"Barbarian" - Review

Tess (Georgina Campbell) arrives in Detroit for an interview, but when she turns up at her Air BNB she finds it double-booked and inhabited by Keith (Bill Skarsgard). She has nowhere else to go, and ends up having to crash with him on that rainy night. She's in for the night of her life...

Please watch "Barbarian".
Alright, I'll give you more than that.
It's a wild ride, unpredictable, nuts, bloody, and rather fucked up.
It also features some truly excellent performances, oddly from Justin Long, and Richard Brake doing what he does best: turning up to be primally, viscerally upsetting for about 5 minutes.
Fuck I love this madness.

"Hellraiser" - Review

Recovering drug addict Riley (Odessa A'zion) is at a low point in her life, but trying to get better. She has moved in with her estranged but sensible brother Matt (Brandon Flynn), his lovely boyfriend Colin (Adam Faison) and their flatmate Nora (Aoife Hinds). After tumultuous arguments and temptations to get back on the wagon, her fellow addict boyfriend Trevor (Drew Starkey) has a plan: they can steal an imported collector's item belonging to reclusive strange millionaire Mr Voight (Goran Visnjic), sell it and make off like bandits, especially since Voight died in mysterious circumstances and won't miss it...
But when they open the shipping container, all they find is a luscious, mysterious puzzle box. And when they open it, Riley is haunted by visions of... something (Jamie Clayton), and she will be introduced to mysteries and wonders beyond the deepest, darkest desires of mankind...

"Hellraiser" has had a rough time over the years. Since maybe "Hellraiser 2", it's had maybe the worst sequels of any big horror movie franchise (I'm including "Leprechaun" in that list). At least "Friday the 13th" had a couple of gems, and "Nightmare on Elm Street" had 2, 3 and "New Nightmare".
This is very much a return to the bloody, depraved, oh-so-horny form that we love Clive Barker for, and keeps true to the mayhem and mauling of his libidinous original vision. It's a gnarly, bloody, raucously fun trip into the depths of depravity, with some truly excellent new Cenobite designs, some wonderful gore and kills pushing the limits of what we've seen so far, imaginative weirdness, and the always wonderful Jamie Clayton (whom the movie really blue-balls us on, to its benefit) putting in an excellent performance as The Hell Priest and getting most of the best lines. Riley gets a fantastic role-reversing moment to switch things up when the Cenobites seem to be dominating them, and the puzzle box hurts you the more you solve it, making you WANT to obtain the prize. Special shoutout to the underrated Goran Visnjic, who gets one of the most painful moments in the film, and plays a truly reptillian character, he's excellent.
It's what you want from "Hellraiser", and I reccommend it to fans of the series, as well as those new to it.

"Vengeance" - Review

Pompous dickbag columnist Ben Manalowitz (BJ Novak) lives the life of a carefree playboy bachelor in New York, exceedingly proud of his "Blue Check Mark" on Twitter. He receives a phone call one evening as he spends time with a conquest of his, tearfully informing him that his girlfriend Abilene (Lio Tipton) has died. He's confused, who is Abilene? He frantically searches his phone for any clues, and comes across a casual fling. Not wanting to be rude, he agrees to come to Texas for the funeral, where he meets her family: bullish brother Ty (Boyd Holbrook), her mother Sharon (J. Smith Cameron), her savvy film maker sister Paris (Isabelle Amara), her wannabe celebrity sister Kansas City (Dove Cameron) and her little brother "El Stupido" Shaw (Eli Abrams Bickel). Awkwardly trying to fit in, Ben is told emphatically by Ty that this wasn't an overdose, that Abilene never touched drugs, and that, as her boyfriend he is part of the family and they should team up to get vengeance on the sick sons of bitches who did this. The Texas way. Ben, oily weasel that he is, realises that he may have a story here. His proudcer (Issa Rae) agrees, and so this city boy begins to lie and weasel his way into the lives of a grieving family, to seek vengeance for a girl that none of them may have actually known at all...

Apologies for the longer than normal synopsis there, but there is more to this one than the simple tale of "revenge". From that setup, we get something which goes under the skin: a fish-out-of-water, "Dear Evan Hanson"-esque tale of an utterly pretentious wanker shitbag using a grieving family and his tenuous connection to their dead child as a way to wax lyrical and try to get a Pulitzer prize with his shit podcast. It's actually quite good stuff, including a very funny awkward eulogy at Abilene's funeral he makes up on the fly, Ty mistaking Ben's reticence for grief, and then punctuated by Ben being allowed into the family's home and Abilene's room to stay, where he and the audience are reminded that this is a real person with real wants, needs, dreams and loves. It's an effective gut punch. The film then has fun with the chalk and cheese of Ben and the Shaw family values (my favourite Barry Sonnenfeld film), as well as how Ben's prejudices are unfounded and the Shaw family are smarter and more savvy than he thinks. It's cathartic watching this asshole learn and fall out with the populace, getting things wrong and makes a fool of himself. Because this is an insidiously shitty thing he is doing, and the movie has a few swipes at his profession and the need of him and others to view these people as "characters" rather than people.
Novak has his own voice, a rather verbose and wordy one, which shines through with the Ben character, but unfortunately trickles through into the other characters: who will also have large wordy grandiose speeches on the nature of vengeance and man. Granted some of it is him getting through to them, accompanied by some truly spectacular cinematography in parts (a scene in a car where he casts aside his pretentions and just embraces beauty of the world around him with no caveats is one which stands out), but it can feel a tad jarring.
The film could have benefitted from being darker, in my eyes, going for a more "Red Rocket" rawness or grit to everything, and the central mystery of who was involved with Abilene is easy to figure out (it's the one character we are introduced to with a fairly big role but nothing to do in the plot otherwise), but when it wants to get down to the brass tacks of what it's goig for, it's pretty on the money. It juggles the opioid epidemic and wealth in the US, and the plight of the working man, and has something of a fresh take on revenge.
It could have been darker, but it is a darkly funny debut. Lio Tipton is underused.

