"Blink Twice" - Review

Struggling young server Frida (Naomi Ackie) gets swept up in an invite to the luxury island of recently controversial tech billionaire Slater King (Channing Tatum), for a long week of partying and hanging out with his friends. But as she and her best friend Jess (Alia Shawkat) unwind with drinking, narcotics and the company of Slater King, his friends and some women they have invited, something seems off...

Zoe Kravitz writes and directs in her debut, and honestly? It's pretty good, even if I wish it had gone for the original title of "Pussy Island".
It's a solid fable of the abusive, unrepentant men and what they do with their power, with things to say about controlling rich people, and even the women who enable them (Geena Davis is in this! Nice!). The mystery, as it unfolds, is fun, and cut supremely well: there's a wonderful use of cameras, and some lizard/reptile imagery. The colour palette is bright and engaging, and it fits on the whole When the film veers into black comedy and satire, it manages to not wobble, and instead still feel like the same film, counteracting the rather grim shit going on (it's exactly what you think it is). The ideas and imagery of memory are well woven into the script. But honestly? The casting is what absolutely makes it:
Naomie Ackie is a wonderful lead, I like her, and her gapped teeth are refreshingly unique. She performs wonderfully.
Alia Shawkat is, again, always welcome (fuck I love "Green Room).
Channing Tatum is an odd choice, but after sleeping on it I found that I liked the performance: it's the first performance of his I've legitimately liked, even though I'm not a big fan of him as a performer.
But the supporting cast are what absolutely knock it out of the park for me.
Adria Arjona lands a 1-2 punch after "Hit Man" with this: redeeming herself for being in "Morbius" with a legitimately great turn as a reality TV star who questions why she is pitting herself against fellow women (she's honestly a highlight for me, and steals the show).
Then, there's an almost meta-commentary on the cast here, which really, really, works in my mind:
Christian Slater (fuck yes! He's BACK, baby!) plays a down and out, once-handsome sidekick and generally pretty funny best friend of Slater, named Vic - inspired casting.
Simon Rex (ADORE him, watch "Red Rocket". Stop reading this, track it down, and watch "Red Rocket") has cemented himself as an incredible performer, and here plays Mikey Saber if he wasn't a porn star: a coat-tail riding leech with none of the charm of Saber. It's great.
Haley Joel Osmont is a self-pitying incel desperate to lose weight incel (not him in real life, I think he seems like a nice guy) but again is great.
And for instant creepiness, you hire Kyle "Twin Peaks" MacLachlan!
Levon Hawke sounds EXACTLY like his dad, and is playing a sleazy Ethan Hawke rom com character, a "nice guy".
The film is slick, interesting and has things to say, and is a solid debut from Kravitz (weird to say that...)...

"Red Rocket" Review

A burnt-out, aging porn star by the name of Mikey Saber (Simon Rex) returns battered and bruised to his backwater hometown in Texas. Down on his luck and desperate to climb back up the ladder into the industry that made him what he is, he stays at the home of his estranged wife Lexi (Bree Elrod) and her mother Lil (Brenda Deiss). With only his charm and his once good looks, he attempts to find a way back in, and comes across a young woman named Strawberry (Suzanna Son) who may just be his meal ticket...

This is a wonderfully well observed and seedy little examination of the underbelly of a forgotten industry; and a character study of a complete and utter leech whom we should run for the hills for the moment we see him, yet cannot help but like him and and be endeared by his charm, which makes him all the more dangerous.
Set against the backdrop of the 2016 US Presidential election, this film is all run down industry, dead end towns, poor people and as a result is actually a lot better and far more honest at depicting the cultural divide in America than many of the hamfisted attempts to capture it in more "political" films. There's an awesome opening shot with Mikey contrasted with the fading, dying industry of Texas, and the whole film continues to have these gorgeous moments like that. My favourite image was of the characters smoking cigarettes with American flag wallpapers continuously over the course of the film. I'll let that sink in for a moment and all that it entails...

Yet for all of its impressive work, it's still a gritty and ugly movie at heart, in the best possible way. Think of this as a prequel to "Star 80" (brief side note: WATCH STAR 80!) and you're going to know what you are in for.
This is, at its core, a movie about a truly despicable leeching piece of shit clinging to the coat tails of anything he can to get by.
And I kind of love him.
Simon Rex is one HELL of a find here, and praise is also going quite rightly to Suzanna Son, who is also excellent in this.
I thought this movie was a really fun, genuinely funny examination of a desperate person clinging to fame in the "land of opportunity" at any cost.