Nosferatu

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★☆ (3.8/5)Nosferatu

Rated: TBA

Written for the Screen & Directed by: Robert Eggers

Inspired by the Screenplay: NOSFERATU by Henrick Galeen

and the Novel DRACULA by Bram Stoker

Produced by: Jeff Robinov, John Graham

Produced by: Chris Columbus, p.g.a., Eleanor Columbus, p.g.a., Robert Eggers, p.g.a.

Starring: Lily-Rose Depp, Nicholas Hoult, Bill Skarsgård, Aaron Tayor-Johnson, Willem Dafoe, Emma Corrin, Ralph Ineson, Simon McBurney.

What is the dark trauma that even death cannot erase? A heartbreaking notion. This is at the essence of the palpable belief in the vampire. The folk vampire is not a suave dinner-coat-wearing seducer, nor a sparkling, brooding hero. The folk vampire embodies disease, death, and sex in a base, brutal, and unforgiving way. This is the vampire I wanted to exhume for a modern audience.

-Robert Eggers

‘Blood is the life.’

Come to me, come to me.

You, you.

The wind blows through the sheer curtains.

I swear, she promises.

It’s a dreamy yet stark beginning; the girl, Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp) in a trance as she awakens Nosferatu (Bill Skarsgård) from his slumber to become an awoken corpse, walking upon the earth.

A corpse with appetites.

There’s a nightmarish quality to this gothic tale.  This is not a romantic version of a vampire story.  This vampire is a plague.

Jumping from 1830s Baltic Germany to years later shows Ellen married to Thomas Hutter (Nicholas Hoult).

Newly home from their honeymoon, Thomas’ employer, Herr Knock (Simon McBurney) sends Thomas into the depths of Transylvania to complete a transfer of title to an ancient descendant from a long blood line; the count described as, eccentric.

For extra money, Thomas is willing to go even as Ellen begs him not to.

It’s the travelling to Count Orlok’s (Nosferatu) castle that mesmerises; the silence of Thomas walking down a road through an ancient forest as snow falls.

The beat and chink of horses pulling a carriage through the dark, the tilt as the world shifts, the perspective bending to the will of Nosferatu as the carriage door slowly opens an invitation.

Then the wolves that follow.

It’s an invitation to a new world that’s dark, where fire casts shadows of reaching fingers and pointed nails and nightmares of blood.

The soundtrack feeds the mood of foreboding, the rise and fall of breath.

It’s moody movie.

Composer Robin Carolan states, ‘There’s a lot of dread and claustrophobia in the film.  The score helps with the feeling of escalation, and of this thing that you can’t quite see but that you sense is closing in on you.’

And Nosferatu knows Thomas is married to his bride.  Nosferatu travels across the ocean to reclaim Ellen.  She knows he’s coming.

Inspired by the Screenplay: NOSFERATU by Henrick Galeen and the Novel DRACULA by Bram Stoker, there’s the same lines of story, the travel of the husband to Transylvania to transfer the deed of a new home, the long-lost love.

There’s the best friend, here, Anna Harding (Emma Corrin) who wants to protect Ellen from the call of the monster.

But this is an inspiration not an adaptation so there’s something new here.

Unlike the tease of humour in the Frances Coppola film, like the unforgettable scene where a vampire’s head is cut off, a gruesome scene, that cuts to the professor tucking into a roast dinner – a well-timed shock to evoke a giggle.  There’s no humour here in Nosferatu.

This is cinematic horror.

There’s a spare feeling to the angles of panning, the movement of characters, the endless corridors of a castle that resonates with Bram Stoker’s classic novel, where Nosferatu is nothing more than a monster.

Collaborating with production designer Craig Lathrop, cinematographer Jarin Blaschke, costume designer Linda Muir, and editor Louise Ford, all of whom worked on The Northman, The Lighthouse, and The Witch, Eggers has created something that builds into a vision both magical and horrific.

Piece By Piece

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★1/2Piece By Piece

Rated: TBA

Directed by: Morgan Neville

Produced by: Mimi Valdes, Pharrell Williams

Original Songs by: Pharrell Williams

Original Score by: Michael Andrews

Animation Director: Howard E. Baker

Written by: Morgan Neville, Jason Zeldes, Aaron Wickenden, Oscar Vazquez

The Collaborators: Shae Haley, Chad Hugo, Pusha T, Timbaland, Missy Elliot, Teddy Riley, Busta Rhymes, N.O.R.E, Jay-Z, Gwen Stefani, Snoop Dogg, Justin Timberlake, Daft Punk, Kendrick Lamar.

