Hot Takes On Film

  Dave Made a Maze (2017 US) I don’t know what to say about this film except Dave Made a Maze. Well, actually a Labyrinth to be more exact and it's made of cardboard. Writer/Director Bill Waterson brings us this batshit crazy absurdist/surrealist/comedy/fantasy/horror. If this all sounds weird that’s because it is but I can almost guarantee you that this is the craziest film you have seen. Despite it’s premise at it’s core is an Odyssean tale which includes a Minotaur, Sirens and demonic cardboard vagina. Yes you read that right. I am in absolute awe of the production design and just how much imagination it took to put that together. The budget was $500 k which in Hollywood terms is a micro-budget. If you have been with me for awhile you will remember that I love indie filmmakers with a unique idea that can execute well and I really do think that they did that here. Now let’s talk about the script. Waterson said in an interview that he did not want to make a statement with  Dave Ma

  Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975 UK) King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table embark on a journey to retrieve the Holy Grail. I put coconut shells in the picture above knowing that most of my readers are going to get it. If I say “it’s just a scratch”, most people will get that too. So why am I featuring a film like this. It’s because the younger generations are missing out on this fine classic. I you have seen it, watch it again. If you haven’t, go watch it. Older folks please tell the younglings about this and Life of Brian too. Kidnap them and make them watch this (Yeah, don’t do that). Tell them that the origins of several memes are in this film and to unlock the secrets all they have to do is watch. Cast member Eric Idle revealed in a tweet in 2011 that Led Zepplin, Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson and Pink Floyd invested in the film because the studios wouldn’t. It shows you what suits really know. Boy howdy that same story shows up a lot. Studios pass on a project and lat

  A Werewolf Boy ( 2012 South Korea) A family takes in a feral boy who happens to be a Werewolf. Where Wolf? There Wolf. Sorry I couldn’t resist. This is a lovely fantasy teenage romance story NOT in the vein of Twilight. Very different. Technically you could make the argument that it’s SciFi because in the second act they spend about 10 minutes trying to explain why things are the way they are. Mad Scientist by the way. Then they went on with the movie not mentioning it again. I’m told that it’s common in Asian media to do that. Regardless, the explanation was kinda out of place so I choose to ignore it and continue to call it fantasy as Werewolves are solidly in the fantasy camp. Director Jo Sung-Hee made some interesting choices with the photography. They opened up the aperture to over-expose the scene making it look very bright or “hot”. I think they added a blur either in the camera or in post. It looked like the characters were bathed in a heavenly light. Quite lovely really. At

  Hawk The Slayer (1980 US) it’s #FondueSunday and today’s entry is this campy sword and sorcery film. A prince fights his evil brother for the realm and a magic sword. If you like cheese and I know that many of my readers do, you will like this. It is actually fairly well paced and actually has some engaging effects for 1980. Jack Palance was the evil brother and he looked like he was having a great time being over the top evil. It has a 40% rating on Rotten Tomatoes so you know it will meet your cheese needs. I’ve been told the tabletop rpg players loved this movie because it fits in with D and D fans and for the longest time there were no other movies that fit that bill. You can find it on Tubi for free.

  The Love Witch (2016 US) It’s #FemaleFilmmakerFriday and todays entry is this fantasy from Anna Biller about a witch searching for true love. What I really loved about this is that it feels like it was shot in 1968. Biller really nailed it. I was 10 minutes into the film and I went back to verify that this was actually shot in 2016. Yup! It was. What made the “look” really pop was that it was shot on 35 mm film. Shooting on film is pretty hard. you have to have your poo poo together before you turn on the camera and clearly Biller did. She had a lot to say about the male gaze, fantasy, fear, religion and the Femme Fatale. I could probably write a 10 page film theory paper on this but that would be boring so I will only say it’s there and to watch for it. Although, the film has a lot to say it’s not all ivory tower academic speak. It’s very entertaining. Femme fatales, when done right, are so…dare I say it..Fun. Samantha Robinson really shined as the femme fatale. She is now on my lis

