it's not perfect but I think it's pretty solid for a horror movie. The film has a great grasp on tone, and the sets are amazing. Simon Bowles did a fantastic job as the production designer, and the sets they use, combined with the way they're lit, could fall almost anyone into thinking this is a real cave.
What I like about The Descent, is that it's not your typical horror movie. There's no cheesy love story going on with underdeveloped characters you care nothing about. Believe it or not, there are actually subtleties in the film. Horror movies use different tactics to scare you, and a lot of them use the same ones over and over, but I thought The Descent was pretty versatile. It's not just a movie filled with, "Boo! Ha ha! You were startled."
The cave environment brings on a feeling of claustrophobia, the lighting is perfect for a horror movie, and they have the right excuse for it to be dark. The cinematography is well done, it has a good score that helps set the tone without forcing it on you, it achieves what it set out to accomplish, and that's the most important. Again, it's not a perfect movie. Sure, a girl has a conversation after being stabbed in the throat and the characters could be a little more rounded, but I think Neil Marshall proved himself with this movie in some way. What I love about Neil Marshall, is that I know that he enjoys what he's doing.
The Love Witch is an incredible movie, one of the best of the last two decades at least. Anna Biller's first feature film Viva was its precursor and already a great first attempt at conveying the idea of art in cinema. With The Love Witch, Biller achieves that goal and surpasses all expectations. It is an amazing technical feat, even more so when you realise that she herself had a literal hand in all the aspects of her film; the art, designs, sets, props, costumes as well as obviously writing and directing.
This time and unlike Viva, she doesn't act in the main role and cedes that position to Samantha Robinson, who is stellar. Her performance echoes the ones from the industry's greatest. She is charm and presence incarnate.
To viewers who didn't understand the acting at times, let me tell you this: think theater on a reel and not method acting. I personally never once thought the acting was weird or bad or whichever derogatory argument. It is just great and works as a stunning aesthetic device in the film, like all its other aspects do and are; from the incredible use of colours, to the mystifying music.
The Love Witch is a technical and artistic triumph. It is the definition of an aesthetic movie with depth and character, and if this does not fit the idea of cinema as art, I don't know what does.
[7.9/10] Colossal swerved me. Half an hour into the movie, I was still comfortably expecting it to be some combination of Young Adult and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I figured that the protagonist, Gloria, would return home from the big city, relive a bit of her youth as the last time she felt good about herself and confront her alcoholism and the effect it has on the people around her. And I figured that the kaiju movie elements would work as a big colorful metaphor for that, the monstrousness of addiction and people losing control under the influence represented as a literal monster terrifying a city and causing death and destruction.
That’s a sound setup, one the film lets its audience settle into. The quiet, interpersonal drama of Gloria’s return to her hometown mixed with the high-magnitude danger of a fifty-foot tall creature attack Seoul makes for a winning, high concept film. The film’s cinematography is crisp and awash in fall colors, the performances and relationships feel lived in and real, and the movie mines its monster mash-up premise for real personal consequences. It all left me happily if warily waiting for the other shoe to drop, for Gloria’s alcohol addiction to tear something down in New England at the same time her towering equivalent was tearing things down in South Korea.
Instead, at around the halfway mark, Colossal reveals itself to be an examination of nice guy-ism, of the friendly, unsuspecting way an abuser can worm his way into your life and then try to exert control over it. The film introduces Oscar as Gloria’s childhood friend, and initially frames him as the kind, helpful counterpart to her meddlesome ex, Tim, who effectively booted her out of New York City. Tim is constantly shaming Gloria, giving her snootfuls of tough love, whereas Oscar gives her a job, seems to be understanding and forgiving and inclined to help her get back on her feet.
It turns out that Oscar is the villain of the piece. The film recontextualizes his previous offers of help as ways to foster Gloria’s dependence on him. Conversations that allegedly took place between them when she was near-blackout drunk may have been entirely and maliciously made up. And once Oscar realizes that Gloria slept with his friend Joel -- the prospect of which was enough to make the otherwise genial barkeep briefly snap earlier in the film -- the scales fall. Oscar becomes flatly abusive, emotionally blackmailing Gloria into staying near him, working with him, doing what he says, lest he use their magic connection to Seoul to take innocent lives.
I’ll admit, I found that jarring. But maybe it should be. Oscar fooled me in the same way that he fooled Gloria. While I assumed he was nursing a crush, and wouldn’t say no to Gloria being endeared to him, I thought he genuinely wanted to help her. His behavior escalates quickly after the midpoint of the movie, and that lends itself to some whiplash, but maybe that whiplash is true to life, the way nominally amiable people like Oscar who seem decent on the surface, can turn on a dime and become abusive when they’re not getting what they want.
