for them deeply and sit through all their problems and pensive dialogues.
I do get some of the hype around this film, since it can be interpreted as an effective meditation on the aftermath of a huge family tragedy, and then some. But I think it's much too long and slow for its own good. Especially since it insists on staying light on plotting.
The Nest (2020)
Dark drama of good caliber.
This is a high-brow, high-concept domestic drama, reveling in subtleties, slow-burn character development and well-crafted conversations. It is not a "Jude Law thriller", as many seemed to expect and be disappointed. It is dark, particularly in its second half, but it's not neonoir-dark, it's drama dark. The script delves unexpectedly deep into the psyche of the main character, and Law is game and doing great work.
We need to have some inkling about the genre of the film we sit down to watch, so that we don't go on writing misguided and unfair reviews on it.
This is prime stuff, but you have to be in the mood for a slow and demanding family drama.
The Passenger (2023)
Powerful premise and first half, meh ending.
We've all seen Kyle Gallner in many small films, but I didn't see it in him that he can carry all the weight of a tense thriller, especially as a menacing antihero. He's good, and so is his titular passenger Johnny Berchtold.
The director does a good job keeping up the tension till the end when he really has no more than a paper-thin plot to work with.
Then the script drops the ball with a phoned-in, too-neat ending set in a diner that belongs in a lesser movie. And there's an even more meh epilogue afterwards to tie everything up, and try to see us out with a smile on our face.
I was ready to give at least 7 stars till the tacky diner scene, and I was down to 6 stars by the feelgood epilogue.
I'll watch further films by Carter Smith who I think is a gifted director, but this one could have been more.
Come True (2020)
Good science horror material, botched
There's a haunting and intriguing 85 minute horror film buried in this overlong, slow and sprawling mess. Writer-director Burns is onto some good material here, with traces of 80's Cronenberg and Carpenter, then masters of mysterious "science horror".
Here, Burns has clearly fallen in love with his own material, so every single scene is drawn out, making everything feel pensive, meditative and just way too slow.
The meat that is in the script could have been processed by a tight, fast-paced horror drama, and 2 years down the line we could be talking about a new Canadian classic. But the coolest thing about this title is its poster art.
Candyman (2021)
12 years a Candyman
This supposed sequel to the 1992 original seems much more interested in criticizing the flamboyant & toxic Chicago art scene AND delivering a social commentary on rampant racism in the same area, old and contemporary. The pic delivers a bunch of valid points on both counts, but the obvious side effect of this is that it makes the film feel mostly like an art scene dramedy AND an anti-segregation drama.
Of course, these are much more important topics than a fictional boogeyman terrorizing Cabrini-Green -- something that writer-producer Jordan Peele obviously knows well. Yet hijacking a horror franchise for social commentary, however topical, feels a little deceptive and disappointing from an audience POV.
Even the very Candyman mythos is employed here as a means to make human rights points, so the acute horror elements are diluted and sidelined, not to mention attenuated throughout the plot.
The pitch dark past of the US, a history of institutionalized slavery, abuse and lynch mobs and burnings, does need to be further dissected and exposed in film and art. Jordan Peele himself has been doing his part in this, and his stuff is commendable. Except this one: even if the original Candyman had a strong anti-racist message at its core, it was never sold as a sociopolitical drama, but as a horror film, and a skillful one too.
The Black Phone (2021)
Stephen King's son does dad
This film plays like a young indie filmmaker trying to imitate Stephen King's stuff. Yes, I know how the base short story is actually deeply connected to King, since it was written by his son. The pic has an art movie vibe, way too slow for effective horror, and a paper thin plot that involves a child kidnapper and his final victim overpowering him in his basement.
Ethan Hawke carries every pound of the film on his back, something he's forced to do since the teenage actors are nothing to write home about.
For an effective King-like horror film, you'll wanna (re)watch It and Doctor Sleep instead of this drag.
Watcher (2022)
Less is more
This is a subtle, minimalistic domestic thriller that eats, breathes and sleeps the golden rule, "less is more". It was a masterstroke to remove this plot from the US and transplant it to a little-seen Eastern European urban locale. Central Bucharest acts like an additional character actor, and it's a gift that keeps giving to the film in terms of mood, atmosphere, and a weirdly enchanting quality that is decidedly non-American.
As a debut from a young director, Watcher is not a major revelation, but it's an expertly done, restrained Hitchcockian chamber drama.
Streets (1990)
Obscure drama worth seeing for one reason
And that one reason is Applegate's lead performance, of all things. This film is mostly typical late 80's Cali-based dramatic thriller fare, with its requisite abusive cops, rundown underpasses and throwaway dialogue.
Or is it? Christina Applegate sticks out like a sore thumb with her deeply poignant performance as the teenage hooker lead. She has at least one memorable monologue detailing how she grew up in motel bathrooms all over town while her hooker mom conducted biz with her clients next room.
She and her character honestly belong in a better film. Unfortunately, that film never materialized.