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Reviews
Blood Punch (2014)
Wow! A shocking and totally unexpected low-budget masterpiece!
I had various friends and blogs recommend this movie to me, but I kept avoiding it, mostly because the title and poster made me certain that I would be getting just another brain-dead horror movie gore-fest. Boy, was I wrong.
What I got instead was one of the best low-budget indie movies that I've seen in years. I know, I know. It feels weird to be lumping those kind of lavish praises on a movie like this, but what can I say? This movie took a somewhat bitter and skeptical viewer like me and converted me into a believer with an incredibly ambitious and clever script, three really solid performances from the lead actors, and a fun sense of style that somehow made the movie feel both classic and modern at the same time.
I really don't want to give away anything specific when it comes to the plot and story. It's much better going into it cold and knowing as little as possible. It's a blend of film noir, horror, science fiction, and black comedy and yet somehow comes together almost perfectly, blending and juggling all these familiar genres into its' own incredibly unique and distinctive vision. I watch a lot of movies and often feel like I've seen it all and know where most stories are headed, but this is a movie that really keeps you on your toes. The script was always one step ahead of me and had me guessing right up until the very end.
In general, the look and production values are quite good, but you could definitely feel some of the movie's lack of budget and resources in some areas. But I found myself way too swept up in the story to ever really mind or care. And the three main leads, who are playing very familiar and almost cartoonish archetype characters, do an incredible job of making these characters come across as totally believable and real human beings.
This is an amazingly underrated and totally overlooked little movie. I highly recommend it.
Amy (2015)
Really strong and interesting doc--but also way depressing and dark...
Don't get me wrong. When I went into this, I knew that this documentary would be dealing with some dark material up to and including the subject's ultimately tragic death at such a young age.
But I guess I was expecting there to be another side of the story, where you would see glimpses of joy, moments of triumphs, or at least some exploration of Amy Winehouse's pure love of music. You can find some of that sprinkled around, but mostly this is just a dark story of misery and unhappiness from start to finish, so much so that it really becomes difficult to watch at times. But it's powerful and very moving stuff. You can't help but find yourself desperately wondering what, if anything, could have possibly been done to intervene and help save this amazingly talented young woman from being snatched away from this earth way too early. It also may make you think twice before laughing at and/or belittling the drug problems of famous celebrities. A movie like this reminds you that, despite being rich and famous, they are, at the end of the day, people just like you and me.
So I would recommend this movie, but know what you're getting into. This is not some celebration of Amy Winehouse's talent, music, or spirit. It is a deeply dark and depressing look into a lonely, lost, and doomed soul. Absolutely heart-wrenching.
Landmine Goes Click (2015)
More like two separate short films, this one doesn't quite come together...
There's a lot to like about this movie. The initial premise/idea seems exciting and interesting and it definitely has moments that are very interesting and effective, but the whole thing doesn't quite come together and, in the end, it all feels a bit disjointed and there's just as much bad as there is good.
Without giving too much away, this movie actually ends up feeling very much like two completely separate short films, both of which are interesting ideas, but both probably too thin to support a feature-length film on their own. The first part of the movie involves the story that is more featured in the title and poster. While it seems like an enticing premise to kick off a story, the twists that soon follow it seem completely ridiculous and make it hard to stay swept up in the story. The middle part of the movie goes on way too long and just seems to be killing time to pad what probably should have been a short film into something long enough that could lead into the last part of the movie. This last part of the movie plays more like a home invasion movie and serves a revenge story for the events that came before it, but really feels like a totally different movie.
There's some good stuff here. I thought the acting from the non-English speaking actors was great, but I found the performance of the three main leads to be pretty mediocre and not strong enough to carry a movie like this on their shoulders. There are some very effective ideas and notions, along with some moments that seem to have the faint hint of brilliance behind them. I really wanted to like this movie and would be interested in seeing what these filmmakers do next, but this one just didn't quite come together and work for me.
Tusk (2014)
I appreciate the audaciousness behind it, just wish the movie had been better...
Wow. I'm really torn on this one but, ultimately, can't really recommend it.
I applaud the ambition and general don't-give-a-F--- attitude that went into this movie and, at the beginning, I was really routing for it to emerge as a weird cult classic. Unfortunately, as the movie unfolded, I found that I wasn't really emotionally connected or hooked into any of the characters on screen and lost interest by the end.
I love what are often considered "weird" movies (David Lynch and early David Cronenberg spring to mind), but they only really work for me when all the bizarre WTF-edness is rooted in something that is human and relatable and "Tusk" never made that connection with me or really made me FEEL anything on a deeper emotional or psychological level.
