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

  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

  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

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

  #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

 9 (2009 US) from producer Tim Burton comes this post apocalyptical animated feature about a rag-doll/robot who awakens to find that humanity is gone. 9 and his buddies try to figure out the mystery. I watched this with my the 9 year old daughter. I figured hey its a cartoon. It will be fine for kiddos. Nope. She hated it and said it was too scary. Years later she is still Salty about that. I will likely be paying for therapy because of this film. However, if you're not 9 years old you will likely enjoy this. The animation is CGI but it really has a stop motion vibe. The production design is dark, you know being post-apocalyptic and all. I'm not a big fan of post op and I talk about why in my scifi tab https://tinyurl.com/4zs3x6au. But a little bit of the right stuff doesnt hurt. Moderation is key. The story is dark as well. Yeah to be expected. It has a deep bench  (lots of talent). Critics hated it; 58% on Rotten Tomatoes. I think that's a bit low. Say what you will its d

 The Sixth Sense (1999 US) Haley Joel Osmet and Bruce Willis star in this horror about a boy who can communicate with the dead. Whenever I'm reminded of this film I am also reminded of the meme, with Osmet, "I see stupid people". The horror. This is an incredible film. Being an M. Night Shyamalon film, there is a twist. He sure likes those. It doesnt always work but it sure does here. He made some very clever blocking choices that hide the twist until the big reveal but it is there and honestly you can find the truth if you want. Even if you know it does not take away from the enjoyment of watching this.  Haley Joel Osmet was just fantastic as the boy who was terrified as a parade of ghosts march through his life. I could not even imagine that horror. He was nominated for best supporting actor but lost to Michael Caine in Cider House Rules. Why was he in the supporting actor category? He was the lead. This film was nominated in many categories including Best Picture but l

 Nightmare Alley (2021 US) A grifter steals a "magic" act and makes money off of it. Based on the novel of the same name from 1946. Guillermo Del Toro writes and directs this Best Picture nominee. It is classified as neo-noir and that would be fair since the 1947 film is solidly noir. I liked it but...I'm a noir fan and prefer the 1947 version. Don't get me wrong the 2021 version is very well shot, the color is lovely. It has the traditional high contrast and deep shadows of noir but I really saw little of the German Expressionism typical of noir. German Expressionism cares little of lovely aesthetic and more about expressing anxiety. The lines are incongruent and misaligned. Where is the order? There is none and that's the point. The lines in this film for the most part were too symmetrical for that and even the color wheel De Toro used was too symmetrical harkening back to Wes Anderson films that are so symmetrical its like ASMR.  Yeah it had contrast but overal

  Get Out (2017 US) A young black man visits his white girlfriends family. Secrets! So many Secrets. Jordon Peele won an Oscar for the script and the film was nominated in multiple categories including Best Picture. It lost to The Shape of Water a film about sexy fish. I'm a big fan of Jordon Peele's work including his TV skit show Key and Peele (I know you read that as "shit show" you stinker). I love his approach to black cinema and so did audiences who rewarded the film with a very profitable theatrical run. The film stars Daniel Kaluuya who was nominated for best actor. He lost to Gary Oldman for his Winston Churchill portrayal. At least Kaluuya was in the right category this time  (see my Judas and the black messiah post). The film also had LaKeith Stanfield who later played Judas to Kaluuyas Fred Hampton in Judas and the Black Messiah. I cant say that The Academy made the right choices in their winner picks but I will say this that the film really resonated with

  It came from Beneath the Sea (1955 US). Like I said earlier I’m a big Ray Harryhausen fan. I just love stop motion. So much so that I made a short film stop motion. This film is all about the # Kaiju and Harryhausen’s work and tbh there isn’t much else going for it. Harryhausen was just so good at what he did that it was enough to carry a film and propel it into legendary status. There is a theory floating about that his work resonates so much now because it was painstakingly hand crafted and not computerized. Yeah there were flaws but it was human flaws. Harryhausen talked about creating this beast. It only had six appendages instead of eight because eight was just too much to animate. He was doing the work one day and got a phone call. When he returned he forgot where he was and had to start all over again. Nowadays there is tech to help the animator but even then that happened to me several times. I stopped answering my phone. I have the Harryhausen box set which is awesome but y

