GET OUT
Universal/Blumhouse Tilt
2017 color
100 Mins.
Horror/Thriller
Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Catherine Keneer, Bradley Whitford and Caleb Landry Jones
Written and Directed by Jordan Peele
Rated R for language, violence and gore.
Beware! This one arrives on a ton of buzz. Currently it sits at 100% positive reviews on rotten tomatoes. Despite the freakish trailers and critical recommend I went into Get Out with very little expectations and thank god I did because it was disappointing. A lot of the times I find that when a horror movie is very highly reviewed it sometimes doesn't connect with the every day horror fan. And to simply put it Get Out barely qualifies as a horror film. It's not very scary, funny or entertaining. That being said it's not a bad film and does manage to touch on new subject matter for the genre. The subject of racism is a prevalent one especially in today's society. It is without a doubt a very real thing. And the film does manage to broach this subject and explore it with a fare amount of interesting subtext. The film centers on a young African American man who goes to his girlfriends house for the weekend. Upon arriving he begins to experience lots of awkward exchanges with her family and than while at a party, her family's friends. Of course there's some creepy African American servants who act in such a way that doesn't seem natural. Add in some hypnosis and creepy imagery and you have this film. In it's earlier scenes it does mange to explore some common stereotypes in a smart and satirical way.There is of course some twists along the way. All very predictable to anyone whose seen a horror film. I won't name which films this one steals it's plot from because if I did it would give away everything. Unfortunately there's not a whole lot of suspense here the characters are never developed in such a way that we care about any of them. Peele does however manage to create an atmosphere of genuine awkwardness. The film never is as clever as it could be. Lightly touching on subjects and never exploring them to fulfillment. It also seems to promise bigger revelations and a bigger finale but fails on both. In the end it all just feels to familiar and lackluster to register successfully on any level. It's definitely not a fun audience movie and it's definitely not for the indie crowd either. It doesn't even deliver on the standard horror movie tropes unless you think cheap loud noise jump scares and people either standing awkwardly staring or running at you are scary. I do wish I had more good to say about it but it just didn't work for me. I may in fact be missing something, lol. So I warn you if you must see it, ignore the buzz and try and go with an open mind. It's an interesting watch but would work better as a tales from the crypt episode. **.5/5
A CURE FOR WELLNESS
Regency
2017 Color
146 Mins.
Horror/Thriller
Dane DeHaan, Jason Isaacs, Mia Goth and Celia Imrie star.
Written by Justin Haythe
Directed by Gore Verbinski
Rated R for language, violence, gore, nudity and sexuality.
Do you ever feel like you're the last person to the party? When I first saw trailers for this film I was so excited. I thought it looked great. A genre picture with intelligence, new ideas and a budget to back it up, finally. But as the film's release drew closer negative buzz began to pop up. Still I kept my hopes up. I thought this may be one of those that critics just don't get . They are just missing the deeper meaning here. And than this weekends box office a paltry 4 Million. I was indeed only one of the few that actually went to see this cinematic dreck. Well I was obviously wrong. A Cure for Wellness is a big disappointment on every conceivable level.
The film starts off promising with a scene of an every day guy dying of a heart attack while at the office. This led me to believe that film would offer some deeper subtext about our daily lives and their misdirection. Well no such luck, because that scene really has nothing to do with the rest of the movie. As we move along we meet Lockhart played by Dehaan). A young ruthless sort of business personality who is assigned to go find the company's CEO who has given notice after spending the weekend at a spa in Switzerland. Once he gets there he discovers a creepy, stylish hospital in which all the residents seem oddly happy. He gets into a horrible car accident and awakens as a patient in the facility. Although he presses the subject of leaving he still wishes to speak to and bring back his CEO. When finally managing to grab some time with him, he convinces him to return to the city to sort out some business dealings. But upon leaving he discovers he has changed his mind. Lockhart of course stays there and begins to learn about the mysterious history that surrounds the facility and gets acquainted with a young woman who lives there all the while subjecting himself to their questionable medication and treatments involving a magical water supply. After long enough he discovers some horrific (but expected) truths and tries to flee but learns they have no intentions of letting him leave.
I wish this movie had a blip of originality to it. Everything in the film seems stolen from other better films from Phantiom of the opera to shutter island to even Flowers in the Attic. Even down to those stylish visuals you see in the trailers, so unimpressive in the final film. I'm not going to spoil what it's ultimately about. But I will say that anyone familiar with the genre will see it coming from a mile away. The cast is decent and does what they can with their underwritten roles. DeHaan, so good in Chronicle is wasted here. His Lockhart is a confusing man with confusing motivations that most of the time just seem so non sensical.
Gore Verbinski the acclaimed directed of the Ring and Pirates has created one hell of an epic mess here. There's so many scenes that should have been cut and others that were obviously cut that could have made the proceedings just a bit more coherent. The film doesn't seem to know what it wants to be or what it's actually about. There are so many loose ends left on the table and others that come to fruition in such a complete unsatisfying way it's hard to even know what the makers ultimate intentions were. The film offers no subtext or social commentary and is in fact a very shallow view.
