Category Archives: Movies

Spooky Season Review: Azrael

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This weekend I treated myself to a pair of horror films, one that was older, and I had seen before, Planet of the Vampires, and a new one in theaters, Azrael.

IFC Films

Azrael, filmed in Estonia, is a Christian themed horror film set an unspecified number of years after the ‘Rapture’ has removed the faithful from the Earth. The character Azrael (Samara Weaving) and her boyfriend have fled their isolated religious community trying to avoid becoming the zealots next human sacrifice to the violent monsters stalking the forest.

The community at some time in the past reached the strange conclusion that speaking was a sin and have made all their member’s mute. Azrael’s struggles to escape, survive, and extract revenge are all carried out without a word of dialog from the principal characters. A secondary character not from the community does appear in the second act but he speaks no English, leaving the film with zero English dialog.

Azrael presented several scenes of graphic violence and gore. The forest monsters, looking like charred and burnt corpses, act much like modern zombies with modern graphic make-up effects. The film has zero nudity, sexuality, or sexual violence, presenting the situation as a fairly straightforward struggles to survive. Most of the action, violence, and injury are presented in a believable fashion that doesn’t shatter suspension of disbelief. The films Christian mythological underpinnings play a vital part in the films resolution and mark the film in the same category along with movies such as Rosemary’s Baby & The Omen, but without the deep theological questioning of a film such as The Exorcist.

Written by Simon Barret and directed by E.L. Katz, this film is a challenging and bold experimentation. Denied dialog for exposition it’s a project that requires audience engagement as the viewer is constantly interpreting the events on screen. It is not a move that can be enjoyed with only half of one’s attention. Composer Toti Gudnason ably carries a great of the film with the score while cinematographer Mart Taniel captures the eerie nature of the Estonia wood as he did with 2017’s November.

I am left with questions about the world building and how this world works. IMDB lists all the character with their name, but in a community without spoken or even signed language how do names even work? That said, letting go of such questions is easy enough in the moment as the story unfolds.

Azrael is currently playing in limited release and should be making its streaming debut on Shudder soon. It is not a film for those who insist on frequent kills and witty banter, but it is one I am quite glad I watched in a theatrical setting.

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Spooky Season Starts

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For as long as I can remember horror movies have played a part in my life. Growing up in the mountains of Western North Carolina, (the devastation visited there by hurricane Helene is heartbreaking) as a child the drive-in was my first exposure to movies. My older brothers would promise my parents that they would be seeing something appropriate for their little brother and invariably break that oath and select a horror film. I have fragmentary memories of Hammer Horror and region drive-in movies that in all likelihood are far less well executed than I remember them.

I also clearly remember during the summers that bats lived nearby and often fluttered just beyond my window, casting shadows into my second story bedroom. A macabre scene that is impressed on my memory.

It is no surprise that horror cinema has always been fascinating and inviting to me. Ghost stories are by far my favorite sub-genre of horror with the slashers born in the wake of 1978’s Halloween my least loved.

I have written and published a few short stories in the genre and currently await the decision from a publisher on my first horror novel. It is no surprise that the ‘spooky season’ is something I enjoy.

This October, in addition to getting more work done on my folk-horror novel, I plan to watch more horror than usual, revisiting some I enjoy and exploring a few new ones.

It should be fun.

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Film Geeks San Diego’s Secret Morgue V

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This past Saturday was the 5th annual Secret Morgue hosted by the local cinephile group Film Geeks San Diego. The six-movie marathon doesn’t release the titles on the film being presented only the theme. For 2024 the theme was creatures & monster movies.

American International Pictures

Movie One: Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957). A celebration and recognition of low-budget master Roger Corman this movie follows a group of scientists, technicians, and sailors left on an atoll following atomic testing. They are there to study the effects of fallout and radiation but instead encounter monstrous telepathic giant crabs.

This is typical low-budget 50s fare with poor science and less then adequate special effects but entertaining in its own right.

Pathe

Movie Two: Dog Soldiers (2002). A squad of soldiers dropped in the wilds of Scotland for a routine training exercise discover another squad of special forces slaughtered, save for one member, by some unknown force. Trapped and out of communication they struggle to survive a pack of werewolves.

This is a fun, fast, and exciting werewolves vs soldiers of a movie and well worth the time.

