peedur Reviews

Reptile (2023)

An excellent film - ignore the critics

[9/10 · 4 October 2023]

This is a quiet film - it's hard to sustain interest when crime stories follow a procedural structure. Yet this film manages to hold the tension really taut and consist. I was riveted from the first scene. It's all about character.

What helps here are choices that are quite unexpected. The film's tone and writing are fine-tuned away from the genre's typical focus - thorny plot, being highlighted by theatrically dramatic, scenery-chewing performances. Instead we listen and follow a modulated trail defined by an electrical current of tension that the main characters are experiencing. Captured in faces, often without dialogue. Good actors who also possess faces one can read depth into like textured history.

The story moves forward, but what matters most to the filmmaker is something that we often miss in crime and mystery films: the gradual unveiling of incomprehensibility that cops need to wade through. Mystifying and odd with few easy choices. But here we get the chance to see the actors fill out the realism of the world and story without it feeling like they are governed by plot structure.

Benicio Del Toro's contemplative detective is tempered by a deeply felt mistrust of people. I had forgotten just how good Alicia Silverstone is when understated. The cast is uniformly excellent. The cinematography allows for complexities to be revealed by actors faced

Enjoy the film for what it's actually doing, not what some film snobs think a crime film should be doing, according to genre rules and expectations. I believe that "Reptile" will age well and the critics will be seen as shortsighted.

Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris (2022)

Deeply affecting, and deliberately enchanting

[9/10 · 25 December 2022]

It appears that I am a sucker for this kind of story; it had me emotional by the end and not at all embarrassed about it. This story is powered by a cleaning woman's unique ability to infect others with her selflessness and her indefatigable yearning for a single object of thrilling beauty - a dress by Dior.

Her journey, her artless honesty and pervasive measured decency inspires kindness from every angle. Even the improbable idea of French people being charmed into profound character change by a quiet English cleaning lady feels believable and inspiring.

Beautifully structured and fueled by the grounded, emotional authenticity and unvarnished beauty of Lesley Manville, the story draws in the audience and works hard to get them to hold their breath for the series of modest fairy-tale miracles, culminating in a delightful and (for me, rapturous) conclusion.

I enjoy horror and gloomy drama, but a film like "Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris" can teach me a lot about the power of film to take you to a joyous place and leave you there.

Camille Claudel (1988)

Extraordinary film.

[10/10 · 24 November 2022]

This film burned into my mind after watching it in the theater for the first time. The volcanic performance of Camille Claude by Adjani seems to make Depardieu's Rodin step back in fear.

This film as a Romantic expression of an artistic heart and talent works so unexpectedly well. Claudel throws herself like a doomed operatic character into the storm of her life - her talent crests majestically while her mind and emotional control begin to fail. Photographed beatif

Gabriel Yates's score is breathtaking and helps sustain the anguish of yearning and sadness. I was particularly taken by a detail in the story's structure when it compares Camille's unbridled passion with her brother's more subdued poetry, which contains much of the same hunger and passion but subsumed by his devout Catholicism.

"Camille Claudel" introduced me to her work, which one can see today possessing all the fierce elements of character evident in this remarkable film.

Morgan (2016)

Judge it on its own merits - it's very good

[9/10 · 14 October 2022]

I remain sincerely annoyed at reading the number of movie-comparison-responses here. Clever-dicks always insist on evaluating a film based on a prior film-going experience or collected memory of other films they've seen rather than evaluating the film's own merits.

Morgan is a very well made film and possesses it's own voice to tell a story with echoes of other films and stories, but containing its own unique angle. If a viewer cannot stop his mind from seeking comparisons to other films he's seen, then that's his loss - seems a very sad and shallow experience of life indeed.

Cinematography and production design are perfect, as are performances. I loved Anya Taylor-joy's scene with visiting psychologist played by Paul Giamatti. His does a really interesting job in provoking an emotional response from Morgan. You can track Morgan's transition from bewildered, nascent learned human reactions into her deeper, more organically coded ones about which she is not confused.

