Search This Blog

Showing posts with label Alan Ruck. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alan Ruck. Show all posts

Sunday, November 15, 2020

MOVIE REVIEW: FREAKY

 























A mystical, ancient dagger causes a notorious serial killer to magically switch bodies with a 17-year-old girl.

Director: Christopher Landon

Cast: Vince Vaughn, Kathryn Newton, Katie Finneran, Celeste O'Connor, and Alan Ruck.

Release Date: November 13, 2020

Genre: Comedy, Horror, Thriller 

Rated R for strong bloody horror violence, sexual content, and language throughout

Runtime: 1 h 41min

Review:

Christopher Landon obviously loves horror movies it was obvious in his 2017 debut Happy Death Day and even more so in his newest film Freaky.  Horror aficionados will find plenty of little Easter Eggs scattered throughout the film.  The film itself is a fairly hilarious riff on the Freaky Friday trope with Vince Vaughn delivering one of his best performances in recent memories.  Vaughn is thoroughly committed to the role and his comedic timing makes him the best thing on screen throughout the film.  Watching him channel a teenage girl in his massive frame is just comedic gold especially as the situations get more and more absurd.  Kathryn Netwon isn't asked to do much outside of holding a steely gaze and look menacingly at her victims.  She does have a few moments were she lets loose a bit but them moments are few and far between.  It's mostly Vaughn's showcase but that doesn't mean that supporting players like Celeste O'Connor and Misha Osherovich don't get their time to shine with the latter leaving a memorable impression.  Those looking for real scares might be a little let down since there are a handful of jump scares and gore aplenty but you'd be hard pressed to ever call it scary.  Freaky leans much more on the comedy side and it works well as a farcical horror comedy where you can leave your brain at the door.

B

Thursday, June 16, 2016

Cindy Prascik's Retro-Review: Happy 30th Anniversary, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off!





Dearest Blog: Yesterday, as is only fitting, I blew off work to revisit Ferris Bueller's Day Off on the big screen, on this, its 30th Anniversary.
You've had three decades to catch up with this one, dear reader(s), so this review/retrospective may be spoilerific, and I'll hear no complaints! Also, do forgive me if I ramble. This movie holds a very special place in my heart!
Chicago's coolest teen skips school and leads two friends on a series of adventures around the city.
True story: Way back in 1986, I saw Ferris Bueller's Day Off at the theatre, not because I went to see Ferris Bueller's Day Off, but because the cinema offered it as a free Saturday "sneak peek" before whatever feature we intended to see. 
We got a free poster and a free badge (both bearing the legend "Leisure Rules," and both of which I still have), and, though the intended viewing is long forgotten, Ferris Bueller's Day Off stood as my favorite movie for more than two decades, and still clings to a spot very near the top of my All-Time Favorites list.
Writer/director John Hughes refers to Ferris Bueller's Day Off as his love letter to the city of Chicago, but it is perhaps cinema's greatest love letter to the 1980s as well. Everything on the screen bursts with the vibrant colors that epitomize the decade, from the perfect blue sky to the crazy 80s fashions (anybody still have one of those fringed jackets?), to that gorgeous candy-apple-red Ferrari. The picture boasts a magnificent 80s soundtrack, featuring Big Audio Dynamite, the B52s, Yellow, Sigue-Sigue Sputnik, English Beat, Dream Academy, and General Public. The band posters that paper Ferris' bedroom walls tip the cap to some of the decade's even cooler acts: the Damned, Flesh for Lulu, Bryan Ferry, and Simple Minds.
There's no denying the some terrible, scary things happened in the 80s. The Cold War. The Challenger disaster. Nonetheless, this movie reflects the unrelenting joy and positivity that permeated much entertainment and popular culture of the time. How do you get through the bad if there's not a sunny afternoon at the ballpark, a visit to the art museum, or lunch at a nice restaurant on the other side? Sitting at Wrigley Field, Ferris tells his best friend Cameron: "If we played by the rules, right now we'd be in gym," as the camera cuts to a group of miserable-looking boys jogging around a high-school track. THAT was being young in the 80s: Sure, that other stuff is still going on, but let's have some fun!
From the guy whose name is above the title to the random student sleeping on his desk, the cast of Ferris Bueller's Day Off is perfect. Matthew Broderick is the consummate "cool kid," in both appearance and demeanor. Not for a minute is it hard to believe he could parlay a senior skip day into an entire town pulling for his good health! 
The lovely Mia Sara is the ultimate cheerleader girlfriend, a beauty most of the boys at school would be afraid to ask out, let alone claim as their own. As Ferris' long-suffering sidekick, Alan Ruck does most of the movie's heavy lifting. His deadpan humor is terrific, but even better is his embodiment of a teen with a miserable home life, coming to an age when his parents will be forced to respect him as an adult. A popular movie like Ferris Bueller's Day Off always seems to be on somewhere, to the point it becomes background noise, but these are the things that really make it special and warrant your full attention, still. While the grownups are merely cogs in the wheel of Ferris' adventure, they are iconic nonetheless, and it's Jeffrey Jones and Edie McClurg who provide the picture's best laugh-out-loud moments.
Ferris Bueller's Day Off serves as a reminder of a few things too infrequently found in Hollywood these days: A movie that's no longer than it needs to be, a movie that's funny without being mean or rude, and, most importantly, a movie that's unique. The well-paced picture clocks in just shy of two hours, and boasts a consistently good-natured humor that is all but lost on today's movie landscape. It is a delightful, original bit of filmmaking that is, simply, a perfect reflection of its time.
Ferris Bueller's Day Off clocks in at 103 minutes, and is rated PG13 for "some strong language and adult situations."
Ferris Bueller's Day Off is an unmatched classic that continues to stand the test of time. 
Many thanks to Marquee Cinemas and Flashback Cinema for this opportunity to celebrate the movie's 30th Anniversary in style! 
Of a possible nine Weasleys, Ferris Bueller's Day Off unquestioningly deserves all nine.
In the immortal words of Ferris himself: "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it." 
Until next time...
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...