 

American International Pictures

Movie Three: Scream Blacula Scream (1973). The sequel to Blacula, William Marshal returns as the title character, an African Prince cursed by Dracula with Vampirism. Raise by Voodoo magics as part of a power struggle among the faithful Balcula is unleashed again on the modern world and hopes to find release from unending torment by way of a voodoo priestess, Pam Grier.

Part of the brief but entertaining subgenre of ‘Blaxploitation’ that run during the 70s, this movie is fast, entertaining, and led by amazing actors. Allowanced must be given to the filmmakers lack of money and special effect resources. If you can look past that this is a treasure.

 

Daiei Film

Movie Four: Gamera, Guardian of the Universe (1995). The relaunching of the Kaijufranchise that challenged Godzilla, and still principally using men in suits, Gamera, Guardian of the Universe, is a fun romp and modern take on the classic Kaiju genre. Not scripted or produced with an ironic eye to the camera of tongue in cheek this movie is a straightforward film about giant monsters that threaten and defend humanity.

 

 

 

 

Hollwood Pictures

Movie Five: Deep Rising (1998). When pirates attack a large cruise ship in the South China Sea, they discover the passengers and crew slaughtered and the ship infested with tentacled monsters. Written and directed by Stephen Summers a year before his take on The Mummy, this movie has his typical style of mixing adventure, horror, and comedic effect.

 

 

 

 

The sixth and final film of the marathon was the home-made movie Suburban Sasquatch. I have a minimum level of quality that I require before I devote 80 minutes or more of my time to a film and this did not meet that prerequisite.

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Streaming Review: Murder by Death

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A year before Star Wars tossed the film industry into a whole new galaxy of chasing action/adventure box office bonanzas Columbia release Murder by Death a parody of the sedate country-manor murder mysteries that by then had already fallen out of style.

Columbia Pictures

Written by celebrated playwright Neild Simon the film is a broad comedy lampooning many of the genre’s most recognized sleuths: James Coco’s Milo Perrier satirizing Poirot, Peter Falk as Sam Diamond a play on Sam Spade, Peter Sellers in atrocious ‘yellow face’ as Wang, a take on Charlie Chan. (I honestly can’t tell if Sellers’ ‘yellow face’ is a comment on the practice used in the Chan films or simple racist.) Elsa Lanchester as Jessica Marbles standing in for Miss Marple and David Niven and Maggie Smith for Nick & Nora Charles from The Thin Man series.

Rounding out the cast was Alec Guinness as the blind butler, Nancy Walker as the deaf mute and illiterate cook, and Truman Capote as Lionel Twain hosting the detective while taunting them with meta commentary on the source novels.

Neil Simon was one of America’s premier playwrights, penning classic that are still watched and loved today.

This was not one of them.

The ‘comedy’ is weak, forced, and scarcely induces even a forced smile. There are moments that have some worth, but they are few. I had watched this movie some 40 years earlier and the only comedic moment that stuck with me was Twain berating Wang for his racist broken English.

“Pronouns! Say your god damned pronouns!”

The physical comedy has no speed or action to it, the character-based humor is tepid, and the plot makes less sense in 1985’s Clue.

All in all, even on YouTube for free, this is one to miss.

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Voice Actors are not Interchangeable

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I had intended to write this yesterday but when you wake in the morning in the midst of a migraine your day is pretty much trash.

Monday, we learned that the talented performer James Earl Jones passed away at 93. With a career and noted performances well before his ascendency to fan stardom as the voice of Darth Vader in Star Wars, Jones was a unique talent.

Jones was also not the person Lucas had in mind when he wanted someone to vocally perform for his space fantasy adventure, his first choice was Orson Welles. Jones proved to be the right choice. His voice was lesser known but nothing in the man’s multidecade history indicates that he was ever difficult to work with. Would Star Wars have reached the same heights with Welles providing the voice? Probably. The nation culturally was ready to turn the page on the cynicism of the 70s and Star Wars provided that new direction and escape, but I do think that Vader would have been lessened with another voice actor.

Vader wasn’t the only character transformed by their vocal performer.

C3PO is famously vocally performed by the character’s suit performer Anthony Daniels but that was not the intention.  Daniels had been hired to be the body on set, much as David Prowse had been Darth Vader on set.

Instead of a prissy English butler, C3PO’s conception of a character was closer akin to an untrustworthy used car salesman. Go back and listen to his dialog in the original film and note just how mean and cutting it is. 3PO is not a nice and likeable character as written, but only becoming endearing due to Daniels’ performance. It is my understanding that when they tried to record the lines as originally envisioned, everyone heard the disaster it was, and the role was then given to Daniels.

