"The Life of Chuck" - Review

It's the end of the world. Schoolteacher Marty Anderson (Chiwetel Ejifor) watches the slow, gentle descent with a melancholic acceptance, as people take stock of what matters and madness spirals around them, peeling away all that doesn't matter and makes it all seem to small. Making events odder are constant adverts and billboards thanking a gentleman named Chuck (Tom Hiddleston) for 39 years. Over the end of the world, an extended musical number and a coming-of-age tale - a trio of chapters tell a story of a man's life in snapshots.

(Picture Credit: Cosmopolitan. Thank you for still using JPEGs)
Somewhat bizarrely, this is directed by Mike Flanagan: bizarre in that it is not a horror movie, and that it is somewhat hopeful and upbeat. But it being Mike Flanagan we get a fucked up hand and a selection of cameos and supporting parts from Carl Lumbly ("Doctor Sleep"), Jacob Tremblay ("Doctor Sleep". Please watch "Doctor Sleep"), Katie Siegel ("Hush", "Oculus", "Oujia: Origin Of Evil", "Gerald's Game") and Karen Gillan ("Oculus"), and even a soundtrack by the Newton Brothers. It's an experimental fare: told in three parts, in reverse, switching genres each time from melancholic apocalyptic drama to extended musical sequence and finishing on a longer coming-of-age story; incredibly unusual and something of a curveball as a film. It's pretty good for the most part.
The switch and mix-match of genres is an aquired taste, and for some it may go on too long in parts 2 and 3, but personally I enjoyed them. They slotted together nicely and with care, the film shot in a way which captures the vividness of King's writing: we're caught with those details, little things leap out at us. It's a remarkably poingnant film about how when we die, we remember not what we choose to but random moments in life: there is no rhyme or reason to it, and that is what makes these moments wonderful. A dance. A sound of a tap. Sharing a moment with a woman (Annalise Basso) having the worst day of her life and just intrinsically knowing it will get better. My favourite scene, and the one which got me choked up, is the one with Flanagan's partner Katy Siegel as Miss Richards the hippie teacher not cut out for the school system explaining what Walt Whitman's "I Contain Multitudes" means: people who change our life (especially in the schooling system) are there all too briefly, they'll vanish in a moment, existing only as a briefly vivid light in the skies of our minds.
Mia Sara (much missed!) is wonderful, as is Mark Hamill as a grandfather; and "Miss Rohrbacher" is the most Stephen King name in recent memory. It's a sweet, soaring, whimsical film.
We indeed contain multitudes.

"M3G4N 2.0" - Review

Years after her family-friendly toy went rogue and killed several people, robotocist Gemma (Allison Williams) has reinvented herself as an advocate for safety measures for A.I and preaching the dangers of technology one must monitor, whilst also caring for her fellow survivor and now-teenage niece: aspiring tech developer Cady (Violet McGraw). But her life is upended when the FBI approach her seeking help in tracking down rogue robot AMELIA (Ivanna Sakhno), currently on something of a rampage against creators. Gemma, cornered and under suspicion, is forced to team up with her killer creation M3GAN once again, in order to protect herself and Cady, and stop the evil robot's killing spree...

After the surprising success of the solid, fun satire of "M3G4N", the makers have been ordered to make a sequel and thus pulled a "Happy Death Day 2 U" and hurled everything possible at the screen. Fortunately they have recruited Akela Cooper, co-writer of cinematic masterpiece and peak cinema "Malignant" to help them in this endeavour, and have doubled down on the comedy, tossing out the horror almost entirely, for a rather messy film which just about lands on the right side of amusing fun to be enjoyable. Embracing the camp was also a good idea. The second act is a mess, and the mish-mash of ideas mean it's rather scattershot in its approach, but the jokes come thick and fast, Jenna Davis is having a wonderful time as the titular M3G4N, and Jermaine Clement shows up and steals the show as a tech bro shit, which is always welcome. It's a lot bigger than the previous movie, and has doubled down on what fans ask for: there's a dance sequence, M3G4N is Saturday morning cartoon evil but with a budding "family pet" relationship which is rather enjoyable; and whilst the villain is fucking dreadful (aiming for milquetoast but coming off as limp, weak and wooden in parts) as well as predictable, it's made up for by the performance of AMELIA, who adds physicality and straight-woman proceedings to it all. The makers bring in another "James Wan Cop" turned up to 11 in the form of Timm Sharp's FBI agent, and when it goes screw-loose bananas off the reservation, it still remembers to keep it light and roll with it. The writing seems more "tossing out an idea, geting bored with it, tossing it out and moving on" than a deliberate blending of genres, but I liked it well enough. Weirdly they bring back both of the assistant comic relief characters of the first film (Brian Jordan Alvarez and Jenna Van Epps) but keep finding ways to write out the later without killing her, and keeping comedic shenanigans of the first. I enjoyed it, and I'd probably watch it on Film4 in the evening if it were on. Just watch "Child's Play" 2019 if you need this sort of thing, but it's still fun.

"M3GAN" - Review

After losing her parents in a car accident, Cady (Violet McGraw) is sent to live with her aunt Gemma (Allison Williams). Gemma is struggling to adapt, especially since she is being pressured by her bosses at toy company Funki to create a new cheaper version of their killer apps. She finds a seemingly perfect solution in "M3GAN": a sentient, perpetually learning doll (Amie Donald, in physical form, and voiced by Jenna Davis) who will be the only toy that Cady would ever need...

Finally a January horror movie which gets it, and is not terrible. Oh don't get me wrong, it's not particularly frightening or full of many surprises (and is somewhat hampered by its 15 rating), but it works as a fun, breezy satire on technological obsession and addiction, and its replacements for genuine connection and attention. "Child's Play" this is not, but it is fun and humorous enough that you can tell it's from the wonderful Akela "I Wrote Malignant, so Deserve More Attention" Cooper. Plus a detective shows up for a single scene, and got perhaps unintentional laughs from me for being the most James Wan cop character outside of Detective Kokoa "Malignant" Shaw and Detective Donnie Wahlberg in "Dead Silence".
Good fun stuff