  Willow (1988-US) Ron Howard directs this classic sword and sorcery fantasy film about a young farmer who takes on the task of protecting a baby who was prophesized to destroy the evil queen. I just love this film . I have seen it many, many times. Is it the kind of film that wins awards? Nope! Does anyone really care? Also, nope! It is one of the most satisfying films out there. It’s like Hot Chocolate on a cold winter’s day. Val Kilmer and Joanne Whalley make a very dynamic couple. Veteran Actor Warwick Davis is so compelling. It is really well paced. Howard is a master of pacing. He also likes to get the audience invested in characters and then gives them a finished ending. I do believe that is why his films are so addictive. Disney plus did a sequel series which I loved but apparently nobody else did and it was cancelled. Unfortunately, Kilmer was not in it. I would loved to have seen him reprise Madmartigan regardless of his health issues. So Kilmer if you are reading this, “we l

  Welcome to #FantasyJune. For those that have been with me for a bit you will remember that January was #SciFiJanuary. I wrote a bit about what SciFi actually is and essentially the big takeaway was that SciFi and Fantasy are opposite sides of a very similar coin. Whereas SciFi is all about science including the softer sciences. Fantasy is all about magic and what is not explained. What makes a film fantasy or SciFi hinges on what drives the story. Using a computer in a fantasy film does not make it SciFi and talking about religion in a SciFi does not make it fantasy. I submit that these two genres can’t mix. It’s like oil and water. When I see platforms such as Amazon or Netflix classify a film ScFi/Fantasy I get annoyed. It’s one or the other. So here are the subgenres that I will be discussing. Religion This is a tricky one and will ultimately lead to arguments. For many, religion is explained so it’s not magic. For others, just having an element of religion makes it fantasy. Dune

  Bad Moms (2016 US) Three women of comedy push back on the perfect Mom archetype. Clearly this was a story meant for the busy Mom struggling with modern motherhood. It was meant to hit back on societal pressure to do certain things. It was supposed to be hard hitting. It missed the mark. I would have gone so much further because the pressure or demands are intense and really needs to lambasted. Christina Applegate and Jada Pinkett Smith star as the pushy Mom antagonists. Wow! they were weak. Not their fault though. I’ve met Moms like this and I just ignored them. The real dangerous pushy people are in power. So much harder to ignore and no real mention of those crazy ass MF’s in this film. My version of this film would ruffle so many feathers. I’d be soooo canceled. I’ve had to set some boundaries with certain people before and I was “firm” about it. People don’t like being told “No”. I would have loved to have seen a firm No to the right people but nope. I wasn’t real thrilled with t

Diary of a Mad Black Woman (2005 Republic of Tyler Perry) Tyler Perry stars as the colorful matriarch of a family keeping them all in line. This is Perry’s first film and this is the first in the Madea series. Madea would go on to make many more films making Perry a quadrillionaire. Madea is very maternal making this a film you would want to watch with your Mom or even take notes. Perry does a great job being maternal and being funny. It’s a great character. No wonder this franchise has made so much cash. Perry is based in Georgia which has not gone all Darth Vader level anti-trans/drag probably because of Perry. JK I have no idea but I do know Perry holds a lot of power. Last I heard he is negotiating buying BET. He rescued a prince and princess. He even flew a gospel choir on his private jet to serenade his god-daughter on her baptism. Perry is quite a guy and it really comes across in his films. Although, the story is actually a relationship drama about Madea’s granddaughter and her

  Greener Grass (2019 US) It’s #FemaleFilmmakerFriday and todays entry is this absurdist black comedy skewing suburbia. Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Lueeble write and direct this feature film based on their short film (based on Greener Grass by Paul Briganti?). Wow this is weird. It’s absurdism and they totally get it. If you have lived in suburbia with children you will get it too. I lived in suburbia with kids. Every damn event was pot luck and whatever organization your child belongs to has several a year. Oh and your child wants to attend ALL of them. There was one where a certain Mom would take my dish and hide it. So I go to pick up my dishware and the food is all there . It wasn’t that popular, she says. Hmmm, how to make this work for me. I bring food that I can serve for dinner. Bring potluck dish: check. Dinner for days: check. So basically I brought dinner for us for days knowing that she will hide it. It worked for awhile until one year she wasn’t there and all my food is gone.

