MOVIE REVIEW: ODDITY

 

After the brutal murder of her twin sister, Darcy goes after those responsible by using haunted items as her tools for revenge.

Director: Damian McCarthy

Cast: Gwilym Lee, Carolyn Bracken, Tadhg Murphy, Caroline Menton, Jonathan French, Steve Wall

Release Date: July 19, 2024

Genre: Horror, Thriller

Rated R for some bloody images/gore and language.

Runtime: 1h 38m

Review:

Oddity is a lean, well constructed spook fest that sets up scares with impressive skill that echoes Guillermo del Toro's The Devil's Backbone.  Damian McCarthy displays a self assured confidence behind the camera as he smartly constructs his film to establish mood and setting.  He manages to use a series of well timed jump scares to hammer home the overall tension he establishes early on.  In lesser hands, these jump scares might come off as an easy out, but McCarthy manages to pull you into the story's central mystery in order to set you up for the sudden shocks.  His judicious use of these moments works in the film's favor as he allows the film's cast to carry the film with excellent performances across the board especially Carolyn Bracken in a dual role.  Bracken does the majority of the heavy lifting as the surviving, blind twin sister who possesses supernatural ability and a rather large wooden Golem.  She brings an unnatural aura to her performance that gives the character an otherworldly feel.  Her interactions with Caroline Menton and Gwilym Lee are unsettling because there's a steady sense that her character knows far more than she's letting on.  Menton, who plays the widower's new girlfriend, is appropriately freaked out from the moment she shows up while Lee's turn in more measured throughout.  He brings a quiet charisma and charm to his role which makes the late reveal effective even though it's fairly predictable.  The story in general doesn't offer a ton of surprises and nearly everything turns out the way you'd expect.  It’s a testament to the talent on both sides of the camera that Oddity works as well as it does even with a fairly straightforward story.

B

Cindy Prascik's Review of Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

 

My dearest reader(s), it's been quite a long while again, hasn't it? I hope everyone is enjoying the close of Spooky Season and the start of Santa Season!

It's been a busy month for this ghoulish gal, but this week I made time to watch the new documentary, Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.

Bruce Springsteen assembled the E Street band more than 50 years ago, and while the film touches on history and offers little tributes to members lost (Clarence Clemons and Danny Federici, RIP), the main focus is on the ongoing world tour, from the first rehearsals through some of this past summer's European dates. The movie runs about half the duration of a real Springsteen concert, but there's plenty of live footage to hold you over 'til your next E Street show.

Bruce provides some narration to these proceedings, turning on his best teacher voice to impart viewers with wisdom earned in five decades on the road. Interviews with band members, old and new, seem less formal. Tone of the discussion swings from happy relief and gratitude for being able to return to touring post Covid, to somber acknowledgement that nobody gets to do this forever. The live footage, though, that is pure joy, for band and fans alike.

As documentaries go, this one won't set the world on fire. If you're a fan of the subject matter you'll enjoy it, and certainly the music is always good enough to earn new fans, but the film itself is a bit pedestrian.

Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band clocks in at a quick 99 minutes and is unrated. These are rock n' roll people, but I don't recall too much in the way of adult content.

Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street band is a good watch thanks to its legendary subject, and I'm a real sucker for "back onstage after Covid" stories. Of a possible nine Weasleys, Road Diary gets seven.

Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band is now streaming on Hulu amd Disney+.

Until next time...

MOVIE REVIEW: VENOM : THE LAST DANCE

Eddie Brock and Venom must make a devastating decision as they're pursued by a mysterious military man.

Director: Kelly Marcel

Cast: Tom Hardy, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Juno Temple, Rhys Ifans, Peggy Lu, Alanna Ubach, Stephen Graham

Release Date: October 24, 2024

Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, bloody images and strong language.