The film is richly cast - they add that extra depth only seasoned actors can bring to a project with a straightforward script and a first-time feature director. They bring out texture in what is a essentially a genre film and raise it to something unique. I have seen Morgan 4 time since its release and admire little details I'd missed.

Most recently I've found myself admiring the choice of filmmakers to cast the leading women - Morgan is startlingly pretty while Lee is more "normal" in appearance. It is as if prettiness seems to equate to appealing, emotional responsiveness, while ordinary appearance is a metaphor for predictable, or basic reliability. We are always manipulated by our natural response to beauty, often learning too late that beautiful people are no less capable of evil than unremarkable looking people.

Watch it on its own merits and there's much to admire.

Smile (V) (2022)

A very good movie, with only one flaw

[6/10 · 13 October 2022]

I loved the experience of watching this movie - tension builds authentically and with patience and gravity. I held great hopes. The film straddles two genres: drama and horror.

The problem is that ideas about an "evil presence" or a "supernatural entity" are always a glaring weakness when trying to tell horror/drama stories - you can always see the seam if it's not disguised well.

'The Exorcist' handled this brilliantly, by introducing medical examination of what the characters are going through. We take comfort in the fact that science can easily dispel fears. When science fails to address a problem, thing begin to get scary, as long as the timing, writing and effective direction is done well. This movie does much that works but goes too quickly to get to the supernatural before establishing the scientific credentials.

We get to the protagonist freaking out too early, and we are stuck with horror tropes for too long. Even if the affliction can be partly explained by science, we are still made anxious because it makes no sense overall - people are getting hurt. It just needs more focus on toying with what the audience already knows is real and break that down slowly. The visual effects and loud noises don't scare as much as our view of the known world fragmenting for the audience. They are not fools. Wanna scare them - take their real world more seriously. Focus less on fx and boo-scares. This movie should be a slow burn.

The Batman (2022)

Superb

[9/10 · 5 March 2022]

Superb filmmaking. I love that the film dispenses with that lame fetish of wealth as a superpower. It leads us back to character as The Batman's key trait, and not a moment too soon. Inspired writing for a film rebooted so many times.

A terrific choice is the attempt to find in the rank and file police both a universal distrust of Batman as a meddler in police business, and attempts to avoid caricaturing police as a monolithic brotherhood, instead one of mixed motives, unpredictable and that that may not be unified - not new, but so much more believable.

The narrative is unpeeled slowly and it makes the pleasure of watching feel more like binge-watching a carefully crafted mini-series. I found myself delighting in the slow-reveal and sincerely enjoying how well the movie was made. So much of the techno-glitz of the Nolan films is gone, as is the gothic, operatic, design-y excesses of Burton's legacy. In fact it harkens closer to the stripped-bare "Joker" here. Every larger is unpredictable - you feel that like Batman's over-cranked car, his character is not quite in his control.

I loved the characters and how they were portrayed - Batman was solidly held in Robert Pattinson portrayal and his physicality was also not made foolishly superhuman but more realistic. Gordon was played with firm in non-flashy resolve by Jeffrey White and Zoe Kravitz was perfect as gritty, damaged and driven. Paul Dano was a truly inspired choice and out-Spacey'd Kevin Spacey as a Se7en-like villain. After seeing the film, knowing that Colin Farrell was the Penguin still fails to compute - he literally vanished into that role.

My one thought concerns the roundup at the end - it seemed like there was so much story left to tell with the same conviction and skill, but it wasn't quite there for me. The film prepped us for it, so that was a surprise. A small note in a massive hammer-crash of a film. Supremely enjoyable.

The Thing (I) (2011)

Underestimated

[8/10 · 25 February 2022]

Despite's the flaws it is an excellent effort. Comparing it to one of the great sci-fi horror films ever made is not really fair. Plenty of films are remade and pale in comparison. This one holds up. It's entertaining and adds a gender/power conflict; weird cg effects to be sure, but not awful. The original movie had some unconvincing effects, too, but the strength of the storytelling conviction makes it forgivable. It's worth watching.

