Ok so I saw this film. It was a visual feast as everyone is saying but it wasn’t the Blade Runner sequel I was looking for in that it was far too complicated. Still, it was a good ride. Some beautiful women in it too. Here I talk about it on my podcast … with spoilers. What did you think of the film?
If you’re going to watch this, please know it’s one long wedding. I mean that literally, it’s a horror movie at a long wedding.
R | 1h 34min | Comedy, Horror, Thriller | 9 September 2016 (USA)
A bridegroom is possessed by an unquiet spirit in the midst of his own wedding celebration, in this clever take on the Jewish legend of the dybbuk.
Director: Marcin Wrona
Writers: Pawel Maslona, Marcin Wrona
Stars: Itay Tiran, Agnieszka Zulewska, Andrzej Grabowski
This director has done a cool, traditional thing here. He took a polish legend and made the story into a modern day telling. Some of the scariest stuff out there is in folklore and legend. Just like La Llorona in Mexico, this demon is ruthless and relentless. She’s not one to be trifled with.
I like the director’s work here but I do think more “scary stuff” would have improved this horror film. There are some great minimal scares and they run deep. For example, at the point when the doctor needs a syringe to calm the patient, he calls for the syringe and the had of the demon reaches from under the bed. That was chilling. But I think the film was lacking very much in scares so that’s why I sort of tuned out.
The actors are all foreign and the lead was pretty good but overall the acting was just average for me. Maybe because I despise weddings I don’t know, but I didn’t really like this film much. There isn’t much horror as advertised. It’s a great recycled folklore legend and the screenplay is written fairly well. I don’t see any reason for you to see it though, unless the legend excites you.
5/10
Will he or won’t he use all those axes and the nail gun? Are his friends really monsters? Is Wyatt schizophrenic?
They Look Like People (2015)
Unrated | 1h 20min | Drama, Horror, Mystery | 26 February 2016 (USA)Suspecting that people around him are turning into evil creatures, a troubled man questions whether to protect his only friend from an impending war, or from himself.
Director: Perry Blackshear
Writer: Perry Blackshear
Stars: MacLeod Andrews, Evan Dumouchel, Margaret Ying Drake
It’s a film I tell you! Much more than a film school project, which it resembles most the way through. I’ve read this film referred to as “DIY horror.” I’m not sure what it is exactly but it definitely has something to say about psychology and the human mind.
Watch this if you enjoy thinking about what is real sometimes and what is not. Go see if you’ve ever realized you were being paranoid only to find out later some of that paranoia was real. It’s some really heavy shot I tell you. Now be forewarned, I couldn’t find a budget for this thing online but I would wager to say it was made for only hundreds of dollars. For that reason, some may find it hard to sit through. Ok, I’ll say: it it was boring at slow a lot of times. Still, it was streaming on Amazon Prime Video so I didn’t have to fork out extra cash for it and I sat through it just fine. The who movie payoff is the ending, the last 15 minutes hit you like 13 foot wave.
Simple story, ok acting. Christian wasn’t really believable for me the way he was always laughing. Wyatt makes a good psycho, or is he a psycho at all? You tell me. For what it is it works. Not for everyone by a long shot. It has to lose some from me because I like when directors attempt a bit broader appeal. And finally, to director Perry Blackshear I say: well done, we shall look for more psychotic minimalism from you.
7/10
Bioengineered humans never looked so good in 35 years. 6/10
R | 2h 43min | Sci-Fi, Thriller | 6 October 2017 (USA)
A young blade runner’s discovery of a long-buried secret leads him to track down former blade runner Rick Deckard, who’s been missing for thirty years.
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Writers: Hampton Fancher (screenplay by), Michael Green (screenplay by) | 2 more credits »
Stars: Harrison Ford, Ryan Gosling, Ana de Armas | See full cast & crew
The director of Arrival made this film and I can’t help but ask myself why he was selected. For me, that pseudo space film was really just a memory and tme travel rehash mix if several other films. He definitely did a satisfactory job with the “Blade Runner” sequel but his convoluted plot became a bit of an uninteresting guessing game. The original film was much more simple and straight ahead action. Maybe I’m just nostalgic.
