"Sting" - Review

Rebellious artistic girl Charlotte (Alyla Brown, on something of a tear this year) lives in a run down, terrible block of flats run by a slumlady. She struggles with new stepfather Ethan (Ryan Corr, looking like Kim Coates), an overworked man trying his best, especially since he and his new wife Heather (Penelope Mitchell) have a new baby. But soon Charlotte makes a friend: Sting! A teensy tiny spider she keeps in a jar, who seems a lot smarter than other spiders!

An old school creature feature, wrapped snugly in the blanket of a rather endearing family drama with characters we actually root for. In maybe the first 30 seconds you know the makers (Australian Kiaho Roache-Turner, because of course they're Australian) are aiming for 50s pulpy tone with its talk of "meteor showers" and the like; and honestly they kind of nail it. I've missed old-school monster movies, and this one plays itself to the hilt in that genre: the characters are fun, Ethan's arc as a frustrated, exhausted and put upon artist is particularly good and makes him especially endearing. You genuinely root for these guys.
Special shoutout to Jermaine Fowler, who is a particular standout as an amusing pest controller and exterminator.
When the chaos and the murder kick off, it's all in good fun. I don't have a fear of spiders, so this will likely affect arachnaphobes more than myself. That being said, it's all effective and, at times, gory and delicious stuff. The movie does not seek to set the world ablaze, because it doesn't have to.

"Hit Man" - Review

Gary Johnson (Glenn Powell) is a philosophy teacher at a university in New Orleans, with a strange side gig: he helps the police with undercover sting operations trapping those who attempt to hire hit men. When the usual impersonator Jasper (Austin Amelio) is suspended for brutalising 2 teenagers, Gary has to take his place at the last minute. Gary finds he's a natural at this, and begins to take to it. He finds himself playing "Ron", a direct and confident hitman, and his life improving as a result, especially when he meets Maddy (Adria Arjona) and finally gets a chance of love, but does she love "Ron" or Gary?

Very much a Richard Linklater film, he manages to get away with the use of street signs to display the character's state of mind, it feels like a wry and twisted take on the rom-com. Powell is an excellent lead, particularly off the back of "Anyone But You", and the scenes of him in disguises are as if "Fletch" were funny. He plays the 2 parts well, particularly when they blend together as one, and has natural comedic timing. Adria Arjona is making up for being in "Morbius" by actually having stuff to do in this, and taking to the dry humour well.
The 2nd act breakup is done with a little twist in the tale and turned on its head, as the whole film feels like they're filtering the classic romcom through an indie movie and an undercover cop thriller. The genre spins work well, and as for tone, when you await the turn and the card they play, it never feels too jarring, the dry and laid back tone work for it all to come together. Plus Retta from "Parks and Recreation" is in this, always welcome, and Amelio is a fun antagonistic cop character.

"Spy X Family Code: White" - Review

In the fictional nation of Westalis, the spy known as "Twilight" (real name Loid Forger) does what he can to maintain peace between it and the neighbouring nation of Ostania by any means necessary. To this end, the super spy is maintaining a cover story as an ordinary citizen. He is in a false marriage to Ostanian super assassin Yor, A.K.A "The Thorn Princess", who has missions of her own. Completing the charade, the pair have adopted a child name Anya, who secretly has the ability to read minds, and an enormous dog named Bond, who can see the future... Needing to get Anya to do well at her school's cookery contest, Loid and Yor embark on a trip with her to the snowy country of Frigis to learn about the local desert of Meremere, favourite of the headmaster, and get caught up not only in their own heads and problems, but a nation spanning plot involving the evil Colonel Snidel...

I have not watched the series, but it sounds like a fun time. If it's anything like this, I feel I'd enjoy it. The film uses its comedy well: highly strung and exceedingly competent professionals with high end action movie jobs; juxtaposed with Yor being neurotic about whether or not she is a good wife, and Loid getting super into the work of finding ingredients at the expense of his mission. The jokes are well constructed, and translate well. Anya is adorable without being annoying, and is rather well written as child characters go. There are a pair of henchmen on their trail, one of whom is obsessed with Tarot and mysticism, which is a neat little character touch, and the "spy Adventure by accident" joke does not outstay its welcome. I liked this, well done movie! It's well animated and cute enough, and had me giggling at the characters rather than broad slapstick. There is a weirdly well-animated, stylistic poo-gag towards the end. Kudos.