Antlers (2021)

Beautiful and bleak

[9/10 · 30 October 2021]

I loved the bitterness infused in this story. It's hard to improve on the far bleaker short story by Nick Antosca, but succeeds in providing more social context, fleshing out the characters, giving them more reasons to make certain choices.

The casting and performances are terrific, as is the cinematography and setting.

My only critique is on of personal taste which concerns the music, which for me, popped me out of the artistic statement of the film, being too conventional and sounding like a "horror score" when something more atonal and abstract could have helped.

Altogether it still contains the bleak, quiet majesty promised. I recommend the film highly.

Locke & Key (2020–2022)

I found this show irresistible, despite flaws

[8/10 · 19 January 2021]

I can certainly understand why some people would find fault with storylines being inconsistent - it jumps genres, from intense drama to fantasy which could be blended better (humor doesn't work at all to hide the seams but it gets used anyway - could be used in a more adult manner) but the premise, atmosphere and production values are superb. The casting of the leads is excellent and they are compelling to watch.

The main problem is there is often too much story crammed into each episode and it all could be less everywhere. The romantic subplots end up a bit too lightweight and could be much more effective if better grounded with more at stake. Generally, i was sucked in and entertained and looking forward to the next season.

UglyDolls (2019)

Reviewers can be toxic - see the film with kids for yourself.

[8/10 · 23 December 2020]

Moviegoers know little to nothing about the difficulty of getting a film for kids made.

They also don't refuse to acknowledge that the business of entertainment is not about meeting every moviegoer's yearning for high art at the movies.

This is a charming little film which isn't cloying or obvious, and perfectly entertaining for its target audience without boring the parents. Your 6-9-year-old will find it as diverting as anything else and will probably like the songs.

That target audience certainly isn't the ever-poisonous, jaundiced, ennuied animation critic crowd, who apparently believe they are judging the film for the Palm d'Or, or expect a movie for kids about dolls to affect them like Apocalypse Now.

Just see the film if you have kids. They might like it a lot.

Searching (III) (2018)

There are better movies using technology as a narrative device.

[4/10 · 14 April 2020]

There are better movies using technology as a narrative framing device - This could have been told without it.

I felt that the film "Unfriended" (2014) made far better use of communicative technology and the social patterns which are formed and which drive the language and framing of ideas.

Little Women (2019)

Hold up chilled hands to the screen for warmth...

[10/10 · 30 December 2019]

I loved this film. Whoever considers this a girl's film has nothing to share of value. "Little Women" speaks to everybody!

I thought for a moment in the beginning of the film that it spoke for families of moderate privilege, but it soon becomes clear that whatever advantages exist for this family, they share with those who have less. In fact they share with those who have more, who quickly recognize the value and are moved by it. The needed, warming heat coming this family emanates from a deep well of generosity which informs thought and feeling of all the sisters in the story. When their mother isn't there, they attempt to aim at her example - when she is there, she exhorts them to aim for their long serving, long absent father's example. The core of individual character is central.

When the film was over, I noticed that nobody in the packed LA theater clapped, as they do with many good films. There was silence - Interestingly, nobody moved for several minutes. I felt that everyone was just absorbing the experience and didn't want it to end. People were chatting loudly about it in the lobby and it made me wonder what the effect really was. I had never heard so many people speak of reading, or never quite finishing the book after watching a film. It had a measurable impact.

For me, I felt that the film defined something important - the target-ideal of American family, of successful parenting, of practical economics, individual honesty, important values and aspirational identity, all of which are all vital and current, in our world today.

That silence after the film felt like a bit of a communal shock - that such a simple story about young women struggling to grow up together in postcard-pretty, late 19th century New England could feel so tremendously moving and emotional.

Please, make yourself feel better - see the film.

Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker (2019)

A terrific movie on it's own merits

[9/10 · 22 December 2019]

I sincerely enjoyed this film from start to finish. Entertaining, engaging, beautifully staged, film-craft at the cutting edge of what is possible. The story and character lines felt very satisfying and emotionally grounded within the fantastical world(s) and atmosphere we've come to expect and enjoy from the Star Wars movies.