Runtime: 1h 50m

Review:

Venom: The Last Dance ends the Tom Hardy bromance trilogy on a stilted, occasionally goofy but ultimately underwhelming note.  Tom Hardy clearly enjoys making these films as he gets to banter back and forth between himself as both characters but the film's have rarely matched his commitment and focus.  This entry has a strange herky-jerky feel to it as it struggles to find any sort of consistent tone which is made even harder with a lazy script.  Kelly Marcel does her best to make the whole thing watchable with some Looney Toon inspired action sequences that are bits of contained madness which bring some life to film before it dips back down into the uninspired drudgery that makes up the plot.  Tom Hardy does his best to carry the film but the comedy here rarely lands the way it should which makes the film's hour and fifty minutes feel longer than it should.   Chiwetel Ejiofor and Juno Temple slum it here in underwritten supporting roles but try their best to make something out of the paper thin characterizations on the page.  Ejiofor is an immensely talented actor which makes it hard to watch him slog through the incredibly generic dialogue as a foil to Temple's overly naive, wide eyed scientist.  Rhys Ifans pops up in small but fun supporting role but he's in a similar battle against the script.  There's very little that happens that comes as surprise until it leads to the predictable final battle.  That CGI heavy battle provides plenty of symbiote action vs generic alien creatures which look like unused Men In Black character designs.  The whole thing ends with an odd  TV finale style montage that seems to hammer home the point that this is the end of the trilogy which aims to inspire an emotional response more meaningful than a general shrug.  

D

MOVIE REVIEW: WOMAN OF THE HOUR

 

In 1970s Los Angeles, as a wave of murders makes headlines, a young woman aspiring to become an actress and a serial killer cross paths during an episode of a dating show.

Director: Anna Kendrick

Cast: Anna Kendrick, Daniel Zovatto, Nicolette Robinson, Tony Hale, Autumn Best, Pete Holmes

Release Date: October 11, 2024

Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery

Unrated

Runtime: 1h 35m

Review:

Anna Kendrick's directorial debut, Woman of the Hour, is an efficient true crime dramatization that shows promising talent behind the camera for its star/director.  Kendrick displays a steady confidence in the director's chair as she has a clear vision of how she wants to tell this story.  She gives the film a moody, unsettling feel from the onset where the implicit threat of violence is ever present in the form of Daniel Zovatto's charming but off putting Rodney Alcala.  Zovatto's turn is measured for the majority of the film, which makes the eventual moments of violence all the more impactful.  He also manages to convey the intelligent charm and braggadocious nature that made Alcala an engaging figure.  Zovatto packed on a few pounds to deemphasis Alcala's looks, but it gives the screen version more outright, creepy vibe which would sound alarm bells for most women especially when he's offering to take them to a secluded location.  It appears to be a conscience choice in order to avoid glamorizing the serial killer at the center of the story but it does create a bit of narrative turbulence as its harder to explain why these women were so trusting.  Its saps a bit of tension from the story which is unavoidable in general since the outcome is fairly well known.  That being said it doesn't keep Kendrick's scenes with Zovatto from packing an uncomfortable punch in the film's final act.  It’s capped off by an impressively staged sequence in an empty parking lot between the two as there's a palpable change in the dynamic as things turn more predatory and dangerous.  It’s a moment where you get a real sense of the promise Kendrick's has as a director and it should leave you eager to see what she does in her sophomore turn.   

B+

MOVIE REVIEW: SMILE 2

 

About to embark on a new world tour, global pop sensation Skye Riley begins to experience increasingly terrifying and inexplicable events. Overwhelmed by the escalating horrors and pressures of fame, she must face her dark past to regain control of her life before it spirals out of control.

Director: Parker Finn

Cast: Naomi Scott, Rosemarie DeWitt, Lukas Gage, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Peter Jacobson, Raúl Castillo, Dylan Gelula, Ray Nicholson, Kyle Gallner

Release Date: October 18, 2024

Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller

Rated R for strong bloody violent content, grisly images, language throughout and drug use.