‘Everyone wants you to win.’

Opening another Universal LEGO® animation world, a handheld cam follows a LEGO® Pharrell William as he enters a room to sit opposite Morgan Neville to talk about his life.

This is a LEGO® movie with a difference.

“You probably think I’m out of my mind,” Pharrell says, chuckling. The musician, mega producer and multi-hyphenate artist is speaking about what he hopes for his film, Piece By Piece — to be an instrument of unity, to inspire people of all ages and stripes, to tell people that they really could wake up tomorrow and build their dreams, piece by piece.

“The only caveat is that after we shoot it, I don’t want to use the footage,” Pharrell remembers telling his agent. “I just want to use the audio.”

Piece by Piece is a documentary, in LEGO®.

This is a history of Pharrell’s life, of his contribution to Hip Hop, his clothing brand, Billionaire Boys Club, then Billionaire Girls Club, to the music scene and how his beats became famous worldwide like:

T’S HAPPENING, MAYBE, I WISH, FUNKYTOWN, SEÑORITA, BLURRED LINES (FEAT. T.I. AND PHARRELL), MY PEROGATIVE, VIRGINIA BOY, RUMP SHAKER, HOLLABACK GIRL, GOD BLESS US ALL, ROCK STAR, TUBTHUMPIN, BONITA APPLEBUM, EVERYONE NOSE (ALL GIRLS STANDING IN THE LINE FOR THE BATHROOM), NOTHIN’, SPLASH, KNOCK YOURSELF OUT, SHAKE YA ASS, L’EGO ODYSSEY, HELLA GOOD, LIKE I LOVE YOU, LOOKIN’ AT ME (FEATURING PUFF DADDY), SUPERTHUG, I JUST WANNA LOVE U (GIVE IT 2 ME), HOT IN HERRE, DROP IT LIKE IT’S HOT (W/ PHARRELL), PASS THE COURVOISIER PART II, GRINDIN’, BEAUTIFUL (FEAT. PHARRELL & UNCLE CHARLIE WILSON), SOONER OR LATER, FRONTIN’ (CLUB MIX), I’VE SEEN THE LIGHT / INSIDE OF CLOUDS, GET LUCKY (FEAT. PHARRELL WILLIAMS AND NILE RODGERS), HAPPY (FROM THE FILM DESPICABLE ME 2), ALRIGHT, PIECE BY PIECE, PURE IMAGINATION (from WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY), FOR REAL.

The soundtrack is what makes this film.  And the idea of music creating colours in Pharrell’s mind.  He has a condition, sound-color synesthesia or chromesthesia.

Growing up, Pharrell thought everyone related to music in the same way – music seen in colours.

He didn’t do well in school.  But his grandmother knew he would be good at music.

There’s a fascinating backstory here, that lends itself to the LEGO® world, the assistant blown away by Pharrell’s beats so his LEGO® head pops off, the parents browsing through LEGO® photo albums and the beach is the flow of small LEGO® pieces, a mix of white and blue to create waves.

Pharrell was obsessed with water growing up in Virginia Beach, where Pharrell and his mates, ‘just loved doing music.’

Then fate brought famous producer Teddy Riley to town.

Hearing Pharrell perform at a high school talent show in 1991, Riley knew he was hearing something unique when Pharrell went from rapping to playing the drums to singing.

Pharrell grew up with the idea of, What if nothing’s new?  That you’re borrowing from colours that already existed?

By combining two different ideas, he found he could create something new.  He created until suddenly, everyone wanted his beats.

There’re appearances from: Shae Haley, Chad Hugo, Pusha T, Timbaland, Missy Elliot, Teddy Riley, Busta Rhymes, N.O.R.E, Jay-Z, Gwen Stefani, Snoop Dogg, Justin Timberlake, Daft Punk, Kendrick Lamar.

All LEGO®.

Two pieces, a light shining set next to another LEGO® represent a new beat.

It’s all creativity.  Of the magic of the hood, where ideas come from the future.

It’s an autobiography told in pieces.  An idea that was unique in itself, but in the end became a meandering philosophy of how best to serve this thing called life.

Not a usual LEGO® movie but more a contemplation of a life using the LEGO® world to explain an idea, to see through different eyes, like Pharrell and his colours.

