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Reviews
My Best Friend's Exorcism (2022)
Not bad.: "Stranger Things" meets "The Exorcist" meets "Mean Girls"
A not bad take combining tropes from several teen movie genres.
"My Best Friend's Exorcism" is described as a "horror comedy" from Amazon Studios. While there were some funny, campy moments & a few laughs it felt less like a comedy & more like an homage to several teen movie genres.
Just like "Stranger Things" our protagonists are a band of teenagers in the 1980s (we are shown it's the 80s through the soundtrack's use of that decade's hits, console TVs with fat backs, boxy 80s cars & Boy George posters). The score & mood music also seem to take its cues from "Stranger Things" & features a similar sounding synth-theme throughout.
Instead of an entity from "The Upside Down", it appears our protagonists have summoned a demon from hell. Once said demon possesses one of the girls, she begins acting cruelly towards all of her former friends at first embarrassing & then physically harming them in an homage to films like "Mean Girls", "Cruel Intentions" & others from the not so distant past.
Despite the obvious influences (one gets the sense that this was pitched as "Stranger Things" meets "Mean Girls" meets "The Exorcist"'to Amazon Studios) it's really not a bad little film! The two young female leads put in some strong performances & the production design & ambiance are perfect for a fun little romp of a Halloween movie.
Just ignore the fact that they kill a "demon" with "fire" & instead concentrate on the 80's nostalgia & joyful genre homaging & you'll have a fun diversion.
Nope (2022)
Homage to classic Spielberg Film *Spoilers*
*Warning Spoilers*
Jordan Peele's 3rd major film is entertaining and well made though largely a retelling of or homage to one of Steven Spielberg's early blockbusters.
"NOPE" is essentially an updated version of Spielberg's "Jaws", with a giant outer-space monster taking the place of the giant Great White shark.
Because the parallels are so obvious one must assume that Peele is creating an intentional homage to an iconic film from Hollywood's golden days.
The film even features a "crusty" old filmmaker who sets out to "capture" the monster on film, who clearly resembles Robert Shaw's crusty old fisherman "Quint" tasked with killing the shark (both the filmmaker & Quint go out in similar blazes of glory).
The monster in "NOPE" is likewise defeated in the same way the shark was killed in Jaws: by tricking it into putting something dangerous into its mouth & causing it to explode.
I also couldn't help but notice that towards the end of the credits the soundtrack contained a clip of music that was eerily reminiscent of the famous "Jaws" theme.
Peele should be commended for creating a visually intriguing eclectic world that successfully brings together cowboy theme parks, former child stars & even a meta-reference plot point to motion picture SFX. It should also be noted that the film's narrative moves well and engages despite having a very small cast.
The concept of a UFO being an organic life form (rather than a ship) is an intriguing one & is the "surprise reveal" that has been a hallmark of Peele films. The initial long shots of the monster looked fairly plausible. However, the "innards" of the monster looked too much like the fabric tubes inside of a child's "bouncy castle" & took me out of the moment.
Additionally, the monster seemed to "change form" at the end of the film and began to look like an elaborate "silk kite" . While the design was futuristic & alien looking , it ceased looking organic to me and further took me out of the moment.
While these SFX issues prevented me from suspending my disbelief in places, I still recommend the film for its strong performances & the bizarre, eclectic granular world Peele created by mixing together such disparate elements into an interesting homage to the first blockbuster of the modern film era!
* also "shout out" to the late great "Fry's Electronics" stores (1985-2021), which serves as a backdrop for much of the film.
Vinyl (2016)
Bobby Cannavale's ham-fisted over the top performance constantly undermines this show
While I love the premise for this series, I find Bobby Cannavale's constant over-the top, turn it up to "11" performance completely distracting, annoying and painful to watch!
His acting in Vinyl has about as much subtle nuance as a performance from the mechanical shark in Jaws: constantly attacking, raging and gnashing his teeth like a maniac.
While I understand that he is portraying a "coke addict", it is just too constantly "grating" to hear him hitting the same shrill note in performance again and again again. I'm not certain if this overacting is a result of the director's wishes or the actor's choice, either way it is distracting enough to ruin my enjoyment of this otherwise promising show.