MA (2019 US) Octavio Spencer stars as a middle aged woman trying to relive her troubled youth by letting local teens party in her basement. Things go wrong. This has been labeled horror and there are certainly elements of that but I would call it more thriller than horror. Rotten Tomatoes has this at 55% and I do think that’s a bit unfair. It has an element of being uncomfortable as Spencer takes the audience on a journey through her baggage. You, as the audience, know its clearly a bad idea to allow these parties but also just wrong and you can’t look away from the coming train wreck. The film has been criticized for not being provacative enough especially with regard to race. Yeah it could have been trippy AF but director Tate Taylor is not required to make it so. It’s up to the director and that’s the story Taylor wanted to tell. For every person who says it should have been more provacative there are just as many who say otherwise. So what does a director do? Tell the story you wan

  Bambi (1942 US) A fawn struggles in the forest after his Mama dies. Based on the book Bambi: A life in the woods by Felix Salten. I saw this movie too young and was scarred for life (this and Jaws). So parents don’t let your kids watch this too young. Why so traumatic? It was 1942. That’s how things were in 1942 and parents did not shelter kids back then. I read an interesting article from the Israeli Times suggesting that the story was an allegory for the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe but specifically in Austria and Hungary in the early 20th century. It does make sense considering the history of Selten who was from Austria and experienced the rising anti-Semitism first hand. Watch it again. You can’t unsee it. TBH I’m surprised that the famously anti-semantic Walt Disney didn’t pick up on this. Maybe he just saw this as a way to torture children. Who knows. He’s dead and not sure we will ever know what he was thinking. Too bad there was no Twitter back then. I’m sure he would not

  #MotherMayI. Its May already. This month we will be looking at mother themed films. What I love about themes like this is that it crosses genres a lot. I will focus on films with the mother archetype. It doesnt have to be the main theme just front and center. I love how so many are in the horror genre. What does that say about motherhood? I am terrible in the horror genre space but I will do my best. The archetype is generally bonded with their child, she is female or female identifying but not always. She makes decisions for her child but not always good ones. This is where the archetype can go really wrong. She is nurturing and trusted but that can go wrong too. We are drawn to this archetypes even as fully realized adults. We still need to see her. Here is a brief list of genres that I have seen this theme Horror SciFi Drama Comedy Thriller Animation Fantasy Even Noir Yeah that’s a lot I know. What’s funny is that sometimes, not all, we don’t even realize we are looking at a mothe

  Frozen ( 2013 US) Its #FemaleFilmmakerFriday and todays entry is this Billion (with a capital “B”) dollar franchise from Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck. A Princess was born with super powers she has a hard time controlling. This is not a hidden gem that got overlooked. A good chunk of the planet has seen this film so I won’t go into what its about or if its any good. You probably have a good idea by now if you like it or not. However, what I love to talk about in this film is what Lee & Co didn’t say. I originally saw this in theaters with my daughter like every other parent. On the way home we had so many unanswered questions. Why isn’t Elsa a card carrying member of the X-men. She created sentient ice creatures. She had some serious powers going on. How would a queen like this shift the balance of power in Europe and other places. The implication is that it took place in the mid 19th century. The kingdom would not need an army just round the clock guards on Elsa and food tasters.

 Mary and the Witches Flower (2017 JP) A young witch finds a broom and a flower that makes her a witch. In a wonderful cross between studio Ghibli and Harry Potter comes this anime inspired glossed over gem from newly formed Japanese animation Studio Ponoc. If you recognize the art there is a reason for that. Several employees including critical animator  Hiromasa Yonebayashi , left Studio Ghibli to form their own company. This is their first endeavor. Yonebayashi directed this and boy howdy does it look like Spirited Away. Even has a very similar tone. Well that's because he was key animator for Spirited Away. Apparently, Miyazaki was none too happy about this whole drama. The team at Ponoc went to Ghibli with a print of the film to show their former colleagues and Ghibli studio head Miyazaki refused to watch it. He just said, "I'm not watching that". Needles to say if you like studio Ghibli you will like this or more if you like Spirited Away you will like this. Fin