Daisy Ridley's Rey and Adam Driver's Kylo Ren are, of course, the most remarkable characters to emerge from the latest films and their mutual story's arc shapes this final movie - it's the necessary heartfelt and grounded relationship needed in a film series which orbits so furiously around the mechanics and set-pieces which make the films so dazzling. What happens to them in this film is worth the wait.

(IMDb critique) I don't claim to be a fan at all but I've enjoyed every release in theaters since the very first film. This release and it's user reviews have been a tipping point for me. Reading user reviews has been interesting and engaging over the years as IMDb has found itself providing a great service to filmgoers and cinema fans alike. For whatever reason, this film's release (and perhaps "The Last Jedi") have made me recognize the destructive influence of the "Twitter-reflex" approach to social media. Instead of measure, there is an entitled, emotion-based gesture which is interpreted as thought or idea. It's a profound misunderstanding of why communication can be interesting at all. The Trump-Tweetfart doesn't bring insight To bear, but it rather assumes every emotional reaction to anything seems worthy of print. I wish users would try to actually be helpful with reviews rather than mistake their most subjective, undigested and unedited response as insight.

Nazi Death Squads (2009)

A very important film - today more than ever

[10/10 · 22 July 2019]

As free and educated people in the West, we are actually doing the unthinkable - we are forgetting the deeply horrifying lessons from Holocaust.

Admittedly, the facts of the Holocaust are sincerely too vast and terrible to adequately understand. But while the numbers don't lie, the narrative can be limited to soften the impact - I believe that's the trouble. Even in Russia, where Germany's invasion unleashed unprecedented destruction for civilians and military, antisemitism is on the rise, even employing the surface features of Nazi symbolism. This is a shock since Russia has attempted to craft a very different narrative (the 'Great Patriotic War'), keeping what was done by Germany very much present in mind of the public.

"Einsatzgruppen: The Nazi Death Squads" is focused on one of the Holocaust's darkest truth, that at least 1.3 million Jews among the 2 million civilian victims of Nazi racial violence were shot one at a time by individuals from the SS, the Wehrmacht and German instigated anti-Semitic groups in occupied countries.

The narrative of the Holocaust which we hear about in the West characterizes it's evil nature describing the mass extermination within concentration camps by gas and ovens - there was cruelty and sadism within the camps, but those instances are few in relation to the staggering numbers of dead from that method. This film is about something extraordinarily savage, about the shooting up close of hundreds of thousands of women and children, repeatedly from 1941 until 1945.

Our western narrative is something of a double-edged sword: it frames the evil in a way which is easy to picture and understand; 'factories of death.' Yet one of the reasons the camps became so important to the Germans is that it allowed them to avoid seeing the those they were killing. The millions of dead are reduced to numbers.

On the other hand, the work being done by the Einsatzgruppen brigades were so intimate and clearly genocidal, ghastly and prolific, that it created serious psychological problems for those Germans taking part - either severe depression and alcoholism or the emergence of brutish, pathological sadism. Himmler and arch-antisemite Reinhard Heydrich were very aware of the damage this was doing to the morale of the troops involved.

This film is extremely well put together and succeeds in creating a vital and accurate picture for this harrowing chapter in Western History.

(Please read "Bloodlands" by Timothy Snyder and watch the film,"Come and See" (1985) - it is a rare and vivid depiction of the action of one Einsatzgruppen brigade). Cannot recommend highly enough.

Pet Sematary (2019)

Didn't earn the right to put the audience through the emotional ordeal.

[2/10 · 15 April 2019]

I was very disappointed by Pet Sematary. As a father of a young child, I was hesitant to see the film, but as a lover of horror and Stephen King stories I was curious, but wary.

I felt that the casting and performances worked very well and on the surface the film began with potential. However, the standard for horror is much higher for films today. This film lapsed very quickly into cliches and tropes which reduced the quality of the experience greatly. I could try to explain why, but it's probably best to just say it quickly felt unintentionally and weirdly pointless - a movie-by-the-numbers.