As documentaries go, this has to be one of the most creative.

Heretic

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★☆ (3.8/5)Heretic

HERETIC

Rated: MA15+

Directed by: Scott Beck, Bryan Woods

Written by: Scott Beck, Bryan Woods

Produced by: Stacey Sher, Scott Beck, Bryan Woods, Julia Glausi, Jeanette Volturno

Starring: Hugh Grant, Sophie Thatcher, Chloe East, Topher Grace, Elle Young.

‘How do you feel about awkward questions?’

Seeing Hugh Grant play a villain in a horror movie is a bit of a treat, especially when he flexes his storytelling skills.

Meet, Mr. Reed.  A man in search of the one true religion.

Mormon missionaries, Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) and Sister Paxton (Chloe East) take a break from door knocking and looking to recruit converts to sit on a bench, facing a huge mountain talking sex and if the magnum condom is actually as advertised, massive.

It’s two innocent girls talking about something unexpected yet gives insight into their character – Sister Paxton showing a naive curiosity, Sister Barnes from the streets of Philadelphia with a tougher backstory where she lost her dad to illness.

After tolerating yet another humiliating show of people’s dislike or misunderstanding of their calling, ‘they think we’re weird,’ the two Sisters’ ride their bikes through the snow and rain to knock on the door of a potential convert.

Sister Paxton can barely hide her determination.

It’s the little things that hint of Mr. Reed’s intention.

‘I’ve never had a Wendy.  I mean, met a Wendy.’

The film’s foundation is word play, dialogue and the dance of theological argument; but the build of suspense is about the close up of the eyes, the sharpness of a look.  Of looking too closely.

The tension builds with the back and forth between the Sisters as they come to understand the game Mr. Reed is playing is a trap.  And it’s the realisation of the game Mr. Reed has trapped them into playing that heightens the suspense – the surprise of each character as they reveal themselves in dialogue that twists through intellectual debate about religion in order to navigate a way through the psychology of a madman who has gotten lost in his search of the one true religion.

He’s not wrong.  And neither are they.

It becomes a matter of argument.  Of faith.

Most of the film is set in the house of Mr. Reed.  A deceptively simple stop to highlight the dialogue and closeups of facial expressions.  To show the fear of: Belief or Disbelief.

Both are terrifying.

Hugh Grant states, ‘I found Heretic to be daring, not just because it questions a lot of things that many people hold sacred, but for the fact that it’s set in one house over the course of one long night and features a lot of talking — hardly normal practice for a horror film.’

The house itself becomes part of the game.

Director and writer, Scott Beck (also screenwriter, along with Bryan Woods of, A Quiet Place (2018)) states, “We had to figure out the psychology of Reed early on in order to understand why his house appears the way it does, serving as a kind of weapon against his young visitors,” says Beck. “Reed is God-playing in a way, pulling these characters through each room so it feels like a gauntlet or a game, consistently evolving to worse and worse places. It became about marrying the character of Reed with the production design and finding a methodology behind it to show how his mind works.”

Heretic is unique in that it’s a storyteller thriller.  Not explosive but a well-rounded creeping poetry based on theological argument from a man driven mad by the search for meaning.

For me the film peters out a little at the end but as Beck states, ‘Hugh has quietly become one the greatest character actors working today,’ making Heretic worth a watch.

 

Wicked Part I

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★☆ (3.8/5)Wicked Part I

Rated: PG

Directed by: Jon M. Chu

Written by: Winnie Holzman

Based on the Musical Wicked, music and lyrics by: Stephen Schwartz,

Book by: Winnie Holzman

From the Novel by: Gregory Maguire

Produced by: Marc Platt, David Stone

Starring: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum, Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Marissa Bode, Bowen Yang, Bronwyn James, Keala Settle and Peter Dinklage.

Cinematic from the beginning, Wicked Part I opens on a black witch’s hat reflected in a pool of water.  And of course, flying monkeys, the yellow brick road, then the cry, ‘The Wicked Witch is dead.  The Wicked Witch of the West.’

‘Why does wickedness happen?’ one of the townspeople asks.

After telling people, ‘It’s good to see me, isn’t it?’  Galinda/Glinda the Good (Ariana Grande) tells the people, let me tell you the whole story.

The screenplay is written by Winnie Holzman who also wrote the book for the musical; she returns with lyricist Stephen Schwartz to adapt the Gregory Maguire’s reinvented bestseller into a spectacle for the screen.  Expectations for this film are high.

