Movies I liked but likely won’t watch again. Something was off that I wish had been done differently.
After two mass murders in frat houses—recounted in an almost imperceptible montage of brutal murders at the hands of a burn victim serial killer and her daughter “Motherface”—there is a third mass murder of a group of frat bros.
Dude Bro Party Massacre III is a take on B-movie slasher flicks of the 1980s. Filmed in “glorious VHS quality,” the film is Continue reading Dude Bro Party Massacre III (2015) Movie Review
I Believe in Unicorns is a bildunsroman of a seemingly average order. A teenage outcast–one who is childlike in a way that she shouldn’t be, but somehow it makes perfect sense–falls for a rebellious skater/punk with long hair and unnatural charisma.
The two, Davina (Natalia Dyer) and Sterling (Peter Vack), have a love story. Davina is virginal and naive, yet her voiceover narration (seemingly looking back on the events) is very grounded in the reality of the situation.
Davina and Sterling run away together to start an exciting and spontaneous life on their own. Davina abandons her Continue reading I Believe in Unicorns (2015) Movie Review
Noah Baumbach’s Mistress America follows alienated college freshman Tracy (Lola Kirke). Tracy is a writer wanting to be part of the Mobius Literary Society, but, when she is rejected, ends up on her own.
Enter Brooke (Greta Gerwig, who also co-wrote the film). Brooke is Tracy’s sister to be, as their parents are scheduled to marry in the near future. Brooke takes Tracy under her wing, taking her around New York City and making her feel welcome.
Brooke is undergoing a major business venture: trying to open a niche restaurant. Tracy initially idolizes Brooke, but soon comes to realize that Continue reading Mistress America (2015) Movie Review
Manson Family Vacation opens on interview footage of notorious criminal Charles Manson addressing why he thinks he receives so many letters from teenagers each year. “I am those kids,” Manson says. “I never lived in your society.” He then engages in some interpretive dance, and the film takes off on that sentiment.
We see cross-cut events depicting very different lives. One, Conrad, a mangy tramp (Linas Phillips) sticking his thumb out on the highway for Continue reading Manson Family Vacation (2015) Movie Review
In the new outing for James Bond (Daniel Craig), we open on a gun barrel sequence. The classic gun barrel sequence, which we haven’t seen up front in a Daniel Craig Bond film until now. Signifying a return to classic Bond form, perhaps?
In Mexico City on Dia de Los Muertos, Bond stalks through a parade in a skeleton mask. He is on an off-book mission to assassinate a series of targets before they Continue reading Spectre (2015) Movie Review
The horror comedy Gravy opens with Anson (Michael Weston) buying sorbet in a gas station on Halloween, where he has the most unrealistic, awkward conversation with Bethany (Sarah Silverman). It is charming in the characters’ simplicity, but it avoids realism entirely.
After this, we leave these characters in lieu of those working in a bar at closing time. The ensemble all work off of each other like Continue reading Gravy (2015) Movie Review
The Final Girls opens on a fake movie trailer for a B-movie horror movie called Camp Bloodbath. It is a solid comic send up to 80’s slasher franchises such as Friday the 13th.
Then we see the star of the film, Amanda Cartwright (Malin Akerman) and her daughter Max (Taissa Farmiga). She’s washed up but is just glad that she has her daughter in her life. Then, you know, she dies. Continue reading The Final Girls (2015) Movie Review
In 1996, a pair of commercial expeditions to the summit of Mount Everest went terribly wrong. Rob Hall (Jason Clarke) and Scott Fischer (Jake Gyllenhaal) both lead competing commercial expedition companies. They decide, due to overcrowding of climbers attempting the voyage up on the same day, decide to work together to reach the summit.
The dramatics are set up early on, as we see Continue reading Everest (2015) Movie Review
Scott Cooper’s Black Mass is the story of crime lord James “Whitey” Bulger (Johnny Depp) told from the eyes of his criminal underlings as they speak out against him to the FBI.
Bulger, after serving a nine-year stint in Alcatraz prison, straddles together a working crime business in southern Boston in the 1970s. FBI agent and childhood friend of Bulger John Connelly (Joel Edgerton) approaches Bulger with an offer to Continue reading Black Mass (2015) Movie Review
A divorced mother of two (Kathryn Hahn) hasn’t seen or talked to her parents in 15 years. After all this time, they contact her online asking to see their grandchildren (Olivia DeJonge and Ed Oxenbould), whom they have never met. She reluctantly agrees on her children’s insistence.
Her children are a cute sibling pair, natural and appropriately childish. Tyler is charismatic and naive, free style rapping with a train conductor and purporting to “sext” with classmates. He desperately wants to live up to a masculine stereotype that he does not truly embody.
Becca is verbose and dramatic with her words as she narrates her way through exposition like a quick knife-stroke through butter. She has recently armed herself with cameras, hoping to tape their week-long visit in a style as close to a professional documentary as she can muster.
Shymalan channels an inexperienced auteur in Becca. Early interactions are light and bubbly as she sets the scene for her “documentary.” It also serves a meta purpose in its intended humor. She explains that with a camera you need to build tension and make people want to imagine what is lingering just beyond the frame. It sounds very much like Shymalan is Continue reading The Visit (2015) Movie Review
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