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Reviews
Holidate (2020)
It's a parody that is filmed as a romcom.
This script is SHARP and fierce. It's Clueless for the holidays, but with the tone of The more typical romcoms. It's bad. It's bonkers. It goes for it every chance it gets, while using the rules of a traditional romcoms. In the end, i don't think it works, but it's super fun at just how bonkers it can be. It just doesn't have the right "tone." The whole movie felt like i needed to tweak the tone a little bit more.
Into the Dark: Pooka! (2018)
Love the premise, but not a lot to go on.
Winston is an actor who needs work, so he takes a job as the toy mascot Pooka! As soon as he puts on the costume, strange things start happening. Has Pooka taken over his life, or is Winston going crazy? Cool idea. Movie looks fantastic, great performances, but it's hollow. The film would have worked better as a short, this premise doesn't stretch far enough for a film. Or, this would have been an amazing horror comedy, playing up the humor that could have easily been pulled from the concept. Either or, it's just not a good straight "horror" movie.
Hard Candy (2005)
Intense! 10 out of 10!!
There are some movies you watch while laying on the couch half dozing. There are others that beckon you attention so you sit up and attentively watch. Then there is Hard Candy where you find yourself sitting, a foot away from your TV, clawing the carpet in anticipation as you find yourself transported into a world of monsters that do not hide under your bed at night, but in the car right next to you.
The story begins in a chat room, where a 31 year old man seduces a young, 14 year old girl. The fear of every parent is realized as the young lady agrees to meet with the photographer at a local coffee shop. Wearing the red hood of a young and defenseless girl, our heroine Hayley meets the charming photographer Jeff, but her innocence is her mask, as we find out when the two retreat back to Jeff's lair. "Playtime is over," as she drugs him and ties him into a chair. Torcher ensues as Hayley tries to uncover the mystery of a missing girl. Not everything in this film is as it seems.
With much more in common with an Asian film, first time director Danny Slate, defies normal Hollywood convention and creates a ballet of tension, and for whom the music is fear. The film moves very still and stealth-like. The only sudden jerks of the camera are to display confusion and the action of a scene. The lack of a soundtrack emphasizes the characters themselves, forcing you to watch their eyes and every movement to try to clue you in to their true motives. The excellent usage of different lighting and color give tight, tense shots, extra power and more insight into our character's heads. Hitchcock would be proud of a script by playwright and television scribe Brian Nelson, as it weaves its way in and out of a horrific tale in which at times, you're not sure with character to be frightened of: The creepy child molester, or his vigilante punisher.
You may recognize the budding young starlet, Ellen Page from her blink and you'll miss her role as Kitty Pryde in X-Men 3. In this she lets loose her acting chops and shows an uncharacteristic range from such a young actress. Page was only 17 when filming this controversial film, yet she shows a range that many Hollywood actresses twice her age could not reach. It's not her character's anger that inspires, but her the vulnerability she displays this very multi-sided character. She is so superb and mesmerizing, that it sometimes shocks you that when you realize just how scary her character is. She takes her character to a place where you do not only just root for Hayley, but you also fear her and her mission.
Patrick Wilson may look vaguely familiar, as I felt he looked like Will Arnet from Fox's Arrested Development, but instead he stared in the mediocre Phantom of the Opera musical. In this film he is let loose in this film. He has this ability to make you sincerely feel sorrow for a person you should only loath and detest While most of the film he was tied up, he had the hardest role of them all. His role in the film is not physical, so he has to truly push himself and his psyche to the limit. His character's vulnerability is what truly makes this film worthwhile. If you had simply just an evil, vile man, and a young girl who wanted to kill him, there would be no film, but the layers he gave the pedophile photographer Jeff, gave the film a feeling all his own. You didn't root for his character, but you don't necessarily want to see this charming man killed off either.
I have never seen another movie quite like this. The power and intensity felt, was mesmerizing. The multifaceted movements in this film, from each character were so subtle and surprising, as well as intoxicating. The time flew as the film went on. I felt sick at times, and elated at others. This is the best non-horror genre horror film I have seen in years. The industry could learn from the neat and precise way the horrors of this meeting that took place. Rarely have I ever had another experience like this, and not quite like the feelings I felt when watching Requiem for a Dream, but that's about the closest comparison for the feelings and emotions elated when watching this opus of American film-making. Watching a film such as this excites me to the prospects of the future and reminds me of something Francis Ford Coppola once said that the greatest movie of all was yet to be made. That something else could be done and more could be accomplished. After finishing the ride that was Hard Candy, I think we are reaching that point more and more everyday, than I once believed, and it makes me smile.