 The Sea Beast (2022 US) Karl Urban voices Jacob Holland, a monster hunter straight out of a Robert Lewis Stevenson Novel encounters a precocious little girl who gets him to see things in a new light. This gem seems to have been overlooked for the most part last year. That's a shame because it had a lot to say. The primary theme was the heights of colonialism in the 18-19th century hence the Stevenson reference (Treasure Island) or even Pirates of Penzance. It even had a Kaiju nod with a smart monster who was neither bad or good but just defending itself. It even had the monster whisperer in the little girl. Super common in Kaiju films. I loved the color grading in it. So pleasing. Sea Beast was directed by veteran animator Chris Williams who has been animating since Mulan. Recently he directed Moana and Big Hero 6. This film was nominated for Best Animated Feature in the last Oscars but lost to Pinocchio.  Tough year. I really did enjoy it and do feel it deserves more fanfare. So

 BoxTrolls (2014 US) An orphan is raised by creatures living beneath the city of Cheesebridge. When the aristocracy comes for the creatures the boy takes action. Based on the book "Here be Monsters". Laika Studios brings you this dark but relevant story about corruption, entitlement, hypocrisy, and marginalized communities. You will remember Laika from some of their other works such as Coraline and Kubo and the Two Strings. I like to call the Oregon based studio a "stop motion factory". I have always despised hypocrites and used the word when I was very young, like 4 yo. Adults were well impressed. Not so impressed when I called them one. I just love stop motion. When you are making it, it's like playing with really expensive dolls. When I was a kid my dolls had quite an involved storyline and backstory so this was a very natural evolution. Don't judge me. What is so lovely about these types of films is that the puppets are hand made as is some of the sets.

 Rango (2011 US) A domesticated Chameleon voiced by Johnny Depp finds himself the sheriff of a corrupt town and he also finds spiritual enlightenment after having an existential crisis.  Salon dot com coined a termed and associated it with this film. They called it Kidult animation. Yup that's about right. So much of this will go over a kiddos head, like way over. For Example this exchange with a prophet armadillo:  Depp: I need to find water Prophet: To find water you need to find dirt. Depp: Umm sure?! You don't get the joke until Depp shows up in a town called Dirt. OK I see what you did there but it took twenty minutes to get to the punchline. Kids won't get that or at least most kids. There was a lot of call backs to classic westerns including Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns. The spiritual element is pretty strong. So yeah, Kidult. Rango won best animated feature at the 2012 Oscars. Well deserved. I don't' know why but for some reason I always thought it did

Treasure Planet (2002 US) Obviously based on the Robert Lewis Stevenson novel Treasure Island. Disney brings to life (sort of) this adventure story about finding hidden treasure in space. I really feel like this film is one of Disney's underappreciated animated films. I'm a space opera fan and its hard to find stories in that genre that haven't been so "done". Don't get me wrong I like franchises like Star trek and Stargate but its fun to find a new story. This is your standard Disney fare so don't expect something that is groundbreaking. Except it has a steampunk vibe to it. It's not steampunk but there are a few similarities. Disney was not big on taking risks back then. Michael "stay the course" Eisner was CEO at the time. He was all about satisfying stories. Bob "if it aint broke" Iger was president so between the two output was pretty standard. Having said that it's just fun to watch. Joseph Gordon-Levitt leads an all-star

Alita: Battle Angel (2019 US) Based on the Manga Gunnm by  Yukito Kishiro . A cyborg in the future enters a brutal game to fight corruption. To be clear Manga is not for everyone. Rotten Tomatoes has this at 63%. However, clearly people liked it because it made bank at the box office. James Cameron, Laeta Kalogridis and Kishiro teamed up on the screenplay with action director Robert Rodriguez directing. It runs like a Manga: good news for Manga fans and not so good news for people who really don't get it. What I liked about it is the mixing of animation styles with live action: CGI and motion capture. The True Detective Mahershala Ali plays the baddie in this and as usual kills it. I don't know why I thought he had passed and was pleased when I looked and discovered that he had not. Sorry Ali, you look great. Long story short; if you like Manga you will like this. If you don't you won't. Find it on Hulu and for rent on most streaming.