"Don't Worry Darling" - Review

In a picturesque 1950s American town in the desert, Alice (Florence Pugh) lives an idyllic life with her husband Jack (Harry Styles) who, along with the other men in town, goes to work on "Project Victory" deep in the desert. They refuse to talk about what they work on, so in the interim she makes do with life as a housewife, alongside other residents in the town. But something nags at the back of her mind, and she wants to know what "Project Victory" is all about.
So Alice begins to go down the rabbit hole...

From one of the writers of the brilliant "Booksmart", the pieces of Wilde's directorial sophomore effort seem familiar on the surface, and you're waiting for how they come together, how they click, what they do with them. There are hints of "Stepford Wives", "Get Out", "The Truman Show", "Antebellum" and more (spoilers maybe...) all bubbling under the surface as we try and figure out how the inevitable twist will come into play.
So in the interim we have to focus on the performance of Pugh, which is good, and the supporting characters around her, who are also good (Nick Kroll is in this for some reason.). Harry Styles is an odd choice of casting (especially with the extended, "Annette"-style cunnilingus scenes) and is stilted and off, but later on when he puts on a different accent that is not his own he's actually a better actor. So it has to be intentional, and it works for the part. There's a scene in a car where he's pretty good.
Others float in and out of the movie, though it's mostly Pugh's performance, notably a criminally underused Gemma Chan (dressed as a school teacher and wielding a stick if that's your thing) as Shelley, the real queen bee and power behind the throne due to her husband, and Olivia Wilde herself as the alcoholic neighbour and mother of two, something of a climber and gossip in the social circle.
Chris Pine plays Frank (married to Shelley and in charge of this town... subtlties are not required) and threatens to steal the show despite his limited screen time. He channels his natural charm and charisma, and plays Frank as a cult leader. More specifically, he is uncannily like Jordan Peterson, which is fucking hilarious. Once you hear it, you won't be able to "unhear" it. Apparently Peterson is unhappy with being portrayed as a shallow, vindictive, pseudo-intellectual, spiteful mysoginist who holds cult-like devotion from men unhappy with their lives and believing he has all the answers.

Pine's bloody excellent here, as good as Pugh. He truly shines, as does the film, at a dinner party scene, where it becomes two actors trying to outsmart each other in a social circle, and power dynamics and control and gaslighting lead the way.
But whilst the performances are good, the rest of it becomes a little wobbly.
The first scene transition/edit is jarring and messy, but thankfully not quite "Suicide Squad" or "House of Gucci" levels, and though the movie feels over-tightened in later parts, it's never terribly done after that. There's some good imagery of eyes and spirals (I'm pretty sure that I want this cinematographer to just remake "Uzumaki" and they'd crush it, as it's the same guy, Matthew Libatique, who did "The Fountain" and "Requiem for a Dream", and fucking "Venom" apparently!) and a pastel colour palette which I rather enjoy. It's a contrast to the horror around them.
But some of the directorial choices are a little off, the tension is never quite there. A few excellent sound design choices (the meat early on being fried) and visuals (a finger tracing patterns over the town's roads and a slow overhead zoom from the middle of the model of the town) save it from being too "off", and make this more a diamond in the rough which never quite soars. I think that it would have benefitted from a more sparse, ponderous, intimate style like Scandanavian noir or a kitchen sink drama or "45 Years".
I like it, with all it juggles and its central message/twist, and want to see Olivia Wilde direct more things and work on her craft. It would be fun to see what she makes next.
But watch "Booksmart", for the love of Christ.

"Bodies, Bodies, Bodies" - Review

A storm is brewing. Bee (Maria Bakalova) is being taken by her girlfriend Sophie (Amandla Stenberg) to meet the latter's friends. They're having a "hurricane party" at the luxurious home of the ridiculously wealthy David (Pete Davidson), where Sophie can introduce Bee to her friends and catch up with people she's not seen since she went to rehab. They consist of the aforementioned David, a cocky amusing rich kid; the bitchy and passive aggressive leader Jordan (Myha'la Herrold), whose boyfriend Max is on the way and previously punched David in the eye; David's girlfriend Emma (Chase Sui Wonders), an upbeat actor; the shallow but nice podcaster Alice (Rachel Sennott), who seems genuinely happy to see Sophie again; and her mysterious cool older vet boyfriend Greg (Lee Pace). The gang's clearly got some unresolved issues with each other, particularly Sophie, and this starts to come to a head when they play "Bodies, Bodies, Bodies", all the while the storm approaches from outside and brews anew inside. Bee finds herself trapped in the middle of this evening as it gradually unfolds into a nightmare.