This has a gang of actors that grace the screen. I think the casting was pretty good. When you consider Rutger Hauer’s powerful performance in the original, you know they had big shoes to fill. Harrison Ford is here. He’s not all that remarkabke and it take him near forever to show up in the plot. Ryan Gosling is “K” a cop/replicant who retires older models. Gosling is by far the best performance. There is one scene with LUV and Lieutenant Joshi (Robin Wright) where a glass is squeezed and shattered that I found especally good on both their parts.
I could describe the plot in detail, I do on my podcast the DRP. Still, I find it veering hither and to. It’s way too complicated I think. I sort of wish they would have got a more straight ahead storyteller for a director and kept the story simpler. It involves a baby made through the relations of Sean Young’s character Rachel and Harrison Ford’s Deckard character. They call it a miracle. Factions want the baby so they fight to get to it her him. See waht I mean? A little out there.
My favorite scenes were the naked women statues in the Las Vegas Ruins. It was like Rome trying to look like Rome and falling like Rome. After the shootings last week, it’s almost chilling to think about. How fragile we are.
It was alright. I won’t be recommending it. Still, I know the fan base (like myself) will go so I don’t feel bad. I’ll be on Talking Stars next week discussing the fim on a panel. Not sure how much I may warm up to the film, though it has happened before. This is a long movie that only the very curious will be able to tolerate. Fortunately for the “franchise” (2 movies 35 years apart) Andriods do dream of electric sheep.
6/10
In this gothic, barbaric tale, there are themes of female victimization, male attempts to suppress women, and unrepressed rebellion.
R | 1h 29min | Drama | 14 July 2017 (USA)
In 19th-century rural England, a young bride who has been sold into marriage discovers an unstoppable desire within herself as she enters into an affair with a worker on her estate.
Director: William Oldroyd
Writers: Nikolai Leskov (based on Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk), Alice Birch
Stars: Florence Pugh, Cosmo Jarvis, Paul Hilton
The woman is the thing in this one. I loved her audaciousness and almost animal survival techniques in a stodgy English arranged marriage. I couldn’t help but think about just how bad women had it back then. In this case, she was sold into marriage with a man who didn’t love her. Florence Pugh is the actresses name and I was amazed watching her performance in this. It was electrifying.
The director is William Oldroyd. I don’t recognize any of his titles. This may be why this film is so banal and raw, and all the while, successfully so. Perhaps he hasn’t succumbed to the trappings or ordinary Hollywood treatments. He has made a unique period piece here.
The actors are all new names. I have to repeat that Lady Macbeth was completely shocking and alluring. You’ve never seen a 19-century rural wife behave this way and it’s glorious.
I recommend this to fans of the genre. It isn’t a “feel good” film like Pride and Prejudice but romance fans will be happy with it on one level. It is a very dark film but I found the ending wholly satisfying. I can’t think of any way to improve this film, it’s a perfect and complete message to its viewers, storytelling at its highest.
10/10
I liked the way this one got right to the violence. It adds to the story and makes the film a powerful piece.
R | 1h 58min | Drama, Horror, Romance | 23 June 2017 (USA)
A love story set in a community of cannibals in a future dystopia. In a desert wasteland in Texas, a muscled cannibal breaks one important rule: don’t play with your food.
Director: Ana Lily Amirpour
Writer: Ana Lily Amirpour
Stars: Suki Waterhouse, Jason Momoa, Jayda Fink
The avant garde director here is Ana Lily Amirpour. You may have seen A Girl Walks Home at Night which was also her. She takes risks and causes the viewer to go on a journey. This is always a great thing for a director to do. This film is not made according to norms. It’s a film that breaks just about every rule for a movie of its subject and type. Amirpour has achieved much with this film. It’s worth seeing and I recommend it wholeheartedly to you. Last I looked it was streaming on Netflix, if you have that.
The acting caliber shocked me. This film looked in the ads to be a small scale, risky, violent film but I was wrong. It has the talent on board to do some mainstream damage. I’m speaking of Suki Waterhouse, Jason Momoa, Jayda Fink, and Jim Carrey (yes I said Jim Carrey).
Empowerment films like this are so much fun to watch. I won’t spoil the plot but rather encourage you to see it and then leave me a comment. I’d love to start a dialog on this film there. Some scenes were a little long and felt unnecessary but all of it worked to the over goal of making a brutal place into a love story.
The desert wasteland/apocalypse alone is worth going to see but the story is awesome too.
9/10
DAMIEN RILEY | World Music | HQ Blog 
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