It happens very suddenly in the film, which threw me off and is a little convenient for the film’s purposes and pacing, but the warning signs are subtle but firmly present, and it can happen suddenly in real life. And that initial disbelief I harbored, that gentle Oscar could suddenly turn into the real monster of the film, plays right into Colossal’s thematic purposes, of how slow we are to react or respond or believe it when we see or hear someone overstepping their bounds in dangerous, abusive ways.
That both halves of the movie is a tribute to Anne Hathaway, who manages to play Gloria as believably problem-ridden but also sympathetic. But it’s even more of a coming out party for Jason Sudeikis as Oscar. I’ve almost exclusively seen Sudeikis in comedic roles, and the way he manages to channel his affable everyman vibe into a character who is alternately cruel and kind, in the way that abusers are, is downright masterful. There’s so many levels of Oscar’s hidden pathology, and each event in the film peels another layer back to reveal something more ever more unassumingly disquieting beneath it. The epitomizes the toxic hand in the velvet glove the movie wants to craft, and manages to fill both the nice guy and Nice Guy™ sides of the role perfectly.
The film has its problems though. For one, it takes pains to explain both how this monster mash came to be, and how the dynamic between Gloria and Oscar started, in a childhood flashback that comes off as too neat and unnecessary. While the reveal that the mystical lightning strike on the top of her head gave Gloria her trademark head-scratch tic has some charm, it weakens the cool and mysterious qualities that the proxy monster routine possesses. And at the same time, the film drops plenty of noteworthy hints about how long Oscar has been this way in the present, without the bluntness of needing to show him stomping on her diorama as a kid.
For another, as much as the swerve with Oscar serves the film’s purposes, the film effectively lets Gloria off the hook for her alcoholism and bad behavior once it unveils him as the antagonist. While the movie flips Oscar’s role, it leaves Gloria’s ex-boyfriend Tim as a perhaps well-meaning but nonetheless lamentably controlling individual for pushing her to address her addiction. That’s not an issue in a vacuum, but the film suggests that Gloria genuinely has problems that require professional help (or at least acceptance), that she’s legitimately hurt people due to her drinking, and it never really resolves that. If anything, it suggests that she drinks because of these sorts of people in her life. I may unfairly applying expectations from Young Adult here, a film more firmly committed to exploring the ills of its protagonist, but it was disappointing to see Colossal scuttle those concerns to the side once the movie’s villain was revealed.
And the film’s ending is a little too quick and easy. There’s something neat about flipping the dynamic of which city playgrounds result in where these creatures appear. But it’s an ending that works better metaphorically than it does in-universe, given the complexities of flying to Seoul, getting the timing right, and figuring out the mechanics of grabbing Oscar.
Still, the metaphor works. Colossal frames Oscar not simply as wanting to possess Gloria, not simply lashing out after childhood slights, but as someone who resents and envies her for succeeding beyond his mark, who revels in her stumbles and failings, and uses them to control and abuse her. It’s crafts a monster far more frightening than anything that could crush buildings and smash helicopters. There are flaws in its execution, missed opportunities here and there, but the longer I sit with the movie’s swerve, with Oscar’s rapid transformation from friendly face to manipulative bastard, the more right and scary it feels.
Drama / sci-fi / soft horror. It looks fantastic. Sounds fantastic. But it's just soooo ambitious it sort of crumples beneath the weight of it's own determination.
Youngster Aubrey is grieving for the loss of her best friend. Throughout the film we see her state of mind question everything, ask for forgiveness and come to terms with death, and the apocalypse. First time Director Al White does a very decent job considering his day job is being in a band. He also wrote the screenplay and provided the score. Presumably he chose the music needle drops too as there are some fine entries (Granddaddy, Sigur Ros etc) The set design and shot composition really is something to write home about. Cinematographer Alberto Bañares does a great job of putting us inside Aubrey's head. Some of the scenery and images really reminded me of 'Buster's Mal Heart' . It's like a Brit Marling / Shane Carruth mashup film.
The problem is, the connection between the sci-fi and the reality was too much of a jump. The last act is tough to follow and make sense of. Plus there are a few predictable jump scares. There are metaphors about metaphors, and one massive meta moment, that made me say WTF out loud.
That said, while this might not be the most straightforward film, it is more interesting and curious than alot being made. So I hope the Director does more as he clearly has talent. And the little turtle guy is really cute. Want one.
6.2/10
It felt like it was going somewhere at first, until it started to stumble over its own concept and collapse into a ditch where it soon died and rotted away. This is an example of a movie that was too smart for its own good.
Their attempt at giving zombies "humanity" was a train-wreck. The way the scientist woman kept butting in every 5 minutes to give a pseudo-scientific explanation of everything wreaked of desperation from the writers, like they really wanted you to buy into this concept but it just ended up being laughably bad.