We often think of voice actors as lesser. That is unfair and probably due to the preponderance of terrible dubbing of foreign language films. In those case the artists are rarely given the time or direction to craft a real performance, a gross disservice.

Voice actors deserve the respect and admiration of the audience, and they are never interchangeable.

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Who is it at Disney/Marvel That Hates Sex?

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It’s been a few weeks since I watched Deadpool & Wolverine and the short comings of that film continue to live in my head, particularly the radical changes to some of the characters such as Vanessa.

A friend of mine, Tom, suggest in a replay that the changes to her profession and nature were dictated by studio notes I think he has a high chance of being right on that.

Marvel Studios/Disney

When Vanessa was introduced in Deadpool she was a sex worker. Not a glamorous, oh so sophisticated idealized version such as the actress role on Firefly, but a woman who sold sexual unions for cash. She was tough, took charge of her own life, and made her own decisions. The roman between her and Wade Wilson was the beating heart of the film. Their reunion at the end the emotional payoff for the audience. Though I have quibbles that in the final act her character was presented a little too ‘girlfriend passive’ for my tastes and shortchanged her a bit.

In the sequel she was so beloved that test audience reactions forced the denouement that resurrected her. Vanessa was a passionate, forceful, and importantly to her character, a sexual person in charge of her own agency.

All of that was stripped away in Deadpool & Wolverine with her character reduced to off screen motivations and her life shrunk to an office drone. All of the fire and every aspect of her sexual passion stripped away to leave nothing but an empty shell of a character.

But it was not just Vanessa who lost their mojo. Wade Wilson in both preceding films presented as a man secure in his quite fluid sexuality. In addition to his passion and deep love for Vanessa Wade displayed deep sexual attraction and flirtation with people across the gender spectrum.

Aside from a single fourth wall break this was removed from the character. The film neutered Wilson as thoroughly as it had Vanessa.

It is clear that Disney/Marvel in willing to continue the R-rated franchise tolerated violence and splattered blood what it dictated that could not exist is open, healthy, and vigorous sexuality.

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Remakes Aren’t So Terrible

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I missed making a post yesterday. I had a dental visit, now I have two new molars, and for most of the day a somewhat sore jaw.

This past week saw a remake of the 90s cult favorite The Crow. Now, I have seen the 90’s film, it didn’t work for me, and I found it quite dull, so this remake hasn’t interested me at all. Naturally, there have been various vocal critics not wanting to see a remake of a film that was beloved to them. I can understand that. Remakes are often, particularly in this day of studio and demographic polled directed artistic decisions, inferior copies of the originals. The remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still possessed nothing of the 1950’s film’s intelligence or pointed narrative. The remake quickly fell from cultural attention and has been largely forgotten. The original remains accessible and untouched.

There are loads of badly executed remakes, Flight of the Phoenix, Poseidon vs The Poseidon Adventure, The Manchurian Candidate, King Kong and its pair of remakes. In each of these cases the remakes failed to capture the mysterious elements that made the original such classics.

All art is a product of its time. The artists and the audience are baked in the cultural over of their lives and that impressions on the art. The magic that made the classic so unforgettable is from much the years in which they were crafted as much as the people who crafted them.

So, if remakes are so often lesser movies, then why did I title this that they aren’t so bad?

Because the originals remain. Sometimes they gain new life because of the attention created by the remake. And sometimes, quite rarely, the remake becomes the new classic. The Maltese Falcon is the 3rd film adapted from the novel, but it is the 3rd film that lives on as a timeless classic while the preceding movies, who undoubtedly had their fans, fades away.

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Alien Covenant and the Mainline Franchise

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I saw Prometheus in the theater, found it terribly disappointing and therefore skipped its direct sequel Alien: Covenant when it was released. Following the modestly entertaining Alien: Romulus I decided to watch Covenant since it was one of my streaming services.

20th Century Studios

The first hour of Alien: Covenant was pretty damn good. The science, while far from being ‘hard sf’ was insulting and the neither the script nor the characters mind numbingly stupid as they had been in the previous film.

Then they reached the point where it had to bring in Prometheus and the film died. The action was lackluster with a dropped frame style that made everything too much like a video game and the plot progressed predictably with every ‘reveal’ blindingly obvious.