The trailer puts a certain vibe out there, and in the hands of a less-talented cast, director, writer and more, you can vividly imagine the cringe-inducing January horror movie of shallow, pettiness and lukewarm satire.
Instead, we get an excruciating social-anxiety inducing build up of these characters in a hellish setting, as Bee is forced to watch and endure and avoid things like the passive-aggressive Jordan, the obnoxious David, and even a few secrets Sophie has of her own.
Then when it kicks off, it remains a hilarious, slick, incredibly funny murder mystery, as the myriad of gossip, dirty secrets, well-seeded character arcs and brutal inter-personal fights come together in a meeting of mayhem and blood. There is a truly standout scene in a gym, akin to the lighthouse sequence in "Battle Royale", and the switching, subversion and development of the gang work in the film's favour and give it a much-needed edge and bite. A lot of hay will be made about lines in the trailer like "you trigger me" and "you're so toxic!" but in context the lines are excellent, they're given prominence in the trailer specifically to get some sort of reaction and rise. The characters are well-written, and performed even better
A stirling sophomore effort, funny and slick.
The ending is pure genius.

"Crimes of the Future" - Review

In a not too distant bio-tech future, pain has disappeared, and surgery is the new sex. Performance artist Saul Tenser (Viggo Mortensen) and his assistant Caprice (Lea Seydoux) push the limits of art with live extractions of hitherto unknown organs grown and extraced from Tenser in front of a wanting, clamouring audience. We follow them as they meet strange technicians Router and Berst (Nadia Litz and Tanaya Beatty), a sweet-bar chewing stranger with an unusual idea for Tenser's next performance (Scott Speedman); a nervy doctor at the "National Organ Registry" (Don McKellar) and his strange, nervous, somewhat aroused assistant Timlin (Kristen Stewart), in a world where pain, pleasure, organic, synthetic and normal and strange blur together in a cocktail of weirdness...

I love David Cronenberg.
There are no rules, this is a meandering, odd, compellingly strange tale akin to his older stuff ("The Fly", "Rabid", "Videodrome") right down to the deliberately off-kilter acting to help us be desensitised to this painless world the characters live in. It's very much a mood piece, and plot and character growth (Hah!) come second. It's a movie where people will chat about the morality and philosophy of evolution and art and flesh. It's a movie where the plot only really comes into play in the 3rd act, though to be fair the ending is pretty fucking good.
A woman performs fellatio on a man's organs.
A man covers himself in ears.
Chairs help a person eat by moving you around for maximum digestion and pleasure.
Saul and Caprice fuck whilst cutting themselves.
It's "Crash" with a growling, Michael Wincott-esque Mortensen, and I love it. It's arthouse gore with no real rules or conventions or care for typical structures and pacings the audience are used to, it's just Cronenberg being Cronenberg and having stuff to say and explore. Yes, there's a lot of it, and yes he goes all over the place and yes it doesn't conform to traditional narrative too well.
But it's undeniably his film, and enjoyable to boot. I love it, especially if you hold it up as something of a contrast to the cookie-cutter production line swill pumped out by many studios.
Love it or hate it, it's got vision and creativity and ideas.

Three Thousand Years of Longing - Review

A narratologist (Tilda Swinton) is going to tell you a story.
She is going to tell you a tall tale of tormented truth, for if she spoke it as it happened, you would not believe her. It is a story of love, loss, loneliness and the power of tales themselves, about the hold that stories have on us, and how blinded we are to our own legends. It is a tale of how she met a Djinn (Idris Elba) in a hotel room, and was granted 3 wishes, and a tale of tales as he asked to be regaled by his mythos leading to this perfect, fortuitous moment.
From the director of "Mad Max: Fury Road".

Please watch this.
George Miller has woven (with co-writer Augusta Gore, and based upon a short story by A.S Byatt) a modern day fairy tale. No cynicism, no jokes, no sneering disregard for such a thing - just something akin to "100 Years of Solitude" or "Arabian Nights", with what is essentially just 2 characters telling stories in a hotel room. He uses effects and editing to splendid degree (check out the simple storytelling flourishes of a book being placed in a box, to quite heartbreaking effect, alongside oil-paintings of world building and mood pieces), capturing an intoxicating and beguiling wonder of a natural storyteller. It's romantic, dark, twisted, fluid, and magical in equal measure, and the dialogue is like poetry out of these actors' mouths. You will be rooting for these crazy kids by the end of it (all the way to a sweet and well-earned conclusion) and it's something of a refreshing drink from an oasis in these dark and soulless times.
And it has Idris Elba naked for 90% of its runtime.
And Tilda Swinton sounds like her character in "Snowpiercer", if that's your thing.

I joke that you can't believe this is from the director of "Mad Max: Fury Road", but honestly: if you've seen "Babe: Pig in the City", you'll get it.