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The Love Witch (2016)
Sumptuous and bold
There are some excellent reviews on here, so i am only going to try and add to them and not repeat, nor will I go over the plot.
To the casual viewer, the first impression may be that they are watching an old film, this is quite deliberate; the lighting, the colours, the make-up, all hark back to the 60s and 70s. Then someone pulls out a mobile phone or you notice that Trish is driving a modern BMW. The dissonance is striking and adds to the undercurrent of unease.
The acting is very deliberate, much as it is in Twin Peaks; the subtext is not as convoluted as it is there, but it adds to the old-fashioned texture. Unfortunately, this causes a major miss-step when you can't tell if the acting is bad or if that's the way they were told to behave; I'm looking at you, crowd scene in the strip-club. Which reminds me, there is nudity in the film; really not sure why some people are making a bit deal about it, it's pretty innocuous.
The overall theme is suffocating love, embodied in the glamorous form of Samantha Robinson, pitch-perfect as the horribly self-involved witch of the title, living in her insane fantasy life. She is ably supported in this by all the main actors and the director herself, who created the costumes, the amazing rug, the spell book and so much of the background.
Maybe 2 hours is a little too long, but I really enjoyed this film and look forward to more from this director.
Morgan (2016)
Sets the scene well, but then fades away
The story is simple; scientific experiment goes wrong, see "Splice", "Ex Machina", "Frankenstein" et al.
The acting is as good as the script allows, but Kate Mara is particularly badly served. At one point she even says, "Let me do my job!", and then proceeds to do it very badly indeed. Hunting in a forest with hundreds of hiding places and a scoped rifle, she stands behind a tree and is immediately spotted by her prey.
Not sure why Michelle Yeoh turned up, the script seemed to want a mother figure for Morgan and Toby Jones (wasted) was not it. I think she gets about five lines of dialogue, but several paragraphs of exposition.
Everyone else is a bit pathetic; the story tries to set up the family vibe that Morgan was brought up into, but there are too many characters to give them all an adequate back-story and it ends up being confused.
The one light is Ana Taylor-Joy as Morgan. Her otherworldly beauty fits the part well, her expressive face conveys every emotion and she sells the role perfectly.
The direction is quite flat, there are no surprises in shot composition (apart from a weird SteadyCam shot in the forest, which wasn't quite sure where it was pointing). From not enough cuts in the slow sections, there are too many in the fight scenes; longer takes would make them feel more brutal and real.
And why does this film have so many famous people playing minor roles: Brian Cox, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Toby Jones, Michelle Yeoh, Paul Giamatti(brief appearance, but effective)? Did the director call in a huge bunch of favours? Give unknowns a chance, might have been cheaper too.
"Ex Machina" shows what you can do in a closed environment, but this just feels like a wasted opportunity, with many plot-holes. If she is being bred as a weapon, who is giving her the training she will need; her "family" is far too insipid for that. If she has telepathic skills and can mind-read names and biographical details, that would help her massively in a fight, but she doesn't use them.
The ending is nice and tidy, but would have benefited from being more obtuse and less pat.
Ultimately this film doesn't know what it wants to be, horror or SF, and ends up being neither, which is a shame.
Galaxy of Terror (1981)
Trashy, over-acted, hysterical, cheap slice of 80s SF
I love watching bad 80s science-fiction and this fits the bill. The special effects are shoddy, even for the time; the actors all take turns at chewing the scenery, apart from Robert Englund who has a natural charm throughout the film.
The story is that a ship with a crew entirely chosen by the Master (whose head glows bright red for no accountable reason), have been sent to rescue the crew from another ship that has crashed on a remote planet. Each one is introduced with a sketchy characterisation which is pretty much all the background you get; there's the weirdly manic, driven captain (with terrible ageing make-up), the commander who is obviously "too old for this s**t", the sullen leader who hates the jovial moustache man, the pretty psychic the moustache loves, the buxom blonde, the cook with secrets, the semi-mute who carries some plastic throwing stars, the coward, the cheery tech guy.
The moment they land and investigate the crashed ship, things start to go wrong. They also do odd things, like incinerating the bodies in the crashed ship or splitting up for no good reason which leads to the death of the coward. The ones left behind in the ship fare no better; the Captain begins to hallucinate she is facing an old enemy from a previous disaster where she was the only survivor. After firing the ships weaponry, she picks up an enormous gun and dies in a completely unexplained way.
At this point, the plot and the character motivations go out of the window and everybody turns their acting up to 11; the mute is killed by his own plastic stars and the poor blonde is raped to death by a giant slimy maggot, in a scene that is as uncomfortable to watch as it must have been to act.
