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Addie and the Lightning Bugs (2022)
A well-produced short that leaves you a bit wanting.
There was a lot of care and likely money put into Addie and the Lightning Bugs. The cinematography, the acting and the entire production are all topnotch. Sadly, the narrative voice feels like a copy of a copy of a copy. We've seen this sort of magical children's story a thousand times.
Addie (Cailey Fleming) finds out she is moving to a new city. Faces with leaving behind the memories of her deceased brother, she tries to capture the spirit of his life to bring with her.
Despite being sweetly told, by time we get the conclusion, we can't help but have wanted a more satisfying conclusion. As the one we get just sort of arrives with little dramatical fireworks.
Antlers (2021)
Great direction can't overcome limp script!
Antlers follows a small Oregon town into its descent into madness. After a clumsy opening featuring an attack on a meth cooker and his son within abandoned coal mines, we meet our heroine, played by Keri Russel. She's a teacher with a haunted past worst than any monsters. We are quickly and visually shown she is an alcoholic in one of Cooper's highlights as a director. A woman goes into a store to buy something. She looks a the bottles of alcohol. The point comes across. Who needs pesky expository dialogue to show this?
Antlers biggest problem is we have no strong through-line. Her story is intriguing and it should have been fleshed out. Instead, we follow one of her students. The older son of the meth cooker in the opening scene. He's a strange boy who gets picked on. It is a horror movie after all. This film could have also been about him and been interesting. We follow him home to see he is feeding roadkill to something locked up in the closet. I wouldn't consider this a spoiler as it is revealed early on, but if you don't want to know skip to the next paragraph. Last chance. Move ahead. It's his father and brother. Both of them seem to be infected with some sickness turning them into monsters.
I wonder if the original screenplay focused more on the boy and got cut down in the film's edit. It's the more interesting story. It just needed fleshing out. Unfortunately, the young actor who plays him isn't up to the task. Which could explain a lot of problems with the film. This is of course just speculation.
Whatever the case, the script as seen on screen is the problem. We never get to follow the interesting threads long enough to become enamored in the story. By the time we get to the climax, we just don't care enough to feel the final blows.
I like Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart, Out of the Furnace, Black Mass). He has a great eye. Every shot and staging feels completely natural. But here he finally comes up with a dud after a career-high with the under-seen Hostiles. While he directs the hell out of Antlers, the script has little intrigue and is filled with dull characters.
The Suicide Squad (2021)
Gunn goes for it all!
After an opening joke stolen from Deadpool 2 falls flat on its face, director James Gunn throws every trick he has at the screen in hopes that something will stick. Unfortunately, it's a clinging feeling of utter indifference. For a director who gets off on being subversive, it's a shock at how predictable everything is with the only shocks coming from when a joke actually lands. Perhaps the most subversive thing about The Suicide Squad is when Gunn attempts to manipulate the audience into caring about any of these characters. It's almost as offensive as Taika Waititi's attempt at playing a Portuguese man.
Bait (2019)
Kitschy style can't save the narrative from drowning.
I just watched Bait. A physically painful watch with all the scratches, strobes, and artifacts. To add insult to injury (I know), it's a painfully bad movie that substitutes aesthetics for narrative. I hate saying this and reading it in other reviews, but it truly feels like a student film.
The Hunt (2020)
Conservative... liberal... who cares when they are all idiots?
The makers of The Hunt most feel prophetic. The pre-release uproar over it could serve as a companion piece. Some of the conservatives who prejudged this one might have a hard time swallowing the message of this film as its theme mirrors such ignorance (truly a lack of knowledge; it isn't a jab) among conservatives and liberals alike. Which is a shame bc they probably would have enjoyed seeing the jabs themselves and liberals. The latter group gets the brunt of the caricatures and satire, but it's pretty evenhanded.
As for the film itself, well, it's a mixed bag. The script and its star are the real highlights here. I won't mention the latter anymore bc part of the fun is not knowing who the protagonist is. The only major problem of the film is the directing. It almost feels like two different movies. The first half is clumsy and rarely hits any of the marks it is going for. Thankfully, the script and some of the actors can get us through this part. Then halfway through something magical happens. We get a scene that is just three actors sitting in chairs talking. And all of sudden the film seems to know what it is. A coherent tone and visual style shine through to the end. And to top it off we are treated to one of the best female on female fights since Kill Bill.
All it all, it's good fun that takes swipes as where we are as a society. And it's much better than all the low scores from the conservative hit squad.
The Lighthouse (2019)
Adrift at Sea
And the new reigning champ of biggest disappointment of the year goes to... The Lighthouse. The tall-tale about two boring men who are set out to spend four weeks stuck together in a lighthouse. End of plot summary. Even The Green Goblin and Batman can't propel this beyond Eggers' weak material, and boy do they try. On the one hand, gone are all the cheesy supernatural elements. Mostly anyway. Unfortunately, he also took out the tense drama of The Witch as well. In its place are cliche metaphors and a predictable conclusion set to drunken rants and tense music. Such tense music. If they handout out awards for scores that carried films, this would surely win it.
I shouldn't be so hard on this one. This is the sort of film that people just getting into art films will surly declare a masterpiece. It's thoughtful pace, beautiful black and white cinematography, and weirdness will surely be the highlight of the year for many young cinephiles. Sadly, I was just checking my watch every ten minutes.
Good Time (2017)
A showcase for Robert Pattinson
A decent film filled with some fine acting from Pattinson and Safdie. This is not helped by a script that goes nowhere and a soundtrack that just doesn't fit. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for non-conventional scripts, but unfortunately, the film is almost entirely made up of close-ups which doesn't do much in terms of compelling storytelling. It just feels like a slice of life put on screen. Which is fine. It's just not as interesting as having a point of view.
The Big Country (1958)
An Almost Great Movie
This movie is filled with wonderful stars doing some of their best work. The story is wonderfully tragic. The music is great though it sounds oddly familiar to me. My only issue is a lot of the scenes have these awkward beats to them. It's as if they didn't know where to end them. For instance, at the end, immediately after a tragic murder, our two main characters just look on awkwardly for a minute before deciding to get on their horses and leave. But other it's definitely worth a watch.
The New World (2005)
The New World is cinema at its Best!
From the opening scene you know your in for something special. The New World will split audiences for sure. It either sucks you in or it doesn't. And it doesn't have to with the intelligence of the audience as you can tell from my bad grammar. It's the type of film you either feel every blade of grass swaying in the wind or you feel as if your watching paint grow. I for one came out smiling. I just couldn't stop. It hit me that hard. The Wagner piece and the visuals intertwine into something amazing and if that doesn't get you emotional i don't know what will. The acting, editing, and cinematography are all top notch. Definitely in my top ten list of all time.