The only thing i appreciated was how they actually committed to creating a realistic post-apocalyptic world. This certainly isn't one of those movies where the "apocalypse" is only depicted as a burnt-out city skyline in the distance. You actually get to delve deep into a desolate zombie-infested London and the sets they created are pretty fantastic. As a Londoner myself i was impressed, it looked better than 28 Days Later.
But cool sets aren't enough to make up for bad writing. This might be worth watching if you REALLY like zombie movies. But for the average viewer it's a waste of time. There's no story here, the plot is just a boring escort mission that ends nowhere.
I fell into my own trap with this one. I always say don´t led a trailer fool you, don´t build up expactations ´cause in the end you might be dissapointed. In a way that´s what happened with Interstellar. It was absolutely not what I thought it to be which in the end left me kind of confused and wondering what to make of it.
I see a lot of resemblence to "2001" in the whole make up of the movie but like "2001" I´m not blown away. Interstellar is a good movie with a good and interesting storyline that has it´s flaws if you look at it from certain angles. That´s the movies, Personally, I think the end was to much Hollywood in it´s conclusion. I think Nolan once said he placed emotion above science for the end and that´s my biggest problem - the typical happy-end. It´s especially tragic since so much effort went into making this scientifically sound. Having Kip Thorne as a consultant is a big asset and it showed in the movie until that point. Than Hollywood won over Science.
The movie could have been 20-30 min shorter which might have helped the pace. The visuals are really good, it all felt believable (that is beside the fact that the whole idea itself provides that you buy into it).
It was not a complete bust or waste of time - but I don´t think this is a movie I will watch repeatedly.
Sarah: "What does it feel like, to walk into a room, and it's like in the middle of winter. You're the sun."
Jesse: "It's everything".
The Neon Demon is a movie experience that I will never forget. From the minute it starts, I was glued to the screen and not once could I look away, even with the long silent moments, I was still hooked. The LA lights are something to drift away too.
Nicolas Winding Refn can be a love or hate thing with me. I loved "Drive" and "Bronson". I didn't like "Valhalla Rising" and "Only God Forgives" that much. He's got talent, I can see that and I know that he wants to make movies that only he wants to see, and not just for others. I think we all can agree that all of he's movies are shot so beautifully and if one of he's movies as the word "Neon" in the title, then you better you expect something glorious. Refn shines in The Neon Demon by adding this dream like fairy tale theme to the mix. There was so many times I had a "Suspiria" and a Michael Mann vibe to this (with the use of colors and the LA lights). This was such a step up from "Only God Forgives".
And here's why.
What "Only God Forgives" was trying to get across in it's symbolism was too simple that I pretty much got all of it. It got repetitive in terms of the visual imagery that the film constantly presents, but I feel that those scenes didn't have any glue to hold those previous scenes together. It was pretty much all icing but no cake. And while I got what Refn was doing with "Neon Demon" in terms of the fashion industry, but I still feel that there's more to it then that. Even through I don't 100% understand all of it, I still felt that I got more out of it than "OGF". Is it obvious of what it's getting across? With the fashion industry, yes, but with everything else, no. I think plenty of re-watches might help, as I do want to watch this again.
Elle Fanning was pretty fantastic as the beautiful but dangerous Jesse. But I thought Jena Malone steals the show, as she was brilliant. Her character dose the most unnerving things that you can't even imagine, but still manages to be attractive. Oh and I can't look at Keanu Reeves the same way again after this. He's good in this but...damn. Refn characters are not from this earth.
The opening sequence to this movie is just magnificent. It's everything that a movie should do to get you engaged. The staging was on point, the framing was flawless and Cliff Martinez amazing soundtrack blasting in your ears was just icing. It left a massive smile on my face.
Where do I even begin with the soundtrack in this movie. It's sexy, stylish with a bit of glitter and just pure magic. It's probably one of my favorite soundtracks of this year. Cliff Martinez is just a fantastic composer that always delivers that an excellent 80's vibe in he's music. Even topping his previous work which I didn't expect him to do.
There's some things in this that I did pick up on that I'm not sure if others have. The cannibalism in the movie is basically another way of looking at the industry of modeling, with models who actually do starve themselves to death just to get the perfect shape. Basically letting your body eat itself, which is cannibalism. I might be over thinking things, but I thought to throw it in there as a cool little thing to bring to the table.
Everyone in this film sounds so fake and shallow, and that's not even a complaint. Beauty from the outside but shallow and dead from the inside. It's all intentional.
It's not a perfect film. The story is flat and the dialogue is really bad in a few scenes. It can be quite stupid at times, but I'm glad it doesn't take itself too seriously.
This isn't for everyone, as I already have seen two sides to this. You either love it or hate it, and I can understand both reasons. Different strokes for different folks.
Overall rating: The Neon Demon is a disturbing and yet beautiful film that's very hard to recommend to people. While not my favorite of Refn, but it's pretty damn close, like third place. I honestly can see this having a cult following in the future. I really do.