Runtime: 2h 12m

Review:

Parker Finn's Smile 2 is gorier and devilishly funnier than its predecessor as focus shifts to a damaged pop star played by a stellar Naomi Scott.  Finn's second turn, immediately feels more confident and elegantly eerie as we follow Skye Riley's decent into madness.  He still relies on jump scares a tad too much for my taste but its hard to hate it too much when he sets up those moments up so effectively.  A handful of sequences are anxiety inducing and set up with impressive visual panache such as a gloriously nightmarish where Skye's smiling back up dancers chasing her around her apartment.  There are a handful of moments like that which leaves a noticeable impact with each leaving you wonder what's real and what's not as things get increasingly out of control.  This all doesn't work nearly as well as it does if not for a instantly engaging turn from Naomi Scott.  Scott is fully committed from the start by bringing a believable sense of mental fraying from the onset.  Her Skye is damaged and isolated before the madness begins due to a horrific event that's left her traumatized beforehand.  Scott conveys that sense of isolation and self hate with a natural ease that's incredibly impressive.  As things get more dire and her character starts to fall apart at the seams there's an exasperated terror to her as she starts to lose her grip on reality and she becomes an increasingly unreliable narrator.  Rosemarie DeWitt, Lukas Gage, Miles Gutierrez-Riley and Dylan Gelula are solid in supporting roles but this is Scott's showcase and she is the most fascinating performer onscreen throughout the entire film.  Given the amount of celebrities we've seen go off the rails there's something that feels slightly more realistic about this setup than the original which makes it one of the few horror films to earn its two hour runtime.  Smile 2 proves to be one of the rare horror sequels that improves on the original by taking in a slightly different sphere to deliver a mash up of The Ring and Nightmare on Elm Street which leaves me eager to see where the series goes next.

A-

MOVIE REVIEW: V/H/S/ BEYOND

Six bloodcurdling tapes unleash horror in a sci-fi-inspired hellscape, pushing the boundaries of fear and suspense.

Director: Jay Cheel, Jordan Downey, Virat Pal, Justin Martinez, Christian Long, Justin Long, Kate Siegel

Cast: Alanah Pearce, Braedyn Bruner, Dane DiLiegro, Mike Ferguson, Mitch Horowitz, Jolene Andersen, Thom Hallum, Phillip Andre Botello, Bobby Slaski, Skip Howland, Libby Letlow, Bix Krieger

Release Date: October 4, 2024

Genre: Horror

Unrated 

Runtime: 1h 54m

Review:

The seventh entry in the long running horror anthology is another splatter filled trek through assorted shorts which, much like previous entries offer some impressive and creative gems paired with more forgettable entries.  "Abduction/Adduction," written and directed by Jay Cheel, serves the film's framing narrative with a pseudo documentary about alien abduction and it proves to be one of the more confusing entries in the film.  It’s a baffling decision to use this short as the bridge in between segments since it doesn't really tie anything together and the payoff that it's building towards the entire film feels utterly underwhelming especially since it closes out the entire film.  "Stork," Directed by Jordan Downey, is the first proper full fledged sequence which is energetic and chaotic enough to make it easier to overlook some of the low rent FX and performances on display.  The first person perspective makes the whole thing feel like a mash up of Call of Duty and Resident Evil which is fun even if it doesn't stick the landing.  "Dream Girl," Directed by Virat Pal, presents a solid concept but the execution just fails its underlying message about fame with a mindless splatter fest.  "Live and Let Dive," Directed by Justin Martinez, is the kind of gem that pops up in each of these entries with some strong creativity on display.  Martinez gives his short a strong sense of immediacy that becomes more pronounced as things spin wildly out of control.  The skydiving set up and orange grove pursuit gives the film a solid jolt of gory fun and energy that the other entries never match.  "Fur Babies," written and directed by Christian Long and Justin Long feels like a retread of 2014's Tusk which Justin starred in.  Its got a low rent goofy energy even though it’s a rather confusing homage to a movie nobody asked for.  "Stowaway," Directed by Kate Siegel and written by Mike Flanagan is the most straightforward initially, before it takes a decidedly Cronenberg turn in its final act.  There seems to be more simmering underneath the surface but the short doesn't have enough time to truly explore the generational alien abduction idea.  V/H/S Beyond proves the franchise is still a solid showcase for micro horror shorts that allow for the kind of wild swings that wouldn't be possible in feature length films for better or worse.

C+