Where the trailers gave a sense that there was gravitas and meaning in the images, there is little to no subtext in the final images or the mysteries being discussed and discovered. I felt ejected from the narrative because the viewer is being spoon-fed very unimaginative horror moments (spooky music everywhere, without context, ground fog everywhere, too many dream sequences ...). The relationships between father, daughter, mother and neighbor all formulaic to the point of appearing like a caricature of 'normal people' in simple contrast to the carnage to come. Both the writing and direction felt simply uninspired.

The film did not make me believe that they had earned the right to make me experience the deaths - it felt like the family and their cranky New England neighbor were mere vehicles for bland horror cliches. I would not recommend the film.

Vox Lux (2018)

Yikes - starts really well - a narcisstic mess by the end

[2/10 · 12 December 2018]

This film suffers from the same kind of poor choices which would cause someone to, say, make a 9/11 disco musical. It wields an enormous subject and chooses to focus on the most irrelevant aspects of any reaction to that subject.

It doesn't really matter what you want to say - the bizarre, unresolved context for the setup feels faintly obscene and eventually bankrupt. If the point of the film is to illustrate the shallowness of reactions to terror and violence, then it failed to say that. Instead, it looks more like a statement about the parallels between self-expression, terrorism, self-obsession, or losing your identity to celebrity, or something... By the end of the film I was deeply annoyed.

Hats-off the all of the professionals who clearly know how to make an impressive film here. But this story however, is a mess of intensity looking for a point. I believe that it fails eventually because of the indigestible premise.

Overlord (2018)

This how you do it!

[9/10 · 19 November 2018]

This is how you do it! What an amazing experience! First rate film craft at every level.

The story takes it's time to build character interest and with quality writing and performance to hide the seams the narrative holes typically felt by schlock-B-movie concepts which mix genres (War/Horror).

Instead of over-investing in the horror element or resorting to boo-surprises at the expense of storytelling as many films do in this genre, here the viewer experience the horror in context with down-to-earth issues (what is human/inhuman in wartime) and with events in real history - it was refreshing to see that the story never allows the intensity of the horror-problems to outweigh the historical significance of Operation Overlord and it's real-world meaning.

There are plenty of things to critique about this film from a nit-picking level (as in, where did this come from? How was that possible?) but I loved that they didn't succumb to the temptation of trying to over-explain or give the audience time to nerd-out at the supernatural details but giving them something more grounded to be concerned with. Mixing genres, done well.

An extremely satisfying film experience. Recommended

Thoroughbreds (2017)

This is very complex material

[10/10 · 19 May 2018]

These two young people start to see their own appearances, their affect or their psychological characteristics as tools to navigate the world; it is both chilling and real. In this instance, it's in the service of some oft-told narratives, but it's done so well here that it's just a pleasure to watch the craft of film making and acting. While some viewers have stressed the sociopathic qualities the characters represent, I would like to suggest that the film is dealing with something closer to clinical psychopathy with one of the girls, and desperate determination (as well as opportunism) with the other. Nonetheless, this is a terrifically powerful film. Highly recommended.

Impact After the Crash (2013)

An extraordinary film about a terrible tragedy

[10/10 · 2 October 2017]

Completely unfamiliar with this horrifying event, I began watching it expecting a tragedy documentary which would contain information, details and public reactions to the crash.

However, I was drawn into it by the careful and concise stories related by survivors and family members of victims, which lead the viewer in a gradual and compassionate presentation of the awful event as part of a bigger picture.

The filmmaker is privileged indeed in capturing the accounts from the survivors and family members; articulate, thoughtful and emotionally grounded individuals who frankly unveil their experiences, both awful and heartbreaking. Their individual stories unfold to display not merely the impact and it's aftermath, but it's meaning understood by those individuals as it was taking place and subsequently.

The film is deeply emotional, yet unexpectedly uplifting through the separate stories as they evolved and intertwined. The strength of spirit and character of all the interviewees left me very moved. At the end of the film images and names of all of the victims who died in the crash is revealed - I admit to weeping openly. As they alphabetically go down the list the respect paid throughout the film translated those names and faces into loved and cherished individuals.