Although I don't like the film I will say that it's not terrible. It seems as though there might be a good film buried in this unforgivably long 146 Minute mess with some editing and focus but the end result leaves much to be desired. In the end upon walking out I have to say that I just didn't feel much of anything. It was certainly wasted time but done so in a way that the proceedings felt surreal and so confusing without even a zest of passion that it was almost as I spent the time looking at a blank wall and imagining what could be. My advice stare at a blank wall it will be so much more satisfying. **.5/5
It's been quite a journey for the first Asian import remake film. The franchise started on a positive note directed by the talented Gore Verbinski but soon began to deteriorate with the second chapter. It's another example of Hollywood's recycled ideas and unimaginative concepts as reasons to make a quick buck. Instead of giving the franchise it's due and keeping up the quality. So now here's Rings a sequel that's been in the works for the last twelve years in which you would figure they would have come up an idea strong enough to reboot the franchise up again to his higher standards. But the truth is whether it's good or not twelve years is a long wait for a sequel and what was once scary and fresh now feels formulaic and irrelevant. Still the concept merits potential and the question is will it ever finally be executed properly.
THE RING: DreamWorks 2002 Color/B&W 115 Mins. Horror/Thriller Naomi Watts, Martin Henderson, Amber Tamblyn, Brian Cox and David Dorfman star. Written by Ehren Krueger Rated PG-13 for language, violence and gore. Box Office: $129,128,133=Domestic $249,348,933-Worldwide
RINGS(Short film): DreamWorks 2005 Color/B&W 16 Mins. Horror/Thriller Ryan Merriman and Emily VanCamp star. Written by Ehren Krueger. Directed by Jonathan Liebesman. N/R contains language, violence and gore.
THE RING TWO: DreamWorks 2005 Color/B&W 110 Mins. Horror/Thriller Naomi Watts, David Dorfman, Elizabeth Perkins, Sissy Spacek, Ryan Merriman, Emily VanCamp and Simon Baker star. Written by Ehren Krueger. Directed by Hideo Nakata Rated PG-13 for language, violence and gore. Box Office: $76,231,249=Domestic $161,451,538= Worldwide
RINGS: DreamWorks 2017 Color/B&W 102 Mins. Horror/Thriller Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz, Alex Roe, Johnny Galecki, Vincent D'Onofrio and Aimee Teegarden star. Written by David Loucka, Jacob Estes and Akiva Goldsman. Directed by F. Javier Gutirerrez Rated PG-13 for language, violence, gore and sexuality.
The Ring franchise began in 2002. I remember seeing it at a preview screening a week before it came out. I was a fan of Ringu walking in but I was pleasantly surprised at how well the material was adapted. The film was brilliantly stylish and suspenseful. With a powerhouse performance from Watts. I did however feel that Samara's big scene was less effective than the original film because it was a digital projection instead of a real person. It obviously clicked with audiences though I remember people screaming frantically as she debuted.
That film was followed by a short too link the films together more effectively. Future genre star Johnathan Liebesman directed the 16 min short stylishly and confidentially touching on some interesting turns for the material. Centering on a sort of teenage cult mentality distributing the dreaded video.
Than came Ring two from Ringu helmer Hideo Nakata I was even more excited learning he was involved. Well the transition to his first American film was choppy at best but still managed to elicit some light thrills and interesting visuals. Plus the dependable Watts came back and who could forget that suspenseful last segment with killer final say "I'm not your fucking mother!"
Now we hit 2017 and after twelve years of waiting and two years of delays we have Rings. And guess what it just wasn't worth the wait(big surprise). I'd like to first say that it's not a bad movie for the most part and it's not a cash in. It centers on the whole mythology of the Rings video and surprisingly enough has the most in common with that short film. It all starts out with a semi exciting scene on an airplane with a stressed but still sexy Zach Roerig (who should have been the film's lead) as he experiences his last few minutes of his 7 days while in the mid air. It never quite punches the way it should but does offer up a new angle. Than we cut to the less interesting story of the infamous video tape when a college professor gets hold of it and decides to conduct an experiment with students. Well things begin to change of course and a young woman goes in search of her missing boyfriend. When arriving at the college campus she learns of the bad juju and even experiences it first hand through a bathroom door. Soon after her boyfriend arrives and explains his involvement and she watches the tape to save him. But something happens, the tape is different as she discovers extra scenes not there before which leads her on a journey to connect the missing pieces before it's too late.
The film manages to extend the mythology in a mostly satisfactory way beefing up the backstory. But the creators run the concept into a dead end at the film's culmination making a once unique concept sadly generic. All the characters lack any real type of development but that especially goes to the film's lead Julia. In the film's earlier charming scenes with her boyfriend her backstory is touched upon but never goes anywhere from there. The performances are decent even if Julia played by Lutz's, accent shows from time to time and Roe makes for good eye candy. But this entry although interesting manages to feel like nothing really. It's not scary, it can be mildly suspenseful at times and it's void of any type of humor and worst of all Samara is barely in it and when she is it's same ol same ol but with a lot less effect. Mostly because they over explain the proceedings to a point where it looses any type of mystery. I'm just surprised that something this lackluster was green lit. Yes it does progress the story forward but into an unimaginative ditch. And the goods that made the original work so well, that sense of urgency with that impending timeline are gone here. This film doesn't even seem to have one. In fact it's confusing even knowing what day the characters are on. I wish Rings was at least a so bad it's good entertaining venture but it just takes itself way too seriously a good approach if the film could deliver on the creepy goods the other films supplied. As far as the visuals are concerned what was once inspired is now overused and schlocky and this film is filled to the brim with a ton of those ho hum go tos. From flocks of dark birds to creepy hallways and drab colorless churches. And as for Gutierrez, I've heard his Before the Fall is actually quite good, but the work he does here feels very by the numbers. In the end sadly enough we just have another run of the mill reboot. That's only new twist is so contrived and overused it makes you wonder why we ever needed any sequels to the original film to begin with.
THE RING ****.5/5
RINGS (SHORT FILM): ***.25/5
THE RING TWO ***/5
RINGS **.5/5