After killing almost everyone else, the plot then takes a metaphysical left turn which would have been a masterstroke had it not been setup so badly at the beginning and rushed at the end.
Try this film as a basis for a drinking game (a shot every time someone does something really stupid or a character dies or the dialogue makes you cringe) and you'll have a great, if rather drunk, time.
Unfriended (2014)
An unusual horror take on online bullying
As you may have gathered, this is a tale told only through a computer screen, this limits how the action can be portrayed and would have been awful to watch in a cinema. Also, do not watch this on a small screen, you need to be able to read the messages, without them the film will make no sense.
I watched it late at night at home on a big TV with the lights out and that worked. I had to keep watching to see what the protagonist was typing, but not just that, what she didn't type and how she moved around the screen were just as informative.
Right at the beginning, Blaire (the main protagonist) is watching a video of her friend's public humiliation and the public suicide that followed.
The story is told through an online video chat between several friends that is gate-crashed by an unknown participant. Gradually, we learn more about each friend and the tension ratchets up nicely.
The acting is believable and works in the context, the computer interactions were logical and well constructed. There are some flaws, but I was too engrossed to nit-pick. There is little in the way of music and the sound effects were mainly from the computer.
I wouldn't say I found it scary, but it was certainly creepy. It also highlighted the cyberbullying trend and says a lot about how young people interact now. In a few years, it will look as dated as "Hackers" does now, but it's worth 83 minutes of your time.
Jupiter Ascending (2015)
A shallow, but beautiful movie
I can't review this movie without spoilers, so be warned.
I actually enjoyed this film, my criticisms below are because I felt it was a missed opportunity to make a truly stunning film.
Young Jupiter Jones is working as a cleaner with her mother; she gets up horribly early, works many hours and is presumably paid a pittance. Her astronomy-obsessed father died before she was born, hence her unusual name. Suddenly, by virtue of having the same DNA structure as a deceased member of an immensely rich family she is suddenly entitled to own the Earth. This family owns a massive industry that seeds planets with humanity, then farms them for a life-extending elixir. And by farm, I mean they kill everybody on the planet to extract this liquid gloop. Having found out about her, none of the remaining members of the Abraxas family are very keen on her. They want her inheritance, whether by marriage, by legal instrument or by death.
Now immediately, you can see some problems with this story; the likelihood of there being a DNA match is very very low, but not zero. Also, you have to have found that DNA match, making it even more unlikely. And finally, you have to have made a provision in your will for this "Recurrence". What happens if they are both alive at the same time? Members of this family have been alive for millennia, what would they do? There is a policing force called the Aegis, but they don't seem to have a problem with the mass genocides that the Abraxas family commit on a regular basis; does that mean that murder is no longer a crime? Given that the DNA can match, the people they murder are the same as them, but it's okay because they run it as a business? That whole plot segment left me deeply uncomfortable, especially when some of the family take a stroll on a recently 'harvested' planet. "I understand they feel no pain", one says as they walk through the empty streets of a highly advanced city.
We also meet Splices, people who have been genetically modified with animal or insect genes. Caine is part dog, Stinger is part bee. One character is obviously part rodent, some others are basically lizards with wings and a bad attitude. This seems a bit throwaway, maybe other Splices are around, but they're not introduced as such.
There are splashes of humour, mainly from her extended Russian family, but also from her conversations with Caine; when she isn't swooning all over him (okay it's Channing Tatum, but still...). In the main, the film is slightly too serious for it's own good; you need to lighten the mood, so that when the dark comes you can feel the fear and emotional change.
But what really stands out are the worlds the Wachowskis have created. The ships are amazing, the environments stunning; the backgrounds, especially in and around Jupiter, are often breathtakingly beautiful. The stunts are mostly superb, although they play the 'last-minute-rescue' card one too many times. They even make Chicago look absolutely gorgeous at night; their PR department should make some of their shots into postcards, although maybe not the bits when they blow up large chunks of the transport network.
The actors are good; you believe in the burgeoning relationship between Jupiter and Caine and the family members are played as utterly spoilt brats. Eddie Redmayne affects a strange, languorous, husky tone, with an undertone of menace and a dash of crazy.
The ending leaves many questions unanswered, they must have written it with a sequel in mind. It may never get that follow-up, which would be a shame; I would love to revisit this world, but the box-office barely covered production costs. Unlike the Matrix trilogy, where the world was consistent and coherent, where actions had logical reactions and where the resolution was unavoidable (if a bit of a downer), this world has too many plot-holes and inconsistencies. I suspect they took the idea of Cinderella (or the Wizard of Oz) and inflated the structure until it could not sustain itself. There is only so much suspension of disbelief an audience can take.
Watch this for the spectacle, don't think too deeply about the plot and you will have a good time.