As a father, I dread to think what a brutal experience this must have been for the parents of children lost that evening. Seeing the survivors describe their recovery, I can only imagine how painful and overwhelming their path was. This community, these families, these dear friends describe the unrelenting permanence of suffering, yet it's tempered by a desire to find or await meaning, and to discover that joy persists - an experience which was much more palpable than I was expecting. A heartfelt recommendation.

The VVitch: A New-England Folktale (2015)

Wanted a Second viewing - was amazed - re-wrote my review

[9/10 · 19 April 2016]

After seeing The Witch the first time I compared it unfavorably to the Shining and found it lacking some structure, expecting a psychological meta-narrative outside of the horror genre and outside the idea of witches in general. I wrote a review not really praising it but finding the film interesting. The film stuck with me, however.

I then read "The Witches: Salem, 1692" by Stacy Schiff which is an historical account of the much later trials (that we are all vaguely aware of, but whose details I for one was unfamiliar with). It also contains some of the material and texture that the filmmaker was employing in writing his film. Reading the book actually made me want to watch the film again and evaluate it on it's own merits, not some half-baked expectations of my own.

I saw it again and was amazed.

I found the film to be powerful, extraordinarily disturbing, dense with period texture and a real horror masterpiece. The psychological narrative was not some modern re-imagining of a mindset plagued by superstition, but an historical reconstruction of an authentic, period world-view which was dramatically and brilliantly played-out - it is eerily effective. I was sad it came to an end - I wanted to see and feel more of the experience the film provides.

I am delighted to have been so wrong about such an amazing film and able to enjoy it again, for the first time! I highly recommend this utterly unique film experience.

13 Hours (2016)

An excellent film

[9/10 · 20 January 2016]

The focus of the film is on the warrior.

In this narrative, these are the only characters, we soon discover, who are capable of achieving anything consequential or valuable when the world goes bonkers. Smart soldiers with experience, a good grasp of human nature and huge dose of genuine valor; these are truly remarkable individuals. The film makes a gradual but serious point: the US citizens in Benghazi who survived the anarchy of the Libyan revolution owe a huge debt to the heroic qualities of these men.

These qualities frankly need someone with a Michael-Bay-sized extravagance to communicate their extreme contribution and heroism. I highly recommend this very well made and satisfying film.

Bone Tomahawk (2015)

What on earth... ?

[2/10 · 16 January 2016]

Literally, a blending two genres. Only here it is without an attempt to determine how they might weaken each other. Other films like "Apocalypto" and "The Revenant," make this attempt with greater success. It's about storytelling factors which prepare the audience for the places we are going.

It looks and feels like a western - characters on the edge of civilization, good and evil motives laid bare, the struggle to establish civilized values in a hostile setting.

The weird, albeit brief detour into gore that the film takes assumes certain horror qualities too. There is the focus on ghastly details which make us fearfully aware of our physical frailty, and "monsters" we encounter look like people, but also come very close to being portrayed as another species, which for me was a problem.

The way these ideas are combined in Bone Tomahawk renders any theme incoherent or non-historic (problematic with westerns). The point the film might be making is that the natives occupying America when settlers moved west were more savage and inhuman that we could ever imagine or relate to. The reality is that ALL cultures have barbaric periods, almost disqualifying inclusion into humanity. Making native Americans appear monstrous without context automatically makes a point not supported by history, but which horror movies rely on and sharpen by contrast.

Are we to believe that there were many such tribes? Is this a true story? Were these troglodyte cannibals typical, or a bizarre sociological anomaly?

Ultimately the gore and graphic violence is shown without necessary context - horrific for it's own sake. It simply grabs the viewers' hair and forces them to witness a ghastly spectacle. We are left gazing at the equivalent of a graphic atrocity on the internet, without warning. Genre usually prepares us for the quality and tone of visual storytelling. I don't believe that the audience was prepared for what we were eventually led to see.

This disconnect wrenched me out of the narrative.