Primer (2004)
What would you do if you could go back in time?
What would you do if you could go back in time? What would it accomplish? What would happen? How would you do it? What would the consequences be? All these questions and more were asked in the very indie film, Primer: What Happens If It Actually Works? The movie starts much like a documentary. We find ourselves transported to a suburban house with four, very well dressed, young men sitting at the kitchen table arguing. They're arguing about their garage based research and development company's direction. Aaron, the home owner, and best friend Abe quickly pair off and we discover they are working on cutting the other two out. That away, they can bask in their glory themselves. As the film progresses Aaron and Abe discover that their project is progressing very unexpectedly. What its doing is, sending objects placed in the "box" into a loop through time. This accidental discovery leads the two to build a bigger "box" and actually climb into their experiment. Now they can climb out of the time loop at a certain point from when their "box" is turned on. What follows is a film that examines the different ethical questions of time travel as well as focusing on what ordinary men would do if they could go back in time, if only for a day.
Filmed for an estimated $7,000, this is the first film, of a hopefully long and illustrious career for first time Director, and star, Shane Carruth. What Carruth created was a Stanley Kubric influenced film, where time travel was just the propellant to explore humanities curiosity into the unknown. For such a cheaply made film, I was impressed with how it played out. Filming on 16mm, the film used for most television, the movie took on a very dreamlike quality to it, which played well with the extraordinary topics at hand. While the acting starts out atrocious, as the film progresses each actor becomes more comfortable with they characters they are portraying, and slowly become better actors.
I felt the film really flowed well, or at least until it was shifted focus from these men, to their time traveling. Afterwards the story started to collapse and crumble. Perhaps making the ending of the film more confusing was an effort to display the dangers of time travel. Either way I still very much enjoyed this little film. It hit every note that I wanted it too, and a few surprising ones. The film is a very well made illustration of how very human we are, it explores our curiosity and how incredibly stupid it could be. It explores the complexity of human emotions and within that, our very flaws. All of that jammed pack into a little less than 80 minutes.
Levelland (2003)
What if KIDS was rated PG-13?
Suburbs, Skating and ESCAPE are the themes that fuel the directorial debut of Clark Walker. The story follows a group of friends bound by their passion of skating. Matt and company desperately want out of Levelland, Texas. To escape from the monotony of the suburbs, Matt company resolve to building ramps (with stolen materials.) Trespassing, and hitting the highways of Texas. The films successfully shows the diversity of the suburban culture and the isolation of the modern day youth.
The thing that I liked best about this movie was its heavy 80's era punk soundtrack. Sporting Black flag, Minutemen, Replacements and more. Overall the general storyline is easy to follow and works well. Being a kid from the suburbs i can relate to how much the characters want to escape from the plastic, cookie cutter life the suburbs provide.
Now this movie wasn't perfect by any means. Watching the film, it becomes obvious that this is Walker's first attempt at direction. Lackluster acting and bad dialog plague this film as slopping editing. Although halfway through the film i started seeing a significant improvement in the films quality as they become more comfortable acting and directing. The film severely redeemed itself in its second half from horrible to okay. I also had problems with Character development. So many characters were left UNDER developed. I knew so little about the supporting cast, while there were several tries to further develop them, they fell flat. As far as editing, there was tons of scenes and subplots that could have been left on the floor that could have made this nearly 2 hour long movie a more bearable 90 minute film. The subplot with Matt and his teacher did nothing for me what-so-ever, and felt pushed. Only in the film to give it more edge. Putting more drug usage would have made this film more believable and given it more credible "edge" that it needed.
Overall, this PG-13 KIDS set in the suburbs, was and alright indie film. I think this film will find its cult audience in the suburban kids it portrayed. A muddy first film, that will definitely will find its place among fans of the punk rock classic SUBURBIA, directed by Penelope Spheeris, who went on to do a great many films. So watch out for up and comer Clark Walker as i expect he may have a few more excellent films up his sleeve.