Predestination (2014)
A clever, well-acted compact sf movie
This is a lovely little surprise of a movie; essentially a two-hander between Ethan Hawke and Sarah Snook, it uses the small budget it has to maximum effect and tells a complicated tale very well.
I can't say anything about the story without revealing plot points, other than it involves time-travel.
Now, if you read a lot of science-fiction, you may well have read the story on which this is based; watch this anyway to see how the film-makers have managed to take a 9-page short and made a proper science-fiction tale that doesn't pretend to be anything else, unlike other films that run a mile from being labelled 'genre' (looking at you, 'Solaris'[2002]).
Both the leads are excellent in this, the design is exemplary and the effects are minimal, but effective.
The mark of a good film is how much you talk about it afterwards, I want to sit down with my friends to watch it again :-)
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)
A film that gets worse with age
When this film was released, it used the best available CGI. The 'special' effects are now out-matched by modern consoles, so the film has to stand on it's plot and acting.
Well, the plot is a by-the-numbers Saturday afternoon B-movie, full of dastardly enemies, evil robots, stoic heroes and damsels, some of whom are even in distress. The problem with the plotting is that sometimes the decisions that characters make are so astonishingly stupid, you want to scream; for example, Polly hides two vials in her pocket that she gets from a dying scientist. Why, what is she going to do with them? She's a reporter, not a biologist.
But that is nothing compared to the acting. Jude Law does a good dashing hero, Angelina Jolie has an excellent cameo, but the real fly in the ointment is Gwyneth Paltrow, whose acting seems to consist of being shrill and irritating, although, to be fair, she is not best served by the execrable lines she's been given. Sadly, the effect is that you end up utterly disliking her character. And there is no sexual tension between the leads at all. Michael Gambon is wasted, but in general, you feel that all the actors had a really hard time in their virtual environment, wildly overplaying everything.
Don't expect too much, definitely don't analyse the plot and you may enjoy it.
The Host (2013)
Overly long, slow, teen romance thinly disguised as sci-fi
The word ponderous could have been made just to describe this film. The trailer was obviously designed to sucker people into thinking there would be some action in this movie, but it contains ALL the action.
Briefly, aliens have taken over the Earth by taking humans over and using their bodies as hosts. You don't see this, the action begins when the Earth is almost completely under their control. Inhabited humans have shiny eyes, making rogue humans fairly easy to detect. The parts of Earth we see (not much) look peaceful and quiet, people have shiny cars and shiny clothes; it is almost a Utopia, but it does look very dull.
This is an interesting setup and could have lead to a discourse about suppression or about Utopia versus Dystopia or a big shoot-em-up between the aliens and the rogue humans. Sadly, it heads down the tedious path of 'teen romance conquers all'.
This means everyone is beautiful, apart from 'old' people, who are either grizzled or condescendingly maternal. It means an awful lot of kissing, which would be fine if there was any sort of chemistry between the leads, but there isn't. It also means that the dialogue is just bloody terrible, clichéd, hammy and sometimes just ludicrous.
There is an internal conflict going on between the main human lead (Saoirse Ronan) and the parasitic alien inside her, that leads to some of the painful dialogue as she wanders around talking to herself. This does not make for riveting viewing, even when she crashes her car as a result of a disagreement.
In terms of science fiction, there are a few hints of future tech, such as the misting spray that can cure deep wounds and an odd light network that is so important, it has no security and rogue humans can just drive in and play with it. The aliens obviously like shiny metal, even their helicopters look as polished as their cars, but they don't seem to have improved the underlying technology.
The film is far too long, full of slow takes that choke atmosphere from the film, it could have easily lost 30 minutes and been the better for it. The only reason this gets 3 stars are the leads, Ms Ronan, William Hurt (who elevates anything he's in) and Diane Kruger, who gets the thankless role of the Seeker and makes it better than the words she's given to say. The other male leads are pretty much interchangeable, sorry.
If you are a teenager this may appeal, if you are over the age of twenty, steer well away.
Nemesis (1992)
Poor Blade Runner/Robocop/Terminator hybrid
The first thing that strikes you about this badly-made 'futuristic' movie is that the acting is appalling, even the normally reliable Brion James has a ludicrous cod-German accent. Sadly, the lead actor has the charisma of a sack of potatoes, not helped by the terrible dialogue he's made to utter, most of which consists of swearing.
There are many set-pieces, normally involving large quantities of ammunition at close quarters, most of which misses the target. But for all the number of times they tell him he's a brilliant hit-man, he keeps getting caught very easily.
The plot, what there is of it, only appears complicated because it is normally relayed by people shouting it at each other; when it finally becomes clear, you realise how ludicrous and pointless it all was.
Oh, and the special effects are not.