However, I admit, I have not seen the stage play.  Not really my cup of tea.  So you can stop reading the review now or read the review of someone who wouldn’t usually watch a musical but enjoyed this one despite herself.

I just got won over by the characters, Galinda described by Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) as well, blonde.

And Elphaba green and pretending not to care about the laughter at her expense.  That she cares more about the animals that are being silenced and blamed for everything wrong in Oz, then her own lifetime of hurt.

Then the little asides from Galinda about her self-obsession to keep it light as the two who loathed and detested each other become friends.

Rather than feeling like just a musical, the singing was balanced by the storyline and visual effects and attention to detail, the turn of a scrunched page the beginning of the next scene, the floating spinning flowers dusting everyone to sleep, the silhouette of a taloned hand.

The previous collaboration of Schwartz and Holzman pays off because the story and song balance each other so well, ‘Winnie and I tell the story together,” Schwartz says. “Some of it through dialogue, which is Winnie’s department, and some through song, which is mine.’

And the two characters Elphaba and Galinda have a genuine chemistry, ‘We got tattoos together,’ Grande says. ‘I got an ‘E’ for Elphaba in a heart on the back of my leg and she had a little ‘G’ for Glinda on the back of hers.’ Erivo says that their bond is anchored by a sense of joyful exploration. ‘I hope that we don’t lose our love of play,’ Erivo says. ‘That’s something that I really enjoyed—this need to keep wanting to learn and discover. Ariana and I used that to make these beings as humane and full as possible. When we worked together, something special happened.’

Cinematographer Alice Brooks explains Elphaba and Glinda are often shot within a single frame. ‘The 2.40 aspect ratio is frequently beautifully divided in half between these two women.’

Brook goes on to say, ‘Light, to me, embodies everything—it reveals desires and conceals secrets. That’s what captivates me about Wicked so deeply. Early in our preparations, Jon and I delved into themes of good versus evil, light versus darkness. In Wicked, light paradoxically represents darkness, and darkness, light.’

Director, Jon M. Chu, a longtime superfan of the stage production, has embraced all the elements of this film, showing his enthusiasm in the attention to detail that makes Wicked Part I so very watchable.

I’m not saying I absolutely loved the film, but those 2 hours and 41 minutes went by pretty quickly.  And I did leave the cinema with a smile humming ‘Defying Gravity.’

Did I just enjoy watching musical?

Yes.  Yes, I did.

 

Weekend In Taipei

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★1/2Weekend in Taipei

Rated: MA15+

Directed by: George Huang

Written by: George Huang & Luc Besson

Produced by: Virginie Besson-Silla & Luc Besson

Starring: Luke Evans, Gwei Lun-Mei, Sung Kang, Wyatt Yang.

‘Who’s the snitch?’

The opening of, A Weekend in Taipei is the city shown in a fast-paced montage of images of the street life; to dead fish on the pavement, motorbikes, toys and temples – all shot in contrasting saturated colour to black and white to introduce the style of the film: action featuring car chases and fight scenes but also the drama of an unhappy family and a woman waiting for The One to finally come back.

Kwang (Sung Kang) is a corrupt billionaire being charged with the only crime that sticks – fishing license violations.

Surrounded by media, Kwang curses at his staff as he gets into his car.  He tries to call his wife, Joey (Gwei Lun-Mei).  She ignores him.

Instead, Joey takes a Ferrari for a test drive.  She drives, fast.

Joey’s been married to Kwang for 15 years.  Her son, Raymond (Wyatt Yang) hates him.  Raymond doesn’t understand why she’s with him.

But Joey explains that a long time ago, she needed help.  And Kwang was there.

Cut-to Minneapolis where John Lawlor (Luke Evans) is getting arrested holding a goldfish in a glass.

An undercover DEA agent, Lawlor is on the trail of Kwang after uncovering a delivery of heroin with Kwang’s name all over it.

It’s time to spend a weekend in Taipei.

Amongst the action, knife fights and car chases, there’s a lightness to this film that adds a sense of fun.

Lawlor’s fellow agent in a restaurant fight unintentionally getting more injured as Lawlor tries to protect him is hilarious – grater across the hand, the kitchen on fire, ‘oh, no.’

This is a classic- style action movie with humour that hits the mark.  And there’s some fresh ideas here, like knocking the power board off the lift, then the door handle off the exit door to the stairs, delaying the bad guys giving chase.