So, how do I feel about this most inconsistent franchise?

The two best films in the series are easily Alien and Aliens.

Next would be Alien” Romulus, derivative but entertaining.

Next Alien: Resurrection, more action than anything else and populated with what feels like the ‘alpha’ version of the Firefly crew.

Everything else, Alien 3, the Predator crossovers, and the two prequels are the trash dump of the franchise.

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A Film I will Not Finish: Jackpot!

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Awkwafina and John Cena are both far too good for the material thrust upon with the sagging unfunny action-comedy Jackpot!

Amazon Studios

An aspiring actor returning to Los Angeles Awkwafina’s Katie becomes the subject of a lethal lottery when she wins the big prize in California’s monthly mega lottery. The wrinkle is that this new lottery will grant to prize to anyone who murders the person with the winning ticket if that murder happens before sundown and no guns are involved. Unaware of what has transpired with her winning because Katie has been living in Michigan dealing with her mother’s end of life care, she ends up with the services of John Cena’s Noel who is going to act as her bodyguard for 10 percent of the winning. There is a competing protect services offered by Simon Liu, but I did not get far enough into the film to see his character’s entrance.

Jackpot! fails on both of its critical levels. It is a comedy that provokes no laughter and an action movie with dull, uninspired, and poorly photographed stunt and fight work. Stunts, like dance, needs to be photographed so the audience can see the performers amazing physical prowess, not hidden behind fast choppy editing.

My sweetie-Wife and I gave the film 30 minutes of our time and we have no plan to return to see the remaining hour plus of the dull and uninteresting movie. Perhaps it gets better, perhaps it become more credible, but I harbor serious doubts based upon the movie’s uninspired start.

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Movie Review: Alien Romulus

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The seventh film in the Alien franchise Alien Romulus is set between the events of Alien and Aliens. The film is directed and co-written by Fede Alvarez and produced by Ridley Scott’s production company ‘Scott Free’ and Walter Hill’s ‘Brandywine.’

20th Century Studios

Romulus returns to the theme of ‘blue-collar’ workers in dire trouble established by the original 1979 feature film. In this story a collection of miners and other assorted low-value labor board a derelict station in hopes of obtained hyper-sleep pods that will allow them to escape their indentured servitude by making the 9-year voyage to the nearest planet not controlled by the corporation. the station however harbors secrets and dangers the characters are wholly unaware of and what started as a quest to escape rapidly become one of survival.

 

 

In my opinion Romulus ranks third in the franchise, directly after the original and Cameron’s direct sequel. Fede Alvarez and production designer Naaman Marshal have done a quite admirable job is creating a film that feels as though it is part of the world established by the original film and its sequel. Graphics recreated from those movies do not draw attention to themselves but create the familiar environment of those production. For the most part story beats and scenes that do call back to earlier movies do not feel as though they were forced into the film as some sort of obligatory ‘fan service.’

For the most part.

There are sadly several bits that do feel forced and contrived. I think in general it is preferrable to reference earlier films in a franchise with production design and props but not dialog. The dialog spoken by previous characters is theirs and it is unquestionably better to find the right words for you characters rather than take them from another.

The weakest section of the film for me is the final ten or fifteen minutes. Not only does it not feel earned and rather forced it extends a film that had reached a natural and satisfying conclusion with references to substandard entries in the franchise and caused the movie to end with more stolen dialog.

I find it ironic that the most enduring thematic element in the franchise is the one that screenwriter Dan O’Bannon objected to the most when it was inserted into his original script for Alien. The entire corporate conspiracy sub-plot, that the ship had been diverted deliberately and that the crew was considered expendable O’Bannon never liked but has become the defining theme of the films. It lives strong and proud in Romulus.

The next element of my review contains a spoiler so here’s a few thoughts before I continue.

Alien Romulus is a decent if somewhat flawed film that earns at least one viewing.

***SPOILER WARNING***

Through extensive and fairly well deployed CGI the filmmakers recreated on the screen Ian Holm, portraying another android in the same series that ‘Ash’ belonged to. There were some minor ‘uncanny valley’ issues, but they were well managed and actually fit the style of the film for an ‘artificial person.’

The fact that the plot revolves around a soulless corporation pushing workers to their death and seeking a way to extract value even beyond their death while the film literally extracts value from a deceased laborer is deeply ironic.

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