The Green Inferno (2013)

Remarkably lame

[1/10 · 2 October 2015]

I'd hoped for something - maybe a more clearly horrifying, less trashy-exploitative reinterpretation of the 70's Italian shocker that Mr. Roth was faithfully emulating. There WAS something unnerving (and elusive) to "Cannibal Holocaust,"as grubby and amateur an effort that it was. Sadly however, "The Green Inferno" misses whatever that quality was by such a huge margin, one wonders what on earth the filmmaker was thinking. Did he even understand what made that earlier film work?

Cardboard characters with cliché feelings, motivations so caricatured they border on contempt for the audience. We don't care that these characters may perish. Neither the story nor the filmmakers take them very seriously beyond their value as flesh, a miscalculation on several levels.

The internet has conditioned or calloused us to footage of dismemberment, beheading and viscera. This subject was taboo and terrifying in the 70's when one could only see it on the rare videotape - the secretive quality made it so much more forbidden. Today, we actually need more context to be horrified.

The primitive natives could have played a wonderful contrast to the American/European characters, but they were treated with even less interest beyond their basic caricature. A simple look at "Apocalypto" might have given Mr. Roth some pointers about how an alien culture can be horrifying with violence. But there is nothing that lofty here. What the natives do is given the aura of "yikes" rather than dread or horror.

"What is it that makes cannibalism horrifying?" is a question which isn't even asked in this film. The filmmaker takes it for granted that it IS horrifying and leaves it there. There is no exploration beyond the visual; what we do get in terms of exploration feels tame since there is no awareness of why it even needs to be understood.

Horror is not an easy genre to master, we are skeptical about the nature of manipulation. We are more aware than ever about psychology, media, character motivations and what makes stories compelling; it's the reason why TV and film has rapidly become so much more sophisticated. Death requires more context to induce terror - horror movies cannot take anything for granted. Mr Roth's successful efforts concentrate on the issues of sadism/torture and/or the fear of pain. This one takes the subject of cannibalism and doesn't explore it beyond it's basic mechanism.

This is a sad, bland film which is sadder given how much the intent was to be shocking and ghastly. It achieves neither.

Tomorrowland (2015)

Terrific film!!! (Ignore those who didn't get it)

[10/10 · 29 May 2015]

I loved this film! It's an earnest, hard-working story; it attempts the lofty goal of expecting the audience to WANT TO think beyond the film-going experience!

I believe that for Brad Bird, films are not the end-product but a worthy vehicle for grand ideas. Ideas change people - lives are bigger and more important than any film. This is true of all the films he's made (MI excluded).

The ideas of this film are ambitious and difficult to spoon-feed. An audience expecting summer blockbuster fare like the Avengers, Furious 7, Thor or any other "tentpole product" from a studio are bound to be left wanting. Those films are pretty and amusing, but they are not attempting to make you think about what you as a viewer of a film are actually bringing to the world.

I believe that this exactly the point of the film. Some call it preachy, yet I suspect that those who do so were wanting the film to serve up the hoped-for spectacle and inconsequential emotional cadences audiences expect.

I feel the profound yearning in this film to affect change in the viewer. That is a testament to how much Brad Bird believes in his audience. There is a brilliant irony in the snarky disappointment some reviewers articulate - they are actually represented in the film!

You're Next (2011)

I loved this formula film!

[8/10 · 5 January 2014]

I had heard good things about this film - I was pleasantly surprised by how slick and carefully measured this film was! I felt that the direction, performances and camera-work all served the story brilliantly. They held my attention and kept me very entertained! Frankly, I'm confused by the negative reviews the film has received - there is much to admire here. Every scene seems to have a character-driven gem, yet the film never succumbs to the temptation to stray from the needs the film has set out to satisfy.

This story has a interesting variation on masked villains who terrorize with the dehumanizing quality of that trope. I also loved the quality of writing and performances which the siblings' biting interaction complicates and informs how the story evolves.

I especially loved the fresh energy poured through the terrific characters, particularly Erin (Sharni Vinson). The entire film seems to hinge on her sustained force of will and helps ground the film's violence in human terms, rendering yet another layer in the evolution of horror-female as victim/anti-victim.

The film is so lean that describing anything runs the risk of giving away surprises. With that, I simply hope that you give the film a chance - I highly recommend it!