Director George Huang explains one the biggest challenges making the film was shooting in Taipei in the summer.  It was so hot that the final fight scene was moved indoors to a cinema where, ‘images from Zhang Yimou’s The Secret of the Flying Daggers are projected onto the actors.’

It’s a clever device that adds another layer to the fight and another point of difference to the action that I enjoyed.

The film does feel stilted at the beginning but the chemistry between Agent Lawlor and mother, wife, badass-driver Joey lifts the film up a level.

There’s a good balance as young actor Wyatt Yang who plays the son Raymond states, ‘It’s a very exciting film, it has lots of fast cars, guns, and blood, but at the heart is a family story.’

Not the deepest dive into the characters but there’s enough amusement and action thrills – who doesn’t like a car chase featuring a beach buggy?! – to make for an entertaining watch.

CatVideoFest 2024

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★CatVideoFest 2024

Rated: G

Directed by: Will Braden

CatVideoFest is a compilation of cat videos sourced from submissions, animations, music videos and the internet.

Trawling through over 15,000 videos, director Will Braden has found the most entertaining moments of cats to raise money for cat shelters.

Beginning in 2019, the festival has raised over $150, 000 for local shelters as well as encouraging adoptions, fostering, volunteer signups and more.

The delightful end result shows a loose structure to a 75-minute reel, from ‘Drama’ featuring cats sharing space with a dog, giving a baby The Look, to opening the fridge, to oh-how-we-love-to-knock-things-off-shelving, to a black kitten trying to capture the sun.

‘Action Adventure’ shows a kitten attacking shoelaces, cat boxing, turtle versus cat – turtle wins.

‘Cat GIFs’ has a cat in the back of a hooded jacket.

Biddie-Fluff
This is my fur ball of sunshine, Biddie-Fluff; ever hopeful for a belly scratch but knowing not to get too far over the keyboard when I’m working.  This is of course, is not always a successful arrangement.

‘Documentaries’ has Cat Man Chris, rescue Humphrey and his brother, ‘This is peak cat owner existence,’ The Unbothered Cat, to trying to work with kittens around (I can relate!).

‘Musical’ has a cat singing on cue with his owner guitarist and sprinkled throughout the reel is an old dude playing a piano and singing lyrics describing the goings on with made-up cat songs.

Speaking of which, there’s of course the Christmas ornaments sequence, ‘Your ornaments are history,’ then there’s Goat suffering from seizures but oh so soothed by his human’s music therapy.

‘More Cat GIFs’ shows orange straddling a pole.

‘Comedy’ has the ultimate ownership of the family cat being more important, or more demanding of attention and cuddles, then the newborn baby just brought home.

CatVideoFest is good G-rated fun that had me crying with laughter.

The sometimes deadly looks from these playful felines?  Priceless.  And of course, it’s all for a good cause.

To submit a video of your fun fluff, see: https://catvideofest.com/submission.

See list of cinemas showing CatVideoFest, starting 17th of October, 2024 here: https://www.catvideofest.com/where-to-watch-aus-nz

The Apprentice

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★★The Apprentice

Rated: MA15+

Directed by: Ali Abbasi

Written by: Gabriel Sherman

Produced by: Daniel Bekerman, Jacob Jarek, Ruth Treacy, Julianne Forde, Louis Tisné, Ali Abbasi

Starring: Sebastian Stan, Jeremy Strong, Maria Bakalova, Martin Donovan, Catherine McNally, Charlie Carrick.

‘If you’re indicted, you’re invited.’

A clever play on the Donald Trump TV series, (‘you’re fired’) The Apprentice, the apprentice, here, is Donald Trump.

Based on true events, the film is about the relationship between Trump (Sebastian Stan) and ruthless lawyer, Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong).

Director Ali Abbasi states: “I hope that people, no matter how they might feel about Donald Trump, can watch the film and really experience this relationship. It’s not supposed to be an ideological attack or a polemic debate. It’s about depicting a certain complexity in these human beings.”

The film begins in the 70s, when New York was known as The Fear City.

With his father’s (Freddy Trump (Charlie Carrick)) company currently indicted for a racist policy when leasing apartments in their buildings, Donald’s dream of converting the debilitated Commodore Building into a luxury hotel is impossible.

Meet, Roy Cohn.

Roy’s first seen with a devilish look through an open doorway – he sees Trump struggling to make an impression on his date, ‘Why are you so obsessed with these people?’