It seemed to have something to say about modern media in the internet age, but that felt pretty superficial and totally on-the-nose. You can feel that weird and surreal movies "Eraserhead" or "The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, And Her Lover" have something genuine and profoundly human that they are trying to express, even when you can't quite decipher exactly what the f--- it is. At the end of the day, I never felt like "Tusk" had something to say or a point that made all the weirdness work and come together in a way that somehow felt right.
I appreciate how the movie tries to buck expectations and conventions, but unfortunately, this also really ends up working against it. The movie isn't funny enough to work as a comedy, it's not scary or suspenseful enough to work as a horror/thriller, and, like I said above, it lacks the emotional or psychological depth to stand out as a weird but brilliant cult classic. It really would have been amazing if the movie had managed to hit each and every one of those targets (and I give it credit for even trying), but it kind of ends up missing all of them instead.
Still, I appreciate the effort and would rather watch an interesting and ambitious failure like this than a lot of the tepid and familiar mainstream movies that are out there these days.
The Maze Runner (2014)
Not terrible, but exactly what it looks like: a pretty 'meh' and uninspired 'Hunger Games' wannabe...
This movie isn't shocking or terrifyingly bad. The premise is kind of interesting and the young cast does a pretty good job of selling the whole thing. The problem with this movie is that we'll never know how good it might have been because it exists purely as a desperate attempt to play catch up with the wildly successful 'Hunger Games' franchise and therefore lacks even the hint of any genuine creative spark, vision, or passion behind it.
By playing follow-the-leader and clinging so desperately to the whole 'Hunger Games' template/play book, 'The Maze Runner' is dead on arrival and never even seems to be trying to carve out an identity or vision of its' own. After the first few minutes, your eyes just kind of glaze over as you realize with dread that you're getting a pale imitation of a movie that wasn't very good to begin with. (NOTE: I haven't read either 'The Hunger Games' or 'Maze Runner' books, so I can't comment on either as adaptations, just going by the films here).
And please keep in mind, 'The Hunger Games' is pretty much a rip-off of the much better Japanese cult gem, 'Battle Royale,' but at least Hunger Games took that idea and did its own thing with it, giving the property a distinctive feel and vibe by successfully aiming it at the young adult 'Twilight' crowd. Even though I'm not a fan of the movies, I can appreciate that and give 'Hunger Games' at least some credit for pulling it off.
'The Maze Runner' isn't even ambitious or interesting enough to try to do that in any way, shape, or form. It's just very obviously going through the motions and I really believe that a viewer would find the movie totally bland and uninspired because of this, even if they had never seen or heard of 'The Hunger Games.' They just wouldn't know why.
The studio executives and creative teams behind movies like "The Maze Runner," "Divergent," and God-only-knows whatever other 'Hunger Games' facsimiles are coming down the pipe line really need to read up on their Ralph Waldo Emerson, because he said it best: "Imitation is suicide."
Miss Meadows (2014)
Great concept for a main character, but a pretty uninspired movie.
The idea of a saccharine sweet, Mary Poppins-esque school teacher leading a double life as a gun-toting vigilante is a great starting off point for a subversive black comedy.
Unfortunately, "Miss Manners" never gets very far past this strong basic idea. It's not funny enough to work as a black comedy, not interesting or dynamic enough to work as a straight character study/drama, not weird or brave enough to work as a David Lynchian suburban fable and not exciting, action-packed, or shocking enough to work as a cult/horror/fun/late-night/midnight madness type movie. It seems to be kind of aiming for all of those targets, but ends up hitting none of them. The result, despite the promising premise, is a very bland, vanilla, and ultimately pretty uninteresting movie.
Katie Holmes is perfectly fine in the leading role and seems to pull off this kind of character very well. The problem isn't her or her character but the fact that they really don't give her very much to do or really any interesting obstacles to face.
The story unfolds very predictably and we don't get any kind of dynamic examination of this main character beyond the reveal of her very cliché and completely expected back story.
It all feels very paint-by-numbers, very black and white, and ends up feeling pretty tame. A movie like this needs to have real teeth and attitude behind it and this film really has zero of either. The main character is never put in any interesting moral predicaments or forced to make any tough choices, and that's really an essential element in a story like this one.
Like I said, I really liked the set up and concept of this movie and even the introduction of the film;s main character--but was ultimately disappointed with the bland and lackluster way they were handled.