 Triangle of Sadness (2022) An influencer couple goes on a luxury cruise which runs into a lot of trouble. Things go terribly wrong on this cruise and fair warning, it gets ugly. Real ugly. Triangle is nominated for best picture and best director. The whole point of the film is to roast people that have an elevated status by virtue of X. The X is usually money but not always. At first I thought they were going to roast the influencer couple exclusively but nope, writer/director Ruben Ostlund opened it up to all people in the elevated status in the second act and it aint pretty. I totally get what Ostund was going for but...all I could think about was this is a popular theme right now and I know other films whom I think did it better. I think its Black Comedy but others put this in Satirical Comedy. Hmmmm... Probably both. Ostlund was clearly trying to get a reaction out of the audience. It worked. TBH I had to turn away from the screen at certain points cuz I couldn't handle the sw

  Warm Bodies (2013 US) here is a different one for you, romance/horror. A zombie and a regular human fall in love. This may seem weird and you would be right. Writer director Jonathan Levine does a good job making the allegory of modern life. The one thing I noticed most was the connection between working in a corporate office environment and being a zombie. Yup, yup, yup nailed it. Most scholars equate the effect of technology on humanity and zombies. However, Levine expands on that concept pointing out how love transcends all. I’m not a zombie fan especially the zombie apocalypse. As I said before I think it’s been harmful, gratuitous and toxic. I knew someone who had a sincerely held belief that the zombie apocalypse would happen. BUT being a clear allegory makes it more positive especially having a lovely end. I enjoyed it. Find it on Peacock and for rent on most streaming. Please Like Share and subscribe

  Only Lovers Left Alive (2014 US) Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinton play an old married couple in this horror romance. A depressed vampire (Hiddleston) reunites with his wife (Swinton). When I saw the log line for this I thought there would be some manner of reconciliation and redemption but nope Swinton was just in Tangiers having fun with her friends. When she finds out that her husband was super depressed she rushes back. Married in 1865 these two were literally an old married couple and writer director Jim Jamusch made a point of showing that several times and that was so sweet. I loved the line “well I suppose we should get up and get rid of the body”. The plot kinda meanders on a not clear path and it works. Jamusch also made a point of making Detroit and Tangiers almost a character in the film. I loved it but be prepared this is also horror and there are dead bodies. Find it on HBO Hulu and Amazon and available to rent on most streaming. Please Like Share and Subscribe

  It’s # FemaleFilmmakerFriday and todays entry is The Fare (2018 US). Produced, written and starring Brinna Kelly. A cab driver and a passenger are stuck in a time loop. The internet is calling this a sci-fi romance. I feel like they didn’t watch it because it’s a fantasy romance and clearly so despite the time loop. If I elaborate any further I will spoil it and I don’t want to do that. I just love this film. The romance doesn’t jump out at you at first. It takes a bit but it is so worth it. Kelly and director D C Hamilton scraped together a whopping $35k for a budget and went for it. For such a low budget execution was pretty good. I think my only real complaint was the dispatcher was a bit over the top. I appreciate a clever film that has a good idea and good execution. Find it on Amazon and Tubi and a bunch of other platforms. Apple TV has it for rent at .99.

Cocaine Bear (2023 US) ok before I go any further check out the trailer  YouTube Cocaine Bear | Official Trailer [HD] Read the article on YouTube » This film directed by Elizabeth Banks is pretty clearly labeled. What you see in the trailer is what you are going to get. Hell it’s even in the name. You either like it or you don’t. A friend of mine told me about the true story, thanks Josh, and I remember thinking that should be a movie. Voila! For $hits and giggles I took a look at the critic and user reviews. Critics were like me, it’s clearly labeled. Users either loved it or thought it was the worst movie ever. Have I mentioned it’s clearly labeled. One guy complained that only white peoples were made fun of. Umm dude wtf? There was only one person spared of jokes and that was the mom. It’s a comedy horror and can be quite gruesome but it’s funny. Banks played a judge in the Pitch Perfect series and she displayed a particular brand of humor. Cocaine Bear had that same timing and styl

M3ghan (2023 US) I wanted to do this last month for SciFi January but didn't have time to get to the theaters. But Peacock now has the R rated version so Hurrah for not leaving the house. A new guardian of an orphaned 9 year old girl creates a robot AI doll for the girl to "play" with. Things don't go well. Some movies have unfortunate timing when it comes to releasing the film and world events can interfere with how much audiences will want to see it. This one had perfect timing. With the AI Bing chat box going bonkers AI is all people can talk about. I just love how Gemma, the engineer who designed M3ghan, shrugged her shoulders when colleagues brought up moral, philosophical and ethical questions about releasing this tech into the world. That would never happen in the real world. I didn't believe it. It took me right out of the film. Personally, I insisted that my daughter, the star chemistry major in college, take a philosophy class. Mother what are you on abo