Because Trump knows that the people in this place are billionaires, the decision makers with connections.

And he wants to be one of them.

Cohn takes pity on Trump.  He likes him.  So agrees to show Trump how it’s done, starting with his three golden rules of winning:

Rule 1. Attack. Attack. Attack.

Rule 2. Admit nothing. Deny everything.

Rule 3. Claim victory and never admit defeat.

Trump needs to be able to do anything to anyone.

There’s a naivety to Trump in the early days – cap in hand, knocking on tenant’s doors to collect rent.  Compared to Cohn and his connections, Trump is a mild-mannered businessman who likes the ladies.

Trump is uncomfortable drinking, he doesn’t smoke, do drugs.  Except for taking diet pills, AKA cheap amphetamine, so instead of sleeping, he can continue to make deals.

Trump loves making deals.

He also falls for Ivana.

Ivana isn’t like other girls. She’s feisty.  Ambitious.

Roy makes sure she signs a prenup.

This is Trump’s origin story.  He comes from a solid but dysfunctional family with a tyrannical father that’s ashamed of his eldest son because he’s an airline pilot.

The loose parties Cohn hosts are something Trump hasn’t seen before.

‘If you’re indicted, you’re invited.’

But Trump’s a businessman who wants success.  And Cohn is the man to get him to the top.

As Trump’s apprenticeship comes to an end, the power Trump cultivates begins to corrupt:

‘Run ‘em over Simon,’ he tells his driver as they’re stopped by an AIDS protest.

‘I’m kidding,’ he adds.

Over time it becomes apparent Trump has no shame.

“In life, there are two types of people. There are killers, and there are losers.”

—Donald J. Trump

The Apprentice is a vastly entertaining film, the image a gritty 70s vibe.

The tone is set with the red light of dabaucherous parties, the perfectly timed moments like Trump holding onto his vomit until he gets out of Roy’s car – then sputtering an upchuck out on the street to confirm his make-or-break appointment – to the city reflected in Trump’s eye as he observes his dominion.

Writer Gabriel Sherman (author of the New York Times best-selling biography of Fox News founder Roger Ailes, The Loudest Voice in the Room), states: “My worst nightmare for THE APPRENTICE was that it was going to be something predictable or bland, or on the other extreme, a political polemic that’s just one-dimensional cartoon,” Sherman says. “I wanted to write these three-dimensional characters that were complicated and flawed and surprising and frustrating just in the way that real people are.” Adds Baer: “I knew that this film would have so many inherent challenges along the way, and I didn’t want to add another one by having it perceived as a political statement by an American director.”

The Apprentice is anything but bland or predictable.

A great storyline that’s more a psychological unpacking of Trump’s origin than political statement, with pacing and pitch perfect performances make this a much better than expected film.

Insightful and entertaining.

A must watch.

 

Hellboy: The Crooked Man

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★1/2Hellboy: The Crooked Man

Rated: MA15+

Directed by: Brian Taylor

Written by: Christopher Golden, Mike Mignola, Brian Taylor

Based on: Hellboy by Mike Mignola

Produced by: Mike Richardson, Jeffery Greenstein, Jonathan Yunger, Les Weldon, Rob Van Norden, Yariv Lerner

Starring: Jack Kesy, Jefferson White, Adeline Rudolph, Joseph Marcell, Leah McNamara, Martin Massindale, Suzanne Bertish.

Screwed, chewed and tattooed.

In this fourth instalment of Hellboy, it’s 1959.  And Hellboy (Jack Kesy), along with Bobbie Jo Song (Adeline Rudolph) from the bureau for Paranormal Research and Defence (BPRD), are on a train transporting an arachnoid that is more than just a spider.

The opening of, Hellboy: The Crooked Man, is fast-paced.  The arachnoid breaking free, the scene out of control as the train dislodges from the track, landing Hellboy and the certainly-has-a-thing-for Bobbie in the Appalachia Forest, lost.

The storyline meanders until landing on the re-negotiation of a soul.  Tom Ferrell (Jefferson White) losing his soul when he happens upon a beautiful witch (Leah McNamara) bathing in the river in his younger days.

The witch encourages Tom to make a deal with the devil, where the bone he holds in his hand when he sees the devil becomes a lucky bone saving him from injury during the war.

In 1959, Tom comes home to the Appalachia mountains to search for his family and girlfriend Cora (Hannah Margetson) whom he left, trying to escape the pact he made all those years ago.