"Love Lies Bleeding" - Review

Louise (Kristen Stewart) runs a gym in 1989 and tries to give up smoking. When drifting, bodybuilding stranger Jackie (Katy O'Brien) comes to town, sparks fly and worlds collide.

After the absolute barn burner of a debut (heh) "Saint Maude", I was fascinated to see where Rose Glass (amazing name) would go: her eye for detail, ugliness, hopeful redemption and classy sinful sleaze has taken her to honestly the one place befitting her talents: film noir.
A grimy, but not salacious, look at 2 spiralling strangers finding each other, and the myriad of decisions and outside events complicating things and causing them to spiral. It's gripping stuff, with a believable, swet central pairing, both flawed and damaged individuals trying to open up and help each other without letting those vulnerabilities be used. There are fantastic shots of the starry skies and the gym reading "Crater Gym", like Jackie is sent from the Heavens, but destined to leave wreckage when she does, and the imagery and beauty of the film continues in those shots; but is also counter-acted and frequently contrasted with "Saint Maude"-esque grit and grime: everything is off colour, everything is run down, an accurate look at the time period rather than a simple shallow neon-tined facsimile of it through nostalgia blind lenses. In this murkiness and ugliness, the beauty is allowed to thrive, but they also succumb to the worst instincts too. There's fantastic consumption and devouring imagery throughout, all maws and insects and yawning chasms, and the sound design is top notch: squelching and bone crunching and creaking of bones, topped by an all-too-fitting Clint Mansell score. Ed Harris shows up and is ALWAYS welcome in things. I love Ed Harris.
It's classic film noir, dripping with imagery and closeups and told with a queer eye and a twist. Already I'm seeing takes which see the dream-like and metaphorical elements at face value, come on guys: it's Rose Glass. Have some media literacy.
I like it. I want to continue to see where Rose Glass goes from here.
Side note: there are more scenes of "downtown devouring" than there are murders here.
But I DO NOT want to see anybody get their toes sucked, what the fuck movie?

"Boy Kills World" - Review

In the not-too-distant future, in a candy-coloured "Utopia Yellow" metropolis, a deaf mute (Bill Skarsgard) trains under a Shaman (Yayan Ruhian) in order to get revenge on the Van Der Koy family, who rule the city and killed his own loved ones. With an inner voice gleaned from a video game he played with his sister (H. Jon Benjamin), he embarks on a colourful odyssey of revenge.

Something of a pisstake of the genre, wearing influences on its sleeve ("Streets of Rage", "Streets of Fire", various comic books, even an "Akira" visual in the closing credits I very much appreciated), it's a rapid fire flurry of mayhem and nonsense, never really overstaying its welcome. Bloody, brutal and turned up to eleven by all concerned, it benefits greatly from devoted performances from all concerned: Bill Skarsgard is very game as the deaf-mute; H. Jon Benjamin is droll as ever; a forever welcome and personal favourite Jessica Rothe (absolute icon and Queen) plays crop-top biker jacket sporting, axe wielding assassin "June 27" and threatens to steal the show, I love seeing her in parts like this; Sharlto Copley once again brings down the house; Andrew Koji (still proving himself to be a favourite of mine too) keeps his winning streak going as a Cockney rebel; everybody is playing it as a comedy. Michelle Dockery brings some of the satire as the token Van Der Koy who televises the violence. It's not trying to say much, it's just an homage and piss take of the movies which came before it: there's an excellent high energy joke involving a man with a beard (Isaiah Mustafa) which blocks The Boy from reading his lips, so he only speaks in gibberish. June 27 wears a helmet with light up symbols and words, a fun touch. As a nod to "The Raid", they even have Yayan Ruhian do his little "open clench fists" thing before a fight, which gave me a lot of glee. It's an excellent, violent pisstake and honestly? It's what "Argylle" wanted to be, only with a tenth of the budget and none of the smugness.
Highlights include a mansion battle and a snowman cereal mascot fight/callback.
It's good, unclean fun.