The forest is full of witches, serving, The Crooked Man.

When alive, The Crooked Man was made rich playing both sides of the Civil War.  Hanged, his reward from those who live in the mountains, The Crooked Man was returned by the devil to collect souls, receiving a copper penny for each soul, including Tom’s.

The only sanctuary in the mountains is the old church where blind Reverend Watts (Joseph Marcell) holds the dark forces at bay.

The passage of the film is earmarked with chapters that don’t really signpost the story:

‘The Lucky Bone’,

‘Witch Ball’,

‘The Hurricane’.

But lend a fable to the storyline, like the witch acknowledging the screen as the audience watches through the eyes of a crow as she explains the spell of making a witch’s ball.

There’s trickery with the camera work, the perspectives adding a foreboding feeling:

Guts splatter across the lens of the camera.

Sudden darkened scenes click to switch from one place to another.

There’s that Hellboy flavour to, The Crooked Man but there’s also a distinct feeling of a glossing over, creating a superficial tone.

Hellboy’s mother’s introduced into his origin story, the film clicking into this other dark world where she hangs in suspense, tortured.  A giant crow represents the devil as he incites her pregnancy with Hellboy.

It’s another dimension to the film.

But the threads of the storyline barely hold together in this movie.

Hellboy, the character, is strangely monotone, with a rare wisecrack, ‘Smells like death.  And birdshit,’ so it didn’t seem like Hellboy at all.

But there is a unique strangeness to the film.

It’s dark and creepy but so very disjointed.  Which makes me think of a piece of meat.

It’s that kinda movie.

IN CINEMAS OCTOBER 10

Also screening at MONSTER FEST 2024

Hellboy – The Crooked Man – Monster Fest Australia

Click HERE for dates & venues

 

Joker: Folie À Deux

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★1/2JOKER: FOLIE À DEUX

Rated: MA15+

Directed by: Todd Phillips

Written by: Scott Silver, Todd Phillips, Bob Kane

Produced by: Josephe Garner, Todd Phillips, Emma Tillinger Koskoff

Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener, Zazie Beetz, Steve Coogan, Harry Lawtey, Leigh Gill, Ken Leung, Jacob Lofland, Bill Smitrovich and Sharon Washington.

Madness of two

Folie à deux (French for ‘madness of two’), also known as shared psychosis or shared delusional disorder (SDD), is a psychiatric syndrome in which symptoms of a delusional belief are “transmitted” from one individual to another.

An emancipated Joker (Joaquin Phoenix) is in jail.  He’s never been more like Arthur Fleck.  He takes his pills.  The jailers (Brendan Gleeson) joke with him, ‘You got a joke for us today?’

But Arther Fleck says nothing.

It all changes when he sees her.  Lee (Lady Gaga).

Lee sings in music therapy.

She tells Arthur that she understands him.  When Joker killed Murray on live TV, she was thinking I just wish he’d kill that guy.  And then, he did.

Arthur starts having his fantasies again.

The Joker is his shadow self, his other self.  A product of childhood abuse.

His lawyer, Maryanne Stewart (Catherine Keener) wants Arthur to pled insanity.

But with Lee, Arthur’s proud to be Joker.  He wants to be Joker.

The saints being to march again.

Returning director Todd Phillips (he also directed, Joker (2019)), has taken a different perspective with the character in, Joker: Folie À Deux.

Instead of the DC world of Gotham City, the fantasy is in Arthur’s head.

And in his head, everything’s a musical.

There’s A LOT of singing.  Too much singing.

And we all know Lady Gaga can sing (and here too, Joaquin Phoenix), but that didn’t save the movie for me.

The film’s a contrast of a bland and depressing prison and the sad life of Arthur Fleck juxtaposed with his fantasy as the Joker in a sing along with Lee.

When Joker represents himself in court, the fantasy bleeding into reality, parading with a southern American accent, it jars.  The fantasy not so endearing; the crossover into reality misfiring and building to that depressing point of difference that this isn’t set in the fantasy world of Gotham City.

This is an unpacking of Arthur Fleck’s mental health.

Set to a musical.

It’s depressing.

In spite of the theatrics (l don’t actually like musicals), the tone was bland. So neither the fantasy nor the depressing reality had the right tone or play off each other in quite the right way.

Unfortunately (I was really looking forward to this sequel!), Joker: Folie À Deux is disappointing.

 

Megalopolis

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★1/2Megalopolis

Rated: M

Directed by: Francis Ford Coppola

Written by: Francis Ford Coppola

Produced by: Francis Ford Coppola, Barry Hirsch, Fred Roos, Michael Bederman

Starring: Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza, Shia Labeouf, Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, Talia Shire, Kathryn Hunter, Grace Vanderwall, Chloe Fineman and Dustin Hoffman.

‘I will not let time have dominion over me.’

Megalopolis begins.

At first, I thought Megalopolis was going to be about perspective.  With Cesar Catilina (Adam Driver) opening a window to step out, onto a roof to look over the city before him, to walk to the edge while the clouds race across the sky.  He looks over the roofline, teetering, about to fall.  Then, he stops time.

It’s a new Rome.

A narrator, Funi Romaine (Laurence Fishburne), shown later to be a historian, speaks of not wanting to make the same mistakes as Old Rome, mistakes that benefit a few at the expense of the many.

So the main underlying theme here is social change with A LOT of other ideas thrown in the mix creating an overly ambitious chaos full of lofty ideals used to intellectualise the storyline but instead comes across as pretentious and cliché; an example when Cesar Catilina starts spouting, ‘To be, or not to be,’ to sell his architectural utopia.

Writer, director and producer, Francis Ford Coppola states:

‘Step by step with these beginnings, I researched New York City’s most interesting cases from my scrapbooks: the Claude Von Bulow murder case, the Mary Cunningham/James Agee Bendix scandal, the emergence of Maria Bartiromo (a beautiful financial reporter nicknamed ‘The Money Honey’ coming from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange), the antics of Studio 54, and the city’s financial crisis itself (saved by Felix Rohatyn), so that everything in my story would be true and did happen either in modern New York or in Ancient Rome.

To that I added everything I had ever read or learned about.’

Cesar Catilina is a genius born into a mega rich Catilina family.

The Cesar has won a Nobel prize for inventing a new building material, Megalon.

His vision, to build a new city for all by tearing down the old and building Megalopolis.

The mayor, Franklyn Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito), disagrees.

Mayor Cicero thinks Cesar will destroy society before he has time to build a new one, to which Cesar replies, ‘Don’t let the now destroy the future.’

A neat summary of Cesar’s perspective and by the end of this chaotic saga, I wondered why bother with all the other madness thrown into the storyline, a madness that felt like an experiment that got out of control, then exploded.  Anyway.

Alongside this ongoing dispute with the mayor is the family dynamics of a jealous cousin, Clodio Pulcher (Shia LaBeouf), forever trying to take down Cesar, socialite-turned-visionary, daughter to the mayor, Julia Cicero (Nathalie Emmanuel), and the complicated relationship of spurned lover and journalist, Wow Platinum (Aubrey Plaza), who ends up marrying Cesar’s uncle, Hamilton Crassus III (Jon Voight).

Not forgetting Cesar’s mother, Constance Crassus Catilina (Talia Shire) who pulls away her hand from Cesar after he kisses it because, ‘it hurts.’

Amongst the family dramas, love triangles and marriage – there’s a whole lot of silly.  Not funny.  Silly.

Like the ‘Dingbat News’.

Like a young girl famous and singing for donations in the Colosseum to remain a virgin until marriage.

Then flashes to undies for sale with her image on the front.

The chaotic that creates an unsettled feeling throughout the film is amplified by a soundtrack that shifts from court music with trumpets, to orchestral classical, to jazz, all within the same scene.

The first half of the film felt distant, like watching a performance instead of being absorbed into the film.

Coppola experiments, his vision shown by darkening the screen to a spotlight to pull the audience into a moment (well, that device drew the focus into the scene), splicing the screen, to using the cinema as part of the film, literally.  Someone in the audience set up a podium, facing the screen to then ask Cesar a question.

After this moment, the film conversely, felt more like a movie rather than a performance.

But for me, this fable, literary debacle didn’t sell – the silly and the pretentious just made the sometimes poignant moments weird:

‘You can see right through me’

Only those in a nightmare are capable of praising the moonlight.’

I found the film so ridiculous that if Cesar woke up at the end of a dream, a nightmare, that might have been a better ending.

Megalopolis – it’s as pretentious as it sounds.

Subscribe to GoMovieReviews
Enter your email address for notification of new reviews - it's free!

 

Subscribe!